Skip to content
Insporta Book
en
EnglishРусскийDeutschEspañolEestiSuomiItalianoFrançaisPolski日本語한국어中文
FootballCricketFutsalTriathlonTennisGolfFigure SkatingBasketballMethodologyWhy it worksTake a test

Cricket · Level 6: Advanced · Sub-level 6.2

The Women's Game

5 tests · 50 facts · updated 12 October 2026 · markdown

This sub-level teaches women's cricket as a story with its own timeline — the first Women's World Cup in 1973, staged two years before the men's; the long amateur era and the shift to central contracts and full professionalism from the 2010s; the International Cricket Council's absorption of the women's game in 2005, when the separate International Women's Cricket Council merged into it; landmark events and record crowds such as the 2020 T20 World Cup final at the MCG; the Women's Big Bash League from 2015 and the Women's Premier League from 2023 and what franchise pay changed; and the areas where the women's and men's games still differ (boundary sizes, ball weight, scheduling depth) against those where they are converging (equal match fees in some boards, shared broadcast slots).

Each test below is ten questions on Insporta. The list under a test is what the questions check: one fact per question, with the source it was written from. Read it before the test, or come back from a wrong answer.

Test 1The birth of the women's gameTake a test

  1. England hosted a seven-team tournament in 1973, funded largely by the businessman Jack Hayward. The men's World Cup did not follow until 1975.

    Source: ESPNcricinfo · recall

  2. Rachael Heyhoe Flint approached Hayward, a cricket-loving philanthropist, who put up the money that let the tournament be organised at short notice.

    Source: Wisden · recall

  3. Heyhoe Flint led England through the amateur era, helped organise the 1973 event and later became one of the first women admitted to the MCC.

    Source: ESPNcricinfo · recall

  4. The Women's Cricket Association ran the English game from 1926 until 1998, when its responsibilities passed to the England and Wales Cricket Board.

    Source: Wisden · recall

  5. England played the inaugural women's Tests against Australia in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne, then a further Test against New Zealand at Christchurch.

    Source: ESPNcricinfo · recall

  6. A tour could cost a player weeks of lost wages plus travel, so the pool narrowed to those with the money or the flexible employment to go.

    Source: Wisden · applied

  7. Every side played each other once and England finished on top, beating Australia in the decisive final-round match at Edgbaston to take the trophy.

    Source: ESPNcricinfo · applied

  8. Clubs and county sides existed across several countries, but without paid time, travel budgets or broadcast income the international calendar stayed thin and irregular.

    Source: Wisden · applied

  9. England met Australia at Lord's in August 1976. The MCC, which owned the ground, did not admit women as members until 1998.

    Source: ESPNcricinfo · applied

  10. Women played the same Laws, the same pitch and a full schedule of Tests and, from 1973, World Cups, but did so as amateurs dependent on fundraising well into the modern era.

    Source: Wisden · applied

Test 2One game, one governing bodyTake a test

  1. The International Women's Cricket Council was formed in 1958 to coordinate tours and World Cups. It merged into the ICC in 2005.

    Source: ESPNcricinfo · recall

  2. The 2005 merger folded the IWCC's functions into the ICC, so scheduling, rankings, event hosting and funding for the women's game moved under the same roof as the men's.

    Source: ICC · applied

  3. The Women's Cricket Association, formed in 1926 and run largely by volunteers, transferred its responsibilities to the ECB in 1998, bringing the women's game under the same governance as the men's.

    Source: Wisden · recall

  4. An MCC ballot in 1998 ended 211 years of men-only membership. Rachael Heyhoe Flint and nine others were among the first women elected.

    Source: ESPNcricinfo · recall

  5. As part of the ICC the women's game could be packaged into the same media and commercial deals as the men's, and draw on central distributions to members.

    Source: ICC · applied

  6. A single board can direct one high-performance system at both squads, so the women's team can use the same strength coaches, physios and video analysts the men's programme already employs.

    Source: ESPNcricinfo · applied

  7. Where resources are finite, the women's team competes internally for grounds, staff and marketing spend, and historically has tended to lose that contest to the higher-earning men's side.

    Source: Wisden · applied

  8. Before a structured championship, weaker women's sides could go years between meaningful games. A points league with promotion stakes forces boards to arrange series they might otherwise skip.

    Source: ICC · applied

  9. Given its own date, ground and broadcast slot, a women's final such as the 2017 Lord's decider or the 2020 MCG final can build its own following instead of being an undercard.

    Source: ESPNcricinfo · applied

  10. The IWCC coordinated a volunteer-run game from 1958; the 2005 merger placed women's cricket inside the ICC, and national boards absorbed their women's associations, so one integrated structure now governs both games.

    Source: ICC · recall

Test 3Turning professionalTake a test

  1. The ECB awarded 18 central contracts to women players in May 2014, making them full-time professionals. Australia and other boards followed over the next few years.

    Source: ESPNcricinfo · recall

  2. The WBBL gave state-level players a paid, city-franchise T20 league with a broadcast deal and crowds, a template India later followed with the Women's Premier League.

    Source: ESPNcricinfo · applied

  3. The inaugural WPL ran in March 2023 with five teams. Mumbai Indians won the final, and the league's media rights had sold for a sum that set a women's-sport record in India.

    Source: ESPNcricinfo · recall

  4. The five-year WPL media rights fetched about 951 crore rupees in 2022, the highest ever paid for a women's sports league at the time and a signal that broadcasters saw real value.

    Source: ESPNcricinfo · applied

  5. New Zealand Cricket's 2022 agreement matched women's match payments and competition prize money to the men's. Retainers and endorsement income still differ because they track commercial revenue.

    Source: ESPNcricinfo · applied

  6. The BCCI set women's match fees equal to the men's from October 2022: the same amount for a Test, an ODI and a T20I. Central-contract grades and league pay were not part of that change.

    Source: ESPNcricinfo · recall

  7. A salary removes the need for outside work, so selectors can pick on form and fitness and expect players to be available for camps, tours and rehab without financial hardship.

    Source: Wisden · applied

  8. Top overseas signings in the WPL and WBBL can be paid more for a few weeks than a mid-tier nation pays in a year, which shifts bargaining power towards the players and the clubs.

    Source: ESPNcricinfo · applied

  9. Australia, England, India and a few others run entirely professional women's programmes; several Test nations still offer part-time retainers, and most Associates none at all.

    Source: Wisden · applied

  10. Central contracts from 2014, the WBBL and the WPL, and pay-parity deals mark a decade in which the leading women's players went from self-funding tours to earning a living from the game.

    Source: ESPNcricinfo · recall

Test 4Landmark days and record crowdsTake a test

  1. Australia beat India by 85 runs at the MCG on 8 March 2020. The attendance was the largest for any women's cricket match and among the biggest for a women's sporting event anywhere.

    Source: ESPNcricinfo · recall

  2. Australia posted 184 for 4, with Alyssa Healy and Beth Mooney sharing a big opening stand, then bowled India out for 99 to win by 85 runs and take a fifth T20 world title.

    Source: ESPNcricinfo · recall

  3. The first women's World Twenty20 was staged in England in 2009, held together with the men's tournament. England won it; Australia then dominated the following editions.

    Source: ESPNcricinfo · recall

  4. Clark's 229 not out for Australia in the 1997 World Cup came years before any man reached 200 in an ODI, a record that stood as the women's best for two decades.

    Source: ESPNcricinfo · recall

  5. England beat India by nine runs before a sell-out Lord's crowd and a large global TV audience, and the ECB used the moment to push participation and its new professional pathway.

    Source: Wisden · applied

  6. Birmingham 2022 staged an eight-team women's T20 competition, cricket's first Commonwealth Games appearance since a men's 50-over event in 1998. Australia beat India in the gold-medal match.

    Source: ESPNcricinfo · recall

  7. The MCG 2020 and Lord's 2017 finals each had their own date, marketing and broadcast window. Matches tacked onto a men's fixture as a curtain-raiser have never come close to those numbers.

    Source: ESPNcricinfo · applied

  8. Healy made 170 off 138 balls against England at Christchurch as Australia posted 356, the biggest individual innings in a World Cup final in either game and the platform for a seventh Australian title.

    Source: ESPNcricinfo · applied

  9. Boards report participation spikes after showpiece events; Cricket Australia and the ECB both logged jumps in registered female players in the seasons after 2017 and 2020.

    Source: Wisden · applied

  10. The through-line from 1973 to the MCG in 2020 is that the game grew when organisers invested in the women's event itself: a marquee venue, a clear date and a full broadcast.

    Source: ESPNcricinfo · applied

Test 5Same sport, different specsTake a test

  1. Law 4 sets a lighter, slightly smaller ball for women's cricket. Pitch length, stump size, bat dimensions and the number of players are identical to the men's game.

    Source: Wisden · recall

  2. The women's ball is specified at 140 to 151 grams, against 155.9 to 163 for the men's. The smaller circumference, 21.0 to 22.5 centimetres, goes with the lower weight.

    Source: Wisden · recall

  3. Women's conditions allow a maximum boundary near 64 metres, shorter than the men's upper limit of about 82, so grounds can bring the rope in for a women's game.

    Source: ICC playing conditions · recall

  4. A four-day Test gives less time to force ten wickets twice, so draws are common, especially as women's sides play multi-day cricket rarely and take time to adjust to the format.

    Source: ESPNcricinfo · applied

  5. Red-ball cricket needs three or four days of ground time, staff and broadcast for a single fixture. Only the richest boards run a women's first-class competition to prepare players for Tests.

    Source: Wisden · applied

  6. Each Hundred franchise fielded a women's and a men's team under one identity, often playing back-to-back at the same ground on the same ticket, giving the women's match a large built-in audience.

    Source: ESPNcricinfo · recall

  7. New Zealand, India and others have equalised match payments and event prize money. The physical specifications, ball, boundary and Test length, remain deliberately different.

    Source: ESPNcricinfo · applied

  8. Matching equipment to how far the ball is typically hit is meant to preserve the same balance of scoring, edges and wickets the men's specifications produce, rather than to make the game easier.

    Source: Wisden · applied

  9. The argument is partly symbolic: a single specification would signal one undivided sport. Supporters reply that the lighter ball suits most players and changing it would help no one.

    Source: ESPNcricinfo · applied

  10. Women and men play the same Laws, pitch, formats and competitions under one governing body. The ball, the boundary and the four-day Test are the short list of deliberate differences.

    Source: Wisden · recall

Sources

ESPNcricinfo and its records, history and analysis sections; the Wisden Almanack for historical and cultural facts; the ICC's published material for membership tiers, the FTP, the Code of Conduct and the Anti-Corruption Code; official board and ground statements for institutional detail. Level 6 covers datable, named history and institutions, so every keyed answer is verified against these sources. Questions are authored from them, not reproduced from them.

  • ESPNcricinfo29
  • Wisden16
  • ICC4
  • ICC playing conditions1