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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
(Free-Press-Release.com) January 12, 2011 --

Cupid struck bullseye last week and bluebirds sang. I fell in love: with Claire Taylor and her namesake Sarah, with Beth Morgan, Charlotte Edwards, and, well, all the England women's cricket team. I heart women's cricket. On a busman's Friday afternoon, sitting in the stand at The Oval, away from the hermetic press box which has less atmosphere than the moon, I watched one of the most exhilarating of cricket matches, played to a standard that astounded, and at the end of it, when Claire Taylor's bottom hand kicked in for the last time and sent the ball scudding away backward of point for the winning boundary, England had beaten Australia. What could be better?

I cannot say that I was a women's cricket agnostic, but perhaps a reluctance born from uninformed skepticism kept me away. I was familiar with many of the players, mixed with them at functions and so forth, but never had I seen them play. So to watch them perform with such vivacity and skill was an absolute revelation. It seems unfair to single out individuals, but by the end of the tournament, I can say truthfully that in my opinion, Claire Taylor is not only a very fine pugnacious batter but has incredible drive, a cricket brain to die for, and a rounded view of life. Further, I saw no wicketkeeper in either men's or women's tournament to better Sarah Taylor, a wonderfully gifted youngster.

The World Twenty 20 has been a terrific advertisement for the women's game in this country, something, to his great credit, championed by the board chairman Giles Clarke, whose beam on Sunday was one of real delight rather than told-you-so smugness. Scheduling the two competitions to run simultaneously was a masterstroke by the ICC, and I never thought I would write that. It gave women's cricket the sort of promotional opportunity that would cost millions and they grasped it.

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