Australia’s dominant women’s cricket team will not be featured on television for the first time this decade as networks were unable to secure the broadcast rights for their tour of Bangladesh.
Australia – Bangladesh
Women’s cricket tour
March 21: 1st ODI, 2:30pm AEDTMarch 24: 2nd ODI, 2:30pm AEDTMarch 27: 3rd ODI, 2:30pm AEDTMarch 31: 1st T20I, 5:00pm AEDTApril 2: 2nd T20I, 5:00pm AEDTApril 4, 3rd T20I, 5:00pm AEDT
All games played in Dhaka
Alyssa Healy’s team will kick off their series against Bangladesh with three one-day internationals in Dhaka on Thursday, followed by three Twenty20 matches, serving as their final preparation before the upcoming World Cup in September and October.
This visit to Bangladesh is Australia’s first since 2014, with only four players from the current squad having previous experience playing in the country.
However, Australian fans will not be able to watch the matches on TV as Foxtel failed to acquire the broadcasting rights, marking the first time since 2019 that Australia’s women’s matches will not be televised.
It has been reported that Foxtel approached the Bangladesh Cricket Board but was unable to secure the rights.
This situation mirrors the men’s tour of Bangladesh in 2021, which was also not televised in Australia.
Instead, the matches will be streamed on the Bangladesh Cricket Board’s YouTube channel.
Only some of the commentary during last year’s women’s matches between Bangladesh and India, streamed on the channel, was in English.
Australia’s coach Shelley Nitschke expressed hope that the situation would be resolved, stating, “Anytime we can get our games broadcast is a win for us. But also to be able to get those games in particular — it’s good for the global game, for people to be able to see that Bangladesh are competing and going really well.”
Australia faces uncertainty heading into the series against Bangladesh due to the lack of broadcast matches from the country. Coaches have had to rely on sometimes low-quality streams of men’s matches and the women’s series between Bangladesh and India last year.
Expect slower wickets, with Sophie Molineux returning and looking to make her case for the World Cup squad.
Nitschke mentioned, “We’ve gathered some information and data about the venue in Dhaka. We don’t visit there often. It was a possibility that we could have gone to the World Cup and that would have been our first time there. You wouldn’t want to miss that.”
Bangladesh relies heavily on spin bowlers, delivering 44 overs of spin in their last home ODI against Pakistan.
Nitschke commented, “They play a different style of cricket to us, which probably suits their conditions. They’re quite clever in their approach, using changes of pace effectively.”
AAP
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