273. Associate Nations And The Quest For Fair Play

Hi there! Welcome to Episode 273 of Never on the Backfoot Podcast. In this episode, we dive into the evolving pathways and challenges facing Associate nations in women’s cricket as they strive for a place for equality.  With recent decisions of the ICC, tying ODI status to T20I rankings and new qualification criteria that could reward strategic inactivity, questions arise about fairness and merit. We also look at the unintended consequences of current ranking rules, and what these changes mean for the growth of women’s cricket worldwide. Is the ICC’s approach helping or hindering the rise of smaller cricketing nations?  On the podcast today for this discussion, we have Bertus de Jong. He is a freelance journalist who has been covering associate nations cricket for 15 years, and now primarily writes for Cricbuzz. You can follow him on Twitter for his work on @BdJcricket. Meanwhile, if you are new here do check out @neveronthebackfoot on Instagram and Threads and @neverontheback1 on Twitter (now called X) for the latest facts, updates, fresh content and a lot more coming up this cricket season.  The podcast is also available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, Spotify for Podcasters and many other platforms and spread the word. Never on the Backfoot is also on YouTube so don’t forget to subscribe to the channel and stay tuned for a lot of insightful content coming up there as well. Until next time, stay safe and take care, listeners. 🌻