In a historic night for Australian cricket, the women’s team lifted their seventh Cricket World Cup trophy. Their last win came in 2013, and the difference in coverage has been stark. The year 2013 was big for Australian women’s cricket, with not only the World Cup victory but a significant pay bump for the number-one cricket team in the world.
The success of the team and star player Ellyse Perry was the start of increasing coverage enjoyed by the women’s side. The team’s success led to an increase in coverage generally, which has gone from strength to strength over the past decade. Here’s how the coverage compares.
The most prominent coverage this morning came from The Herald Sun and The Daily Telegraph, who both led with the story on their respective front pages.
They both also led the sport section with the team’s win, with a focus on the outstanding performance of Alyssa Healy.
In contrast, The Herald Sun’s wrap-up of the best covers of 2013 featured lots of cricket, and plenty of sport generally, but no mention of the women’s Cricket World Cup win.
The Oz opted to feature a preview on its front page to the lead sports story covering the back page. Its 2022 coverage of the entire World Cup spanned over 20 stories, which was far more significant than 2013’s handful of stories.
Today’s lead story, however, still left something to be desired. The lead sports article, and the only piece on the historic win in the print edition, largely focused on men’s cricket legend Adam Gilchrist’s comments on the women’s win.
The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age both went a similar route, opting to publish front-page previews to larger sports coverage. The Herald included three stories covering the win and the general dominance of the women’s side.
The increase in coverage has been proven to make a considerable difference to viewership of women’s sport. A massive spike in interest was seen during the pandemic, with 70% of Australians saying they watched more women’s sport by the end of the pandemic than at its outset. Respondents directly attributed their increased interest to the media attention given to women’s sport.
