Just after midday on Sunday the England captain, Nat Sciver-Brunt, smashed the India captain, Harmanpreet Kaur, for six off Waterloo Bridge, straight into the Thames. The scratch-match, which involved all 12 competing captains, was part of a chaotic, eye-catching event to launch the Women’s T20 World Cup. Also involved were a red London bus, the International Cricket Council chairman, Jay Shah, and a day-long takeover of one of London’s busiest thoroughfares. A Women’s World Cup has never been this big, this important or this annoying for black cab drivers.
The England and Wales Cricket Board has poured a lot of resources into trying to achieve its stated goal of making this tournament “a movement, not a moment”. Last week Sciver-Brunt, Lauren Bell and Sophia Dunkley became the first cricketers to appear on a Piccadilly Circus billboard. The entire West End cast of Wicked are being transplanted to Birmingham on Friday evening, to perform the musical’s biggest hits as part of the tournament’s opening ceremony.
