This series feels like our moment to do that [for cricket].
With a tagline that suitably hyped up both games (The only thing better than an Ashes series?
Theres always a vicious cycle of Is there the product to market?
opening batter Tammy Beaumont says about the womens game.
Needless to say, the marketing team for this years Ashes campaign has made significant headway.
As with most womens sports, cricket has come a long way in the past 20 years.
Pros still have stories about playing on boys teams growing up in the 2010s.
[It] was your only choice, England bowler Freya Davies says.
You had to be willing to be the one that changed in a car or in a disabled toilet.
Ill never forget it.
Like Cross, Davies describes the shift in the last 10 years as massive.
You just need to put us on a level playing field.
(To put that into perspective, mens captainBen Stokes played 15 Testsduring 2022 alone.)
White ball cricket sells.
Although England didnt win, Beaumont says a secondary goal [was] achieved.
People were talking about womens Test cricket.
As with all sports, its the emotions that carry players and fans through a season.
Cross thinks back to when she first met Andrew Flintoff while training with the Lancashire academy as a teen.
He was my childhood hero growing up.
Im a product of the 2005 Ashes, she says.
It was just a Hi, Crossy, how are you?
He said that it was his favorite autograph.
This article was originally published onJuly 21, 2023
