To celebrate the inaugural Day of Gender Equality, a women’s T20 match will be played between the Sir Paul Getty XI and the Fairbreak International XI at the Wormsley Park cricket ground in the U. K. on May 30.
The venue, located on the Buckinghamshire estate of the late billionaire philanthropist John Paul Getty, is considered one of the world's most picturesque cricket grounds. It will be the first time the Sir Paul Getty XI, to be led by the former England captain Charlotte Edwards, will be represented by a women's team.
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Both sides are fielding elite players with the Fairbreak XI to feature New Zealand's Suzie Bates and Australia's Alex Blackwell, who recently retired as her country's most-capped female cricketer. India will be represented in the Fairbreak team by the Karnataka's Akanksha Kohli and Delhi's Laxmi Yadav.
"Too often women's cricket is viewed as a cut-down version of men's cricket but it should be seen as a stand-alone product," said Shaun Martyn, founder of Fairbreak , an organization that works towards gender equality. "To have players from Rwanda, Oman and Vanuatu in the Fairbreak team is fantastic. Hopefully, this will be a revelation for women's cricket and how it's viewed."
The former Australian fast bowler Geoff Lawson, who oversees cricket operations for Fairbreak , and is an assistant coach with the Sydney Sixers, said: "In Australia, women's cricket is on an equal footing but not in terms of how the players are paid. Lisa Sthalekar is one of our finest cricketers but in material terms, cricket treated her poorly. The discipline, skills and commitment on show in the WBBL are fantastic. But don't compare it with the BBL. See it for what it is."
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