Women’s cricket is going left

No one needs more right-arm seam, certainly not the women.

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Men’s cricket is a sea of left-handers. Southpaws, goofy footers, whatever you want to call them. We see them everywhere, and it’s a very normal thing.

However, this is new, and traditionally those kind of players were left behind. And that is where women’s cricket has been, in a right-hand dominant world.

Until now.

In the last two World Cups in 2017 and 2022, you have about 16% of the women batting as lefties. For this tournament though, we’re up at 20% and you can see it’s a bit of a jump. Nothing huge, but it isn’t nothing.

As a crutch, too many people compare women’s cricket to the men’s game in the wrong way. They say things like Mithali Raj is the Sachin Tendulkar of women’s cricket. But these are two different sports, and using the men’s game you can see just how much they vary.

The top ten sides in men’s ODIs over the last couple of years have 32% of the batters as left-handed. Even that jump to 20% is a mile behind, but it is kicking in the right (or left) direction.

Some of this is professionalism, more women in the game and more athletes. Players are now being picked on their skillsets and how they fit into a lineup, and not just on how talented they are.

But there can be no doubt that women’s cricket is leaning left this World Cup.