Quietly working wonders

In the men's game, Sachin blinks and it's front-page news. For the women, seismic shifts are underway, but they barely register on the Richter scale of media - and world - attention. Keen eyes, though, would have been scanning the developments following last year's merger of the ICC with the IWCC. And those followers won't have been disappointed.

While some countries whose boards merged years ago will see only marginal benefits - Australia and England, for example - for the rest it's like all their Christmases, Diwalis, Eids, and birthdays arrived at once, in a big bundle labelled "Cash".

India are already benefiting from huge improvements - getting to play in better stadiums, with better facilities and vastly increased match fees. As if to celebrate, they lifted the Asia Cup again, and even won a Test against England for the first time, just their third ever victory - and it was achieved on English soil, too, as they won the two-Test series 1-0. They did, however, fall to the Australians in the one-off Test earlier in the year.

Women's cricket in Africa is taking shape, too. For the first time there was a set of Africa pre-qualifiers for the qualifying tournament in Pakistan in 2007. Zimbabwe, in their first ever one-dayers, swept aside all opposition to storm into the next round, winning 3-0.

Something for Zimbabwean cricket as a whole to cheer about, as their male counterparts (and in some cases brothers - Julia and Chamu Chibhabha, Ed and Yvonne Rainsford all play at the highest level) slid into further misery on the international stage. Zimbabwe women will now join South Africa, who are still kicking themselves after narrowly missing out on automatic qualification in the last tournament, which they hosted, in 2005.

And it's not just cash: the ICC put their mouth where their money is. There was a big stride forward on the awards stage when Karen Rolton became the first ICC Female Player of the Year after three years of ICC Awards. It was fitting that Australia's captain should lift the award, after Anjum Chopra and Katherine Brunt were the others on the shortlist.

So the women are finally mixing it with the big boys like fellow Aussie captain Ricky Ponting and on the pitch there will be more mixing - with the announcement of a women's Twenty20 preceding a men's for the first time, when South Australia and Queensland head to the Adelaide Oval on January 10 in Australia. The idea is to showcase the women's matches, at no extra cost, to a ready-made audience. If it is deemed successful, the format could extend to international matches, an idea which has already been mooted informally in England.

Recognition came for one woman at Lord's. England returned to the home of cricket for the first time in five years and Claire Taylor graced the occasion with a flowing 156 from 151 balls against India, the fastest one-dayer at Lord's in history, eclipsing Viv Richards's effort in the World Cup final in 1983. She was rewarded with an honours board at the ground and that achievement, along with the admirable conduct of both sides in front of a crowd of 6000, will have done wonders in helping to convince the decision makers to stage another women's match at headquarters soon.

Another psychological boost came when Somerset offered Taunton as the home of women's cricket in England. For the first time the women will be considered alongside the men when it comes to having the pick of the fixtures. The more cynical may say this hints at Somerset bidding for Test status - if they can prove they can stage internationals and are seen to be promoting all forms of cricket, but they're showing their commitment in other ways, with an enviable women's set-up. They're even funding a girl, Anya Shrubsole, on the Academy at a cost of around £15k per annum and other counties, such as Lancashire, are following suit.

Attention, then, is being paid to the women's game. Sky covered some more one-dayers once again, if only to cover their contractual obligations. And unfortunately, despite some compelling cricket, the cameras also captured great swathes of empty seats, as matches still failed to large crowds.

India's captain Mithali Raj, though, is confident that with the new cashflood, the women can up their game to play more exciting, attacking cricket. Tests in particular need an injection of excitement. Scrapping them altogether may be more feasible. Tests are thin on the ground as it is - there were only three Tests played all year - and the players don't even practise playing this form of cricket leaving England, for example, to rely on their coach, the former first-class player Richard Bates, to talk them through session by session, as the games unfolded.

New Zealand refuse to play this form of cricket - and, with low attendances and little incentive to play, perhaps other countries should follow suit. Although two-day cricket is being introduced to India that makes them the only country to play anything above one-day cricket at domestic level. And of course two-day cricket is still vastly different from four days, as played in Tests.

Women's cricket, then is heading in the right direction. But while there's light, it's still a very long tunnel.