Call for separate funding of women's game

Vidya Chandrashekar, who is in charge of women's cricket in Kenya, has called on the ICC to allocate separate funding for the women's game.

"I request the ICC, Africa Cricket Association and the government to allocate separate funding for women cricket," she said. "We need to be working independently to develop the sport."

Women's cricket was only introduced in Kenya in 2000, and with recent internal squabbling under the old Kenyan Cricket Association meaning that the men's game received almost no money for several years, the women's game has effectively been left to fend for itself.

"Kenyan women have never looked back since they formed their association six years ago," she said at a prize-giving ceremony for the 2009 Women's World Cup qualifiers. "We have played several tournaments losing and winning matches."

"I've heard your request and I promise to pass it over, the way it is, to higher authorities," Tim Khumalo, the development director for the ACA, said. "We're going to fight hard to get money to develop women's cricket. With the sport at the World Cup level separate funding is likely," he said.