Women adopt universal playing conditions

The latest meeting of the International Cricket Council's (ICC) Women's Committee has agreed every women's international match from November 2005 onwards will take place under a universal set of playing conditions.

Previously, each country operated under its own set of conditions but the eight-person Committee that met this week in Dubai decided on a change in policy as part of a drive towards standardisation throughout the women's game.

The meeting also agreed a universal code of conduct for players and officials and discussion took place on the possibility of replicating the policies of the men's game concerning suspect bowling actions and anti-doping policy.

Commenting on the major conclusions of the meeting, ICC Women's Project Officer Megan Smith said: "The idea behind standardising playing conditions and policy is to remove any scope for confusion while at the same time increasing the level of professionalism in the women's game."

Other items discussed during the two-day meeting included women gaining access to national academies and the idea of linking tours to ensure sides can gain maximum opportunities to play at the highest level.

The latter policy has already been adopted successfully by some countries with Australia visiting Ireland as well as England during the recent Ashes series.

The meeting was the second by the Women's Committee since the ICC took over the running of the women's game from the International Women's Cricket Council (IWCC) in April 2005, following the Women's World Cup in South Africa.

The Committee is made up of Chairperson Betty Timmer from the Netherlands, delegates from the Americas (Ann Browne-John), East Asia-Pacific (Catherine Campbell), Europe (Gill Conway), Africa (Joan Edwards), Asia (Shubhangi Kulkarni), a co-opted delegate (recently retired Australia international Belinda Clark) and ICC Global Development Manager Matthew Kennedy.

The purpose of the Women's Committee is to provide governance and leadership for women's cricket. It first met in June 2005 and its next meeting is scheduled to take place in March 2006.