On a rare windless day in Gqeberha, the second most sought-after team of cricketers in the women’s game stepped into the St George’s Park nets for a meditation. With thoughts swirling as the inaugural Women’s Premier League auction took place on the other side of the Indian Ocean, Australia’s cricketers were tasked with calming their minds and focusing on the task at hand – an upcoming T20 World Cup clash with Bangladesh.
The question of how to manage the distraction of the “game-changer” for women’s cricket in the midst of a global tournament had been lingering since the auction date was confirmed less than two weeks ago. “There’s no right or wrong way to go about it. Everyone will deal with it as they wish,” Australia captain Meg Lanning had said at the World Cup launch event.
For Lanning, that was putting it to one side until after Monday’s (February 13) training session, which meant that as Mumbai Indians and Delhi Capitals locked horns in a bidding process for her services, she was calmly strolling from the nets to the middle of the ground for a look at the pitch, oblivious to what colours she will be wearing next month and how much she will be paid.
While the Indian squad, who had two days before their next fixture, gathered in a hotel conference room in Cape Town to watch the auction together, cheering when each of their number was sold, Australia largely followed Lanning’s lead. As the team with the most overseas hopefuls in the auction, not everyone in the Australian squad could contain their curiosity about the extent to which their lives were about to change though.
Shortly after the start of the auction, with the net session winding down, a phone came out and Megan Schutt and Kim Garth joined Ashleigh Gardner to follow bidding on the latter. Gardner ultimately went to Gujarat Giants for 3.2 Crore – the joint top price for non-Indian players. This didn’t lead to a mass distraction though. Instead of everyone dashing for the dressing room and their phones at the end of the session, many of the players lingered and were more than happy to give time to volunteer bowlers who sought a piece of advice or a selfie.
By the time coach Shelley Nitschke arrived for the pre-match press conference, Ellyse Perry, Beth Mooney and Tahlia McGrath had joined Gardner in racking up big bids, while Alyssa Healy had gone surprisingly cheap. But was it the talk of the dressing room?
“Not really,” Nitschke insisted, before admitting: “I’ve heard a few things. But more broadly, I think it’s just a fantastic day for the game. It moves into, I guess, a different sphere of professionalism today. And it’s exciting to see where it’s going to go.”
By the end of the auction, 12 of Australia’s 15-woman squad had WPL deals while two of their players back home, Laura Harris and Erin Burns, had also booked a gig. That was twice as many as the next foreign country – England had seven, with Nat Sciver-Brunt matching the amount paid for Gardner.
“Ashley’s such a great all-rounder,” Nitschke said in support of the mammoth bid. “She delivers in three skills. She’s been really important for us over the last 12 months to two years, and even beyond that. But I think what we’re finding of recent times is she’s really coming into her game and maturing as a cricketer. She plays a key role for us. It was fantastic to see her perform with the ball and get her career-best figures against New Zealand. So, I’m looking forward to seeing what the (WPL) tournament brings for her.”
Back in the Cape, South Africa could ill-afford to lose focus on Monday evening’s game in Paarl against New Zealand after their shock loss to Sri Lanka in the tournament opener. They chose to follow the auction in their personal hotel rooms, rather than come together as a squad.
That was probably wise given that a gathering could have turned glum when just three of South Africa’s hopefuls – Shabnim Ismail, Marizanne Kapp and Chloe Tryon – were picked up. A fourth South African was also bought, but she is not a part of their squad and so she was able to celebrate more easily.
As Dane van Niekerk walked towards the commentary box, where she would be calling South Africa’s match against New Zealand, cheers of ‘RCB! RCB!’ echoed from the VVIP enclosure. If it wasn’t already clear, the T20 World Cup has been upstaged.
