London: Former England captain Charlotte Edwards has expressed her concern for women’s cricket after The Hundred was postponed to 2021.
“There are so many mixed emotions really,” Edwards was quoted as saying by BBC World Service.
She added: “Obviously it’s the right decision but it was such an important year for women’s cricket on the back of the hugely successful World Cup in Australia, where nearly 90,000 people watched the game.
“We just really felt the momentum was with the women’s game and we were also going to introduce contracts this summer for 40 professional cricketers, and it’s all been put on hold at the moment.
“A lot of people are out of work as well. A lot of players were hoping to have contracts for the Hundred, which were quite lucrative for some of them, and everyone’s going to miss out which is so unfortunate and at such an important time for women’s cricket.”
The Hundred was pushed back on Thursday due to the coronavirus pandemic.
“For the players, it’s a worrying time,” said Edwards.
“But we have been guaranteed that the ECB will still go ahead with their £20m investment into the women’s game, which is something that is obviously keeping us all going at the moment, because this year was going to be hugely exciting for the game and important, and it’s good that it will go ahead — but it’s it being delayed that is going to prove to be a problem for some of the players.”
