TV boost for Australia women

Australia women have arrived in Melbourne ahead of their Twenty20 series opener against England on Friday buoyed by the news that the match will be shown on television. It won't be live, but there will be a one-hour highlights package on Channel 9 on Sunday, February 10 and the move represents a big step for women's cricket in Australia.

The game has not been shown on television in the country since the World Cup final in 2005, when images were beamed back from South Africa, but now the limited-overs match, a curtain-raiser for Australia men's match with India on February 1, will be shown on terrestrial television. In fact, it's only recently that Cricket Australia arranged for the women to play at the MCG, which will also boost the game as the women's skills will be seen by those arriving early for the sell-out match.

Twenty20 is seen as an excellent vehicle to promote the women's game. It is the second year men's state matches have been preceded by women's state games with some success, while in England's summer, international women's matches often came before county games. In India, an Afro-Asia women's game came before the men's equivalent, though it was a low scoring game and far from the best advert.

Australia women, however, always deliver high-quality cricket and will be confident of doing so again this week. They have a training day on Tuesday ahead of a warm-up against Australia Under-21s AKA the Shooting Stars, on Thursday. Jodie Purves' broken finger has ruled her out of the squad, and Leonie Coleman has been called up instead.

The home side will be watching England's results with interest before their own warm-up, meanwhile: so far their opposition have played two, lost two against a state side and the Shooting Stars.