Vanessa Williams, the American actress of Ugly Betty and Desperate Housewives fame, is on the surface an unlikely candidate to spearhead the launch of a Cricket World Cup.
However, at Lord’s on Thursday Williams formed part of an all-female panel – alongside World Rugby player of the year, Ellie Kildunne, and Nobel peace prize winner (and former Oxford University cricketer) Malala Yousafzai – which officially kickstarted the countdown to the 2026 ICC Women’s T20 World Cup, to be held in England.
Listening to Malala attempt to explain cricket fielding positions to a former Miss America, also the singer of the 1992 hit single Save the Best for Last, surely made this one of the quirkier events ever to grace the Long Room. But as the event progressed, the choice of three women panellists who are leaders in their respective fields of entertainment, sport and activism began to make sense.
Back then, England seamer Lauren Bell was a 16-year-old torn between cricket and football. It was watching Shrubsole’s magical spell of six for 46 from the stands at Lord’s which convinced her to choose cricket. In just over a year’s time, Bell could be following in her heroine’s footsteps and opening the bowling in a home final. “Seeing England win a World Cup, 16-year-old me wanted to be there one day,” Bell says. “It’s crazy to think that nine years on, I’ll have the chance to do that and be that person, and maybe inspire even more people.”
The launch event concluded with a spine-tingling moment which would surely have made WG Grace turn in his grave: the projection of portraits of female cricketers of all ages across every wall of the Long Room, conjuring up an alternative vision of what a sport which truly embraces half the population could one day look like. Vive la révolution.
