A huge crowd is guaranteed for the women’s Twenty20 World Cup final whether or not Australia qualify for the MCG decider after the International Cricket Council confirmed more than 50,000 tickets have already been sold for the 8 March tournament finale.
There has long been an ambitious push for the match to break the official world record for the highest crowd at a women’s sporting event. To do that, the final will have to attract more than the 90,185 fans which saw the USA defeat China to win the 1999 Fifa Women’s World Cup at the Rose Bowl in California.
Some sources suggest there was a crowd in excess of 100,000 at the non-Fifa recognised 1971 women’s football World Cup in Mexico, but an official figure is not available.
Australia coach Matthew Mott said his team is aware of the hype and the expectations on them qualifying for the final. They face a sudden-death clash with New Zealand on Monday, with the winner progressing to the semi-finals.
“Everyone coming into this tournament expected us to dominate, but we never thought that. We knew it was going to be really tight,” Mott said. “The only thing we care about [right now] is this Kiwi game.”
Australia and India broke the attendance record for a standalone women’s cricket match last Friday, when 13,432 turned out for the T20 World Cup opener at Sydney Showground Stadium.
But that figure will be dwarfed next weekend, with pop superstar Katy Perry’s pre-game performance sure to attract an eclectic mix of spectators on International Women’s Day. The MCG already holds the record for the biggest crowd at a cricket match after 93,013 people saw Australia beat New Zealand in the 2015 men’s World Cup final.
Meanwhile, Ellyse Perry is no certainty to play in Monday’s match against New Zealand. The allrounder injured her hip in Australia’s resounding win against Bangladesh in Canberra on Thursday night, but Mott is hopeful she will be fine to play at Melbourne’s Junction Oval.
“Any time you get a niggle I suppose there’s doubt but I’ve seen her push through what seems to be worse than that and still be able to perform. We’ll just have to assess her over the next 24 to 48 hours and make sure she’s right,” Mott said.