Veteran England cricketers Kate Cross and Alex Hartley, who sparked controversy after accusing the International Cricket Council (ICC) of favouring India through the scheduling of the Women's T20 World Cup, have revealed they received death threats and online abuse following their remarks. The ICC later issued a clarification, insisting the scheduling was not designed to benefit any particular team.
Speaking on No Balls: The Cricket Podcast, Cross and Hartley had pointed to the fact that India knew their potential semifinal schedule well before the tournament got underway in England. In a clip that went viral ahead of India's virtual quarterfinal against Australia on June 28, Cross noted that if Harmanpreet Kaur's side qualified, they would be guaranteed to play the first semifinal on June 30, scheduled to begin at 8:00 pm IST — a prime-time slot for Indian television audiences.
“Can we talk about the fact that I have seen today that if India qualify for the semis, they’re guaranteed to play in the Tuesday semifinal because the ICC thinks that it’s the best one for them to play in time-wise,” Cross had said.
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Hartley agreed, adding that similar scheduling arrangements had been seen across both men's and women's ICC tournaments.
However, in the latest episode of the podcast, Hartley revealed that she had contacted an ICC official to seek clarification over the scheduling. According to her, the governing body explained that the timings of the two semifinals were determined to maximise viewership across different global markets rather than favouring India.
“I've actually spoken to somebody at the ICC to clarify everything that has been said. This is what the ICC said: 'We'd like to clarify that this has nothing to do with India and that this has been done to optimise spectatorship in the UK as much as the global viewing.' So, my interpretation of that is that the 6:30 start is for the UK audience,” Hartley said.
Despite the clarification, Hartley revealed that both she and Cross had become targets of abuse on social media.
“We've been getting death threats and abuse online,” Hartley said.
Cross added that the reaction on social media had been overwhelming.
“I woke up this morning to 450 comments on that Instagram post about the ICC scheduling for the semifinals. Normally, we get around 30 comments per post. There's been a little bit of confusion because what we said doesn't warrant death threats and abuse.”
Cross also stressed that her comments had been misinterpreted and were never intended as criticism of the Indian women's team.
“It feels like we've cleared that up. Thanks to everyone who got in touch and supported us. That's been lovely to read. It's mad, isn't it? We've spoken about social media so much on this platform, but let's just be a bit kinder. I wasn't slagging off India as a cricket team,” she said.
She further clarified her original point.
“I was just saying, 'I don't think that any tournament should be based on one cricket team getting through to a semifinal.' Turns out that wasn't right anyway. To the person who quoted us, if you're going to quote us, quote what we actually said, not what you think we said. People have opened it up to their own interpretation.”
India, meanwhile, failed to reach the semifinals after losing to Australia in their final Group A fixture, eventually finishing third in the standings.