Cricket Australia loses Southern Stars as official women's team name after chiding from prominent businesswoman

Updated

Some pointed questions from a prominent businesswoman have prompted Cricket Australia (CA) to change the official name of the women's national team.

The two national outfits will be referred to in the same way — simply as the Australian women's cricket team and the Australian men's cricket team.

The women's Southern Stars moniker will remain in a colloquial capacity, but some questions by businesswoman Ann Sherry prompted the change.

The Carnival Cruise Line chairwoman, who was an adviser on women's issues to prime minister Paul Keating from 1993 to 1994, asked CA a few tough questions at a conference in 2016.

"Ann rightly questioned whether we were walking the talk, whether we understood what it takes to be truly gender neutral, and a sport that is welcoming to women," CA chairman David Peever said.

Peever said while the move appeared mostly a cosmetic change, it carried "considerable weight".

"Cricket cannot hope to be a sport for all Australians if it does not recognise the power of words, and the respect for women that sits behind such decisions," he said.

Current squad members were informed of the name change at a function on Saturday that celebrated teams that won women's World Cups in 1978, 1982, 1988, 1997, 2005 and 2013.

"Australia's female cricketers are among the very best sportspeople this country has ever produced," Peever said.

"Australia has captured six of the 10 World Cup titles, winning more than 87 per cent of the matches it has contested, an astonishing figure.

"Today's team is ranked number one in the world across all three formats of the game."

Peever said the Southern Stars was "a wonderful brand that our cricketers have created" and will not disappear entirely, remaining across social media.

Topics: cricket, sport, australia

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