Vanuatu Cricket has raked up almost half a million views over the weekend for the live streaming of their women’s super league final and men’s T10 exhibition match appeasing cricket hungry fans all over the world. The grand final being the only live cricket played in the world during this pandemic garnered views from cricket fans all over the world including India, the biggest cricketing country in the world, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Australia, New Zealand and the UK. The Vanuatu Cricket Association made the decision to resume their cricket activities after sports have been cleared to resume as normal by the authorities amidst the COVID-19 pandemic as Vanuatu is reportedly still free of the virus to date and relevant measures have been put in place such as closing the borders to prevent COVID-19 from entering and spreading within the country. Former national head coach now CEO, Shane Deitz, said that the live streaming provided valuable exposure for the country and proves that sport is universal regardless of how big or small your country is in the sporting world. Deitz also expressed the important takeaways from last Saturday's (25/04) events stating that it will help with the growth of cricket in Vanuatu and the steps the VCA will be taking moving forward. “Getting almost half a million views on our live stream is massive and it proves to us that there is an audience out there that would be happy to watch our cricket. We are a country of just over 300,000 people but that did not define our audience and it is fantastic to see cricket fans around the world rally behind us on the day. “The success of the day also shows that the growth of especially women’s cricket worldwide is not missed here in Vanuatu and we look forward to continuing the development of women’s cricket in our country. “One other important takeaway for us is that club cricket plays a huge part of the growth of cricket globally and we hope that our club players understand that they play a vital role in our cricket programs. We hope that this will inspire them and more young people to want to get involved in our cricket programs particularly our club cricket programs,” said Deitz. The live stream was not only the VCA’s first attempt at live streaming a cricket match but it was also the first introduction to cricket for Vanuatu’s local broadcasters, Vanuatu Broadcasting and Television Corporation (VBTC). Deitz praised the work of the broadcasting team along with the incredible support from the Holiday Inn Resort Vanuatu and Vanuatu’s number broadband provider, Vodafone Vanuatu. “The broadcasting team who worked hard to bring you the matches live have never seen a game of cricket before but hey produced great quality camera work to allow our viewers to get an intimate view of all the action on the field and we are grateful for the outstanding effort put by the team. “The live stream would also not have been possible if not powered by the Vodafone Vanuatu who have been great supporters of cricket in Vanuatu and our crowd also received a feast during the day thanks to our fantastic major sponsor and sponsor of our national teams, Holiday Inn Resort Vanuatu,” Deitz continued. Moving forward, the VCA is looking to capitalize on this experience and live stream more matches in the future with the hopes that it will bring more awareness to the sport locally as well as internationally. “We (VCA) are looking at options to continue live streaming our cricket and we have also looked at what needs to improve especially in terms of our live scoring to accompany the live streaming, the standard of play, our facilities and other aspects that needs our consideration. We know that people will watch if we can produce a good enough products and I can assure everyone that we are working on making this happen in the future. “We are also seriously looking at permanent options of broadcasting locally and internationally which we know will help raise the profile of not just our cricket and our players but also the profile of cricket in the Pacific,” concluded Deitz.
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