Although the Black Caps are getting a lot of media attention in Bangladesh, very little focus is directed at their female counterparts, the White Ferns, who are also competing in the ICC World Twenty20 competition.
So far, the Black Caps have provided great fodder for journalists. The heavens opened up and helped them beat England by nine runs courtesy of the Duckworth-Lewis method, and they tried to score seven runs from the final six balls, ultimately losing three wickets and the game (by two runs) to South Africa.
Now their chances of making the semifinals require copious amounts of good fortune to beat the Netherlands (a reasonable possibility) and Sri Lanka (not so likely).
It is easy to get caught up in the hype of the men's games during this tournament, with great coverage, a variety of camera angles, nailbiting games, skilled commentary to keep enthusiasm levels up when things get tedious, and numerous written explanations and opinions of how the match unfolded in the media.
Many of the male players are also well known. We are familiar with their names, their faces, and in some cases, their lives.
Women's cricket, on the other hand, struggles to get a similar quantity and quality of media attention.
Some would suggest this is because there isn't a market for women's sport and women's cricket in particular, and there is some merit in that argument, but if the product was packaged better, wouldn't that be something?
And by packaged better I'm not suggesting the White Ferns should be selected based on their supermodel looks, be coerced to wear skimpy clothing and groan seductively every time they hit the ball for six.
Our awareness of female athletes and teams would increase tremendously if we actually saw them in action, or knew them as people.
If highlights of the women's games were packaged for mass distribution with dynamic camera angles and exciting commentary, that would be a start.
Women's sport is a long way off being considered as equal to men's sport, and often the only time female athletes and teams are close to closing that gap is when they are seen to be contributing to national pride (the Olympics and Commonwealth Games), reflect images, values and attributes associated with heterosexuality and motherhood (how many photos of netballers with their children have we seen?), and last but not least, are held up as an example of what the men should be doing but aren't.
The New Zealand women's rugby team received a lot of media attention in 1998, for instance, not only because we won the inaugural World Cup tournament but also due to the All Blacks being on a terrible losing streak.
The media and talkback shows were scathing of the men in black, and the best way to emphasise their wrath was to compare them to the women's team.
In a recent parenting class we learned the value of praising our children, yet were warned against praising and criticising our children in the same breath (''I'm so happy you made your bed, but next time could you do it neater?''), or even worse, sarcastically praising them (''Oh my gosh, you actually made your bed? Did you wet it or something?).
It is even worse to praise one child by highlighting another child's failures (''Look how tidy Fred made his bed, Fran, why can't you do the same?'').
Making a comparison between men's and women's teams and their performances is a bit like this. It is a backhanded compliment to the women's teams and a slap in the face for men's teams who tend not to appreciate being compared to women (in rugby at least).
So, if you didn't know already, the White Ferns have beaten World T20 titleholder Australia (by seven runs) and newcomer Ireland. They will face Pakistan tomorrow and South Africa on March 31.
They have excellent players like Suzie Bates (who scored her eighth half century in 37 balls against South Africa) and Nicola Browne (who gave up the chance to pursue her Silver Ferns dreams to play for the White Ferns), who was named player of the match against Australia.
It is very difficult not to fall into the trap of drawing comparisons between the men's and women's teams, or highlighting their femininity and girl-next-door traits, but with a bit of awareness and extra digging around for information, it is possible to shed just a teeny bit of the genuine limelight on women's sport without necessarily giving them a backhanded compliment or the men's team a slap in the face.
