Woman Alive deputy editor, Jemimah Wright reflects on an unexpected moment of revelation while watching the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup Final, discovering how the glory of God can be glimpsed even on a cricket field.
Connecting women’s cricket with the glory of God may seem a stretch, but stay with me.
I have never been a cricket fan. At school, I watched matches from the edge of the field, confused by overs, wickets, and runs. There were no girls’ teams, so I never played myself, and I’ve always preferred sports that move faster (apologies to all cricket lovers).
Yet last night, because my husband was already watching, I found myself viewing India’s defeat of South Africa in the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup Final.
The female players, mostly in their twenties, were astonishingly good.
The female players, mostly in their twenties, were astonishingly good. I found myself wondering about the long, often uphill path that brought them there, how much harder it must have been for women to reach the top in a sport so long dominated by men.
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As I watched, the words of St. Irenaeus came to mind: “The glory of God is man fully alive.” By “man,” he meant all humanity, women included, flourishing in the gifts God has placed within them. On that floodlit field, these women were fully alive: focused, fierce, composed, and radiant with purpose.
A little research revealed that women’s cricket has a surprisingly long history. The first recorded women’s match took place in England in 1745, and by 1887 the first women’s club, the White Heather Club, had been formed in Yorkshire. The first women’s Test match came in 1934, and the inaugural Women’s World Cup in 1973, two years before the men’s. What began as an amateur pursuit, often dismissed or underfunded, has grown into a global spectacle.
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So when I saw that packed 45,000-seater DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai, I couldn’t help but feel awe.
So when I saw that packed 45,000-seater DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai, I couldn’t help but feel awe. Here were women on the world stage, commanding attention and admiration, not as exceptions but as rightful heirs to their sport. I know that my namesake, Indian player, Jemimah Rodrigues is a follower Jesus, and I am certain of this: the Creator delights in seeing his children fully alive. Their gifts, sharpened by discipline, sustained by passion, are reflections of the image of God in them.
READ MORE: The female form and God’s glory: A new chapter in sports science
You could say this about any athlete in any sport. But perhaps it was more striking because they are women, athletes who, for generations, had to fight to be seen, heard, and funded. Their excellence is not only athletic; it’s redemptive. It testifies to what happens when human beings, long held back, step into the fullness of their God-given potential.
I watched pastor’s daughter, Jemimah Rodrigues, being interviewed after the final. She said, “Firstly I want to thank Jesus, I couldn’t do this on my own. I know he carried me through today, I feel like God scripted everything and at the right time, when you do things with the right intention, he always blesses. I think everything that happened so far was a set up for this. I have almost cried every day, I was not doing well mentally, going through a lot anxiety…then being dropped was another challenge. But I think all I had to do was show up, and God just took care of everything… towards the end I was quoting one scripture - I had lost energy, I was very tired. I just quoted scripture that says, ‘Stand still and he will fight for you’ and that’s what I did. I just stood there and he fought for me.”
St. Irenaeus wrote that God’s glory is revealed in human flourishing. Watching these women play, I caught a glimpse of that glory, not abstract or distant, but embodied, moving, and fierce. It was the glory of God reflected in joy, strength, and freedom. Cricket may never be my sport. But last night, it became a window, a reminder that wherever people live fully into their gifts, especially against the odds, the glory of God shines through.
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