On Sunday, Pakistan and India will face off in the first match of the Women’s World Cup.

The Women’s Cricket World Cup kicks off on Friday in New Zealand, with organisers hoping to capitalise on increased interest in the women’s game after overcoming a slew of pandemic-related roadblocks.

The eight-nation tournament was initially set to take place in early 2021, but it was forced to be postponed until March of this year due to coronavirus-related travel restrictions that prevented the teams from entering New Zealand.

Even now, international players are obliged to spend ten days in isolation and follow rigorous “bubble” health regulations.

As the host nation tries to suppress an epidemic of the highly transmissible Omicron strain, viewers are required to cluster in “pods” of 100 people distributed around venues.

While the risk of positive player tests hangs over the competition, Andrea Nelson, the tournament’s chief executive, said mechanisms were in place to deal with the vast majority of scenarios.

“We’ve had to deal with challenges the entire way through on this event,” she continued, “and we’ve conquered them all so far, so I have no doubt we’ll continue to do so.”

Women’s cricket has even greater promise, according to Nelson, who cites the 2020 T20 Women’s World Cup in Australia as one example.