CricInfo, the digital cricket information company, is to sponsor the Women's World Cup 2000, which will take place in New Zealand in November and December this year.

Hosts New Zealand will line up against seven other nations - holders Australia, England, India, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Ireland and the Netherlands. The tournament, the seventh of its kind, runs from 28th November to 23rd December 2000.

CricInfo's web site, wwc2000.cricinfo.com, will provide exclusive ground-breaking interactive coverage of the tournament, using the complete range of multimedia elements including video and audio, as well as ball-by-ball text commentary from every game. www.cricket.org, is the world's leading website dedicated to a single sport, with more than eight million users in 180 countries, and recently passed a total of one billion page impressions.

Christopher Doig, New Zealand Cricket's Chief Executive, said "We are delighted to be hosting the Cup for the second time, and to have such an attractive and innovative sponsor. We expect interest in the CricInfo Women's World Cup to be very high, and CricInfo's involvement will give this event a major global platform."

CricInfo's Chief Executive Officer, Simon King, said "CricInfo is very excited about sponsoring the Women's World Cup, which promises to be a major global event.

"We will really pull out all the stops in our coverage of the tournament, and aim to offer the most complete interactive cricket experience ever known. We want the CricInfo Women's World Cup to set a new benchmark for sports coverage on the Internet."

"By getting behind the Women's World Cup, we are confident of delivering the biggest ever audience for women's cricket. We are actively targeting strong growth areas in cricket, such as the women's game, to develop cricket, and build our own audience in the long term."

The opening game of the CricInfo Women's World Cup will be a top-of-the-table clash between the defending champions, Australia, and hosts New Zealand on November 29th.

The first Women's World Cup was held in England in 1973, and was to be the forerunner of the first men's World Cup in 1975. Australia (four times) and England (twice) have won the previous six Women's World Cup tournaments. The last final, at Eden Gardens in Calcutta, was attended by more than 80,000 people.

For further information, please contact: Peter Dwan, Marketing Manager New Zealand Cricket Tel: 03 366 2964 025 961 805 Email: pdwan@nzcricket.org.nz

Andrew Hall, Marketing Manager, CricInfo Ltd. Tel: +44 (0)7968 157722 Email: andrew.hall@cricinfo.com