CRICKET
Women’s Cricket
GOING LARGE
Tom Walker looks at the rise in popularity of women’s and girls’ cricket and how the success of the national team has created a new, but welcome set of challenges for the England and Wales Cricket Board
W
hen asked to compare the current state of women’s cricket with that of a decade ago, former England captain
Clare Connor says: “It is unrecognis- able, at all levels”, And no wonder – the statistical evidence shows phenomenal in- creases in the amount of women’s cricket being played all across the country. In 1999 there was no organised age
group cricket at county level for girls anywhere in the country. By 2009, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) staged more than 390 county age group cricket matches. At the highest level, the women’s
national team played just six one day in- ternationals (ODIs) and two Tests in 2001. In 2009, the team played 16 ODIs (includ- ing a World Cup campaign), contested the Ashes with Australia and took part in the Twenty20 World Cup playing seven games. The pace of development isn't showing any signs of slowing down. The number of clubs offering women
and girls’ sections has nearly doubled in the past few years. There were 327 clubs with girls’ cricket in 2007. By the end of 2009 that figure had grown to 505. The
EXCELLENCE IN THE MAKING
STAFFORDSHIRE
In 2006 a single volunteer in Stafford- shire provided the region’s first girls’ age group competition for cricket clubs, when four teams took part in a softball competition. There are now more than 16 clubs involved in three age group competitions for the clubs – hardball and softball – strengthening their talent pool for selection into county squads.
FINCHAMPSTEAD CC
The Berkshire-based club runs a success- ful girls’ section. Current England captain Charlotte Edwards (pictured above) is the region’s Chance to Shine Ambassador and girls’ cricket has been made sustainable in part by schools buying into extra ses- sions offered by club coach Dave Taylor. Girls’ cricket has become a core priority for linking the club with the community.
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increase in quantity at the grassroots lev- els coupled with improvements in quality at the elite level – the England women’s national team is universally recognised as the best in the world. It conquered all during 2009, securing the Ashes and win- ning the World Cup in both the 50-over format as well as the Twenty20 mode.
ONWARDS AND UPWARDS
Connor, who received her OBE after guiding England to an historic victory against Australia in 2005, is in a unique position to comment on the develop- ment of the women’s game at elite level. She made her England debut in 1995 and, after a record breaking 93 ODIs and 16 Test matches, retired as an Ashes- winning captain a decade later. She was appointed head of women’s cricket shortly after her retirement and is currently responsible for women’s elite cricket – from county cricket up through to the ECB Academy and the full national team. “The sport is incredibly healthy and is
keeping us very busy – in a really good way,” Connor says. “The success of the full England side in 2009 (winning the
Ashes and both World Cups) was truly exceptional and unparalleled.” Connor says that the success of the
national team has now created a set of entirely new challenges for the back- ground staff. “At the elite level we are now under pressure to sustain that level of success and keep finding new ways of challenging the players and retain- ing our best players. After all, it is an amateur sport, so we are constantly looking at how we can best support the elite players so they can keep on playing for England. Through the Academy, we are also in the position to do this for the players outside the England squad – the younger girls who are knocking on the national team door and are showing real talent for the game.” As part of plans to support the elite
players financially and allow them to concentrate on their cricket, in 2008 the ECB launched the Chance to Shine Coach- ing Ambassador contracts. Operated by the Cricket Foundation, the Chance to Shine scheme aims to regenerate com- petitive cricket in a third of all primary and secondary state schools in England and Wales and bring the educational benefits of competitive cricket to two million state schoolchildren by 2015. As part of the programme, eight national team players have been offered contracts to deliver regular, paid coaching sessions under the Chance to Shine umbrella. “These contracts have supported our
elite players over the last couple of years, giving them a balanced, structured life- style,” Connor says. “It allows them to work and train and tour and really eases the pressures on normal life.” It’s not just the elite players that benefit. What
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