The women’s national teams won two World Cups and retained the Ashes in 2009. Left: England captain Charlotte
Edwards and Chance to Shine ambas- sadors working with children (below)
KEY STATS’
Women’s and girls’ cricket
If girls have a cricketing role model to aspire to, then the
sport immediately becomes a natural choice for them
• There is currently one women’s or girls’ club for every 12 cricket clubs. • The south west has the best ratio for women’s and girls’ cricket – with one in nine clubs offering girls’ cricket • There are currently 505 clubs involved in women’s or girls’ cricket – an increase of 20 per cent on 2008 and 54 per cent on 2007 • The ECB has recorded increases in overall participation for the past three years – 2009 saw women’s and girls’ cricket rise by 15 per cent (24 per cent in girls’ cricket alone)
better way for a young cricketer to learn and be inspired than by being coached by an international star? “The contracts have had a massive im-
pact on grassroots development in terms of the number of girls that have been coached through Chance to Shine. It is fantastic for young girls to have these amazing role models coming into class- rooms and playgrounds, inspiring them to pick up a bat and a ball. We’re really pleased with how it’s worked out.”
GRASSROOTS
While finding new ways to test and stimulate the all-conquering national team might be the biggest task faced by Connor and her team at elite level, the increased popularity has created fresh
Issue 2 2010 © cybertrek 2010
challenges at grassroots level too. Sue Redfern, head of development for wom- en’s and girls’ cricket, lists four issues that she sees as crucial to get right if the girls’ game is to further develop and improve. “Firstly, we still need to create more
opportunities for girls who are interested in cricket – such as the ones involved in Chance to Shine classes – to actually play the game,” says Redfern. “At the mo- ment we have 505 clubs offering girls’ and women’s cricket, but if you take into account that there are more than 6,000 cricket clubs in the country, then you’ll realise that the figure 505 is still less than 10 per cent of all clubs.” “Secondly, there’s no point in linking
the girls to the clubs if the counties do not provide them with age and stage
appropriate competitions. Without suitable competition, you are unlikely to retain the girls’ interest and are in danger of losing players.” Redfern repeatedly emphasises the
importance of providing “age and stage appropriate” cricket at grassroots level. She says that a lot of thought must go into when to introduce hard ball cricket to girls and when to keep playing some of the more inclusive forms of the game. “Traditional 11-a-side cricket might
not be that appealing for all girls, so we need to think how we keep everyone involved. Do we use indoor cricket? Or offer eight-a-side Kwik cricket in a more mature format? Twenty20 cricket has a role to play to keep it short too, because time can often be an issue for the girls,
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