Players, fans, families, official personnel and legends of the game come together to celebrate the game and highlight the opportunities for women and girls to get involved in cricket.
Trent Bridge has been the centre of a lot of positive news recently; the Trent Rockets are attracting
new fans to women’s cricket, and the news since the end of the season has helped fans get excited
about The 2023 season. England’s women will be playing a five-day Ashes Test match at the iconic
venue, as well as the evolution of Lightning into The Blaze as the East Midlands regional hub moves
from Loughborough to West Bridgford.
With the professional game making huge sides, there is even more incentive for the recreational
game to grow, not just to help develop the stars of tomorrow but to give women and girls across the
county access to the game that we all fell in love with.
The setup at Notts is slightly different from most counties, with the recreational and professional
teams collaborating under one umbrella, there is no longer the distinction between the two, and
there is a committee to ensure that there is accountability in every part of cricket run through the
county. This means that at the showcase Nottinghamshire’s director of cricket, Mick Newell, was in
attendance.
The Showcase allowed the clubs interested in starting or growing their women’s and girls’ sections
within their clubs. I followed two clubs Welbeck and Farnsfield, both established clubs in their
communities but at different stages of development within the women’s game as they worked their
way through mini workshops.
Tessa Whieldon kicked things off, the ECB Senior Manager for Female Participation, who outlined
not just the positivity coming out of women’s sport but cricket in particular which has seen
tremendous growth despite the recent pandemic.
The event allowed both clubs to talk to different people about how they could develop their setups
from Playcricket admin, scoring, and coaching. They also picked the brains of experts like Sue
Redfern on umpiring and how to inspire more people to take up officiating games.
There was information about the set-up of the different leagues and competitions for women and
girls ranging from softball to hardball, indoor and outdoor and how the other teams could help make
setups successful with an emphasis on collaboration.
Every assets of the running of women’s and girls’ cricket was catered for, even a meal of lasagne and
cheesecake that is the envy of the county grounds nationwide.
Things were rounded off with a Q & A session with former guests of Women’s Cricket Chat, national
treasure Enid Bakewell, Umpiring legend Sue Redfern, Performance Analyst Holly Armitage, Amy
Coyne - an umpire who won the Howard Walton Memorial Trophy plus Northern Superchargers and The
Blaze cricketer Lucy Higham who is also the Nottinghamshire captain. They spoke well about their
experiences in cricket and about the future of the women’s game.
What was amazing about the whole afternoon was just how committed people are about spreading
the game and making their clubs a success not just on the field but off it as well. I came away from
an event that I was originally observing to wondering how I could help the local clubs that I spend a
few informative hours with.
Hopefully this type of event will inspire other counties to do something similar. I would recommend
enquiring how your local county board can inspire you to help the grassroots flourish and ensure
that every part of the game is secure for the future.
If you are keen to get involved, you can find more information on cricket in the area here:
http://www.nottscricket.com/page/playing/women--girls-cricket/women--girls-cricket-4662/