With this year’s edition of the ICC Women’s World Cup reaching its final few games and England all-but confirming their place in the semi-final, expectation is building for a replication of the famous win at Lord’s back in 2017.
Nat Sciver-Brunt’s side are set to play their semi-final against South Africa, the second-placed team who beat The Lionesses earlier in the group stage, with potential for a repeat of the 2022 final against Australia looming.
As women’s cricket has grown over the last 15-or-so years, the game has garnered more exposure and has occupied more time on the television screen.
As a result, cricket clubs across the country have invested more time and money into women and girls’ teams, and in the absence of numbers, clubs are encouraging women and girls to take part in men’s teams.
There is no doubt that there is a direct correlation with the successes of the England Women’s team and the influx of women and girls who are starting to pick up a bat and ball.
One club that has seen significant growth in recent years with respect to women and girls is Liverpool Cricket Club (LCC), one of the oldest sports clubs in the UK who are based in Aigburth.
Head of Cricket Matthew Jackson said: “The biggest boost for women’s cricket was England winning the World Cup in 2017 and that’s down to exposure.
“I coach cricket and I’ve seen the effect of making role models out of the players. You’re putting it in the public eye a lot more and young girls playing cricket will see those players as role models and that encourages girls to get involved in the game more.”
Boosting women’s cricket at a grassroots level isn’t just a positive for the players, but it helps the clubs too.
Having more players at the club helps feed the cricket ecosystem through paying fees and buying club kits, allowing the clubs to invest money back into the game improving facilities like nets, equipment and wicket quality.
The more people involved in the sport the better, as clubs can become central parts to local communities as their pavilions become makeshift village halls or function rooms during the winter, and new faces coming into the sport help keep these traditions alive.
Matthew Jackson also highlighted the role that The Hundred has played in attracting women and girls to the sport, saying:
“Putting the women’s game on at the same time as the men’s has made people more aware of the sport and that makes them more likely to watch.
“I had a meeting in Manchester this summer so I couldn’t go to the men’s Manchester Originals match but had time for the women’s beforehand. I went to the women’s game for a couple of hours. No disrespect, but there is no chance I would’ve done that before The Hundred.”
The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) announced towards the end of this summer that women and girls were leading the way in terms of growth within the sport, with almost 600 new girl’s teams and nearly 550 new women’s teams, totalling 2,772 and 2,952 respectively.
The ECB has been involved in the award-winning ‘This Girl Can’ campaign since 2015, empowering women and girls to get involved in local cricket with the potential pathway to county cricket ahead of them.
Many county clubs have joined the ECB with initiatives such as Sussex’s ‘This Girl Can-Be Inspired By’ event in 2024, where schoolgirls from Brighton and surrounding areas heard from women who have had forged careers in the sport.
The intention of the schemes was to give young girls role models who they identify with and show them that it is possible to achieve their goals within cricket, and to encourage students and teachers to speak about potential boundaries at school.
