With the Ashes under way in Perth, England is about to be hit for six by cricket fever.
However, for Parkfield Women’s Cricket Club in Wallasey, the sport has become more than just a game.
Club President and coach Ben McDavitt launched the ladies team in May and has been bowled over by the impact the sessions have had on the community’s mental health.
He said: “Women’s cricket is very, very sociable. I sold it to the girls on fun, friends and fitness.
“There’s plenty in the team who have said to me that this has made a massive difference to their mental health.
“We’ve got a great, close-knit group who give each other a lot of support.
“If anyone’s going through anything, the girls all rally round and it’s reinvigorated me. I was losing interest in cricket after 44 years and this has given me something to get my teeth into and get me excited again.”
Parkfield were one of the last teams on The Wirral to introduce a ladies team, and club secretary Rachel Thomason says herself and the team don’t want the fun to end.
She said: “It’s been an incredible experience. We were supposed to finish for the winter in September like the men do, but the girls asked if we could carry it on indoors.
“For a lot of people, not only is it an opportunity to try and get fit, but it’s a chance to get out the house for an hour and be in a safe space with women who are supporting you to do something that was perhaps always been deemed for the boys.”
The team already has 30 members signed on, with McDavitt stumped as to why the club didn’t form a women’s side earlier.
He said: “I’ve been trying to get it going for the last three years.
“Women’s cricket is one of the fastest growing sports in the country and the Merseyside area in particular is a real hotbed.
“The idea was met with a lot of resistance and people saying we wouldn’t get the interest. So, I gave it a big push and we had 24 at the first session. So much for ‘it won’t take off’!
“If someone would’ve said to me in May it would’ve gone this well, I’d have said no chance. It’s good for their fitness, it’s getting them out and they’ve really bought into it.”
The team are hoping to join a league next summer, however Thomason insists,
unlike the Ashes, the importance lies in the feeling not the result.
She said: “I’d been having a rubbish time last week and I only came to the session because I had the equipment.
“My intention was to drop it off and leave but I played and I felt so much better after it.
“It was amazing. I went back home and I was happy. The endorphins, having a laugh with your mates, it’s fantastic.”
