Women's cricket is run by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), which merged with the Women's Cricket Association (WCA) in April 1998.
This has strengthened the ECB's ability to encourage the provision of more facilities, and more playing opportunities, for women and girls with a strategic, co-ordinated approach.
County Boards and County Development Officers are taking the lead in encouraging and promoting women's and girls' cricket. Some Counties are taking on additional County Development Officers with special responsibility for women's cricket.
And Women's Club Cricket Development Officers have been appointed for the first time. The four new jobs cover South West (Devon, Cornwall, Somerset, Dorset), East Midlands (Leics, Derbyshire, Notts and Northants), the North (Durham, Cumbria and Northumberland) and the Home Counties (Bucks, Berks and Oxon).
The appointments come as the numbers involved in the women's game increases. There has been an eight per cent rise in the number of clubs, resulting in a 19 per cent rise in the number of women playing cricket since 1998.
The number of primary school girls involved has increased from 354,000 to 433,000 and secondary school figures have increased from 139,000 to 174,400. The latest opportunity to combine improving cricket while studying for a degree at the six University Centres of Excellence is attracting women as well as men.This section of the ECB's website is intended to provide women cricketers and those interested in the women's game with some background information on the game - and a greater understanding of it's development role in English cricket.
The domestic game:
Many women's sides are part of men's clubs, many more are independent although a growing number of men's clubs are setting up women's teams.
There is a strong league structure from county, through regional to the National Premier League with an annual system of promotion and relegation. Some clubs play evening league cricket, others concentrate on weekend fixtures, some play both.
Before writing the article, I would like to make it clear that I am not trying to criticise anyone, who has a low opinion on women's cricket, but I would just like to share my views on women's cricket.
I don't think I have to research the history and talk about women in sports as everyone knows that there was a time, when women weren't allowed in sports. Gradually with time, they started taking part in most sports. Perhaps the most significant moment for women's sport came in 1973 when Bobby Riggs deliberately played the male chauvinism card by saying that female players are inferior and even at his age of 55, he can defeat them. BJ. King took up the gauntlet thrown at her and beat Riggs.
How much of it is true and if it is true, why women's cricket is of very low standard?
If I have to think of women's cricket, I would like to look at what the most talented fast bowler I have seen Akram say on women's cricket,
"They're not sharp, but they can become sharp if they play a longer version of the game - at least two-day cricket where they can bowl a lot more overs and, by doing that, their bowling muscles will get strengthened and their pace will increase. If you've got to play one tournament in two years or five one-day internationals, you're not going to improve your pace."
The best batswoman I have seen Belinda Clark agreed with Akram and said,
"I agree with him that [longer cricket] plays a very important role in developing not only bowling skills but the ability to bat for long periods and actually learn the game is done in the longer form of the game. The harsh commercial realities are that that's going to be difficult to do going forward."
The counter argument put forward by those who see women's cricket as a joke is, top teams like England have a coach, analyst, physio, strength and conditioning coach and maybe more. I don't care even if a team has the best physio, or a strength conditioning expert around, as a cricketer can only improve by bowling lots of overs, or by batting for long periods on a cricket field, but the sad part is, as Clark said because of the commercial realities, it is difficult to organise even two day cricket matches.
The next question that can arise is, whether women's cricket has ever produced cricketers at least of decent standard? I am not a cricket pundit, but from whatever little bit of women's cricket I have seen, I would stand by what I have said before that there have been more than a few cricketers, who were good. Let us look at few of the cricketers that I have been able to watch.
This has strengthened the ECB's ability to encourage the provision of more facilities, and more playing opportunities, for women and girls with a strategic, co-ordinated approach.
County Boards and County Development Officers are taking the lead in encouraging and promoting women's and girls' cricket. Some Counties are taking on additional County Development Officers with special responsibility for women's cricket.
And Women's Club Cricket Development Officers have been appointed for the first time. The four new jobs cover South West (Devon, Cornwall, Somerset, Dorset), East Midlands (Leics, Derbyshire, Notts and Northants), the North (Durham, Cumbria and Northumberland) and the Home Counties (Bucks, Berks and Oxon).
The appointments come as the numbers involved in the women's game increases. There has been an eight per cent rise in the number of clubs, resulting in a 19 per cent rise in the number of women playing cricket since 1998.
The number of primary school girls involved has increased from 354,000 to 433,000 and secondary school figures have increased from 139,000 to 174,400. The latest opportunity to combine improving cricket while studying for a degree at the six University Centres of Excellence is attracting women as well as men.This section of the ECB's website is intended to provide women cricketers and those interested in the women's game with some background information on the game - and a greater understanding of it's development role in English cricket.
The domestic game:
Many women's sides are part of men's clubs, many more are independent although a growing number of men's clubs are setting up women's teams.
There is a strong league structure from county, through regional to the National Premier League with an annual system of promotion and relegation. Some clubs play evening league cricket, others concentrate on weekend fixtures, some play both.
Before writing the article, I would like to make it clear that I am not trying to criticise anyone, who has a low opinion on women's cricket, but I would just like to share my views on women's cricket.
I don't think I have to research the history and talk about women in sports as everyone knows that there was a time, when women weren't allowed in sports. Gradually with time, they started taking part in most sports. Perhaps the most significant moment for women's sport came in 1973 when Bobby Riggs deliberately played the male chauvinism card by saying that female players are inferior and even at his age of 55, he can defeat them. BJ. King took up the gauntlet thrown at her and beat Riggs.
How much of it is true and if it is true, why women's cricket is of very low standard?
If I have to think of women's cricket, I would like to look at what the most talented fast bowler I have seen Akram say on women's cricket,
"They're not sharp, but they can become sharp if they play a longer version of the game - at least two-day cricket where they can bowl a lot more overs and, by doing that, their bowling muscles will get strengthened and their pace will increase. If you've got to play one tournament in two years or five one-day internationals, you're not going to improve your pace."
The best batswoman I have seen Belinda Clark agreed with Akram and said,
"I agree with him that [longer cricket] plays a very important role in developing not only bowling skills but the ability to bat for long periods and actually learn the game is done in the longer form of the game. The harsh commercial realities are that that's going to be difficult to do going forward."
The counter argument put forward by those who see women's cricket as a joke is, top teams like England have a coach, analyst, physio, strength and conditioning coach and maybe more. I don't care even if a team has the best physio, or a strength conditioning expert around, as a cricketer can only improve by bowling lots of overs, or by batting for long periods on a cricket field, but the sad part is, as Clark said because of the commercial realities, it is difficult to organise even two day cricket matches.
The next question that can arise is, whether women's cricket has ever produced cricketers at least of decent standard? I am not a cricket pundit, but from whatever little bit of women's cricket I have seen, I would stand by what I have said before that there have been more than a few cricketers, who were good. Let us look at few of the cricketers that I have been able to watch.
