© ECB

ECB's Executive Director for Women's Cricket, Gill McConway, is writing an exclusive regular column for ecb.co.uk – covering all the latest news from the women's cricket scene

The weather may have been miserable here but a number of Counties made sure they were able to prepare well for the summer. In Cape Town an U19 Tournament is held each year which is organised by Cape Africa Tours. Teams from abroad are encouraged to enter and the entire experience for the English teams was fantastic.

Not only did they get to play some exciting cricket but it was also an opportunity to broaden their knowledge of South Africa and the communities surrounding the beautiful Cape. Bath Cricket Club, Derbyshire and Warwickshire entered in 2006. If you think your club or county may like to join in next year's fun, I am sure the Counties will be only to pleased to tell you how beneficial the tour was. Kent will be entering in 2007 and if you would like further information visit www.capeafricatours.co.za.

Further news from around the globe

Maia Lewis from Wellington New Zealand is keen to find an English cricketer of a high standard to play in their club league which starts in October and also their State League which runs over December and January. If you are interested please contact Maia direct: M.lewis@firebirds.co.nz.

Sri Lanka and Pakistan
Both countries are keen for County sides to tour.
Contact pcd.women@pcb.com.pk for Pakistan and gwenherat@eureka.lk for Sri Lanka

Adopt a country or twinning with a European country

This idea was outlined in the Winter Round-up. It's not all about touring other countries but also about sharing best practice. We are fortunate in England to have been playing cricket for many years and having well structure development programmes.

By sharing our knowledge and experience with European countries we can help them speed up their development. Caroline de Fouw can back up this idea. She has worked closely with Kent via email and coming over to see some of their development at grassroots in action. Caroline is keen for the Kent youngsters to visit in the summer to show off their skills and give the Dutch youngsters the opportunity to further improve their English, make friends and enjoy some quality cricket.

Yorkshire has expressed an interest in twinning with possibly Finland. I am at present working on hopefully getting this partnership up and running for them.

Holland
Kent are taking two tours to Holland this summer for the age group teams.

Germany
Gloucestershire invited Germany over to join in their coaching camp held at Clifton College in May half-term. The German girls came from Oldenburg and Berlin and were sponsored by the German Cricket Federation. Wraye Wenigmann, responsible for development of girls cricket in Germany, has won an award from the ECC and over a very short period of time has achieved a tremendous amount.

Ian Moss, who is responsible for the development of cricket in Gloucester and the initiator of the visit, even managed to have Bill Frindall as a guest at the coaching camp.

A quote from this remarkable woman: "Since we started in late 2005, the enthusiasm for cricket with girls and women has been fantastic and keeping me very busy. I have been proactively following a strategy here in Germany for the past three seasons to reward and recognise not only lady players but also scoring, umpiring and thanking the tea-ladies. It's all part of the game. The cherry on the cake for 2006 will be our exchange visit with Glos CC."

Come on counties, join in the twinning - give your girls the opportunity to learn more about a European country, make friends abroad and help them develop their cricket. Just send me an email and I will help you get started.

Development from Around the Counties

West Yorkshire - Impressive growth in their junior development of clubs.

Midlands - Their club league has grown from 12 to 18 teams in one season.

Suffolk - The newly appointed CDM Michael Kay has been very proactive and at last they have an Action Plan to guide them through the next 12 months of development.

Middlesex - have started a North London Women's League for developing clubs with 6 teams competing this year.

Shropshire - has formed a new senior women's team.

Lancashire - U13 and U15 girl's teams will be competing in the Greater Manchester Youth Games on July 1.

Surrey - Sharon Eyres has developed a vibrant Junior Clubs League in the County. This is an area where many counties could take a leaf out of Surreys book. The Partnership Manager for Active Surrey Sports Partnership informed a meeting that "Cricket more than any other sport in Surrey has benefited from Active Surrey's Club Development Benefit Package." Thanks to the work Sharon is doing on behalf of the Surrey Cricket Board with the clubs she has been able to sign off the paperwork to say these clubs are working towards Club Accreditation and the clubs have been able to send volunteers on courses at discounted rates.

Coaches Association

At present we have 1109 female coaches and only 358 of these coaches are members. Visit the ECB Coaches Association website to see all the benefits in becoming a member.

Female Tutors required
If you are a Level 2 or Level 3 coach and would like to become a Tutor please contact the Association for full details.

The ECB is keen to see more women coaches and we believe by having more female tutors this will encourage girls and women to sign up for Level 1 and Level 2 courses. At present we have only 8 female Tutors.

Super 4s

The Super 4s is proving to be another year of terrific cricket.

The T20 competition was won by the Diamonds - skippered by our England Captain Charlotte Edwards. Her team beat the Sapphires who are lead by the newly appointed vice captain Laura Newton.

Uppingham the new home for County Championships turned on beautiful weather and quality pitches for the first two 50-over matches of the league. An action-packed weekend with a record individual score by Charlotte Edwards of 198not out, a record team total of 337 for three by the Diamonds, a hat-trick by new S4s captain Gill Richards and a tie between the Emeralds and the Rubies.

For full match reports click onto the Super 4s site on play-cricket.com.

Come along to the final weekend on the July 8 and 9 at Loughborough University. The England and Development teams for the summer will be announced week commencing July 10.

Development National Knock-out

The Regional Finalist come head to head on Sunday June 18.

• City of Leeds v Derby
• Cambridge Papworth v Horsford & Norwich
• Dukesmead v Hayes
• Quatt v Moseley

T20 Premier League Finalists

These matches will be held at Taunton on September 3.
Bath, Invicta, Shepperton and North Riding. Somerset County Cricket Club and Kings College will be the venues.

The winners of the morning matches will play on the county ground for 1st and 2nd place and the losers will play off for 3rd and 4th position at Queens. The draw will be done at the presentation at County Champs. The first two teams drawn will play their match at the County Ground.

MCC Membership

If you want to know more about becoming a member of the MCC Women's Playing Section please contact kate.matheve@mcc.org.uk. They play matches throughout the summer and have recently visited Sri Lanka.

Regional Women's Cricket Patrons

We are looking for a person in each of the regions who has celebrity status such as an MP, Sports Personality, Entertainer, Writer, Artist etc.

If you have any suggestions of a candidate who would fill this role please let me know.

The celebrity status would help influence the media to take more interest in covering a news story or event in the Region.

Their level of involvement would depend on the level of media interest required for the particular event or story and would range from giving a quote, an interview or attending the event.

Help us find the right person for your region.

Congratulations to Patsy Lovell

Patsy has been awarded the MBE for her services to cricket. She played an important role in both Surrey club and county cricket before becoming an England Selector. Click here for further details.

England v India - International Schedule

NatWest Women's International T20 - 7.00pm start
5 August - Derbyshire CCC

npower Women's Tests - 11am start
8 - 11 August - Leicestershire CCC
29 August - 1 September - Somerset CCC

NatWest Women's Series - 10.45am start
14 August - Lord's
17 August - Shenley
19 August - Arundel
24 August - Rosebowl} Televised live on Sky Sports
25 August - Rosebowl} Televised live on Sky Sports

Please support the England Team and bring along friends, family and members of your club and county.

Look back at previous round-ups

• Women's Cricket Round-up - Winter 2006
• Women's Cricket Round-up - Autumn 2005
• Women's Cricket Round-up - Summer 2005
• Women's Cricket Round-up - May - June 2005
• Women's Cricket Round-up - March 2005
• Women's Cricket Round-up - December 2004
• Women's Cricket Round-up - February 2004
• Women's Cricket Round-Up - March 2004
• Women's Cricket Round-Up - April 2004
• Women's Cricket Round-Up - May 2004
• Women's Cricket Round-Up - June 2004
• Women's Cricket Round-Up - July and August 2004
• Women's Cricket Round-Up - September 2004
• Women's Cricket Round-up - Jan/Feb 2005