Three years ago, Broughton Cricket Club in North Lincolnshire didn’t have any offer for women and girls to play. It’s just one remarkable example of how quickly cricket can grow that it’s now got four teams stretching across softball and hardball formats, with more than 60 players training and playing together each week.
Happily, we’re seeing stories like this emerge from all over England and Wales. This year has been a record-breaking summer for all recreational cricket, with 192,500 games played across England and Wales – up 12,500 on the previous best.
Major growth in the number of boys’, girls’, and women’s cricket teams has helped to fuel this. We’re one of only three team sports where participation of under 16s participation is currently growing.
In just 12 months, we’ve had 25% growth in the number of women’s teams and 21% growth in the number of girls’ teams. All of this meant we could celebrate 1,000 new women’s and girls’ cricket teams in 2024, which is a brilliant achievement as we strive to welcome more people into cricket and show it is a game for everyone.
But despite all this good news, we know we’re still closer to the start of the journey than the end. There is much more to do.
That’s why improving cricket access for young people is at the heart of the Inspiring Generations 2025-28 strategy we launched in the autumn. There are three main elements to this.
In recent years we have taken cricket into many more state schools and schools or centres for children with special educational needs through charity partners Chance to Shine and Lord’s Taverners. Alongside our All Stars and Dynamos programmes, this is working well, and it’s something we want to continue to build on, including a programme to expand cricket in state secondary schools.
Over the coming years, we’ll also be increasing our strategic investments into activity to support diverse communities in cricket.
And the other main element of our strategy is the continued advance of women’s and girls’ cricket. Half the population is typically underserved by most team sports. This work is about changing perceptions and fuelling the ‘normalisation’ of cricket for women and girls. We haven’t completed that journey yet, but the trends and trajectory look very, very positive.
When I was at school, twenty-something years ago, there were fewer than 100 clubs in England and Wales that offered any cricket for women. Now, more than a third of cricket clubs do. Clearly, I’d love that figure to be closer to 100% - but we’ve come a long way from a very low base, and it’s important to see that perspective.
It’s not just about playing opportunities, either. It’s about driving a complete cultural shift, where women’s and girls’ cricket is every bit a part of a club’s activities as its traditional men’s and boys’ set-up.
Over the last two years, the support we’ve received from Metro Bank, as our first ever Champion of Women’s and Girls’ Cricket, has been absolutely invaluable. Together, we’ve developed the new Metro Bank Girls’ in Cricket Fund designed to accelerate cricket’s progress towards becoming a more inclusive sport. In 2024, we’re already seeing it make an impact to volunteering and coaches in girls’ cricket, and in 2025 the Fund will grow even more with a full rollout across every County Cricket Board.
It's always fantastic when a commercial sponsor wants to support a scheme, because it gives it instant credibility. Metro Bank could have chosen any other part of cricket, but using its funding to drive forward coaching in the female game is a brilliant decision. These coaches, frankly, are going to change the face of our game in so many ways. And it’s so important to see England Women cricketers and coaches on the branding in all Metro Bank’s stores. We’re very grateful for Metro Bank’s support.
Across all sports, we have to step back and remember that we are still recovering from the huge impact that Covid had on participation numbers. Some sports, particularly team sports, just haven’t recovered. So I’m extremely proud that we’re on an upward curve across the board. It means cricket is playing an important role in giving people the opportunity to leave the house, mix with others, and enjoy all the mental and physical benefits of keeping active and having a sense of belonging.
I’ve been in this job for 10 months and every day I feel incredibly privileged and proud to work with the wider team, our ECB colleagues, our partners, and most importantly the sport’s volunteers – because that’s where the real magic happens.
Now we’ve got to keep it going and make sure we take the whole game with us. We can’t pretend it’s easy. But we’ll continue to strive for ongoing sustainable and sensible growth – and we know we haven’t completed our work yet.