World Cup winners come to Beverley

A BIG push to get more girls playing cricket in our region over the next two years was kick started with the visit of two World Cup winners to Longcroft School in Beverley.

The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) have pledged extra funds to increase participation in the women's game across the country and youngsters in Hull and the East Riding will reap the benefits in the coming years.

The popularity of women's cricket is growing year after year in this country and the great success of the England team in 2009 has only helped to further increase its appeal to youngsters.

Captained by Charlotte Edwards, the England women's cricket team won the World Cup for the first time since 1993 by beating New Zealand in the final in Sydney.

They followed this up by winning the World Twenty20 on home soil and they can also boast a victory over Australia's women in the Ashes series during the summer.

Two of the bowling stars throughout these triumphs were Kath Brunt and Jenny Gunn and the pair paid a visit to Beverley last Sunday to help kick start the development of the girl's game in our area.

The England fast bowlers gave a masterclass for under-11s and under-15s at the Molescroft education establishment, with over 60 girls turning out for the taster day.

Brunt, from Barnsley, and Nottingham's Gunn led the under-11s through a series of fun kwik cricket games and then taught the youngsters drills on how to hold the bat and ball correctly, before ending with some fielding drills.

The older group, which consisted of players from the successful national under-15 champions Beverley, had more specific coaching and did a net session with the England stars – who gave a talk about their background in the game to both groups.

Reece Bird, Yorkshire Cricket Board's cricket development manager, said: "It came about because we were looking at how we could develop the girls game.

"The boys game looks after itself , but the girls need a bit of a push in the right direction.

"With the contacts we have with the England women's team, we asked them to come over and put on a taster day to develop the game at under-11s and under-15s.

"The numbers we had down were brilliant and that reflects what can be done and the England girls who came were over the moon with how it went, and the feedback we had was fantastic.

"The two of them are playing at the top level nationally and internationally, but were only to happy to come and help develop the game in a different area of the country.

"The two of them are model professionals and they can have a lot of influence on youngsters just starting the game.

"It can only be good when World Cup winners like them come to pass on their experiences, it inspires kids to want to keep on going."

As well as trying to encourage children to keep on playing the sport, the event was also used as a talent identification platform, with five previously unseen girls impressing coaches enough to gain a call up to the Yorkshire Pathway training squad.

Furthermore, girls who attended the event have been steered in the direction of local clubs who have girl's teams.

Bird, who organised the taster event, is in charge of making sure the girl's game grows in East Yorkshire and is looking to improve participation in schools and in the club structure.

He is eager to latch onto the popularity of the game at present with the England team making the headlines as much as they are.

Bird added: "We are getting more money feeding down into the grassroots game and the ECB want a big push in the girls game in the next four or five years to really develop it.

"This extra funding will mean more coaching and playing opportunities for girls cricket and therefore increase participation.

"We want to help improve the structure so the club game can develop so we can have a good transition from the school game to clubs.

"Things are very much in there infancy at the moment but with taster days like the one we just put on, clubs can start to see what they need to do.

"Beverley are already strong at under-11s, 13s and 15s, while Hull Zingari, Sutton, South Holderness and Hornsea have also started girls sections.

"Over the next 12 months, I will be working with all the eight clubs in the area to help increase their capacity to deliver more cricket for girls, while we are also putting more coaching courses on to get more coaches out there.

"Things are slowly taking shape, it won't happen overnight. But by using the popularity of the sport right now and investing in these clubs, the game will develop.

"Cricket is not traditionally a girls game, but hopefully with our long-term strategy we will have a lot more playing the sport in the next two years."

Are you interested in playing girls cricket?

Contact Reece Bird to find out more

Email reece@yorkshirecricket.karoo.co.uk

Call 07834967048