It seems that most of us know the women’s game exists, we saw the victorious Ashes winning ladies side share the men’s open top bus trip around London and then our knowledge ends there.

 

The Corridor will be working with the YWCA to fill the gaps in our understanding of women’s cricket. We’ve established a Yorkshire Women’s Cricket section of the site and over the next few months we will be keeping up to date with the various teams’ progress and interviewing some of English crickets best female talent.

 

I spoke to Carl Parkin who is the Publicity and Marketing Officer for the YWCA. I told him that most of The Corridor’s readers knew very little about the women’s game. Most of us were aware of the England teams Ashes success in 2005 but few of us know a lot more.

 

There are many people who don’t know much about women’s cricket but in fact it is one of the fastest growing sports in the country alongside women’s football. I got involved as a coach because I realised there were lots of opportunities in the women’s game. Last year was my first season coaching at county level when I coached the Under 17’s and we went on to win the County Championship beating Kent in the final at the ECB Academy in Loughborough. That was a really big achievement for all involved.

 

Over the past few years the number of women and girls playing the game has increased a lot. There are some really talented girls out there and YWCA is working hard with the four District Associations to develop systems that allow those players to develop to the best of the ability and play at the highest level.

 

You’re the coach of the Under-17’s now are you?

 

I am yes. I do quite a few roles, I managed the Senior Team as well last year, but my primary role is coaching the Under 17’s, and the publicity and marketing. We are always looking for more people with the relevant skills to help us develop as a professionally run voluntary organisation.

 

How many staff are involved at the YWCA? You’ve got coaches across all the age groups?

 

The Women’s game is run by the YWCA committee which is a branch of the Yorkshire Cricket Board (YCB) and we have representation on the Board and on all the relevant YCB sub-groups.

 

On the cricketing side we’ve got a Director of Cricket who has the overall say regarding the coaching and the training programme that is delivered. Each side has then got a manager, a coach and an assistant coach and we’ve got five teams – the Yorkshire 1^st Team (which has got some youngsters in it), then we’ve got the Development Squad which we’ve run for the last three years, the Under-17’s, 15’s and 13’s. This year the Development Squad will be for under 21’s possibly looking to move towards u19s in 2008 to fit with emerging ECB strategy.

 

Unfortunately our existing Director, Paul Shaw, who is also the YCB Cricket Development Officer for the East and with responsibility for women’s cricket, has had to leave the post as his talents have been recognised by the ECB. Paul is now a Coach with the ECB England Academy working closely with emerging England players. The Association would like to thank Paul for his hard work and the YCB for allowing his involvement with the County squads over the last few years. The foundations Paul has put in place are strong and should stand us in good stead.

 

We are pleased to say that we have just appointed a new Director of Cricket to oversee all the squads for the 2007 season. Richard Damms has worked with women cricketers before and is currently working with Paul at the YCB Women’s Pathways Gold Centre. Richard is eager to build on the work that Paul has done over the past few years and the Association is looking forward to working with him to put Yorkshire Women’s Cricket at the top.

 

Is the development squad the equivalent of the men’s Yorkshire Academy?

 

The Yorkshire Academy does include places for two female players which are currently Rochelle Petty and Kathryn Doherty. Kathryn is now also a member of the ECB Academy squad based at Loughborough. The quality of the coaching they receive from the County staff is second to none and both girls report that they have been made to feel more than welcome by the boys of the academy who show a respect for their abilities.

 

The Development Squad is really the Yorkshire 2^nd Team and seeks to create a link between the Junior and Senior squads. There is currently quite a big gap between Junior and Senior cricket at the moment but over the next few years we are hoping to ease this transition by developing greater consistency in the quality and content of coaching throughout the squads. The idea is to help players progress through the pathway to reach as far as their abilities allow.

 

It takes a long time and dedication to develop as a cricketer and at times the girls get a bit impatient. YWCA believe in pushing talented players through to the Senior squad, whatever their age, as long as they can hold their own with the more experienced players and cope with the added pressures.

 

At times it is difficult to get fixtures against other counties for the Development Squad but hopefully this will be addressed if ECB proceed with the u19 competition in 2008.

 

I assume that it’s in your interest to mirror what the ECB do so you can feed into their national sides.

 

Yes. Wherever possible we are seeking to bring our pathway in line with that of the ECB so that our players have the best chance possible of gaining representative honours if they have the ability to do so. Having Paul Shaw as Director of Cricket has helped this process with his knowledge of the England set-up allowing us to mirror what is being delivered at a higher level.

 

What are the main differences between the men’s and women’s games other than the obvious?

 

There used to be a gap between the skill level of girls and boys but with more girls starting at a younger age and receiving a better quality of coaching this gap is reduced. In some cases the girls are outstripping the boys and many hold their own playing in boys and men’s second teams.

 

Apart from at England level we don’t play the four days, it’s all one day cricket. Across the age ranges it differs with the amount of overs you play, but other than that everything’s the same. They all wear the same equipment, they still have the fielding restrictions and everything like that. So the biggest difference is that it’s all one day cricket.

 

Is that an issue then because if anyone progresses through to play Test matches that’s the longer form of the game. Do they find it hard to adapt to that?

 

There is no doubt that it is a potential shock to those who progress to England level having to play four day cricket. However, the structure is now developing whereby the County Senior teams play three consecutive days of cricket in the County Championship and the Regional Super 4’s also ups the intensity of competition that

the girls experience. The England players these days develop excellent fitness levels and train in a way that hopefully prepares them well for the pressures of four day cricket.

 

The money side of things must be different too. The men’s game attracts a lot of spectator interest and therefore more cash.

 

Oh yeah. We come under the banner of the Yorkshire Cricket Board who offer their support and put a lot of money into the development of grassroots cricket which includes girls. The core funding we receive comes via YCB from the England & Wales Cricket Trust and just about covers the running of matches and a few training sessions. For everything else such as further training and kit we have to attract our own funding.

 

This is often a challenge, as you have pointed out, many people don’t know much about women’s cricket and therefore don’t offer us sponsorship. Companies who did support us last year were PC Sports, Hunts County, Tolent, Bellissima Exclusive, Britlink and PA Williams Consulting Limited and we are very grateful to them as it allowed us more training sessions to prepare the girls.

 

It is very frustrating at times because we have the vision and desire to develop a professionally run operation but often don’t have the resources to do so. We would like to be able to offer more financial support to our coaches, and to offer a comprehensive coach development programme which would also allow us to attract more coaches to work in the women’s game. We would like to have video cameras and laptops for each squad to allow for the use of video analysis and laptops for our scorers so that we can analyse performances, but this is currently not possible.

 

And the people who play don’t get paid and have all got jobs outside of the sport?

 

That’s right, in terms of players even the majority of the internationals have got full-time jobs. They do get some funding through the lottery but this does not really cover the cost of living. The players have to find employers who are good enough to release them when they are away on tour and during the season for matches. As coaches we get expenses so we’re always on the lookout for sponsorship and any funding that we can get to support our vision.

 

The women’s game is totally run by volunteers with the support of the Professional officers of the YCB. If we added up the hours people gave it would equate to a large amount of money but in fact it is priceless.

 

Would a good comparison be a non-league football club which is run more on an amateur basis and where they all have jobs and train a few nights a week?

 

Yeah that’s it. The under 17s were invited to Parade around Headingley to celebrate the Championship win and a number of the girls couldn’t attend as they had to work having had so much time off during the season already. We are trying to increase the amount of training but due to the size of the County and the time requirements it is sometimes difficult to get everyone there. The Under17’s is the most difficult one as a lot of the girls are in exam year making it very hard to get your full squad at training sessions. We have to remember that the girls play on a voluntary basis with no career at the end of it except, in part, at England level. For them studying and building a career are understandably important.

 

Do you find it hard to attract the players?

 

Over the years we have tried to more widely promote the player pathway and the Yorkshire Trials so that talented players can be seen by selectors. Increasingly we are sent girls by the cubs and the four District Associations. The Districts work hard to establish women & girls sections in local clubs and support the girls so that they progress along the pathway. The County Trials, this year to be held on Sunday 15^th April, are currently open trials but eventually we hope that the increasing number of girls playing the game will mean a move towards nominations system will become necessary with Districts putting names forward for the trials.

 

Is it a situation where only the bigger towns have ladies sides?

 

No not necessarily. The various ECB and YCB initiatives such as Clubmark and Focus Clubs means that men’s clubs are being encouraged to develop more equitable practices and where possible develop women & girls sections as an integral part of their club. In some cases funding is dependant on this happening. They don’t necessarily have to have a women’s or girls team – if they are trying to get the girls playing with the boys then that’s fine. The cricket Development groups are also encouraged to consider how they can develop women & girls cricket in their area.

 

There are a number of women’s leagues including the ECB run Premier League which includes the top club teams and others including the Northern League, the White Rose League and a number of evening leagues including the Nidderdale Evening League.

 

Is there a reason why you are not part of the Yorkshire County Cricket Club? Is that how the set up is everywhere else?

 

Yorkshire CCC is a business and their business understandably revolves around the Men’s teams. The funding for women’s cricket comes through the YCB and is classed by ECB as part of the Recreational game rather than the professional game. Some other Counties do have close links with their County Club and we are delighted that since Stuart Regan took over as CEO he has shown great interest in working with us. As with any relationship it will take a while to develop but Stewart has suggested that we could play at least one game at Headingley, schedule permitting. The County Club are working closely with the Association to increase the presence of Women’s Cricket on their website and last year when we won the County Championship, we were invited to join the under 17 boys, also County Champions, on a parade around Headingley during the County game v Hampshire. We are excited about the possibilities.

 

How do we do as a county when it comes to women’s cricket?

 

For many years Yorkshire were the top County in Women’s Cricket with approximately six of the senior squad playing for England. Yorkshire were County Champions for eleven Seasons in succession but unfortunately a number of very key players all chose to retire at the same time. This loss of experience meant that Yorkshire Seniors were relegated to Division Two, purely because we had a really young side. Last year we came second in Division Two and had the weather gone our way we could have had the opportunity to get promoted. Unfortunately this was not to be but we were very pleased with the performance of a relatively young side and we are excited about the future prospects for this squad.

 

So it’s only one team up each year?

 

The set up is quite strange as a lot of the counties are not as developed as some. The good ones play in the main County Championship and there’s also a County Cup. We’re in Division Two where there are four sides and there’s just one team promoted. We play six games each season, three games and then another three at a 3-day festival, this year to be held in Taunton, where you play each other again.

 

Obviously from what you’ve said it was disappointing for the side to be relegated after a long period of domination, but it sounds like there’s a young side who can take you forward now?

 

Our target is to be the top county in the women’s game by 2010 which obviously involves promotion and continued improvement and that’s what we’ve set our sights on. The good players that we’ve got are in their late teens and early twenties and have a lot of good years ahead of them. So there’s no reason why we can’t win another eleven in a row in the future.

 

Thanks very much to Carl for his time.

 

Keep an eye over the site in the coming weeks for interviews, updates and tons more information. Good luck to all the Yorkshire women’s sides this summer. The Corridor’s right behind you...

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