England captain Heather Knight insists counties feeling upset by their failure to land a brand new ‘tier one’ girls’s group represents “progress” for the feminine recreation, whereas the England and Wales Cricket Board have made it clear a dissatisfied Yorkshire haven’t been “punished for previous sins”.
The transfer away from the present regional setup to a completely professionalised prime flight from 2025, aligning with first-class counties within the course of, is a significant step ahead for girls’s cricket however not everybody has made the preliminary minimize.
Durham, Essex, Hampshire, Lancashire, Nottinghamshire, Somerset, Surrey and Warwickshire have been all profitable, however eight different proposals weren’t. Yorkshire have been permitted alongside Glamorgan to be elevated in 2027 and an extra enlargement to 12 groups is deliberate.
But that delay represents the most recent setback for a proud cricketing county after a number of years mired by the Azeem Rafiq racism scandal and monetary pressures which noticed them reappoint the divisive Colin Graves as chair earlier this 12 months.
Nevertheless, ECB chief government Richard Gould made it clear there was no sense of re-litigating these points in a course of that was centered fully on elevating girls’s cricket to recent heights.
“It’s actually not (about) being punished for previous sins, that’s not our function. Our function is to advertise the sport, not punish,” he stated on the launch of a brand new nationwide tape ball competitors, aimed toward additional broadening the game’s attraction.
“It will likely be disappointing for these venues that both haven’t been chosen for tier one at this level or who’ve been, however maybe not fairly as rapidly as they anticipated.
“There can be particular person circumstances however I don’t assume anyone ought to see this as something aside from a optimistic for the ladies’s recreation – we’ve had 16 counties bidding so strongly to host skilled girls’s cricket.
“We have been so relieved by the quantity of focus, consideration and admittedly, love, that was being put into the ladies’s recreation in these bids.”
Knight, in the meantime, sees the depth of the bidding course of – and the extent of frustration at those that weren’t permitted – as a optimistic signal given a a relative lack of enthusiasm for feminine groups earlier in her profession.
“It seems like there’s some counties dissatisfied which is a disgrace but in addition fairly cool,” she stated.
“Once I was taking part in a very long time in the past, numerous counties weren’t . In order that disappointment is an indication of the progress that has been made.
“The regional construction has been tremendous profitable in professionalising the sport and that is the following logical step.
“It has been an issue with areas, mine (Western Storm) has three completely different counties, and typically you are feeling you don’t have a house or a bit in every single place with services, not getting the identical equal entry as the fellows do. Hopefully that may change with this coming in and counties can be accountable. That’s the entire thought: one membership, two groups.”
Yorkshire, who’ve hosted the Northern Diamonds and might now count on their prime gamers to go elsewhere in quest of the very best – and best-paid – cricket alternatives, had earlier tabled their very own assertion.
“Yorkshire County Cricket Membership are shocked and dissatisfied to not be awarded one of many preliminary Tier 1 girls’s groups,” it learn.
“The information is particularly irritating and upsetting for the gamers and employees on the Northern Diamonds. Our focus is on supporting them by this troublesome interval and gaining as a lot readability on what the longer term seems like.”
Simon Phillip, talking as chair of a Kent facet who’ve hosted the South East Stars in current seasons, was equally aggrieved.
“As probably the most profitable county group within the historical past of Girls’s Cricket, providing the one devoted girls’s efficiency centre at Beckenham and primarily based in a extremely numerous south-east London inhabitants of 1.2 million individuals, the choice is troublesome to swallow,” he stated.
“While this choice will take some getting over, we stay dedicated to girls’s and ladies’ cricket and are decided to not let it hamper our long-term ambitions.”
Leicestershire have been additionally vocal about their emotions on lacking the boat, claiming “a missed alternative by the ECB” and saying the membership was “crestfallen” not be included.
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