Knight says counties’ frustrations hails ‘progress’ for girls’s cricket
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England captain Heather Knight insists counties feeling upset by their failure to land a brand new ‘tier one’ ladies’s staff represents “progress” for the feminine sport, whereas the England and Wales Cricket Board have made it clear a upset Yorkshire haven’t been “punished for previous sins”.
The transfer away from the present regional setup to a totally professionalised prime flight from 2025, aligning with first-class counties within the course of, is a serious step ahead for girls’s cricket however not everybody has made the preliminary reduce.
Durham, Essex, Hampshire, Lancashire, Nottinghamshire, Somerset, Surrey and Warwickshire had been all profitable, however eight different proposals weren’t. Yorkshire have been accepted alongside Glamorgan to be elevated in 2027 and an additional 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.
Nonetheless, ECB chief govt Richard Gould made it clear there was no sense of re-litigating these points in a course of that was targeted totally on elevating ladies’s cricket to contemporary heights.
“It’s definitely not (about) being punished for previous sins, that’s not our position. Our position is to advertise the sport, not punish,” he mentioned on the launch of a brand new nationwide tape ball competitors, aimed toward additional broadening the game’s attraction.
“Will probably 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 will likely be particular person circumstances however I don’t suppose anyone ought to see this as something apart from a constructive for the ladies’s sport – we’ve had 16 counties bidding so strongly to host skilled ladies’s cricket.
“We had been so relieved by the quantity of focus, consideration and admittedly, love, that was being put into the ladies’s sport 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 accepted – as a constructive signal given a a relative lack of enthusiasm for feminine groups earlier in her profession.
“It seems like there’s some counties upset which is a disgrace but in addition fairly cool,” she mentioned.
“Once I was taking part in a very long time in the past, a variety of 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 subsequent logical step.
“It has been an issue with areas, mine (Western Storm) has three totally different counties, and typically you’re feeling you don’t have a house or a bit all over with services, not getting the identical equal entry as the fellows do. Hopefully that can change with this coming in and counties will likely be accountable. That’s the entire concept: one membership, two groups.”
Yorkshire, who’ve hosted the Northern Diamonds and might now anticipate their prime gamers to move elsewhere looking for one of the best – and best-paid – cricket alternatives, had earlier tabled their very own assertion.
“Yorkshire County Cricket Membership are stunned and upset to not be awarded one of many preliminary Tier 1 ladies’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 tough interval and gaining as a lot readability on what the long run seems to be like.”
Simon Phillip, talking as chair of a Kent aspect who’ve hosted the South East Stars in current seasons, was equally aggrieved.
“As essentially the most profitable county staff within the historical past of Ladies’s Cricket, providing the one devoted ladies’s efficiency centre at Beckenham and primarily based in a extremely various south-east London inhabitants of 1.2 million folks, the choice is tough to swallow,” he mentioned.
“While this resolution will take some getting over, we stay dedicated to ladies’s and ladies’ cricket and are decided to not let it hamper our long-term ambitions.”
Leicestershire had 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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