The extraordinary rise in popularity of women’s and girls’ cricket in Wales is fuelling interest in the sport at a time there has never been more opportunity for girls to engage in cricket.
And a village cricket club in north Wales is providing a shining example of why women’s and girls’ cricket is attracting so much interest and putting cricket clubs at the heart of their local community.
Six years ago Carmel & District Cricket Club, which is located just off the A55 between Rhyl and Flint, detected that there was a growing passion for cricket among women and girls in the area.
The club, which had two men’s teams, had a simple vision - to add a girls’ junior team to the club.
Fast forward to now and club chair Alun Davies believes it is one of the best moves the club has ever made, not just because of the numbers of young players they have attracted but also, because it has helped make the club a more inclusive and welcoming environment.
“There was a vision approximately six years ago that we’d like to have a girls’ team playing age group league cricket,” Davies said.
“Women’s cricket in the area was not widespread at this time, but there was clearly loads of interest to tap into and, with the support from Cricket Wales and the ECB, we have done that.
“It started with us going into the primary schools to play some cricket with the children. They really loved the sessions, so the schools started the All Stars and then Dynamos and it really took off from there.
“It’s incredible now to see so many women and girls getting involved and to see the club grow not just in one area. It will help the club survive and be an even more important part of the community.”
It is a trend replicated across Wales with a third of clubs in the country now having a girls’ section - a considerable increase since 2018 when only 9% of clubs did.
The numbers are even more startling for women’s teams. In 2018 just 7% of clubs had a women’s team. That figure is now at 50% and with Welsh Fire establishing themselves in The Hundred and Glamorgan set to host a Tier 1 team from 2026, the ambition is to further accelerate that growth.
“We have been encouraging clubs to grow their Under-9s and Under-11s teams so that children can further develop into playing the game, so it is very encouraging to see that junior teams across Wales have grown by 17% in just a year,” Mark Frost, Glamorgan Community Manager and Cricket Wales Head of Partnerships, said.
“The growth of girls’ crickethas been significant across Wales and none more so than in Glamorgan Cricket’s activities this year with the advent of a Glamorgan Women’s professional team coming soon, the success of the Welsh Fire Women’s squad and the numbers of girls and women coming to Glamorgan matches.”
Back at Carmel, Carol Owen, who plays for the club’s women’s team and is one of the coaches, has seen firsthand how the girls’ teams have become established and grown. And it has caused one or two surprises along the way.
“At first there weren’t any other full girls’ teams in the league,” she said.
“They were predominantly boys-led teams and some of the boys were saying, ‘oh we’re gonna beat them’. Then they saw the girls play and we beat them, and they weren’t very happy about that!
“We have been very well supported at the club because we had already developed the girls’ cricket, which supports the women’s team. When the girls are 13, they are eligible to join the senior team so for us as a club, we can follow it through right from All Stars through juniors to women’s cricket.
“It’s lovely because every team in the club is equally important. The Under-9s are as important as the First XI because without an Under-9s we’re not going to have a First XI. We have a lot of really great support with coaching from the first team.
“My family are all involved so we are all together which is great. The club has given a lot of support to my children so it’s only right that we should be helping out. There are a lot of positive role models within the club so it’s nice to be part of that.”
During the 2024 season there were 84 girls’ teams and 142 women’s teams in Wales which has also consistently topped the total number of Dynamos girls’ sign-ups in recent years.
Carmel has provided a case study in the value of having a vision like Davies’ and then acting upon it by going out to schools and selling the game to girls who have shown clearly that they want a place to play.
After the hugely positive initial response, the club tapped into support from the England and Wales Cricket Board’s All Stars and Dynamos Programmes delivered with the support of Cricket Wales.
All Stars Cricket provides a first experience of cricket for children aged five to eight years old, designed to teach them new skills while also having fun. Dynamos Cricket, for children eight to 11, then provides the next step for those graduating from All Stars Cricket while also welcoming children of those ages who are new to the sport.
The result, of course, is now a thriving girls and women section which is every bit as valued and integral to the club as the two senior men’s teams which preceded it.
And it is not just at clubs where women and girls are getting more opportunities to engage. With The Hundred continuing to welcome new audiences to the game and the new women’s county structure starting next year – when the men’s and women’s Vitality Blast and Metro Bank One-Day Cup competitions will be played side-by-side for the first time – there is a clear vision from the top.
Glamorgan continue to look for ways to reach even more girls to tap into that interest and last year 450 girl guides, brownies and rainbows got the opportunity to play at the club’s home ground in Cardiff.
“Sophia Gardens also hosted two major girls’ events this summer with 200 girls enjoying a high schools festival on the main ground and later more than 400 brownies and guides getting their own taste of playing at an international cricket stadium,” Frost said.
“Girls growing up in Wales will now have a level playing field to enjoy as they take their first step into cricket alongside the boys, initially with All Stars Cricket and then dreaming one day of becoming a professional cricketer for Glamorgan.”
By Brian Halford, ECB Reporters Network