Women's cricket

As in other sports, there are separate men's and women's versions of cricket, both played internationally. Women's cricket is first recorded in the mid-eighteenth century but gained no real significance until the twentieth century. Women's Test cricket began in 1934 with Australia Women hosting England Women. Subsequently, five other countries have achieved Test status: India Women, Netherlands Women, New Zealand Women, South Africa Women and West Indies Women. Women's limited overs international (WLOI) matches began in the 1970s and the Women's Cricket World Cup was quickly inaugurated in 1973, two years before the men's version. Women's teams playing in WLOIs in addition to the Test countries are Bangladesh Women, Ireland Women, Pakistan Women and Sri Lanka Women. The Women's ICC World Twenty20 Championship was first held in 2009. All 105 ICC member countries were granted Women's Twenty20 International (WT20I) status in April 2018 and over fifty have taken part in internationals.

In recent years, there has been substantial growth in the popularity and prestige of the women's game which is administered separately from the men's game but with strong interactivity, as in 1998 when control of women's cricket in England and Wales was transferred from the Women's Cricket Association (WCA), founded in 1926, to the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB). Women's national championships take place in a number of countries; for example, the one in England is a 50-over limited overs competition involving sixteen county teams. The stature of women's cricket was fully recognised in the 2009 edition of Wisden Cricketers' Almanack when, for the first time, a woman was one of the five cricketers of the year. In 2018, no less than three women were among the five.

Beginnings

The earliest known reference to women playing cricket has been found in a report by the Reading Mercury on Friday, 26 July 1745 about a match taking place near Guildford, Surrey between teams called Bramley Maids and Hambleton Maids. The report said the ladies could play "as well as most men". On 5 August, the newspaper advertised a return match at Hambleton, near Godalming, the following day, but no report has been found. In 1797, the 3rd Duke of Dorset, who had himself been a noted cricketer, wrote in the Ladies' and Gentlemen's Magazine that ladies should play cricket as well as men. Infrequent mentions did occur in published sources until Victorian times when public games seemingly died out and women's cricket became a country house pastime, played in private but nevertheless very popular.

It is not known when women started playing cricket in Australia but there is tentative evidence of matches being played as early as 1815.. A public match was played at Bendigo in 1874 by teams of, mostly, miners' daughters.

Formation of clubs and associations

On 15 April 1887, there was an organised match in Sydney on the Association Ground (now the Sydney Cricket Ground) between teams called the Fernleas and the Siroccos who were respectively captained by sisters Nellie and Lily Gregory, both members of the famous cricketing family which included Test captains Dave and Syd Gregory. This was a relief fund match attended by 600 people and its success increased interest and awareness such that new clubs began to be formed and inter-colonial matches were organised through the 1890s. The first inter-colonial match was in 1891 when New South Wales Women defeated Victoria Women.

In 1887, the earliest known English ladies' club was founded at Nun Appleton, near Selby in Yorkshire. Known as the White Heather Club, it survived until 1957. By 1891, it had some fifty members. They had a uniform of a white blouse; a long white flannel skirt; a pink, white and green tie; and a boater hat.

In 1890, two ladies' teams were raised by a Mr Matthews in response to a press advertisement placed by an entrepreneurial group called the English Cricket and Athletic Association. The squad were named "The Original English Lady Cricketers" and split into two teams called the Reds and the Blues, who were the first professional teams in any women's sport. To ensure respectability, the women were chaperoned on their travels and played under pseudonyms. After the fashion of the old All England Eleven formed by William Clarke in 1845, the teams were itinerant, playing one-off matches throughout the country, often at first-class venues, and they drew large crowds. In one match at Easter, a match in Liverpool drew an attendance of 15,000. Perhaps surprisingly, the venture was well received by much of the media, although some specialist cricket magazines pointedly ignored it and there were the predictable expressions of disapproval which included comments about the supposed limitations of female anatomy. On the positive side, the Illustrated London News said that "women can, may and will do everything quite as well as men", and The Cricketers' Annual said that while women could not expect to challenge men on equal terms, there was no reason why they should not play. As it happens, the venture was a one-season wonder that ended abruptly after the promoters absconded with the profits. It is doubtful if the Original English Lady Cricketers actually helped the development of women's cricket as they were generally considered a novelty. After their demise, women's cricket became a solely amateur sport again.

In Australia through the 1890s and 1900s, girls at independent schools in Melbourne and Sydney were playing cricket and became involved in regular inter-school competitions. Likewise, a key factor in the development of the sport in England was its inclusion in the sports curriculum at many of the public schools for girls.

In both countries, teams were raised during Edwardian times and some became clubs that survived the First World War. Girls leaving school desired to carry on playing and, in the 1920s, a campaign began in England for a national association. This gathered force in 1926 when Miss V. M. M. Cox formed a team to make a tour of the West Country. One of their destinations was the village of Colwall, Herefordshire, which is not far from Malvern. The tour was a great success and, on 4 October 1926, a meeting was held in London to discuss a proposal by Miss K. Doman "that a central association for women's cricket be formed". This was overwhelmingly supported and the Women's Cricket Association (WCA) was founded with Miss Cox as its first honorary secretary, Mrs N. Heron as chairwoman, and Miss J. Hatten as treasurer. These ladies became a formidable triumvirate and soon announced their determination to establish cricket as a regular game for women and to send a national team to Australia at an early date.

The national association in Australia was founded on 20 March 1931 when representatives of the state associations in New South Wales, Queensland and Victoria met to create the Australian Women's Cricket Council (AWCC). It was agreed that annual matches would be held between the three states.

In New Zealand, the earliest known reference to women's cricket is from 1928 but the game had by then gained a firm foothold in the Auckland province because the Auckland Association was formed in that year. During the next four years, similar associations were founded in the Canterbury, Otago and Wellington provinces. In 1934, after the WCA accepted the AWCC invitation to tour Australia, a visit to New Zealand was added to the agenda and the provincial associations bonded to form the New Zealand Women's Cricket Council (NZWCC).

In the Netherlands, women's cricket was first recorded in 1930. In 1934, the Nederlandse Dames Cricket-Bond was founded in a small way with just with three clubs forming a league.

In South Africa, there are mentions of women playing cricket in Western Province by the 1900s but the earliest known club, the Peninsula Ladies' Cricket Club, was not founded until 1932. That club forged an affiliation with the WCA in England. The Second World War disrupted the game in South Africa but it is known that seven provinces were playing the game thereafter and the South Africa and Rhodesia Women's Cricket Association was founded in 1952.

Colwall and the Representative Match

One of the earliest initiatives taken by the WCA was to hold an annual event called Women's Cricket Week at Colwall. The first event was in 1927 and, apart from the Second World War, it has been held every year since then (the next one is in the week 2–8 August 2020). Colwall has been nicknamed the "cradle of women's cricket" because it has massively promoted the sport. On 17 July 1929, the first Representative Match was held at the Foxgrove Road venue in Beckenham between teams called London & District and the Rest of England. It was well attended by the media and reported in mostly positive terms. It was a single innings match which ended in a draw after The Rest scored 215 and London & District replied with 176 for nine. The Representative Match became an annual fixture featuring 22 of the best players in the country. Soon afterwards, county associations began forming and the first inter-county match took place on 21 June 1930 when Durham Women hosted a combined Lancashire & Cheshire team. Durham Women won by 16 runs in a single innings match.

In 1932, the Representative Match was England Women v Scotland Women at the New Road ground in Worcester on 29–30 August, 1932. It was the first international played by either team and the first women's match to be staged at a first-class county ground. It was also the first two-day Representative Match. England Women won by 91 runs. In 1933, the Representative Match was at the Grace Road ground in Leicester and, for the first time, England Women played The Rest. That fixture recurred many times until 1985 when The Rest ceased to be used as a team name (subsequently, the Representative Match has tended to feature England Women against either England A Women or England Academy Women).

Beginning of international competition

In 1934, the AWCC invited the WCA to send an England team to Australia and play the first-ever series of Women's Test cricket. The invitation was accepted but there were difficulties in raising the team as many leading players were unavailable. Of the 22 players who took part in the 1934 Representative Match, only nine were able to tour. A party of fifteen was selected with batswoman Betty Archdale as captain and included future captain and all-rounder Molly Hide, all-rounder Myrtle Maclagan, wicket-keeper/batswoman Betty Snowball, pace bowler Peta Taylor, seamer Mary Spear and slow bowler Joy Partridge. England Women sailed on 19 October and played their first overseas match on 24 November against Western Australia Women at the WACA Ground in Perth; the game was drawn.

That was the first of 21 matches on the tour, 14 in Australia and seven in New Zealand. There were three Tests against Australia Women, played at the Exhibition Ground in Brisbane, the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) and the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG). The final match of the tour was a single Test against New Zealand Women at Lancaster Park in Christchurch. England Women won the inaugural Test at Brisbane by 9 wickets, their outstanding performer being Myrtle Maclagan who took seven for 10 as Australia Women were bowled out for only 47 in the first innings. Maclagan followed up with a score of 72 as England Women replied with 154. Australian off break bowler Anne Palmer took seven for 18. In their second innings, Australia Women made 138 with Mary Spear taking five for 15. England Women needed just 32 to win.

In the second Test at the SCG, England Women won by 8 wickets. Maclagan and Betty Snowball shared an opening partnership of 145 till Snowball was out for 71. Maclagan went to score 119, the first-ever Women's Test century. In the Australian second innings, Joy Partridge took six for 96 and England Women needed only 10 to win. With the series already won, the third Test at the MCG was academic but Australia Women produced an improved performance to earn a draw in which their leg break and googly bowler Peggy Antonio took six for 49 in England Women's first innings.

At Lancaster Park, New Zealand Women were no match for England Women. Having won the toss and elected to bat first, the New Zealanders were dismissed for only 44 with Maclagan taking five for 22. England Women had no trouble with some weak bowling by the home side and amassed 503 for five declared. Snowball (189) and Molly Hide (110) shared a partnership of 235 for the second wicket. New Zealand Women scored 122 in response with Partridge taking four for 60 and England Women won by an innings and 337 runs.

Later developments

The International Women's Cricket Council (IWCC) was founded on 19 February 1958 as the world governing body. In 1973, the first Women's Cricket World Cup tournament was held in England, two years prior to the first men's Cricket World Cup. The tournament was sponsored by British businessman Jack Hayward, whose main sporting interest was as owner of Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club, and the tournament trophy is named after him. England Women won the inaugural competition but since then it has been largely dominated by Australia Women. In 1976, for the first time, Lord's staged a Test match between England Women and Australia Women. Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) had agreed to the match to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the WCA's foundation. In 1984–85, Australia Women hosted England Women in a series to commemorate the Golden Jubilee of Women's Test cricket. The first Test was played at Bendigo, the venue of the earliest known women's match in Australia. In 1998, control of women's cricket in England was transferred from the Women's Cricket Association, founded in 1926, to the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB).

On 1 July 2003, the AWCC and the men's Australian Cricket Board (ACB) merged to form Cricket Australia which became the governing body of all cricket in Australia. In a similar, though global, development in 2005, the IWCC merged with the International Cricket Council (ICC). Women's cricket has expanded worldwide since it became part of the ICC. Women's national championships take place in a number of countries; for example, the one in England is a 50-over limited overs competition involving sixteen county teams.

21st century

A significant feature of 21st century cricket has been the growth in popularity and prestige of the women's game which, as in other sports, is administered separately from the men's game but with strong interactivity. The stature of women's cricket was fully recognised in the 2009 edition of Wisden when, for the first time, a woman was one of the five cricketers of the year. In 2018, no less than three women were among the five.

The teams that have played Test matches are Australia Women, England Women, India Women, Netherlands Women, New Zealand Women, South Africa Women and West Indies Women. Women's teams playing in LOIs in addition to the seven Test countries are Bangladesh Women, Pakistan Women and Sri Lanka Women. The Women's ICC World Twenty20 Championship was first held in 2009. In 2019, there are over fifty teams playing international Twenty20 matches; others, besides the afore-mentioned, are Canada Women, Denmark Women, Ireland Women, Japan Women, Scotland Women and Wales Women.

Bibliography

• Buckley, G. B.: Fresh Light on 18th Century Cricket. Cotterell (1935).
• McCrone, Kathleen E.: Playing the Game: Sports and the Physical Emancipation of English Women, 1870–1914. University Press of Kentucky (1988).
• Swanton, E. W. (editor): Barclays World of Cricket, 3rd edition. Willow Books (1986).
• Waghorn, H. T.: Cricket Scores, Notes, etc. (1730–1773). Blackwood (1899).