Lillibee Harris (Leamington Cricket Club and Warwickshire County under-11 girls) with Fiona McAlpine, Leamington Cricket Club Coach Ollie Currill, Abi Mitchell and Kevin Mitchell
The “massive positive” of women’s cricket featuring on free-to-air TV is being credited with giving a huge boost to a Warwickshire club’s burgeoning women and girls’ section.
Leamington Cricket Club says the women’s game has received a real shot in the arm from The Hundred, a competition which launched last summer and featured the men’s and women’s matches on the same bill.
Many of the games were televised live by BBC Sport, which the Arlington Avenue-based club says has led to a significant spike in new members.
The club now has around 50 women and girls in its ranks and has run an under-13 hardball and a women’s hardball side in competitive leagues for the first time in 2022.
The women and girls’ section, which is sponsored by Leamington law firm Blythe Liggins, has now more than doubled in size over the last two years.
Kevin Mitchell, Chairman of Leamington Cricket Club and a Partner at Blythe Liggins, said: “We’re really seeing women and girls’ cricket at our club going from strength to strength. We’ve seen a huge boost from The Hundred for both men and women being on free-to-air TV.
“The women’s game being on the same bill as the men’s has been a massive positive and a real catalyst for greater exposure for women’s cricket.
“We’re increasing our numbers year-on-year and we see no sign of that letting up.”
Women and girls benefit from the guidance of Ollie Currill, who coaches at all levels across the club and recently wrote his name into the record books.
He took figures of 7-12 in the Minor Counties Cricket Championship’ T20 finals day for Oxfordshire against Cheshire, which the league is pushing for recognition as a world record.
Anyone interested in joining the club can get in touch via its website at www.leamingtoncricket.co.uk.
For more information on Blythe Liggins, call 01926 831231 or visit: www.blytheliggins.co.uk.
