Cricket for women and girls at Keswick Cricket Club’s multi award-winning ground in Fitz Park, starts with a preliminary session on Tuesday evening, April 18.
Everyone is welcome to the session – and those that will follow it – but the event, starting at 6.30pm, is the beginning of what the club hopes will prove to be a renaissance of cricket for women and girls at the club, writes Keith Richardson.
KCC head coach Andrew Bryson and club leader said: “Cricket for women and girls is taking off nationally and internationally, in much the same way that it has with other sports like soccer and rugby union. And local amateur clubs are thriving on a new wave of interest among female players.
“We know that practice sessions and matches can be fun as well as being competitive. There is a great social scene around Keswick CC and it is a fun place to be on match days and at other times. We are an essential part of the Keswick community, and it is vital to us as an organisation that women and girls play an important role as players.
“At this stage we do not expect newcomers to be world beaters overnight, but opening sessions will be an introduction to this great game and over and beyond that it is up to players how far they want to take it.
“Here at Keswick, we would eventually hope to have a team playing opponents from other clubs but the initial objective is to get people interested and wanting to play the game at our club level.”
The sessions for women and girls do not have any senior age restrictions but the youngest should be over 12.
Keswick CC fields three teams at senior level which compete in the Cumbria Cricket League (CCL) Premier Division and the Eden Valley Cricket League (EVCL). It also fields three junior teams at 11, 13 and 15 age levels as well as numerous junior coaching sessions run by the club’s ECB (England and Wales Cricket Board) qualified coaches, including Sri Lankan overseas professional Rishi Upamal who arrives in Keswick on April 18.
KCC is staging two pre-season friendly games this weekend (April 15/16) at Fitz Park.
Workington CC are the visitors on the Saturday followed by a club from the North East on Sunday.
The league action proper begins the following weekend (April 22/23) when the 1st XI is in action in the CCL against Lindal Moor on the Saturday and then Millom (in the league’s Higson Cup competition) on the Sunday.
The club’s 2nd XI plays its first league game in Division One of the EVCL away to Gamblesby on Saturday, April 22.
