International Women’s Day: Where Next for Women’s Cricket?
By Xeena Cooper and Tanya Aldred
Female cricketers have come a long way since “eleven Maids of Bramley, and eleven Maids of Hambledon, dressed all in white...” played each other on Gosden Common in 1745, at the first recorded women’s match.
This season marks the launch of the new women's county structure - the next stage of the ECB’s Project Darwin. I wonder whether the name is a nod to the evolution of the women’s game, or perhaps a reference to the rich and diverse ecosystem cricket requires in order to thrive and to germinate in the next generation.
Two hundred and 75 years have passed since that first game, and women’s lives have mostly changed for the better. However, inequality remains and the climate crisis exacerbates that.
Women and girls are disproportionately affected by climate change. Women are more likely to die from adverse weather events, floods, cyclones, drought, and also suffer from food insecurity, poor reproductive health, infectious diseases and partner violence. The climate crisis is what the UN calls a “threat multiplier” escalating social, economic and political tensions, particularly in vulnerable parts of the world.
We are witnessing what this means for international women's cricket. This year the MCC announced the Afghan women's team to be the first recipients of a new Global Refugee Cricket Fund, whilst the women remain in exile, in the dark as to what the future of their game or country will look like.
The Afghan Women’s cricket team, who recently played a game in exile against a Cricket Without Borders XI in Melbourne
Increasingly, we are seeing cricket communities both at home and across the globe impacted by adverse weather events and climate breakdown - hurricanes in the Caribbean, extreme heat and flooding in Asia, bush fires in Australia, extreme rainfall here in the UK.
Where does Project Darwin fit into that? We hope the ECB can see it as an incredible opportunity for the women’s game, not just in terms of the opportunities for young cricketers, but also in terms of what the game can stand for.
Can the women’s game furrow a new path from the men’s game? Can it embed sustainable principles rather than always chasing profit? Will it choose ethical sponsors, and use its platform to talk about the climate crisis?
In the face of climate emergency, it’s time we change our tack. The Next Test are calling on the ECB to embed within the DNA of the Darwin Project lasting solutions that our game and those who play it deserve, now and for generations to come.
The Next Test are working to build a community of cricket lovers who are committed to taking positive climate action.
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