Nd growing women’s game
game-breaker, averaging 44.1 with the bat and 22.4 with the ball in international 50-over cricket. England will be a formidable unit if she hits her best form.
As ever with women’s sport, offfield discussion abounds about how best to harness the interest and momentum elite events create. Participation rates for younger children of both sexes are strong, but many drop out when they hit their teens.
Sciver, though, is confident the Kia Super League, a semi-professional domestic tournament launched last year, offers a pathway to stay in the game, even if you fail to earn England recognition.
“When I was coming through, there was an under-17s and then it went straight to women’s county,” said Sciver. “If you weren’t on an England programme, that’s when some girls would drop out. But now with the Super League, that’s another stepping stone from county to England cricket, so hopefully more people will stay in the game.”
Jenny Gunn, Katherine Brunt, Laura Marsh, Anya Shrubsole and Sarah Taylor are the five survivors from the 2009 World Cup-winning squad, and offer valuable knowhow, but the younger squad members have come through the ranks at a time of increased media coverage and scrutiny, so the goldfishbowl environment of an international tournament should not worry them.
Shrubsole, the vice-captain, claimed familiarity with the television cameras would hold England in good stead. “The last Ashes series was on TV and every summer we’ll have games like that,” she said. “So, it’s something we’re used to, which is good because you don’t want it to be a massive additional pressure on top of it being a World Cup, being at home.”
All eight teams are in one group, with the top four progressing to the semi-finals. Critics suggest this format produces too many dead rubbers, but there is an inherent fairness in playing every side once: whoever lift the trophy at Lord’s on July 23 will be unequivocally deserving champions. From the power-hitting of the West Indies to the pace attacks of New Zealand and South Africa, the winners will have to navigate their way past a wide spectrum of opponents.
The professionalism of the England women’s set-up is first class, with the introduction of England and Wales Cricket Board central contracts in 2016 a huge step forward in the quest for equality of opportunity and recognition.
“We’re really well financially backed by the ECB and it’s a genuine full-time job, it’s a genuine career path,” Shrubsole said. “So, potentially when those players are looking at dropping out, now they’ll go: ‘Oh no, there’s a career there if I work hard to get to it.’”
Though England’s focus is on winning the tournament and being relentlessly focused, Shrubsole notes they must continue to make time to ‘give something back’. “We want to do that in a certain way, we want to play a certain brand of cricket and, also, we pride ourselves a lot as a team on that kind of inspirational side of things,” she said. “Be it at the end of games staying out to sign autographs and chatting to the people that have come to watch. That’s part and parcel of it.”
Heather Knight and Natalie Sciver were promoting Natwest’s ‘Cricket has no boundaries’ campaign. Find out more at natwest.com/cricket #Noboundaries. Anya Shrubsole is a supporter of Teamup, a legacy campaign from England and Wales Cricket Board, England Hockey and England Netball.