Western Daily Press (Saturday)
Women follow path to West of cricket giants
CRICKETING legends such as Sir Viv Richards and the late Shane Warne are among the overseas stars to have lit up club fixtures in the West Country as young hopefuls before hitting the big time.
And now talented young women cricketers are starting to follow in their illustrious footsteps.
For decades dozens of young cricketers from Australia, the Caribbean, South Africa, Pakistan, New Zealand and elsewhere have arrived each year in our often chilly spring to learn a little bit about English playing conditions and perhaps more importantly spread their wings.
Some of these young men – like Richards and Warne – go on from playing club cricket to become global icons.
Richards played for Lansdown in Bath in the early 1970s before being snapped up by Somerset and Warne played for Imperial in South Bristol in 1989, where as well as excelling on the field he certainly enjoyed the nightlife Bristol had to offer.
Most of the others, meanwhile, make friends for life while experiencing life abroad, hopefully improve the West Country club and village sides they play for and coach a few youngsters before returning home to sunnier climes.
And as women’s cricket continues to grow rapidly, some of the more ambitious amateur women’s clubs in the West are starting to recruit overseas players themselves.
The aim is not only to improve performance on the pitch but to help inspire the next generation of girls in the West to take up cricket.
The Women’s West of England Premier League had its inaugural season last year. It is only the second such league in the country, after East Anglia.
Cheltenham Cricket Club has been promoted into it this season and is one of the teams to recruit an overseas professional for the first time as it seeks to make its mark.
Georgia Atkinson, a 23-year-old New Zealander, will arrive in April.
A leg spinner and explosive batter, she has amassed more than 100 appearances in List A and T20 for Central Hinds, who are one of the six regional sides that compete in the country’s national competitions.
She has also played in the New Zealand national development side and harbours ambitions of gaining full international honours in the future.
The all-rounder, who is also a qualified coach, will play for Cheltenham
women and coach the club’s junior players. She will also play league cricket in the men’s teams at weekends when there are no women’s WEPL matches.
The signing has been hailed as a game changer by Cheltenham CC director of cricket, Luke Sellers.
“We are hugely excited with the signing of Georgia as our first-ever female overseas player,” he said.
“The move has been made in recognition of the outstanding progress made by our women’s team in recent seasons and the continued growth of our junior girls’ squads.
“The fact that she is also willing to play men’s club cricket is also a boost. Not only will she improve the team she plays in, I hope she will also be a trailblazer for other female players to follow in her footsteps and seek to play both women’s and men’s cricket for Cheltenham. This is a historic moment for our club,” he added.
The first overseas professional to play cricket for a Wiltshire women’s club was Xara Jetly, who arrived last year.
Also from New Zealand, she played in the women’s WEPL for Royal Wootton Bassett and played men’s cricket for Avebury IIs, scoring a century against Westbury in August.
She also coached at Marlborough College – the old school of Catherine, Princess of Wales.
While it is a big ask to expect any young overseas professional to have the impact of a Richards or a Warne, who knows what future stars might be smashing sixes in the West this summer.