Former England player Clare Connor expressed that £20m will help women’s cricket to grow. Having a glorious international career, she was appointed managing director of women’s cricket in January. She was behind the first central contracts which were awarded in 2014 and the ever-so-successful Kia Super League.
“I am really driven by giving more girls that opportunity and that visible pathway to playing cricket,” said Clare Connor, the managing director of England women’s cricket. “Probably for the first time in the history of the game we have got a really significant level of new investment,” Connor told to Sky Sports Cricket.
“We have a sense of how that £20m will break down over those first two years and we have to make sure participation connects with pathway opportunities and with performance. It is a wonderful opportunity to have a good sum of money and some really clear activities to try to drive that change. We have an ambition for the end of the strategic period in 2024 that more people than ever before will be able to say cricket is a game for me,” she added.
However, two different groups have been set up with the ideas of how they can engage with girls and women. Meanwhile, the latter part of the year will focus on the recruitment of employee which is required across the country to execute their plans.
“We need to make sure what we are offering girls is completely equitable and welcoming opportunities in clubs up and down the country and that girls have the access to good quality coaching if they get on to a talent pathway in a county age group program,” she told.
In 2017, 37,000 kids had signed up for the program where 16 per cent were girls, while in the next year, the number became double. “It is a multi-faceted challenge but the good news is that we are hearing from women and girls they want to play more cricket,” she added.