By Huzaifa Yousafzai from the Utilita Bowl
The England and Wales cricket board have announced a new Women’s domestic structure to be introduced in 2025. It will have three separate tiers and every team will be governed by a first-class county or the MCC, with Tier 1 set to have eight teams.
Southern Vipers all-rounder Emily Windsor acknowledged that there has been several changes to the structure recently, but the reasoning behind them are positive.
“It’s brilliant! I think we’ve had a lot of changes in a few years, but the reason we’re doing it are for the right reasons and for the long term.”
Currently out of the 18 first-class counties only Worcestershire and Derbyshire have not submitted a bid for a Tier 1 team. The ECB also pledged to increase funding right across the women’s game by £4 Million to £5 Million every year thus taking the total amount to £16 Million invested per season.
Windsor speak about how the increased funding is set to improve the quality of the cricket as well as give more opportunity for a larger amount of players to become full-time cricketers.
“More money into that top flight means the standard is going to be better and one of the key things for me is to have full squads of professionals. At the moment we have got ten (professionals) per region and soon it will go up to 15. We are going to have a full squad of professional girls so that’s going to be fantastic.”
Currently there is no relegation or promotion to happen between the tiers, something Windsor does admit may take some time getting used to, although she expresses confidence with those in charge.
“I think there will be some teething problems in how we filter down to Tier 2 and Tier 3. It will take time to settle but once that’s in place I think it’s going to be good.”
“The person at the helm in Beth Barrett-Wild has been around the women’s game for ages so we definitely trust her”.
However one issue that does arise with having so many changes in recent years, is the possibility that a lot of players might have to change bases to accommodate into the new Tier-1 sides.
“Most of us live around the Ageas Bowl (now called the Utilita Bowl) in Southampton but obviously Hampshire may not get the bid, that could be Sussex.”
Despite a few issues arising, Windsor shows an excitement that is reflected by many female cricketers around the country towards the new format.
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