Will a woman ever play for the England men’s team?

Originally published in SPIN in 2009. Interviews by Matthew Pryor.

Clare Connor ECB head of women’s cricket

I’m a believer that girls with potential and high skill level and the self confidence should play with boys as teenagers. Charlotte Edwards has done that, Claire Taylor has done that. I did it. I want to facilitate more girls playing in good cricket schools, where they’ve got to prove themselves even more than if they were playing in an all-female environment. Of the girls in the England World Cup winning squad and the England academy I think about 80 per cent have played competitive boys’and men’s cricket.

The next stage of the debate is if you then keep those girls in a male environment, how good can they be? Sarah Taylor and Holly Colvin were both on the Sussex academy for three years. If there wasn’t such a thing as women’s cricket and they had stayedand maybe got a chance to play second XI men’s cricket and their skills level had to adjust and pace and power… we don’t know. Their pathway is to play for England women. Can we start looking at how we identify potential players; can we look at girls who are playing netball, hockey, tennis?

I think a breakthrough can happen. I would have thought it would be a spinner or a batter or a keeper. Claire Taylor is in her early 30s and in great physical condition: on a (physical) level, she’d be up to the standard of 30 per cent of male first-class players. She’s our most mature athlete.

When I had my job interview with the ECB 18 months ago, I said I’d like to investigate putting our best players either into men’s premier league teams on a Saturday, or entering them as a team, so that they’re in a hard environment every week. That’s still something I haven’t ruled out.

The system as it stands isn’t designed for women playing first-class cricket,because the counties have to produce cricketers for the England (men’s) team. But if we want to develop, say,fantastic wrist spinners it might bethat women have got more supple wrists. Maybe for women cricketers to kick on we do need to be playing more men’s cricket at a higher level.

Craig Ranson UK Athletics chief physiotherapist, formerly ECB lead physiotherapist

There are female athletes who are powerful enough but they go intoother sports rather than cricket. At Loughborough this winter, we had six of England’s best young (male) fast bowlers doing some lifting in the power weights gym. They were next to some of the female high jumpers of the same age and around the same sort of build and the boys were squatting around 150 kilos and the girls were squatting 160, 180 kilos.

Watching Clare Taylor and Charlotte Edwards (England batsmen) bat against fast young male bowlers in the nets, they have no problem coping with the speed. And, power-wise, you don’t have to be hitting sixes in Test cricket: just look at Alastair Cook.

Twenty20 cricket and 50-over cricket are probably further away from women competing, because of the importance of speed around the ground and being able to throw the ball hard and flat. But as a Test cricketer where it is potentially moreskills-based, there is no reason why a female player could not compete.

In athletics, which is about pure power, women’s performance is not as good as men’s. But given the context of cricket, which is more skills-based there are certainly enough women athletes who are powerful enough to perform at cricket.

Ian Crump England women’s conditioning coach

All things being equal, women will never be able to compete with men physically. But there is a massive discrepancy within both the men’s and women’s squads. The top-conditioned men are much better than thewomen, but there are others whoselevel of conditioning isn’t great. The top women in the England squad would be pushing them.

Spin I would say is the most likely. There is less power involved than fast bowling.I don’t know of any woman who can bowl at 90mph, though if you could teach Goldie Sayers to bowl she could potentially get close.

Being able to hit a ball is about timing not power; in any case, our top conditioned women have enough power to hit fours and sixes. When I came in there was a problem with injuries and the first role was getting them more robust. Now, we’re turning them into athletes. The men are trying to do it too, but they tour so much their opportunities for strength work are limited.

Paul Barratt EIS Biomechanist

More scientific training methods mean men and women are in better condition, but the gap in their potential strength and power will always be there. Men’s joints are stiffer and stronger so they’re able to resist forces that would cause injuries to a woman. Length and proportion of levers are important: men are generally taller and rangier. Wider hips, as women tend to have, can cause you more issues from an injury perspective, because that can impact the way you run and the way is force is distributed around the joints.

Originally published in SPIN in 2009. Interviews by Matthew Pryor.

England Women secure victory in Adelaide

Lydia Greenway demonstrated the virtue of experience with a calm innings to lead England to a four-wicket victory in the first T20i against Australia with 10 balls to spare.

Greenway made an unbeaten 39 from just 27 balls (with four fours and a six) to help England bounce back from the 2-1 ODI series defeat against the same opposition.

A combination of a weakened bowling attack and some disappointing fielding left England chasing an above par score of 140 (the average score for women’s T20 is 125).  With leading seamers Katherine Brunt and Jenny Gunn both out with injury, England were relaint on the their spinners. They paid the price for some dropped catches, too, as Alex Blackwell and Lisa Sthalekar added 58 in just eight overs.

England started positively in reply. Charlotte Edwards struck the first two balls for four, though she soon fell after mis-timing  a reverse sweep.

The lack of experience in England’s middle-order hardly seemed relevant. Despite missing Claire and Sarah Taylor, the visitors played a range of convincing attacking shots and rotated the strike effectively. Sthalekar applied the brake in the middle overs of the innings, but sixes by Lydia Greenway and Lisa Rowe put England back on track.

Australia fought hard throughout England’s innings but, like England, made a number of very costly mistakes in the field including misfields at crucial points and a missed stumping from Healey.

A perfect yorker by Coyte gave Australia hope when she removed Heather Wilson in the 17th over, but Greenway ‘s calm head saw England home.

England women to face battle of the sexes?

From the June issue of SPIN, out on May 8, which also features Andy Flower, Atul Sharma, Ian Blackwell, Courtney Walsh, Chris Read and Michael Vaughan’s art and load of other top stuff. Buy it in shops or order it for home delivery from here

After winning the World Cup, the next step for England’s women cricketers could be competing as a team against some of England’s top men’s club teams, SPIN has learned this month.

Former England captain Clare Connor, now ECB head of women’s cricket and credited as one of the key influences behind the team’s Ashes and World Cup success, told SPIN that the idea of raising the team’s standard still further by direct competition with men’s teams was very much on the table.

“When I had my job interview with the ECB 18 months ago one of the things I said I’d like to investigate was putting our best players either into men’s premier league teams on a Saturday, or entering them as a team, so that week in week out they’re in a hard environment. That is still something I haven’t ruled out,” said Connor.

Speaking to SPIN for our 360 feature – see page 22 – Connor was clear that experience of playing alongside boys in schools cricket had helped develop the women’s World Cup winners. “I want to facilitate more girls playing in good cricket schools, where they’re getting a bit of banter and they’ve got to prove themselves even more than if they were playing in an all-female environment,” said Connor. 

While 80 per cent of top women cricketers have played against boys or men, she said, she was also keen to investigate whether a more formal arrangement might even lead to women playing in the men’s professional game. “If you kept Sarah Taylor, who is 19 and a really explosive batter, in the men’s game, she could be playing Sussex 2nd XI,” she said.

Connor is well placed to suggest new ways forward for the women’s game, both in England and across the world, to advance: in April, she became the first woman to be elected to the ICC Cricket Committee. She believes that there is, for the first time, a group of around 18 elite women players for whom the Premier League plan would be feasible. 

More girls are already joining first-class counties’ Emerging Players Programmes, training alongside the (male) academy players and many of the World Cup winners are already on semi-pro contracts – being paid to coach through the Chance to Shine scheme. The chief obstacle to entering a team in a men’s Premier League would be logistical, although most of the team are based in the south of England.

A women’s team entering a men’s competition would have obvious PR value, beyond the possible improvements to the players’ own games; but many – like India’s Anjum Chopra, who has played in the last four women’s World Cups – believe the women’s game should be kept separate and appreciated on its own merits.

From the June issue of SPIN, out on May 8, which also features Andy Flower, Atul Sharma, Ian Blackwell, Courtney Walsh, Chris Read and Michael Vaughan’s art and load of other top stuff. Buy it in shops or order it for home delivery from here