The Wavertree Cricket Club are looking to be at the forefront of women’s cricket in Merseyside as they have been nominated for the LCF club of the year 2018.

This local club are just one example of how women’s cricket is flourishing in the Merseyside region. The club of the year nominees are seeking consolidation in their girls and women’s clubs, whilst looking to provide a leisurely, yet competitive opportunity at a grassroots level.

With the ICC Women’s Twenty20 Cricket World Cup getting underway in the West Indies on 9 November, the spotlight on grassroots cricket for women could not be brighter. England last won the tournament back in 2009, where they beat runners-up New Zealand by 6 wickets. Since then, England have had little success in the tournament, aside from finishing runners-up in 2012 and 2014.

The Wavertree Cricket Club are just one of many women’s cricket teams in Merseyside looking to strengthen their group of players and present an opportunity to play at county and possibly national level. Dave Goodall, 69, the head coach at Wavertree Women’s Cricket Club, has been involved in the development of women’s cricket in the local area for over 10 years.

He said, “My engagement started when I was employed by the then Lancashire Cricket Board as the Community Cricket Development Coach in Liverpool from 2008 and I worked with in both the primary and secondary sectors. I am currently involved with a developing group of girls and women ranging from ages 9 and 10 all the way to 21 and over.”

David holds ambitions for his squad and hopes that they soon will be able to compete in Merseyside on a regular basis. He said; “I would like to get even more members at each age group and enable them to enjoy and compete. There have been few opportunities to compete against other girls teams in Merseyside and West Lancashire in recent years. However, this is improving with what is happening at Old Xaverian’s Cricket Club and Hightown Cricket Club with possibilities at Skelmersdale and Newton Le Willows Cricket Club’s in 2019.”

David coaches with his son, Sam Goodall-Walker, 31, who is the lead coach for Chance 2 Shine Street in Liverpool. Chance 2 Shine is a national charity who is looking to spread the power of cricket throughout schools and communities across the country.

Sam believes more could be done to secure a safe and like-minded environment for girls and women to enjoy and compete within the sport. He said, “I think women in general fall short of opportunity in all aspects of sport. This is due to a number of things; funding, public attention, demand and also facilitators.

“There is a fixed mind set in some quarters towards women and cricket and until that changes, only then we will see more funding, opportunity and a more positive attitude towards women and girls in cricket.”

He also aspires that they might one day find the next women’s cricket star here in Liverpool, Sam explained, “I hope we can offer both leisurely and competitive cricket to girls of all ages and women of different generations. We want to create role models to showcase cricket in the city and become a super club within Liverpool and Merseyside area.”

The ICC Women’s Twenty20 Cricket World Cup is going to be broadcasted by Sky, BBC Radio 5 will also be commentating on the games throughout the tournament.

Sam believes the coverage will certainly boost the number of participants in the near future, but at a slower pace.  The reason for this is because the ICC T20 is in the West Indies, which means watching the games may be less convenient for UK fans due to the time difference. The weekend games should gain a lot more viewings than the weekly games, but it may largely depend on the schedule for the English fixtures.

Funding plays a massive part in the development of grassroots cricket, it plays a massive part in all sports at grassroots level and funding available certainly has a big impact on the popularity.  Sam believes there is a lack of funding in the lower level for cricket, especially women’s cricket, but he believes that as soon as the KIA super league and the new 100 ball league gets introduced into the sport and put on national television, it will develop a lot quicker. When there is more content of cricket on television, the more viewings Sky and other broadcasters receive which means more money will get put into the sport which is what Sam hopes for.

Sam added; “There is a mentality that cricket is a gentleman’s game and I say gentleman in terms of the class and also in terms of sex. We’re talking about middle class men here and we are trying to get that away in projects like the ones we run as well as just the sport in general getting pumped out on sky that it is a working class, middle class and higher-class person’s game.

“It’s for everybody, it’s for men and women and just giving as much opportunities as they can. But like I said, it comes down to the fact that there’s not as much money as coming from the broadcasts, coming from the sponsors into cricket as there is in other sports therefore it can be a bit unfair at times to compare them.”

He believes that England’s success in the tournament plays a huge part growth of the sport for women. He believes younger viewers will be more interested if England are successful in this tournament, because it is more attractive to watch. Fans who talk about the success of the team during the competition may lead to more and more viewers tuning into support England. Consequently, we may see a ripple effect of new interest in the sport and possibly England’s next female cricket star.