Women’s and Girls Development League under way

It has been an exciting week for Women’s and Girls cricket in the North West and after a full programme of senior games on Monday night, the new Development League began on Wednesday evening with a couple of keenly-contested matches.

In the week of Roy Torrens’ birthday it was fitting that his granddaughter, Rachel Johnston (feature picture) was the star on the league’s opening night. Rachel made 45 not out as Coleraine scored 99-1 in their 16 overs and then took 2 wickets as Ballyspallen were restricted to 69-7 in reply. Becky Lockhart (below) also claimed a couple of wickets and a catch on a good night for the Bannsiders.

In the night’s other game, Bonds Glen made 94-2 against Newbuildings before restricting their hosts to 74-5 in reply, however organisers were just very pleased that the new programme was off the ground.

Stephen McCartney has been a busy man this week and he focused on how well their side had come together in such a short space of time.

“We have an overall group of about 20 girls and they’re really enjoying it. Monday night’s senior game was a big step up (against Bready) and they’ll get better the more the play. It’s just fantastic to see so many new faces playing cricket and thoroughly enjoying it. That’s exactly what we’re after.”

Earlier, the NWCU had distributed bags of equipment worth £300 to all the new under-13’s girls teams within the Union- something the region’s Women’s Development Officer, Kathryn Rough was particularly pleased about.

“The lockdown situation over the winter was particularly difficult but it gave us an opportunity to look at the structure of women’s and girls’ cricket- essentially how to get more of them playing. The Union have made it clear that we want to support those foundations and club settings and to nurture the growth in a friendly environment.”

Hopefully these are positive signs that the work that has gone into developing opportunities for both girls and boys may just be starting to bear fruit.