Women’s and Girls’ Cricket remained resilient across Durham last year, with playing opportunities at every level of the game despite the short season.
The pandemic shortened the season, but it did not slow down the development of the female game, with more girls’ and women’s teams getting set up across Durham and emblematic successes at the high-performance end of the female game in the county.
The highlight of the season was the selection and inclusion of four Warriors players to the Northern Diamonds side in their 2020 campaign, which ended with the team getting to the final of the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy.
At recreational level, women’s teams across Durham doubled in numbers to mark 2020 as the most successful yet for growth.
At the beginning of the year a Durham representative team of 14 girls travelled to the United Arab Emirates to compete in the Gulf Cup and in a friendly three-match T20 series against UAE Women, becoming the first female team to have represented Durham Cricket in competitions in the UAE.
The squad, involving talented cricketers from Durham, Northumberland and Cumbria, returned home with a trophy after winning the T20 series against UAE Women.
North East Warriors
Following the announcement that Durham Cricket and Northumberland Cricket Board were to merge their under-17 county girls’ and Senior Women’s sides ahead of the 2020 season, the new teams were called the North East Warriors.
The North East Warriors played a shortened first season as a merged entity but despite the pandemic, the Warriors were able to play games at senior and RDC (Regional Development Centre) level.
The proudest event of the season was the selection and inclusion of four Warriors players to the Northern Diamonds, headed by Durham’s own Danielle Hazell, as the team got to the final of the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy.
Layla Tipton, Helen Fenby, Ami Campbell and Rachel Hopkins got to be at the inaugural final at Edgbaston, during which the Northern Diamonds came out as runners-up.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the launch of the North East Warriors was interrupted and in 2020 the team could not play in their official Warriors kit, which was not produced due to the uncertainties during the season. The North East Warriors kit reveal has been postponed to 2021.
UAE Trip
In January 2020 14 elite female cricketers embarked on the two-week trip to the United Arab Emirates to compete in the Gulf Cup and in a three-match T20 series against UAE Women.
Durham Cricket returned home as the series winners in the T20 series against the United Arab Emirates Women, having claimed two wins, with the last game of the series abandoned for rain.
Layla Tipton was named Player of the Tournament after scoring an unbeaten 63 in the first game of the series and followed up the top performance with four wickets in the second.
The squad of cricketers from Durham, Northumberland and Cumbria became the first girls’ team to have represented Durham Cricket in competitions in the UAE.
The team experienced unfamiliar conditions abroad, got to play teams that challenged them through different mindsets and approaches and came home with brand new experiences of cricket and the world.
You can watch a short video, summarising the trip, here.
County Cricket
County Cricket was most affected by the pandemic, as ECB Royal London Girls County Age Group Under 15 & 17 Cup Competitions were cancelled.
Friendly games were encouraged as the Under-15 side played two T20 games in August against Northumberland, both of which they won.
The Under-13 side played the most games this summer – six – winning five and only losing one.
Trudy Johnston was outstanding during the short season, scoring 78 runs in the side’s opening game against Yorkshire, followed by a 12-run spell from 3 balls in the last over to earn another 4-wicket win against Yorkshire as a number 8 batsman, finishing on 12 not out.
The Under-11 Girls, unfortunately, did not play any games due to COVID-19 restrictions and weather disruptions.
Recreational Cricket
Despite the shortened 2020 season, girls’ and women’s cricket across Durham continued to thrive through the amazing efforts of the volunteer workforce in clubs across our county.
As the season only got underway in the second part of the summer, the Durham Cricket Board Junior League and the Women’s T20 League operated in a flexible, friendly and social approach to competitive play.
Women’s teams increased from six in 2019 to 12 in 2020 to mark the last season as the most successful yet for growth.
In the Women’s T20 League, Gateshead Fell Cricket Club, Sedgefield Cricket Club, Chester-le-Street Cricket Club, Sunderland Cricket Club, Newton Aycliffe Cricket Club and Sacriston Cricket Club joined the league for the first year.
Philadelphia Cricket Club, Norton Cricket Club, Shotley Bridge Cricket Club, Willington Cricket Club, Leadgate Cricket Club and Brandon Cricket Club remained involved, having retained their women’s teams from 2019.
At Under-15 level, Hartlepool Cricket Club and Durham City Cricket Club joined the T20 league, alongside Sedgefield Cricket Club, Willington Cricket Club and Shotley Bridge Cricket Club, that retained their teams.
At Under-13 and Under-11 levels, eight and 10 girls’ teams respectively were involved.
Overall, more than 200 girls played for a girls’ cricket team last summer and over 150 women were involved in the Women’s T20 league.