Counties in England that do not yet have a first-class men’s cricket team believe they have been left out of plans for a new second tier of women’s cricket.
From the 2025 season, only first-class men’s counties will have the opportunity to manage a team in the top two tiers of the domestic women’s cricket league, although first-class status has never officially existed in women’s cricket and has never existed Historically, many county women’s teams have achieved this status.
The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has rejected applications from nine counties to field second-tier teams in women’s domestic cricket from the 2025 season without proceeding to the interview stage.
Nine of the 20 national counties (formerly known as small counties) have applied to join the semi-professional tier 2 counties, including Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Cambridgeshire, Cheshire, Devon, Northumberland, St. Staffordshire and Wiltshire. Following the June 11 bid deadline, all nine companies were informed on June 13 that they would have the opportunity to submit bids directly to the ECB interview panel.
But ECB Chief Executive Richard Gould said in an email sent on June 17 that there were concerns within the ECB that countries did not have the “level of professional resources” needed to manage secondary teams.
Gould added that the ECB was “suspending the current process to determine whether members from casual gaming [national counties] She may be selected for the second-tier women’s team by 2025.” However, the Guardian understands that bids for Tier 1 counties are continuing to be evaluated and a final decision on the composition of Tier 2 counties will be made at an ECB board meeting on July 17 – effectively bringing Counties nationwide are excluded.
Domestic women’s cricket is undergoing a reorganization from regions to counties. The second tier women’s team will receive funding worth £200,000 per year from the ECB between 2025 and 2028. winners — but applications for the second tier, expected to include 10 to 14 teams, are open to everyone.
Counties across the country must submit a 2,000-word statement of support explaining why they wish to achieve Tier 2 status and how they will “create a high-performing environment for their female teams and talent pipeline”, which will include proposed coaching and support staff structures, Details of plans for training and matchday facilities, as well as annual financial forecasts for how the women’s senior secondary program and talent pathways will be run. Many have also spent time liaising with local Tier 1 teams in an attempt to create “channel catchments”, which the ECB says is an important factor in success.
Berkshire competes in the Women’s County Championship at Division One and won the County T20 Championship in 2010, producing graduates including current BBC commentator Isa Guha and current England fast bowler Lauren Bell international players including Bell. Selection criteria outlined in the second-tier process document seen by the Guardian specifically include “historic performances in ECB women’s county competitions”. However, a first-class county that has never won silver in women’s cricket now appears to be rewarded purely on the basis of its status in men’s cricket.
“We followed all the guidelines, all the rules, checked all the boxes, and spent hours putting together our bid. And then they turned around and said, ‘Sorry, guys, we changed our minds. ’ – it’s really frustrating and disappointing,” a senior National County staff member told the Guardian.
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Another said: “In hindsight we think this was always going to happen. They disqualified us because we basically didn’t have a boys team for the county championship. It looks absolutely stitched.
In a joint letter to the full ECB board on June 25, seen by the Guardian, eight of the nine countries that submitted bids requested “a comprehensive review of processes and decision-making within the ECB’s executive body.” ”.
Gould then offered to meet individually with counties to discuss the situation. One national county staff member claimed that the only appointments offered were after July 17 – by which time the decision on who would be granted Tier 2 status had already been made.
However, the European Central Bank disputes this. An ECB spokesman said: “Gould has met with a number of countries, so it would be incorrect to suggest that the ECB is not engaging with stakeholders.”
