Durham University chief executive Tim Bostock said he was ‘delighted’ The ECB decided to grant the county the rights to host a professional women’s team after beating stiff competition from neighboring Yorkshire.
Tier 1 counties spent two-and-a-half months vying for the right to host one of eight new professional “tier 1” women’s teams, In March, they submitted their bid to a panel that included former FA director of the women’s professional game Kelly Simmons and Lewes FC chief executive Maggie Murphy. . Durham, Essex, Hampshire, Lancashire, Nottinghamshire, Somerset, Surrey and Warwickshire were officially approved as host cities at an ECB board meeting on Wednesday.
Yorkshire have been home to the Diamond Women since 2016 but an impressive bid from Durham – with support from Ben Stokes and Paul Collingwood – gave the ECB Enough of the impression was left to convince North East that they should base themselves at Chester-le-Street.
The Guardian understands Durham’s commitment to hosting every home game at its home stadium at Riverside was a key reason for the bid’s success. Some other counties also have plans to allow women to play on club and school pitches.
“Giving women the opportunity to play on the international testing ground is a big thing,” Bostock said. “We want to take women’s cricket to the next level.
“Over the past five years we have had the highest growth in the number of girls playing cricket in the country. Given our track record of developing England players and our strong development pathways, we are fully confident that we can replicate this for girls entering elite professional cricket.
However, Yorkshire will join Glamorgan in the first tier alongside Durham in 2027, after the ECB unexpectedly unveiled plans to add four more women’s professional domestic teams by 2029. The intention is to continue building an eight-team top flight in 2027. “Ambition” persuaded the ECB to accelerate its professionalization.
Other notable teams to be missed are Kent and Sussex, who won 14 of the 23 women’s county titles in the last edition of the competition between 1997 and 2019. ‘s bid was supported by the MCC but lost out to Essex, while Middlesex lost out to Essex. Glamorgan and Gloucestershire. Unsuccessful counties will now be invited to take part in the formation of Tiers 2 and 3, but there is an added incentive to become one of two teams added to Tier 1 in 2029.
The decision will put Somerset and Durham in the lead if the ECB goes ahead with plans to expand the number of teams from eight to 10 in 2025. The key reasons behind the bid.
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“We’re absolutely eager to be part of an expanded Centurion when that happens, and part of that process is we need to prove that we can run a very successful female professional team,” he said.
He added that Northern Diamonds head coach Dani Hazell is likely to play a key role in the new women’s squad. Played for and then represented England. “She’ll be happy tonight,” he said. “This is a dream for her and I’m pretty sure she will be front and center on Durham’s first professional team.”
