In a remarkable season with monumental successes across every level of the game in the region, the women’s and girls’ game continued to grow, with more fixtures played in most age groups and formats.
The highlight of the season was the national third place for the North East Warriors in the ECB Royal London U18 Girls’ County Cup.
Warriors player Lizzie Scott played in the inaugural ICC U19 Women’s T20 World Cup as England reached the final, taking second place to India, following a truly memorable debut season with the Northern Diamonds in which the side lifted the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy.
At recreational level, the 2022 summer marked the most impactful year for girls’ and women’s league cricket in Durham, with more fixtures played than ever before and significant growth of U11 girls’ teams and softball women’s teams.
The season was a record-breaking one for women’s softball teams – with nine teams taking part, these were the best participation numbers the League has ever had, an almost 50% increase from last year.
All Stars Cricket and Dynamos Cricket
Over 3,000 boys and girls took part in national programmes across Durham in 2022, with girls making up almost a third of the total Dynamos Cricket bookings.
This has been the case for a second year running, with girls accounting for over 30% of participants.
Alongside nearly 700 girls participating in All Stars Cricket, national programmes helped accelerate the growth of U11 softball girls’ cricket across the county, as 2022 proved to be the most successful summer for that age group yet.
Recreational Cricket
The female game across the county continued to develop, with more women’s and girls’ fixtures taking place than ever before.
At junior level, girls’ U11 softball teams almost doubled in the 2022 summer, with significant increase in fixture fulfilment for that age group too – 68% more games were played compared to 2021.
The season was a record-breaking one for women’s softball teams – with nine teams taking part, these were the best participation numbers the League has ever had.
With more teams taking part, six times more fixtures were fulfilled, marking this as the most successful season for women’s softball to date.
Another highlight from the season was the national trophy which our delivery partners Young Asian Voices and their girls’ team from Thornhill Academy claimed at the Chance to Shine Girls’ Street Cricket Finals at the Home of Cricket.
County Age Groups
Last season was the most successful one in the past five years for the entire female pathway too – from Under-11 County Girls to the North East Warriors Senior Women.
All age groups were comfortably competing and beating some of the bigger counties in the county with much larger talent pools.
Our Under-13 girls recorded 12 wins in 14 games, while the U18 North East Warriors claimed a national third place.
The Under-11 Squad had one of their longest seasons yet, playing 24 games securing 11 wins, with the Under-15 girls also winning 11 games out of the 17 they played.
In the winter we received over 160 nominations from clubs into the Durham Cricket Girls’ Performance Pathway process.
In just over five years, nominations into the pathway process have more than trebled, demonstrating the growth of the female game across the county as well an increased standard of girls’ cricket in clubs.
North East Warriors and Northern Diamonds
The most monumental event was one for the U18 North East Warriors – as the squad earned the third place in the ECB Royal London U18 Girls’ County Cup.
In the lead-up to reaching national finals, the squad won their quarter-final at Seat Unique Riverside – a brilliant experience for the players in a game raising the profile of the team.
The Senior squad played a successful season in the ECB Women’s County T20 Competition, opening the season at home with a game hosted at Whitburn Cricket Club.
With plans to extend the season for the side in 2023 through friendlies, the coming summer will be an exciting one, with more games and busier calendar for the senior squad.
The North East Warriors sides played this season in a brand new kit, establishing their identity as a merged Durham and Northumberland high-performance sides under the new Warriors brand.
A highlight of the year was Lizzie Scott’s selection in the England Women U19 squad for the ICC U19 Women’s T20 World Cup, as the side reached the final of the inaugural event hosted in South Africa, finishing second to India.
Scott’s England call-up followed an outstanding 2022 season in which the bowling all-rounder made her debut for the Northern Diamonds Senior squad in September, taking her first wicket against Western Storm, after two seasons with the Northern Diamonds Academy.
Scott made two more appearances in the last two Diamonds fixtures of the season, including at the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy, when she took a wicket as her team went on to win its first major trophy in a thrilling finish at Lord’s.