A new women’s cricket tournament will be launched in June to strengthen the ever so successful women’s structure Durham County Cricket Board have established in recent years.
The competition, named Super 4s, will see four teams, compiled of the best female cricketers in the North of the country, showcase the highest level of women’s grassroots cricket the region has to offer.
The Super 4s will launch in June for its debut year with four teams – Hawks, Rockets, Panthers and Infernos facing each other for the first time on Sunday, June 3rd at Norton Cricket Club before the finals are played at Emirates Riverside on Sunday, July 8th.
The Super 4s is the first non-club-based competition in the North and will aim to link up and further strengthen the existing women’s structure.
Durham County Cricket Board’s own initiative launches following a successful last season when Durham CCC launched the Women’s Academy Northern Jets, while the Cricket Board delivered the strongest and most well-attended grassroots women and girls campaign in the country, attracting 766 new women into cricket, more than any other county.
Director of Cricket Development at Durham County Cricket Board Graeme Weeks said: “The incredible success we had at both the grassroots and elite level last summer predisposed for an opportunity to link the two levels of the game in order to strengthen our Women’s Pathway.
“It’s very exciting to be able to get this idea off the ground and to have the best players in the whole of the region on board with it.
“I am looking forward to seeing it all happen and I think that this competition will really showcase the progress we’ve made with the female game in recent years.”
Durham County Cricket Board have also revamped the Women’s T20 League in Durham this season and are about to launch a Women’s Soft Ball League alongside 13 soft ball cricket events at local cricket clubs where beginners can get involved in the sport.
Graeme said: “We feel like we have got the elite level and the club level of the game right, but we had nothing in between, so this is where the Super 4s comes in.
“I think that the competition will play a crucial role in making all our work in the female sport more sustainable.”
Forty-nine of the best women cricketers from Durham, Cumbria, Northumberland and Yorkshire will take part in the Super 4s.
“The tournament will bring further opportunities for players to compete and develop at a higher level and will help them progress as individual players outside their usual club environment. They can then take that experience back to their clubs and continue to improve the standard across the women’s structure.
“We have a strong selection for the debut year and I really hope that this competition grows to become one of the most renowned events in the cricket calendar.”
The Super 4s starts on Sunday, June 3rd at 10.00am at Norton Cricket Club when each team will play two games from the first stage of the tournament.