Many of us can recall our earliest flirtations with cricket. Balmy summer evenings spent at our local cricket club as an infant, learning the hands-in-a-V batting grip or the brush-your-ear bowling action.
But when the yearning to play the sport arrives at a later date, the opportunities have, historically, been less prevalent. More limited still has been the provision for women looking to get involved for the first time.
So, for those keen to learn the cricketing ropes, or indeed progress their game in the club structure, the East Midlands Women's Cricket League has provided the perfect opening.
“The League recognises different motivations that women may have for playing cricket,” Dalton says, reflecting on its offering.
In its second year of existence, the EMWCL caters for all abilities, traversing three formats (soft ball pairs, ‘Super 8s’ hard ball pairs, and traditional long format hard ball) and providing opportunities aplenty from regional performers to cricket novices across Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire, Lincolnshire, Northamptonshire and Leicestershire.
Clubs have the option to submit any number of teams across the various formats, although fielding a soft ball team is encouraged to ensure an access route into the sport. The idea is that, regardless of knowledge or previous experience, there is an appropriate level at which anyone can participate.
Dalton is the Chair of the League, a role she assumed in late 2019 having initially established a women’s team at Blyth Cricket Club. She captained Blyth’s Second XI on Saturdays, but recognised the dearth of opportunities for women to access the sport, and so gathered a group of budding cricketers and led them to a Soft Ball Cricket Festival.
“What I was doing at Blyth really dovetailed with what Jack Arnold (ECB’s Regional Growth Executive) envisaged for the League,” Dalton says.
“We were doing the same thing on different levels - I had started our women’s cricket at Blyth a year before and we built that up from nothing. That’s exactly the same idea that the League has in terms of what women’s cricket can be. The growth potential is huge.”
Such potential is backed up by the figures. From a starting point of three, there are now 26 teams representing 14 clubs in Nottinghamshire in the League. The appetite for women’s cricket is, according to Dalton, “phenomenal”, cemented by the inclusive nature. At the time of writing, there are 1020 active players in the League.
“The reason that the League is growing is because we care for the wants and needs of lots of different women,” Dalton says.
“There are women who play for a soft ball team who, quite frankly, just play for fun, and they aren't that bothered about progression…but if the opportunities were only in competitive Saturday cricket, they might not put themselves out there.
“For us, it’s about recognising that people have different motivations for playing cricket, but taking it all seriously, and not regarding some formats as lesser. Someone who turns up and wants to have a laugh in a soft ball match gets the same respect as a county player in the Premiership.”
The three formats themselves are split to ensure competitiveness and minimise travel where possible. The soft ball format – 8 players/16 overs-a-side - has four divisions across the East Midlands.
The Super 8s, in which the same rules apply, is split into a Division 1 and Division 2 North and South. There is also a Division 3 which acts as an introductory level to hard ball cricket.
In the traditional format, Division 1 and Division 2 sides play 40 overs-a-side, whilst Premiership matches are 45 overs each. These leagues are spread across the East Midlands to facilitate a greater standard.
“It’s a balancing act because the pool of women’s cricket teams is relatively small,” Dalton says, “you want competitive cricket but we would also like to localise it where possible”.
Ultimately, the greater the number of teams the more regionalised the leagues can become.
Importantly though, the offering of three formats means that women can progress on to hard ball cricket should they wish to do so and, even if it means amalgamating what would be separate sides to ensure a game goes ahead, the onus is on facilitating participation:
“It is great to see that clubs who entered a soft ball team last year are now adding a Super 8s team - they are building from the bottom up and we are hoping that continues.
“We often see a collection of players from different clubs coming together to make a team, it’s really positive that the women’s game is breaking down those barriers and looking at the wider picture.”
With Women’s Big Cricket Month running throughout June, women’s cricket is gaining increasingly more exposure, and while England Women play a rare Test against India in Bristol, Dalton is at the other end of the cricketing spectrum, ensuring opportunities are present for those who may never have picked up a bat.
Attempting to balance the responsibilities of being EMWCL Chair, Blyth Second XI captain, women’s captain, women’s coach, junior co-ordinator, and junior team manager all outside of her day job means her plate is certainly full, but for all her efforts, there are a generation of women and girls who have found a new love.
“We are player centric,” she concludes, “and I think that is what is making the women’s game so sustainable.”