ECC Media Release

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23 young women cricketers from Scotland, Ireland and The Netherlands are getting a great opportunity to hone their skills this week as they take part in the first-ever ECC European Women’s Academy at Fettes College, Edinburgh.

Organised in partnership with Cricket Scotland’s main sponsor, Lloyds TSB Scotland, the academy extends to the development of the women’s game the experience which has been gained from the men’s European Academy. Working with several of the ECC’s leading coaches, the girls, ranging in age from 15-21, will be able to give their undivided attention to improving their fitness, batting, bowling and fielding.

The participants include twelve players from Scotland, six from Ireland and five from The Netherlands. With the European Women’s Under 21 Championship scheduled to start in The Netherlands on 21 August the Academy is a timely initiative, but the girls’ development has longer-term implications as well, with all three countries looking towards the qualification process for the next Women’s World Cup, which will take place in Australia in 2009.

The Academy is part of the International Cricket Council’s development plan for cricket in the Associate countries, and provides a new level of preparation, building on work that has been taking place since last winter in the three countries themselves. Previously a separate organisation, international women’s cricket was brought under the ICC’s banner last year, so that all aspects of the sport are now within one framework.

For Cricket Scotland and Lloyds TSB, hosting the event is part of a broader strategy as well, with the aim of getting more women involved in playing the game. One benefit of the Academy, according to ICC Regional Development Manager Richard Holdsworth, is that “it will also allow those players exposed to the Academy experience to take what they learn back to their clubs and make them better equipped to help grow the game.”

Lisa Stephenson, director of marketing, Lloyds TSB Scotland, said: “A key element of our partnership with Cricket Scotland is to encourage more young people to take up the sport. This encompasses our desire to support more young women in the development of their cricketing skills.”