The first ever season for the University of East London women’s indoor cricket commenced earlier this month. As with any new sports club, recruitment has been slow, but a gradual increase in players each training session has been evident and the future of the club looks promising for the 2018-19 season.
Rise of Women’s Cricket
Women’s cricket has faced several adversities, from former England skipper, Len Hutton branding women playing cricket as ‘absurd’, to women having to pay for their own uniforms. Women were also banned from the pavilion of the UK’s most prominent cricket ground, Lord’s, up until 1999.
However, the turn of the century, and more liberal attitudes towards women’s sport enabled women’s cricket to gain exposure in the media. In recent years, women’s cricket has amassed extensive media coverage, most notably last year when England won the Women’s Cricket World Cup, securing them a 40% pay rise. With England and Wales set to host the ICC Cricket World Cup next spring, there isn’t a better time to pick up a bat and ball.
Speaking to Rising East, UEL men’s cricket captain, Ramirez Rehman spoke of the importance of women playing cricket “It’s probably one of the fastest growing sports in the country at the moment for women. England won the World Cup last year which is encouraging.” He added that the training sessions at UEL are ‘fun’, ‘keep people active’, and for the time being are ‘more social, rather than competitive’.
UEL women’s indoor cricketer, Osila Bode echoed Rehman’s statement by stating that playing cricket at UEL is ‘fun’ and ‘learning new skills’ is an added bonus.
Coaching
The women’s indoor cricket will be coached by Arfan Akram who also coaches the men’s side. Akram is an ECB qualified coach who has extensive experience playing professionally for clubs such as Marylebone CC, Essex CCC, and he currently plays for Unicorns. He also represented the Cambridge University Cricket Club during the early 2000’s. With links to his old club, Essex CCC, Akram also promises the exciting opportunity to get expert coaching from coaches from Essex CCC.
Akram has yet to coach the women’s side, however, as meetings and a tour of Sri Lanka has kept him busy for the last couple of training sessions. In Akram’s absence, UEL cricket scholar and UEL Cricket Club chairman, Ihtisham Mir has stepped up to coach the women’s side. Like Akram, Mir has a broad knowledge of the game and currently plays for Essex side, Buckhurst Hill CC.
Upcoming Fixtures
Several matches have been lined up in the coming months, with the first clash set to be against Brunel University Women’s 1stin the BUCS Indoor Cricket 2018-2019 South Eastern Division.
Brunel has a colourful history of playing in BUCS tournaments, with the West London university taking home gold in the 2012-13 season, and bronze in the 2016-17 season. However, a long summer break and Brunel placing 4th last season could give UEL the psychological edge to take the first match.
How to join
UEL women’s indoor cricket train every Tuesday, from 5pm-6pm at the SportsDock.
