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Jersey girls as young as seven have launched into an intensive cricket training programme aimed at uncovering the cricketing talents of tomorrow and show that females aren't stumped by competition.
Developed in response to an increased appetite for cricket among young girls, the Rathbones Junior Girls Cricket Academy welcomed a new crop of girls from Years 3 to 6 at Oakfield last week.
The programme will run for 10 weeks throughout the winter and then 10 weeks in the summer. While the first session took place last weekend, any girls still wanting to join are welcome to attend.
Pictured: 54 girls, aged seven to 17, joined the Girls Cricket Academy Programme last year.
Led by qualified coaches Rose Hill (Juniors) and Pete Rutherford (Seniors), the Girls Academy Programme aims to "identify and nurture exciting talent amongst young girls who may one day go on to play for Jersey in international competitions."
The Academy has been going for two years now, but gained momentum in 2018 thanks to a successful season and growing numbers, with over 54 girls, aged seven to 17, attending the sessions.
Pictured: The latest crop of young female cricket players.
Lee Meloy, Cricket Development Manager at Jersey Cricket Board, explained that teaching girls cricket in a girls-only environment really helps their confidence, adding that it also provides players with female role models that they can look up to.
"Over the past three years we have been working to strengthen our junior pathway for girls and women’s cricket on the island in order to achieve the long term goal of playing senior International T20 cricket. This is now an important part of the ICC’s future programme and we want to ensure our players are part of that," he said.
Pictured: A young player getting into the swing of things.
In an interview with Express, Lee spoke about how the sport is overcoming misconceptions, creating a "buzz" and instilling girl power in the talents of tomorrow.
Lead photo and Girls Academy photos: Becky @ Studio M.
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