Gloucestershire Cricket part of the South West consortium announced as Women’s Cricket Super League host
14 January 2016
The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has today announced that a South West consortium consisting of Gloucestershire County Cricket Club, Somerset County Cricket Club, and the University of Exeter is one of the six hosts that will compete in the inaugural Women’s Cricket Super League this summer.
The six Women’s Cricket Super League hosts in full are:
- South West: Gloucestershire County Cricket Club, Somerset County Cricket Club, University of Exeter
- Hampshire Cricket with partners: Berkshire Cricket Ltd, Dorset Cricket Board, Isle of Wight Cricket Board, Oxfordshire Cricket, Southampton Solent University, Sussex Cricket Ltd, Wiltshire Cricket Ltd
- Lancashire County Cricket Board with partners: Lancashire County Cricket Club, Lancashire County Cricket Club Foundation
- Loughborough University
- Surrey County Cricket Club
- Yorkshire County Cricket ClubThe announcement follows a rigorous bidding process over the last six months, which saw 28 different organisations express an interest in becoming a Women’s Cricket Super League host. The award process culminated today, when the ECB Board approved the six selected hosts.
The Women’s Cricket Super League will start this summer with the South West team competing in a Twenty20 (T20) event agaainst the other five hosts. Thereafter the competition will include both T20 and 50-over formats. All six teams have been awarded hosting rights for a four year period from 2016-2019 inclusive.
Further details on the format and timing of the Women’s Cricket Super League, along with a confirmed team name and identity for the South West consortium, will be announced in due course.
ECB Director of England Women’s Cricket, Clare Connor, said:
“It is great to have a strong South West partnership – with Somerset CCC, Gloucestershire CCC and the University of Exeter – as one of our six Women’s Cricket Super League hosts for the next four years. For two rival First Class counties and a university with such a renowned sporting reputation to come together and collaborate in this way to help develop the women’s game is an exciting opportunity.
“Overall, the award process to identify the six hosts was competitive from the outset, and the interview panel was very impressed by the ambition displayed by all of the bids received.
“Our vision for the competition is to create a dynamic and high quality domestic women’s game in England, where the world’s best players come together to drive performance standards and inspire women and girls to love cricket. All six of the hosts have passionately demonstrated that they share this aspiration and we are now really excited to work with them to deliver this next stage in the evolution of women’s cricket in this country.”
Gloucestershire Cricket’s CEO, Will Brown, added: “We are absolutely thrilled to have been chosen as a host for the Women’s Cricket Super league and look forward to kicking the league off in style this summer. The unique nature of our South West bid brings old rivals together, crosses county boundaries and establishes the South West as a potential powerhouse of Women’s and Girls’ cricket.”
The key aims of the Women’s Cricket Super League include the development of ever higher standards for the England women’s team with greater competition for places, alongside inspiring more women and girls to play cricket at all levels. It will offer new opportunities, a new narrative for the game and new role models, as well as a network of host clubs linked to their communities.
