Women's Cricket Association
Encyclopedia
The Women's Cricket Association (WCA) was responsible for the running of women's cricket
in England
between 1926 and 1998. It was formed by a group of enthusiasts following a cricket holiday in Malvern
. Forty-nine games were arranged in that first season, and the popular cricket festival at Stowe Lane
, Colwall
, which is still held today, was launched.
By the following season there were ten affiliated clubs, by 1934 there were eighty, and by 1938 the number had reached 123. At its peak there were 208 affiliated clubs and 94 school and junior teams.
By 1931 the first county associations had been formed, and Durham played a combined Cheshire and Lancashire XI. Four years later the country was divided into five regional associations: East, Midlands, North, South and West.
The WCA handed over the running of women's cricket in England to the England and Wales Cricket Board
(ECB) in 1998 and disbanded.
Women's cricket
Women's cricket is the form of the team sport of cricket that is played by women.-History:The first recorded match of women's cricket was reported in The Reading Mercury on 26 July 1745, a match contested "between eleven maids of Bramley and eleven maids of Hambledon, all dressed in white." The...
in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
between 1926 and 1998. It was formed by a group of enthusiasts following a cricket holiday in Malvern
Malvern, Worcestershire
Malvern is a town and civil parish in Worcestershire, England, governed by Malvern Town Council. As of the 2001 census it has a population of 28,749, and includes the historical settlement and commercial centre of Great Malvern on the steep eastern flank of the Malvern Hills, and the former...
. Forty-nine games were arranged in that first season, and the popular cricket festival at Stowe Lane
Stowe Lane
Stowe Lane is a cricket ground in Colwall, Herefordshire. The first recorded county match on the ground was in 1974, when the Worcestershire Second XI played the Glamorgan Second XI in the Second XI Championship. The first Minor Counties Championship match played the on the ground was in 1993,...
, Colwall
Colwall
Colwall is a village and civil parish in Herefordshire, England on the border with Worcestershire, nestling into the side of the Malvern Hills. Areas of the village are known as Colwall Stone, Upper Colwall and Colwall Green along over a mile of the B4218 road...
, which is still held today, was launched.
By the following season there were ten affiliated clubs, by 1934 there were eighty, and by 1938 the number had reached 123. At its peak there were 208 affiliated clubs and 94 school and junior teams.
By 1931 the first county associations had been formed, and Durham played a combined Cheshire and Lancashire XI. Four years later the country was divided into five regional associations: East, Midlands, North, South and West.
The WCA handed over the running of women's cricket in England to the England and Wales Cricket Board
England and Wales Cricket Board
The England and Wales Cricket Board is the governing body of cricket in England and Wales. It was created on 1 January 1997 combining the roles of the Test and County Cricket Board, the National Cricket Association and the Cricket Council...
(ECB) in 1998 and disbanded.
See also
- Netta RheinbergNetta RheinbergNetta Rheinberg MBE played for the English women's cricket team in a single Test, but was a notable figure in the women's game as an administrator and journalist. Rachael Heyhoe-Flint, the former England captain, said of her work as an administrator, "Netta was an action girl...
and Rachael Heyhoe-FlintRachael Heyhoe-FlintRachael Heyhoe Flint, Baroness Heyhoe-Flint, OBE, DL is probably the best known female cricketer in England. She was a member of the English women's cricket team from 1960 to 1982. She was captain of England from 1966 to 1978, and was unbeaten in six Test series...
, Fair Play - the story of women's cricket, Angus & Robertson, 1976, ISBN 978-0207956980.