Women's domestic structure is nothing more than a castle built on sand

While there is much to celebrate in English women's cricket at regional level, the lack of structure beneath means many are at risk of being lost to the game

There's so much to celebrate in English women's cricket at the moment – the increased media coverage, the success of The Hundred, the emergence of exciting new talent - but look beyond these triumphs and the game beneath the regional level is systemically flawed.

Australia, with its 90 professional players, is cited as a lodestar at which English cricket should aim and the ECB has committed to funding 80 professional domestic contracts (10 per region) from February 2023 - a number which does not include the 17 central contracts (whick looks like the maximum viable number given several squad members already struggle to get games).

But the question is, who gets a contract? Many current professionals may aspire to five, 10, or even 15 year careers. Meanwhile, the eight regional development centre (RDC) academies are collectively producing fresh talent at the rate of approximately 30-40 alumni every year - a number which will increase as the RDCs reach out to under-represented groups and/or more RDCs are created. Many of these young players will be similarly determined to carve out a career in cricket.

The immediate problem - the irreconcilable mismatch between the number of contracts available and those wanting them - is obvious. Many of the incumbents, enjoying the triple benefit of incumbency, talent and experience, will see off the competition, whilst others may quickly find their skills outmatched by the new cohorts - better trained and better coached than any previous generation – and their dreams dashed.

And, regardless of the rate at which emerging players displace their established teammates, the number of RDC graduates unable to secure contracts will rapidly increase with each passing year.

"That's professional sport," one might say, but that would be to ignore two inter-related issues: the ridiculously early age at which the talent pool is effectively closed and the squandering of time and resource spent on those who don't 'make it'.

^{The success of The Hundred is one of the many positives in women's cricket [Alex Davidson/Getty Images]}

What happens to players who don't secure contracts? The women's game is binary – you either have a contract (and can totally commit to cricket) or you don't (meaning, once you leave school or university, you have to get a job and fit cricket around your work commitments).

Obviously, this isn't a problem if the players selected at age 18-20 truly are the most talented but analysis of the subsequent careers of the England Men Under-19s squad members shows little correlation between performance at this age and ultimate success. Why should the women's game be any different?

For those without a contract what happens next is fairly predictable. However talented the individual, once deprived of the coaching, the training, the strength and conditioning, and the high-quality matches, it rapidly becomes harder for any non-contracted player to compete at the top level, creating a self-affirming cycle which allows coaches to proclaim how good they are at identifying the best talent. The reality is they've simply identified the 'best' players aged 18-20 whilst the system ensures that there is no route back for those who aren't selected.

The difference in the men's game is that a combination of the so-called smaller counties, county 2nd XIs, national counties and even premier league cricket collectively provide a structure whereby late developers or players whose talent wasn't recognised at one county can continue to practice, improve and break into the higher echelons throughout their 20s.

In the women's game there isn't an alternative route to success.

"There's so much to celebrate in English women's cricket at the moment but look beyond these triumphs and the game beneath the regional level is systemically flawed"

Pre-professionalism, the county structure and the premier leagues brought the best (young and older) players together but the former is now reduced to a one-month tournament dominated by contracted and RDC academy players (and, by its timing, excluding many players with academic commitments) whilst standards in the premier leagues (largely depleted of the best players by conflicting obligations with the regional teams and their academies) has declined markedly.

Supporters could point to the growing number of regional franchise 2nd XI games and RDC games, but the underlying issue is that these arrangements still largely preclude any players who haven't 'made it' by 21 and thus need to take a full-time job.

How realistic is it that players, especially older players, will have the time and/or the inclination to play in these games unless there's a genuine prospect that good performances could see them dislodging a contracted player? The lack of a credible route back means these players are being lost to the game.

How do we avoid squandering the time and resources which has gone into putting players through RDCs when they don't secure contracts or may only enjoy a short professional career? Here's a six-point plan for improving the foundations upon which the women's game is built.

^{A rare spotlight on women's county cricket as Surrey celebrate their London Cup victory over Middlesex at The Oval [Christopher Lee/Getty Images]}

Proposal 1: Regional teams and RDCs should be totally separate from senior county teams

This proposal serves two purposes at regional level: it should help reduce the dominance of the 'host' county within many regional set-ups whilst also helping to address the potential for coaching bias, conflicts of interest and pre-conceptions based on a player's performance through the county age-groups.

County cricket would then constitute a distinct level, a step towards regional representation for some but for others the pinnacle of their ability or ambitions.

Taking each point in turn, the counties (properly resourced) should not only act – as they do today – as the stepping stone for young players into the regional set-ups, but also provide coaching and support to nurture young players who just miss out on RDC academy selection, late developers, latent talent and players who lose their regional contract.

For some players, county cricket might be the highest level they can attain, but why shouldn't a young woman aspire to have an amateur county career? Everyone's journey on the continuum from All Star to country has to stop somewhere, but county players can act as vital, accessible role models for girls starting out at club level.

No player who's in a senior regional squad (or who has played senior regional cricket more than a set number of times in the previous year) should play senior county cricket. With the typical RDC comprising 3-5 counties, this should still leave an adequate cadre of good players to represent their county (especially if regions drew more evenly on the talent pool from the non-host partner counties).

Critics argue that the standard of county cricket is too low, but surely this is based on how many suitably-competent cricketers there are today, not how many will exist in a few years' time as the popularity of women's cricket continues to grow and more uncontracted RDC graduates seek high quality match practice. And there's no reason why the determined few shouldn't, as many players have done before them, play for a 'better' county other than their own.

Most county cricket is against neighbouring counties with far less travel time than regional matches, something which can be a significant barrier for many players. County matches should be played on Saturdays throughout the year with players having their travel and coaching costs covered. April-June matches effectively discriminate against any player hedging their bets by keeping their academic options open and most matches should therefore be scheduled for late June through to September.

^{In England, women's cricket is trying to replicate the Australian model [Daniel Pockett/Getty Images]}

Proposal 2: Restoration of the premier leagues as a stage for all cricketers beneath England level

If regional games were played mid-week and on Saturdays (together with county games), Sundays could then be reserved for premier league cricket and all regionally-contracted players and RDC academy players should be encouraged to play. Sundays might also be more convenient for some players with other weekend commitments.

Good player availability would see the premier leagues as a forum for the best contracted players and the best non-contracted players to meet, allowing players to play with different team members or perform different roles. In an analogous parallel, last year's men's 50-over competition provided the opportunity for fringe talent to make their case and several new stars – both young and older - emerged.

But there would have to be a point to this. How realistic it is to expect players to undertake a five-hour round trip to play a game if no one is monitoring their performances (whilst incurring a £30 fuel bill for good measure)? Success in these games has to be a potential gateway to regional representation, which in turn means embracing two related principles. Firstly, contracts should be objectively linked to performances, and, secondly, at the end of any given year a number of incumbents will lose their contracts.

The rationale for placing premier league cricket above county is because, for the foreseeable future, not all counties could sustain a premier club whilst others might be able to support two or three. That's reality. Start with where the talent is today and, hopefully, growing player numbers will see the emergence of more premier clubs and hence a reduction in the currently-excessive travel. Until then, ambitious players from national counties may need to play for premier clubs in other counties to pursue their ambitions.

Premier leagues would then form a platform on which players seeking (re)admission to the next level could perform and their performances recognised as being against quality opposition. As per the counties, the ECB should provide clubs with grants towards travel costs and training, as well as continuing to facilitate  the T20 national knock-out as well as new end-of-season national competitions between the winners of the various premier leagues. Without funding and good performances opening the door to higher recognition the premier leagues will soon fold.

Again, for some players this may be the zenith of their career path, but they would still serve as vital ambassadors for the game.

^{Northern Diamonds won the 2022 Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy, one of the two trophies up for grabs in the regional set-up [Paul Harding/Getty Images]}

Proposal 3: All regionally-contracted players should be required to attain Level 2 coaching qualifications

Many players who gain coaching qualifications comment on how much it helps their personal game. But the rationale behind this proposal is to equip players with the relevant skills for the time when they no longer have a contract, be it at age 22 or 32. These players can provide the bulk of the training resources needed by counties (and premier league teams) under proposals No.1 and No.2.

Going forward, cricket, both men's and women's, needs far more female coaches if it is to benefit from the diversity of thought and approach this would bring.

Any appointment, whether for a position with a national county or England, can only be better if there's a wide array of suitable candidates and, although this initiative will clearly take some time to work through the system, this would help generate and sustain a large pool of talent to compete for future appointments.

Proposal #4. Regional teams should loan underutilised players to other teams.

If the purpose of the regional teams is for the best players to play against each other then squad strength needs to be comparable (which is clearly not the case today). In time, all regions will hopefully replicate the success of Southern Vipers but until then loans should be encouraged (both short term and season-long).

For example, if the seventh-best batter in one squad barely gets a game but could play for another team where they might be the third-best batter, why shouldn't that move occur? Similar arrangements work well for the men's counties, keeping marginal players match fit and growing their match experience. A proper structure and protocols would be necessary.

If the result is players moving franchises for better opportunities, this will encourage a levelling up far faster than waiting for a weaker region to develop its own players and if it means that some (or even all) of a region's allocation of contracts go to players coming from outside of the region then the local counties should look to no one but themselves. Again, this will only happen if regional coaching teams have no connection to the counties meaning their sole motivation is the success of their regional squad.

^{Southern Vipers have something of a stanglehold on the women's regional structure [George Wood/Getty Images]}

Proposal 5: RDC obligation to former players.

Any player chosen for an RDC academy is clearly deemed to have the talent to play at a reasonable level and the academies subsequently invest anything between 2-5 years in these players.

For the few who make it, an era is coming where they can make a good living and potentially play around the world. But a growing number of players won't get that far, and the tragedy is that large numbers are simply abandoning the game – a tragic waste of enthusiasm, time and resource.

RDCs should assist academy players who don't make the cut by developing bespoke plans to optimise the returns for them and women's cricket. This could take the form of ongoing coaching and participation in 2nd XI matches or identifying other ways for them to stay involved in cricket such as coaching, training, analysis or admininstration, or perhaps assuming a role in nurturing girls' and women's cricket at a local club.

Proposal 6: We need good opposition.

Already we can see the emergence of a new world order where many of the great foreign players who've graced our game for the past decade or more are no longer around.

England, Australia and India will probably be alright, but - as evidenced by England's current woefully-one-sided series against West Indies - what is the point in playing teams from other nations if the standard is lower than our best regional teams?

We need to help these other countries to develop their cricketing talent and the ECB should facilitate  an overseas player at every premier league club. This would be a cheap and effective way of nurturing new talent in these nations and, ideally, could include reciprocal arrangements for our best players.

Imagine how much better our cricket would be if every year we sent 20-30 batters and bowlers to coach and play in India or Sri Lanka (and how enhanced their career opportunities would be beyond their playing days).