Heather Knight: It's a great time to be involved in women's cricket

England captain Heather Knight was speaking at a women and girls' cricket session at Ilton CC as part of the ECB’s #Funds4Runs campaign

Heather Knight has praised the increase in dedicated women's and girls' sections in grassroots cricket clubs, commenting "the women's cricket landscape has changed so much since I was a kid."

The England skipper was speaking from Ilton CC, in Somerset, where she helped to lead a training session for 25 women and girls on June 20.

The event was part of the #Funds4Runs campaign, an initiative which aims to support grassroots cricket clubs following the Covid-19 pandemic. Now in its second year, 4,000 grassroot coaches and at least 20,000 players – including those at Ilton CC – will receive support from a £1million pot funded jointly by the ECB and LV= Insurance. 

"Covid has been a really tough time for cricket clubs," Knight said. "I think at the top of women's cricket it's been a pretty cool few years with The Hundred etc. so I think it’s important that the bottom of the pyramid gets that funding, and you get coaching for girls. 

"It means those girls will have a really good experience at cricket clubs, they'll develop a lifelong love of the game and hopefully be involved as players, supporters, administrators, scorers and umpires. It's a really cool initiative."

^{Heather Knight with players from Ilton CC [supplied]}

Commenting on her own experiences of grassroots cricket, Knight credited the community spirit at her childhood club – Plymstock CC – with instilling a love of the game but admitted the lack of women and girls' sections probably put some of her peers off following a similar path. 

"I joined Plymstock when I was eight and I was there most week nights and weekends," Knight said. "I loved being at my local club and it was a huge part of me. A lot of my mates were at the cricket club, and it was always very social and a lot of fun. My club was certainly a community for me.

"It's important that clubs are thriving and it gives the opportunity for young people to get involved and be social and play some cricket."

Commenting on how women's cricket has changed since she was a junior player, she continued: "It always gives me a thrill to see women's and girls' teams playing because it wasn't something that really existed or was easily accessible growing up. 

"I think a lot of girls would have been put off when I was younger, having to play with boys and later in men's teams. At times, I stuck out like a sore thumb. I had to get changed in different changing rooms. You feel like the odd one out a little bit.

"It's super cool that these girls can play with their mates and know about women's cricket and England cricketers, know there's people like them who play the sport. I didn't know about England Women until I was about 14 or 15, which is pretty mad to think about. 

"There's a way to go in terms of making it a gender neutral sport but it's a great time to be involved in women's cricket. Hopefully it seems pretty normal to be a woman in cricket now which it wasn't when I was growing up."

As for who she'd have liked to deliver a coaching session for her at a similar age, one former England international stands out for Knight: "I've met her a lot since but Enid Bakewell, she'd have been cool to meet when I was younger. 

"She's pretty funny and still playing the game at 80-odd – she's just got her knee done to prolong her career. I didn't know about people like her until well into my England career because you just didn't find out about women's cricket in the media."