By both design and happy accident, in 2021 the women's game demanded to be heard

When Heather Knight made her international debut in Mumbai more than a decade ago, her previous List A appearance had come in rather opposite surroundings: at Harewood Park, Plympton, where Devon were facing Worcestershire. 

For what it's worth, it seems a lovely venue, with the spendour of St Mary's Church overlooking the ground.

On its own, that doesn't mean an awful lot. But in the context of the last 12 months and, more specifically, given the impact of The Hundred on the women's game, what we have seen is an almighty shift and – perhaps even more so than with the World Cup final in 2017 – hard evidence of how far the sport has come.

You see, it is not simply that Alice Capsey and Issy Wong have made themselves genuinely recognisable names during this landmark year, but that they have done so as teenagers, without playing for England. They might just be the most famous uncapped female cricketers this country has ever known.

The Hundred was undoubtedly controversial, a competition dripping in scepticism for years before it belatedly began this summer. Yet, by the time it was over, the single area where everyone could agree was its impact on women's cricket. To a pretty significant degree, organisers have the logistical complications of the pandemic to thank for that. It was by happy accident rather than grand design that a tournament initially scheduled for 20 non-Test first-class venues and amateur outgrounds was ultimately afforded centre stage at the biggest stadia in England and Wales.

The doubleheaders that, by and large, worked so well were a by-product of that enforced reshuffle – and there were well-founded concerns ahead of time, based on prior case studies, about how they would go down. 

^{The Hundred was a game-changer for women's cricket in England and Wales} 

In the end, however, they were inspired. And as a result, the average attendance across the month-long event was around 8,000, far more than would have been possible under the original plans. In London, the average was nearer 11,500.

"If you put that in the context of international women's sport and the Kia Super League and most domestic women’s sport competitions around the world, that’s really pleasing," Clare Connor told The Cricketer in October.

So, let's return to Knight, whose generation was forced to learn on the job about performing under pressure in front of expectant audiences, with nothing like this to ready them. 

Capsey, by contrast, was player of the match in the Charlotte Edwards Cup final, played out at the Ageas Bowl – about as architecturally far from Plympton's humble charm as you might reasonably find in English cricket. And at Lord's, as the youngest player in The Hundred, she made a tournament-defining half century for Oval Invincibles. 

Wong, meanwhile, came into 2021 with a publicly stated objective to hit 80mph. She didn't quite manage that, but instead found herself leading Birmingham Phoenix's seam attack once Ellyse Perry and Sophie Devine dropped out. And if that weren’t enough, at 19 years of age, she settled in as a pundit when her team wasn't in action.

The point being, this is a new, fascinating era. England are taking a second string with them to Australia for the first time this winter, and they are both among the travelling party. 

Emily Arlott, too, who wasn't even handed one of the inaugural tranche of retainers last June. 

Yet, she used her winter to kick on and arrive in 2021 with a determination that resulted in a surprise England Test call-up. She turned off her phone immediately and read nothing of the analysis, choosing instead to soak it all in and live the moment.

All of this is important, because when the talented youngsters in this emerging crop take the next step and represent their country – in a professionalised game increasingly matched with the appropriate scrutiny – they will already have experienced the arenas and the cameras, the expectation and the consequences. 

Issy Wong is perhaps the most recognisable uncapped female English cricketer ever

That isn't an invitation to overhype them, as Knight implored in her pre-Ashes press conference – after all, the leap in standard will still be the greatest challenge – but it is certainly true that England’s Gen Z, having spent their summer centrepiece on BBC and Sky, should arrive better prepared than ever before.

In one paradoxical sense, international cricket might just feel like a comedown to them, given its current landscape: from the bright lights of The Hundred and its vast stadia to the compact amphitheatres that host England's summer. It is a curious quirk of the current structure that a domestic competition should be played out to greater fanfare than the national team.

England’s first match after the final of The Hundred at Lord's was a well-attended T20I at Chelmsford. It was only Chelmsford though, with its rickety stands and tight surrounds – a valuable, partisan home for England Women. So, as we reflect on 2021, a year that also brought the roadshow to Bristol, Taunton, Worcester, Northampton, Hove, Derby, Leicester and Canterbury, that is surely the question now: has the game outgrown them?

England have still not been back to Lord's since winning the World Cup there, and there was in the past some understandable concern – insofar as there being no hard evidence – over whether a market existed for bilateral women's internationals to be taken to the bigger grounds.

But that dilemma is surely vanishing. If not now, then when? 

Certainly, we have proof that – done correctly, with equality of treatment, which absolutely was not the case on previous occasions – reintroducing T20I doubleheaders alongside the men's side might be worth a go. 

The cancellation of the trip to Pakistan made it difficult to shake the idea that the women's game was unwittingly entangled as collateral in a debate predominantly surrounding the concurrent men's tour

"We have to give it the opportunity," said Fran Wilson, speaking to The Cricketer to mark her international retirement. Otherwise, she pointed out, how will we ever know?

The game wasted the impetus provided by the World Cup final sell-out, focusing on it being a one-off showpiece rather than the fact that 26,500 spectators were crammed into Lord's on a summer's afternoon. It would be a ridiculous misstep to allow history to repeat itself, to fail to exploit what The Hundred has shown.

In the last decade, England Women have only played 12 fixtures at the traditionally larger venues where men's internationals routinely take place, and none since a trip to Headingley in 2018 – and that was a rare clamber north, by the way. That's another imbalance that needs settling: such is the geography of the country's grounds, England rarely venture beyond the midlands.

A chance to visit Pakistan was also canned at the last minute – a farcical, embarrassing episode that benefited absolutely nobody and made it difficult to shake the idea that the women's game was unwittingly entangled as collateral in a debate predominantly surrounding the concurrent men's tour.

But it wasn't only the logistics of the schedule that came under scrutiny this year. England's one-off Test against India was a terrific advert for more: a game that swung this way and that, endured an afternoon of bleak weather, starred an enthralling battle between Katherine Brunt and Shafali Verma – icons of this era and the next – and ended in a draw founded on the defiance of the tourists' lower order. Normally, both teams would have to wait so long for their next opportunity in whites that anything they might have learned in Bristol would have been rendered totally futile.

England Women are due a return to Test match venues

But instead, India – who are a competent, right-minded executive away from launching a game-changing Women's Indian Premier League – rolled into Australia earlier this winter to play out another enthralling, rain-affected draw. And England have an Ashes series coming into view, with the Test still the most valuable game within the multiformat structure. 

Whoever the opposition, whatever the cost, these should be written into the summer calendar. Anything else is unfair on the players, who can only put it in the public domain so many times that more Test matches is what they want.

Which is why the respective draws with India are so valuable: for a change, neither England nor Australia will have to relearn red-ball cricket before taking the field, and there will even be the rarity of recent footage to fall back on for useful opposition analysis.

It also means that Sophia Dunkley, England's player of the summer, can build on the momentum she cultivated in becoming the first black woman to represent her country at Test level.

Her unbeaten half century was one of the more significant innings of the summer. Ebony Rainford-Brent never played a Test, so this was a moment of history. And at a time when the sport in this country is facing a long-overdue reckoning with regards to its diversity record, the women's game is far from exempt. 

In 2019, there were just three black women on the county circuit, while Isa Guha remains the last British Asian player to make an ODI debut for England – two decades ago. Watch out for Davina Perrin, though: the teenager, who came through Staffordshire's pathway and has been supported by the ACE Programme, made her debut in the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy for Central Sparks in September.

Heather Knight admitted earlier this year that selection meetings had never been tougher nor involved so many names

They ultimately missed out on a final berth – an event played out in front of a crowd at Wantage Road that was far slighter than it should have been, if the game is serious about genuine growth. There was little in the shape of promotion, and so only a smattering dotted around the ground were present to watch a low-scoring thriller that turned on an unbeaten 78-run partnership for the eighth wicket between Emily Windsor and Tara Norris. 

Until then, Southern Vipers’ race appeared run, collapsing in a royal heap to offer Northern Diamonds a wonderful chance of silverware.

They fluffed their lines, though. And Charlotte Edwards' charges remain the only team to have won the 50-over competition since its introduction last year. Georgia Adams couldn't quite repeat her extraordinary 2020 campaign, with Sophie Luff leading the way in the batting stakes. That neither have ever represented England is a legacy built on several slices of misfortune. 

Ultimately, vacancies have rarely opened up, but it is also true that – until the introduction of full-time domestic contracts – older players felt as though their chances were slim, with investment at the top of the game instead prioritised for those with potential for the future.

Perhaps that is starting to change: Eve Jones became the first uncapped player to be named the PCA Women's Player of the Year. Her reward has been twofold: a Women's Big Bash gig with Melbourne Renegades and England A selection. 

Should England wish to call upon batting reinforcements against Australia, don't be surprised if they turn in her direction. If picked, she would be England's first left-handed specialist batter since Lydia Greenway, a somewhat remarkable quirk.

And there is half a position open – albeit on the fringes – following Wilson's retirement. Emma Lamb and Maia Bouchier both made international debuts this year, while several others – Jones, Capsey, Adams, Luff and Bryony Smith among them – will have come under discussion at some point. 

Sophia Dunkley's Test half-century was one of the most important innings of the year

Knight admitted earlier this year that selection meetings had never been tougher nor involved so many names. There is a bottleneck building up, which can only be taken as a positive as England seek the kind of national player pool that means Australia – shorn of Georgia Wareham to a season-ending injury – can call upon Amanda-Jade Wellington, one of the stars of The Hundred, in her direct place as an Ashes leg-spinner and not be weakened.

In Wilson's case, she served her time over the course of a decade as England's utility batter, stepping away from Team England to maximise playing opportunities with Western Storm, moving on from Sunrisers, a team in need of a proper home territory. At present, they train everywhere from Cambridge to Billericay and Finchley to Northampton. It is an instability that needs resolving for the sake of a playing squad currently trekking all over the region.

Wilson will not be the only former England player plying her trade on the regional scene, but she is the first player to effectively quit international cricket for the domestic circuit, offering a sense of validation for the new setup and transferring to a regional deal.

The main beneficiary of that move is Tash Farrant, who has regained her central contract as a result. Her re-emergence as an England cricketer has been one of the highlights of the last 12 months, because when she was dropped by her country in 2019 there was nothing to soften her fall. She found herself working at Trent College and training in her spare time. An international recall felt a million miles away, so her journey back to this point holds plenty of symbolic importance.

In the new year, she will line up as part of an England squad facing an enormous opportunity: an Ashes series followed by the defence of their World Cup, with the Commonwealth Games sitting in the heart of next summer. Australia will be favourites for all three, but England are better placed to challenge for the progression of the last year. Plympton can never have felt so far away.