Devon Girl's League starts in busy May for Women and Girl's Cricket
Today, Wednesday 4th May, the Devon Girl's Cricket League bowls the very first ball in an under 15s game between Hatherleigh and Chagford Cricket Club. The growth in the girl's game sees the County Board, in consultation with the Youth Leagues, organise and centrally run teams across 20 clubs in 13 leagues. Over 40 matches will be played this summer and the season will culminate in a finals day for the softball and hardball girl's leagues at Winslade Park on 18th September. This event will also be a chance to thank volunteers who have contributed to the growth of the women and girls game and a chance for all hardball women, softball women and girl's teams and clubs to celebrate the great season it has been.
If you would like to find out about the girl's softball league, then please click here and for all the hardball news, please click here
Hatherleigh under 15s warm up ahead of the first Devon Girl's League game alongside the Women's 1st XI captain, Chloe Rose and Vice Captain, India Spears in a recent game against Topsham St James.
The Devon Women Softball League also call play this weekend with games across all the 4 leagues starting this week with Ivybridge vs Cornwood at Filham Park being the first game played. The League has grown to 4 divisions across the county and from nine to 15 teams. Many of the record number of females who have completed the Foundation One Course this year are women who are working with softball teams. They are keen to run their own sessions and take more ownership of their game. This has also been demonstrated by the number of women and girls who have attended the informal scoring and umpiring course during the winter.
To compliment the league games, this month also sees the start of the Softball Festivals which are aimed at clubs and women that have recently staretd softball training. The festivals run thorughout the summer, with the first one at Ivybridge CC on May 15th. If your club has just started softball and they would like to take part, please click the graphic below.
The Devon Women's Hardball League have already been playing for several weekends now in their pre-season competition, Super 8s. This 8 aside, 16 over game is ideal to give the younger players in the women's squads a chance to find their feet ahead of the 35 over season in June. For all fixtures and results from the Women's Hardball League, please click here
Plymouth CC celebrating the achievement of their young players in the Super 8s.
Whilst the Super 8s are being played, the Devon Women County squad have been competing in their regional T20 format. Unbeaten so far, they go to the Final's Day at Heathcoact Cricket Club on 8th May. There have been some impressive performances from established and younger players in the games, which has proved the team's great success. For full match reports and reuslts, please follow this link here
Devon leave the field after a successful win over Cornwall
The month of May also sees the beginning of the county age group fixtures for the under 15 and under 18 girls as they take on Gloucester in the first of their regional one day cup competiton games. All the details of their fixtures can be found here
All in all, the start of the Devon Girl's league is a great moment for girl's cricket in Devon and is part of the very busy and rich calendar of playing across the Women and Girl's game.
