Worcestershire County Cricket Club are proud to announce that we have been awarded Tier Two Women’s Status, marking a significant milestone in our commitment to developing women’s and girls’ cricket in Worcestershire.
With a rich history of promoting inclusiveness and community engagement, Worcestershire aim to elevate the women’s game by enhancing opportunities for participation and visibility across the county. Known for its family-friendly approach, the Club has been a cornerstone in delivering exceptional cricket experiences and is renowned for producing a conveyor belt of cricketing talent.
Ashley Giles, CEO of Worcestershire County Cricket Club, commented: “We are thrilled to have been awarded Tier Two Women’s Status.
“Our commitment to women’s cricket is unwavering, and we are dedicated to providing equal opportunities for all players.
“Tier Two status will allow us to further invest in the women’s game in a sustainable way, support our players, and engage with our community on a deeper level.”
In recent years, Worcestershire has demonstrated its capability by successfully hosting the Central Sparks alongside its own women’s Rapids team. This year, the Club secured its first stand-alone sponsorship for the women’s Rapids team, underscoring its dedication to the commercial growth of the women’s and girls’ game.
Purpose of Tier Two Cricket
The introduction of Tier Two cricket aims to:
– Support Development and Retention: Enhance the development and retention of talented female players by providing an additional layer of competition and greater access to training and high-quality playing opportunities for women across England and Wales.
– Establish a Sustainable Structure: Create a women’s domestic structure that offers aspiration for all and capacity for future growth.
– Filter ECB Investment: Direct significant levels of new central ECB investment into the County network beneath the women’s Tier 1 professional Clubs, enhancing women’s domestic cricket depth.
– Encourage Local Investment: Provide local investment incentives and responsibilities for the growth of the women’s game across the County network.
– Expand Geographical Reach: Widen the geographical spread of elite women’s teams, generating greater reach for fans to engage with and follow women’s domestic cricket at a local level.
Key Highlights of Worcestershire’s Tier Two Bid:
– Increased Visibility and Participation: Worcestershire plans to boost the profile of the Women’s Rapids team within the community, promoting fixtures across different parts of the county to engage local communities.
– Enhanced Matchday Experience: Showcase fixtures at Visit Worcestershire New Road and other venues, with high-quality experiences for players and spectators.
– Staffing and Resources: Recruitment of a full-time Head of Women’s Cricket and additional coaching and medical staff to ensure a consistent high-performance culture across the Club.
– Commercial Strategy: To enable even further investment into the Women’s team, the Club aims to raise a significant amount annually through sponsorships and partnerships, enhancing brand visibility and engagement with a diverse audience.
Ashley Giles added: “By investing in our players and infrastructure, we aim to create an environment where women and girls can thrive and pursue their cricketing dreams.”
The Club is excited about the future and looks forward to the opportunities that Tier Two status will bring to Worcestershire and its community.
The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has confirmed the formation of Tier 2 and Tier 3 in the revamped women’s domestic cricket structure, will be launched in full in 2025.
Derbyshire, Glamorgan, Gloucestershire, Kent, Leicestershire, Northamptonshire, Middlesex, Sussex, Worcestershire, and Yorkshire will make up Tier 2 in the 2025 season. The ten Counties will play 50-over and 20-over cricket, with further information to follow on the competition structure and 2025 schedule.
This new structure signifies the next step in the evolution of the women’s professional domestic game, with Tier 1 having been announced earlier this year. The plans unveiled to this point equate to £8m new funding per year being invested into women’s domestic cricket by 2027 – taking annual investment in this area to approximately £19m.
Tier 3 status will be awarded to all National Counties who would like to participate in the new Tier 3 competitions from 2025.
For the duration of the 2025-2028 seasons, all three tiers will be ‘closed’, with no promotion or relegation.
The ECB has also announced the formation of a knock-out cup competition consisting of teams from all three tiers. The aim of the cup competition is to provide all Counties with the opportunity to compete against each other, play at some of the country’s biggest venues, and give players across the pyramid the chance to test their skills on an elevated platform. It is anticipated that the cup competition will be launched in 2025, alongside the establishment of the three-tiered structure.
Beth Barrett-Wild, Director of the Women’s Professional Game, said: “It’s exciting to see the three tiers finalised. It brings the new landscape of women’s professional domestic cricket one step closer. From next summer we will see up to 39 Counties competing across the new structure, which will both accommodate the growth and accelerate the depth of the women’s professional game – on and off the field. We shouldn’t underestimate how big this step is for women’s cricket and indeed the whole game; a thriving and sustainable women’s domestic pyramid underneath The Hundred and England Women, with more professional female players, increased investment, and enhanced alignment across the men’s and women’s game, is a huge step forward for cricket.”
