Durham Cricket launched their new professional women’s team at the Riverside Cricket Ground, in front of a host of club board members, local councillors and supporters. Three players were on hand to give their thoughts ahead of the new season. Daniel Wales reports.
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00:00Women's cricket is a fast-growing sport, with recent innovations such as the 100 helping
00:06to pave the way in the last few years. Here in the North East, Durham were selected as
00:11one of the eight Tier 1 professional teams in a new shake-up of the women's game in this
00:16country, in which they will compete in their own One Day Cup and T20 Blast, but fully aligned
00:22the county set-ups of their male counterparts. With Yorkshire not being granted a new professional
00:28team until the first expansion of this programme in 2027, Durham have managed to acquire many
00:34of the side who played for the Northern Diamonds in the previous 50-over and 20-over competitions,
00:40standing them in good stead for the upcoming season. Therefore, with plenty of excitement
00:45ahead of the first ball being bowled, Durham hosted a launch night for their new women's
00:49team. Present at the Riverside Cricket Ground was the entire women's squad, alongside club
00:56board members, local councillors and supporters, with three of the new team in Emma Marlowe,
01:02Sophia Turner and Abbey Glenn, revealing their pride at being part of the set-up.
01:07Yeah, it's really exciting. Obviously, it's a new team and it's an exciting sort of season.
01:15It's really good to get together with, you know, supporters, fans and sort of, I guess,
01:19introduce ourselves. Being, yeah, like a completely first professional women's team, it's really
01:25exciting. So hopefully we can show that. Yeah, it's brilliant. It's just a great set-up
01:30here. And being the first women's professional team in the North East, it's brilliant to
01:34be a part of. I just think the opportunities to be part of the first team in Durham, first
01:39official women's cricket team in Durham is just brilliant. The ambitions that Durham
01:43have for silverware and stuff like that and growing the game in the North East is just
01:47amazing. Just to be part of that is great. All three then spoke of their journeys into
01:53cricket from grassroots to now playing at a professional standard.
01:58Yeah, through my dad, sort of standard really, isn't it? So yeah, he played. I'd watch him
02:06and score for his team. So I got involved, village stuff, and then went through Yorkshire
02:12and the Northern Diamonds and here we are. I was forced into it when I was little by
02:16my parents, but I've loved it ever since. Started off at Lancaster, worked through the
02:20age groups there, went over to the Northern Diamonds last year, played there for a season.
02:25And then when Project Darwin hit, Danny and Marcus up here came and sat me down and offered
02:29me a spot, and I couldn't say no. Well, I started cricket with my twin brother when
02:33I was about four and then just went through a club, went through the Yorkshire age groups
02:38and then progressed into the Diamonds and then to here. That's brilliant.
02:44Director of cricket at Durham, Marcus North, was one of the key figures in securing the
02:48signatures of the new players, with the potential of silverware under head coach Danny Hazle
02:54firmly at the forefront of the players' minds.
02:58Marcus sort of came to me and what he pitched was really exciting. It's a chance to sort
03:05of start a new, I guess, kind of legacy. And it's really exciting to be part of that first
03:10ever team. You're going to see silverware. There's three trophies up for grabs this year,
03:15so obviously we want to try and get our hands on them. But I think, obviously, you just
03:20look at building the team and building a structure that you can sort of go off for the seasons
03:27to come.
03:28Yeah, as soon as I spoke to Marcus and Danny, they explained the values to me and the set-up,
03:33the facilities, the two teams, one club and all that. And I just couldn't say no. It's
03:38a brilliant set-up and I'm happy to be here.
03:40With the team that we've got, I wouldn't say no. We've got a great captain, Holly Armitage,
03:44she's brilliant. She's always knocking on the door for England, so it's great to have
03:47her as our captain. And obviously the new signing of Fyler, I wouldn't say no. I think
03:52silverware is definitely in our plans for the season.
03:55I just think, like, talk to Marcus and Danny and their views about how they were going
03:59to embed the men's and women's team together. The whole club vision was just fitted with
04:06me and just felt like I could thrive here. Seeing some of the signings come through as
04:10we were updated was just brilliant. Some of the high-profile people that we've managed
04:15to attract to the north is great and we can definitely push for trophies, silverware,
04:20whatever this season.
04:22This represents the next step for women's cricket in the North East. There is clearly
04:26plenty of ambition from the players to compete at the highest possible levels this year,
04:30with silverware being very much the target.
04:33Alongside the men's team, Durham are preparing themselves for a new era in English cricket
04:38and one in which they will hope to both be successful in.