The six-year partnership between Metro Bank and the England & Wales Cricket Board (ECB) is rooted in the creation of the Metro Bank Girls in Cricket Fund, which aims to drive transformational growth for girls’ recreational cricket across England and Wales.
Launched in May 2024, the Metro Bank Girls in Cricket Fund has just published results showing a successful first year. The work of the fund has contributed to a 21% increase in the number of girls’ cricket teams to 463, and the delivery of 1,130 hours of in-club coach support. Thanks to the Fund, for the first time ever, there are more women than men (56%) participating in the ECB Coach Developer programme.
The Metro Bank Girls in Cricket Fund, co-designed and jointly funded by Metro Bank and the ECB, focuses on recruiting, educating, supporting and celebrating the people that make girls’ cricket in clubs happen; with the ambition to triple the number of girls’ teams at cricket clubs. The Fund provides support to current and potential new coaches and volunteers, female and male, both in clubs with a girls’ section and those starting a new girls’ section.
The Fund comprises seven ‘pillars’* of activity designed to help overcome barriers deterring participation, the most significant being a distinct lack of female coaches in the girls’ game.
“These first results show that our commitment and ambition to work with the ECB to grow girls’ cricket is already making an impact in just its first year,” explains Danielle Lee, Brand & Marketing Director, Metro Bank. “The aim of this partnership is to inspire women to fulfil their potential in cricket, business and life. Participation in team sports - such as cricket - is a gateway for women and girls to succeed in all aspects of their life. We want to improve confidence and social mobility and in turn help communities thrive, whilst also creating more role models who will have a positive impact on the future generations.”
Gemma Barton, Head of Women’s and Girls’ Participation at the ECB, said: “Year one was only the start, but we’re already seeing some fantastic results as we work with Metro Bank to turbocharge the growth of women’s and girls’ cricket. Over 2025 we’ll work with cricket boards across England and Wales to fully roll out the Fund, and I’m excited by what we can achieve together in the years ahead.”
NOTES TO EDITOR
The seven key pillars of The Metro Bank Girls in Cricket Fund are:
- Ignite– This is a new tool which will help volunteers considering getting into coaching to take their first steps in clubs with, or starting, a girls’ section, igniting their passion for coaching and volunteering. It will also help clubs with a girls’ sections to recruit new volunteers into their girls’ sections, aimed at parents and players themselves.
- Aspire- The fund will increase the number of qualified ECB Core Coaches who coach girls’ teams at clubs. ECB Core Coaches are important to girls’ sections as they can deliver sessions independently and support other coaches and volunteers.
- Enhance– Enhance is a first for coach development in clubs with a girls’ section. It’s a programme of tailored support for coaches of girls’ teams, designed specifically around individual’s needs, delivered at clubs with a girls’ section. Insights shows that coaches, and newly qualified coaches in particular, welcome more guidance upon completing their Coach Development course when they return to their clubs. Enhance provides this, tailored to each club with a girls’ section involved.
- Evolve– ECB Coach Developers are the tutor and support workforce that deliver ECB Coach Development courses throughout England and Wales. They inspire and create the coaches of the future. Support through the Fund will evolve the ECB Coach Developer workforce to become more gender balanced, through talent identification, and selection, empowering more women to become coaching role models.
- Reach– A dedicated hub of coaching resources and tools, aimed specifically at coaching girls in club cricket. Everything coaches of girls will need will be easily accessible in one place.
- Network– The Fund will bring together like-minded people with one common goal, inspiring and growing girls’ cricket at clubs. Network is a blend of virtual webinars, and from 2025, local face-to-face learning events. These will shine a light on coaching girls’ teams at clubs, connecting coaches and volunteers who play a vital role in inspiring girls at clubs.
- Celebrate- An opportunity to celebrate and say thank you to the volunteers and coaches that go above and beyond to make girls’ cricket in clubs happen. In partnership with the Cricket Collective, a new award, the ‘Metro Bank Champion of Girls’ Cricket Award’ will be given to a volunteer, coach or role model who has championed growing girls’ cricket at their club.