Building an inclusive club where cricket is for everyone
Chris Maher, Chairman of South-End-On-Sea and EMT Cricket Club shares the club's journey, from a cold November evening to its first Ladies’ Day.
Following Ladies’ Day, I wanted to take a little time to reflect on just how far the girls’ and women’s section of our club has come in such a short space of time.
It really began in the winter of 2024, when Conor and I were approached by Essex to support Claire Hendry with some work aimed at igniting female cricket in Southend. Claire led the programme, with us helping first at Hamstel Junior School and then at Southend High School for Girls.
From there, we wanted to make sure those girls had somewhere to continue playing cricket.
So, during the summer of 2025, we started dedicated girls-only training at the club on Friday evenings. Slowly but surely, it began to grow.
That summer also saw us play Westcliff in the first all-girls match in our club’s history — a milestone that felt pretty significant at the time.
We carried that momentum into the winter with our first girls-only indoor nets. Then came this summer, when things grew beyond anything we could realistically have expected.
Scott Elliott returned to the club in a coaching capacity after some time away and has done a fantastic job leading both our girls and ladies alongside Conor and the rest of us.
This summer, we have regularly had around 30 girls, aged from just six to 12, at Friday night training.
Considering where we were less than two years ago, that is quite incredible.
But the numbers only tell a small part of the story.
image courtesy of pitchero.com
