Women's cricket on the up across the Americas, says former England star Claire Taylor
Tuesday 30 May 2017 13:14, UK
World Cup winner Claire Taylor insists there is a growing appetite for women's cricket across the Americas.
Taylor now chairs the women's cricket committee at the MCC and still plays a little despite retiring from the game in 2011.
She played at a cricket festival in America at the beginning of the month, turning out for the CanAm United Women's Cricket Association, for whom she was the honorary captain.
"There is a real appetite for the game [over there]," Taylor told Sky Sports.
"I've just captained the CanAm team that entered the Philadelphia International Cricket Festival, which is a Twenty20 sort of pseudo-social, pseudo-competitive men's competition.
"We won three of our five games and almost qualified for the play-offs. I think we gave a pretty good account of ourselves even though my body wasn't too happy afterwards!
"CanAm club is a club made up of women who play cricket all over the Americas and their mission is just to play more because they don't get too many opportunities to do so.
"By coming together and, either coming on tour to England like they did last summer, or playing in a men's tournament like in Philadelphia, it just gives their girls a chance to play a lot more cricket.
"There are lots of interesting things happening over there. The US Women's cricket team have also just been awarded a wildcard so they will be coming over to Scotland this summer to play in a qualifier.
"That could see them progress towards potential qualification for the next Twenty20 competition which is really important for all of the girls involved because they can now see a pathway."
Taylor helped England win both the World Cup and the inaugural Women's World Twenty20 in 2009 and was recognised later that year as the best women's cricketer in the world by the ICC.
It is fair to say Taylor is a pretty good judge of ability and the former England star is impressed with the talent pool of women's cricketers she has come across Stateside.
"The players over there generally fall into two groups," Taylor said.
"You have your expats who are from South Asian backgrounds or from England, who have either played cricket before or whose families have cricket in their blood.
"And then there are actually a number of players who come across from softball or baseball. They're transferring the hitting skills and fielding skills they have learnt into a different game.
"Cricket is bringing those two communities together in America. Some players don't have the most in-depth knowledge of the game but some of them have skills that are amazing."
