UKAFCA Women

Derbyshire County Ground played host to the annual Bowling Out Gender Inequality (BOGI) Fixture between Opening Boundaries and the UK Armed Forces Women’s Cricket team.

On a hot and sunny afternoon, the annual Bowling Out gender Inequality game was played on Friday 19th July at Derby County cricket club as part of a special T20 double-header at The County Ground, with Derbyshire Falcons set to face Durham in their final Vitality Blast group game in the evening.  The UK Armed Forces Women’s team, which was captained by Capt Connie Cant, won the toss and elected to bat and scored an impressive 184 for 2, from 20 overs.  The Derbyshire BOGI then were held to 63 for 7 wickets, resulting in a 121 run victory for the UK Armed Forces team.

The women’s game has seen growth in the region in recent years, with more than 25% of all women and girls cricket played in the Midlands in 2023 involving a team from Derbyshire. Sport is a great leveller when it comes to raising awareness of social causes. The message was amplified across the stadium throughout the day alongside the Armed Forces engagement teams talking about the work they do and careers for women in the services.

Ryan Duckett, Chief Executive at Derbyshire County Cricket Club, said: “We are delighted to be welcoming Opening Boundaries to The County Ground this summer.

“Gender inequality is a hugely important issue, one that stretches far beyond the world of sport, and we’re delighted to come together with Opening Boundaries, the Armed Forces, the Derbyshire Cricket Foundation and our key stakeholders within the community for this event, which we hope will raise awareness and help to promote equality.”

Halima Khan, founder of the campaign, added: “Over the years we have seen women’s sport grow massively, however, there are still challenges at an institutional and systemic level where culture needs to be addressed. Sporting events should be an opportunity to showcase this and it’s on us all to play our role.

Today we weren’t just invited to the stadium, we played on the same strip the men would be playing on for there T20 vitality blast game, we were given access to the main changing rooms, the game was live streamed with commentary. These things whilst they might seem like small gestures, they have a huge impact on gender equality and setting a culture which puts gender on an equal playing field”.

She went on to say, “I’d like to thank everyone at Derby CC, who made us feel so welcome and set a culture which showed us when doors opened its not just an invite, but also an opportunity to input at a higher level and provide an equal platform”.

UKAFCA Chair, Brigadier MT Cansdale CBE, said: “It has been brilliant to see the recent strides made in increasing female participation in cricket both in Defence and more widely. But there is still more to do.

“This fantastic fixture is another step in that direction, and we are really grateful to Derbyshire County Cricket Club for all they are doing for this event and for bowling out gender inequality.”

The game can be watched again through YouTube at:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ylG7nS-9TFs