Softball shenanigans (and trophies) at Scholes

Fran Hamilton of Scholes Cricket Club, shares how women and girls’ cricket began and its subsequent successes.

The Scholes women and girls cricket story started in August / September 2022, towards the end of season where the mums were having a drink and decided it would be a good idea to play hardball cricket in our bare feet after a few proseccos down.

Someone mentioned we should have female cricket at our club, so the next day I cracked on with it. It was a steep learning curve for me, being a one-armed Scottish lady who knew absolutely nothing about cricket at this point, other than watching my daughter play.

At that time my own daughter had been playing girls cricket at another club because we didn’t have the offering at Scholes.

So, that was all the purpose I needed to get started the following day (slightly worse for wear), I decided in my wisdom that I would start up women and girls’ cricket at Scholes Cricket Club.

Baby steps indoors

That October we entered the indoor league (as Scholes Shenanigans) which at that time was in Bradford. The indoor league is made up of six-a-side teams, 12 overs and we could barely pull a team together.

We joined forces with other local teams in similar situations – and borrowed a couple of players to keep us going whilst we organically grew our women and girls membership.

Fast forward to now, February 2025 – and we are just about to enter our third summer season. This year and for the second year in a row, we will have four teams in the West Yorkshire Women and Girls Cricket League.

We have a development softball team, a division softball side, an under 13 softball squad, and we have a super eight hardball team which is a development level.

Inclusive environment

During this time, we have seen some amazing growth not only in a number of members but our individual players. Our club really drives forward the message that cricket is for everyone.

Our youngest member in our women’s teams is my own daughter (age 13 now), and our oldest member is over 60 years old.

We have a number of women playing for us who haven’t played sports since they were at school, many of them damaged by the shocking perception that they were not your typical sportswomen.

Whilst I’m ecstatic that the women and girls game is growing at such a phenomenal rate, one thing I’m hugely passionate about is to ensure that there is always a place for all women who want to play cricket, regardless of age, ability or mobility, because that’s what sport should be about.

Champions of Yorkshire

We have been very successful in our early years of cricket – in 2024, our Division One ladies became the West Yorkshire Women and Girls Softball Champions.

The year prior, our ladies and girls won the Huddersfield Softball Festival. We are a hugely competitive and capable team – but we are competitive with the right spirit.

Our U13 girls were also league winners in the WYWGCL Huddersfield South League last year.

We really try and drive the right spirit in sport. It’s not all about winning, obviously it’s a competitive game and we all love to win, but we’re not prepared to win at any cost.

We’re fully inclusive, we ensure all of our members get adequate games, we embody the very meaning of the spirit of cricket, and we support each other like I’ve never seen a bunch of women support each other before.

We have really created an amazing community of women and girls, with members now joining from outside our village.

Fran’s league role

In the Huddersfield region and wider in the West Yorkshire area, I’m involved as the Huddersfield rep and I’m also involved in the strategy group for the West Yorkshire Women and Girls Cricket League.

I am hugely passionate about levelling the playing field for our female players to where it is for our male players, obviously for those girls that have that passion and drive to play at that level.

We have, in my eyes, quite some way to go, but we are definitely on the right journey to get there and there are plenty awesome people contributing to making the offering for girls better.

I am a right-arm amputee, however I do not let that stop me. Along with my right-hand woman (literally), Hannah Stephens, we completed our level two core coach qualification a couple of years ago, so that we could offer our club, particularly women and girls, a good level of coaching.

We are fully supported by some of the men in our club community, our own husbands – Dave Blundell & Dan Stephens – help umpire and score when needed. Steve Buss, the husband of another player and also a junior coach at our club, helps us with coaching when needed.

Our chair Ash Pamment and the committee are behind us supporting us in ensuring our club is welcoming for our female players.

It really does take a village to make sure our game of cricket goes ahead from arranging umpires, scorers, team managers and captains; all of this takes time and effort.

Clothing step forward

It’s not all been plain sailing but it’s certainly improved over the years and this year sees the arrival of dark trousers for our juniors. This is a massive step forward to ensure inclusion for our junior teams where we have both male and female players.

It truly is amazing what can happen with a bit of drive, tenacity, purpose, and intention. Anyone considering starting cricket at their club for women and girls should really go ahead and embrace it.

There are so many resources, support groups, communities of people out there willing to help. It really is refreshing to see that the future for females in cricket looks very bright.

I’d just like to say a massive thanks to everyone I’ve mentioned in here before, but also to all of our team captains, sponsors, YCB contacts, West Yorkshire women and girls cricket league committee, husbands, girlfriends, wives and players, because without every single one of these people we wouldn’t be where we are today.

Here’s to an awesome 2025 cricket season – I’ve ordered the sunshine from April until September!

Read more about women and girls’ cricket on Cricket Yorkshire

Thanks to Fran for her perspective and all the best to Scholes’ women and girls’ section during their games in 2025. You can read more of our articles and podcasts below…

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