Preview: South Yorkshire Women & Girls Cricket League [2026]

The South Yorkshire Women & Girls Cricket League enters its first season with a Premier Division, among other changes for 2026.

Thanks to the League’s Chair Liz Harris for her knowledge and background as we discussed strategy and structure.

The three regional Women’s Premier Leagues have been working closely over the past 18 months (West, South and North/East) to align on what the domestic recreational game looks like, along with the Yorkshire Cricket Foundation (YCF).

Premier Division shake-up

In the South, the debut season of the Premier League sees 13 teams play 30-overs hardball cricket; quite a jump up from their five-team Division 1 in 2025. That reflects the demand and work by clubs, allied with ECB/YCF strategy and other intriguing sub-plots. 

Rockingham Colliery and Tickhill move from the Yorkshire Women & Girls Cricket League into the South’s Premier Division. It will be interesting to see how they go, given much discussion over relative standards in leagues.

Talking to Liz, this is quite a bold evolution for women’s cricket in South Yorkshire. Last year, Division 1 was more relaxed with matches either the full 30 overs or reduced to a T20 based on player availability and strength.

This is a bedding-in year, to get horticultural for a moment, to gauge how clubs fare. The expectation is that some will find the step up tougher than others but then how do you know until you try and, equally true, how else does a squad improve?

The full line-up is:

Anston, Eckington, Green Moor, Hallam, Higham, Millhouses Works, Norton Oakes, Oughtibridge, Parkhead, Rockingham Colliery, Sheffield Collegiate (Women’s 2nd XI), Tickhill, Wickersley Old Village

On the up

In 2027, the South Yorkshire Women and Girls League will contract their Premier Division down to eight teams who will play 40 overs to mirror other Premier Leagues. So, expect concentration on league places to intensify in the final matches that conclude quite early on 23 August.

Purely in terms of participation numbers, the South is on the up. There were 35 clubs and 59 teams in 2025 to now approximately 50 clubs and 76 teams.

While softball festivals in the region date back to 2017, the league in South Yorkshire came into being in 2021. Its expansion ever since saw the women and girls’ league become part of the Yorkshire Cricket Southern Premier League to benefit from support with governance, safeguarding and disciplinary admin.

As for the welcome growth, the challenge as a league is to keep everyone happy. Providing enough cricket while progressing the rules and simultaneously, being flexible enough for developing teams where it’s still very new.

Indoor success for Tickhill

Meanwhile, the mountain of indoor cricket fixtures have only recently concluded and Tickhill Tigers (above) won county honours. They were unbeaten and lifted the Div 1 softball title in South Yorkshire.

Next, victory came against Pudsey St Lawrence in the county semi-final before defeating Sessay in the final. It’s their third county title in a row and confirms their strength in softball cricket.

Attention now turns to softball cricket outdoors with the league catering for five divisions and 49 teams. In a very pleasing symmetry, all teams across all divisions and formats begin on Sunday 19 April.

Inter-league and regional battles

The working relationships between the three Premier Leagues has yielded various collaborations. The Dream Team Builders Invitational Trophy (above) saw South Yorkshire & West Yorkshire representative sides play each other in 2025.

For 2026, the Premier Division winners in the South will face the victors of the YPLN (North/East) and West to determine an overall hardball champion. 

Transition: Super 8s

A bridge format called Super 8s is a way for teams to step up from softball cricket to hardball but in a graduated way.

The rules are essentially still softball (so eight-a-side, pairs cricket, 16 overs games with net scores and minus five for a dismissal). However, it’s played with a hardball and, in 2025, Tickhill Panthers edged Millhouses Works by 4 runs in the grand final.

The appetite for that transition is evident in the 14 teams that make up the Super 8s division in 2026. From Anston to Aston Hall and Hallam to Hathersage, everyone is in one league table (as opposed to West and East divisions last season).

To an extent, that tells me that softball players want a) more cricket and b) don’t mind the travel. Either way, its popularity is a really encouraging sign and underpins the league’s broader ambitions to improve standards, while offering a level for everyone.

So, there you go… a round-up of how things are shaping up in South Yorkshire women’s cricket. It’s a momentous season coming up and we’ll be covering teams and leagues right here on the website.

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