Alumni Foundation Report - Women's Cricket

On behalf of the Women’s cricket team we would like to thank the Sheffield University Alumni Foundation for their kindness, support and generosity. Your kind donation has not only provided kit for the club, but provided a firm foundation for the ongoing future and improvement of Women’s cricket here at Sheffield University. We spent your kind donation on kit for the club which included; new bats, helmets, pads, gloves, cricket balls for games, training equipment such as cones, balls and stumps and also team shirts for all the club members.

One of the greatest challenges in previous years has been to provide training sessions that cater for players of all abilities and to keep the interest up throughout the year. As our competitive outdoor season does not begin until May it has previously been difficult to keep training sessions well attended and competitive as the players have little to focus on during the winter. The additional equipment that we have been able to purchase courtesy of the Alumni Foundation has allowed more players to train at the same time and develop their skills, which has in turn improved the enjoyment and standard of our players.

The committee can honestly reflect that there has already been a marked improvement in the standard of all the players in the team since the start of term. We are hopeful to push for promotion in the outdoor league this summer and we are confident there will be enough players with the interest and ability to enter a second team next season. Currently only a small proportion of the members training will actually play in competitive matches so the team shirts we have ordered have been welcomed by all the players as it has made it feel a more inclusive team.

We have only played in one tournament since the start of term where we were only one match away from a semi-final to be held at Lords. Match practice/experience is limited so we were hoping to arrange an indoor tournament here in Sheffield but venues that can host such a tournament are limited. We are keen to arrange this for future years and enter at least 2 teams ourselves which will give match opportunities to more of the players.

On behalf of the whole team, we would once again like to thank you for your kind donation. It really has been a tremendous help to the club.