黑料专区 picked up two awards at last night鈥檚 2018 Women鈥檚 Sport Trust #BeAGameChanger Awards, being recognised with the 鈥楴ational Governing Body of the Year鈥� Award and the 鈥楽porting Role Model 鈥� Team鈥� award.
The awards are decided by a public vote and the recognition comes off the back of a memorable 12 months for the game, the highlight of which was the England team winning the ICC Women鈥檚 World Cup in front of a sell-out crowd at Lord鈥檚.
Success in the women鈥檚 game has not been limited to the elite level with participation at the grassroots level also on the rise.
All Stars now has just under 55,000 children signed up for 2018 while the 2017 Women鈥檚 Soft Ball Cricket Festivals gave 9,500 women their first experience of structured cricket.
At domestic level attendances for the Kia Super League enjoyed an increase of 44 per cent across 2017, with an aggregate attendance approaching 25,000.
Thank you & everyone who voted for to win the NGB Award. We hope we鈥檒l look back on 2017 as being a game-changing year for our sport 馃憡馃弿
鈥� Clare Connor (@ConnorCricket)
Director of England Women鈥檚 Cricket Clare Connor said:
鈥淚t鈥檚 special to be honoured by the Women鈥檚 Sport Trust because the history and progress of women鈥檚 sport is at the heart of what drives them.
鈥淭here are so many fantastic organisations, teams and athletes playing their part to grow women鈥檚 sport and we鈥檙e privileged to have been chosen to win these awards.听
鈥淲e鈥檝e really enjoyed the last 12 months and the recognition and profile that the women鈥檚 game has seen, but there鈥檚 always more work to be done.听
鈥淭here truly has never been a better time for women and girls to be involved in cricket, on and off the pitch, and we are focused on further growth and success.听
鈥淲e want girls to know that professional cricket is a viable career choice for them and we will support our elite teams to keep performing so we can create more special days like the one we experienced at Lord鈥檚 in July last summer.
It goes without saying that we are extremely proud of Heather Knight, her England team and all of our staff who play such critical roles behind the scenes in supporting the players to be the best they can be.鈥�
Heather Knight, England captain, said:
鈥淲e want to inspire young girls to pick up a bat and a ball and start playing and recognition is always useful.
鈥淚t鈥檚听obviously a huge honour to win awards such as this one but听the real success comes in growing cricket and introducing new fans to our game.
鈥淲e鈥檙e hosting South Africa and New Zealand this summer and hopefully we鈥檒l carry on doing our bit to听bring more women and girls into cricket.鈥�
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