Clifton Park Cobras
Summer 2022 sees the emergence of a long overdue Senior Women’s cricket team in York. A combined effort between Clifton Alliance CC and York CC, they will this year play in the Yorkshire Women and Girls League and a development team will play in the East Yorkshire Women and Girls League.
The Cobras team will be coached and led primarily by Grace Hall, who is in the current Northern Diamonds Academy. Grace started her cricket journey, like many other girls, by playing mixed junior cricket before progressing into senior men’s cricket in the YDSCL. She then had to travel further afield to find competitive cricket in the Yorkshire Women’s league. She attended Yorkshire Cricket College, is one of the female coaches leading the York MCC Hub for Girls and is also coaching on the North Yorkshire Girls Hubs.
Grace said, “ I am really passionate about giving young females an opportunity to develop their cricket because of my own experiences. Clifton Park Cobras is a team created as a result of the amount of female players in the York area, wanting to play for a local team. With no central York side to play competitively for, players have had to travel further away from home to gain a competitive cricket experience. This is a collaboration between 2 of the biggest cricket clubs in the city, who will now be able to provide opportunities and great facilities for the Women and Girls teams”.
“We are starting with a senior first team, playing both T20 and 40 over formats in the Yorkshire Women and Girls League as well as entering the Vitality National T20 competition. We will also have a development team, playing T20s initially in the East Yorkshire League.
“We have a wide range of players from local juniors, county age group and Northern Diamonds Academy players committed to play for the club in 2022”.
“Our long term aim is to have an u13, u15, u19, Senior Development and Senior First Teams playing across the spectrum of the Yorkshire Women and Girls leagues, and playing in National competitions”.
“We are grateful to Cranswick Foods who have agreed to be our shirt sponsors, to Bear Cricket for helping with kit design, and to all the other people at both clubs who have made this possible”.
Sid Corley, Clifton Alliance CC, Director of Junior and Women’s Cricket said : “The increasing number of girls in our junior section over the last few years means that we have continually developed our dedicated girls coaching. We are really excited to be collaborating with York Cricket Club to add these women’s teams, providing an equal pathway for women and girls who want to play cricket at any level. This is a truly proud moment for cricket in the area and I know they will get fantastic support”.
Nigel Durham, Chair of York CC said, “We are delighted to work with our friends and neighbours at Clifton Alliance to create a city wide women’s cricket team. We look forward to helping the Cobras become Yorkshire’s premier women’s club”.
Rob Johnson, Yorkshire Cricket Board said: “On behalf of the Yorkshire Cricket Board, we are delighted to support the creation of Clifton Park Cobras. This cements the development of women’s cricket in the city of York”.
This launch also coincides with the launch of ‘We Got Game’, a new campaign designed to elevate the profile of women’s cricket and to welcome more young women and girls into the game to drive greater gender balance. Hosted on a new Instagram channel, @wegotgameofficial aims to unite a community of like-minded young women and girls to share their passion both on and off the pitch.
If you are interested in lending your support, either financially or as a spectator, or if you want to join as a player, please get in touch through Instagram by messaging @cliftonparkcobras or contact: Rob Flack on 07951 781284 or Andy Hall on 07503 214248.
Follow us on Instagram : @cliftonparkcobras
