Women & Girl’s Week 2025 started with a bang at Monday night training but unfortunately succumbed to rain on the Friday evening with our ever-popular inter-club softball festival cancelled.

The pinnacle of the week was undoubtedly the honour of hosting the MCC Women in a T20 match on Wednesday afternoon. With the sun out and the Ampthill and MCC flags flying proudly at the top of the flagpole, the match went down to the wire with the MCC Women winning by just 10 runs. It was a wonderful day of cricket played in front of a sizeable crowd. The highlight from the day was the scrumptious Afternoon Tea for players and officials in our newly renovated Pavilion! A great day was had by all and we are hoping to establish a regular fixture with the MCC Women.

In the morning, girls from six different clubs in the county converged on The Park for a girls’ softball festival. A huge thank you to Cricket East for running the festival, supported by some of our women. Many girls then stayed to form a guard of honour for the Women as they ran onto the field.

As one the leading women and girls’ clubs in Bedfordshire, we are proud to be partnered with Her Game Too Cricket, a wonderful campaign to fight sexism in sport.

Our women’s team formed in 2019 and quickly established themselves in the Home Counties Women’s League going on to win the Super 8’s Development League in 2023. Growing every year, we have recognised the need to develop girls from a young age and now have a specific pathway for girls to progress through to our women’s hardball team. From girls-only All Stars and Dynamos through to U11’s, U13’s and U16’s age groups, there are opportunities for girls of every age and ability. This year, our Women are playing in the Premiership League of the new Hertfordshire Women’s Cricket League.

We are proud to have good representative of women on our Executive Committee as well as female coaches. We also have a number of girls currently assisting at Dynamos and U11 girls training sessions, with a view of undertaking coaching courses in the future. Women & Girls’ Week is just one of the many ways we continue to support the growth of women and girls at the Club.

Head of ATCC Women & Girls, Jenni Douglass, said: “Her Game Too Cricket is an incredibly powerful and progressive campaign that brings sexism in cricket to the forefront. At Ampthill, we continue to build a safe place for women and girls to play and watch cricket as well as socialise, and we look forward to partnering and supporting Her Game Too Cricket for many years.”

Paige Caunce, Head of Her Game Too Cricket, said: “I’d like to express the campaign’s gratitude towards Ampthill Town Cricket Club for partnering with Her Game Too Cricket and pledging their support. We are excited to be working alongside the team at ATCC to spread our message across Bedfordshire that cricket is truly a game for all. The club have already been doing fantastic work to facilitate more women and girls playing cricket, and we hope we can build on that into the future."

For more information about Her Game Too Cricket and the important work they do, please visit their website (www.hergametoo.co.uk) or social media channels (@hergametoo / @hgtcricket & @hergametoocricket).