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Women’s cricket

In 2024 we are very much welcoming new members, with four competitive teams to choose from.

 

About SMCC Women

SMCC Women formed in 2009 and has grown to be an increasingly successful team over the past 12 years. In 2019, we won the inaugural Surrey Slam T20 tournament. Our Women’s 1st XI have been promoted twice in the last four years, and in 2022, our brand new Women’s 2nd XI finished 2nd in Division 2 and were promoted to Division 1.

Since 2022, with 35 regular players and over 50 women attending training, we have been running two women’s teams. On some weekends, we had enough players available to put three teams out, and with more and more teenage girls coming through each year, it won’t be long before we need to look at running a third team.

Including juniors of all ages as well as adults, we have over 130 female players at the club at the moment; that’s 28% of all players at the club and still growing rapidly.

We are always on the lookout for new players – whatever your experience (or not) of playing cricket we want to hear from you. As a club with two teams, we are better placed than most other clubs to provide cricket at a suitable level for every player.

We’re a friendly bunch of teens and women with a variety of ages, ability and cricketing experience. We play competitively whilst still having fun. Anyone can join and train with us (potentially from school year 8 – see further details below), so why not come along for a free session and check us out?

We are also one of a tiny number of cricket clubs in the country to be led by a female chair.

Zoe Balfour, Women’s 1st XI player – wicketkeeper and batter.

Recent highlights

2023
1st XI finished 2nd in Premiership
2nd XI finished 5th in Division 1
Tour: 7-a-side festival in La Manga, Spain (two teams)

2022
Our new 2nd XI finished runners-up in Division 2 and were promoted to Division 1
1st XI finished 3rd in Premiership
Tour: 7-a-side festival in Malaga
Hiyacar sponsored women’s shirts

2021
Runners up in Surrey’s top division (which in 2022 is being renamed the Premier Division)
100 female players in the club!
SMCC’s Women & Girls Festival Day was reported on by the ECB.

2019
Surrey Slam T20 – Winners
Surrey Women’s Cricket League Div 2 – Winners with 100% wins; promoted to Div 1
Tour: 6-a-Side Festival in La Manga, Spain

2018
Women’s Southern League Wostrack / Whitehorn Div 2 – Winners

2017
Surrey Trust Women’s League – 2017 – Winners with 100% wins
Tour: SMCC Women’s tour of Trinidad and Tobago

Training

Women’s indoor training October 2023 – March 2024

Aimed at: All women cricketers (including eligible juniors – see Juniors playing in senior cricket section below). These are coached sessions. New players are welcome at any time, but please contact us on enquiries.smcricketclub@gmail.com at least a day in advance so we know to expect you. It is possible to borrow kit at first if you don’t have your own.
When: Thursdays from 7:30pm to 9:30pm
Where: Harris Boys Academy East Dulwich, Peckham Rye, London SE22 0AT (view location on Google Maps). There is free parking on nearby streets around the back of the school. The entrance to the school is on the side of the building which faces the park, in the middle of the building. If gates are closed, ring the buzzer for reception.
Cost per session: £10 or £5 if eligible for the concessions rate (unemployed/low-waged/student/single parent/senior/junior player). First session is free.

Supercasuals nets

Aimed at: Occasional players – mainly parents of SMCC juniors. We have some women as well as men who attend. Please note this is not a coached session. Sessions will be mainly self-organised nets; perhaps with some sessions being indoor games instead of nets. These sessions lead into a handful of very casual, locally played evening matches in the summer. New players are welcome at any time, but please contact us on enquiries.smcricketclub@gmail.com at least a day in advance so we know to expect you. It is possible to borrow kit at first if you don’t have your own.
When: Mondays 8:00pm to 9:30pm from from 8 January to 19 Feb, followed by a 3 week break, then three more sessions from 18 March – 1 April 2024.
Where: Harris Boys Academy East Dulwich, Peckham Rye, London SE22 0AT (view location on Google Maps). There is free parking on nearby streets around the back of the school. The entrance to the school is on the side of the building which faces the park, in the middle of the building. If gates are closed, ring the buzzer for reception.
Cost per session: £6 full price or £3 concessions (eg unemployed). No coaching provided. Pay per session.

Outdoor training April-August
Outdoor training normally runs throughout the summer season. In 2023, this started from 20 April and was from 6.30pm until 8.30pm every Thursday evening. After the first four weeks, sessions started at 7pm and ran until 9pm. We will update details here for 2024 once confirmed, but they are likely to be the same or very similar to 2023.

The girls’ squads are the only other players who train on Thursdays in the summer, meaning an all-female environment other than some of the coaches.

Summer training outdoors at the club. Thursday evenings are now reserved for female training only – two girls’ squads and the rapidly growing women’s squad.

 

 

Tours

We regularly run overseas tours. In 2017, we toured Trinidad and Tobago and in 2019 we played in the 6th Ladies 6-A-Side Festival at La Manga Club Cricket Resort in Spain. Were it not for COVID-19, we would have gone to the La Manga festival again in 2020. In May 2022, we went to a multi-day 7-a-side women’s cricket tournament in Malaga. And in 2023, we took two teams back to La Manga Club in Spain for a 7-a-side festival played on Friday 5 May and Saturday 6 May. 

In 2024, we are taking a squad of around 17 players to an 11-a-side T20 tournament at La Manga Club in Spain.

SMCC Women on tour in 2023 at the La Manga Club in Spain.

 

Teams

Women’s 1st XI
Competing in the Surrey Women’s Cricket League – Premier Division (Sunday afternoons)
Captain: Laura Gardiner

Women’s 2nd XI
Competing in the Surrey Women’s Cricket League – Division 1 (Sunday afternoons)
Captain: Emily Patterson

Women’s T20 Elite Team
Competing in the Surrey Women’s Cricket League Elite T20 Division (Sundays)
Captain: Paige Copsey

Women’s T20 Slam Team (SMCC Hawks)
Competing in Women’s Surrey Slam East (mixture of Sundays and mid-week evenings)
Captain: Liz Marin-Curtoud

Membership & Fees

New members

If you’re interested in joining or joining some training sessions as a taster, please send an email to enquiries.smcricketclub@gmail.com, which is monitored by several members of the club’s Executive Committee in order to ensure that all enquires get a timely response.

Fees

Membership fees are payable at the start of the summer season (late April). Late fees do not apply to new members – you can join any time of the season based on the ‘early bird’ rate.

Full-paying members
Membership: £110 (for returning members, this rises to £130 if not paid by 15 May)
Match fee for home games at SMCC and for away games: £14 if teas provided, £9 if teas not provided
Match fee for home games at ‘out-grounds’ such as Mayow Park: £12 if teas provided, £8 if teas not provided
Match fee for short format games: £4

Concession members (unemployed/low-waged/student/single parent/senior – see below for further details)
Membership: £75 (for returning members, this rises to £90 if not paid by 15 May)
Match fee for home games at SMCC and for away games: £7 if teas provided, £4.50 if teas not provided
Match fee for home games at ‘out-grounds’ such as Mayow Park: £6 if teas provided, £4 if teas not provided
Match fee for short format games: £2

U21 members
Membership: £60 (for returning members, this rises to £70 if not paid by 15 May)
Match fee for home games at SMCC and for away games: £7 if teas provided, £4.50 if teas not provided
Match fee for home games at ‘out-grounds’ such as Mayow Park: £6 if teas provided, £4 if teas not provided
In accordance with Clubmark guidelines, players under 18 should be registered by a parent as a junior player.
Match fee for short format games: £2

Parents of SMCC juniors
If you have a son or daughter enrolled in the junior section and would also like to play, we have a special rate for you to play up to 5 games per year in any of the men’s senior teams. You are also welcome to attend as many indoor nets sessions as you wish (per session fees apply).
Membership: £35
Match fees: see full / concessions rates above
Indoor nets: see full / concessions rates above

We also, of course, welcome parents as full senior members.

See our SMCC Juniors website for details of junior cricket.

Social members
For £35, you can be a social member, free to use the club facilities and qualify for discounted rates on hirings.

Concession membership details
Streatham & Marlborough are committed to providing cricket for all. Non / low income members requiring assistance should contact the appropriate membership committee. The club will review individual applications on a case by case basis. The following are entitled to claim the concession rate for membership. In order to qualify for the concession rate, members must provide evidence to this effect. This will, of course, be treated in confidence.

Category and detailed meaning
Unemployed = claiming benefit
Low-waged = your annual income is less than the London living wage (2021 = £21,547.50 per annum)
Student = in full-time education
Single parent = person is sole carer for a child/children
Senior = over 65

Those paying or applying to pay concession rates should notify the membership committee (enquiries.smcricketclub@gmail.com) as to the reason for their concession. This will be reviewed and agreed where appropriate. This applies to existing members and new members alike.

How to pay

  • Juniors payments must be made via our online booking system.
  • Pavilion Project donations must be made into the segregated pavilion fund account, details of which are at near the bottom of the Pavilion Project page.
  • Annual subs and match fees for all senior games are now be payable through the Teamo app only.
  • Indoor nets fees should be paid via the Teamo app if you are an existing member, or in cash on the door if you are new

Selection policy

Selection principles

We seek to provide access to playing opportunities to all squad members who wish to play, to allow them to perform to the best of their abilities in their most suitable playing role.

We aim to play competitive cricket and therefore due consideration will be given to the standard of the opponents/league/competitions in selecting teams. This may be of particular focus towards the end of the season where there might be the prospect of promotion or relegation.

We strongly believe that development of our junior players, as part of open age cricket, is a key aspect to ensure the future success of the women’s section for the club.

For league games, team selection will generally seek to field the strongest team, taking into account the combination of player strength and balance/mix of skills, where batting, bowling and fielding skills are considered equivalent contributors to player ability. The other primary factors taken into account in selection for league games will be attendance at summer training, and wider non-playing contributions to the club (such as committee membership, scoring and umpiring). 

Selection will also take into account player conduct, form, commitment at training, pathway development, access to other playing opportunities (e.g. junior league fixtures), and payment of membership fees (for selection taking place prior to the payment deadline).

Selection for friendly games will take into consideration prior playing opportunities and seek to provide more opportunities for those who may not have been selected for as many league games.

As a growing squad, selection for a playing team each week is not guaranteed, and will depend upon overall availability. However, we aim to ensure that all members get opportunities to play across the season as a whole. For this purpose we encourage members to log their availability for matches in Teamo as far in advance as possible, as this is the only way that we can ensure a fair distribution of playing opportunities across the squad (within the bounds of the selection criteria outlined above).

Players who are available, but not selected, for games may be called upon to act as a scorer or umpire (if qualified); however, we do not expect to ask members to do this more than once a season (unless they want to).

With the exception of 7 members who have been listed as 1st XI players for Surrey league purposes for the 2024 season, and members whose 1st XI or county appearances make them ineligible for certain teams, all other members may be asked to play, when available, for the 1st XI, 2nd XI, Elite T20 or Hawks teams. Any player selected in a higher team than is usual for them will be played as close to their usual playing role as possible.

Selection process

Selection for matches is undertaken in accordance with this policy, by the team captains.

For all teams, members must indicate their availability for both Sunday matches and mid-week matches in the following week by 8pm on the previous Monday using our Teamo app. If you have not marked your availability by this time the team captains will assume you are not available for the relevant fixture.

Team sheets for Sunday matches will be published in Teamo by 10pm on the Wednesday of that same week, and equivalently far in advance for mid-week matches. Captains may separately contact players not selected to ask them to act as reserve players (in the event of player withdrawal), or in a non-playing capacity such as scorer.

Selection eligibility

In order to be eligible for selection for games, players must:

  • Be paid members of SMCC. The deadline for membership payments is the end of May, however prior to this date selection priority will be given to those who have paid. After this date, those who have still not paid will not be selected. Note that SMCC is committed to providing cricket for all, and for those on no or low incomes, please check out the Membership and Fees section on the club website for the support offered.
  • Pay relevant training and match fees. Players with more than 2 weeks of outstanding training or match fees will not be prioritised for selection.
  • Adhere to the timescales for notifying availability on Teamo, and communicate any potential time restrictions separately to the captains as relate to the match (e.g. home game only, need to leave early etc.)
  • Once selected try to avoid changes to availability as much as is possible. We appreciate emergencies or unforeseen circumstances may arise, however repeated withdrawal from a squad following selection, will result in lower priority for future selection.

Juniors playing in senior cricket

How old do juniors need to be to play senior cricket?

We have a slightly different policy on this for boys and girls, as different restrictions apply to Men’s and Women’s league cricket.

These rules do not mean that all players who are old enough are expected to train and play in senior cricket, by any means. It is an option for players to try when they feel it’s something they want to do. For most players, this tends to be at around Under 15s (school year 10) or older, but some younger players enjoy playing in senior games of a suitable level.

Girls in senior cricket

If Under 15 (school year 10) or older, players can attend senior training and make themselves available for senior matches without restrictions. U14s (school year 9) in a county pathway may also join without restrictions.

U14s who are not in a county pathway will be on an invitation basis. We need to see them in junior training first before we consider whether they are at a suitable level to attend women’s training.

U13s (school year 8) can only join if in a county pathway, and then on an invitation basis.

U12s (school year 7) cannot join senior training, even if in a county pathway, due to league restrictions preventing juniors of this age playing alongside / against the Women’s 1st XI players (due to the relatively high division that that team plays in). Our Women’s 1st XI and 2nd XI players train as a mixed group.

For junior players of any age, the SMCC coaches & captains have the right to say no to a player joining training or matches if deemed unsafe for that player to do so, though we would expect that to be very rare, as we welcome adults who are complete beginners into these sessions.

At SMCC, we are lucky to have probably the largest senior section in the country. We typically field 8 men’s teams on most Saturdays, and 2 women’s teams on Sundays. This means we have an exceptionally wide range of standards of senior cricket in which juniors can take part.

Many other local clubs also have juniors of the same ages playing for them.

Whether you’re an experienced player looking to play in the Surrey Premiership, or a newbie looking to learn the game and enjoy the social side of the club, you’ll be very welcome at SMCC. We’re aiming to have our biggest and best year yet of female cricket in 2024. Come and join us.

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