Over the past few months, Cayman Cricket has made significant strides in reviving and developing cricket for women and girls. This followed the appointment by Cayman Cricket of Sania Iqbal Khan, a former Pakistan international player, as Cayman Cricket’s first Senior Development Officer for female programmes. Since her appointment progress in women and girls cricket in the Cayman Islands has accelerated dramatically. Sania is passionate about the game and thrilled to be in Cayman. She has big dreams of helping to empower the next generation of women and girls in cricket.
In May 2019 Cayman Cricket introduced the M.A.D. (Mothers and Daughters) programme which was a six-week programme aimed at encouraging mothers and daughters to learn basic cricket training skills and participate in mini tournaments. The M.A.D. Programme was an incredible success, with excellent turn out and feedback from in excess of 50 participants. Cayman Cricket plans to make this a recurring event over the coming years.
Since Sania’s involvement with Cayman Cricket, Cayman has seen the involvement of girls teams in the annual Primary Schools Cricket Carnival for the first time. A total of 20 teams participated in the Carnival, of which there were six girls teams, including one from The Lighthouse School, a school for children with learning disabilities. As a direct result of the level of participation and the excitement it has generated the Department of Education has now made cricket a mandatory part of the curriculum for girls in primary schools.
This year, Cayman Cricket also organised a Cricket Awareness tournament for high school girls. Four teams participated in the tournament, two from St. Ignatius Catholic School and two from Cayman Prep and High School.
Sania and Cayman Cricket have also gained acknowledgement from Cayman Islands Governor Martyn Roper for their impact in increasing the level of enthusiasm for women and girls cricket, and increasing the level of participation by female cricketers. The Governor visited a training session at St. Ignatius in June and even took part in playing with the girls. “I’m delighted that both boys and girls are involved in the sport in the Cayman Islands, and it’s fantastic to hear about the work that Sania Khan is doing to increase the number of female cricketers,” said Governor Martyn Roper.
The development programme for women and girls cricket is continuing at a strong pace and Cayman Cricket plans shortly to revive the women’s league, which has been dormant, and to create a new league for girls, with the aim of participating in ICC pathways competitions for both women and girls.
Cayman Cricket is excited to have achieved so many milestones in the development of women and girls cricket within such a short time, and is thrilled at the potential for growth in the future.