The England and Wales Cricket Board's 2000-01 Cricket Report, published today, confirms the surge of interest in women and girls cricket has continued in the past year. The numbers of women and girls playing cricket has now doubled in the past two years.

Last year 5,000 women played at club level, but this has now increased to 7,611 women, with 36 new clubs formed in the past year and 56 new women's sections formed at existing clubs. In addition, 4,339 girls play at club level. At schools, 640,824 girls have played cricket in the past year, an increase from 469,483 in 1999.

The rise in participation of women's cricket is a direct result of the £7m which is invested in grass-roots development by the ECB and the First-Class Counties every year. Key factors have been the introduction of four women's cricket development officers, and initiatives to promote the game in schools - Kwik Cricket, Inter Cricket and the Howzat! education resource packs.

"Since the Women's Cricket Association was merged with the ECB in 1998, women's cricket has made great strides forward. Last year, for the first time ever, we received Sport England lottery funding to help us prepare for the World Cup and last month the highly-rated John Harmer agreed to become coach of the England Women's Team," said Clare Connor, England Team Captain.

"These latest figures confirm that women's cricket is on the up and that the long-term future for our game is bright!"

In addition, the ECB can report that 1,000 schools and 2,000 clubs have already taken advantage of its offer, in association with BBC Sport, to buy three junior helmets for just £10. This offer was made to all schools and clubs in the country as a result of the ECB's Safety Guidance document, issued last year, recommending that all children under 18 wear a helmet when batting in games of hard-ball cricket. A total of 20,000 helmets are being made available.

© ECB