Women's Big Cricket Month: Meet Jordan Clarke
Jordan Clarke
Women's and Girls' Cricket Development Officer
East Lancashire - Lancashire League & Ribblesdale League
I have worked for Lancashire Cricket Foundation since 2017 where I undertook a role promoting female cricket alongside the newly formed Lancashire Thunder team. This was a hugely enjoyable role and my first taste of developing cricket for women and girls. Following this role, I briefly worked as the Cricket Development Officer for Manchester, Salford and Trafford before landing my current role where I am once again enjoying the challenge of developing female cricket. In addition to these roles, I have also enjoyed working in the performance pathway as a coach within the Girls County Age Group squads. I am an ECB Advanced Performance Coach (Level 3) and recently completed a master’s degree in Sport Leadership & Professional Development from UCLan (2020). For my dissertation, I investigated ways the Lancashire Cricket Foundation can be more effective supporting grassroots cricket. Needless to say, I am passionate about cricket, sport participation and club development.
Darwen Cricket Club is where I play my cricket and I also help run the Dynamos for Girls team alongside the fantastic Emma Lowe (who is also the Darwen CC Ladies captain). Together, we are on a mission to develop a thriving girl’s cricket section from scratch. This is a mission shared with many other clubs I currently support as part of my current role at the Lancashire Cricket Foundation. Some of these clubs include; Burnley CC, Church CC, Clitheroe CC, Cherry Tree CC, East Lancashire CC, Edgworth CC, Great Harwood CC, Haslingden CC, Heywood CC, Littleborough CC, Longridge CC, Lowerhouse CC, Middleton CC, Milnrow CC, Norden CC, Ribblesdale Wanderers CC, and Salesbury CC. More and more clubs are eager to develop their female offer and the aim is to have competitive girls leagues from U11’s through to U15’s in the east of the county within 3-4 years.
In addition to these clubs developing their girls sections within their clubs, there are a number of women’s teams that are competing across the various leagues (Women’s Soft Ball to 50-over Hard Ball); Burnley CC, Cherry Tree CC, Clitheroe CC, Darwen CC, Great Harwood CC, Littleborough CC, Longridge CC, Milnrow CC, Ribble Valley Vipers, Ribblesdale Wanderers CC, Rishton CC and Settle CC. Again, more and more clubs are looking to set up their own women’s teams and I am confident the area is moving in the right direction thanks in large to some key people within the clubs.
There are lots of amazing people within these clubs working hard and paving the way for future generations of female cricketers. The work that both Jen Barden and Julie Durrant have done over the past few years have set an excellent foundation for us to build a women and girls club cricket offer that rival the best in the country. Lots of hard work is still ahead but I believe there is a considerable amount of momentum regarding female participation across the whole county. The appointment of the two league representatives (Jasmine for the Lancashire League and Becki for the Ribblesdale League) also highlights the ambition we have to formalise the current league structures and their support is incredibly appreciated.
My day-to-day role is to deliver the Chance to Shine programme in schools to support the cricket clubs already highlighted. While this academic year has been a little ‘stop-start’ due to the pandemic, the main highlight has been delivering All Stars Cricket and Dynamos Cricket Roadshows (or Engagement Days) to promote these programmes within clubs. Clubs have benefitted from the delivery of these promotional events with many pupils signing up to the programmes. Although there will inevitably be clubs I have not been able to fully support in the short period I have been in my new role, I implore anyone to pick up the phone so we can chat and discuss a strategy that best suits the club to improving the women and/or girls section. Alternatively, I’ll also happily discuss all things cricket, life and dogs (of which, I have 2)!
Finally, my favourite cricketer(s) are Mark Boucher, Brendan McCullum and Sarah Taylor #keepersunion
Find out more about Women's Big Cricket Month by visiting: ecb.co.uk/womensbigcricketmonth
