Cricket Witness No 4 - Women at the WIcket

147 Conclusion - War Again, and its Aftermath very different. This time 26,500 filled a sold-out Lord’s to see England face India, but this time they were in coloured trousers, not white dresses. It was estimated over 100 million people worldwide watched as Anya Shrubsole claimed the last wicket of Rajeshwari Gayakwad to pull off a remarkable win, in addition to 50 million who watched the group stages. Shrubsole later became the first woman to appear on the front cover of Wisden in 2018 and was shortlisted for the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award in 2017; the England side winning the team of the year award. Time will tell whether the tournament was a ‘watershed moment… a springboard’ for women’s cricket, as England captain Heather Knight predicted afterwards, but it was clear the sport had developed further than was ever dreamed when, a century earlier, nurses played amputees on the Home Front. 25 When Marjorie Pollard wrote her 1934 instructional book Cricket for Women and Girls , she concluded that her writing – and the act of playing cricket itself – had ‘laid myself open to attack and criticism… I have had misgivings at times, I have been despondent at times, but always I have had the feeling that cricket is so wonderful a game that a disciple, even if it be a woman, will be forgiven in her enthusiasm.’ Her ‘love for the game’ had gifted her ‘courage in the service of the game, and I have drawn from that courage as I have penned these words.’ There is no doubt that Pollard was a fearless servant who constantly battled and defied social expectations for the sports she loved. Nevertheless, she would have recoiled at the changes in the game. The 2017 Women’s World Cup was England take on Australia in the final match of the 2015 Ashes at Cardiff (Glamorgan CCC archives)