The former England captain has been a tireless campaigner for women’s cricket, but she doesn’t think paying the players is the next step just yet
Jenny Roesler15-Mar-2009Fans of the films will know that Connor girls are bred tough.Clare Connor, the ECB’s head of women’s cricket, is no exception – much tothe great advantage of the women’s game at large.The sport needs such players as Ellyse Perry for its on-pitch pin-ups, butsuch advocates as Connor, herself a one-time articulate face of Englishcricket, are absolutely crucial to make sure the game’s structure anddevelopment are as strong as possible. In late 2007, when she was appointed in the ECB role, Connor – the former England captain – seemed a bit surprised to be asked. If she was, she was the only one.No stranger to hard work, Connor had already combined the England captaincy,and being its blonde, serious representative in the media, along withteaching English and PE. She led England to the 2005 World Cup semi-finalsbut at 29 she retired from cricket, exhausted. Everpassionate, she continued to battle on behalf of the women’s game forimproved conditions such as contracts.Then came the chance to make the difference, which she surrenderedteaching to take up. Once in charge sheset about restructuring county cricket, helped introduce the Chance to Shine contracts (supported by the Cricket Foundation), and assisted in the appointment of some key coaches. She also sits on the ICC women’s committee and the Sussex board.In Sydney to see the current fruits of her labours – andthose of the team and support staff – she is impossibly fresh and articulatedespite just having arrived from London. She’s enthused by England’s World Cupcampaign so far. “We’ve tried to steer clear of the favourites tag,” she says,trying to contain her excited hopes. “But if you’re looking at thenumber of wins in a given period statistically, and with Claire Taylor andIsa Guha the best in the world at what they do, and Charlotte Edwards, SarahTaylor and Holly Colvin also up high in those rankings, if you step back andyou’re completely objective about it, then we have come into this tournamentwith a really, really strong chance.”Appointing a full-time strength and conditioning coach has helped England gain theathletic edge on even Australia, while the influence of full-time coach MarkLane and his part-time assistant Jack Birkenshaw is not to be underestimated. Lane, a former Kenya men’s assistant, has coached women for many years, including Taylor, Edwards and even Connor. Under him, Claire Taylor went from being “quite limited” 10 years ago to the world’s best batsman. “She was a hockey player, very bottom hand, very strong but quite limited. She didn’t have by any means the all-round game she’s got now.”
“Do we need to go to national netball finals and give out flyers about cricket? Do we need to go to national hockey competitions and say, ‘Come for a taste, see whether you like it?’ “
Lane complements Edwards, the captain, well. “They’re both very muchheart-on-their-sleeve kind of people, setting high standards. The girls knowexactly where they stand with both Lottie and Mark – there’s no grey areas.”Best of all, Lane isn’t using women’s cricket as a stepping stone to higherhonours with the men. “He’s wanted this job for a numberof years,” Connor says. “The impact he’s had speaks for itself.”As for Birkenshaw, the former Leicestershire spinner, “He’s got thosecompletely undefinable qualities that come from experience, coupled withpassion, real cricket knowledge and humour. He’s very highly thought ofeverywhere and in any cricket circles back home, he spreads the word. Hetells people how good these girls are, how hard they train, how committedthey are – which the girls massively value in someone of this calibre.”The players themselvesare feeling more valued thanks to their contracts. “The contracts have madethem feel they’ve got a real role to play within the game and the ECB andthe Cricket Foundation. They’ve been able to have a much betterwork-life-training balance, rather than this crazy life I used to leadtrying to have a full-time career.”Now they can dedicate much more of their time to cricket. Some took extrawinter training in Bangalore – “It was no holiday, it was eight hours ofhard work a day” – where they faced spin from male net bowlers all day. Somealso went to Australia to play. “There’s pros and cons to the girls playingoverseas,” Connor says. “It’s harder to monitor them, not in a way but in a technical, ‘What’s their game looking like? How are theyplaying the cover drives? How’s their slower ball?'” A few players stayed inhome nets, working every week with Lane, with positive results.With the current England side in safe hands, Connor knows what shewants when it comes to developing the next generation. “If someone said tome, ‘Okay, you’ve got another half a million in your budget, would you pay theplayers?’ Well, probably not, no. I don’t think there’s anything to begained from saying ‘Is the next step for it to go professional?’ It probablyisn’t. It’s to work out how to develop the next wave of players, the nexthigh-potential 16- to 21-year-olds for when those other players go. Youcan’t afford to have a big transition.”From my own experience andlots of girls I played with, you got picked for England but you didn’tperform for England for years because you hadn’t been in the rightenvironment for long enough to go straight in. You’ve got so few players topick from, so you spot some talent and you spot some commitment and youstick them in an England shirt. Certainly I was given that opportunity fartoo early, and I’m sure lots of my team-mates would agree themselves.”Edwards is one of the strong exceptions; she made her Test debut at 16 andher first hundred in her second one-dayer, and her average has beenconsistently in the late 30s ever since.Talent identificationinterests Connor hugely and she admits that at the momentpicking the best juniors would be “a bit hit and miss.”Lane and Edwards: “The girls know where they stand with Lottie and Mark”•ECBLooking at other sports is one option. “Do we need to go to national netballfinals and give out flyers about cricket?” she wonders. “Do we need to goto national hockey competitions and say, ‘Come for a taste, see whether youlike it? Not to poach them from other sports, obviously,” she adds quickly,smiling, “because that wouldn’t be a good move as a national governing body.Whilst we’re doing loads to develop girls’ cricket in schools and clubs, ifgirls are already very talented, have got very good hand-eye co-ordination,with good power and agility and good speed in other sports, then maybe someskills are transferable.”When talented players are attracted to the game, providing a supported pathis the next vital step – “Not a rubbish experience, with filthy changing roomsand a club which doesn’t really want them and being put on a rubbish wicketand being given bad officials,” Connor says. “Noneof this is acceptable. It’s got to be a quality experience that they raveabout and that they stay involved in during their slightly tumultuousteenage years.”With Connor on board – and feeling “lucky” to be in such a position -women’s cricket has every chance to get stronger and stronger. It’s not justEngland who have good support and funding, however. Such are the strides oftop sides such as Australia that the gap between them and the rest is beingdangerously widened. It is in her capacity as Europe representative on theICC committee that Connor can help.”It’s a global challenge to make sure some of these really exciting teams inTanzania and Zimbabwe and Japan have got real opportunity to go through[ICC] regional tournaments and to have a goal of the World Cup qualifiers.What I’m doing in my job is with the ideas of pathways and making sure theyare proper, whether it’s a 14-year-old girl down in Devon or whether it’s a24-year-old in Pakistan. That’s our biggest challenge. Everyone’s got tohave something aspirational, don’t they?”On that note she goes back outside to watch England beat New Zealandand further their own hopes and desires. And if Connor has her way, the nextglobal generation of female players will all one day be able to reach outfor even better support and touch their own dreams.