Young chair Ash Smith driving Atherstone’s women and girls’ cricket growth

Within the county, the rise of women’s and girls’ cricket is perfectly demonstrated at Atherstone Town Cricket Club, a club in the Warwickshire County Cricket League which the Warwickshire Cricket Foundation work closely with.

2026-08-19T15:00+01:00

Warwickshire was the location selected to mark the launch of the Women’s T20 World Cup earlier this summer - and closer to home there is a club which perfectly outlines why the region was the ideal place to kickstart the record-breaking tournament.

The World Cup, which began with England’s victory over Sri Lanka at Edgbaston in the middle of June, proved to be groundbreaking - almost a quarter of a million people attended matches throughout the competition, which was won by Australia at Lord’s last month.

Atherstone are a club flourishing in many respects and the progress made on the women and girls’ front since 2023 has been eye-catching; in those three years since they first laid on taster sessions tailored for women, Atherstone now have fully fledged women’s teams and girls teams, while club membership has almost doubled at a time when memberships of adult men and juniors have notably increased, too.

The club have successfully sourced more ways of generating income to help with running costs and to maintain facilities; they now routinely host fundraising days which have contributed to the trebling of the income of the club and also have taken on board even more sponsorship deals than were previously in place.

It’s a club making great strides in the women and girls’ cricketing sphere - but it hasn’t always been the case and much of what has been achieved in these recent years is down to club chair Ash Smith and committee member Natalie Stokes, whose hard work bore fruit in the form of a ladies’ team.

“The women and girls’ team was something we had pushed for for years,” Ash said. “I was seeing girls come through but who didn’t want to play men’s senior cricket and we were losing them.

“I went to the chair at the time to ask if anything could be done, and we decided to give it a go.

“Now, on a Sunday morning session, we’re getting between 16 and 18 girls each week. We have enough players to put teams into leagues and some of those women even play hardball senior cricket. We’re looking to start our own hardball team next season.”

At 22 Ash is amongst the youngest, if not the youngest, club chairs in the entire country and now heads a club which she has been associated with - and deeply passionate about - for most of her life.

Having played in the men’s team for a number of years, not only does Ash chair Atherstone but she also still helps to coach the junior sections of the club in the summer.

Possessing that knowledge and expertise in all three facets of the club places Ash in a strong position to help unify Atherstone and to ensure that, no matter who you are, everybody connected to the club enjoys playing cricket.

“I became chair because the opportunity arose - the previous chair was stepping down. I saw it as a brilliant opportunity to not only grow women’s cricket at the club, but to grow the club as a whole,” Ash explained.

“Having known and been involved at the club since the age of two, and having seen our progression throughout, I felt it was a great way to incorporate everybody.

“I helped to set up the women’s section, I still coach the juniors and I play in the adult men’s teams, so I thought I was one of the best people to bring all three sections together.

“Being chair here means I get to take care of the club that I have grown up at, and which is deep-rooted in my heart, and take it to the next level.

“The club must be one which, firstly, is an enjoyable place to be and also one where you can come no matter your skills or ability and just play cricket together.”

Ash also reiterated the need for women to take up senior roles within clubs, such as the one she is responsible for at Atherstone, in order for the women’s game to flourish further over the course of time.

“I think it’s really important for women to have leadership roles in cricket,” Ash added. “There are things in leadership roles which men don’t always think about, and I think there needs to be a female voice to help make things happen in order for women’s cricket in the club to grow.

“It’s also important because you need different perspectives on things. Women need a voice to help with their development and so that they can enjoy the game.

“We ultimately all want the same goal - we all want Atherstone Cricket Club to thrive.”