Cricket cup sees growth in women playing

Cricket is "not just a boys' sport" but women need more support to take up the sport, according to organisers of a contest set up to celebrate the Sikh festival of Vaisakhi.

The Vaisakhi Cricket Cup has been held for three years and, for the first time, more women took part than men, with 28 out of the more than 50 involved this year.

The event, at Warwickshire's home ground of Edgbaston, was organised by the Warwickshire Cricket Foundation.

"We want to try and encourage more females to play cricket so it's more of a sport for everybody to join in," community officer Simran Kaur Riat said.

She has been working on projects to improve the gender balance of cricketers but this is one of the larger ones she oversees.

"It's really important that we have more visual role models like myself in the community," she added.

The cup is organised in celebration of the religious spring festival, which marks the birth of the Sikh community and the start of the solar new year for Hindus.

Those taking part at the weekend were involved in a pairs tournament, with players divided into teams of two.

Millie has taken part in the tournament every year so far and says she feels it supports her culture and also that cricket is her passion.

Although the 15-year-old is currently looking for a new club to join, when she first started playing, she was on an all-male team.

"You see the difference because the girls get less games," she recalled.

"Women playing cricket needs to definitely be advertised more but this event shows that it's not just a boys' sport."

Although the number of men regularly playing cricket is higher than the number of women, recent data from Sport England shows that there has been a significant increase in female players over the past decade.

Millie's father, Jai, is supportive of his daughter's involvement and thought it was making the game more diverse.

"The tradition of it being a men's sport is a very unfortunate thing, but I'm glad that the exposure is there now," he added.

In another first, the entire tournament was organised and delivered by a team of female community coaches.

Seeing this change has been a highlight for Anusha Chauhan, who acted as an umpire at the event.

"I've seen how hard it is for women and girls," she said.

"It's really nice to see that there's so many new opportunities for women to get involved and I think it's just really important to support it where you can."

Follow BBC Birmingham on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.