Women have been playing Cricket just as long as the Men have!
The first recorded women’s match took place in 1745 in Surrey between (according to the Reading Mercury) “eleven maids of Bramley and eleven maids of Hambledon”. The first known women's cricket club the White Heather Club was formed in 1887 in Yorkshire.
Initially, like men, women played cricket in clothes that were similar to their everyday wear. But Active Wear Clothing for Women has always been a point of contention for society. Women's sportswear became more available after World War I and then the Women's Cricket Association (WCA) encountered something they named "the clothing problem". The debate about what women should wear when playing cricket was intense. There was tension between the needs of female players who wished to wear comfortable, practical clothing, and the need to appear as "respectable" women to the public and to the male establishment who owned the cricket grounds. There was also anxiety about women cross-dressing and the need to maintain gender roles while playing sport. At the high-level of the Women's game, rules were imposed on wearing Whites and dresses but at the recreational level, any coloured clothing was acceptable. Clothing in Cricket for Women & Girls in Cricket is still today creating inequity within the Sport. Whether that is lack of team clothing that is suitable for a Women's body shape, which comes in all shapes and sizes, to the rules still set by clubs to wear Whites. Thankfully, we are beginning to see companies like Lacuna Sports and NEXX that are providing female specific clothing and equipment here in the UK.
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