PCA PRESS RELEASE
Quartet appear in one-off vodcast to look back at progress made during landmark decade.
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Four current and former England Women stars have come together to celebrate the tenth anniversary of their induction into the PCA as part of the Association’s first cohort of female members.
PCA Non-Executive Director Isa Guha was joined by PCA President and former England captain Charlotte Edwards, current England skipper Heather Knight and vice-captain Anya Shrubsole for a one-off vodcast, which has been released 10 years to the day since they first became PCA members on 6 June 2011.
The landmark moment for women’s cricket in England and Wales saw the group join the PCA to enjoy the benefits of membership alongside their male counterparts, and since then 73 women cricketers have become PCA members to date.
Those benefits now include access to the PCA’s Personal Development and Welfare Programme (PDWP), provision of comprehensive contractual advice, and support from the Professional Cricketers’ Trust, the PCA’s registered charity which assists professional cricketers who have fallen upon hard times.
Since 2011, the women’s game has continued to grow with 18 players being handed their first full-time professional contracts by the ECB in April 2014, negotiated by the PCA.
In 2017, the England Women’s Player Partnership (EWPP) was formed to look after the needs of professional England Women cricketers and ensure that players’ rights are protected. The current EWPP Committee features significant player representation in the form of captain Heather Knight, vice-captain Anya Shrubsole, Georgia Elwiss and Amy Jones.
In December 2020, the female PCA membership expanded to include domestic cricketers for the very first time as 41 players from across the eight new regional centres were inducted into the PCA.
Shortly afterwards, Charlotte Edwards became the first female PCA President as she replaced the outgoing Graham Gooch in the role in February 2021.
Edwards, Guha, Knight and Shrubsole looked back on all of these moments and more of their favourite memories from the past decade during the vodcast which you can watch below.
PCA Vice Chair and England Women captain Knight said: “To think of the progress that has been made since I was among the first cohort of female PCA members 10 years ago – what a journey it has been!
“It was great to get together with Isa, Charlotte and Anya to discuss our memories from our first 10 years as PCA members and reflect on how far the women’s game has come in that time. As Vice Chair of the PCA, I hope that I can instigate further progress to enable women’s cricket in this country to grow for another decade and beyond.”
PCA Chief Executive Rob Lynch said: “The PCA is committed to making professional cricket a game for all, and that includes giving equal priority to both our male and female members. It’s fantastic to look back on the significant milestones that have been achieved since the first female members were inducted into the PCA in 2011, but we acknowledge that this is a small part of a wider journey to progressing the women’s game in England and Wales.”
