Cricket: Participation triples in Gold Coast women’s cricket boom

Women’s cricket has “exploded” in popularity on the Gold Coast this season. Find out why it’s a game-changer.

Helensvale Pacific Pines have been a pioneer club for women's cricket on the Gold Coast. Picture: Supplied.

Women’s cricket on the Gold Coast has “gone crazy” this season with a jump of over 300 per cent in participation from the inaugural campaign.

Six teams – four of which were from Helensvale – took part in last year’s maiden women’s season on the Gold Coast, but the competition has since taken off, with 18 teams now competing an expansion to three divisions took place after Christmas.

“Last year a lot of clubs were a bit more hesitant, they wanted to see the product before throwing themselves in the deep end,” said Gold Coast women’s cricket co-ordinator Anneka Lickiss.

“Once they all saw it there was a little bit of ‘FOMO’ I guess and a lot of clubs wish they got involved sooner. You put a little bit of pink in the uniform and everyone gets excited.

“We’ve had a pretty big explosion in participation.”

It only took three clubs to get the competition off the ground in its first instalment but now nine are fielding women’s teams.

There is hope to add Palm Beach and Burleigh to the mix next season and the possibility of separate northern and southern ‘hubs’ will be explored.

Anneka Lickiss (middle) has become one of the most influential women in cricket on the Gold Coast. Picture: Supplied.

T20 matches are played in an eight-a-side format, and everyone rotates including the wicketkeeper to ensure inclusivity, while an indoor cricket ball is used so pads and the full array of batting gear aren’t essential.

Cricket Gold Coast in conjunction with Kookaburra has also provided team kit bags to all clubs.

The competition is also playing a vital role in ensuring girls who start the sport young aren’t lost to it in their teenage years. Before the local women’s competition had been founded, the only option for women’s cricket was to play in the Premier competition with the Gold Coast Dolphins.

“We saw so much of a drop off from 14, as soon as they hit that age they aged out a little bit,” Lickiss said.

The 26-year-old noted that she herself would have never had the confidence to try and play at a Premier level given she’s never played the sport.

“You have to be very confident and really like cricket to just rock up there and play on turf. You have to have all the gear … you would’ve had to invest a fair bit to have a go,” Lickiss said.

“In our competition it’s just club fees which are little to nothing for the women.

“Now that we’ve got this opportunity I think that’s why we’ve had a boom, I get emails weekly with people asking how to get involved.”

She also forecast more growth for the coming season, and said she wouldn’t be surprised if each division jumped from including six teams to ten.

Originally published as Cricket: Participation triples in Gold Coast women’s cricket boom