Picture courtesy of Old Leo’s CC. The club’s home ground at Crag Lane.
Old Leo’s Cricket Club in Leeds is somewhat of a hotbed for women’s cricket, but it just scratches the surface on what is going on in that space across the county.
Women’s senior softball and hardball teams supplement the more established men’s programme down at Crag Lane in Alwoodley, with girls’ junior teams running at Under 11s, 13s and 15s age-groups.
The men’s first team plays in the second division of the Airedale Wharfedale League, the third tier of that structure. They have won seven of their first 10 games in 2026 and are chasing promotion.
There are also three boys’ junior teams at the same age-groups just mentioned, added to a couple of mixed age-group teams.
But women’s and girls’ cricket is a key part of Old Leo’s, or Old Leodiensians if you prefer, with Claire Ward and Clare Sanderson playing central roles in both the formation and progression of that area of the club.
Ward is the women’s co-ordinator at the club and said: “We had started to get things going before Covid and the lockdowns, but things really took off afterwards.
“My background is from watching cricket and spending my summers at Carlton Cricket Club near Wakefield. I’ve not really got a playing background, just a love of the game.
“I was a primary school teacher, and I loved doing the sports in schools and working with the girls. There was a bit more chat about women’s and girls’ cricket at the time, around the World Cup which England won at Lord’s in 2017.
“And I wanted to get involved.
“I did a couple of Prosecco softball festivals. It was non-competitive stuff. And, looking back now, attitudes have definitely changed.
“Anyway, I did my Level 2 coaching qualification in 2018 and met Clare whilst doing that.
“So we decided to try and set up a women’s softball team along with Nicola from Alwoodley CC, who was also on the course with us as they are literally just over the fence from us. That was 2019.
Picture courtesy of Old Leo’s CC. The club is a hotbed for women’s and girls’ cricket.
“We’ve since separated and we are now fully an Old Leo’s team, but the joint nature of those early days really helped get things off the ground. Working with Clare every step of the way has been amazing. She just absolutely loves the game, and we’ve both got a cricket team and a complete rock of a friend from the whole process.”
A hardball team has followed this summer, and they play in Division One (Leeds and Bradford) of the West Yorkshire Women’s and Girls Cricket League, of which Ward is also league secretary.
But a key part of the development at Old Leo’s has come post Covid in the form of progression with juniors.
“The Dynamos programme is generally how we introduce our girls’ to the club,” continued Ward. “We did a local schools’ festival and then ran a Dynamos programme for the girls, which we heavily subsidised as a club.
“At the time – we started it in the summer of 2022 – there weren’t many clubs doing it, so we had loads of girls attend. We had an original cohort of 30 girls, and it’s just built from there ever since.
“We started an Under 13s softball team initially and then took the plunge with an Under 15s hardball team.
“A good number of the original cohort form part of that team now, and it’s also why we started a women’s hardball team this summer – so they have somewhere to go to.
“Something which is really nice is that we have a lot of mother-daughter playing combinations.
“The softball team offers the opportunity for lots of us to play together with our daughters which is lovely. It also lends itself to a great, supportive family atmosphere.
“Thursday night is Ladies’ night at the club, and it’s not uncommon for there to be four or five mother-daughter combinations training together.”
Of the two women’s senior teams, Old Leo’s are in the third tier of the West Yorkshire Women’s and Girls Cricket League hardball competition. They have so far played four, won one. Their softball side are in Leeds West Division One and have won three of four games so far.
That brings us onto the development of that league, which has been going since 2022.
Picture courtesy of Old Leo’s CC. The men’s first team are chasing promotion from Division Two of the Aire Wharfe League.
Ward, as league secretary, says she “is quite passionate about how far we’ve come”.
“We have six women’s hardball leagues, including a two-tiered Premier League, which is designed to open up a higher level of playing opportunities to a wider base of women and girls.
“We have 15 softball leagues across the Bradford, Calderdale, Huddersfield and Leeds areas, three Under 11 windball leagues, four Under 13s incrediball and hardball leagues, four Under 15s hardball leagues.
“Across all of that, we have around 110 clubs participating.
“That’s not even right across the county, because the women’s regional Premier League structure now includes West Yorkshire, South Yorkshire, then North and East Yorkshire. It’s absolutely staggering.
“When our chair speaks to the ECB, they’re like, ‘Are you sure you have those figures right?’ The growth has been unprecedented.”
Going back to Old Leo’s to finish, they also have a Sunday League side which is designed to be a mixed team to help pave the way for some women and girls to push through into senior men’s cricket should they so wish.
It is also a breeding ground for the club’s up and coming male juniors.
“A couple of Sundays ago, the team that played in this competition comprised of five women and girls and six boys and men. That felt a special moment,” added Ward.
“Our chair, Nick Boyes, that’s his absolute focus – developing the juniors and supporting the future of the club for all our teams. And he’s been a massive part of our juniors being very successful.
“There are a lot of clubs who focus on the seniors, and that’s absolutely fine. But, for us, that development is massively important.
“Everything is shared around equally.”