page_title: History of women's cricket
section_title: Early years in England
hierarchical_section_title: History of women's cricket / Early years in England
caption_attribution_description: 'The Original English Lady Cricketers' from en:James Lillywhite's Cricketers' Annual for 1890
context_page_description: The history of women's cricket can be traced back to a report in The Reading Mercury on 26 July 1745 and a match that took place between the villages of Bramley and Hambledon near Guildford in Surrey.
  The Mercury reported:
  "The greatest cricket match that was played in this part of England was on Friday, the 26th of last month, on Gosden Common, near Guildford, between eleven maids of Bramley and eleven maids of Hambledon, all dressed in white. The Bramley maids had blue ribbons and the Hambledon maids red ribbons on their heads. The Bramley girls got 119 notches and the Hambledon girls 127. There was of bothe sexes the greatest number that ever was seen on such an occasion. The girls bowled, batted, ran and catches as well as most men could do in that game."
context_section_description: Early matches were not necessarily genteel affairs.  A match, on 13 July 1747, held at the Artillery Ground between a team from Charlton and another from Westdean and Chilgrove in Sussex spilled over into the following day after it was interrupted by crowd trouble.  Contemporary records show that women's matches were played on many occasions between villages in Sussex, Hampshire and Surrey.  Other matches, often held in front of large crowds with heavy betting on the side, pitted single women against their married counterparts.  Prizes ranged from barrels of ale to pairs of lace gloves.  The first county match was held in 1811 between Surrey and Hampshire at Ball's Pond in Middlesex. Two noblemen underwrote the game with 1,000 guineas and its participants ranged in age from 14 to 60.
  Originally, cricket deliveries were bowled underarm.  Legend has it that the roundarm bowling action was pioneered in the early 19th century by Christina Willes, sister of John Willes, to avoid becoming ensnared in her skirts.  In fact, roundarm was devised by Tom Walker in the 1790s.
  The first women's cricket club was formed in 1887 at Nun Appleton in Yorkshire and named the White Heather Club. In 1890, a team known as the Original English Lady Cricketers, toured England, playing in exhibition matches to large crowds.  The team was highly successful until its manager absconded with the profits, forcing the ladies to disband. James Lillywhite's Cricketers' Annual for 1890 has a photograph of the team and short article on women's cricket. "As an exercise, cricket is probably not so severe as lawn tennis, and it is certainly not so dangerous as hunting or skating; and if, therefore, the outcome of the present movement is to induce ladies more generally to play cricket, we shall consider that a good result has been attained."
  The Women's Cricket Association was founded in 1926.  The England team first played against The Rest at Leicester in 1933 and undertook the first international tour to Australia in 1934–5, playing the first Women's Test match between England and Australia in December 1934.  After winning two tests and drawing one. England travelled on to New Zealand where Betty Snowball scored 189 in the first Test in Christchurch.
caption: The Original English Lady Cricketers 1890
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