Road to Roses: Women’s cricket

One of the sports making its Roses debut this year is women’s cricket, as UYWCC continues its progression after a brief hiatus in past years. Although the contest will not actually be worth any points, there is still pride and honour to play for, and the encounter is likely to be as competitive as any other.

“Although our Roses game is not for competitive points, our pride is on the line,” Captain Louise Verroken-Jones told Vision. “Certainly everyone is very excited and ready to get their name in the scorebook. We have great strength in depth which should amount to a great contest.”

Emerging victorious in Roses is one of the key objectives for the season for the side, along with being successful in BUCS, and Verroken-Jones commented: “UYWCC have really set our sights on winning our Roses clash this year. The team this season feels stronger than ever, and this comes with no small thanks to our coach Rory Walker, who has made our pre-season better then ever and allowed the club to grow from strength to strength.”

“Cricket is a funny game and although you have individual performances, the key to success is really having a team mentality,” added Verroken-Jones. “At UYWCC the team ethos is second to none. I know I am not alone when I say I cannot wait for the start of season.”

Last season was the club’s first back competing in BUCS, and the increased competition has allowed the side to develop and flourish, and they will be hoping to prevail over the Red Rose in their most prestigious fixture of the year.

Along with the women’s 1sts and the men’s 1sts (a fixture to be previewed at a later date), the men’s 2nds will be hoping to emerge successful in their match on Roses Friday. All of these three games will be played on 22 Acres, and the excitement will continue on the Saturday night with a Men’s T20 clash, where York will be aiming to emulate the heroics of Chris Gayle.