This summer is a big one in sport. You feel the gravity of it when you’re standing in a stadium, before a huge match. Tiers of plastic seats shining in the midday sun. Boots and kits ready, anticipation hanging in the air. We’re at Edgbaston to talk to two sporting pioneers: Lauren Bell, international bowler, and Ebony Rainford-Brent, former player, broadcaster and MBE.  

We’re passionate about championing trailblazing women and after spotlighting members of the 1972 England women's football team, we couldn’t wait to meet more sportswomen paving the way for the next generation. Women’s cricket is taking over, and Lauren and Ebony are part of that pivotal journey.

So Lauren, Ebony, how did you first get into cricket?

Ebony: I was 9. And I still remember the moment I hit my first ball. A guy came into my inner-city primary school as part of a programme to engage kids in hard-to-reach areas. The ball flew out of our playground, and it was a day that changed my life. There weren’t many clubs for girls. So I used to play with 50 boys and just me in a community programme.  

Lauren: Growing up, sport was all I ever cared about. It was my whole life. I played first on an all-boys cricket team and then with men as a 15-year-old girl. I had to pick between cricket and football, and now cricket has become my whole life.

Tell us about cricket growing up.

Ebony: I had so many comments as a female player. You shouldn’t be throwing a hard ball. You shouldn’t be throwing your body around. You should be cooking my dinner. I was 15 back then. It made me think ‘does a woman deserve to be here, playing cricket’? 

Lauren: My sister Colette and I would never have a changing room. We’d change in the toilets. It’s that kind of stuff that would be a reason a girl wouldn’t play. I never saw it as ‘I want to be a cricketer’ as I didn’t know who I was looking up to. Anyone I did look up to was male. 

Ebony: There were challenges with feeling you belonged. I was lucky I had a really strong mum. She was a single parent and would say ‘my daughter could do anything’. She didn’t see gender as a limitation. So she instilled in me to really believe what's possible.

What have you learnt being a woman in cricket?

Ebony: I’ve learnt resilience. To speak up and voice things. And to believe you deserve something.  

Lauren: I’m really passionate about saying to young girls: you can be whoever you want to be and play cricket.

Lauren: I’m a girlie girl and that doesn’t make me any less of an athlete. I like having my nails done, my hair styled. I remember meeting young girls and they’d have their hair in braids like mine. And their mum would say it’s because of me. You don’t realise that these things have an impact.

It’s so interesting. And how has the cricket world changed since you started playing?

Ebony: When I was starting out, no one really cared. It’d be one man and his dog watching. Literally. But now I’ve seen games with a crowd of 90,000. 

Lauren: I don't think it's always been portrayed as the coolest or the most fun sport, because games take so long. But we’re trying to change that.   

Ebony: When I was 21, I thought it would take 30 years for anything to change. But so much has changed in the last decade.

And finally, what would you say to your 8-year-old self about women’s cricket now?

Ebony: I just got emotional when you said that. I would have never believed 5% of what’s happened. And to be able to say to a girl now that anything is possible… it’s a dream come true.  

Lauren: My hopes for women's cricket are that it keeps growing in visibility and gets the attention that it warrants. 

Ebony: I really think it's important that we get visible role models at the top. You want every young girl, even if she doesn’t play, to know the names of female cricket players.
  
Lauren: We have a platform now to really inspire the next generation.

Women’s cricket is taking over. And it’s taking over our Instagram, our YouTube and more. Watch the full films and send us an Instagram DM about women’s cricket teams in your community. We’re building a handy list of teams so that everyone can get involved in their local area.