ECB job beckons for Connor

 

Earlier this week it was announced that former England women's captain Clare Connor, a Lashings World XI player since 2006, has accepted a major management position with the England and Wales Cricket Board. From January 2008, she will take over as the head of women's cricket, a job that will include representing the ECB on the ICC women's committee. This will represent something of a career change for Connor as she has spent the vast majority of her working life at Brighton College, teaching English and PE alongside her role as head of PR.

 

Any excuse to catch up with one of the nicest and most approachable people in cricket is a good excuse so we took full advantage, called Clare up for a chat and started by asking her what convinced her to take her new job. "It was always going to take something very special to prise me away from Brighton College," she said, "I learned my cricket as a pupil and it's where I've taught for most of the last decade; I'm passionate about teaching.  But the opportunity to head up women's cricket is massive and it enables me to have a vision for the game that has given me so much.  Nothing would make me happier than to see future England teams experiencing Ashes success as I did in 2005." 

 

She's been left with a hard act to follow though, as she readily acknowledges - "It's all credit to [her predecessor] Gill McConway, and what she put in place, that the England team is more advanced than any other country in terms of our funding programme and the partnerships we have with bodies such as Sport England which allow us to have our own world-class performance programme." - but she already has some ideas to develop the women's game further, some of which stem from her time as captain, something she did on 77 of her 111 international appearances. "The next step would be to bring in a system of central contracts.  Women get to the top of their game in their mid to late-20s but we have lost so many good players at that age because they have families or career paths to further and they simply cannot afford to keep committing themselves to cricket.  I want to give them the best possible chance to succeed."

 

Clare's also quite clear about what she wants to achieve within her new role. "A successful national team is the most powerful development tool but equally as important is the need to make sure the pathways are in place for talented girls to progress through county cricket, regional cricket and ultimately to pull on an England shirt.  A huge amount of work has gone into developing women's cricket in schools and clubs across the country and I want to make sure that continues to grow at the rate it should".

 

The announcement was well received throughout the rest of the Lashings World XI community - Chairman David Folb had this to say when he heard the news: "Cricket is lucky to have a person like Clare, someone who has raised the profile of women's cricket and women's sport in general. She's an incredible woman with true integrity and she will do whatever she turns her hand to with the utmost professionalism. We're proud to have someone like her as part of the Lashings World XI and we wish her the very best in her new job."

 

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