Carrot of pro cricket in sight for Glamorgan women

Glamorgan's women cricketers are aiming to show they deserve full-time contracts as the team prepares for professional status in 2027.

The county is scheduled to step up to the top tier of domestic cricket in England and Wales, becoming the 10th pro county after Yorkshire took a similar step this year.

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Glamorgan lost out to the White Rose side in both the One Day Cup final and T20 Blast semi-final in their inaugural season last year.

"We're looking to win some trophies but a lot of our focus is on 2027 and we need to be able to hit the ground running when that kicks off," said coach Rachel Priest, the former New Zealand star.

"There's another great season coming up but the carrot of professional cricket is there."

A Cardiff-based academy, also including players from Gloucestershire and Wiltshire, has been set up to bring local players through.

The core squad is similar to last season, with Glamorgan expected to field a varying cast of three loan players from Tier One teams every week.

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Opening bat Daisy Jeanes is fit to return after injury halted her progress midway through the season.

"Lauren Parfitt, Georgia Parfitt and Bethan Gammon have a lot of experience and we've got a lot of youngsters coming through like Poppy Walker, Katy Cobb and a couple through the academy, but we'll be looking to use the loan market a lot," said Priest.

"We are definitely keen to go one better in both competitions and build a winning culture for 2027.

"We hope people will find us a good place to come, we hope to create a good environment and we're going to have to do some recruitment so we want to be seen as somewhere attractive to come to."

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The Tier Two schedule includes eight group matches plus knock-out stages in both the One-Day Cup and T20 Blast - with the Blast finals in Cardiff - plus an extra T20 knockout competition.

Three Blast home games will be played at Sophia Gardens as double-headers with Glamorgan men, while two away games are also linked with a different men's fixture, in Bristol and Leicester.

Glamorgan women also play home matches at Newport, Neath and Colwyn Bay - all grounds that are, or have been, used by the men's team.

Captain Lauren Parfitt, 32, who works as a teacher, leads from the front as an opening batter after previously captaining Wales and playing for the regional Western Storm side.

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"It's something really special, we set our platform last season getting to two finals. It's the same core with a few additions and I'm sure there'll be a few more because we're in a really exciting place with so much going on behind the scenes," said Parfitt.

"Everyone in the squad wants to be pushing for pro places and that can only breed good competition. The girls have always been made to feel welcome at Sophia Gardens, and [with the joint media sessions] we show we're one club.

"The women's game is growing exponentially, it's been incredible over the last two years and with the professionalism element it can only get better."

Meanwhile, off-spinner Gemma Porter, 23, is hoping for a second bite at top tier cricket after joining last year from Warwickshire.

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While some of her team-mates dash from jobs or studies for training, Porter is already employed by Glamorgan in the ticket sales team, making it easy to move next door to the indoor facilities for training.

"I'm quite fortunate because I was in a professional set-up at Warwickshire and before that I was with Southern Vipers academy. Last year we weren't professional [with Glamorgan] but we treated it professionally so that speaks volumes as to why we played so well," she told BBC Sport Wales.

Porter earned the Player of the Year award with her effective performances with the ball, often opening the bowling in a spin-heavy attack.

She said being professional is "something I want to do".

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"It's why I've moved to Cardiff and I'm working for Glamorgan," she added.

"At the moment pro status isn't spoken about that much, we're focused on this season, but people know that if they put in performances, they'll put their name in the hat."

The team begin their competitive campaign with two 50-overs matches at Sophia Gardens with Gloucestershire and Leicestershire visiting on 12 and 19 April, before hosting Devon at Newport in the T20 Counties Cup on 25 April.

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