Counties in England which do not already have a first-class men’s team believe they are being frozen out of plans for a new second division for women’s cricket.
Only first-class men’s counties will have the chance to run a team in the top two tiers of women’s domestic cricket from the 2025 season, even though first-class status has never formally existed within women’s cricket and, historically, many county women’s sides have been stronger than some first-class ones.
