Durham’s chief executive, Tim Bostock, said he was “delighted” with the England and Wales Cricket Board’s decision to award the county the right to host a professional women’s team, after they beat off strong competition from neighbouring Yorkshire.
The first-class counties have spent the past two and a half months competing for the right to host one of the eight new professional “tier 1” women’s teams, and in March presented their bids to a panel which included Kelly Simmons, former director of the women’s professional game at the Football Association, and Maggie Murphy, the chief executive of Lewes FC. At an ECB board meeting on Wednesday, Durham, Essex, Hampshire, Lancashire, Nottinghamshire, Somerset, Surrey and Warwickshire were formally approved as the hosts.
