Women from Associate nations prominent in new ICC mentoring programme

Eighteen women from Associate countries are included in the 40 selected by the ICC in the first two tranches of its new 100% Cricket Future Leaders Programme, the participants in which were announced by the Council on Tuesday.

They represent a cross-section of the rapidly-expanding cohort of women who are playing leading roles in the game’s development, and they will be mentored across a range of disciplines and activities from governance to fan engagement, from coaching to digital communications.

Some, like Oman’s women’s co-ordinator Vaishali Jesrani, Bermuda CA treasurer Tracey Pitt, and Scotland’s women’s and girls’ participation manager Rosy Ryan, all of whom are among ten women from Associate countries in the first tranche, already hold significant managerial roles in their own governing bodies, while others, such as Mariamma Hyder of Kuwait and Nadia Gruny of the USA, are better known for their achievements on the field.

One name which will be immediately recognisable to followers of Emerging Cricket is that of Brazil women’s captain Roberta Moretti, who has enlivened social media during the Covid crisis with her videos of batting practice, and who will be mentored in the area of media and journalism.

The programme is, according to the ICC statement announcing the first two groups of successful candidates ‘designed to address the low percentage of women in leadership positions in global cricket and build a pipeline of new female leaders.’

There were more than 300 applicants from 45 countries, and the 18 selected from the Associates cover all five ICC regions.

Each mentee will received guidance and support from a designated mentor over a six-month period, and the mentors include ICC chairman Greg Barclay, international umpire Claire Polosak, and well-known television commentator Ian Bishop.

Two coaches – former Dutch international captain Helmien Rambaldo and the assistant coach of Uganda’s under-19 women’s team Naome Kayondo Bagenda – are included in the first tranche, while the second, for which the specific areas of interest and mentoring arrangements have not yet been announced, include Qatar’s head of women’s cricket and international panel umpire and referee Shivani Mishra, Samoa’s general manager Stella Siale Vaea-Tangitau, Peru’s head of national development Samantha Hickman, and Papua New Guinea’s game development manager Margaret Sibona.

Scotland is the only Associate country with two successful applicants, former national captain Abbi Aitken in the second tranche following Rosy Ryan in the first.

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