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This paper examined the psychological impact of contextual influences (i.e., contract type and playing experience) on sport anxiety in elite women cricketers participating in The Hundred. A sample of 71 elite female cricketers playing during the 2021–2022 season took part. Forty-nine of the sample (69%) held professional contracts, and 22 (31%) had yet to sign a professional contract. Participants provided details about their contract type and playing experience and completed self-report measures assessing sport anxiety, mental toughness, and general self-efficacy. Since mental toughness and self-efficacy are non-cognitive constructs, which buffer competitive trait anxiety, analysis controlled for these variables. Multivariate analyses of covariance examined sport anxiety scores among participants in relation to Hundred matches played (either 0, 1–10, or more than 10) and contract type (whether participants had a professional contract in place or not). Subfactors of Worry, Somatic, and Confusion assessed sports anxiety. No significant main effects existed. However, alongside a significant interaction, a covariate mental toughness effect occurred. Examination of the interaction revealed Worry scores were lower in cricketers who were yet to play a Hundred match who had not received a professional contract. Furthermore, Worry and Somatic scores were higher in cricketers that had played more than 10 Hundred matches and had not received a professional contract. These findings have important implications for the development of elite women cricketers. Particularly, they highlight the need to differentially support players through their career progression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background. The interest in women's premier league cricket has caused the need for advanced analytics to understand the multifaceted dynamics of the sport. Study Purpose. This study aimed to contribute to sports analytics by assessing the efficacy of Support Vector Regression (SVR) kernel models in predicting the most valuable player. Such research methods as ANOVA, Bessel function, and Inverse MultiQuadratic kernel application have been deliberately chosen for their diverse mathematical approaches, aligning with the nuanced intricacies of women's premier league cricket. Materials and methods. Player performance was analyzed by using the following study methods: ANOVA, Bessel function and Inverse MultiQuadratic kernel application. The data, sourced from espncricinfo.com and the International Cricket Council, includes essential metrics for five teams. Rigorous preprocessing techniques, such as imputation and outlier removal, enhance data reliability, ensuring robust predictive models. Results. The application of the Inverse MultiQuadratic kernel exhibits exceptional predictive performance, surpassing ANOVA and Bessel function models. The kernel's radial basis function proves effective in capturing the intricate dynamics of women's premier league cricket. The findings underscore the suitability of kernel method for predicting standout performers in the Women's Premier League 2024 season. Conclusions. The study revealed the dynamic interplay between sports analytics and machine learning in women's premier league cricket. The application of the Inverse MultiQuadratic kernel stands out as the most effective model, providing key insights into player predictions. This emphasizes the continual integration of advanced analytical techniques to enhance our understanding of the evolving landscape of women's premier league cricket. As the sport gains prominence on the global stage, such analytical endeavors become imperative for strategic decision-making and sustained growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Games and sport during the colonial period in Australia were rarely hospitable to First Nations people. However, the first Australian cricket team to tour England in 1868 were predominantly First Nations men. While such a tour might appear to be a 'triumph' for race relations in Australia, the details of the tour and treatment of the young men were haunting. The 1868 tour has been glorified in contemporary cricket circles, however, despite this, the promotion of the game to First Nations Australians is relatively recent. Over the last decade, Australian cricket has attempted to combat racism and promote First Nations player development through initiatives such as their Reconciliation Action Plan. One example of promoting the Black Lives Matter message and anti-racism has been carried out by Australia's national women's cricket team and the women's national T20 competition. In 2020, the Australian women cricketers made a conscious decision to promote the Black Lives Matter movement by engaging in a 'barefoot circle' to acknowledge country before each match. This manuscript will explore the importance of the Australian women cricketers' actions and advocacy against the backdrop of Australia's history and interactions with First Nations Australians in cricket. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the ever-growing number of opportunities for females to participate in a range of sports without the previous associated gender norms, females are starting to become more involved in traditionally male-dominated sports, however, we know little about their barriers to participation. In this qualitative study, we investigated the barriers to adolescent female participation in cricket in a regional city in Victoria, Australia. The socio-ecological model was utilized to help guide semi-structured focus-group interviews with 20 adolescent females aged 10–12 years old. The participants identified the following as key barriers to their participation in cricket: lack of confidence in skills, having to play cricket with males, an absence of pathway opportunities, and no female only cricket competitions. These findings highlight the importance of adequate coaching specifically for females, female only teams and competitions, and the importance of developing a player pathway for adolescent girls. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Talent development is at the forefront of research in sport, where female athletes remain underrepresented. With ongoing success and rapid participation growth, there is an opportunity to describe and assess talent development in cricket for female athletes. Research in other sports recommends a holistic approach to talent development, where the connection between individual, task and environmental factors is maintained. A series of semi-structured interviews was conducted to draw from the experiential knowledge of 16 elite female athletes and 7 coaches alongside empirical knowledge regarding player development (individual), training task design and talent development environments. Both players and coaches reported positive early learning experiences, linear career trajectories and early entrance into talent programs, suggesting some early specialisation. Exposure to boy's/men's cricket appeared to fast-track skill development in players, and player skill adaptability was considered crucial to expert performance by both cohorts. Training design typically involved functional games-based scenarios, or misaligned task deconstruction in contrast to contemporary skill development practices. Aims for discrete stages of the pathway were ambiguous for both cohorts, potentially limiting the value they provide, and transition between stages appeared fluid to coaches in contrast to the rigidity described by players. Finally, growing professionalism in cricket for female athletes through greater investment, contracts and player support has propagated a skill gap between pathway stages identified by both cohorts, which needs addressing. Closing this skill gap can be achieved by improving coaching practices and support at the amateur levels of cricket to develop the next generation of elite female cricketers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Australian culture, males dominate sports such as football, cricket and Australian Rules Football. Girls and women in such sports are frequently required to negotiate persistent gender constructs and stereotypes. Despite this, in recent years there has been an increase in girls' participation in sports that are constructed as masculine. The present study investigated adolescent girls' experiences (N = 34, aged 13–17 years) in three sports that are traditionally constructed as masculine in Australia; football, cricket, and Australian Rules Football. Through a sociological gendered lens, results from narrative inquiry indicated that adolescent girls are required to navigate gender constructs and sexuality stereotypes. Numerous inequities between girls and boys exist and are challenging to negotiate. The present findings suggest that social connectedness, mentors and same-sex role models assist girls to navigate their sport involvement. These findings provide a sound basis for future research to explore practical solutions to keep girls engaged in such sports. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigated the hydration profile of high-performance female cricket players competing at a national tournament. The profile comprised hydration monitoring (n = 18) and a questionnaire (n = 20). Our objectives were to 1) advance the understanding of fluid losses in cricket sessions across a tournament and 2) assess the hydration knowledge and practices in female cricket players. Body mass before and after each game inning was recorded in order to estimate sweat rate, sweat loss, and percentage body-mass loss. Comparisons were made between groups categorized according to level of activity during each inning. When sweat rates were estimated according to actual activity time, results were in the range of those in other female team sports but less than results from male cricket players. A range of knowledge of hydration issues was also observed. This study supports the need for individualized hydration recommendations and provides direction for further hydration education in women's cricket. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Female cricket players have received little media or social recognition over the years. There have been reviews done on research focusing on male cricketers; however, no review to date has considered research on female cricketers. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to review the available literature pertaining to research on female cricketers. A selection of electronic databases was searched to find all relevant published articles. Gender or media based studies were excluded as this was not the focus of the paper. The results suggest that there is a paucity of research. The review highlights areas of research priority. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses generally on the history of women’s cricket during the earlier twentieth century, primarily on the 1934–35 England women’s cricket tour of Australia and New Zealand, and more so on the New Zealand dimension. The tour occurred at a critical time for women’s team sport in both countries in that from the 1920s consistent local and then national competitions brought continuity to previously fragmented activities. Hence the tour provides a useful barometer for a wide range of attitudes to sporting participation by women and reveals contrasts between Britain and Australasia. At the same time, there are specific attitudes to the playing of cricket by women that need to be explored. Here there are some obvious differences between accounts in dedicated women’s cricket sources and the specialist women’s press, both of which sought to encourage the game on its own terms, and those in sources with a broader scope and male-dominated editorship which were more inclined to trivialize and disparage women’s cricket and to judge it against the men’s game. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The purpose of the study was to see the effect of mental imagery training, and concentration training in the elimination of state anxiety and building of self confidence among female cricket players participating at national level. The subjects selected for the study were 90 female national level cricket players from Madhya Pradesh. The players were divided into three groups i.e. experiment group I, experiment group II and control group of 30 subjects each. The age of subjects was ranged between 17 to 25 years. The Criterion Measure chosen for the study were the scores obtained by the subjects in the Sports Competitive Anxiety Test-by Rainer Martens and Sports Self Confidence Questionnaire (SSCQ) developed by Robin S. Vealey employed for the study. The experimental design chosen for the study was pre test- post test random group design. Treatments were assigned to both experimental groups and control group did not undergo any type of treatment and were instructed to follow their regular routine. At first the research scholar took pre test by employing the standard questionnaire. After wards experiment group-I received six weeks mental imagery training and experiment group-II received six weeks concentration training. For the statistical interpretation of the collected data t-test (depended/ paired) was used separately among both the variables and among all the three levels. In order to find out the effectiveness of both the training plans (Mental Imagery/ Concentration) ANCOVA was used separately among the variables. The level of significance chosen for the study was set at .05 level of confidence. The results shows that the mental imagery and concentration training helps in improving the self confidence, and also effective in moderating the level of anxiety of subjects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]