WHEN Kieran Peters was appointed in June 2022 as Pathway Coach and Women and Girls Lead for Somerset, he became the first full time person to be employed by the county to oversee the development of the women’s and girls game.

Reflecting on his first two years in post he said:  “I’ve really enjoyed my first two years in the post. Since I was appointed, I don’t think a lot more could have changed, not only from a Pathway perspective but also the general shape and change and how the women’s game has grown has been exciting 

What are the areas that since he was appointed Kieran has moved forward and developed?

“Lots of things have changed and when I first came into post, we started with had a Under 12s. 13s 15s and 18s squad. In year 1 we shifted to Under 11s 13s, 15s 18s grew at the younger age groups.

“Then this year we have now got two Under 11 squads of mixed ability spread across 48 players, we have got 43 Under 13s across a County Age Group and a Wyvern squad. Two more County Age Group squads at U15’s and U18’s as well as a 20 player Under 16 Wyvern squad. In total we now have about 140 players which has moved on from 85 which is really exciting

“One of the biggest shifts we have seen, is that two years ago we didn’t have enough numbers to put out an Under 11s team and now we have got 48. A lot of that is down to the really good work of the Somerset Cricket Foundation, which is getting more girls playing cricket from an earlier age.

“The game is now much more accessible to younger girls and there are more clubs involved, which is fantastic. We call the Under 11s the Foundation phase of our Pathway and the group is all mixed ability, and we are just trying to provide as many cricketing opportunities for them as possible.

“The other thing that is worth noting is how our state school programme has grown and Thom Bunker coming in and doing that role is going really well. It has certainly made a massive difference to what we can deliver across the Pathway. During the winter programme the additional support the state school girls have been receiving has been clear to see and thats very exciting.”