Group Info

e course was closed for good. Masters chairman Bi

The England Womens seamer looks forward to the very first Womens Cricket Week and what is in store. Jerry Rice Super Bowl Jersey ... Every time I sit down to write about what is going on in the womens game, I seem to find myself talking about firsts.  The first set of professional contracts, the first standalone sponsorship deal for England womens cricket, the inaugural Big Bash and Kia Super League this summer, the first time Sky have televised an entire Womens Ashes series, including a Womens Test match for the very first time…And here I go again, another first: this summer will see the first ever Sky Sports Womens Cricket Week! Everyone around the country will get the opportunity to join us and celebrate the womens game - from the grassroots all the way through to the international arena. At risk of repeating myself, its quite refreshing to take a step back from training and have a look at how the game has developed over the past couple of years. As a squad we are probably busier than ever preparing for an exciting 12 months of cricket.The near future sees us playing a home Royal London ODI & NatWest IT20 series against Pakistan, which will be the first time our new captain, Heather Knight, will lead us out into the arena (another first!). Following that, the back end of our summer sees the launch of the Kia Super League, a brand new six team competition with some of the very best womens cricketers from around the world coming together for a round-robin T20 competition in August. Our winter then sees us travel to the West Indies in October and then a trip to Sri Lanka in November. Lots of cricket and plenty to look forward to. All of this is evidence of just how far the womens game has come - overseas tours used to be few and far between - now we regularly have three or four on the bounce. The Sri Lanka tour will involve our final matches in the ICC Womens Championship, which ultimately decides qualification for the ICC Womens World Cup next summer, which by the way, is on home turf. Something else to put in the diary and look forward to. So, as you can see, we have a lot to celebrate during Sky Sports Womens Cricket Week!Girl PowerIts absolutely incredible that Sky Sports will be dedicating an entire week to promoting womens cricket, and hopefully we can inspire women and girls across the country to pick up a bat or ball and give cricket a go. There will be a lot going on around the country and plenty of activities to get involved in. As a Chance to Shine coaching ambassador, I still maintain that there is nothing better than when we get the opportunity to go into schools and give young children a chance to play a sport that we love. It really does take you back to the grassroots and to why you play the game. Before I start a coaching session I often ask how many of the girls play cricket outside of school, and more often than not, very few hands go up. After the session I then ask how many girls would consider going to their local clubs, and have a go there, and its amazing to see so many hands fly up.It is so inspiring and the girls now have so many more opportunities to play. When I was a youngster, there were barely any womens clubs that I could join and hence the reason why I grew up playing boys cricket. But now, there are so many clubs around, its hard to keep count!#WCW2016 Womens sport in general is snowballing in the UK and cricket is a big part of this. So between Saturday July 2 and Friday July 8 I would like to encourage everyone out there to come together and celebrate the womens game.  As an England squad, we all absolutely love sharing posts and photos across social media, so during Womens Cricket Week make sure that you share your own cricket celebration on Twitter and Instagram, using the hashtag #WCW2016. There will be a signed England womens playing shirt up for grabs for the best photo, so dont be shy! Also See: Womens Cricket Week Womens cricket home Sportswomen Cricket fixtures/results Tom Rathman Super Bowl Jersey .Chanathip Songkrasin opened the scoring in the sixth minute before Kroekrit found the target twice in the 57th and four minutes from fulltime.Vietnam and Malaysia play their second leg on Thursday. Vietnam won the first leg 2-1. Jaquiski Tartt Super Bowl Jersey . And I wanted to take this opportunity to share some of my experiences gained through International competition and the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan. Seven NHL referees and six linesmen will be assigned upcoming games in Sochi by the IIHF as part of their 28-man officiating roster comprised of 14 refs and 14 linesmen.AUGUSTA, Ga. -- The first full day at the Masters turned out to be a short one Monday. Augusta National was open for only two hours because of storms, still enough time for a few players to see some of the changes to the golf course -- even though this was supposed to be a year with really no change at all. The ice storm in February that led to the demise of the famous Eisenhower Tree also cost the club countless other trees, giving Augusta a slightly different look. Instead of a forest of Georgia pines, players can see from the 10th fairway all the way across to the 15th fairway. Players couldnt help but notice the number of trees missing from the right side of the narrow, claustrophobic seventh fairway. "You dont feel like youre going down a bowling alley as much," Brandt Snedeker said, his hair wet from wearing a visor in the rain. The club lost thousands of limbs that were damaged from the ice storm, so many that Jimmy Walker said he saw workers up in the trees with chain saws when he came to Augusta a few weeks ago for a practice round. "I havent played here a ton, so I kind of got the feeling you could see down through the golf course a little bit better than you used to be able," Walker said. "I dont know if thats a good thing or a bad thing." Some things never change. The course was starting to burst with colour. The greens already had a tinge of yellow to them. And there was a buzz about the Masters, even without Tiger Woods around for the first time in 20 years because of recent back surgery. Still, nothing stood out quite like the 17th hole. Masters champion Adam Scott always assumed the 440-yard par 4 was a dogleg left because of the 65-foot high loblolly pine that jutted out from the left side about 220 yards from the tee, forcing shots to the right except for the big hitters who could take it over the tree. Mike Weir is not one of the big hitters, so when asked how he found the 17th hole on Monday, the Canadian smiled. "Much friendlier," he said. "I was playing with Jason Day. For him, it doesnt matter. He hits it high and long enough. For me, I had to hit around it. It was probably the toughest drive on the course. Now, its much easier." It was amazing to him to walk up the fairway and see a patch of pine straw where the tree once stood so proud and tall. Weir and several other players assumed that Augusta National would have another pine placed their before the Masters. Raheem Mostert Super Bowl Jersey. Maybe next year. But not this week. The tree was such a treasure -- named after former President Dwight D. Eisenhower, a club member who hit into the tree far too often -- that it was taken off site for storage. The club will determine later what do with the trunk and what limbs remain. But what a difference it has made already. "If the tree was there, I would have hit it yesterday," said Patrick Reed, who arrived on the weekend and already got in two practice rounds. "It was cold. It was a little into the wind and I hit it down the left side. I knew exactly where the tree was, and I probably would have caught the top half of that tree and would have been underneath it." "First three times I played this course it was there, and it made that hole really hard." Snedeker played on Sunday with Masters rookie Harris English and said he pulled his tee shot on the 17th. Any other year, he would have hit the tree. "It was perfect," he said. "Its still not an easy tee shot. But its not as hard as it used to be." The rest of the course should be the same as usual. The Masters can set up the course any way it likes -- difficult for scoring, or birdies that make cheers reverberate. It has trended toward excitement over the last several years, such as when Charl Schwartzel won with four straight birdies at the end, or even last year when Scott and Angel Cabrera in the last two groups each made birdie on the 18th to force a playoff. The biggest change is likely to be the guy in a red shirt. Woods won his fourth green jacket in 2005, though he usually kept it interesting, and always kept fans guessing. His back surgery last week means the worlds No. 1 player will be out of golf until the summer, and out of the Masters for the first time in his career. "Without Tiger here, its a different feel," Snedeker said. "Its a different event. He does a great job of bringing energy and bringing fans out that we dont usually get." Those fans had to leave early on Monday. By lunch, the course was closed for good. Masters chairman Billy Payne said they would get a refund in May, and they were guaranteed a chance to get practice round tickets for next year. Woods likely will be back by then. And odds are, there will be more trees. ' ' '
Share:

Users

Newsfeed

  • No items