Team to make a Storm at Cheltenham Cricket Festival

Gloucestershire Chief Executive, Will Brown is convinced Western Storm will prove a major draw when they make their debut appearance at the Cheltenham Cricket Festival this week.

The picturesque College Ground, home of cricket’s longest-running Festival, will stage a Kia Super League match for the first time when the defending champions take on Surrey Stars on Thursday (2.30pm).

Sandwiched between Gloucestershire’s Specsavers County Championship match against Durham and a Vitality Blast contest with Severnside rivals Glamorgan, the women’s game will have to stand on its own two feet. However, Brown, an outspoken champion of women’s cricket, believes the combination of Western Storm and Cheltenham’s annual Ladies Day will prove an attractive proposition to Festival-goers.

Explaining Gloucestershire’s decision to stage one of two home games (the other will take place in Bristol on Saturday, August 11th) in the north of the county, he explained: “We knew we’d have two Western Storm games as part of the revamped schedule this year and quite a few people had expressed an interest in us taking one of those up to Cheltenham on the back of Storm winning the KSL in 2017.”

“Western Storm are a major draw and we get good crowds at Cheltenham. Ladies Day is always a popular feature at the Festival and it made sense to combine the two.

“Western Storm represent an area from the West of Cornwall to the tip of Worcestershire, and I believe there is a real appetite among supporters to see them play on different grounds within our region.

“I’ve no doubt in my own mind that this game will attract a big crowd, and that is why we’ve avoided the temptation to make it a double-header and allowed it to stand on its own. There is a demand for good-quality cricket, which the KSL offers plus it’s something completely different and fresh for our Festival audience.

“We’ve staged England Lions games there and they have proved popular and I see no reason why women’s cricket should be anything different.

“I recall people saying T20 wouldn’t catch on at Cheltenham, and look how many spectators that pulls in now.”

“We are committed to women’s cricket and that has trickled through to our age group teams and we are now seeing more and more girls take up the game.

“There is no doubt that the accessibility to top women’s cricket here in Bristol and down the road in Taunton has inspired a new generation of players in our region. It’s a perfect storm right now and we have to make sure we continue to work hard to create a long-lasting legacy for the game in our region.”