Well played, Dory. The whole club is proud of you.

Isadora Barton

There's a lot happening at Urmston Cricket Club most weeks, more than any one blog post can properly do justice to.

Full scorecards, points breakdowns, every run and every wicket across every side, are all sitting on our Play Cricket page if you want to go digging: https://urmston.play-cricket.com/home.

Have a look, follow your team, and see how the numbers stack up.

But this week, one performance deserves the spotlight all to itself.

Women's and girls' cricket in this country has changed beyond recognition.

This summer England hosted the Women's T20 World Cup, and you could feel the difference. Sold-out grounds, prime-time coverage, and a run all the way to the final at Lord's in front of a packed house. They came up short against a brilliant Australia side on the day, but the bigger picture was impossible to miss. The competition has done more than fill a few stadiums. The Hundred has put women's matches in front of huge new crowds and given girls a version of the game that is fast, loud and unmistakably theirs. A generation is growing up watching women's cricket as just cricket, and that changes what a young girl believes is possible when she first picks up a ball.

I take that personally, if I'm honest. I've played the game myself, at a very ordinary level, and for Winton Cricket, not Urmston. I didn't achieve anything that will ever trouble a scorebook anyone remembers. But I always felt included, always felt like the club was mine as much as anyone's. That feeling, that you belong here regardless of how far you go with it, is the thing worth protecting. I can honestly say at Urmston, the womens game is growing stronger by the season, and I for one am very happy to see this in real time.

At Urmston, we're not England. We're a community club in Greater Manchester with a junior section that turns up every week, rain or shine. But we like to think we're doing our own small part of that same job, giving every young player, girl or boy, the same shot at the same opportunities. And this week, one of our own gave us every reason to shout about it.

Isadora Barton, our Under 15s star, produced a spell that would have turned heads at any level of the game. Three overs, four wickets (in the same over no less), just 17 runs conceded, and a Whalley Range side bowled out for 99 on the way to a comfortable eight wicket win. It was fearless, skilful bowling, the kind that wins matches on its own.

Well played, Dory. The whole club is proud of you.