Northern Lights will make their competitive debut this weekend before hosting Watsonians on May 29, which will be the first women’s Premier League game to be played in Aberdeen.
The women’s cricket team, which was founded in October 2021 as part of Aberdeenshire Cricket Club, travel to Edinburgh on Sunday to play Grange Women in their first-ever Premier League game.
In making their league debut, Northern Lights have exceeded expectations, as when the women and girl’s section was established nine months ago, the original plan was to have a Premier League team within five years.
The club have achieved that objective well ahead of time, and the Northern Lights women’s team attracted players from Arbroath, Stoneywood Dyce, Forfarshire, Falkland, Fraserburgh, Huntly and Aberdeen University.
Northern Lights currently have 19 players registered for the Premier League season, while the girls’ junior section have 18 signed up to play softball cricket.
“From the initial launch – it’s spun up quite fast,” Bob Buchan, the Women and Girls’ coordinator and Junior Convener at Aberdeenshire Cricket, said.
“It grew arms and legs and we’ve ended up with a women’s national premier league cricket team.
“There’s a genuine interest out there – women and girls cricket is probably the fastest growing section of the sport – and now, there is a real opportunity to be able to play locally.”
When Northern Lights welcome Watsonians Women to Mannofield next Sunday in the first-ever women’s Premier League game to be played in Aberdeen, the club are hosting a softball festival to try and promote the women and girls’ section.
Buchan explained: “We’re trying to make a little bit of fuss about the day to promote the sport and the team.
“It’s exciting times for us moving forward.
“If we can showcase women’s hardball cricket – any of those young girls who are out there playing softball can look and think one day I could do that.
“We want to see them taking on that challenge and develop as part of the club.
‘The start of an exciting journey’
Northern Lights’ players have varying amounts of cricket experience, as the team includes four Scotland internationals, regional players, university players and secondary-school aged players.
The team, whose coach is Daniel Sutton, have been working closely with a sports psychologist ahead of their first competitive fixtures to help them gel and build a squad identity.
Buchan believes that those preparations have helped Northern Lights reach a good place as they embark on an ‘exciting journey’.
He said: “There’s a good mix of players with different experience and abilities. We’re really looking forward to how we’re going to progress, and hopefully we will do well.
“We want to win a few games and perform well. We play seven games over the piece – if they win three of those games, I’d see that as a great start and anything beyond that would be fantastic.”
“We’ll know better at the end of the season of where we are at and how we can prepare for next year, but it’s the start of an exciting journey.”
