Teenage captain Maeve Jones describes how the talented junior side ‘surprised a lot of teams’ on the way to four wins

The Ramsbottom faithful were out in force on a chilly Saturday in late April to mark an historic occasion at Acre Bottom. After their women’s first XI had gone unbeaten throughout 2023, winning the league for the second year on the bounce and lifting the T20 trophy, the club had taken the unprecedented step of entering them into the Lancashire League, joining the third XI section to take on teams comprised exclusively – barring one or two exceptions – of men.

“It’s the right thing for this group at the right time,” Iain Collier, Ramsbottom’s women’s and girls’ head coach, told WCM back in January. “We’re still going to play in the women’s competitions but this is a fantastic opportunity to do both.”