MIDDLESEX confirmed this week that they will be submitting a bid to the England & Wales Cricket Board (ECB) to become one of the eight First-Class counties who operate a tier 1 professional women’s team from 2025.

The women’s game is set to go through its biggest evolution since 2020, when Sunrisers were born – the elite women’s side that represents London and the East region. Middlesex, which is based at Lord’s in St John’s Wood, has a proud record of playing women’s cricket, with their first recorded women’s fixture taking place in 1935.

The club’s vision is to run two professional sides, Middlesex Men and Middlesex Women, playing in parallel at the highest level of the sport, and growing the women and girls’ game that already exists in the county – a set-up that now sees over 150 sides competing regularly.

Chief executive officer of Middlesex Cricket, Andrew Cornish, said: “The growth of women’s sport has been widely acknowledged in recent times, and the ECB’s focus on ensuring that cricket stays firmly at the front of that growth is paramount. As the Sunrisers’ host county, we have seen just what is possible with professionalisation of the women’s game, and as a club with such a proud history in the women’s game, we need to ensure we continue to do all we can to support that growth.”