WOMEN cricketers showed added bottle to turn out in force to a special event to promote the sport.

Cumbria Cricket’s first Prosecco Cricket evening at Lindal Moor CC – home of the South Lakes Maidens women’s and girls’ teams – saw several dozen novices and more experienced players turn out.

Under the guidance of the county’s women and girls development officer Laura Marshall, they brushed up on the basics and then enjoyed several fun games on the outfield, before retiring to the clubhouse for their glasses of prosecco.

For Marshall, the night was a big success, and she said: “It went really, really well. We had about 30 women, which is amazing, and they all enjoyed it and they all want to do it again, so it was a big success.

“We played a Kwik Cricket tournament – soft ball, quick, easy games so they’re not standing around for a long period of time.

“A few of the women I had never seen before and they had just come to see how it was. They all wanted to do it again, which is great.”

The Proseccos Cricket night was held on an informal basis, with no training sessions and no team to joins.

While Marshall hopes some of the ladies who attended might take their involvement in the game further, she feels the lack of pressure attached to such a venture paid off.

“Sometimes team training can be a bit intimidating, because you’re having to learn technical skills, which they don’t really want to do – they just want to have a good time with some friends,” she said.

“If they start to enjoy it a lot more and they want to join the teams, then that’s a success for us. Getting more women involved is a goal.”

After the success of the initial evening, further events will follow around the county – with Carlisle, Keswick, Egremont and Penrith all holding sessions.

Marshall also hopes to arrange regular future evenings at Lindal – with winter cricket played indoors – and said: “We want to carry it on and hopefully go through the winter into the summer and have more teams involved.”