2024 ANNUAL REPORT

THE BLAZE REPORT 31 We reached Second XI Finals Day at Loughborough in July, progressing to the final, and I want to thank Jon Bateson-Clarke for running the second team during this time, and for all his efforts in supporting the development of these players. Three of our Academy players – Prisha Thanawala, Liv Baker and AmyWheeler – have recently earned their professional contracts ahead of 2025, with the latter sup- ported by the ACE Programme. Nationally, the statistics suggest around 4% of academy players tran- sition into professional contracts, and it speaks volumes of the hard work put in by our Senior Regional Talent Manager, Cain Hamilton- Boyle, that three have earned contracts this year. His commitment and management of the programme has also led to the Academy winning the National Academy Festival at Oakham for the second year running, for which he, his staff and the players deserve immense congratulations. Most pleasing, though, is the work that is being done off the field in developing our Academy players as people.We want to embed a positive approach to the game, build confidence and develop character – which we know is happening. The same can be said in the Emerg- ing Player Programme, on which we will have 14 players next year. The East Midlands as a region is beginning to slowly produce more and more competent female cricket- ers, with our sights set on bringing as many young players through the system as we can, to contribute to the growth of the game as a whole. At the senior end, 17 players now have professional contracts, a stark contrast to the five we had just two years ago, and evidence of the speed at which the game and our team is evolving. We’re very fortunate to also have a range of international players in our squad, including four centrally-con- tracted players:Tammy Beaumont, Sarah Glenn, Nat-Sciver Brunt, and, from next season, Amy Jones. Tammy, in particular, plays an im- mense amount of domestic cricket and she deserves a huge amount of credit for her commitment. There was international recogni- tion for a number of our domestic players, too. We were thrilled to see Sarah and Kathryn Bryce represent Scotland in their first ever ICC IT20World Cup, with Kathryn captaining the side. Elsewhere, Ella Claridge made her debut for the USA in October, receiving her first call-up after a strong all-round domestic season, while Kirstie Gordon earned a much-deserved recall to the Eng- land senior set-up as part of the squad for their Test in India, where she captained England A. Josie Groves has been able to further her leadership capabilities through captaining England Under- 19s, while Prisha Thanawala has been named in the squad for the ICC U19Women’sWorld Cup, with AnnieWilliams and Maria Andrews “THREE OF OUR ACADEMY PLAYERS – PRISHA THANAWALA, LIV BAKER AND AMY WHEELER – HAVE RECENTLY EARNED THEIR PROFESSIONAL CONTRACTS AHEAD OF 2025, WITH THE LATTER SUPPORTED BY THE ACE PROGRAMME. ” James Cutt