Tuesday 5 July 2022 10:27 AM Cricket club ditches whites for black kit to encourage girls worrying about ... trends now
A cricket club has ditched their all-white kit for black in a bid to encourage more girls who may worry about their periods to play the sport.
Lewes Priory Cricket Club changed the kit colour for both male and female junior players - in a move to make the sport more inclusive, as girls who are menstruating may not want to wear light colours.
The 300-player club made the dramatic break from tradition so that no girl will ever have to worry about wearing whites when they have their period, its club chair revealed.
Girls playing cricket at the club are as young as nine years old, which is around the average age they begin to go through puberty and start their period.
And the 200-year-old club in Sussex said they recognised that changes needed to be made to keep young girls playing the sport and help them feel more part of the team.
Lewes Priory U12s pictured in their new coloured kits. The cricket club based in Sussex made the move for all junior teams to wear black instead of white, in a bid to make the sport more inclusive to young girls and women.
England cricket captain Heather Knight (pictured centre, wearing a dark kit) helped the team win their first World Cup game in March
Lewes Priory, which says that 40 per cent of their junior players are female, brought in the change in April, at the start of the current season.
Cricket club chair Kevin Ives said that the move has been 'incredibly popular' and both boys and girls in their junior squads have embraced the change.
With a young daughter himself, Mr Ives said the club are trying to make any simple changes to remove the barriers for girls playing cricket.
And he said that the only team that is yet to switch is the men's senior team - but changing their kit from white to black is currently a 'work in progress.'
Lewes Priory's senior women's team currently play in a black kit.
Club chair Mr Ives told MailOnline: 'My daughter is 10 years old, and she plays a lot of cricket. Awareness of periods around that age is rising. They're worried about their periods, it's a bit like what's being talked about surrounding Wimbledon at the moment.
'The change was the simplest thing really, we’ll make no distinction between boys and girls. To be honest, the kids like the coloured kits. It gives them a better feeling of being in a team when everyone's wearing the same stuff.
'It's been incredibly popular across the club. Everybody likes it, boys and girls. It just removes any barrier for girls playing cricket, and it seems so simple. A good and simple change.
'What we haven't done yet is change the senior men's team, they are still in white, but that's a work in progress.'
The chairman added that they also bought new kit for the teams that can be rotated at games - so that parents wouldn't have to splash the cash on new uniforms.
One father, responding to the update
