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Enid Bakewell is not your standard 82 year old. She’s a legend of women’s cricket who shows no signs of slowing down anytime soon.

During her illustrious Test career (1968 to 1979), Enid established herself as one of England’s best all-rounders. She had an average run rate of 59.88, and took 50 wickets in 12 matches, as well as being part of the England team that won the 1973 Women’s Cricket World Cup. Thanks to those stats, Enid is considered one of cricket’s greatest female players of all time.

When asked what she believes her best match was, Enid replies: “I think there's one where I took ten wickets and I got a century as well… and we beat the West Indies”. That was actually Enid’s last Test match, in 1979 at Edgbaston.

However, retirement from Test match cricket certainly hasn’t dulled her passion for the game. As recently as 2022, Enid was touring Australia and New Zealand with the East Anglian Veteran Ladies team, being named player of the match in their opening game. Even with having two artificial knees!

But where did she get her start?

The first innings

Describing her younger self as a “tomboy”, Enid first began playing cricket in Newstead, the Nottinghamshire village where she grew up. The group of kids would play on a quiet street with few cars, using an electricity box as a wicket. However, the ball would often end up in the neighbours’ gardens, so they had a rethink and cut a strip of playing field through a local pitch which had knee-high grass.

Thinking back on those early days, Enid says: “Anyway, it was the secret of my success, because then you didn't dare let the ball bounce. You got to get the ball before it bounced. So I used to move my feet and hit the ball before it bounced so that was great and and my mum sometimes would come up and we would be looking for the ball with all the slugs.”

Enid’s parents were supportive of her cricketing passion, buying her some stumps, a bat and wicket-keeping gloves.

Teaching the next generation

After leaving college, Enid became a PE teacher, but faced opposition to her plans to get more girls playing cricket.

“I said to the woman PE advisor, ‘Can I teach cricket to the girls?' It was an all girls’ school, in lesson time. ‘Oh, no’, she said, ‘it's too unladylike’. So I said, ‘Well, can I teach it in a club afterwards?’ ‘Yes’, she said."

At another mixed-gender school, Enid was astonished to find that whilst there were four cricket pitches, the girls weren’t allowed to play: “Eventually they do now. But the four pitches, they were wasted because the girls didn't [play]… And I couldn't do anything about it at that time.”

Making friends worldwide

The global friendships Enid’s made through cricket clearly mean a great deal to her: “It's like a competitive game of chess, really. That you're playing with friends and you're playing against friends… You're trying to outwit somebody. Alright, but you're having fun at the same time and you're making friends with all the people who are on your team.

“I've got friends in New Zealand, in Australia, that I've known through cricket and that's the only reason they're friends because I've met them at cricket and and you can't beat friendship.”

However, she realised early on in her international career that sometimes friendship had to be put aside in favour of competitive spirit during the match: “But I learned when I first played against the Aussies, I sat at a lunch and I talked to the opening bowlers, and I realised that I hadn't got to do that ever again, because of course you don't feel the enmity that you felt before.”

Receiving royal recognition

In February 2019, Enid was awarded an MBE for services to women’s cricket and was thrilled to discover that she would be presented with the honour by the Princess Royal.

“The biggest prize was the fact that Princess Anne had come to give us the award of the cup when we played the Australians at Egerton. And when I got there and it was Princess Anne giving the awards, it was amazing… When I had left there and she'd given me the medal, I then bowled a ball before I went.”

Looking to the future of women's cricket

On the whole Enid is optimistic about the future of women’s cricket in the UK: “Men are tending to accept women as cricketers and virtually as equals. Whether we'll ever get paid on a par with the Australians… The Australians have been paid more for longer than we have and so they are more professional. So hopefully we can we can see that that's right.”

Enid also welcomes the greater investment in women's cricket, and hopes it will encourage more and more young people to play.

And as for her own future? Well, Enid plans to “carry on playing for as long as I can and to keep following the cricket, so that I can follow it and enjoy it and it will keep me healthy.”

This article was published in June 2023