Women's Ashes: How Metro Bank aims to encourage more women and girls to play cricket

Metro Bank has entered into a partnership with the England and Wales cricket board as its inaugural champion partner of women’s and girls’ cricket. A new Women’s and Girls’ Fund will sit at the heart of the partnership, which will support programmes to make cricket more inclusive, by bringing more women and girls into the game while retaining those who are already in it.

The fund is made up of equal contributions from the ECB and Metro Bank who will co-develop programmes to make cricket a more gender-balanced sport.

The partnership will see Metro Bank’s logo on the sleeves of England’s Women’s shirts, beginning with this month’s series against Australia.

Danielle Lee, director of brand and marketing at Metro Bank, told The Yorkshire Post: "Cricket is a vehicle for us to put our brand and purpose into action.

“It's an opportunity to support women and girls with developing their life skills. It improves their confidence and we are acting as a catalyst to help women achieve their potential within sport and beyond.”

She said the partnership with the ECB aimed to create more inclusive and welcoming spaces for girls and women.

"We will do a lot of work to understand the issues, and develop the programmes we want to fund, so we can make sure we have the biggest impact.

"We will work with the ECB to establish clear and tangible KPIs (key performance indicators) so we can measure the impact of this partnership.”

Clare Connor, ECB Deputy Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director England Women, added: “Whilst we have seen a period of huge growth and increased profile across the women’s game, we know there is still much more to do to make our sport truly gender balanced.

"By working together with partners such as Metro Bank who share our ambition for the sport, I am confident we will make our sport more inclusive and inspire many more girls from all backgrounds to pick up a bat and ball.”

Ms Lee confirmed that Metro Bank is also building its presence on the high street.

“Our branch network is expanding,’’ she added. “We have committed to establish another 11 stores by the end of 2025. The regions where we plan to expand include Yorkshire, the North East and the North West. We are scouting locations and will make an announcement about our plans in due course.

“Our customers and colleagues are our strongest advocates and we want to share their stories,’’ Ms Lee said.

"In terms of supporting financial education, we also have a Money Zone programme to help people manage their finances and we support women in business as well. It all goes back to having strong services and a commitment to relationship banking.”