The Women in Whites

Journalist and historian (and my wife!) Raf Nicholson follows up her 2019 book Ladies and Lords: A History of Women’s Cricket in Britain with her new release The Women in Whites: A History of Women’s Cricket in England.

As the subtitles hint, the two books cover very similar terrain; but The Women in Whites is nonetheless a very different read. Ladies and Lords was based on Raf’s PhD thesis, which looked to place the history of women’s cricket within the wider historiography of a country that was slowly undergoing the changes wrought by first and second-wave feminism through the 20th century, with chapters exploring themes such as women’s cricket and women’s liberation in the 1970s.

In contrast, The Women in Whites is much more about the game of cricket, and the stories of the women (and the occasional man!) who made it happen, both on the field and off it.

It begins with the period leading up to the formation of the Women’s Cricket Association in 1926; taking us through controversies including the fight for MCC membership led by Rachael Heyhoe Flint in the 1990s, and the ultimate dissolution of the WCA and the takeover of women’s cricket by the ECB at the very end of the 20th century.

Concluding with the move back to county cricket in England in 2025, following the regional interregnum, The Women in Whites brings us bang up to date as the 2026 T20 World Cup looks to inaugurate a new era of riches for the game, which would have been unimaginable to the 19 women who had met in a hotel near Victoria Station in London almost exactly 100 years before to form the WCA.

This book is their story, and the story of those who followed them. And if you are (or were) a player or a supporter, it’s your story too. Available June 1st from all good bookshops and online through Amazon.