Book excerpt: This is a history of women’s cricket with a difference. It is the first book to trace in detail the development of the game at grass-roots level. Based on the author’s own knowledge built up over 30 years of involvement in women’s cricket, backed up by extensive in-depth research, it connects the development of the game locally with important national trends and examines the links between women’s cricket and wider social trends such as the position of women in society. A Novel Match at Cricket also attempts to answer some important questions, such as the reasons for the booms and slumps which have occurred in women’s cricket and the role that men have played helping and hindering the development of the female game. This book also looks at the lessons history has to teach those who are running women’s cricket today. It will appeal not only to those interested in cricket, but also to students of social history, particularly people engaged in women’s studies. Introduction Overture PART ONE – THE RISE Chapter 1: Missing Out Chapter 2: How It All Began 3: Signs of Change Chapter 4: The White Heather Club Chapter 5: Between the Wars – The Boom Years Chapter 6: The Gymslip Generation Chapter 7: Oxford University PART TWO – THE FALL Chapter 8: New Beginnings Chapter 9: Decline and Fall Chapter 10: School’s Out Chapter 11: The Unknown Varsity Game Chapter 12: Towards the Millenium Chapter 13: We Are the Champions PART THREE – THE LESSONS Chapter 14: When Football Banned Women…But Cricket Didn’t Chapter 15: The Theory of the Man Shortage Chapter 16: Territories, Tribes and the Oxford Anomaly Chapter 17: The Ups and Downs of the Second Half of the 20th Century Chapter 18: Marriage to the ECB – For Better or for Worse?