Fran Wilson hoping to put on a show as Middlesex Women make their Lord’s bow

Towards the end of their recent tour of India, the England women’s cricket team reminisced about the day at Lord’s last July when they won the World Cup.

“Lots of happiness laughter and even more tension!” are Fran Wilson’s memories of perhaps the most important day in the recent history of English cricket.

“We just randomly started talking about it,” she says. “I don’t think we’ve ever done that before but it was nice to just chat away with your best mates and talk about a day we will remember forever.”

On Tuesday, Wilson will be back at Lord’s, for the first women’s match there since. In fact, it will be the first time Middlesex Women, Wilson’s county, have played there in their 85-year history.

The occasion is MCC Women’s Day, with Middlesex facing an MCC team captained by England legend Charlotte Edwards and containing Wilson’s World Cup-winning team-mates Sarah Taylor and Georgia Elwiss.

The aim is to break the confirmed domestic attendance for a women’s match in this country. That figure stands at 3,413, for Kia Super League Finals Day at Hove last year, and beating it should be a formality — more than 5,000 children are heading to Lord’s for the match (tickets are £5 for adults, free for Under-16s) and to join various community activities. Wilson appreciates the sense of occasion. Despite being an MCC Young Cricketer in her youth, the World Cup Final is the only time she has played on the main ground at Lord’s.

“This is a big thing for women’s cricket and for Middlesex,” says Wilson. “Most of the girls haven’t played at Lord’s, or any major ground, and it’s been a big ambition of ours. We’ve wanted to do it for a while and have been talking about it, and how it’s a bit unfair that we haven’t. It’s not normal, so we feel privileged.”

Women’s county cricket remains amateur and faces bigger battles than playing on major grounds but exposure is vital.

“Middlesex Women and women’s cricket is changing fast,” says Wilson. “We are working hard and getting more recognition than ever, and this is testament to that.”

Lord’s is a busy place with many fixtures to accommodate but the challenge and the hope is to make this — or even better a formal game in a domestic competition during school holidays — an annual fixture. As last July showed, women’s cricket has much to show off.