If she had been born a decade later, Emma Calvert might well be a professional female cricketer. Instead, her career took a different path and she’s helping to accelerate the growth of professional women’s cricket in the UK.
‘My passion has always been in sport,’ explains the regional director of women’s cricket. ‘I always wanted to be in sports leadership, and I am passionate about growing women’s and girls’ sport in particular.’
‘Surrey’s philosophy is that we will be two teams, but one club’
As a teenager, Calvert played both tennis and cricket for Lancashire, but was more focused on cricket by the time she was 18. Nevertheless, she didn’t see the sport as a viable career option.
‘At the time, there wasn’t a professional pathway for female cricketers,’ she explains. ‘Even the women who played for England were only being paid for their expenses.’
Rapid professionalisation
But in the space of a few years, a huge amount has changed. Women’s cricket in England and Wales is undergoing a rapid process of professionalisation and growth. Today, any girl who picks up a bat can go on to become professional cricketer, provided she’s good enough.
Currently, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) owns eight regional, domestic women’s teams but has plans to evolve these into ‘Tier 1′ clubs that will each be owned, governed and operated by first-class county cricket clubs or Marylebone Cricket Club. (An announcement about which counties will get which clubs is due to be made in this month.)
Calvert manages the South East Stars, one of those eight teams, and is on a mission to turn the team into a full squad of professionally contracted players. At the moment, it consists of a mixture of professionals and semi-professionals.
Surrey County Cricket Club has tendered to own the South East Stars, which is based at its Kia Oval ground in south London. It already helps to run the team under a partnership with the ECB. If the tender is successful, its name will change and it will benefit from significant investment.
‘By returning to the county club,’ says Calvert, ‘the women’s team will become an integrated part of the commercial strategy and receive a greater platform across the marketing and communications channels.’
‘Women’s sport is in an incredible period of unparalleled growth’
South East Stars
£1.4m
Annual budget
17
Staff members
22
Senior players
36
Pathway players
2020
Year founded
2
Games being played at the Kia Oval in 2024
‘Surrey’s philosophy is that we will be two teams, but one club,’ she explains. ‘Men’s and women’s cricket would have equal exposure, which is so exciting and feels like something that was a million miles away even two years ago.’
Chasing the dream
Although Calvert had always envisaged having a career in sport, she is the daughter of two qualified accountants and sees herself as a ‘numbers person’. So, she studied business and management at the University of Glasgow, graduating with first-class honours. She then joined investment bank Morgan Stanley on its graduate scheme; this was the start of a six-year stint at the bank, during which time Calvert specialised in liquidity-related roles, working up to the position of liquidity and funding control director as well as gaining the ACCA qualification.
Although she enjoyed her job there, and knew it offered an impressive career trajectory, her heart did not lie in financial services. Calvert’s dream was to move into sports leadership, and she thought the best way of doing that would be to take a finance role within the sector. So, she joined City Football Group – owner of Manchester City Football Club and other clubs around the world – as senior treasury manager.
As it turned out, Calvert’s tenure at City Football Group was relatively brief. After she spotted an advertisement for her dream job – regional director of women’s cricket, based at the Kia Oval – she decided to apply.
‘I thought if I apply for it, when I get rejected, they will tell me the reasons why,’ Calvert says. ‘And then I can find a way to make sure those reasons don’t exist in five to 10 years’ time when I go for it again.’
Calvert aims to ‘bring a fresh perspective to an organisation where others at leadership level are older’
Despite her modest expectations, Calvert landed the job. When she started, she had what she describes as a ‘pinch-me’ moment after she realised that her job would involve speaking regularly to Alec Stewart, Surrey’s director of cricket for the male team and ‘one of England’s greatest ever cricketers’.
Evolving role
While traditionally a sporting director position like Calvert’s would be a pure performance role – including contracting players and hiring support staff – she also manages the financial, operational and commercial aspects of the South East Stars. If Surrey succeeds in its bid to own the team, however, her role will become more performance-led and she will also manage the club’s overall strategy for growing women’s and girls’ sport.
Calvert is the youngest regional director of women’s cricket in the UK, as well as the youngest executive member of Surrey County Cricket Club. Age diversity, she argues, is just as important as other types of diversity, and it’s her hope that she brings ‘a fresh perspective to a sports organisation where everyone else at leadership level is much older’. Alongside her day job, Calvert is a non-executive director for British Wheelchair Basketball – a role that has personal meaning for her since her uncle is in a wheelchair.
‘Cricket brings communities together; it brings people from all different walks of life together’
Bright times ahead
Looking to the future, Calvert is hugely optimistic about the potential for her sector. ‘The opportunities for women’s sport are just phenomenal,’ she says. ‘We’re in an incredible period of unparalleled growth.’ Unsurprisingly, she also believes that cricket is a ‘phenomenal team sport’.
‘I’m a massive advocate for cricket,’ she says. ‘It brings communities together, it brings people from all different walks of life together, and it’s incredible to see it continuing to grow, not just here in the UK, but on the world stage as well.’
So, is Calvert herself ever tempted to pick up the bat again and walk out to the crease on the famed Kia Oval? ‘Every time I’m watching a game!’ she laughs. ‘We’ve joked before, when we’ve been on pre-season tour and we’ve had a couple of injuries, that we’ve only been one player away from me being asked to go on the pitch. I would love to, but I just don’t know if my body could withstand it these days.’
