Isa Guha: Why removing diversity barriers in women's cricket is important

This week’s guest on The Game Changers podcast is Isa Guha, a former England cricket international turned commentator and broadcaster.

Throughout her career both on and off the pitch, Guha has been a trailblazer and has helped shape the landscape of women’s cricket.

In 2002, she became the first woman of South Asian origin to represent England in sport. Now, as the first woman on the Professional Cricketers Association board, she continues to help make important changes in the sport that has been her life since a young age.

Guha was just 17 years old when she made her England debut and she went on to enjoy a ten-year career, winning the 2009 ICC Women’s World Cup, Women’s World T20 and three Ashes Series.

Cricket was always a part of Guha’s family life growing up — it was “in her genes” in fact. Her mother and father are both from India, so the sport was a hot topic in the family home.

She described the “classic story” of growing up playing cricket in the garden with her older brother, using milk bottles as crates and breaking many a window as she learned to both bowl and bat.

Like many other female athletes across the majority of sports, Guha started off playing on boys’ teams. While she admitted there were “a few raised eyebrows” during this time, she embraced the opportunity to be taken out of her comfort zone.

There was initial reluctance from her father in the beginning, but he soon became one of her biggest and loudest supporters. 

“He set up a women’s section there [High Wycombe]. He tried to find a club for me to play for, which was a women’s club, so I could progress.”

Remarkably, Guha started playing with the seniors when she was just nine years old. She made her debut for Thames Valley U21s at 11 years of