Kent’s Simon Cook, Megan Belt and Dave Smith discuss the county’s hopes for a tier-one women’s team

Director of cricket Simon Cook thinks Kent’s ground at Beckenham is a trump card in their hopes for a tier-one women’s team.

Kent confirmed their intention to submit a bid to the England & Wales Cricket Board to become one of eight counties with a professional women’s team from the 2025 season ahead of this summer.

Kent have the most successful women’s county side in England and Wales, with 10 league championships and five T20 titles.

Cook believes the county have “a strong bid” in the tender process because of their ready-to-go second home.

He said: “You don’t enter a bid process to lose or to fail, so we are confident that we will end up with a tier-one team.

“We feel we have got a strong bid because of Beckenham. That’s a huge asset for us.

“It gives women’s cricket a home and a focus, where we can kind of launch the next phase of women’s cricket in Kent.

“No other county has got that facility or a facility close to that.

“All the other bids will be based around playing a little bit at the home ground, playing a bid at the outground, maybe in a school, and that’s why we are confident.

“That’s why we think we should be awarded a tier-one team.”

Some of Kent Women’s players are already professional, although this is due to links with clubs involved in The Hundred, such as South East Stars, or through playing for England.

New women’s captain Megan Belt hopes the move will help convince more Kent men’s fans to watch women’s cricket.

“I’m really excited about it,” she said.

“When I first started, we had Charlotte Edwards as captain and then Tammy Beaumont as captain. For me, that felt like we were professionals - although we didn’t get paid.

“The last couple of years, it’s dropped out a little bit because of the regional