Aylish Cranstone, Surrey captain, will be South East Stars’ new representative on the Professional Cricketers’ Association (PCA) Players’ Committee. The decision was made at the 2023 AGM of the PCA.
It was also decided that batter Laurie Evans will be replaced by fast bowler Matt Dunn as Surrey’s representative on the PCA Players’ Committee for 2023.
The representatives of the committee, elected by their teammates, are responsible for communicating PCA’s discussions subjects to the dressing rooms across the 18 counties, eight women’s regions, and England squads.
The 28-year-old left-hander, who has been a key batter in the South East Stars line-up, averaging over 58 thanks to her three half-centuries in the Charlotte Edwards Cup last season, will also feature as the regional outfit’s representative on the Women’s Player Committee. The committee, set up in 2021, votes on women-specific cricket issues and has been broadened this year, now consisting of 11 players.
Cranstone felt that the role of a representative is “massively important”. Sharing her passion for making her voice heard, she continued: “There was a huge discussion around the team about who wanted to be the rep and, for me personally, it’s something that I felt really passionate about.
“I wanted to put the views forward from our region, and not really my region, but on the behalf of all regions. We’re all pushing for some of the similar things, and it’s great to represent the Stars and support my team in any way possible to get what we think is right.
“Now that every region has got a rep each, it’s so interesting to see the different dynamics of each region and how things work, and like what’s going really well in one region that we can then move across to another. So, I think it’s so important to just to get as many voices come together as possible.”
Talking about the significance of player representatives, James Harris, PCA Chair, said: “Having that figure head in a dressing room is key to making sure all the views or concerns of the team are being heard and can be given back to the PCA who are always looking after the best interests of the players.”
