Women’s cricket and the Pinot Grigio Eleven

The clearest recovered account of Langleybury’s women’s cricket comes from local reporting in 2013. It describes a side known as the Pinot Grigio Eleven, combining friendly matches, training and charity activity. That record deserves a place alongside league and first-XI history, even though its surviving results are less complete.

The side in 2013

A Watford Observer feature published on 9 May 2013 described the team as being in its fifth season, captained by Angela Tennant-Butler. It said the women trained and played friendly charity cricket outside a league. The contemporary feature.

Counting back from a fifth season suggests a start around 2009, but a retrospective phrase is not a founding record. This archive therefore does not present 2009 as a confirmed foundation date. The article’s spelling of the captain’s surname is retained; variations in other reports should be checked against club records before being standardised.

A memorial match and fundraising

The May feature recalled a 2012 women-versus-men memorial match at West Herts Cricket Club, which raised £2,000. That venue matters: the earlier match should not be relocated to Langleybury simply because Langleybury players were involved. May 2013 report.

In August 2013, another women-versus-men Twenty20 match at Langleybury commemorated Dale Butler. The women lost by nine runs. The report, published on 27 August, said the event had raised £3,750 at that point for Cardiac Risk in the Young and Teenage Cancer Trust. The memorial-match report.

The sum is an interim reported total, rather than a final audited figure. A screening programme mentioned as a future intention cannot be treated as proof that screenings subsequently took place.

Activity beyond matches

The May 2013 feature also described team members registering for the Peace Hospice Starlight Walk, scheduled for 22 June. That establishes their announced participation, not an independently observed account of the completed walk.

These reports show how the team’s social and charitable activity formed part of its cricket identity. They do not establish every fixture, all the players involved or a continuous season-by-season history.

What remains to be recovered

Team organisers’ records, fixture lists, dated photographs and scorebooks could clarify the first season, membership and later development. The absence of women’s friendly cricket from a later league or council table is not evidence that the team had ceased to play: such tables may have a narrower purpose.

The community history follows other events around the clubhouse. For present opportunities to play, use the current official club website; this page records historical evidence rather than advertising a current team or programme.