THE family of cricketing great, Rachael Heyhoe Flint, has set up an annual girls’ cricket scholarship in her memory at Malvern College, where her son Ben was a pupil.

The first award, worth several thousand pounds, will be made in September 2019 to enable a promising girl cricketer to attend the College from the age of 13.

By 2023, there will be one cricket scholar in each year at Malvern where girls’ cricket is expanding rapidly.

Lady Heyhoe Flint trained as a PE teacher then captained the successful England women’s side from 1966 to ‘78 and was also the first female cricketer to hit a six in a Test match.

In 1999 after years of campaigning for equal opportunities for women cricketers she became one of the first ten female members admitted to the MCC and later a committee member.

She became an influential businesswoman, philanthropist, a director of Wolverhampton Wanderers and was a member of the Malvern College Council for nearly ten years. She died in January 2017 after a short battle with cancer.

Her son Ben Heyhoe Flint, 44, himself a former Staffordshire junior county cricketer, went to Malvern in 1987 and left the year before the College became co-ed.

He now works in Singapore but recently returned to his alma mater to launch the awards.

The scholarships will be partly funded by donations made after his mother’s death and partly by the Malvernian Society.

He said: “Mum would have been thrilled that these awards are being set up in her name.

“None of my friends from nearby girls’ schools played cricket, so it’s fantastic to see that Malvern’s now got increasing numbers of girls taking up the game and enjoying the great facilities there.

"These scholarships will help talented girls to attend who might not have had the financial resources otherwise; I’m very grateful to the Malvernian Society for adding to the funds we’d already collected.

"I loved my time at Malvern: I got stuck into everything but I probably could have applied myself more effectively. More work and less sport and girls.

"Cricket was a big part of everything, of course, and Mum - and Dad - used to enjoy watching me playing but

Mum would sit behind a tree as she knew I felt the pressure of having an England captain hovering on the boundary.

"She played on the Senior at Malvern several times herself, at the women’s counties’ cricket festival in July.

"As it’s a long narrow ground, you’re not supposed to hit sixes there, although it is now allowed in T20 matches.

"I really hope they’ll allow the girls to hit sixes on it, now they’re getting the chance to play there."

He added: "I was two when Mum made 179 for England at the Oval against Australia, which was then the highest score a woman had achieved.

"My fondest memory of her career was in 1999 when she was among the first 10 Honorary Life Members elected to the MCC.

"Earlier she’d lobbed a hand grenade into the male establishment by putting in an application form as R. Flint – omitting the Mrs. They realised too late.

"We were sitting in the Lord’s Tavern - they didn’t let her into the EGM - and when the news broke, some of the media rushed out to tell her that the vote to allow women to join the MCC had been passed.

"She leapt over the fence like a 20-year-old and ran to the Grace Gate where the film crews descended on her.

"I remember fielding her phone from behind her back as she was on air; it was red-hot for hours.

"Mum was a real motivator, a force of nature who would take people on a journey with a combination of charm, wit, cheekiness - and sometimes a steely edge.

"When she was diagnosed with cancer, she fought it to the bitter end.

"She was a tough cookie, an amazing person and the family are all hugely proud of what she achieved during her extraordinary life.

"I think she’d love to see one or two of Malvern’s new girl cricket scholars eventually winning a place in the England side.”

Malvern College says its girls cricket is going from strength to strength with the girls’ being coached by Thea Brookes, an England junior cricket international.

This summer Malvern’s Girls’ XI played their first fixture on the Senior, the 1st XI pitch which is renowned as one of Britain’s most beautiful grounds.

In that match against Wellington College, Malvern’s Jemima Martyn-Smith made history by becoming the first girl ever to take a wicket on the Senior ground.

For more information about this scholarship or to apply please contact: giles.vosper-brown@malverncollege.org.uk