Netherlands women to play domestic cricket in England

Netherlands women have followed in the footsteps of their counterparts in Ireland and will participate in England's domestic county championship in 2009. With Scotland having been part of the fixtures since 2007, the tournament will now feature three of Europe's leading sides.

Netherlands and Ireland have been placed in the newly created fifth division though they will be competing in separate sub-divisions. Scotland are higher up in the third division.

The 50-over competition format for 2009 will run from May to September and have more home and away matches for the 24 teams in the top four divisions.

Clare Connor, the head of England's women's cricket, was confident the ECB's structure would help Ireland and Netherlands enhance their performance. "I want to support our European neighbours to enable them to climb the ODI rankings and it seems to me that with more regular, competitive opportunities we can genuinely help them do this. I do not want to see Irish and Dutch women's cricket get left behind in the global rankings by the growing Asian nations who are playing more and more cricket."

Richard Hobsworth, the ICC regional development manager, said the two teams' inclusion in English domestic cricket was a boost to the women's game in Europe. "This will allow each team to participate in regular competitive fixtures outside of their own countries; an environment which will progress their development enormously."