Livo chats with Elliot Ponting, Challengers Commercial Director
There’s a temptation, when you look at a results column, to stop thinking. One win. A handful of near misses. A lot of “nearlys”. But if you actually listen to Elliot Ponting talk through the women’s Challengers season, you realise quickly that this wasn’t a failure year. It was a foundation year.
Dropping into the management role initially out of necessity, Elliot wore many hats during the first full season of the new women’s tiered system. And while Tier 1, 2 and 3 cricket has brought structure and clarity, it has also exposed just how many talented players were missed when the system launched.
That, in many ways, is where the Challengers sit.
The value of the new structure is obvious. It’s easier to identify players, easier to avoid clashes with Tier 1 and Tier 2 fixtures, and easier to schedule meaningful games. But in year one, speed was the enemy. Counties had to sign squads quickly. Pathways expanded overnight. Some players were picked up, some weren’t – often through timing rather than talent.
That left the Challengers with a clear role: find the ones who slipped through.
What followed was a season of high-quality opposition and steep learning curves. Lancashire, The Blaze, Somerset, Hampshire, Surrey – proper sides, often near full-strength. From the outside, one win doesn’t look much. Inside the camp, it told a different story.
The win at Lady Bay against The Blaze was the clearest expression of what this group can be. Francesca Sweet’s composure, Molly Adams’ authority, Elsa Barnfather holding an innings together, and Amy Gordon ripping through with the ball. Everything clicked. That day mattered because it proved the concept. The scouting worked. The talent was real. The environment held up under pressure.
Elsewhere, the margins were brutal.
Against Somerset, a strong start turned into a collapse. Against Lancashire, competitive performances weren’t converted. The theme, as Ponting put it bluntly, was losing wickets in clusters and failing to close games from winning positions. Not technical flaws – tactical ones. Shot selection. Game awareness. Communication. The sort of things that only sharpen through exposure.
And exposure is exactly what the Challengers provide.
CHECK OUT ALL THE LATEST PREMIER LEAGUE TRANSFERS HERE
One of the most important threads running through the episode is honesty. Ponting doesn’t dress the season up. One win is one win. But he also doesn’t apologise for prioritising development over comfort. These games were never meant to be safe. They were meant to be revealing.
That’s why performances like Elsa Barnfather’s progression matter. Why Sweet’s arrival mattered. Why Amy Gordon’s five-for – the first in the women’s programme – mattered. These are players learning, fast, in environments that demand clarity and confidence.
The other quiet success of the season? Credibility.
Counties rang back. Somerset wanted a fixture after seeing the standard. Directors of Cricket saw value. The Challengers weren’t just “helpful opposition”; they were competitive, relevant, and increasingly useful as a secondary pathway alongside academies.
That’s where the winter comes in.
Decembers camp marks a shift. Fewer drop-ins. More continuity. A clearer squad. Players together earlier. The men have had a head start in building that “club feel”. The women are catching up quickly.
There’s realism, too. Some players won’t be around forever – because they’ll be picked up. That’s success, not failure. If the season starts with 18 and finishes with 14 because contracts have been signed elsewhere, the system has worked.
Add in a growing number of players heading to Australia for winter cricket, and the learning curve steepens again. Better conditions. Better volume. Better pressure.
Year one showed what the women’s Challengers are for.
Year two is about turning that into wins – without losing the point of the project.
