At Sophia Gardens, there is a quiet revolution underway in Welsh women’s cricket. Glamorgan Women are heading into the new season with a dual focus: win now, and build a sustainable, professional future that will transform the landscape of the game in Wales.

Head coach Rachel Priest, the former New Zealand international and a key architect of Glamorgan’s rapid rise alongside Head of Women and Girls Cricket, Aimee Rees, is clear-eyed about both the opportunity and the challenge ahead.

“It’s going really, really well,” she says of pre-season.

“We’re obviously blessed here [at Sophia Gardens] to have an amazing facility to use, lots of space and we get lots of time to use it as well. So, the girls have been putting huge efforts into what we know will be another, you know, really challenging and difficult season.

“But obviously we’re also having to look forward to that professional era as well.”

This, in many ways, is a bridge year: one eye on trophies, the other in November, when Glamorgan step fully into the professional tier-one structure.

For Priest, the most transformative change won’t be tactical or structural – it will be time.

“The best thing that changes is more time with the girls,” she explains.

“Now, they’re working, they’re at school. It’s really difficult for them to find, well, to give time to it, because they’re so busy with the rest of their lives.

“So, for me as a coach, it’s really exciting to think that I’m going to see them so much more, and we’re going to be able to make our improvements so much quicker.”

Those improvements are already visible. Priest points to the leap the squad made last year in adapting to a higher standard of cricket across both white-ball competitions.

“They’ve already made huge improvements. If we look at where they were the winter before last season, the way that they played and managed that, you know, like it was a much higher level than they’d played before. And they really all handled it really, really well.”

This season, though, the demands go up another notch. Glamorgan’s planning is shaped by the need to be ready to “hit the ground running” when professionalism arrives.

“We really want to have a great season, but we are looking forward to a professional team in 2027, well, in November,” Priest adds.

“This season, we’re going to have to add in, I think, a lot of extra training. You know, their fitness levels have to go up, so they’re going to have to add extra in that area so that we can hit the ground running in November and in that 2027 season.”

Glamorgan’s 2025 season, including reaching the final and semi-final in the One-Day Cup and T20 Blast respectively, has reset expectations. Yet Priest is adamant that the focus cannot be on the scoreboard alone.

“We haven’t talked too much about the winning of anything,” she explains.

Last season’s one-day final, where Glamorgan faced a powerful professional Yorkshire side, still looms large. Not as a scar, but as a lesson.

“Look, it was pretty tough last year. Obviously, we came up against a professional team in Yorkshire in the final, and they had some of their better players playing that day, ex-England players that are still very much the best players around in this country.

“That was an amazing opportunity to make that final and such a good learning day. But obviously it was tough because we didn’t do very well.”

For Priest, the key theme underpinning everything is belief.

Last year offered proof of concept: a strong, tight-knit culture and a squad that believed they belonged at the sharp end of competitions.

This season has an added element of competition with the squad, by the introduction of professional contracts, expected to be signed from June onwards. It’s a rare scenario: a group of players and staff collectively stepping into a fully professional structure for the first time.

“It is super unique,” Priest says. “It’s a huge challenge, but also an amazing opportunity.

“Not many people get the chance to be part of something that’s starting for the first time, because you don’t see this happen that often anymore. Most competitions are established and all that.

“So, the opportunity to be part of something for the first, to bring something to life, basically, is really special, I think.”

That doesn’t mean it will be easy. Contracts will bring elation for some and disappointment for others.

“Whenever something that you love becomes your job, this is special, but also it adds so much pressure,” Priest says.

“So, the girls will automatically feel more pressure when they’re getting paid to do it. That goes without saying, but I think, look, as you say, there’s going to be some real disappointment.

“There’s going to be some like real elation that, you know, you’ve made your first professional contract, and that is the way of professional sport, and that’s, unfortunately, the way of the world.

“You know, not everyone’s going to make it, but hopefully we can pull together a really competitive squad.”

Despite the long-term lens, there is no downplaying Glamorgan’s ambition for this season. They begin with the One-Day Cup, where they finished runners-up last year.

As Glamorgan embark on this pivotal campaign, their future is entwined by the dual desire to win now and also set themselves up for a best possible professional future.

“There’ll be no taking away from the fact that we want to be competitive and play our best cricket this season,” Priest insists.

With a driven coach, a committed squad, and a historic club backing them to “bring something to life,” Glamorgan enter the season not just chasing silverware but helping to shape the next era of women’s cricket in Wales.

---

If you want to read more pieces from Sportin Wales, why not read to our monthly magazine here or subscribe to the magazine and newsletter at https://sportin.wales/subscribe/.

Our podcast is back for the new season and our co-founder Alex Cuthbert is in charge! You can find all the episodes here or the video versions on our YouTube channel.

You can also keep track of our pieces and videos on our socials at @Sportin_Wales on X or Sportin Wales on Instagram and Facebook.