Female cricket is on the rise in Gloucestershire.

The flagship club Bristol Phoenix, formed from Shirehampton, Chipping Sodbury and Thornbury sides, has two senior teams and several junior sides.

Frenchay are also being pro-active in getting girls and ladies into the sport.

And Gloucestershire County Board girls' coach Lisa Padgett is having a very successful first year in her job.

"It has been absolutely fantastic. This is a dream job for me," said the Bath and Somerset player, who has played cricket since she was 12.

"Everyone is behind what I am doing. There's a big move in cricket to get girls' and women's cricket off the ground and make it strong.

"But not only will it get strong but soon (female) cricket will snowball and get quite big in the county."

As part of her job, Padgett goes into schools and clubs to encourage girls and women to play.

Speaking about setting up girls cricket at Frenchay, Padgett added: "Sally and Jim Donaldson, from Frenchay, specified that they wanted to start a girls' team.

"We have had 20 or so girls involved so far after we had a six-week programme of coaching there."

Bristol Phoenix are the leading girls club in the area and play in the South West League against sides such as Plympton, from Plymouth, Bath 2nds, Weston-super-Mare and Bournemouth.

Padgett said: "Shirehampton, Chipping Sodbury and Thornbury formed their own club in their own right. Each individual club had enough women to play matches but not enough to be strong and independent.

"They are very pro-active now. They are always on the look out for new members. They have two senior sides and teams at Under-13, Under-15, and Under-17 levels."

Padgett, 23, has also been selected for the England squad for the Indoor World Cup in Australia.