As revealed in Cricket Australia's fourth annual Press for Progress report, Shoalhaven District Association Association's female participants in the Woolworths Cricket Blast program grew by 26 per cent, which directly led to an impressive 32 girls taking part in the 2020-21 junior competitions.

Last summer also saw Berry-Shoalhaven Heads, for the first time, and Batemans Bay field all-girl outfits in the under 11s competition.

On the back of these and stage two and under 11 representative fixtures last season, plans are underway for the SDCA to field teams in both the under 13s and 15/16s Greater Illawarra Zone girls competitions.

Read more: Shoalhaven to begin Greater Illawarra Zone campaigns in November

Further highlighting the growing interest in the sport, the female's school competition, which was unfortunately cancelled due to COVID-19, was slated to involve close to 12 teams from across the Shoalhaven and Highlands.

"It's been a tough 18-months for everyone but Cricket NSW has not only maintained our focus on growing the game for women and girls but enhanced it," Cricket NSW chief executive officer Lee Germon said.

"We are working hard in every area to ensure we inspire everyone to play and love cricket and that is especially true when it comes to making sure more women and girls are picking up a bat and ball.

"We are also continuing to develop our on and off-field female leaders by providing a pathway to inspire and grow.

"Cricket Australia's Press for Progress report is a great reflection on the work being done in NSW and indeed across the country in this area and holds everyone involved in Australian Cricket accountable to ensuring we continue to aim for gender equity."

These figures come days after Cricket NSW commended the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) on their recent changes to the laws of the game regarding gender-neutral terms.

Read more: South Coast pair rewarded with Dally M Team of the Year selection

The MCC announced 'batter' and 'batters' will immediately replace 'batsman' and 'batsmen' in all forms of the game, a major step forward in the push towards gender equality in the sport.

Cricket NSW have been using gender-neutral language and applying gender-neutral terms to all umpire training and educational courses for four years.

"We would like to commend the MCC's positive steps in this area, which is an area in which CNSW have been proactive for four years now," Germon said.

"Language changes like this make a real difference and are very important as we strive to make the game more inclusive and inspire more and more people to play and love cricket.

"The more we can do to encourage women and girls to feel welcomed in our great game the better."