Skipton'S Ermysted's Grammar School has seen plenty of memorable sporting debuts down the years, but none of them have featured members of the female sporting fraternity. Until this week.

Adding a new chapter to the school's proud sporting tradition is 17-year-old Claire Atkinson, who on Wednesday became the first girl to pad up alongside the lads in a senior cricket match against Bradford Grammar at Skipton.

Claire, from Keighley, has established her credentials with excellent progress through the women's cricket ranks since following in the footsteps of her father David, in his prime a fast-bowler with Bingley in the Bradford League.

An all-rounder, she plays for Wakefield Ladies and has played for Yorkshire through the age-groups, culminating in winning her first-team cap this season. She is also a member of the England Under 21 squad.

Although she has been studying at Skipton Girls' High School, her interest in sport has taken her to Ermysted's to pursue an 'A' level PE course, which has cricket as its central theme.

"Claire has been with us through the winter, during which she has been assessed and her progress monitored," says sports master Richard Head. "Part of that process involves an 'effective performance' assessment, which effectively means showing us what she can do in a match situation as opposed to demonstrating good technique in the nets.

"She's as good as many of the lads in the squad and with resources slightly stretched at the moment because of examination pressures, this was the perfect opportunity for her to make her debut and kill two birds with one stone."

The pressure of making her debut in a school game was eased by the fact that her brother, Andrew, captains the team. She is also captain of the Steeton Under 18 side in the Aire-Wharfe Junior league and has played at the club since she was nine.

"I'm used to playing alongside the lads and they treat me well," she says, although brother Andrew confided that the Ermysted's debut had definitely added an extra flutter to the nervous system.

Although she regards herself mainly as a bowler, with a century under her belt at England Under 21 level, she obviously has seriously potential as an all-rounder, as she confirmed.

This week, the challenge was simply to establish her sporting 'street-cred' among the lads at Ermysted's and this she achieved with a brisk knock of 20 and a 50 partnership with Sam Keane. She even outscored her brother, but could not save the side from a four-run defeat.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.