Bouchier backing cricket to continue making sustainability progress

England star Maia Bouchier believes cricket is moving in the right direction when it comes to climate change – but knows plenty more must be done.

Bouchier has long called for her sport to assess its impact on the planet and has noted positive changes within the England set-up in recent times, including players flying out for tours from their local airports rather than all congregating in London.

The 25-year-old feels players are becoming increasingly aware of the way environmental changes are affecting them in a sport intrinsically linked with the weather, with storms in Colombo having a particular impact on the ongoing Women's World Cup.

“I definitely think it’s becoming more talked about in changing rooms,” she said.

“Before, people just thought ‘oh, this is what the country is like’ but over the last year, it has made more of a difference in terms of performance and health being impacted, and that has come up in conversation.

“It is affecting teams in this World Cup, and the T20 World Cup last year was crazy as well. Danni (Wyatt-Hodge) and I batted for 10 overs against Scotland, and we were absolutely exhausted at the end of it, struggling to breathe.

“That was the hottest I’ve played in. And even this summer, we had a game in early May halted due to a crazy hailstorm that was coming into the changing rooms.

“People are realising it is more to do with the type of weather changing. I speak a lot about it to my friends and teammates, saying ‘this is not normal’.”

Bouchier is aware there is no simple solution in a sport involving so much air travel, particularly in an era of franchise tournaments and shorter tours.

Adam Zampa’s decision to jet in from Australia solely for the Men's Hundred final brought cricket’s relationship with the climate back under the microscope over the summer and Bouchier believes players must take a futuristic view.

“It’s a hard one to talk about,” she said. “Franchise cricket is so important to the development of the game and, for women’s cricket specifically, having the ability to play in these tournaments helps make you a better cricketer.

“But there is always a downside to that, and you might have to fly somewhere far away, making a big dent in your (carbon) footprint.

“Singling out individual things is quite hard as we often don’t know the back stories but what’s important is people are doing things for the right reasons.

“As players, we must understand we are part of this eco-system and what we are doing now can only affect the future of the game.

“We want to protect that as much as possible and we need to speak about it more, from the grassroots up, to protect the future generation. The only way we can lengthen the future of cricket is by doing that, so it’s super important.”

Bouchier was speaking to mark the release of MCC’s Carbon Impact Report, which saw Lord’s become the first cricket ground to publish a complete organisational footprint.

The report revealed MCC has decreased its direct greenhouse gas (scope one) emissions by 4.5% and Bouchier welcomed the finding.

“What is so good is that they are using their position within cricket to have those conversations and impact those people who can make that change,” she said.

“Cricket will be impacted by climate change no matter what, so the fact MCC are using their power and voice to make people aware of what is happening is amazing.

“Lord’s is iconic, it is the home of cricket. I grew up down the road; I love the area and there is such a huge fan engagement there.

“It is super important they keep making sure the ground is doing everything it can in a sustainable way and encourage the other grounds to do the same.”

Maia Bouchier was speaking at the launch of MCC’s Carbon Impact Report. For more information, visit lords.org/sustainability