{"id":870649,"date":"2026-08-27T20:40:22","date_gmt":"2026-08-27T20:40:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/870649\/"},"modified":"2026-08-27T20:40:22","modified_gmt":"2026-08-27T20:40:22","slug":"the-teenage-sisters-redesigning-cricket-kit-for-girls-and-taking-their-idea-to-dragons-den","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/870649\/","title":{"rendered":"The teenage sisters redesigning cricket kit for girls \u2013 and taking their idea to Dragons\u2019 Den"},"content":{"rendered":"

There\u2019s nothing quite like the palpable buzz of being on a cricket field, 18-year-old Honor Black tells Women\u2019s Health \u2013 getting swept up in the celebrations (or commiserations) of your teammates.<\/p>\n

\u2018The clapping, the screaming, and when someone gets a bowl or a catch or a wicket, the uproar and the running in and high fives.\u2019<\/p>\n

Her younger sister, 17-year-old Cat, feels the same, pointing to the unique and rewarding \u2018sisterhood around [women\u2019s cricket]\u2019.<\/p>\n

But like so many other girls and women, the sisters both reached a \u2018breaking point\u2019 far too early in their sporting journeys.<\/p>\n

A lack of girls\u2019 teams and female coaches, kit designed primarily for male bodies and a general lack of understanding around periods and how girls’ bodies change left Honor and Cat feeling frustrated and unmotivated. It\u2019s for these reasons that they refer to the ages of 14 to 16 as the \u2018struggle zone\u2019.<\/p>\n

Indeed, Women in Sport research<\/a> found that 43% of teenage girls who previously considered themselves sporty had disengaged from sport after primary school.<\/p>\n

\u2018I remember I got my period one time during a match and had to run off and literally all the boys were like, \u201cYou can’t just run off mid-match,\u201d and even the coach was like, \u201cWhat are you doing?\u201d And I just thought, you don’t get it at all. I’m playing a sport where no one understands how I’m feeling,\u2019 recalls Cat.<\/p>\n

\u2018I mean, it toughened us up a little bit, but I think it put a bit of a dampener on our cricket experience. Not being able to have our own girls\u2019 team \u2013 and beyond that, not being able to have kit in which we felt confident \u2013 made us reach the point of feeling like we just don’t even enjoy this anymore,\u2019 adds Honor.<\/p>\n

How frustration with (a lack of) women’s cricket kit sparked an idea<\/p>\n

Those feelings culminated at the dinner table one Friday evening after school, when Honor and Cat told their dad, a businessman, that they were ready to throw in the towel.<\/p>\n

His response? \u2018You could try and see if you can create a solution to this problem\u2026\u2019<\/p>\n

And create a solution they did \u2013 one not just for themselves, but for countless other female cricket players, too.<\/p>\n

\u2018For the next two weeks or so, Cat and I would come back from school and we’d sit in our room and brainstorm like you do at school,\u2019 recalls Honor.<\/p>\n

\u2018We looked at different school PE kits, and what we knew we already liked fashion-wise \u2013 because if you’re going to make something appealing to girls and women, you’ve got to make it fashionable at the same time \u2013 and came back to our dad and showed him our rough designs.\u2019<\/p>\n

Working with a designer to perfect them, the sisters then visited a factory in Portugal to explore fabrics. What had begun as a passion project at home was quickly becoming something with much bigger potential: Maiden Cricket<\/a> was officially underway.<\/p>\n

\"maidenJames North<\/p>\n

From mood board to reality: Honor and Cat choosing the all-important fabric<\/p>\n

Designing cricket kit specifically for girls and women<\/p>\n

Quality wasn’t their only priority. Honor says the sisters wanted to think \u2018outside of the box \u2013 why can’t professional cricketers be wearing navy trousers? Because at Wimbledon the women are now allowed to wear navy\u2019.<\/p>\n

The design features of each product have been carefully considered. Their Navy Training Trousers<\/a>, for example, are adjustable with poppers \u2018because girls grow at such different rates\u2019, while built-in shorts offer extra coverage and comfort.<\/p>\n

And the all-important White Test Match Trousers<\/a>? They feature the same built-in shorts \u2013 and, crucially, aren’t see-through.<\/p>\n

\"maidenJames North<\/p>\n

Kitted out: Maiden Cricket attire in action<\/p>\n

Put simply, it\u2019s about giving girls and women more choice, flexibility and comfort.<\/p>\n

\u2018All of the small details that it wouldn’t have taken a genius to think of,\u2019 says Honor.<\/p>\n

Hearing from girls and women who say they not only feel more comfortable but are playing better, too, has shown the sisters just how much demand there is for what they’ve created.<\/p>\n

Taking Maiden Cricket into the Dragons’ Den<\/p>\n

And that\u2019s how Honor and Cat wound up pitching their business to the infamous Dragons.<\/p>\n

\u2018It\u2019s the most nerve-wracking thing we’ve ever done in our whole entire lives,\u2019 says Honor.<\/p>\n

\u2018When I heard that we might be going on Dragons\u2019 Den, I was so nervous, but so excited,\u2019 adds Cat, who was midway through her GCSEs at the time.<\/p>\n

For Cat, appearing on the show also represents just how far she’s come personally.<\/p>\n

\u2018Social anxiety really got the better of me when I was younger, I was so shy, but Maiden [and cricket] have really helped with that,\u2019 she says.<\/p>\n

\"maidenBBC Studios<\/p>\n

To the Den: Honor and Cat pitching Maiden Cricket to the Dragons<\/p>\n

What it’s like starting a business with your sister<\/p>\n

So, what\u2019s it like working so closely with your sibling?<\/p>\n

\u2018Having a sister as a partner and co-founder is the best thing,\u2019 says Cat.<\/p>\n

\u2018I think we balance it quite nicely \u2013 we try to alternate on things,\u2019 agrees Honor, with both sisters pointing to how effectively they’ve tag-teamed running the business while completing GCSEs and A Levels.<\/p>\n

As for life outside the business? They’re still typical siblings.<\/p>\n

The latest in a long line of dramatic but short-lived disagreements? An argument over the speaker. \u2018Speaker wars,\u2019 in fact.<\/p>\n

But when the sisters entered that iconic Dragons\u2019 Den lift, it was straight into business mode.<\/p>\n

You can catch Honor and Cat on Dragons\u2019 Den tonight at 8pm on BBC One.<\/p>\n

\"Headshot<\/p>\n

Hannah Bradfield is a Senior Health and Fitness Writer for Women\u2019s Health UK. An NCTJ-accredited journalist, Hannah graduated from Loughborough University with a BA in English and Sport Science and an MA in Media and Cultural Analysis. \u00a0She has been covering sports, health and fitness for the last five years and has created content for outlets including BBC Sport, BBC Sounds, Runner\u2019s World and Stylist. She especially enjoys interviewing those working within the community to improve access to sport, exercise and wellness. Hannah is a 2024 John Schofield Trust Fellow and was also named a 2022 Rising Star in Journalism by The Printing Charity. \u00a0A keen runner, Hannah was firmly a sprinter growing up (also dabbling in long jump) but has since transitioned to longer-distance running. While 10K is her favoured race distance, she loves running or volunteering at parkrun every Saturday, followed, of course, by pastries. She\u2019s always looking for fun new runs and races to do and brunch spots to try.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There\u2019s nothing quite like the palpable buzz of being on a cricket field, 18-year-old Honor Black tells Women\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":870650,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[564],"tags":[64,63,295007,428,439210,740,430,308081,429,439209,366213,85],"class_list":["post-870649","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cricket","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-collection-women-in-sport","tag-content-type-news","tag-contentid-a78b9d92-7f06-41c4-a4d1-741eb8d9e8ea","tag-cricket","tag-displaytype-standard-article","tag-issyndicated-false","tag-locale-gb","tag-shorttitle-the-teenage-sisters-redesigning-cricket-for-girls","tag-sponsored-false","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/870649","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=870649"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/870649\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/870650"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=870649"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=870649"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=870649"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}