Women’s freedom has become an important social issue in the present day world. It runs deep into every single event around us and it has penetrated the barrier in which women were restricted to household activities and rearing child.

Time changes all such trends as it goes on and it is a common reality that we encounter in the current society. Sri Lanka being an Asian country gave rise to some sort of women’s emancipation in the recent past. We are now a country with a women’s cricket team and it is in safe hand to progress in the future as it is under the wings of the Sri Lanka Cricket Board.

The history of women's cricket can be traced back to one report appeared in ‘The Reading Mercury’ on July 26, 1745 on a match that took place between the villages of Bramley and Hambledon near Guildford in Surrey.

The Mercury reported: "The greatest cricket match that was played in this part of England was on Friday, the 26th of last month, on Gosden Common, near Guildford, between eleven maids of Bramley and eleven maids of Hambledon, all dressed in white. The Bramley maids had blue ribbons and the Hambledon maids red ribbons on their heads. The Bramley girls got 119 notches and the Hambledon girls 127. There was of both sexes the greatest number that ever was seen on such an occasion. The girls bowled, batted, ran and caught as well as most men could do in that game."

The Women's Cricket Association was founded in 1926. The International Women's Cricket Council was formed in 1958 to coordinate women's cricket which was now being played regularly in Australia, England, New Zealand, South Africa, the West Indies, Denmark and the Netherlands.

Test cricket is now being played by Australia, England, India, Ireland, Netherlands, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka and the West Indies. 131 women's Test matches have been played to date, the majority featuring England or Australia. Originally these were three-day matches, but since 1985, most have been played over four days.

One-Day International cricket has been played by Australia, Denmark, England, India, Ireland, Japan, Netherlands, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland, South Africa, Sri Lanka and the West Indies while Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago and International XIs have played in World Cups.

"Culture refers to the ways of life of the members of a society, or of groups within a society. It includes how they dress, their marriages, customs and family life, their patterns of work, religious ceremonies and leisure pursuits. A society is a system of interrelationships which connects individuals together. All societies are united by the fact that their members are organised in structured social relationships according to a unique culture. No cultures could exist without societies. But equally, no society could exist without culture. Without culture, we would not be ‘human’ at all………" - Anthony Giddens (Anthony Giddens is a British sociologist who is renowned for his ‘theory of structuration’ and his holistic view of modern societies) in his book ‘Sociology’ Chap. 2 suggested what culture is and there he says culture consists of norms and values of a society.

The women participation in sports must be admired and encouraged but the problem occurs when social values are concerned. Especially in the context of Sri Lankan culture, a prime value that is expected from a woman is her ability to rear children.

When women are geared towards sports, particularly for cricket, team members or the women players have to forgo their personal and family commitments in view of achieving the most in their careers.

Countries like England, Australia and the so called western countries pay no attention on these cultural aspects with regard to women in sports in Asia, since their culture is vastly different from that of the Asians and their values too are vastly different from ours.

Motherhood in the context of Sri Lankan culture is the most treasured and admired status. One could achieve many gold medals and other career feats in a spectacular manner but the reality props up when a woman wants to be a mother; the noblest achievement of the life of a women. It is considered difficult for women to strike a balance between their family commitments and their sports performances.

Asian sprint queen, Susanthika Jayasinghe, the only female Olympic medalist here, once told ‘Sunday Island – Sportstar’ speaking on her retirement from athletics: "I am retiring mainly because I like to have a child. I have no other reason (for that) and this was a decision taken long ago." She said so when inquired as to what made her to retire somewhat unexpectedly.

It is reported that her career achievements so far is only secondary to his new born child son. In a society that has cultural values like what we find here, can women cricketers in Sri Lanka break strong social restraints to make Sri Lanka cricket proud one day?