Maiden over for crusading Baroness Heyhoe Flint

Wolves vice-president Baroness Rachael Heyhoe Flint of Wolverhampton swapped her seats at Molineux and Lord's Cricket Ground for the terraces of the House of Lords to deliver her maiden speech.

And the former England women's captain wasted no time getting down to business, championing the cause, image and profile of women in the world of sport and leisure.

Raising the challenges women face in gaining acceptance and recognition in the fields in terms of participation, funding, media coverage or representation at board level, Lady Heyhoe Flint light-heartedly cited her own battles to be given the chance to bat at the crease.

She said: "My challenges in sport began with garden cricket aged seven with my brother and his friends.

"I wasn't allowed to bat for three years because girls don't play cricket. When I did eventually get to bat, the boys couldn't get me out for three days, so in the middle of June they decided it was the football season.

"So the challenges were out there for me from an early age and the challenges are out there nowadays for most young girls who want to get involved."

The 71-year-old, who is Wolverhampton-born and bred and lives in Tettenhall, was speaking yesterday in a debate calling attention to the global and domestic challenges for women in the centenary year of International Women's Day.

She paid tribute to Wolves' former owner Sir Jack Hayward who, while sponsoring the England women's cricket team for five years, boosted the profile of women in the game.And she cited the England & Wales Cricket Board as "a shining example" of a national governing body which recognises females in sport, where two women, including herself, sit on the board out of its 10 non-executive members.

Speaking of familiarising herself with her new historic surroundings, she joked she knew the doorkeepers in the Lords by the football teams they support, but declared: "Sadly no doorkeepers are Wolves fans."

But she said he was not without friends on the floor of the House and paid tribute to Lord Speaker Baroness Hayman, another former Wolverhampton Girls High School pupil and no stranger to the Molineux terraces, and Baroness Perry of Southwark.

"'What a very strong batting line-up', you might say," she enthused.