Batting with the boys

The wicketkeeper of the England women's cricket team is set to play for a county side, the first time a woman has played in the professional men's game. Sarah Taylor is in talks with Sussex CCC to become the back-up wicketkeeper for the county's Second XI this summer.

Cricket is one of those games where the division between men and women has never made much sense. Apart from adjusting to the faster bowling, there shouldn't really be any problem as far as I can see.  In fact, apart from full contact sports such as rugby and American football and others like swimming and athletics where body size is a factor, it's hard to see women not being able to compete alongside men at top level given the right coaching and support. Someone once told me that any male tennis player in the top 100 could easily beat the top woman but I'm not sure how true that is.