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Last Updated:June 25, 2025, 19:05 IST

In a sport where the surface can dictate the outcome, one woman’s quiet revolution beneath the feet of players is making headlines across the UK: 28-year-old Jasmine Nicholls

At a time when Test cricket continues to be one of the most demanding formats of the game, spanning five days, 15 sessions, and countless momentum shifts, much of the credit for the contest goes not just to batters and bowlers, but to the curators who prepare the pitch. In a sport where the surface can dictate the outcome, one woman’s quiet revolution beneath the feet of players is making headlines across the UK: 28-year-old Jasmine Nicholls, the first female pitch curator at Headingley.

Walking into the iconic Yorkshire ground, one might expect the familiar sight of seasoned groundsmen. But among them is Jasmine, working shoulder to shoulder with head groundsman Richard Robinson and his team, a sight that is gradually becoming both familiar and inspirational. With the recent India vs England Test grabbing attention for its high-scoring drama and sporting surface, much of the post-match praise has been reserved for Jasmine and her team.

Over the course of the five-day match at Headingley, 1671 runs were scored and 35 wickets fell – a testament to a balanced pitch that rewarded both skillful batting and disciplined bowling. India posted 471 and 364 in their two innings, while England chased down the target with scores of 464 and 373, clinching a memorable victory. The fact that the match produced such a competitive contest without uneven bounce or blatant pitch assistance was not lost on cricket analysts and fans, and the name at the centre of it all was Jasmine Nicholls.

Jasmine’s path to Headingley was far from conventional. A former event manager from Leicester, she had no prior background in ground maintenance. Her early brush with cricket came through organising events during county matches. However, when the Covid-19 pandemic brought event management to a halt, an unexpected opportunity came her way.

Richard Robinson, impressed with her work ethic, invited her to join the ground staff. “I was completely unaware of the technicalities of this job,” Jasmine admits, “but I learned from those working on smaller club grounds and slowly grasped the intricacies of pitch preparation.”

Today, Jasmine is not only a respected figure in Yorkshire’s cricketing circles but also a symbol of change in a male-dominated profession. Before Headingley, she was part of the ground staff that prepared pitches for the Women’s Ashes at Edgbaston, another experience that deepened her understanding of crafting surfaces for long-format games.

“It was at Edgbaston that I truly understood what a five-day pitch demands; how to read the weather, how much grass to leave, how to balance bounce and turn,” she says.

While England is seeing a gradual rise in the number of women entering ground management, India lags far behind. At present, there is only one known woman associated with pitch curation in Bengaluru.

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