On Sunday 16 August, the MCC Young Female Broadcaster 2026, Rosa Simkin received the ultimate competition prize, taking to the field at Lord’s with the Sky Sports team for their live broadcast coverage at The Hundred Final. 

In their first ever women’s final, Trent Rockets beat SunRisers Leeds by eight wickets. Giving them their first The Hundred victory against the defending champions. In the men’s game a tense finish led to Manchester SuperGiants beating Trent Rockets by five wickets. 

During the innings break for each match, Rosa held flash interviews talking to Georgia Adams from Trent Rockets and Noor Ahmad from Manchester SuperGiants. Rosa also presented some of the bitesize highlight videos for Sky Sports Cricket’s digital channels and made content for Lord's Instagram, giving audiences an insight into her day as part of the Sky team. 

Prior to The Hundred, she visited Sky's headquarters in Osterley for a look at broadcast production from behind the camera. Here, she learned how cricket coverage is directed in studio, experienced various elements of live sport production, got a tour of the Sky Sports News studios and more. She also met Head of Women's Sport at Sky, Jo Osborne, for an invaluable chat about navigating the industry, before having a final preparation session with the cricket production team ahead of the Hundred final.

Now in its third year, the MCC Young Female Broadcaster competition, supported by Sky Sports and leading cricket charity Take Her Lead, aims to increase opportunities for young women aspiring to build a career in sports broadcasting, while uncovering and supporting the next generation of female broadcasting talent in cricket. 
The competition received 50 entries this year - its highest yet. The judging panel, including Sky Sports Director of Cricket & NFL, Bryan Henderson, Take Her Lead founder and broadcaster, Isa Guha, journalist and broadcaster, Alison Mitchell, commentator and broadcaster, Georgie Heath, and MCC Chief Marketing Officer, Katie Maier, were hugely impressed by the standard of the showreel submissions and selected Rosa Simkin as the winner.

Rosa, 18, a journalism student at Cardiff University is from Warwickshire. She first fell in love with cricket at nine, when her sister Mae took her to Edgbaston to watch Warwickshire play.

She has held ECB media accreditation since the age of 16, having launched her platform, Rosa Talks Ball, while still at school. Since then, she has gone on to co-host and produce the weekly Two Tiers Deep podcast with Northamptonshire player Chloe Hill, exploring every level of the women's game, and founded TIERED, the first monthly magazine dedicated to women's county cricket.

Beyond broadcasting with Sky, Rosa has already seen the benefits of the competition and has received opportunities including joining the Take Her Lead team to capture content at their Rookie Programme in partnership with The Hundred teams. Rosa joined Take Her Lead for The Rookie days with Birmingham Phoenix at Edgbaston and Trent Rockets at Trent Bridge, where she had the opportunity to shadow their content teams, interview players and The Rookie, and create content for Take Her Lead’s social channels.

Rosa also featured on the Media Mentor podcast with David Spencer showcasing the competition's power to meaningfully support young women's aspirations in sports media.

2026 represents a huge summer for women’s cricket at Lord’s as the Ground celebrated a record-breaking three weeks as it sold over 100,000 tickets for the matches held during the ICC T20 Women's World Cup and the Rothesay Women’s Test between England and India. Lord’s also set a new world record for a single day attendance at a Women’s Test match when 15,243 watched a captivating second day’s cricket. In total, Lord’s will stage 21 women’s fixtures during 2026, spanning international cricket, domestic competitions and pathway finals. 
Following her day broadcasting at The Hundred Final, Rosa said: “Getting the chance to broadcast live on the field with the Sky Sports team at the Hundred Final was a truly incredible experience and one I won't forget.

This competition with MCC, Sky Sports and Take Her Lead is already opening doors for me, from filming with Take Her Lead behind the scenes at Edgbaston and Trent Bridge and visiting Sky HQ, to media interviews, podcasts, and of course my ultimate prize at Lord’s with the Sky Sports team. I can't wait to see where it takes me next in the broadcasting world!”

Katie Maier, Chief Marketing and Communications Officer said: “We are incredibly proud of our 2026 winner, Rosa, for joining the Sky Sports broadcast team with such confidence, enthusiasm and natural talent. Seeing budding broadcasters like Rosa in action reaffirms why this competition matters so much for young women looking to develop a career in sports broadcasting.”

“This truly has been a landmark year for women's and girls' cricket at Lord’s. We had the honour of staging our first Women’s Test, hosted four memorable Women’s T20 World Cup matches including the Final, we’ve broken multiple records for attendance at women’s matches, significantly expanded our female portrait collection, launched our new London Spirit Women’s team, and introduced family-friendly activities to ensure the experience of attending Lord’s is second to none for everyone who comes through the gates. We will keep pushing boundaries when it comes to providing a platform for women’s and girls’ cricket, including the inaugural Barclays Knight Stokes Cup Final this September and the women’s Ashes in 2027.”

Isa Guha, Founder of Take Her Lead said: "This has been a landmark summer for women's cricket, and as the game continues to grow, it's vital that the number of female voices telling its stories grows with it. We have been delighted to support Rosa by providing opportunities to gain first-hand experience of the work we do at Take Her Lead and the impact being made across the women's and girls' game, while also giving her the chance to shadow content teams from our partners.”      

“Rosa has shown real talent, curiosity and professionalism throughout the programme, and we have no doubt she has an incredibly bright future ahead. We look forward to continuing to support her on her broadcasting journey."

Bryan Henderson MBE, Director of Cricket & NFL at Sky Sports, added: “Sky Sports was once again delighted to be involved in this brilliant initiative, and it was fantastic to see a record 50 entries this year showing just how important this competition is. The legacy over the three years has led to some very talented women establishing themselves in the sports broadcasting world. Rosa is a real talent, and we were proud