New Essex chair Lewis aiming to 'revitalise club'

New Essex chair of the board Rachel Lewis says she has been given an "opportunity to remodel and revitalise the club" after being appointed on Tuesday.

Lewis has become Essex's first-ever female chair in their 150th year as a club, replacing Jason Gallian, who stepped down last week.

She has served as chairwoman of Essex Cricket in the Community (ECIC) for the past three years, having previously represented Great Britain at volleyball at the 2012 London Olympics, and arrives in the role while the club are in the planning stages of redeveloping their home ground at Chelmsford.

"It's super exciting - I'd say it's been a long time coming for me with regards to my professional development but it's been lovely to be able to work for ECIC for the past three years," Lewis told BBC Essex.

"[The club is] in its 150th year and has a fantastic history. We have a fantastic opportunity to completely remodel and revitalise the club.

"That's going to be exciting. That will be the new story rather than being the first female chair."

On the pitch, the club's men's side are sixth in County Championship Division One, winning four of their first eight red-ball games of the season.

The white-ball team reached the quarter-finals of the T20 Blast where they were knocked out by eventual finalists Hampshire Hawks.

Essex have now turned their attention to the One-Day Cup before the resumption of the County Championship season next month.

But it is the progress of the women's side - who finished fifth in the nine-team T20 Blast table this year - and the disability team which Lewis highlighted when fondly looking back at her tenure as chair of ECIC.

She said: "Securing the women's tier-one team, for me, that was something as a club we were incredibly proud of.

"I am a mum of two girls and we go to a local cricket club. Their opportunity may not have been able to happen if they didn't have role models out of this ground.

"I'm also really pleased to see that the disability side is going from strength to strength. The veteran's team is doing well. The number of schools playing as well is on a wonderful curve."

Lewis is Essex's fifth chair in as many years and becomes the third chairwoman of a county side, alongside Dame Sarah Storey at Lancashire and Tracey Orr, who oversees Warwickshire's sides.

"The media attention was coming back to what the board was doing," Lewis said.

"We should be the ones providing the stability. That's what I would like to be able to bring - that consistency. But I need to be there for a number of years to do that. I don't want to see that constant churn.

"It is important this is not a gender appointment. However, at the same time, it would be remiss of me as a female to say that this is not an amazing opportunity."

You can listen to the full interview with Rachel Lewis on Around the Wicket from 18:00 BST on BBC Essex.