A Cricket enthusiast was turned down for a top job in the sport because she was a woman, a tribunal was told.

Maria Grant (pictured), 45, of Revidge, Blackburn, is claiming sexual discrimination by the board which runs Lancashire County Cricket club after she failed to make the short-list for the position of assistant secretary and development co-ordinator.

The tribunal hearing, which began in Manchester yesterday, was told that Miss Grant had been executive director of the Women's Cricket Association and a major force behind the development of women's cricket in the North West for many years.

She told the hearing: "I have been involved in cricket for around 40 years, initially as a player and then for over 15 years in all aspects of the game and at all levels."

Miss Grant applied for the £24,000-a-year job after hearing about it from a male colleague in July 1999. She thought that if anything she may be seen as over-qualified but applied anyway as it could have helped her achieve her ultimate goal of becoming the first female chief executive of a county cricket club.

She said: "I was astonished to find out I was not on the short-list and immediately suspected something had gone very wrong or that I had made some error in my application." When she discovered she was not one of the eight out of the 30 candidates to be given a chance of an interview Miss Grant wrote to the Lancashire Cricket Board secretary David Edmundson for feedback on her application.

She added: "I realise that I have a reputation as a forthright campaigner for women in cricket and when I read Mr Edmundson's letter I began to suspect that my application had been rejected because I was regarded as unacceptable to the traditional elements who found it hard to accept that men's cricket could ever be properly administered by a woman."

Last November Miss Grant sought advice from the Equal Opportunities Commission and pursued her sex discrimination complaint. One of the cornerstones of her claim is that she was told that she was not a suitable candidate because she lacked knowledge of men's cricket.

She said: "I regard the rejection of my application because of lack of knowledge of men's cricket to be direct sex discrimination."

The tribunal was adjourned until tomorrow.