Somerset Women cricket team

History

1953–1999: Early History

Somerset Women first formed in 1953, and played their first recorded match on 6 June that year, against Gloucestershire A. After this, Somerset played various one-off games, whilst West of England Women, which included Somerset, played in the Women's Area Championship from 1980 until 1996 and the Women's County Championship from 1997 until 1999.{{cite web |url= https://cricketarchive.com/cgi-bin/scorecard_oracle_reveals_results.cgi |title=West Women Scorecards |website=Cricket Archive |accessdate=23 December 2020}}

2000– : Women's County Championship

Somerset replaced West of England Women in the County Championship in 2000, and finished 3rd in Division 2 in their first season. Somerset remained in the second division until 2005, when they were promoted. This then began a period in which Somerset bounced between the two divisions, being promoted in 2008, 2011, 2015 and 2017 and relegated in 2006, 2010, 2012, 2016 and 2018. Somerset also missed out on promotion in play-offs in 2013 and 2014, with the game being abandoned in 2013 and losing to Warwickshire Women in 2014.{{cite web |url= https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/554/554003.html|title=Essex Women v Somerset Women, 15th September 2013|website=Cricket Archive |accessdate=23 December 2020}}{{cite web |url= https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/602/602162.html|title=Warwickshire Women v Somerset Women, 14th September 2014|website=Cricket Archive |accessdate=23 December 2020}} In 2019, Somerset finished second-bottom of Division 2.

Somerset have fared similarly in the Women's Twenty20 Cup, for example winning promotion to Division 1 in 2014 and 2016 before being relegated in the following seasons. In 2019, Somerset won Division 2 with 6 victories from 8 games. Following the 2019 season, women's cricket in England was restructured and the 2020 season was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2021, only the Twenty20 Cup took place, with Somerset competing in the West Midlands Group. They won their regional division, winning 5 of their 8 matches. Somerset bowler Lorraine Szczepanski was the second-highest wicket-taker in the tournament, with 13 wickets, and batters Georgia Hennessy and Sophie Luff were the 2nd and 4th leading run-scorers, respectively. They finished second in their group in the 2022 Women's Twenty20 Cup and subsequently progressed to the group final, where they lost to Warwickshire. In the 2023 Women's Twenty20 Cup, all of the side's group stage matches were rained-off, but they beat Devon and Wales on the group Finals Day to win their group. They also played various 50-over friendlies against other sides in the South West. In 2024, the side finished 2nd in their group in the Twenty20 Cup and 5th in their group in the new ECB Women's County One-Day tournament.

Somerset have had various notable players appear for them over the years, most prominently the former England players Anya Shrubsole and Fran Wilson.

Players

Current squad

• No. denotes the player's squad number, as worn on the back of their shirt.
• denotes players with international caps.

Notable players

Players who have played for Somerset and played internationally are listed below, in order of first international appearance (given in brackets):

• ENG Audrey Disbury (1957)
• ENG Janet Godman (1991)
• ENG Sarah Collyer (1998)
• ENG Katharine Winks (1998)
• ENG Laura Harper (1999)
• ENG Jackie Hawker (1999)
• ENG Hannah Lloyd (1999)
• ENG Kath Wilkins (1999)
• ENG Caroline Atkins (2001)
• Netherlands Isabelle Westbury (2005)
• ENG Steph Davies (2008)
• ENG Anya Shrubsole (2008)
• ENG Heather Knight (2010)
• ENG Fran Wilson (2010)
• RSA Lizelle Lee (2013)
• AUS Amanda-Jade Wellington (2016)
• ENG Charlie Dean (2021)
• ENG Lauren Filer (2023)

Seasons

Women's County Championship

Women's Twenty20 Cup

ECB Women's County One-Day

Honours

• County Championship:
  • Division Two champions (4) – 2004, 2005, 2013 & 2015
• Women's Twenty20 Cup:
  • Division Two champions (2) – 2009, 2016 & 2019
  • Group winners (2) – 2021 & 2023

References

References

1. "Somerset Women". [[Somerset Cricket Board]].
2. "ECB Women's County Championship".
3. "Women's County T20 West Midlands Group - 2021".
4. "About Us".
5. (3 August 2023). "Somerset Women". Somerset Cricket Museum.
6. "ECB Women's County Championship Division 2 2019".
7. "ECB Women's County Championship".
8. "ECB Women's County Championship Fixtures".
9. "Statistics/Bowling/Standard". ECB Women's County Championship.
10. "Statistics/Batting/Standard". ECB Women's County Championship.
11. "Women's County T20 Group 3 - 2022".
12. "ECB Women's County Championship/Women's County T20 Group 8 - 2023". Play-Cricket.
13. (3 September 2023). "Somerset Women Season Review". Somerset County Cricket Club.
14. "Vitality Women's County T20 2024".
15. "Vitality Women's County Championship 2024".
16. "Somerset Women players".
17. "Somerset Women Players". CricketArchive.
18. "ECB Women's County Championship".
19. "ECB Women's County Championship".
20. "ECB Women's County Championship".