Abigail Johanna Freeborn (born 12 November 1996) is an English

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

er who currently plays for

Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation Staffs.) is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. It borders Cheshire to the northwest, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, Warwickshire to the southeast, the West Midlands Cou ...

Central Sparks Central Sparks are a women's cricket team that represent the West Midlands region, one of eight regional hubs in English domestic women's cricket. They play their home matches at Edgbaston and New Road. They are captained by Evelyn Jones and c ...

and

Birmingham Phoenix Birmingham Phoenix are a franchise 100-ball cricket side based in the city of Birmingham. The team represents the historic counties of Warwickshire and Worcestershire in the newly founded The Hundred competition, which began its inaugural se ...

. She plays as a

wicket-keeper The wicket-keeper in the sport of cricket is the player on the fielding side who stands behind the wicket or stumps being watchful of the batsman and ready to take a catch, stump the batsman out and run out a batsman when occasion arises. Th ...

and right-handed

batter Batter or batters may refer to: Common meanings * Batter (cooking), thin dough that can be easily poured into a pan * Batter (baseball), person whose turn it is to face the pitcher * Batter (cricket), a player who is currently batting * Batter ...

. She has previously played for

Sussex Sussex (), from the Old English (), is a historic county in South East England that was formerly an independent medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom. It is bounded to the west by Hampshire, north by Surrey, northeast by Kent, south by the English ...

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a Historic counties of England, historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other Eng ...

and

Leicestershire Leicestershire ( ; postal abbreviation Leics.) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East Midlands, England. The county borders Nottinghamshire to the north, Lincolnshire to the north-east, Rutland to the east, Northamptonshire t ...

, as well as Loughborough Lightning and

Lightning Lightning is a naturally occurring electrostatic discharge during which two electric charge, electrically charged regions, both in the atmosphere or with one on the land, ground, temporarily neutralize themselves, causing the instantaneous ...

in regional cricket and

Trent Rockets Trent Rockets are a franchise 100-ball cricket side based in the city of Nottingham. The team represents the Historic counties of England, historic counties of Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire and Leicestershire in the newly founded The Hundred (cri ...

in The Hundred.

Early life

Freeborn was born on 12 November 1996 in

Eastbourne Eastbourne () is a town and seaside resort in East Sussex, on the south coast of England, east of Brighton and south of London. Eastbourne is immediately east of Beachy Head, the highest chalk sea cliff in Great Britain and part of the la ...

East Sussex East Sussex is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England on the English Channel coast. It is bordered by Kent to the north and east, West Sussex to the west, and Surrey to the north-west. The largest settlement in East Su ...

. She attended

Loughborough University Loughborough University (abbreviated as ''Lough'' or ''Lboro'' for post-nominals) is a public research university in the market town of Loughborough, Leicestershire, England. It has been a university since 1966, but it dates back to 1909, when L ...

Domestic career

Freeborn made her county debut in 2013, for

in a match against

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...

. She kept wicket and made one stumping, but did not bat. She soon became a regular for Sussex, and she was a part of their

2013 Women's County Championship The 2013 Women's County One-Day Championship was the 17th cricket Women's County Championship season. It ran from April to September and saw 33 county teams and teams representing Ireland, Scotland, Wales and the Netherlands compete in a series o ...

and

2015 Women's Twenty20 Cup The 2015 Women's Twenty20 Cup, known for sponsorship reasons as the 2015 NatWest Women's Twenty20 Cup, was the 7th cricket Women's Twenty20 Cup tournament. It took place between June and August, with 38 teams taking part: 34 county teams, alongsi ...

title victories. Freeborn joined

on loan for the 2019 season. She achieved her

List A List A cricket is a classification of the limited-overs (one-day) form of the sport of cricket, with games lasting up to eight hours. List A cricket includes One Day International (ODI) matches and various domestic competitions in which the numbe ...

high score of 58 that season, off just 40 deliveries against

. In 2021, it was announced that she has joined

, but she did not play for them that season. She joined

ahead of the 2022 season. She scored 83 runs at an average of 20.75 in six matches for the side in the

2022 Women's Twenty20 Cup The 2022 Women's Twenty20 Cup, known for sponsorship reasons as the 2022 Vitality Women's County T20, was the 13th edition of the Women's Twenty20 Cup, an English women's cricket Twenty20 domestic competition. It took place in April and May 202 ...

. Freeborn was also part of Loughborough Lightning's squad in the

Women's Cricket Super League The Women's Cricket Super League (WCSL), known as the Kia Super League (KSL) for sponsorship reasons, was a semi-professional women's Twenty20 cricket competition in England and Wales operated by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB). The comp ...

from 2017 to 2019. She was part of the side that reached the semi-final in

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

, and had a high score of 16 * in a victory over

Lancashire Thunder Lancashire Thunder were an English women's Twenty20 cricket team based in Manchester, Lancashire that competed in England’s women's Twenty20 competition, the Women's Cricket Super League. Thunder played their home matches at Old Trafford and va ...

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

. In 2020, Freeborn played for

in the

Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy The Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy is an English women's cricket domestic competition, named after former England captain Rachael Heyhoe Flint, Baroness Heyhoe-Flint, who died in 2017. The first edition of the tournament took place during August ...

. She scored 167 runs at an average of 33.40 in five matches, with a top score of 40 in a victory over

. In December 2020, it was announced that Freeborn was one of the 41 female cricketers that had signed a full-time domestic contract. In 2021, she scored 105 runs at an average of 15.00 in the

, as well as being ever-present for the

in The Hundred. Her best performances came in the

Charlotte Edwards Cup The Charlotte Edwards Cup, initially named the Women's Regional T20, is an English women's cricket Twenty20 domestic competition organised by the England and Wales Cricket Board. The first edition of the tournament took place in 2021. The tourn ...

, where she was Lightning's leading run-scorer, with 161 runs. She made her

Twenty20 Twenty20 (T20) is a shortened game format of cricket. At the professional level, it was introduced by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) in 2003 for the inter-county competition. In a Twenty20 game, the two teams have a single innin ...

high score of 61 in a match against

South East Stars South East Stars are a women's cricket team that represent the London & South East region, one of eight regional hubs in English domestic women's cricket. They play their home matches at various grounds, including the County Cricket Ground, Beck ...

, as well as becoming the first wicketkeeper in the tournament to make four dismissals in an innings, all stumpings, in the same match. At the end of the season it was announced that Freeborn had moved to

, and signed a professional contract with her new side. She scored 163 runs in the

2022 Charlotte Edwards Cup The 2022 Charlotte Edwards Cup was the second edition of the Charlotte Edwards Cup, an English women's cricket Women's Twenty20, Twenty20 domestic competition, which took place between 14 May and 11 June 2022. It featured eight teams playing in ...

, including 52 made against

Western Storm Western Storm are a women's cricket team representing South West England and Wales, one of eight regional hubs in English domestic cricket. They play their home matches at the County Ground, Taunton, the County Ground, Bristol and Sophia Gardens ...

. She was also Central Sparks' leading run-scorer in the

2022 Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy The 2022 Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy was the third edition of the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy, an English women's cricket 50-over domestic competition, which took place between 2 July and 25 September 2022. It featured eight teams playing in ...

, with 227 at an average of 45.40. She made what was at the time her

high score against

North West Thunder North West Thunder, commonly referred to as Thunder, are a women's cricket team that represent Lancashire and North West England, one of eight regional hubs in English domestic women's cricket. They play their home matches at various grounds, i ...

, scoring 72 from 72 deliveries. She also played seven matches for Trent Rockets in The Hundred, and scored 45 * in her side's victory over Manchester Originals. In 2023, she played 20 matches for Central Sparks, across the

and the

, and scored her maiden List A century, with 107 * against Sunrisers. She also moved to

in The Hundred, playing seven matches and scoring 43 runs.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Freeborn, Abigail 1996 births Living people Sportspeople from Eastbourne Sussex women cricketers Yorkshire women cricketers Leicestershire women cricketers Staffordshire women cricketers Loughborough Lightning cricketers The Blaze women's cricketers Central Sparks cricketers Trent Rockets cricketers Cricketers from East Sussex Birmingham Phoenix cricketers