Diamonds, previously known as Knight Riders, were an English women's

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 str ...

team that competed in the

Super Fours The Super Fours was a women's limited overs cricket competition which was played annually in England between 2002 and 2013, with a break in 2009 and 2010. Designed to bring together the leading 48 players in English women's cricket, it originall ...

. The squad varied from season to season, but was made up of some of the top players in English cricket. They were usually captained by

Charlotte Edwards Charlotte Marie Edwards (born 17 December 1979) is an English former cricketer and current cricket coach and commentator. She played primarily as a right-handed batter. She appeared in 23 Test matches, 191 One Day Internationals and 95 Twenty ...

. They won three Super Fours titles in their history: two 50-over tournaments and one

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 inn ...

tournament.

History

2002–2005: Knight Riders

The

was established in 2002 as a way of bridging the gap between women's county cricket and international cricket, bringing together the top players in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. Knight Riders was one of the teams established, and was captained by

. They finished 2nd in the first 50 over tournament that took place, winning 3 out of 6 games. The next season, 2003, Knight Riders won four of their matches on their way to claiming their first Super Fours title. Captain Charlotte Edwards was the leading run-scorer in the competition, with 199 runs, whilst Knight Riders bowler Lucy Pearson was the leading wicket-taker, with 10 wickets. In 2004, Knight Riders finished bottom of their group, and finished 3rd in the newly-established Twenty20 tournament. Charlotte Edwards was again the tournament leading run-scorer, with 386 runs, including 2 centuries. 2005 saw the Knight Riders claim their second 50 over title, winning four games. Edwards was once again the leading run-scorer, with 428 runs.

2006–2012: Diamonds

In 2006 the side was renamed Diamonds and they won their first Twenty20 title, beating

Sapphires Sapphire is a precious gemstone, a variety of the mineral corundum, consisting of aluminium oxide () with trace amounts of elements such as iron, titanium, chromium, vanadium, or magnesium. The name sapphire is derived via the Latin "sapphir ...

by 21 runs in the final. This was to prove to be Diamonds' final title: they finished second in the 50 over in 2007 and

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

, as well as losing in the Twenty20 final in 2008. Diamonds did not compete in the final Super Fours season,

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fa ...

History

2002–2005: Knight Riders

2006–2012: Diamonds

Seasons

Super Fours

Super Fours Twenty20

References