Elspeth Marinha Compton Fowler (born 14 August 1992) is an English-born

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 resident in

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

, who plays for the Spanish women's national cricket team as a 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 ...

. In May 2022, she captained Spain in its debut

Women's Twenty20 International Women's Twenty20 International (WT20I) is the shortest form of women's international cricket. A women's Twenty20 International is a 20 overs-per-side cricket match between two of the International Cricket Council (ICC) members. The first Twent ...

(WT20I) against

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

Early life and education

Born at

Northampton Northampton () is a market town and civil parish in the East Midlands of England, on the River Nene, north-west of London and south-east of Birmingham. The county town of Northamptonshire, Northampton is one of the largest towns in England; ...

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 ...

, she was raised at

Chesham Chesham (, , or ) is a market town and civil parish in Buckinghamshire Buckinghamshire (), abbreviated Bucks, is a ceremonial county in South East England that borders Greater London to the south-east, Berkshire to the south, Oxfordsh ...

Buckinghamshire Buckinghamshire (), abbreviated Bucks, is a ceremonial county in South East England that borders Greater London to the south-east, Berkshire to the south, Oxfordshire to the west, Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-ea ...

. At the age of 8, she first attended Sunday morning sessions at her local cricket club, where she was enthused by the coaches. From 2003 until 2010, Fowler attended Chesham High School (''now'' Chesham Grammar School). In 2005, she played for Buckinghamshire Girls Under-13 team, and then from 2006 through 2008 she progressed through the County Girls Under-17 and Under-19 teams. In 2010, Fowler went up to

Pembroke College, Cambridge Pembroke College (officially "The Master, Fellows and Scholars of the College or Hall of Valence-Mary") is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England. The college is the third-oldest college of the university and has over 700 ...

, where she read Modern and Medieval Languages, graduating in 2014 as BA (proceeding MA). Fowler played for the

Cambridge University Cricket Club Cambridge University Cricket Club, first recorded in 1817, is the representative cricket club for students of the University of Cambridge. Depending on the circumstances of each individual match, the club has always been recognised as holding ...

, being awarded

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

half blue A blue is an award of sporting colours earned by athletes at some universities and schools for competition at the highest level. The awarding of blues began at Oxford and Cambridge universities in England. They are now awarded at a number of other ...

s in 2011, 2012 and 2014; she also represented her college at basketball and played in the Cambridge Philharmonic Orchestra and Philharmonia.

Domestic career

In 2010, Fowler was selected to play for Buckinghamshire CCC 1st XI. In 2016, she played two

Women's Twenty20 Cup The Women's Twenty20 Cup, known for sponsorship reasons as the Vitality Women's County T20, is a women's Twenty20 cricket competition organised by the England and Wales Cricket Board. Until the end of the 2019 season, teams were organised in tie ...

matches for

Cambridgeshire CCC Cambridgeshire County Cricket Club is one of twenty minor county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Cambridgeshire including the Isle of Ely. The original Cambridgeshire clu ...

. Since 2019, she has played for the La Manga Torrevieja Cricket Club, in the

region In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and the interaction of humanity and t ...

Murcia Murcia (, , ) is a city in south-eastern Spain, the capital and most populous city of the autonomous community of the Region of Murcia, and the seventh largest city in the country. It has a population of 460,349 inhabitants in 2021 (about one ...

, southeastern Spain. In November 2019, while touring with the LMTCC men's team in

Cártama Cártama is a town and municipality in the province of Málaga, part of the autonomous community of Andalusia, southern Spain. The municipality is situated approximately from Málaga. It is one of the most extensive towns in the province, coverin ...

, she helped bowl the team to victory in a weekend tournament. In 2020, Fowler was appointed Director of Women's Cricket for

Cricket Spain Cricket Spain ( es, Cricket España) is the official Sport governing body, governing body of the sport of cricket in Spain. Its current headquarters is located in Alicante, Spain. Cricket Spain is the country's representative at the International ...

, in which capacity she is involved in training women cricketers. In July 2021, she made her captaincy debut, at the helm of LMTCC's Development XI, in a 40-over match against Torre-Pacheco CC at the

La Manga Club Ground La Manga Club is a sports and leisure resort located in the south-eastern region of Spain, Murcia, south of La Manga, and bordered by the Mar Menor and Calblanque Regional Park. The resort complex opened in 1972 and covers an area of 1,400 a ...

. Also in 2021, she played for Team White in Cricket Catalonia's Women's T10 tournament.

International career

On 5 May 2022, Fowler made her WT20I debut for, and also captained, Spain against

in the first match of the 2022 France Women's T20I Quadrangular Series, held at Dreux Sport Cricket Club,

Dreux Dreux () is a commune in the Eure-et-Loir department in northern France. Geography Dreux lies on the small river Blaise, a tributary of the Eure, about 35 km north of Chartres. Dreux station has rail connections to Argentan, Paris and Granvi ...

, France. The match was also Spain's first ever WT20I, and Fowler top-scored hitting 26 runs off 36 balls. The following day, 6 May 2022, against

Jersey Jersey ( , ; nrf, Jèrri, label=Jèrriais ), officially the Bailiwick of Jersey (french: Bailliage de Jersey, links=no; Jèrriais: ), is an island country and self-governing Crown Dependencies, Crown Dependency near the coast of north-west F ...

, Fowler scored 29 runs off 46 balls. She did even better in a second match against Austria on 7 May 2022, with 44 in 50 balls, and in Spain's final match of the tournament, against

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

on 8 May 2022, with 42 * in 58 balls. She finished the tournament as the leading run-scorer, with 141 runs, and with a WT20I batting average of 47.00. The Spanish team did not win any matches but, according to Cricket Spain's website, "... took positives from all the four games they played in."

Off the field

Since 2016, Fowler works in

as an account manager for G's Group,www.gs-fresh.com
/ref> a fresh produce business headquartered in

East Anglia East Anglia is an area in the East of England, often defined as including the counties of Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire. The name derives from the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of the East Angles, a people whose name originated in Anglia, in ...

. Fowler's cricketing nickname,

Hermione Granger Hermione Jean Granger ( ) is a fictional character in J. K. Rowling's '' Harry Potter'' series. She first appears in the novel ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'' (1997), as a new student on her way to Hogwarts. After Harry and Ron ...

, came courtesy of her then-new teammates at La Manga Torrevieja in 2019. While on cricket tours, she is accompanied by her mascot, a

stuffed toy A stuffed toy is a toy doll with an outer fabric sewn from a textile and stuffed with flexible material. They are known by many names, such as plush toys, plushies, stuffed animals, and stuffies; in Britain and Australia, they may also be cal ...

monkey Monkey is a common name that may refer to most mammals of the infraorder Simiiformes, also known as the simians. Traditionally, all animals in the group now known as simians are counted as monkeys except the apes, which constitutes an incomple ...

named ''Crookshanks''.

References

External links