Emeralds, previously known as Super Strikers, 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 captained by various

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 ...

players, including

Claire Taylor Samantha Claire Taylor (born 25 September 1975) is a former cricketer who represented England more than 150 times between 1998 and 2011. A top order batter,In women's cricket, "batsman" is commonly used, alongside "batter". Taylor was the f ...

and Arran Brindle. They were the only Super Fours side to never win a competition.

History

2002–2005: Super Strikers

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

. Super Strikers was one of the teams established, and was captained by

. They finished 4th in the first 50 over tournament that took place, winning 2 out of 6 games. The Super Strikers achieved their best finishes in 2003 and 2005, when they finished 2nd, but overall were the worst-performing Super Fours side.

2006–2013: Emeralds

In 2006 the side was renamed Emeralds, but brought little change in fortunes, as they finished bottom of the 50 over group, and 3rd in the Twenty20 tournament. Emeralds did not find much improvement over subsequent years, failing to finish above 3rd in the 50 over tournament. They did reach the Twenty20 final in the last 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 ...

, but lost to

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 ...

History

2002–2005: Super Strikers

2006–2013: Emeralds

Seasons

Super Fours

Super Fours Twenty20

References