Freya Ruth Davies (born 27 October 1995) 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 plays 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 ...

Southern Vipers The Southern Vipers are a women's cricket team that represent the South of England. The Vipers wear an orange and black kit and play their home matches at the Ageas Bowl and the County Cricket Ground, Hove. They are currently coached by former ...

Welsh Fire Welsh Fire ( cy, Tân Cymreig) are a franchise 100-ball cricket side based in the city of Cardiff. The team represents the Historic counties of England, historic counties of Glamorgan, Gloucestershire and Somerset in the newly founded competiti ...

and

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 ...

as a right-arm

fast-medium bowler Fast bowling (also referred to as pace bowling) is one of two main approaches to bowling in the sport of cricket, the other being spin bowling. Practitioners of pace bowling are usually known as ''fast'' bowlers, ''quicks'', or ''pacemen''. T ...

. She made her Sussex debut in 2010 at the age of fourteen, and played her first match for England in 2019.

Early life

Davies was born on 27 October 1995 in

Chichester Chichester () is a cathedral city and civil parish in West Sussex, England.OS Explorer map 120: Chichester, South Harting and Selsey Scale: 1:25 000. Publisher:Ordnance Survey – Southampton B2 edition. Publishing Date:2009. It is the only ci ...

West Sussex West Sussex is a county in South East England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the shire districts of Adur, Arun, Chichester, Horsham, and Mid Sussex, and the boroughs of Crawley and Worthing. Covering an ar ...

. When Davies was a young child, her father, and her older brother Jack, both played for the family's local cricket club, Chichester. At the age of 8, Davies decided to join in, and played her first hard-ball game with Jack's under-11 team. She was attracted to fast bowling, because "that seemed like the most fun"; at 10 and 11 she was tall for her age, which also helped. Eventually, she joined the Sussex junior ranks as an 11 year old. Davies attended

Chichester High School for Girls Chichester High School (CHS) is an 11–18 Mixed-sex education, mixed, secondary school and sixth form with Academy (English school), academy status in Chichester, West Sussex, England. It was established in September 2016 following the merger ...

Brighton College Brighton College is an independent, co-educational boarding and day school for boys and girls aged 3 to 18 in Brighton, England. The school has three sites: Brighton College (the senior school, ages 11 to 18); Brighton College Preparatory Sc ...

and the

University of Exeter The University of Exeter is a public university , public research university in Exeter, Devon, England, United Kingdom. Its predecessor institutions, St Luke's College, Exeter School of Science, Exeter School of Art, and the Camborne School of Min ...

Domestic career

In 2010, Davies made her county debut for Sussex, against

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a Historic counties of England, historic county in South East England, southeast England. Its area is almost entirely within the wider urbanised area of London and mostly within the Ceremonial counties of ...

. She took her first wicket a day later in her third match, dismissing the then England captain

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 Twenty2 ...

, thanks in part to a catch by Sarah Taylor that Davies later described as "unbelievable". Davies soon became a regular player in Sussex's side, and was part of their team in three title wins: the

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 the

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

and

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

T20 Cups. In the

2019 Women's Twenty20 Cup The 2019 Women's Twenty20 Cup, known for sponsorship reasons as the 2019 Vitality Women's Twenty20 Cup was the 11th cricket Women's Twenty20 Cup tournament. It took place in June, with 35 teams taking part: 33 county teams plus Scotland and Wales ...

, Davies was Sussex's leading wicket-taker, with 8 at an average of 14.62. Davies played every game (36) for

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 ...

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 its inception in 2016 until its conclusion in 2019, helping her side to two titles, in

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 ...

and

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 ...

. Davies was the leading wicket-taker in the 2019 competition, with 19 wickets, and the second highest wicket-taker across the four years of the competition, with 37. In October 2019, Davies was named as one of the first two players signed for

London Spirit London Spirit are a franchise 100-ball cricket side based in North London. The team represents the historic counties of Middlesex, Essex and Northamptonshire in The Hundred, which took place for the first time during the 2021 English and Wel ...

in The Hundred. She played two matches in the

2020 Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy The 2020 Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy was the first edition of the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy, an English women's cricket domestic competition, which took place between 29 August and 27 September 2020. It featured eight teams in two groups, an ...

for the

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 ...

, but failed to take a wicket. In April 2022, she was bought by the

for the 2022 season of The Hundred. In December 2023, it was announced that Davies had joined

from South East Stars.

International career

In February 2019, although uncapped at the time, Davies was one of twenty-one cricketers to be awarded a central contract by the

England and Wales Cricket Board The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) is the Sports governing body, national governing body of cricket in England and Wales. It was formed on 1 January 1997 as a single governing body to combine the roles formerly fulfilled by the Test and ...

(ECB). Later the same month, she was named in the

squad for their tours to

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

and

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

. She made her

Women's Twenty20 International cricket 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 Twe ...

(WT20I) debut for England against

on 24 March 2019, and recorded figures of 2/28 from her four overs. She played all three T20Is on the tour, and returned an economy rate of just 4.58. The following month, she made her

Women's One Day International Women's One Day International (WODI) is the limited overs form of women's cricket. Matches are scheduled for 50 overs, equivalent to the men's game. The first women's ODIs were played in 1973, as part of the first Women's World Cup which was ...

(WODI) debut for England, against

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

on 14 December 2019, and finished with figures of 0/19 from her seven overs. She also played two T20Is on the

tour Tour or Tours may refer to: Travel * Tourism, travel for pleasure * Tour of duty, a period of time spent in military service * Campus tour, a journey through a college or university's campus * Guided tour, a journey through a location, directed b ...

, taking three wickets at an average of 14.66. Davies played two matches in the 2020 Australia women's Tri-Nation Series, and was in England's squad for the

2020 ICC Women's T20 World Cup The 2020 ICC Women's T20 World Cup was the seventh ICC Women's T20 World Cup tournament. It was held in Australia between 21 February and 8 March 2020. The final took place at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on International Women's Day. Hosts Aus ...

, but did not play a match. On 18 June 2020, Davies was named in a squad of 24 players to begin training ahead of international women's fixtures starting in England following the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. She played one T20I in the subsequent

series Series may refer to: People with the name * Caroline Series (born 1951), English mathematician, daughter of George Series * George Series (1920–1995), English physicist Arts, entertainment, and media Music * Series, the ordered sets used i ...

against the

West Indies The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greater A ...

, taking 1/11 from one over in a rain-reduced 5-over match. In 2021, Davies was named in the squad for England's

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

. Davies played five matches on the tour, and was most successful in the T20 series, where she took her T20I best bowling figures of 4/23 in the second match and ended the series as the joint-leading wicket-taker. In June 2021, Davies was named in England's

Test Test(s), testing, or TEST may refer to: * Test (assessment), an educational assessment intended to measure the respondents' knowledge or other abilities Arts and entertainment * ''Test'' (2013 film), an American film * ''Test'' (2014 film), ...

squad for their one-off match against India. However, she was later released from the squad, allowing her to play in the

2021 Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy The 2021 Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy was the second edition of the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy, an English women's cricket 50-over domestic competition, which took place between 29 May and 25 September 2021. It featured eight teams playing in ...

ahead of England's one-day matches. In December 2021, Davies was named in England's squad for their tour to Australia to contest the

Women's Ashes The Women's Ashes is the perpetual trophy in women's international cricket series between England and Australia. The name derives from the historic precedent of the Ashes in male cricket and, until 2013, was similarly decided exclusively on the ...

. In February 2022, she was named in England's team for the

2022 Women's Cricket World Cup The 2022 ICC Women's Cricket World Cup was the twelfth edition of the Women's Cricket World Cup, which was held in New Zealand in March and April 2022. It was originally scheduled for 6 February to 7 March 2021 but was postponed by one year due ...

in New Zealand. In June 2022, Davies was named in England's

Women's Test Women's Test cricket is the longest format of women's cricket and is the female equivalent to men's Test cricket. Matches comprise four-innings and are held over a maximum of four days between two of the leading cricketing nations. The rules gov ...

squad for their one-off match against South Africa. In July 2022, she was named in England's team for the cricket tournament at the

2022 Commonwealth Games The 2022 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XXII Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Birmingham 2022, was an international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth of Nations that took place in Birmingham, England bet ...

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

, England.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Davies, Freya 1995 births Living people English women cricketers England women One Day International cricketers England women Twenty20 International cricketers Sportspeople from Chichester Sussex women cricketers Western Storm cricketers South East Stars cricketers London Spirit cricketers Cricketers at the 2022 Commonwealth Games Commonwealth Games competitors for England Cricketers from West Sussex Welsh Fire cricketers