Laura Alexandra Marsh (born 5 December 1986) is an English former

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. Born in

Pembury Pembury is a large village in Kent, in the south east of England, with a population of 6,128 at the 2011 Census. It lies just to the north-east of Royal Tunbridge Wells. The village centre, including the village green and High Street area is a ...

, Kent, she began playing cricket at 11 and started her career as a medium pace bowler but found greater success when she switched to off spin. She played county cricket for Kent Women, represents the Rubies and made her Test debut against

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 ...

in 2006. She was part of the England team that retained

the Ashes The Ashes is a Test cricket series played between England and Australia. The term originated in a satirical obituary published in a British newspaper, ''The Sporting Times'', immediately after Australia's 1882 victory at The Oval, its first Te ...

in Australia in 2008 and in England in 2009. She was also part of teams that won the

Women's Cricket World Cup The ICC Women's Cricket World Cup is the sport's oldest world championship, with the first tournament held in England in 1973. Matches are played as One Day Internationals (ODIs) over 50 overs per team, while there is also another champion ...

in 2009 and 2017. In December 2019, Marsh announced her retirement from international cricket, and announced her retirement from all forms of the game in August 2020. In April 2022, she became interim head coach of Sunrisers for the 2022 season.

Career

She took a career best 5/15 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 ...

in the 2009 Women's World Cup in Sydney and finished the competition's top wicket-taker, with 16 wickets at 10.31. She opened the bowling for England in the Twenty20 World Championship in 2009, taking 6 for 68 in the tournament which England won by defeating New Zealand at Lords, and struck the winning runs off the last ball of the match to secure England's first victory over Australia in a One Day International series in 33 years in July 2009. She made her highest Test score of 38 in a last-wicket stand of 59 against Australia in the one-off Ashes Test later the same year. In the absence of Sarah Taylor, she opened the batting for England in the Twenty20 series against Australia in 2010 as well as opening the bowling and being named player of the match in England's series-winning win at Canberra on 16 January 2010 after scoring 45 from 44 balls, and again the following day when her 43 from 23 balls saw England post a winning total. Off the field of play, after attending

Skippers Hill Manor Preparatory School Skipper or skippers may refer to: Rank * Skipper (boating), a person who has command of a vessel * Skipper (rank), a former warrant rank in the British Royal Naval Reserve. Also informal for an officer of sergeant rank in British policing * T ...

and

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 ...

, she took a Sports Science with Management degree at

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 ...

. She is the holder of one of the first tranche of 18 ECB central contracts for women players, which were announced in April 2014. Marsh was a member of the winning women's team at the

2017 Women's Cricket World Cup The 2017 Women's Cricket World Cup was an international women's cricket tournament that took place in England from 24 June to 23 July 2017. It was the eleventh edition of the Women's Cricket World Cup, and the third to be held in England (after ...

held in England.England v India: Women's World Cup final – live!
''The Guardian'', 23 July 2017. In February 2019, she was awarded a full 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) for 2019. In June 2019, Marsh played in her 100th

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) match, during the series against the West Indies. Later the same month, the ECB named her in England's squad for their opening match against 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 ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Marsh, Laura 1986 births Living people People from Pembury People educated at Brighton College Alumni of Loughborough University England women Test cricketers England women One Day International cricketers England women Twenty20 International cricketers Kent women cricketers New South Wales Breakers cricketers Otago Sparks cricketers Surrey Stars cricketers Sussex women cricketers Sydney Sixers (WBBL) cricketers