Mady Kate Villiers (born 26 August 1998) 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 str ...

er who plays for the England women's cricket team as an

off break Off spin is a type of finger spin bowling in cricket. A bowler who uses this technique is called an off spinner. Off spinners are right-handed spin bowlers who use their fingers to spin the ball. Their normal delivery is an off break, which spi ...

bowler. She also plays for

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and Grea ...

, Sunrisers and

Oval Invincibles Oval Invincibles is a franchise 100-ball cricket side based in South London. The team represents the historic counties of Surrey and Kent in the newly founded The Hundred competition, which took place for the first time during the 2021 Engli ...

. In July 2019, she was named in England's squad for the

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) fixtures of the 2019 Women's Ashes series, making her WT20I debut for England against Australia on 31 July 2019.

Early and personal life

Villiers was born on 26 August 1998 in

Havering The London Borough of Havering () in East London, England, forms part of Outer London. It has a population of 259,552 inhabitants; the principal town is Romford, while other communities are Hornchurch, Upminster, Collier Row and Rainham. The ...

, Greater London. She attended

Shenfield High School A Secondary School Based In England Shenfield High School is a coeducational 11-18 secondary school located in Shenfield, Essex, England. It has over 1200 students on roll, including 300 in the sixth form. It opened in 1962, celebrating its 50th ...

, winning several school-county cricket titles during her time there, and scored her first century off 65 balls, aged 14 in a Schools' Cup semi-final. Villiers is a

vegan Veganism is the practice of abstaining from the use of animal product—particularly in diet—and an associated philosophy that rejects the commodity status of animals. An individual who follows the diet or philosophy is known as a vegan. ...

Domestic career

Villiers began playing age group cricket for

in 2012 before making her first-team debut in 2013, in a

County Championship The County Championship (referred to as the LV= Insurance County Championship for sponsorship reasons) is the domestic first-class cricket competition in England and Wales and is organised by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB). It bec ...

match against

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other English counties, functions have ...

. She did not bowl in the match, and made 1 run batting at number 11. She made her

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 ...

debut later that season, against Sussex, and went on to play four games in the

2013 Women's Twenty20 Cup The 2013 Women's Twenty20 Cup was the 5th cricket Women's Twenty20 Cup tournament. It took place between July and September, with 33 teams taking part: 31 county teams plus Wales and the Netherlands. Kent Women won the Twenty20 Cup, beating Su ...

. 2015 was a breakthrough season for Villiers, taking 8 wickets at 14.87 in the

and 12 wickets at 6.66 in the

Twenty20 Cup The T20 Blast, currently named the Vitality Blast for sponsorship reasons, is a professional Twenty20 cricket competition for English and Welsh first-class counties. The competition was established by the England and Wales Cricket Board (E ...

. She thereafter became a regular in Essex's side, and in 2018 was selected as part of the Surrey Stars squad for the

2018 Women's Cricket Super League The 2018 Women's Cricket Super League, or 2018 Kia Super League for sponsorship reasons, was the third season of the Women's Cricket Super League (WCSL), the semi-professional women's cricket competition in England and Wales. The competition, ru ...

. She played 11 matches in the season, taking 5 wickets at an average of 18.00. Her standout performance came in the final, when she took 3–22 to help her side win their first KSL. Villiers returned to play for the Stars the following season, where she took 5 wickets in 7 matches. In 2020, Villiers joined the Sunrisers for the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy. She played 2 games, picking up one wicket as well as scoring 64 against

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 ...

. In 2021, she took five wickets in the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy, as well as one in the

Charlotte Edwards Cup The Charlotte Edwards Cup, initially named the Women's Regional T20, is an English women's cricket Twenty20 domestic competition organised by the England and Wales Cricket Board. The first edition of the tournament took place in 2021. The tourn ...

. She also played for

in The Hundred, scoring 51 runs and taking 6 wickets as the side won the competition. She played eleven matches for Sunrisers in 2022, across the

and the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy, and was the joint-second leading wicket-taker across the whole Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy, with 12 wickets at an average of 21.83. She also took six wickets for Oval Invincibles in The Hundred as the side won their second title.

International career

Villiers was named in her first England squad for the

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 in ...

against Australia in July 2019. She made her debut in the 3rd T20I, and took 2-20 from her four overs, dismissing

Alyssa Healy Alyssa Jean Healy (born 24 March 1990) is an Australian cricketer who plays for the Australian women's national team and New South Wales in domestic cricket, as well as the Sydney Sixers in the WBBL. She made her international debut in Februa ...

and

Ashleigh Gardner Ashleigh Katherine Gardner (born 15 April 1997) is an Australian cricketer who currently plays for the national women's team as an all-rounder. A right-handed batter and right-arm off spinner, Gardner also plays for New South Wales in the Wome ...

. In November 2019, she was named in England's squad for their series against Pakistan. She played two T20Is, and took two wickets. Villiers went on to play one match in England's

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 ...

campaign in Australia, taking 1–30 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 Greate ...

On 18 June 2020, Villiers 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 identi ...

. She played all five matches in the subsequent series against West Indies, taking 2–10 in the 2nd T20I. In 2021, Villiers was named in the squad for England's

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 ...

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 ...

. She played all three T20Is on the tour, taking four wickets including an international career-best of 3/10 in the final match of the series. In June 2021, Villiers was named as 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. In December 2021, Villiers 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 as one of two reserve players 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.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Villiers, Mady 1998 births Living people English women cricketers England women Twenty20 International cricketers Essex women cricketers Surrey Stars cricketers Sunrisers women's cricketers Oval Invincibles cricketers