Nicole Harvey (; born 18 September 1992) 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 currently plays for

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lord_ ...

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 ...

and

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 ...

. She plays primarily as a right-arm leg break bowler, whilst also

batting Batting may refer to: * Batting (baseball), the act of attempting to hit a ball thrown by the pitcher with a baseball bat, in order to score runs * Batting (cricket), the act of defending one's wicket with the cricket bat while attempting to score ...

right-handed. She has previously played for

Cornwall Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlantic ...

Devon Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devo ...

and

Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated Notts.) is a landlocked county in the East Midlands region of England, bordering South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. The trad ...

Early and personal life

Harvey was born Nicole Richards on 18 September 1992 in

Truro Truro (; kw, Truru) is a cathedral city and civil parish in Cornwall, England. It is Cornwall's county town, sole city and centre for administration, leisure and retail trading. Its population was 18,766 in the 2011 census. People of Truro ...

. Her mother, Marilyn Richards, also played for

, in 2008 and 2009. In 2020, whilst pregnant with her first child, Harvey was diagnosed with

sepsis Sepsis, formerly known as septicemia (septicaemia in British English) or blood poisoning, is a life-threatening condition that arises when the body's response to infection causes injury to its own tissues and organs. This initial stage is follo ...

, but later recovered and gave birth in late 2020.

Domestic career

Harvey made her county debut in 2005, for

against

in the County Challenge Cup, in which she hit 16 * in an 8 wicket victory. Harvey went on to play for Cornwall until the end of the 2008 season, and was the side's leading wicket-taker in the

2008 Women's County Championship The 2008 Women's County One-Day Championship was the 12th cricket Women's County Championship season. It ran from May to August and saw 31 county teams and teams representing Scotland and Wales compete in a series of divisions. Sussex Women won ...

, with 9 wickets at an average of 7.00, including a best bowling of 4/30. Ahead of the 2009 season, Harvey moved to play for Devon. She spent two seasons with the side, taking 17 Championship wickets (9 in 2009 and 8 in 2010), as well as scoring 218 runs in the 2010 Championship, including scoring 70 against

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

. The following season, 2011, Harvey moved to

. Her best performances for the side came that season in the

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this system ...

, where she took 9 wickets, including a best bowling of 4/25. Ahead of the 2013 season, Harvey moved back to Cornwall. She had a successful two-year stay with the side, as their leading wicket-taker in 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

2014 Women's Twenty20 Cup The 2014 Women's Twenty20 Cup, known for sponsorship reasons as the 2014 NatWest Women's Twenty20 Cup, was the 6th cricket Women's Twenty20 Cup tournament. It took place in July and August, with 40 teams taking part: 36 county teams, alongside S ...

, and their leading run-scorer in the

2014 Women's County Championship The 2014 Women's County One-Day Championship was the 18th cricket Women's County Championship season. It ran from May to September and saw 33 county teams and teams representing Ireland, Scotland, Wales and the Netherlands compete in a series of ...

. In 2015, Harvey moved to

. In 2016, she was the leading wicket-taker across the whole

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 ...

, with 15 wickets at an average of 6.53, helping Somerset to promotion from Division 2. The following season, she was Somerset's leading wicket-taker in the

2017 Women's County Championship The 2017 Women's County One-Day Championship was the 21st cricket Women's County Championship season. It ran from April to August and saw 33 county teams and teams representing Scotland, Wales and the Netherlands compete in a series of divisions ...

, with 14 wickets including her maiden five-wicket haul, 5/22 against Surrey. She was also Somerset's joint-leading wicket taker in the following

season, with 11 wickets at an average of 15.72. 2019 was a strong season for Harvey: she made her List A high score, making 99 * against

Durham Durham most commonly refers to: *Durham, England, a cathedral city and the county town of County Durham *County Durham, an English county * Durham County, North Carolina, a county in North Carolina, United States *Durham, North Carolina, a city in N ...

, took the joint-second highest wicket tally in the

, with 14 wickets, and was Somerset's leading wicket-taker in the

, with 12 wickets. In 2021, Harvey helped Somerset to winning the West Midlands Group of the

, and took 4/2 from 4 overs in a match against Berkshire. In the

2022 Women's Twenty20 Cup The 2022 Women's Twenty20 Cup, known for sponsorship reasons as the 2022 Vitality Women's County T20, was the 13th edition of the Women's Twenty20 Cup, an English women's cricket Twenty20 domestic competition. It took place in April and May 20 ...

, she played four matches, scoring 83 runs and taking four wickets. In 2021, Harvey was selected in the

squad for their upcoming season. She made her debut for the side on 29 May, against

North West Thunder North West Thunder, commonly referred to as Thunder, are a women's cricket team that represent Lancashire and North West England, one of eight regional hubs in English domestic women's cricket. They play their home matches at various grounds, i ...

in the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy. She went on to take 6 wickets in the tournament, at an average of 29.83. She was also Western Storm's leading wicket-taker, and the fourth-highest across the whole competition, 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 ...

, with 12 wickets at an average of 9.41 and an economy of 4.70. She also played for

in The Hundred, taking 4 wickets with the best runs per ball rate for her side, at 1.17. She played just one match for Western Storm in 2022, in the

. She was again in the Welsh Fire squad, but did not play a match for the side.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Harvey, Nicole 1992 births Living people Cricketers from Truro Cornwall women cricketers Devon women cricketers Nottinghamshire women cricketers Somerset women cricketers Western Storm cricketers Welsh Fire cricketers