The Somerset Women cricket team is the women's representative

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 ...

team for the

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

ceremonial county The counties and areas for the purposes of the lieutenancies, also referred to as the lieutenancy areas of England and informally known as ceremonial counties, are areas of England to which lords-lieutenant are appointed. Legally, the areas i ...

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_ ...

. They play their home games at various grounds across Somerset, most often in

Taunton Taunton () is the county town of Somerset, England, with a 2011 population of 69,570. Its thousand-year history includes a 10th-century monastic foundation, Taunton Castle, which later became a priory. The Normans built a castle owned by the ...

, and are captained by

Sophie Luff Sophie Natasha Luff (born 6 December 1993) is an English cricketer who plays for Somerset, Western Storm and London Spirit as a right-handed batter. Career Luff came from a cricketing family in Lympsham, near Weston-super-Mare; both her fath ...

. Somerset consistently competed in either Division 1 or Division 2 of the

Women's County Championship The Women's County Championship, known since 2014 as the Royal London Women’s One-Day Cup,Women's Twenty20 Cup The Women's Twenty20 Cup, known for sponsorship reasons as the Vitality Women's County T20, is a women's Twenty20 cricket competition organised by the England and Wales Cricket Board. Until the end of the 2019 season, teams were organised in tie ...

in 2019. In

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October–November 2021 ...

, they won the West Midlands Group of the Twenty20 Cup. They are partnered with the regional team

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 ...

History

1956–1999: Early History

The first recorded match involving Somerset Women was in 1956, against Surrey Women Second XI, which they lost by 116 runs. After this, Somerset played various one-off games, whilst West of England Women, which included Somerset, played in the

Women's Area Championship The Women's Area Championship was a women's cricket competition organised by the Women's Cricket Association that ran from 1980 until 1996. It operated as a 55-over limited overs cricket competition, with teams organised into a number of groups, ...

from 1980 until 1996 and the Women's County Championship from

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of t ...

until

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shootin ...

2000– : Women's County Championship

Somerset replaced West of England Women in the County Championship in

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

, and finished 3rd in Division 2 in their first season. Somerset remained in the second division until

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...

, when they were promoted. This then began a period in which Somerset bounced between the two divisions, being promoted in

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

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 ...

and

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 relegated in

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

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 ...

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...

and

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

. Somerset also missed out on promotion in play-offs in

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 fact ...

and

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

, with the game being abandoned in 2013 and losing to Warwickshire Women in 2014. In

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 ...

, Somerset finished second-bottom of Division 2. Somerset have fared similarly in the

Women's Twenty20 Cup The Women's Twenty20 Cup, known for sponsorship reasons as the Vitality Women's County T20, is a women's Twenty20 cricket competition organised by the England and Wales Cricket Board. Until the end of the 2019 season, teams were organised in tie ...

, for example winning promotion to Division 1 in

and

before being relegated in the following seasons. In

, Somerset won Division 2 with 6 victories from 8 games. Following the 2019 season, women's cricket in England was restructured and the 2020 season was cancelled due to 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 ...

. In 2021, only 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 ...

took place, with Somerset competing in the West Midlands Group. They won their regional division, winning 5 of their 8 matches. Somerset bowler Lorraine Szczepanski was the second-highest wicket-taker in the tournament, with 13 wickets, and batters Georgia Hennessy and

were the 2nd and 4th leading run-scorers, respectively. They finished second in their group 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 202 ...

and subsequently progressed to the group final, where they lost to

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, and the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Avon an ...

. Somerset have had various notable players appear for them over the years, most prominently the former

England Women The England women's cricket team represents England and Wales in international women's cricket. Since 1998, they have been governed by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), having been previously governed by the Women's Cricket Association ...

players

Anya Shrubsole Anya Shrubsole (born 7 December 1991) is an English cricketer who currently plays for Berkshire, Southern Vipers and the Southern Brave. She played for England between 2008 and 2022, and has previously played domestic cricket for Somerset, ...

and

Fran Wilson Frances Claire Wilson (born 7 November 1991) is an English cricketer. A right handed batter and right arm off break bowler, she was born in Farnham in Surrey and plays for Gloucestershire, Western Storm and Welsh Fire. She previously played ...

Players

Current squad

Based on appearances in the 2022 season.

Notable players

Players who have played for Somerset and played internationally are listed below, in order of first international appearance (given in brackets): *

Jean Cummins Jean Mary Cummins (3 July 1920 – 29 March 1981) was an English cricketer who played as a opening batter. She appeared in three Test matches for England in 1954, all against New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island coun ...

(1954) *

Audrey Disbury Audrey Delph Disbury (5 March 1934 – 17 June 2016) was an English cricketer who played primarily as a right-handed batter. She appeared in 10 Test matches for England between 1957 and 1969, as well as playing in 6 One Day Internationals, as ...

(1957) *

Janet Godman Janet Louise Godman (; born 16 March 1966) is an English former cricketer who played as a right-handed batter. She played two Test matches and seven One Day Internationals for England between 1991 and 1996. She played domestic cricket for Tham ...

(1991) *

Sarah Collyer Sarah Victoria Collyer (born 3 October 1980) is an English former cricketer who played as an all-rounder. She was a right-arm medium bowler and right-handed batter. She appeared in 7 Test matches and 25 One Day Internationals for England betw ...

(1998) *

Katharine Winks Katharine Victoria Winks (born 16 March 1978) is an English former cricketer who played as a right-arm medium bowler and left-handed batter. She appeared in seven One Day Internationals for England between 1998 and 2000. She primarily played d ...

(1998) * Laura Harper (1999) * Jackie Hawker (1999) * Hannah Lloyd (1999) * Kath Wilkins (1999) *

Caroline Atkins Caroline Mary Ghislaine Foster (; born 13 January 1981) is an English cricket coach and former player. She was a right-handed batter and right-arm medium bowler who appeared in 9 Test matches, 58 One Day Internationals and 19 Twenty20 Interna ...

(2001) * Isabelle Westbury (2005) * Steph Davies (2008) *

(2008) *

(2010) *

Lizelle Lee Lizelle Lee (born 2 April 1992) is a South African cricketer who played for the South Africa women's national cricket team from 2013 to 2022. She has played for Western Storm and Surrey Stars in the Women's Cricket Super League, as well as Mel ...

(2013)

Seasons

Women's County Championship

Women's Twenty20 Cup

Honours

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 ...

: ** Division Two champions (4) –

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...

: ** Division Two champions (2) –

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

** Group winners (1) –

References

{{Somerset CCC Cricket in Somerset Women's cricket teams in England Somerset County Cricket Club