Clare Joanne Connor (born 1 September 1976) is an English former cricketer who batted right-handed and bowled slow left arm spin. She held the presidency of

Marylebone Cricket Club Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) is a cricket club founded in 1787 and based since 1814 at Lord's Cricket Ground, which it owns, in St John's Wood, London. The club was formerly the governing body of cricket retaining considerable global influence ...

from 2021 until 2022. She made her

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 ...

One Day International debut in 1995 and played her first

Test match Test match in some sports refers to a sporting contest between national representative teams and may refer to: * Test cricket * Test match (indoor cricket) * Test match (rugby union) * Test match (rugby league) * Test match (association football) ...

that winter. She achieved a

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three wic ...

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 1999 and captained England from 2000 until her retirement from international cricket in 2006. BBC News article, 13 March 2006
/ref> She is currently managing director of Women's Cricket for the

England and Wales Cricket Board The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) is the 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 County Cricket Board, ...

(ECB).

Early life and career

Connor was born on 1 September 1976 in Brighton, East Sussex, England. She studied English at the

University of Manchester , mottoeng = Knowledge, Wisdom, Humanity , established = 2004 – University of Manchester Predecessor institutions: 1956 – UMIST (as university college; university 1994) 1904 – Victoria University of Manchester 1880 – Victoria Univ ...

, and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree in 1998. During her time at Manchester, Clare was a resident at Hulme Hall. Connor taught English, P.S.H.E and PE at

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 ...

while heading up their PR operations, and also spent time working for

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a fourth television service ...

Cricket career

Connor first came to prominence by captaining the U16 at Preston Nomads, a leading club side in Sussex. The youth manager, Malcolm Reid, was responsible for this appointment and the move was supported by the club. She also played for the

(men's) team a little before her England career began. She has also appeared in The Cricketer Cup (in 2002), the first woman ever to do so. In 2004/05 she captained the England side to the semi-finals of the 2005 Women's World Cup in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

, and that winter also played state cricket for Central Districts Women in

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 ...

. In 2006, she became the first woman to play for the all-star charity side,

Lashings World XI The Lashings World XI is a cricket team captained by the former England and Surrey fast bowler Martin Bicknell. It was formed in 1984 as a pub team but evolved into an international XI after signing Richie Richardson in 1996. Now a corporate ente ...

.Lashings player biography

Honours

In the 2004 Queen's Birthday Honours, Connor was appointed a

Member of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(MBE) "for services to Women's Cricket". In the 2006 New Year Honours, she was promoted to Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) "for services to Cricket"; at the same time, the men's winning Ashes Team also received honours. As the current director of English women's cricket, following the team's success in winning the 2017 World Cup she was promoted to

Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established ...

(CBE) in the

2018 New Year Honours The 2018 New Year Honours are appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Honours are awarded as part of the New Year celebratio ...

, again for services to cricket. On 24 June 2020, Connor was announced as the next President of the

. She assumed the office on 1 October 2021, replacing

Kumar Sangakkara Kumara Chokshananda Sangakkara ( si, කුමාර් චොක්ශනාද සංගක්කාර; born 27 October 1977) is a Sri Lankan cricket commentator, former professional cricketer, businessman, ICC Hall of Fame inductee and the ...

, whose term was extended for a year 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 identi ...

. She also became the first woman to be appointed as the President of MCC in the 233 years of MCC club's history.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Connor, Clare 1976 births Living people Sportspeople from Brighton People educated at Brighton College Alumni of the University of Manchester Central Districts Hinds cricketers Commanders of the Order of the British Empire England women One Day International cricketers England women Test cricketers England women Twenty20 International cricketers Sussex women cricketers Women's One Day International cricket hat-trick takers Presidents of the Marylebone Cricket Club