The Cheshire Women's cricket team is the women's representative cricket team for the English historic county of Cheshire. They joined the Women's County Championship in 1998 and competed in the tournament until 2016, as well as competing in the Women's Twenty20 Cup between 2009 and 2019. The team no longer competes at senior county level. They are partnered with the regional side North West Thunder.
History 1930–1937: Early History The first recorded match involving Cheshire Women took place in 1930, which they lost to Durham Women. After this, they played various one-off matches, often combined with neighbouring Lancashire, as Lancashire and Cheshire, under which they competed in the Women's Area Championship and the first Women's County Championship, in 1997.
1998– : National Competition Cheshire Women joined the County Championship in 1998, replacing Lancashire and Cheshire Women, and won Division 3 in their first season. Since then, Cheshire bounced between Divisions 2 and 3, with their longest stay in Division 2 being between 2009 and 2014. They also managed two successive promotions in 2004 and 2005. Cheshire Women withdrew from the County Championship after the 2016 season, after which they only participated in the Women's Twenty20 Cup, in which they were often in the lowest tier of the competition, but did win promotion to Division 2 in 2017. Since 2019, Cheshire have not competed at senior county level.
Players Notable players Players who have played for Cheshire and played internationally are listed below, in order of first international appearance (given in brackets):
Laura Newton (1997) Sarah Collyer (1998) Megan White (1999) Zehmarad Afzal (2000) Lauren Griffiths (2010) Sophie Ecclestone (2016) Seren Smale (2024)
Seasons Women's County Championship Season Division League standings Notes P W L T A/C BP Pts Pos 1998 Division 3 5 5 0 0 0 43 103 1st Promoted 1999 Division 2 5 3 2 0 0 26 50 4th 2000 Division 2 5 2 3 0 0 29.5 53.5 4th 2001 Division 2 5 1 4 0 0 25.5 37.5 6th Relegated 2002 Division 3 5 2 1 0 2 22.5 68.5 3rd 2003 Division 3 5 2 2 1 0 36 66 4th 2004 County Challenge Cup G1 3 3 0 0 0 27.5 63.5 1st Promoted 2005 Division 3 6 4 1 0 1 38.5 97.5 1st Promoted 2006 Division 2 6 0 4 0 2 11 19 4th Relegated 2007 Division 3 6 1 2 0 3 7 62 3rd 2008 Division 3 6 2 4 0 0 13 53 3rd Promoted 2009 Division 2 10 2 7 0 1 44 64 4th 2010 Division 2 10 4 6 0 0 19 99 5th 2011 Division 2 10 3 6 0 1 47 77 5th 2012 Division 2 8 3 3 0 2 35 65 5th 2013 Division 2 8 3 4 0 1 38 68 6th 2014 Division 2 8 1 7 0 0 34 44 9th Relegated 2015 Division 3 8 3 3 0 2 35 65 5th 2016 Division 3 8 1 6 0 1 24 34 8th
Women's Twenty20 Cup Season Division League standings Notes P W L T A/C NRR Pts Pos 2009 Division 3 3 1 1 0 1 +1.08 3 2nd 2010 Division M&N 1 3 1 2 0 0 –1.58 2 3rd Relegated 2011 Division M&N 2 3 0 3 0 0 –0.25 0 4th Relegated 2012 Division M&N 3 3 2 1 0 0 +1.62 4 2nd Lost promotion play-off 2013 Division M&N 3 2 0 1 0 1 –0.73 1 3rd 2014 Division 2A 4 2 2 0 0 +0.20 8 6th 2015 Division 2 8 2 6 0 0 –1.39 8 8th Relegated 2016 Division 3 8 3 4 0 1 –0.35 13 6th 2017 Division 3B 8 7 1 0 0 +2.00 28 1st Promoted 2018 Division 2 8 2 6 0 0 –0.86 8 6th 2019 Division 2 8 1 7 0 0 –1.26 4 8th
See also Cheshire County Cricket Club North West Thunder
References