The Leicestershire Women's cricket team, officially the Leicestershire and Rutland Women's cricket team since 2010, is the women's representative cricket team for the English historic counties of Leicestershire and Rutland. They play their home games often at Grace Road, Leicester. They are captained by Rebecca Brooker. They currently play as a Tier 2 side in the Women's One-Day Cup, the Women's T20 County Cup and the Women's T20 Blast.
History Leicestershire Women played their first recorded match in 1948, against Buckinghamshire Women. They also played a match against a touring Australia side in 1951, as a combined team with Buckinghamshire. Leicestershire joined the national women's cricket structure in 2004, competing in the County Challenge Cup, the lower tier of the Women's County Championship: they finished bottom of their group in their first season. After this, Leicestershire remained in the lower levels of the Championship. They won their Division 5 group two years in a row, in 2010 and 2011, and after this have mainly played in Division Three. They did gain promotion from Division Three in 2015, coming second, but were relegated the following season.
In the Women's Twenty20 Cup, Leicestershire have had some successful seasons in the lower divisions of the competition: for example, they went unbeaten in 2015 and 2016. Between 2017 and 2019, they played in Division Three. In 2021, they competed in the East Midlands Group of the Twenty20 Cup, finishing 5th with 2 victories. In 2022 they finished third in Group 5 of the Twenty20 Cup, before beating Oxfordshire and Northamptonshire on Finals Day to win their group. They also joined the East of England Women's County Championship in 2022, finishing third out of seven in their first season. In 2023, all of their group stage matches were rained-off in the Twenty20 Cup, but they lost in the semi-final on the group Finals Day. They won the East of England Women's County Championship that season, going unbeaten to top the table. In 2024, the side finished 4th in their group in the Twenty20 Cup and won their group in the new ECB Women's County One-Day tournament, winning all four of their matches.
Players Current squad No. denotes the player's squad number, as worn on the back of their shirt. No. Name Nationality Birth date Notes Batters12 Rebecca Brooker Club captain18 Prisha Thanawala Dual registered with The Blaze30 Flora Davies Dual registered with The Blaze33 Indira Singh Dual registered with Warwickshire97 Faith Teekasingh Dual registered with The Blaze All-rounders4 Hayley Brown 15 Francesca Sweet Dual registered with Hampshire31 Holly Whitfield 52 Sophie Grayson 68 Emelia Butler 70 Nayma Sheikh 73 Lucy Weston 77 Isla-Rose Williamson Dual registered with The Blaze84 Ellie Phillips Dual registered with The Blaze Wicket-keepers37 Lucy Western 44 Ellen Watson Bowlers3 Anjali Ketan 10 Emma Wrightson 13 Aimee Colquhoun 17 Emma Thatcher 24 April Herathge 25 Tia Joseph 66 D'Nica Roff 72 Caitlin Chissell
Notable players Players who have played for Leicestershire and played internationally are listed below, in order of first international appearance (given in brackets):
Sonia Odedra (2014) Ella Claridge (2024)
Seasons Women's County Championship Season Division League standings Notes P W L T A/C BP Pts Pos 2004 County Challenge Cup G1 2 0 2 0 0 6.5 6.5 4th 2005 County Challenge Cup G2 3 1 2 0 0 14 26 4th 2006 County Challenge Cup G2 3 1 2 0 0 10 30 4th 2007 County Challenge Cup G3 3 2 0 0 1 0 60 2nd 2008 Division 5M 3 0 2 1 0 6 22 3rd 2009 Division 5 N&E – – – – – – – – Withdrew from competition 2010 Division 5N 7 6 1 0 0 50 110 1st 2011 Division 5E 5 5 0 0 0 37 87 1st Promoted 2012 Division 3 8 2 0 0 6 14 34 3rd 2013 Division 3 8 5 3 0 0 53 103 4th 2014 Division 3 8 5 3 0 0 47 97 5th 2015 Division 3 8 5 3 0 0 51 101 2nd Promoted 2016 Division 2 7 1 4 0 2 24 34 7th Relegated 2017 Division 3D 4 2 1 0 1 21 41 2nd 2018 Division 3E 6 3 2 0 1 26 56 3rd 2019 Division 3A 6 4 2 0 0 42 82 3rd
Women's Twenty20 Cup Season Division League standings Notes P W L T A/C NRR Pts Pos 2010 Division M&N 4 2 1 1 0 0 +1.32 2 2nd Lost promotion play-off 2011 Division M&N 4 3 2 1 0 0 +1.07 4 2nd Lost promotion play-off 2012 Division M&N 4 3 2 1 0 0 +1.56 4 1st Promoted 2013 Division M&N 3 2 1 0 0 1 +2.22 3 1st 2014 Division 3C 4 0 4 0 0 −0.78 0 8th Relegated 2015 Division 4A 4 4 0 0 0 +3.16 16 1st Lost promotion play-off 2016 Division 4C 6 6 0 0 0 +1.82 24 1st 2017 Division 3B 8 5 2 0 1 +0.77 21 2nd 2018 Division 3B 8 5 3 0 0 +0.13 20 3rd 2019 Division 3C 8 0 5 1 2 −2.07 4 4th 2021 East Midlands 8 2 4 0 2 −0.72 10 5th 2022 Group 5 6 2 4 0 0 −1.24 8 3rd Group winners 2023 Group 2 6 0 0 0 6 +0.00 6 1st 2024 Group 2 8 3 2 1 2 –0.49 72 4th
ECB Women's County One-Day Season Group League standings Notes P W L T A/C BP Pts Pos 2024 Group 2 4 4 0 0 0 4 20 1st Group winners
Honours Women's Twenty20 Cup: Group winners (1) – 2022 ECB Women's County One-Day: Group winners (1) – 2024
See also Leicestershire County Cricket Club The Blaze (women's cricket)
References