The Kent Women cricket team is the women's representative cricket team for the English county of Kent. They play their home matches at St Lawrence Ground in Canterbury, as well as the County Cricket Ground, Beckenham. They are captained by Megan Belt and are coached by former Kent County Cricket Club player James Hockley.Kent Women Leadership model confirmed for 2025, Kent County Cricket Club, 20 November 2019. Retrieved 20 November 2019. They are the most successful team in both the Women's County Championship and Women's Twenty20 Cup, with 8 and 3 titles respectively.Reid J (ed) (2016) 2016 Kent County Cricket Club Annual, Kent County Cricket Club, p.3. Until 2025, they were partnered with the regional team South East Stars.
History 1935–1996: Early History Kent Women played their first recorded match in 1935, against Civil Service Women. Over the following years, Kent were one of the most prolific women's teams, playing various one-off and tourist games, against surrounding counties and national teams such as Australia, New Zealand and the Netherlands. Kent joined the Women's Area Championship in 1980, and played in the competition until 1996 (including two title wins, in 1986 and 1987), after which they joined the Women's County Championship.
1997–2019: Women's County Championship In 1997, their first season in the County Championship, Kent finished 5th in Division One with just one win. Over the next few seasons, Kent were a consistently mid-table team, plus one season in Division Two, in 2002. A steady improvement after their promotion, however, eventually led them to their first Championship title, in 2006. They retained their title in 2007, going unbeaten in both seasons. Key to their success was England captain Charlotte Edwards, who played for Kent from 2000 to 2016. This started an extremely successful era for Kent Women, winning the most titles in Championship history, eight, and only finishing outside the top 3 of Division 1 once, in 2017: the further times they won the Championship were in 2009, 2011, 2012, 2014, 2016 and 2019. In 2016, Kent bowlers Megan Belt, Tash Farrant and Charlotte Pape were the first, third and fourth leading wicket-takers respectively, whilst Tammy Beaumont was the leading run-scorer. Kent batters Fran Wilson, Tammy Beaumont and Maxine Blythin were all in the top ten leading run-scorers in 2019.
Kent Women have also been the most successful team in the history of the Women's Twenty20 Cup, winning the tournament three times, in 2011, 2013 and 2016. They also reached the semi-finals of the competition in 2013 and 2012, losing to Berkshire both times. In 2011, however, they beat Berkshire by 8 wickets after bowling them out for just 73. In 2013, Kent beat Sussex in the final by 8 wickets, whilst in 2016 they won the title by topping Division One, with five wins from seven games.
2020–2024: Regional Twenty20 Cup In 2021, they competed in the South East Group of the Twenty20 Cup, and won their region, going unbeaten with 6 wins and 2 matches abandoned due to rain. In 2022, they finished second in their group in the Twenty20 Cup, going on to lose in the final against Sussex. Kent have also competed in the Women's London Championship since its first edition in 2020, and won their first London Championship title in 2021. In the 2023 Women's Twenty20 Cup, Kent finished second in their group and reached the group final, but the title was shared due to rain. In 2024, the team finished 7th in their group in the Twenty20 Cup and 3rd in their group in the new ECB Women's County One-Day tournament.
Players Current squad
Players listed below are named as Kent squad players on the team's website. Other players may play matches for the team. denotes players with international caps.
No. Name Nationality Birth date Batting Style Bowling Style Notes Batters11 Jessica Bird Right-handed Right-arm off break 19 Ella Darlington Right-handed Right-arm medium 14 Jodie Hobson Right-handed – 4 Sophie Singer Right-handed Right-arm leg spin 17 Coco Streets Right-handed Right-arm medium Vice Captain All-rounders55 Elsa Barnfather Right-handed Right-arm medium 66 Tilly Callaghan Right-handed Right-arm medium 21 Amy Gordon Right-handed Right-arm off break 25 Isabella James Right-handed Right-arm leg spin 3 Genevieve Jeer Right-handed Right-arm medium 34 Isobel Kirby Right-handed Right-arm medium 2 Grace Poole Right-handed Right-arm medium-fast 20 Megan Sturge Right-handed Right-arm leg spin Loan Player Wicket-keepers12 Molly Davis Right-handed – 92 Emily Thompson Right-handed – Bowlers23 Laura Bailey Right-handed Right-arm leg spin 95 Olivia Barnes Right-handed Left-arm orthodox spin Loan Player6 Megan Belt Right-handed Right-arm off break Captain 12 Zeena Bilal Right-handed Right-arm medium 15 Sydney Gorham Right-handed Right-arm medium-fast 63 Alice Grant Right-handed Right-arm medium
Notable players Players who have played for Kent and played internationally are listed below, in order of first international appearance (given in brackets):
Betty Archdale (1934) Doris Turner (1934) Marjorie Richards (1935) Cecilia Robinson (1949) Audrey Disbury (1957) Ruth Westbrook (1957) Mollie Hunt (1960) Alison Ratcliffe (1960) Kathleen Smith (1960) Ann Jago (1960) Liz Amos (1961) Jacqueline Elledge (1963) Mary Pilling (1963) Jean Clark (1968) Chris Watmough (1968) Heather Dewdney (1969) Jill Cruwys (1969) Katherine Brown (1973) Susan Goatman (1973) Sue Hilliam (1973) Megan Lear (1973) Jill Powell (1979) June Edney (1984) Mickey de Boer (1984) Julie May (1986) Lisa Nye (1988) Caroline Barrs (1988) Marie Moralee (1991) Emily Drumm (1992) Olivia Magno (1995) Claire Whichcord (1995) Charlotte Edwards (1996) Paula Flannery (2000) Cri-Zelda Brits (2002) Sarah Burke (2003) Lydia Greenway (2003) Jo Watts (2005) Suzie Bates (2006) Lynsey Askew (2006) Laura Marsh (2006) Tammy Beaumont (2009) Erin Bermingham (2010) Lauren Griffiths (2010) Fran Wilson (2010) Susie Rowe (2010) Tash Farrant (2013) Alice Davidson-Richards (2018) Sarah Bryce (2018) Kirstie Gordon (2018) Arlene Kelly (2022) Elysa Hubbard (2022) Darcey Carter (2023) Ryana MacDonald-Gay (2024)
Seasons Women's County Championship Season Division P W L T A/C BP Pts Pos Notes 1997 Division 1 5 1 4 0 0 31.5 43.5 5th 1998 Division 1 5 2 3 0 0 36.5 60.5 3rd 1999 Division 1 5 2 3 0 0 30.5 54.5 5th 2000 Division 1 5 2 3 0 0 31 55 3rd 2001 Division 1 5 0 5 0 0 24.5 24.5 6th Relegated 2002 Division 2 5 3 0 0 2 28.5 86.5 1st Promoted 2003 Division 1 5 3 2 0 0 32.5 68.5 3rd 2004 Division 1 5 4 1 0 0 43.5 91.5 2nd 2005 Division 1 6 3 2 0 1 36 83 2nd 2006 Division 1 6 5 0 0 1 2 106 1st Champions 2007 Division 1 6 5 0 0 1 0 135 1st Champions 2008 Division 1 6 4 1 0 1 5 91 2nd 2009 Division 1 10 10 0 0 0 0 200 1st Champions 2010 Division 1 10 7 3 0 0 62 132 2nd 2011 Division 1 10 7 1 0 2 56 126 1st Champions 2012 Division 1 8 3 0 0 5 24 54 1st Champions 2013 Division 1 8 6 2 0 0 47 107 3rd 2014 Division 1 8 6 0 0 2 48 108 1st Champions 2015 Division 1 8 5 1 1 1 51 105 2nd 2016 Division 1 8 7 1 0 0 63 133 1st Champions 2017 Division 1 7 3 4 0 0 41 71 6th 2018 Division 1 7 4 3 0 0 43 83 3rd 2019 Division 1 7 6 1 0 0 46 106 1st Champions
Women's Twenty20 Cup Season Division P W L T Ab NRR Pts Pos Notes2009 Division 1 3 1 1 0 1 +0.97 3 2nd 2010 Division S1 3 3 0 0 0 +2.87 6 1st Semi-final 2011 Division S1 3 3 0 0 0 2.17 6 1st Champions 2012 Division S1 3 2 0 0 1 +2.23 5 2nd Semi-final 2013 Division S1 3 2 1 0 0 +0.99 4 2nd Champions 2014 Division 1B 4 3 1 0 0 +2.28 12 3rd 2015 Division 1 8 6 2 0 0 −0.10 24 3rd 2016 Division 1 7 5 2 0 0 +0.43 20 1st Champions 2017 Division 1 8 4 4 0 0 −0.38 16 6th 2018 Division 1 8 5 3 0 0 +0.67 20 3rd 2019 Division 1 8 4 2 0 2 +0.04 18 3rd 2021 South East 8 6 0 0 2 +1.30 26 1st Group winners 2022 Group 6 6 4 2 0 0 +1.19 16 2nd Lost final 2023 Group 6 6 2 0 0 4 +3.31 12 2nd Shared group winners 2024 Group 3 8 2 4 0 2 −0.32 54 7th
ECB Women's County One-Day Season Group League standings Notes P W L T A/C BP Pts Pos 2024 Group 4 4 2 1 0 1 2 11 3rd
Honours Women's Area Championship: Champions (2) – 1986, 1987 County Championship: Division One champions (8) – 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2014, 2016, 2019 Women's Twenty20 Cup: Champions (3) – 2011, 2013, 2016 Group winners (1) – 2021; shared (1): 2023
See also Kent County Cricket Club South East Stars
References