The Berkshire Women's cricket team is the women's representative cricket team for the English historic county of Berkshire. They play their home games at various grounds across the county, including Summerleaze Road, Maidenhead and Falkland CC, Newbury, and are captained by Ashleigh Muttitt. They competed in Division One of the Women's County Championship until 2017, when they were relegated, and they won the Women's Twenty20 Cup in 2010. They are partnered with the regional side Southern Vipers.
History
1936–1999: Early History
Berkshire Women played their first recorded match in 1936, against Buckinghamshire Women, which they lost by 66 runs. When the Women's County Championship began in 1997, Thames Valley Women, which included Berkshire, competed, having also previously played in various regional competitions.
2000– : Women's County Championship
Berkshire joined the Women's County Championship in 2000, replacing Thames Valley, and finished 4th in Division 1 in their first season. After being relegated in 2003, they did not return to Division 1 until 2008, after which they became a consistently mid-table side. This period saw much greater success in the Women's Twenty20 Cup for Berkshire, reaching the final three times in a row between 2010 and 2012, including winning the competition in 2010, beating Yorkshire by 46 runs. In 2017, Berkshire were relegated from Division 1 and have remained in Division 2 since, whilst also suffering two consecutive relegations in the T20 Cup. In 2021, they competed in the West Midlands Group of the Twenty20 Cup, but finished bottom with 4 losses and 4 abandoned matches. In 2022 and 2023, they finished third in their group of the Twenty20 Cup. They also joined the South Central Counties Cup in 2022, finishing third out of six teams in the inaugural edition. In 2024, the side finished 5th 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 Based on appearances in the 2023 season. denotes players with international caps. Name Nationality Birth date Batting style Bowling style Notes Batters Abigail Avery Unknown Unknown Unknown Lauren Avery Unknown Unknown Unknown Izzy Storrar Unknown Unknown Unknown All-rounders Heather Knight Right-handed Right-arm off break Ava Lee Right-handed Right-arm off break Alice Macleod Right-handed Right-arm off break Ashleigh Muttitt Right-handed Right-arm medium Club captain Shristi Patil Unknown Unknown Unknown Amanda Potgieter Right-handed Right-arm medium Holly Rider Right-handed Right-arm medium Poppy Tulloch Unknown Unknown Unknown Wicket-keepers Ariana Dowse Right-handed — Olivia Gain Right-handed — Overseas player Mia Rogers Right-handed — Bowlers Laura Bailey Unknown Right-handed Right-arm leg break Dual-registration with Surrey Lauren Bell Right-handed Right-arm medium Mary Briscoe Unknown Unknown Unknown Molly Bulteel Unknown Right-arm medium Shayna Chikhlia Unknown Unknown Unknown Francesca Clarke Unknown Unknown Unknown Kali-Ann Docherty Unknown Unknown Unknown Freya Johnson Right-handed Right-arm medium Hollie Summerfield Unknown Unknown Right-arm off break
Notable players Players who have played for Berkshire and played internationally are listed below, in order of first international appearance (given in brackets):
Debra Stock (1992) Claire Taylor (1998) Isa Guha (2001) Alex Blackwell (2003) Rachel Priest (2007) Anya Shrubsole (2008) Victoria Lind (2009) Heather Knight (2010) Jodie Cook (2014) Linsey Smith (2018) Ellen Watson (2019) Lauren Bell (2022)
Seasons
Women's County Championship Season Division League standings Notes P W L T A/C BP Pts Pos 2000 Division 1 5 2 3 0 0 28 52 4th 2001 Division 1 5 3 2 0 0 39 75 2nd 2002 Division 1 5 2 1 0 0 24.5 70.5 2nd 2003 Division 1 5 0 5 0 0 32 32 6th Relegated 2004 Division 2 5 4 1 0 0 40.5 88.5 2nd 2005 Division 2 6 3 2 0 1 30 77 3rd 2006 Division 2 6 2 2 0 2 15 63 3rd 2007 Division 2 6 4 1 0 1 2 112 1st Promoted 2008 Division 1 6 0 6 0 0 16 16 4th 2009 Division 1 10 2 8 0 0 30 70 5th 2010 Division 1 10 6 4 0 0 49 109 3rd 2011 Division 1 10 2 6 0 2 35 55 5th 2012 Division 1 8 1 2 0 5 17 27 5th 2013 Division 1 8 4 4 0 0 44 84 5th 2014 Division 1 8 3 2 0 3 46 96 3rd 2015 Division 1 8 4 2 0 2 40 80 4th 2016 Division 1 8 3 4 0 1 47 77 5th 2017 Division 1 7 0 7 0 0 23 23 8th Relegated 2018 Division 2 7 3 3 0 1 27 57 5th 2019 Division 2 7 5 1 0 1 43 98 2nd
Women's Twenty20 Cup Season Division League standings Notes P W L T A/C NRR Pts Pos 2009 Division 1 3 0 1 0 2 –0.40 2 3rd 2010 Division S&W 1 3 3 0 0 0 +2.30 6 1st Champions 2011 Division S&W 1 3 3 0 0 0 +2.16 6 1st Runners-up 2012 Division S&W 1 3 3 0 0 0 +2.56 6 1st Runners-up 2013 Division S&W 1 3 2 1 0 0 +2.22 8 2nd Won group final; lost semi-final 2014 Division 1A 4 0 4 0 0 –0.53 0 7th 2015 Division 1 8 3 5 0 0 –0.34 12 7th 2016 Division 1 7 3 4 0 0 –0.06 12 4th 2017 Division 1 8 1 5 0 2 –2.94 6 9th Relegated 2018 Division 2 8 2 6 0 0 –0.74 8 7th Relegated 2019 Division 3A 8 7 1 0 0 +2.47 8 1st 2021 West Midlands 8 0 4 0 4 –2.75 4 6th 2022 Group 2 6 3 3 0 0 –0.28 12 3rd 2023 Group 5 6 1 1 0 4 –1.53 8 3rd 2024 Group 3 8 3 4 0 1 –0.32 61 5th
ECB Women's County One-Day Season Group League standings Notes P W L T A/C BP Pts Pos 2024 Group 2 4 3 1 0 0 3 15 3rd
Honours County Championship: Division Two champions (1) – 2007 Twenty20 Cup Champions (1) – 2010 Division 3A champions (1) – 2009
See also Berkshire County Cricket Club Southern Vipers
References