The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has today announced the England Women’s Performance Squad (EWPS), England Women’s Academy (EWA) and England Women’s Development Programme (EWDP) winter training squads for 2015-2016, which include five players from the Middlesex Women, including Fran Wilson, Sophia Dunkley, Alex Hartley, Maia Bouchier and Anna Nicholls.
The three squads, which constitute the England women’s cricket pathway, will feature 54 players this winter, ranging from England women’s captain, Charlotte Edwards as part of the 21-strong EWPS, to Surrey’s fifteen-year-old Rihanna Southby, who is the youngest member of the EWDP.
Training for all three squads will commence from October at the National Cricket Performance Centre (NCPC) in Loughborough.
EWA Head Coach, Lisa Keightley, will be returning to her native Australia in October to take up a role with the Western Australia Cricket Association. In the interim, ECB’s Women’s & Girls’ High Performance Manager Jonathan Finch will lead the EWA.
The ECB has also today confirmed that the next wave of England women’s central contracts will be awarded from 1st February 2016 – 31st January 2017. The recipients of the new contracts will be announced before the end of the year.
ECB’s Director of England Women’s Cricket, Clare Connor, said:
“We saw during the Women’s Ashes series this summer that the standard of international women’s cricket is constantly being pushed forwards and we must ensure that we have a structure in place that produces a continual stream of talented players, who are ready to perform in an England shirt if the opportunity arises. The England women’s cricket pathway is wider reaching and better resourced than ever before, and it is particularly encouraging to see some exciting young prospects coming through from the England Women’s Development Programme.
“I would like to take this opportunity to thank Lisa Keightley for her hard work with the England Women’s Academy over the last four and a half years. Her passion, determination and brilliant coaching capabilities have helped develop the Academy into a world class programme, and we wish her all the very best as she pursues new opportunities back home in Australia.”
England women will next be in action in February 2016 when they will travel to South Africa to play a three match One-Day International series and three match Twenty20 International series. The England women’s squad for this tour will be announced early next year.
England women’s cricket pathway 2015-2016 winter training squads:
England Women’s Performance Squad
Tammy Beaumont (Kent)
Katherine Brunt (Yorkshire)
Kate Cross (Lancashire)
Jodie Dibble (Devon)
Charlotte Edwards (Kent)
Georgia Elwiss (Sussex)
Natasha Farrant (Kent)
Lydia Greenway (Kent)
Rebecca Grundy (Warwickshire)
Jenny Gunn (Nottinghamshire)
Danielle Hazell (Yorkshire)
Amy Jones (Warwickshire)
Heather Knight (Berkshire)
Beth Langston (Essex)
Laura Marsh (Kent)
Natalie Sciver (Surrey)
Anya Shrubsole (Somerset)
Sarah Taylor (Sussex)
Fran Wilson (Middlesex)
Lauren Winfield (Yorkshire)
Danielle Wyatt (Nottinghamshire)
England Women’s Academy
Georgia Adams (Sussex)
Hollie Armitage (Yorkshire)
Ellen Burt (Sussex)
Stephanie Butler (Staffordshire)
Freya Davies (Sussex)
Sophia Dunkley (Middlesex)
Sophia Ecclestone (Cheshire/Lancashire)
Katie George (Hampshire)
Alex Hartley (Middlesex)
Evelyn Jones (Staffordshire)
Emma Lamb (Lancashire)
Sophie Luff (Somerset)
Alex Macdonald (Yorkshire)
Bryony Smith (Surrey)
Eleanor Threlkeld (Lancashire)
England Women’s Development Programme
Emily Arlott (Worcestershire)
Megan Belt (Kent)
Maia Bouchier (Middlesex)
Georgie Boyce (Nottinghamshire)
Izzy Cloke (Kent)
Isabelle Collis (Sussex)
Alice Dyson (Derbyshire)
Emily Edgcombe (Cornwall)
Tiarna Gilkes (Warwickshire)
Sarah Glenn (Derbyshire)
Cordelia Griffith (Essex)
Lucy Higham (Leicesteshire)
Hannah Jones (Surrey)
Sophie Mackenzie (Cornwall)
Anna Nicholls (Middlesex)
Tara Norris (Sussex)
Rhianna Southby (Surrey)
Erin Staunton Turner (Lancashire)
Lucy Staunton Turner (Lancashire)
