This month we are looking back on the careers of several black cricketers who made an enormous impact in their time with Middlesex. In the third of our series, we take a look at a modern-day success story within the Club’s Women’s Cricket structure, Sophia Dunkley – who represented the Club at Senior level with distinction for almost a decade before making a name for herself in the England international side.
SOPHIA DUNKLEY - MIDDLESEX WOMEN – 2012 to 2020
Sophia Ivy Rose Dunkley was born on 16th July 1998 in Lambeth, South-East London.
At an early age Dunkley lived in North London and it is here that she developed an early interest in the game. Living in a quiet cul-de-sac, she would often play in the street with a young friend, which sparked a love for the sport that took both Dunkley and her friend to their local club in Finchley.
Dunkley worked her way through the youth ranks at Finchley before earning a scholarship at Mill Hill School, where she continued to develop her game, becoming the first ever girl to play in the school’s boys eleven – even at this young age her talent was evident.
She entered the Middlesex County Age Group system at Under Eleven’s and represented the Club all the way through to the Under 19’s whilst by then also representing the Club in Senior Women’s cricket - which she did for almost a decade.
A talented right-handed batter and a canny wicket-taking leg-spin bowler, at a very early age Dunkley stood out as one to watch, and very quickly established herself as one of the most talented players in her age group.
At Under 12’s level her talent was recognised by the Middlesex coaches, and she was added to the County’s Emerging Player Programme, to further develop her skills and wider game.
She made her competitive debut for Middlesex Women’s senior side at the age of just 13 against Sussex in 2012 in a T20 encounter and very quickly became established as a regular in the county’s Women’s senior side.
She went on to make 41 T20 appearances for the Club, hitting four half centuries, and top scoring with an unbeaten 77, hit off just 51 balls against Somerset in 2017.
In List-A cricket she made a further 41 appearances for the Club, hitting two centuries and five half centuries, including a top score of 138 against Worcestershire Women in May 2019, poignantly being played back at Mill Hill School where she had learned her trade as a youngster.
Dunkley was deservedly named as the Middlesex Women’s Player of the Year award in both the 2017 and 2019 seasons.
Dunkley’s form for Middlesex inevitably saw her recognised by the England Women’s selectors at an early age, and she was firstly called up to join the England Women’s Development Programme in 2015, then the England Women’s Academy in 2016, then into the England Women’s Senior Pathway squad and training squads in 2017, before receiving her call-up to the full international squad in 2018 for the ICC Women’s World T20 in the West Indies. She made her competitive debut for England Women against Bangladesh in 2018 at the ICC Women’s World T20.
In 2017, Dunkley was called up for the inaugural year of the Women’s Kia Super League, when she made her debut in the tournament for Surrey Stars, where she played until 2019, making 19 appearances, before joining Lancashire Thunder, where she played a further 10 matches in the competition until the restructuring of the Women’s Elite game in 2020.
It was then that she opted to leave Middlesex Women and join the Southeast Stars in the newly formed Women’s domestic structure, where she has played ever since.
Alongside her Southeast Stars commitments, she has excelled in the Women’s Hundred, playing with Southern Brave, making 17 appearances in the first two years of the competition, hitting 437 runs at an average of 36.41 with a top score of 58 not out and helping her side lift the inaugural title in 2021.
On the international stage, Dunkley’s career has flourished, and she is now an established member of England’s sides in all formats of the game.
She has now made 62 international appearances for England, 3 in Test format, 25 in One Day Internationals and 34 in the T20I format.
She has twice reached ICC Women’s finals with England, losing out to Australia in the final of the 2018 ICC Women’s World T20 and again to Australia in the final of the ICC Women’s World Cup in 2022.
Earlier this year in July 2022, Dunkley made history when becoming the first black female cricketer to hit a century for England, when scoring 107 against South Africa at Bristol in a Women’s One Day International.
Dunkley finished her playing career with Middlesex in 2020, having hit over 1,500 runs for the Club in both formats of the game, and having taken just short of one hundred wickets for the Club with her leg-spin.
