Talented young cricketers bid to catch the eye of England women’s selectors

The best under-15 female cricketers from across the country will come together for a series of Twenty20 and 40-over matches at Wellington College at the end of this month.

The annual England Women’s Development Programme Under-15 (EWDP U15) Super 3s competition will run from Monday July 28 to Friday August 1, and involves the top 39 young players split evenly into three teams. All of the players involved will be hoping to catch the eye of the watching England women’s selectors, as they make their first step onto the England women’s cricket pathway.

In addition to competing in two 40-over matches and two T20 matches during the week, the players will also take part in a range of educational workshops focussing on nutrition, strength and conditioning, and personal developmental and welfare.

Commenting about the EWDP U15 Super 3s competition and its wider significance, ECB Head of England Women’s Cricket, Clare Connor, said: “The England Women’s Development Programmes at U15 and U19 underpin the England women’s cricket pathway. Both programmes seek to create an environment that challenges and supports our young players to improve as cricketers and develop as people. This happens through a wide range of opportunities throughout the year, including a comprehensive winter training schedule, the EWDP U15 and U19 Super 3s competitions, and other matches and festivals during the season.

“The scope of opportunities now available to young female cricketers is greater than ever before – as is the competition for places across the England women’s cricket pathway.

In addition to the three EWDP U15 Super 3s teams – known as the Diamonds, Emeralds and Rubies – taking part in the competition at Wellington College at the end of the month, will be an invitational U16 “Sapphires” side.

2014 EWDP U15 Super 3s squads in full:

Diamonds

Cassie Coombes (captain) (Somerset)

Emma Albery (Hertfordshire)

Eve Alder (Gloucestershire)

Isobel Cloke (Kent)

Providence Cowdrill (Hampshire)

Emily Edgcombe (Cornwall)

Kate Green (Shropshire)

Anna Harris (Buckinghamshire)

Ellie Mason (Cheshire)

Alice Monaghan (Hampshire)

Jessica Kate Thornton (Wales)

Eleanor Threlkeld (wkt) (Lancashire)

Adelaide Walkling (Huntingdonshire)

Emeralds

Mai Bouchier (captain) (Middlesex)

Alice Dyson (Derbyshire)

Sophie Ecclestone (Cheshire)

Kate George (Hampshire)

Elodie Harbourne (Kent)

Ellie Ingham-Hill (Devon)

Hannah Poulter (wkt) (Yorkshire)

Alicia Presland (Huntingdonshire)

Karla Rose (Somerset)

Charlotte Scarborough (Wales)

Lucy Staunton-Turner (Lancashire)

Maddie Walsh (Yorkshire)

Steph Weston (Buckinghamshire)

Rubies

Shachi Pai (captain) (Lancashire)

Georgia Boyce (Nottinghamshire)

Courtney Cooper

Mollie Davis (Kent)

Rose Evans (Wales)

Danielle Gibson (Gloucestershire)

Bess Heath (wkt) (Derbyshire)

Nancy Hebron (Essex)

Hannah Jones (Lancashire)

Jessie Jones (Devon)

Sophie Mackenzie (Cornwall)

Rebecca Newark (Yorkshire)

Erin Staunton-Turner (Lancashire)

2014 Junior Sapphires U16 squad:

Sapphires

1 Emily Arlott (Warwickshire)

2 Megan Belt (Kent)

3 Ellen Burt (Sussex)

4 Sophia Dunkley (Middlesex)

5 Phoebe Franklin (Kent)

6 Lucy Higham (Leicestershire)

7 Kennedy Nuttall (Yorkshire)

8 Millie Pope (Middlesex)

9 Georgia Relf (Leicestershire)

10 Bryony Smith (Surrey)

11 Millie Squire (Devon)

12 Mady Villers (Essex)

13 India Whitty (wkt) (Middlesex)