# Leicestershire Women cricket team

The Leicestershire Women's cricket team, officially the Leicestershire and Rutland Women's cricket team since 2010, is the women's representative cricket team for the English historic counties of Leicestershire and Rutland. They play their home games at various grounds across the two counties, often in Loughborough, Leicester or Empingham. They are captained by Rebecca Brooker. In 2019, they played in Division Three of the final season of the Women's County Championship, and have since competed in the Women's Twenty20 Cup. They are partnered with the East Midlands regional side The Blaze.

## History

Leicestershire Women played their first recorded match in 1948, against Buckinghamshire Women. They also played a match against a touring Australia side in 1951, as a combined team with Buckinghamshire. Leicestershire joined the national women's cricket structure in 2004, competing in the County Challenge Cup, the lower tier of the Women's County Championship: they finished bottom of their group in their first season. After this, Leicestershire remained in the lower levels of the Championship. They won their Division 5 group two years in a row, in 2010 and 2011, and after this have mainly played in Division Three. They did gain promotion from Division Three in 2015, coming second, but were relegated the following season.
In the Women's Twenty20 Cup, Leicestershire have had some successful seasons in the lower divisions of the competition: for example, they went unbeaten in 2015 and 2016. Between 2017 and 2019, they played in Division Three. In 2021, they competed in the East Midlands Group of the Twenty20 Cup, finishing 5th with 2 victories. In 2022 they finished third in Group 5 of the Twenty20 Cup, before beating Oxfordshire and Northamptonshire on Finals Day to win their group. They also joined the East of England Women's County Championship in 2022, finishing third out of seven in their first season. In 2023, all of their group stage matches were rained-off in the Twenty20 Cup, but they lost in the semi-final on the group Finals Day. They won the East of England Women's County Championship that season, going unbeaten to top the table. In 2024, the side finished 4th in their group in the Twenty20 Cup and won their group in the new ECB Women's County One-Day tournament, winning all four of their matches.

## Players
### Current squad

Based on appearances in the 2023 season.
| Name | Nationality | 2023 Appearances | 2023 Appearances | Notes |
| Name | Nationality | WT20 | EoE | Notes |
| Rebecca Brooker | England | 1 | 4 | Club captain |
| Madi Arthur | England | 0 | 1 | |
| Grace Ballinger | England | 0 | 0 | |
| Emily Batey | England | 0 | 1 | |
| Sophie Bennett | England | 1 | 3 | Wicket-keeper |
| Ella Claridge ‡ | United States | 1 | 0 | Wicket-keeper; dual-registration with Buckinghamshire |
| Piepa Cleary | Australia | 0 | 1 | Overseas player |
| Aimee Colquhoun | England | 1 | 4 | |
| Flora Davies | England | 1 | 3 | |
| Hannah Francis | England | 1 | 3 | |
| Libby Haward | England | 0 | 1 | |
| April Herathge | England | 1 | 2 | Dual-registration with Norfolk |
| Lucinda Hunter | England | 0 | 1 | |
| Isobel Jemmott | England | 0 | 1 | |
| Katie Midwood | England | 0 | 1 | |
| Una Paramjothy | England | 1 | 4 | |
| Matilda Prince | England | 1 | 1 | |
| Brianna Ray | Bermuda | 0 | 1 | |
| Georgia Relf | England | 0 | 3 | |
| D'Nica Roff | England | 0 | 1 | |
| Prisha Thanawala | England | 0 | 1 | |
| Collette Wale | England | 0 | 1 | |
| Lucy Weston | England | 0 | 1 | |
| Katie Winterton | England | 1 | 4 | Wicket-keeper |
| Beth Wright | England | 1 | 4 | |

### Notable players

Players who have played for Leicestershire and played internationally are listed below, in order of first international appearance (given in brackets):
* Sonia Odedra (2014)
* Ella Claridge (2024)

## Seasons
### Women's County Championship

| Season | Division | League standings | League standings | League standings | League standings | League standings | League standings | League standings | League standings | Notes |
| Season | Division | P | W | L | T | A/C | BP | Pts | Pos | Notes |
| 2004 | County Challenge Cup G1 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 6.5 | 6.5 | 4th | |
| 2005 | County Challenge Cup G2 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 14 | 26 | 4th | |
| 2006 | County Challenge Cup G2 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 30 | 4th | |
| 2007 | County Challenge Cup G3 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 60 | 2nd | |
| 2008 | Division 5M | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 22 | 3rd | |
| 2009 | Division 5 N&E | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | Withdrew from competition |
| 2010 | Division 5N | 7 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 50 | 110 | 1st | |
| 2011 | Division 5E | 5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 37 | 87 | 1st | Promoted |
| 2012 | Division 3 | 8 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 14 | 34 | 3rd | |
| 2013 | Division 3 | 8 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 53 | 103 | 4th | |
| 2014 | Division 3 | 8 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 47 | 97 | 5th | |
| 2015 | Division 3 | 8 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 51 | 101 | 2nd | Promoted |
| 2016 | Division 2 | 7 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 24 | 34 | 7th | Relegated |
| 2017 | Division 3D | 4 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 21 | 41 | 2nd | |
| 2018 | Division 3E | 6 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 26 | 56 | 3rd | |
| 2019 | Division 3A | 6 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 42 | 82 | 3rd | |

### Women's Twenty20 Cup

| Season | Division | League standings | League standings | League standings | League standings | League standings | League standings | League standings | League standings | Notes |
| Season | Division | P | W | L | T | A/C | NRR | Pts | Pos | Notes |
| 2010 | Division M&N 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | +1.32 | 2 | 2nd | Lost promotion play-off |
| 2011 | Division M&N 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | +1.07 | 4 | 2nd | Lost promotion play-off |
| 2012 | Division M&N 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | +1.56 | 4 | 1st | Promoted |
| 2013 | Division M&N 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | +2.22 | 3 | 1st | |
| 2014 | Division 3C | 4 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | −0.78 | 0 | 8th | Relegated |
| 2015 | Division 4A | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | +3.16 | 16 | 1st | Lost promotion play-off |
| 2016 | Division 4C | 6 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | +1.82 | 24 | 1st | |
| 2017 | Division 3B | 8 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 1 | +0.77 | 21 | 2nd | |
| 2018 | Division 3B | 8 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 0 | +0.13 | 20 | 3rd | |
| 2019 | Division 3C | 8 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 2 | −2.07 | 4 | 4th | |
| 2021 | East Midlands | 8 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 2 | −0.72 | 10 | 5th | |
| 2022 | Group 5 | 6 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 0 | −1.24 | 8 | 3rd | Group winners |
| 2023 | Group 2 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | +0.00 | 6 | 1st | |
| 2024 | Group 2 | 8 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 2 | –0.49 | 72 | 4th | |

### ECB Women's County One-Day

| Season | Group | League standings | League standings | League standings | League standings | League standings | League standings | League standings | League standings | Notes |
| Season | Group | P | W | L | T | A/C | BP | Pts | Pos | Notes |
| 2024 | Group 2 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 20 | 1st | Group winners |

## Honours

* Women's Twenty20 Cup:
** Group winners (1) – 2022
* ECB Women's County One-Day:
** Group winners (1) – 2024