# Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy

The Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy was an English and Welsh women's cricket domestic competition, named after former England captain Rachael Heyhoe Flint, who died in 2017. The Trophy was held from 2020 to 2024, and was the premier women's 50-over cricket competition in England and Wales. Eight teams took part, each representing a region; these regions comprised multiple counties. The competition used a group or round-robin format, with an annual final match that decided the champions.
Initially started as a one-off tournament to replace the Women's County Championship, the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy began in August 2020. In the first edition, the Southern Vipers beat the Northern Diamonds in the final. In 2021 the competition returned as a permanent part of the women's domestic cricket structure, alongside the Charlotte Edwards Cup. The final Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy was played in 2024, won by Sunrisers. The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) replaced it with a new Women's One-Day Cup, as part of a restructuring of women's domestic cricket in England and Wales.

## History

In 2018, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) announced the launch of The Hundred in 2020, which would supersede the existing premier women's T20 cricket tournament, the Women's Cricket Super League. To accompany The Hundred, the ECB announced a plan to launch a new 'regional elite domestic structure for women's cricket', which would include the awarding of 40 new full-time professional contracts for non-England players.
These plans were put on hold due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy was eventually scheduled to begin in August 2020, with six new teams competing, alongside two teams carried over from the WCSL, Western Storm and Southern Vipers. The trophy was named after former England player Rachael Heyhoe Flint, and was intended to be a one-off, in light of the pandemic.
Southern Vipers were the inaugural champions of the tournament, beating Northern Diamonds in the final.
In February 2021, the ECB announced that the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy would continue for the following season, with a slightly altered format (also, a new regional T20 competition, the Charlotte Edwards Cup, was contested by the same eight teams). In the 2021 Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy, Southern Vipers and Northern Diamonds again reached the final, and Southern Vipers were again victorious, claiming their second title. In 2022, the Vipers and Diamonds once again reached the final, but this time the Northern Diamonds won by two runs, claiming their first title.
Ahead of the 2023 season, it was announced that the tournament was expanding, with teams now playing each other team home and away. Southern Vipers won the tournament, their third title, beating The Blaze in the 2023 final. Sunrisers defeated South East Stars in the 2024 final.
2024 was the final edition of the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy. The ECB reversed the regionalised structure of the competition and replaced it with a new Women's One-Day Cup, using the county structure.

## Teams

The teams for the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy are as follows:
| Team | County partners | Home grounds (2023) | Captain |
| Central Sparks | Herefordshire Shropshire Staffordshire Warwickshire Worcestershire | Edgbaston Cricket Ground, Birmingham New Road, Worcester Sir Paul Getty's Ground, Wormsley Scorers, Shirley | Evelyn Jones |
| Northern Diamonds | Durham Northumberland Yorkshire | Headingley Cricket Ground, Leeds Riverside Ground, Chester-le-Street North Marine Road Ground, Scarborough Clifton Park, York South Northumberland Cricket Club, Gosforth | Hollie Armitage |
| North West Thunder | Cheshire Cumbria Lancashire | Old Trafford Cricket Ground, Manchester Rookwood Cricket Ground, Sale Trafalgar Road Ground, Southport Sedbergh School, Sedbergh | Eleanor Threlkeld |
| South East Stars | Kent Surrey | County Cricket Ground, Beckenham Woodbridge Road, Guildford | Bryony Smith |
| Southern Vipers | Berkshire Buckinghamshire Dorset Hampshire Oxfordshire Sussex Isle of Wight Cricket Board | Rose Bowl, Southampton County Ground, Hove Arundel Castle Cricket Ground, Arundel Newclose County Cricket Ground, Newport | Georgia Adams |
| Sunrisers | Bedfordshire Cambridgeshire Essex Hertfordshire Huntingdonshire Middlesex Norfolk Northamptonshire Suffolk Marylebone Cricket Club | County Cricket Ground, Chelmsford County Ground, Northampton Brunton Memorial Ground, Radlett | Grace Scrivens |
| The Blaze | Derbyshire Leicestershire Lincolnshire Nottinghamshire Loughborough University | Trent Bridge, Nottingham Grace Road, Leicester John Fretwell Sporting Complex, Nettleworth Queen's Park, Chesterfield Haslegrave Ground, Loughborough | Kirstie Gordon |
| Western Storm | Cornwall Devon Glamorgan Gloucestershire Somerset Wiltshire Cricket Wales | Bristol County Ground, Bristol Sophia Gardens, Cardiff County Ground, Taunton College Ground, Cheltenham Millfield School, Street | Sophie Luff |

## Competition format

In the 2020 season, the teams were separated into a North and South Group, and each team played six group stage matches, in a double round-robin format. The two group winners played each other in the competition's final. In the following two seasons, the eight teams play each other once in a round-robin format. The second and third placed teams competed in a playoff, the winner of which played in the final against the first-placed team. In 2023, the tournament was expanded, with teams playing each other twice, home and away, in a double round-robin format. Ahead of the 2024 season, full semi-finals were added, with four teams now qualifying from the group stage.
Teams receive 4 points for a win. A bonus point is given where the winning team's run rate is 1.25 or greater times that of the opposition. In case of a tie in the standings, the following tiebreakers are applied in order: highest net run rate, team that scored the most points in matches involving the tied parties, better bowling strike rate, drawing of lots.

## Tournament results

List of Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy winners :
| Season | Winner | Runners-up | Final Venue | Player (club) | Runs | Player (club) | Wickets |
| Season | Winner | Runners-up | Final Venue | Leading run-scorer | Leading run-scorer | Leading wicket-taker | Leading wicket-taker | Notes |
| 2020 | Southern Vipers | Northern Diamonds | Edgbaston, Birmingham | Georgia Adams (Southern Vipers) | 500 | Charlotte Taylor (Southern Vipers) | 15 |
| 2021 | Southern Vipers | Northern Diamonds | County Ground, Northampton | Sophie Luff (Western Storm) | 417 | Kirstie Gordon (Lightning) | 16 |
| 2022 | Northern Diamonds | Southern Vipers | Lord's, London | Lauren Winfield-Hill (Northern Diamonds) | 470 | Grace Scrivens (Sunrisers) Linsey Smith (Northern Diamonds) | 13 |
| 2023 | Southern Vipers | The Blaze | County Ground, Northampton | Lauren Winfield-Hill (Northern Diamonds) | 663 | Georgia Davis (Central Sparks) | 27 |
| 2024 | Sunrisers | South East Stars | Grace Road, Leicester | Alice Davidson-Richards (South East Stars) | 650 | Phoebe Turner (Northern Diamonds) | 23 |