# 1997 Women's County Championship

The 1997 Women's County One-Day Championship was the inaugural cricket Women's County Championship season, succeeding the Women's Area Championship. It took place in July and saw 7 county teams, 3 county Second XIs and 6 regional teams compete in a series of divisions. Yorkshire Women won the title, topping Division 1 unbeaten.

## Competition format

Teams played matches within a series of divisions with the winners of the top division being crowned County Champions. Matches were played using a one day format with 50 overs per side.
The championship works on a points system with positions within the divisions being based on the total points. Points were awarded as follows:
Win: 12 points. Tie: 6 points. Loss: Bonus points. No Result: 11 points. Abandoned: 11 points.
Up to five batting and five bowling points per side were also available.

## Teams

The 1997 Championship consisted of 16 teams, with Divisions One and Two consisting of six teams apiece and Division Three with four teams. Teams played each other once.
| Division One | East Anglia | Kent | Surrey | West Midlands | West of England | Yorkshire |
| Division Two | East Midlands | Lancashire and Cheshire | Middlesex | Thames Valley | Sussex | Yorkshire Second XI |
| Division Three | Derbyshire | Hampshire | Surrey Second XI | Sussex Second XI |

## Qualifier

* 5 July 1997 (1997-07-05) Scorecard
| Surrey Second XI 76 (47.1 overs) | v | Yorkshire Second XI 85 (47.2 overs) |
| Enid Bakewell 19 (89) Joanne de Tute 5/19 (9 overs) | | Alison Elder 26 (77) Enid Bakewell 3/11 (10 overs) |
* Yorkshire Second XI won by 9 runs Queens' and Robinson College Grounds, Cambridge Umpires: Alan Fox and John Hayes
* Surrey Second XI won the toss and elected to field.
* Yorkshire Second XI to compete in Division Two.

## Division One

| Team | Pld | W | L | T | A | Bat | Bowl | Ded | Pts |
| Yorkshire (C) | 5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 21 | 20 | 0 | 101 |
| West Midlands | 5 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 15 | 17.5 | 0 | 68.5 |
| Surrey | 5 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 19 | 12 | 0 | 67 |
| West of England | 5 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 17 | 12 | 0 | 53 |
| Kent | 5 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 16.5 | 15 | 0 | 43.5 |
| East Anglia (R) | 5 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 17 | 5 | 0 | 34 |
Source: Cricket Archive

## Division Two

| Team | Pld | W | L | T | A | Bat | Bowl | Ded | Pts |
| Thames Valley (P) | 5 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 19 | 16.5 | 0 | 83.5 |
| Lancashire and Cheshire | 5 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 18.5 | 20.5 | 0 | 75 |
| East Midlands | 5 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 20 | 15.5 | 0 | 71.5 |
| Yorkshire Second XI | 5 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 15.5 | 17 | 0 | 68.5 |
| Middlesex | 5 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 16 | 10 | 0 | 38 |
| Sussex | 5 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 13 | 0 | 37 |
Source: Cricket Archive

## Division Three

| Team | Pld | W | L | T | A | Bat | Bowl | Ded | Pts |
| Derbyshire (P) | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 11 | 10.5 | 0 | 57.5 |
| Surrey Second XI | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 10.5 | 10.5 | 0 | 45 |
| Hampshire | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 8.5 | 0 | 28.5 |
| Sussex Second XI | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 6.5 | 2.5 | 0 | 9 |
Source: Cricket Archive

## Statistics
### Most runs

| Player | Team | Matches | Innings | Runs | Average | HS | 100s | 50s |
| Jane Smit | East Midlands | 5 | 5 | 429 | 143.00 | 136 | 2 | 2 |
| Ruth Lupton | Surrey | 5 | 5 | 296 | 74.00 | 151* | 1 | 1 |
| Claire Taylor | Thames Valley | 5 | 5 | 296 | 98.66 | 97 | 0 | 3 |
| Lucy McGrother | Lancashire and Cheshire | 5 | 5 | 276 | 69.00 | 95* | 0 | 2 |
| Mandy Freeman | Surrey | 5 | 5 | 226 | 45.20 | 104 | 1 | 1 |
Source: CricketArchive

### Most wickets

| Player | Team | Balls | Wickets | Average | BBI | 5w |
| Helen Pack | West Midlands | 300 | 11 | 9.18 | 4/21 | 0 |
| Amanda Beehag | Surrey Second XI | 101 | 9 | 6.44 | 6/12 | 1 |
| Debra Stock | Thames Valley | 281 | 9 | 12.77 | 4/14 | 0 |
| Allyson Byrne | Lancashire and Cheshire | 240 | 9 | 16.11 | 3/23 | 0 |
| Karen Smithies | East Midlands | 227 | 8 | 10.25 | 6/15 | 1 |
Source: CricketArchive