Article contributed by Matthew Kingdom
An audio version of this article has been added here
Women’s cricket in England developed throughout the 20thcentury under the auspices of the Women’s Cricket Association (WCA). In the 1930s, the first “County Associations” were formed, each affiliating to one of five Territorial Associations: North, Midlands, South, East and West.
In order to form a County Association, a county must have three affiliated clubs or colleges. The words “county cricket” specifically were discouraged by the WCA in early years, and there was no desire for formal competition along the lines of the men’s County Championship. Instead, the focus was on individually-organised matches, with the centrepiece being the WCA’s annual Cricket Week, where players from across the country gathered to play the sport.
Cricket in the West Territorial Association took until after World War II to properly get going: Gloucestershire formed a County Association in 1949, with Hampshire and Dorset, Devon, and Cornwall joining in the early 1950s.
The Original Somerset Women (1953-1968)
Finally, in early 1953, three cricket clubs in Somerset had been established, allowing the county to form an Association. On 9thMay 1953, at St Katherine’s School, Taunton, trials led to a squad for the season being selected, and officers were elected. Somerset Women were officially in existence. 1953 would be an eventful year for women’s cricket more generally in Somerset, too: Taunton Women’s Cricket Club was formed as well, based at Bishop Fox’s School, and the County Ground, Taunton hosted its first match, between South of England and a Women’s Cricket Association XI.
Somerset Women, meanwhile, played their first match on 6thJune 1953, against Gloucestershire A. Somerset’s J Abbott took 6/13 as Gloucestershire A were bowled out for 58, which Somerset chased down with five wickets to spare. Somerset also beat Devon on 8th August 1953, although they did lose their other match in their first season (against unknown opponents).
Over following years, Somerset Women would play around four matches per year, often against local rivals such as Gloucestershire, Devon, Cornwall, Glamorgan, and Hampshire and Dorset (who fielded a combined team). Somerset generally held their own, winning around half their matches against these local sides: the general understrength of the region, however, was exposed when they played against Surrey 2nd XI and Middlesex 2nd XI, where they were thrashed each time. Matches against local rivals Gloucestershire, meanwhile, could prove dramatic and contentious: a match on the 23rd July 1960 saw Somerset reduced to 28-9 before a 35-minute long partnership between G Dulborough and B Trimbyforced a draw; the following year, a Gloucestershire match report blamed ‘continual shifting of fielders for each over’ from Somerset to waste time for another draw.
Somerset Women could claim a few exceptional players. Most obviously was their one England representative, Audrey Disbury. Although hailing from Bedford and playing most of her cricket for Kent, she appeared for Somerset in 1955 and 1956, as she was stationed at Yeovil for her job with the Women’s Royal Naval Service. Internationally, she would play 10 Test matches and six ODIs; for Somerset, she claimed one five-wicket haul as well as coming straight in to captain the side in both of her seasons with the club. Meanwhile, J Britton, who played for Somerset between 1954 and 1966, would claim at least four five-wicket hauls for the side, including 8-15 against Gloucestershire in 1959, and Peggy Chapman, appearing for Somerset between 1956 and 1967, would make scores of 70* and 71* in consecutive seasons in 1966 and 1967, most impressive in a time where team scores were very low.
The broader picture of women’s cricket, however, would not be kind to Somerset Women. Having reached a high after World War II, by the 1960s participation rates across the country were well down, and by the late 1960s counties began to unaffiliate from the WCA, due to lack of affiliated clubs. This is clearly reflected in the teams Somerset ended up playing in this period, such as Winchester and Cardiff club sides, rather than their local county rivals. Soon enough, the same fate befell Somerset, who are reported as having “failed to affiliate” during the 1968 season, amongst a general “declining interest in cricket” in the West region. Overall, in 44 recorded matches between 1953 and 1967, they had won 15, lost 19 and drawn 8, with two ending in no result due to rain.
Seemingly in response, in 1969 the WCA would move away from a county system for its organisation, instead setting up Area Associations that formed the primary basis for women’s cricket above the club level. Some counties, such as Kent, Yorkshire and Surrey, retained enough interest to sustain an Area Association by themselves. Others would cover much larger territories: [the West] would be one of these, and would be the foremost team in the area for the next thirty years, including competing in the Women’s Area Championship between 1980 and 1996 and the Women’s County Championship between 1997 and 1999.
Even so, some former Somerset players did not take this change lying down, going on to form the [Somerset Wanderers Ladies Cricket Club], based in Bath, in 1969. The club would go on to be very successful, and sometimes would be referred to in WCA documents as simply “Somerset”: the county name living on throughout the rest of the 20th century, even if no official team existed.
The Revival, and into the Women’s County Championship and Women’s Twenty20 Cup (1999-2019)
During the 1999 season, it was known that it would the final year for West: after the merging of the Women’s Cricket Association and the England and Wales Cricket Board in 1998, regional sides were gradually replaced with county teams. A new Somerset squad was therefore reformed in 1999, taking on many of West’s players: as the only newly-established county in the area, players still came from across the South West and Wales to represent Somerset. They played four friendlies in 1999: two against Surrey and one apiece against Derbyshire and Thames Valley, winning two and losing two.
Led by Kath Wilkins, Somerset played their first Women’s County Championship match on 29th July 2000 against East Anglia at Churchill College Ground, Cambridge. Somerset bowled their opponents out for 140 before chasing their target down in just 32 overs for the loss of one wicket, with Hannah Lloyd scoring 63*. Somerset went on to win three matches and lose two overall, finishing third in Division 2 in their first season.
Somerset continued to be a mid-table Division 2 side over the following seasons, until 2004, when they won Division 2 for the first time. However, Somerset were not promoted, due to a restructure of the Women’s County Championship: the divisions were reduced to four teams from six, meaning Somerset stayed in Division 2.
This was not the only change to the County Championship in 2005: some matches were now to be played home and away. Previously, all teams gathered in Cambridge over the course of a long weekend to play all of their matches. Somerset’s first home County Championship match, therefore, was their first of 2005, against Surrey at Willis Lane, North Perrott. Their second home match was the first time that Somerset would play at the County Ground, Taunton, where they beat Nottinghamshire by 43 runs including a strong all-round performance from Steph Davies, who scored 65 and took 4/17. Somerset went on to win Division 2, claiming promotion to Division 1 for the first time. Relegation swiftly followed, however, as Somerset managed just one win in the 2006 Women’s County Championship.
In 2007, a return to the County Ground, Taunton for Somerset saw Anya Shrubsole take 7/28, the best-ever bowling figures for Somerset in a List A match to see her side to a big win against Surrey. In 2008, Somerset this time benefited from another County Championship restructure to gain promotion, finishing second as Division 1 expanded to six teams for the following year.
2009 saw the introduction of a new tournament to the women’s county structure, the Women’s Twenty20 Cup. Somerset competed in Division 2, played over a weekend in Wellingborough and Malvern, and won their division, although full scorecards for the matches are not available. Somerset also survived a season in Division 1 of the Women’s County Championship, finishing fourth. Somerset were relegated from Division 1 of the County Championship in 2010, however, whilst they finished third out of four in the South & West Division 1 in the new regionalised format of the Women’s Twenty20 Cup. Another restructure of the Women’s County Championship in 2011, with the top division expanding to nine teams, benefited Somerset, as they gainedpromotion from finishing third. They again finished third in their regional division of the Women’s Twenty20 Cup.
The new format of the Women’s County Championship introduced a series of play-offs for promotion and relegation, within which Somerset became entangled in in 2012. They finished bottom of Division 1, meaning a play-off against eighth-placed Yorkshire: however, the match was abandoned due to rain and Yorkshire survived relegation due to their original group position. Somerset therefore next played a Promotion/Relegation play-off against Division 2 Champions Warwickshire, narrowly losing by one wicket with two balls remaining, seeing Somerset relegated. In the Women’s Twenty20 Cup, meanwhile, Somerset finished second in their regional division to advance to the group final, which was abandoned due to rain.
2013 again saw Somerset facing play-offs in the County Championship, this time chasing promotion: after finishing second in Division 2, they beat division winners Lancashire by 13 runs in their first play-off, therefore being crowned Champions of Division 2. However, their subsequent Promotion/Relegation play-off against Essex was abandoned due to rain, meaning Somerset stayed in Division 2. Somerset also found success in the Women’s Twenty20 Cup, winning their regional division. In their final group match against Wales, Somerset set a number of records: Anya Shrubsole’s109* is the first and only T20 century for Somerset Women, and the fastest century by an English woman in T20 crickettaking just 45 deliveries to reach the milestone. Also, their final total of 255/3 is the highest total in English women’s T20 cricket. Later that same day, however, there was disappointment as Somerset lost the Division Final to second-placed Berkshire by 3 runs.
In 2014, Somerset once again fell foul of the Women’s County Championship play-off system: they finished second in Division 2, but lost a tense play-off against Division 1 second-bottom side Warwickshire, who required 23 from 18 balls before economical overs left them needing 16 from the last over, only for Somerset to lose by three wickets off the final delivery of the match. However, they did gain promotion to the new national Division 1 in the Women’s Twenty20 Cup, finishing second in a two-stage format in Division 2.
2015 saw mixed fortunes for Somerset, with a promotion and a relegation. They won Division 2 of the Women’s County Championship, setting records on the way: their highest team List A score, with 312/2 against Devon including centuries for both Lizelle Lee and Sophie Luff, and the highest individual List A score for Somerset, with Sophie Luff making 138* at the County Ground, Taunton. Somerset were simultaneously relegated from Division 1 of the Women’s Twenty20 Cup, however, finishing second-bottom.
2016 was a reverse of the previous season: relegation in the Women’s County Championship and promotion in the Women’s Twenty20 Cup, as they won Division 2. In 2017, for the third year running, Somerset again both achieved a promotion and suffered a relegation, with a second-place finish in Women’s County Championship Division 2, and a second-bottom finish in Women’s Twenty20 Cup Division 1. Another relegation followed in 2018 in the Women’s County Championship as they finished bottom of Division 1, whilst the highlight of a fifth-place finish in Women’s Twenty20 Cup Division 2 was Jackie Hawker taking the first five-wicket haul for Somerset in T20 cricket, with 5/6 against Cheshire.
2019 would prove to be the final year of the Women’s County Championship and nationally-based competition in the Women’s Twenty20 Cup. Somerset finished second-bottom of Division 2 in the Women’s County Championship, but won Division 2 of the Women’s Twenty20 Cup, with Sophie Luff ending as the leading run-scorer across all divisions in the tournament, with 316 runs.
Women’s County Cricket Takes a Backseat (2020-present)
Ahead of the 2020 season, a larger plan was implemented for women’s cricket in England that involved an overhaul of the domestic structure. This included the introduction of eight new “regional hubs” for women’s domestic cricket, with the whole country represented. Western Storm, who had previously competed in the Kia Super League (2016-2019),became the primary women’s domestic team in the region and began moving towards full professionalisation. With focus from the England and Wales Cricket Board firmly on nurturing the new structure, women’s county cricket was slated to take a backseat. The Women’s County Championship was ended. The Women’s Twenty20 Cup was scheduled to be played in 2020, but cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic: Somerset therefore did not play that season.
2021 saw the return of women’s county cricket, now organised regionally with no national winner and the sole competition, the Women’s Twenty20 Cup, taking place at the very start of the season. Somerset competed in the West Midlands Group, winning five of their eight matches to win the group. In 2022, Somerset finished second in their four team regional group in the Women’s Twenty20 Cup, although all four teams advanced to a group finals day. Somerset went on to beat Wales in the group semi-final, before losing to Warwickshire in the final by 4 wickets.
Somerset’s 2023 season was decimated by rain, with all six of their group matches in their regional Women’s Twenty20 group abandoned. However, they still advanced to the group finals day, where they beat Devon in the semi-final before defeating Wales under the floodlights at the County Ground, Taunton by 9 wickets to win the group.