An article contributed by Matthew Kingdom.
Early Years (1930-1946)
In the early 20th century, domestic women’s cricket in England was organised regionally. In the 1930s, five “Territories” were defined by the Women’s Cricket Association (WCA): North, Midlands, South, East and West. West Women (sometimes referred to as West of England or Western Counties Women), played their first recorded match on 23rdJune 1930, against Midlands Women at Bournville Cricket Ground in Birmingham – the match was drawn after “deluges of rain delayed the start”.
Whilst they played matches against other Territories, the West did not yet exist as a formal organisation. In other parts of the country, County Associations were forming, which could then in turn make up a Territorial Association. The West had more problems: Hampshire and Dorset formed a joint Association in 1936, but had difficulties raising a team, and grants were soon sent to Devon, Gloucestershire and Hampshire with hopes of encouraging along the development of women’s cricket in the area.
A consistent theme throughout the West’s existence is complaints at the large nature of the region, making organisation extremely difficult. By the end of the 1930s, it had been allocated Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Gloucestershire, Hampshire, Herefordshire, Somerset, Wiltshire and Wales in its purview. Before 1939, perhaps cricket in the West was just beginning to develop. After World War II, West reported that they were back where they had started.
Area Association (1970-1999)
In 1969, the WCA acted, reforming its structure. Area Associations were set up, forming the primary basis for women’s cricket above the club level. West were retained as one of these Area Associations, this time with no formal county teams below them. West Women would be the foremost women’s cricket team in the area until nearly the end of the century. Over the following years, they played matches against other Areas, often other southern-based teams such as Surrey, Middlesex and Kent. They played their home matches across 9 counties, including Worcestershire, which was officially in the West Midlands region. They are recorded as playing at eight different grounds in Somerset, although they most likely played at more. Kay Green and Carol Evans, both England internationals, were perhaps the side’s most prominent long-serving players.
Territorial Association (1947-1969)
It did not take long, however, to get things going after the war, riding a wave of new interest in women’s cricket. During a tea interval on 7th June 1947, the West Territorial Association was finally formed. Gloucestershire would become their first County Association in 1949, joining alongside the Dundry and South Wales Women’s Cricket Clubs. They were followed in 1950 by Hampshire and Dorset (rejoining, still as a joint association), in 1951 by Devon and Cornwall and in 1953 by Glamorgan and Somerset.
For much of the rest of the 1950s, women’s cricket under the auspices of the West seemed to thrive, with the counties regularly playing one another, as well as contributing players to the overall West representative team, who would play against other Territories. In 1963, West played host to the touring Australia side at the County Ground, Taunton. However, by the end of the 1950s and into the 1960s, women’s cricket across the county was struggling. Counties required three clubs within their area to be affiliated in order for them to remain “official”: associations in the West began slipping below this threshold, including Somerset in 1968.
After a long period of opposition to formal competition, by the late 1970s the WCA began introducing more competitive matches. In 1978, regional matches began, played between teams that were conglomerates of Area Associations: the West joined with the West Midlands to form, confusingly, a wider region also called West. By the time the Territorial Tournament, a four-team tournament played between 1988 and 1994, began, the region was called Midwest and was made up of the East Midlands, West Midlands and West Area Associations.
Most prominently, however, West played in the Women’s Area Championship between 1980 and 1996, the first organised domestic tournament in England, played with a 55-over format. West reached the final once, in 1986, where they lost to Kent by 89 runs. In 1997, the Women’s Area Championship was replaced by the Women’s County Championship, a 50-over competition which would last until 2019. West began in Division 1 in 1997, finishing 4th out of 6 in their first season. The side was relegated the following season, however, losing all five of their matches, before finishing 2nd in Division 2 in 1999. In 1999, players from Cornwall, Devon, Somerset, Wales, Wiltshire and Worcestershire comprised the squad.
The first years of the Women’s County Championship saw a mix of county sides, regional sides and county second XIs competing. However, by the end of the fourth edition of the tournament, the regional and second XI sides had been gradually replaced by county teams, a result of a merger between the WCA and the England and Wales Cricket Board. Ahead of the 2000 season, therefore, West were replaced by Somerset, who took their place in Division 2 of the County Championship.
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