The Eagles and the Stormers are Cricket Scotland’s freshly branded women’s regional teams and they’re ready to kick off this summer’s female cricket season. They’ll go head to head this Sunday at Grange CC in Edinburgh in a 50 over match.
They’ll follow this up by contesting six T20 matches over the rest of the summer in a series which gives the best players in the country the chance to play against each other. This is their opportunity to put their hands up for selection in front of the National Coaches.
Why the rebrand? We spoke to Cricket Scotland Female Performance Pathway Coordinator Gordon Allan to hear all about it,
“In previous seasons we’ve had the ‘East’ and the ‘Rest’ compete in this regional series, but we wanted to create a much more professional look and feel for such an important element of the female performance pathway.
“We worked closely with the players involved to create two new brands that we hope will freshen up the competition and create a sense of pride and identity, not only for those who currently compete in it, but for all the young girls who are currently involved at clubs and development centres across the country.”
The Eagles squad is selected from players based in the East, while the Stormers squad is made up of players from the West and Caledonian regions. As this competition acts as a tool for national selection, Wildcats head coach, Steven Knox, is excited for what’s to come,
“I’m really looking forward to the start of what is a huge season for Scottish female cricket. The Wildcats will try to qualify for the T20 World Cup and, in addition to this, gain promotion to Division One of the ECB county competition. The A team will be striving hard to be promoted to Division Two of the ECB 50 over county competition.
“The regional series presents the opportunity for members of both the senior and A team squads to go head to head and, with only two teams participating in the competition, we can really see where the potential lies. With 16 players from the Wildcats squad taking part in the first 50 over game on one of the best grounds in the country, it should be a great day’s cricket.”
Eagles: Katie McGill (capt,) Abbi Aitken, Sarah Bryce, Ikra Farooq, Ruth Foulds, Katherine Fraser, Kitty Levinson, Caitlin Ormiston, Riti Patel, Hannah Rainey, Ruth Willis
Stormers: Lorna Jack (capt,) Dawn-Marie Armstrong, Emily Cavender, Priyanaz Chatterji, Becky Glen, Abtaha Maqsood, Megan McColl, Jess Mills, Rachel Scholes, Ellen Watson, Lois Wilkinson
You can follow the activity of both teams throughout the summer on Twitter via the following account names @CSEagles18 and @CSStormers18, or, even better, pop down to Grange on Sunday for what promises to be an exciting start to the women’s summer of cricket.
A full list of the 2018 fixtures can be found HERE
