The Welsh Fire squad is composed of 15 top notch players, including two players from Australia and one from West Indies. The other 12 players are from England, with three internationals and nine domestic stars.
Squad: Piepa Cleary, Bethan Ellis, Lauren Filer, Katie George, Amy Gordon, Alexandra Griffiths, Nicole Harvey, Georgia Hennessy, Sophie Luff, Hayley Matthews, Alice Macleod, Georgia Redmayne, Bryony Smith, Sarah Taylor, Natasha Wraith
Here’s a look at each of the 15 members of the squad:
Piepa Cleary:
She is an Australian domestic cricketer who took 12 wickets in 14 games during the 2013-14 WNCL season after debuting in December 2012. She is a right arm quick and right hand bat. She also plays for Perth Scorchers in the WBBL and in WBBL career so far she has scalped 35 wickets in 48 outings, with the best bowling figures of 3-16. She made her WBBL debut as a teenager in the inaugural season of WBBL.
Bethan Ellis:
She is an all-rounder, who bats right handed and bowls right arm fast. She plays for Derbyshire and Lightning. She has previously played for Warwickshire, Shropshire and Worcestershire. In the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy 2020, playing for Lighting, she scored 120 runs in six matches, including the best of 62 in an innings and with the ball she picked up six wickets in as many games.
Lauren Filer:
She is a right arm quick who plays for Somerset and Western Storm. Her twin sister Jodie also represents Somerset. Lauren made her domestic debut in 2018. In the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy 2020, playing for Western Storm she picked up three wickets in three games. She has also played for England academy against Ireland.
Katie George:
She is an all-rounder, who bats right handed and bowls right arm quick. She plays for Hampshire and Western Storm. She has also represented England. She made her Hampshire debut in 2013. Five years later, she made her ODI debut for England in 2018 against India and T20I debut in the same year against New Zealand. She has featured in 5 T20Is and 2 ODIs. She has six international wickets.
Amy Gordon:
She is a talented right arm seamer, who plays for Surrey. She has previously played for Surrey Stars and South East Stars. She has the reputation of picking up key wickets. In her brief Kia Super League career with Surrey Stars, the two batters she dismissed were New Zealand’s experienced campaigner Suzie Bates and Australia’s swashbuckling wicket-keeper bat Alyssa Healy. In the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy 2020, playing for South East Stars, she got the prized wicket of Southern Vipers’ Georgia Adams, who was the leading run-getter of the tournament. Apart from her bowling, she can contribute with the bat lower down the order. She has been a part of England academy and development squads.
Alexandra Griffiths:
She is an all-rounder, who plays Wales and Western Storm. In the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy 2020, playing for Western Storm, the right hand batter scored 141 runs in six matches at an average of 35.25. The right arm speedster was also among wickets as she grabbed three in six innings.
Nicole Harvey:
She is an all-rounder, who bowls right arm leg spin and bats right handed. She plays her domestic cricket for Somerset and Western Storm. She has previously played for Cornwall, Devon and Nottinghamshire. She made her debut in 2005 for Cornwall. Her mother, Marilyn Richards also represented Cornwall. Nicole made her Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy debut in 2021 and playing for Western Storm she has picked up six wickets in six innings (as of July 20, 2021).
Georgia Hennessy:
She plays her domestic cricket for Somerset and Western Storm. She is an all-rounder, who is a right hand bat and right arm seamer. She has also represented Worcestershire, Warwickshire and Devon previously. In the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy 2020, playing for Western Storm, she accounted for 11 dismissals in six matches and was the leading wicket-taker for her side. She also scored 209 runs in six innings, including a century and a half century. She averaged 34.83 and was the second highest run-getter for her team.
Sophie Luff:
She made her domestic debut in 2009 when she was just 15 years old. She plays for Somerset and Western Storm. She made her county debut in 2009 at the age of 15. In the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy 2020, playing for Western Storm, she mustered 339 runs in six matches, including one century and three half centuries. She was the leading run scorer for her team. The Taunton-born cricketer is known to be a tough top order bat.
Hayley Matthews:
She is a West Indies’ international cricketer. Right from a very young age, she achieved a lot in the field of cricket. At the age of 11, she was the captain of her school’s boys’ team. By the time she was 12, she was already in the Barbados senior women’s team. She made her West Indies debut in 2014 at the age of 16. The right hand opening bat and right arm off spinner has featured in 58 T20Is and has scored 1028 runs, including one century and four half centuries. She has a strike rate of 104.47. With the ball, she has scalped 54 wickets in 52 innings, including two four-wicket hauls.
Alice Macleod:
She is a right hand bat and a right arm off spinner, who plays for Essex. She previously played for Southern Vipers and Western Storm in the Women’s Cricket Super League. She made her domestic debut in 2008 for Berkshire. In the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy 2020, playing for the Sunrisers, she scalped four wickets in six matches at an economy of 5.29 and scored 68 runs with the bat.
Georgia Redmayne:
She is an Australian domestic cricketer who plays as a wicket-keeper-batter for Queensland Fire and Brisbane Heat. The left hand bat has previously been part of Worcestershire, New South Wales Breakers, Tasmania, Hobart Hurricanes and Perth Scorchers. In WBBL 2020, playing for Brisbane Heat, the team that reached the semi-finals, the left hand bat muscled 357 runs in 14 innings at an average of 32.45 and strike rate of 118.60. She is a power hitter which is evident from the fact that she smashed 42 boundaries and half a dozen sixes in the tournament.
Bryony Smith:
She plays her domestic cricket for Surrey and South East Stars, having made her debut in 2014. She has also represented England when she played against India in 2018. She has featured in three T20Is and one ODI, which she played against West Indies in 2019. In the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy 2020, playing for South East Stars, the right arm off spinner picked up four wickets in three matches
Sarah Taylor:
She has been one of the most successful wicket-keeper batter for England. With an international career spanning over 12 years, she represented the national side in 90 T20Is and scored 2177 runs, including 16 half centuries at a strike rate of 110.67 and average 29.02. Behind the stumps, she has accounted for 74 dismissals. She holds the record of having the maximum stumpings (51) in women’s T20Is and second highest dismissals (74). The right hand bat is also the second fastest to 1000 T20I runs in women’s cricket.
Natasha Wraith:
She is a wicket-keeper and a right hand bat, who plays for Somerset and Western Storm, having played for Gloucestershire previously. In the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy 2020, playing for Western Storm, she scored 111 runs in six matches, including her best of 68. Behind the stumps, she accounted for five dismissals, including one catch and four stumpings. She is joint third on the list of wicket-keepers with the most dismissals in the tournament.
I am a former cricketer having represented Mumbai University at All India University level. I was a part of MCA probables for the U-19 and U-23 age group. I have been an avid cricket writer for the last five years. Currently I am pursuing my Ph.D from IIT Bombay.