Historic Hampshire Women Crowned Division Two Champions

Hampshire Women have been crowned Champions of Division Two of the Women’s County Championship, securing promotion to Division One for the first time in their history.

Naomi Lynch’s side needed to win both of their games against Devon and the then unbeaten league leaders Somerset over the weekend to stand any chance of going up.

Suzie Bates delivered on the big occasion, hitting half-centuries in both games to guide her side to the title on home soil with a seven-wicket win over Somerset at Hursley Park on Monday afternoon.

However, it has been a group effort in a team full of exciting young stars mixed with the experience of Bates and former England captain Charlotte Edwards.

Hampshire have won six of their seven 50-over games this season, which included convincing victories against Worcestershire, Derbyshire and Staffordshire.

It has been a remarkable rise for the County, who were languishing in Division Four back in 2011, a long long way away from playing against the likes of Nat Sciver and Lea Tahuhu in Division Two.

Hampshire Women were slowly rising through the leagues, earning promotion up to Division Two after an incredibly successful 2015 season, where they won both the T20 and 50 over competitions in Division Three under the leadership of Ron Hodgson.

The coach has been with the side for three seasons, helping nurture and develop the players to a point where they established themselves in Division Two.

The county then found themselves attracting international players, signing Bates and Edwards ahead of the 2017 campaign.

Only bad weather denied them the chance of earning promotion to Division One of the T20 league back in July, with the side needing to win just one of their two remaining games to earn promotion.

Despite the initial frustration, there has still been plenty to be cheerful about at the The Ageas Bowl.

Katie George and Charlie Dean are representing Southern Vipers in the 2017 Kia Super League, whilst a host of others are playing in the Southern Electric Premier League against male professionals.

Hampshire Women are now in a position where they can effectively replicate the training and intensity of the men’s team which is something that Head of Performance Bob Parks is grateful for.

He said: “The Cricket Board and especially Mike Pollard have worked hard over the last couple of years to put resources such as money and expertise into the girl’s game.”

“We’re trying to do some of the things we do in the men’s game which is setting up a Junior Academy, a Senior Academy and making sure there’s time for the teams and squads to come in and practice because in the past that’s been very limited for them.”

Women’s cricket has experienced a major growth in recent seasons, with the game generating the most interest it’s ever had with England winning the Women’s World Cup in front of a sold-out Lord’s Cricket Ground in July.

There is without doubt more money in the Women’s game, with the leading internationals in Australia now earning as much as up to £200,000 a year, whilst state and WBBL players will earn as much as £50,000.

Parks has outlined his intentions into how Hampshire are looking to grow the game financially so that his players can purely focus on cricket and therefore his side will improve as a result.

“We’re probably looking to double our financial resources hopefully year on year, hopefully we find with new incentives coming in through the ECB that some of those finances might improve in 2-3 years’ time.

“The difficulty for the girls is that they’re looking for careers outside of cricket because we haven’t been able to pay them to play so we can’t find them careers within cricket but that hopefully will change over the next 5 years.”

Fortunately, Hampshire are blessed with a wealth of young talent with fantastic team spirit. The future is just as promising with the U15 girls being crowned National Champions with victory over Yorkshire last week.

Hampshire Women have experienced a phenomenal season, but the journey has only just begun for this current crop of players as they prepare to rub shoulders with the best in the Women’s game.