The North East Warriors Women are set to start their season on Sunday, 16th April with home fixtures at South North Cricket Club.
The merged Durham Cricket and Northumberland Cricket Board team is starting its campaign with games against Yorkshire Women and Cumbria Women in the Vitality Women’s County T20 Competition.
Twenty players have been involved in pre-season training, including Scottish International Ellen Watson. An exciting, hard hitting wicket keeper batter, Ellen will be a great addition to the squad’s top order looking to get the team off to a fast positive start.
Sterre Kalis, a contracted player with the Northern Diamonds, will play for the Warriors for a second season running.
The squad will be led by right arm off spin bowler from Willington Cricket Club Laura Ellison, who takes on the captain duties for a season consecutive year.
Rachel Hopkins will also play – following her retirement from her semi-professional career with the Northern Diamonds last season having won the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy, Hopkins will play for the Warriors in the upcoming season.
England Under-19 player Lizzie Scott has also trained with the squad in the winter, and will be available for the season opening weekend.
Maddy Atkinson, who captained the U18 Warriors towards last season’s national third place at the Royal London U18 Girls’ County Cup, is also part of the team.
The squad also features Jen McDowell, Layla Tipton, Laura Hockaday, Hayley Falla, Abbie Whybrow, Libby Haward, Ellie Tiffin, Emily Whiting, Trudy Johnson, Ciara Boaden, Harriet Robson, Mary Butler and Olivier Miller.
Head Coach Chris Ralston said: “I’m excited with the squad we have. It’s a good set of players that have quite a lot of experience and a wide range of skills.
With the depth of the squad, we will take every game as it comes – competing to win as many as we can. We are aiming to finish in the top four in the group and every game is crucial for us to do so.’’
“Pre-season has been really positive for players; we used a progressive programme along with scenario-based drills to enhance the skills needed for the season ahead.
“We have a strong squad selected for the first weekend with most Diamond Academy players available.’’
North East Warriors play Yorkshire Women at 10.30am, followed by a game against Cumbria Women at 4.30pm on Sunday, 16th April.