The Essex women's cricket team is the women's representative cricket team for the English historic county of Essex. They play their home games at various grounds across the county, including Toby Howe Cricket Ground, Billericay and Garon Park, Southend-on-Sea. They are captained by Grace Scrivens. In 2019, they played in Division Two of the final season of the Women's County Championship, and have since played in the Women's Twenty20 Cup. They are partnered with the regional side Sunrisers.
History 1949–2000: Early history Essex Women played their first recorded match in 1949, against Buckinghamshire Women. Over the following years, Essex went on to play various one-off matches, most often against local Second XI teams.
2000– : Women's County Championship Essex joined the Women's County Championship in 2001, competing in Division Three, in which they came third, with two victories. They played in the bottom tier of the Championship until 2008, when they were promoted to Division Two. In Division Two, Essex performed strongly, finishing third and second in their first two seasons before being promoted in 2011. In a rain-hit 2012 season, Essex then finished second in Division One, behind Kent. After this, however, Essex fell away, being relegated from Division One in 2014, and then again from Division Two in 2016. They managed to bounce straight back, winning Division 3C in 2017, and playing in Division Two ever since. Meanwhile, in the Women's Twenty20 Cup, Essex have been a volatile side: when the tournament was regionalised in its early years, Essex bounced between Divisions One and Two of the South section. Since, they briefly fell into Division 3 in 2018, but apart from this have played in Division 2, achieving their best finish of 3rd in 2015.
The side began competing in the Women's London Championship in 2020. In 2021, they competed in the South East Group of the Twenty20 Cup, but finished bottom. They topped their group in the 2022 Women's Twenty20 Cup, but lost to Suffolk in the group final. Essex finished third in their group in the 2023 Women's Twenty20 Cup, but won the Women's London Championship, winning all four of their matches. In 2024, the side finished 4th in their group in the Twenty20 Cup and 4th in their group in the new ECB Women's County One-Day tournament.
Players Current squad No. denotes the player's squad number, as worn on the back of their shirt. denotes players with international caps. No. Name Nationality Birth date Batting style Bowling style Notes Batters4 Flo Miller Right-handed Right-arm medium 6 Cordelia Griffith Right-handed Right-arm medium 25 Liberty Heap Right-handed Right-arm off break All-rounders 9 Jodi Grewcock Left-handed Right-arm leg break 14 Jo Gardner Right-handed Right-arm off break 16 Sophia Smale Right-handed Slow left-arm orthodox 29 Grace Scrivens Left-handed Right-arm off break Club captain Wicket-keepers 17 Amara Carr Right-handed — Bowlers8 Esmae MacGregor Right-handed Right-arm medium 12 Clara Thaker Right-handed Right-arm medium 18 Abtaha Maqsood Right-handed Right-arm leg break 22 Sophie Munro Right-handed Right-arm medium Source: Updated: 1 October 2026
Notable players Players who have played for Essex and played internationally are listed below, in order of first international appearance (given in brackets):
Lucy Doolan (2008) Sian Ruck (2009) Beth MacGregor (2010) Beth Langston (2013) Kristen Beams (2014) Leigh Kasperek (2015) Catherine Dalton (2015) Sterre Kalis (2018) Abtaha Maqsood (2018) Yasmin Daswani (2019) Mady Villiers (2019) Heather Graham (2019) Sharanya Sadarangani (2020) Jodi Grewcock (2026)
Seasons Women's County Championship Season Division League standings Notes P W L T A/C BP Pts Pos 2001 Division 3 4 2 2 0 0 31.5 55.5 3rd 2002 Division 3 5 1 2 0 2 21.5 55.5 4th 2003 Division 3 5 0 3 1 1 25 42 5th 2004 County Challenge Cup G2 2 1 1 0 0 14.5 26 3rd 2005 County Challenge Cup G2 3 1 2 0 0 25.5 37.5 3rd 2006 County Challenge Cup G2 3 2 1 0 0 4 44 1st Lost promotion playoff 2007 County Challenge Cup Div A 6 3 1 0 2 4 99 2nd 2008 Division 4 6 6 0 0 0 0 120 1st Promoted 2009 Division 2 10 4 6 0 0 33 103 3rd 2010 Division 2 10 8 2 0 0 63 143 2nd 2011 Division 2 10 7 2 0 1 61 131 1st Promoted 2012 Division 1 8 2 0 0 6 16 36 2nd 2013 Division 1 8 2 5 0 1 32 52 8th 2014 Division 1 8 1 5 0 2 20 30 9th Relegated 2015 Division 2 8 3 4 0 1 39 69 5th 2016 Division 2 7 0 7 0 0 32 32 8th Relegated 2017 Division 3C 5 5 0 0 0 37 87 1st Promoted 2018 Division 2 7 3 3 0 1 25 55 6th 2019 Division 2 7 5 2 0 0 44 94 3rd
Women's Twenty20 Cup Season Division League standings Notes P W L T A/C NRR Pts Pos 2009 Division 3 3 2 0 0 1 +0.61 5 1st 2010 Division S&W 1 3 2 1 0 0 −0.75 4 2nd 2011 Division S1 3 0 3 0 0 −1.38 0 4th Relegated 2012 Division S2 3 3 0 0 0 +6.17 6 1st Promoted 2013 Division S1 3 0 3 0 0 −2.70 0 4th 2014 Division 1B 4 0 4 0 0 −3.44 0 9th Relegated 2015 Division 2 8 5 3 0 0 +0.31 20 3rd 2016 Division 2 7 3 3 0 1 +0.55 13 5th 2017 Division 2 8 1 6 0 1 −0.79 5 9th Relegated 2018 Division 3C 8 7 1 0 0 +3.23 28 1st Promoted 2019 Division 2 8 4 2 0 2 −0.07 18 5th 2021 South East 8 0 6 0 2 −1.54 2 6th 2022 Group 4 6 6 0 0 0 +3.92 24 1st Lost final 2023 Group 7 6 2 1 0 3 +0.54 11 3rd 2024 Group 3 8 3 4 0 1 +0.27 63 4th
ECB Women's County One-Day Season Group League standings Notes P W L T A/C BP Pts Pos 2024 Group 4 4 1 2 0 1 1 6 4th
See also Essex County Cricket Club Sunrisers (women's cricket)
References