The Northamptonshire Women's cricket team, currently known as Northamptonshire Steelbacks Women, is the women's representative cricket team of Northamptonshire County Cricket Club. The side plays home matches at various grounds in Northamptonshire, including the cinch County Ground and Dolben Cricket Ground, Finedon.
Northamptonshire entered the national women's county structure in 2001. The team competed in the Women's County Championship until the competition ended in 2019, and subsequently took part in the Women's Twenty20 Cup and other county competitions. Since the restructuring of women's domestic cricket in 2025, Northamptonshire have competed in League 2 of the Women's One-Day Cup and Women's T20 Blast, as well as the knockout Women's T20 County Cup. The side is coached by David Ripley, with Anisha Patel captaining the 50-over team and Gemma Marriott the Twenty20 team.
History Northamptonshire Women joined the national women's cricket structure in 2001, playing in the Emerging Counties competition. Prior to this, they had only played one-off games, including matches in combined county sides. They were promoted from the Emerging Counties league in 2002, and subsequently moved between Division Three of the Women's County Championship and the County Challenge Cup, the tier below the Championship.
In 2008, Northamptonshire were promoted from Division 5 Midlands, after which they became a regular Division Four and Division Three side. In 2009, they joined the Women's Twenty20 Cup for its inaugural season and generally competed in the lower divisions of the competition.
The 2017 season saw Northamptonshire earn promotion in both the County Championship and the Twenty20 Cup, from Division Three to Division Two. They lost only one match across the two competitions and secured promotion in the Championship by defeating Durham by five wickets in a play-off. Northamptonshire batter Alicia Presland was the seventh-highest run-scorer in the Twenty20 Cup, with 224 runs.
Northamptonshire were relegated from Division Two in both competitions in 2018. In 2019, they again topped their division in both competitions. The Women's County Championship was discontinued after that season as part of a wider restructuring of women's domestic cricket.
In 2021, Northamptonshire competed in the East Midlands group of the Women's Twenty20 Cup, finishing sixth with one victory. In 2022, they won Group 5 of the 2022 Women's Twenty20 Cup, before losing the group final to Leicestershire. They also joined the East of England Women's County Championship that year, finishing fourth out of seven teams.
Northamptonshire won their regional group of the 2023 Women's Twenty20 Cup, defeating Hertfordshire in the final, and again finished fourth in the East of England Women's County Championship. In 2024, the side finished sixth in their Twenty20 Cup group and fourth in their group in the new ECB Women's County One-Day competition.
Ahead of the 2025 season, the England and Wales Cricket Board introduced a new structure for women's county cricket and Northamptonshire were placed in Tier 2. Former Northamptonshire men's head coach David Ripley was appointed head coach of the women's side. Gemma Marriott was appointed Twenty20 captain and Anisha Patel 50-over captain.
In the inaugural Women's One-Day Cup League 2 season, Northamptonshire finished third, winning seven of their nine league matches and qualifying for the semi-finals. Their campaign ended with a 61-run defeat to Glamorgan. In the Women's T20 Blast, they finished third in the League 2 North Group with three wins, four defeats and one no-result. Northamptonshire were also eliminated in the third round of the inaugural 2025 Women's T20 County Cup by Leicestershire, losing by 41 runs.
In 2026, Northamptonshire finished sixth in the Women's T20 Blast League 2, winning three of their eight matches. They reached the quarter-finals of the Women's T20 County Cup, where they were eliminated by Essex. In the One-Day Cup, Northamptonshire finished fourth in League 2 with five wins, two defeats and one tie, qualifying for the semi-finals. They were drawn away to league winners Middlesex at Radlett Cricket Club in the semi-final on 13 September.
Players Current squad Based on the squad announced for the 2026 season.
Name Nationality Notes Anisha Patel 50-over captain Gemma Marriott Twenty20 captain Beth Ascott Emily Carpenter Dual-registered with The Blaze Academy Ava Clive Dual-registered with Warwickshire Academy May Drinkell 50-over competition only Emma Gibbs Dual-registered with Essex Academy Chloe Hill Wicket-keeper Amelia Kemp Dual-registered with Yorkshire Academy Megan McColl Twenty20 competition only Ella Phillips Alicia Presland Mabel Reid Dual-registered with Essex Academy Bethan Robinson Dual-registered with Warwickshire Academy Liz Russell Lenny Sims Clara Thaker Dual-registered with Essex Academy
Notable players Players who have played for Northamptonshire and played internationally are listed below, in order of first international appearance (given in brackets):
Ciara Metcalfe (1999) Zehmarad Afzal (2000) Emma Campbell (2010) Jasmine Titmuss (2019)
Seasons Women's County Championship Season Division League standings Notes P W L T A/C BP Pts Pos 2001 Emerging Counties 2 – – – – – – Unknown 2002 Emerging Counties 2 2 0 0 0 17.5 41.5 1st Promoted 2003 Division 3 5 1 4 0 0 21.5 33.5 6th 2004 County Challenge Cup G2 3 2 0 0 1 18 53 1st 2005 County Challenge Cup G3 3 2 0 0 1 16.5 51.5 1st Promoted 2006 Division 3 6 0 5 0 1 8 12 4th Relegated 2007 County Challenge Cup Div A 6 0 3 0 3 5 35 4th Relegated 2008 Division 5M 3 3 0 0 0 0 60 1st Promoted 2009 Division 4 10 4 6 0 0 25 105 4th 2010 Division 4 9 5 4 0 0 47 97 3rd 2011 Division 4 10 4 5 0 1 50 90 4th 2012 Division 3 8 1 3 0 4 18 28 7th 2013 Division 3 8 6 2 0 0 54 114 2nd 2014 Division 3 8 4 2 0 2 40 80 3rd 2015 Division 3 8 3 4 0 1 27 57 7th 2016 Division 3 8 3 2 0 3 27 57 4th 2017 Division 3D 4 3 0 0 1 20 50 1st Promoted 2018 Division 2 7 0 7 0 0 32 32 8th Relegated 2019 Division 3B 5 5 0 0 0 36 86 1st
Women's Twenty20 Cup Season Division League standings Notes P W L T A/C NRR Pts Pos 2009 Division 5 3 2 1 0 0 +1.13 4 1st 2010 Division M&N 3 2 2 0 0 0 +2.75 4 1st Promoted 2011 Division M&N 2 3 3 0 0 0 +1.84 6 1st Lost promotion play-off 2012 Division M&N 2 3 0 3 0 0 −3.06 0 4th 2014 Division 3B 4 2 2 0 0 −0.88 8 5th 2015 Division 3 8 3 5 0 0 −1.02 12 5th 2016 Division 3 8 4 4 0 0 −0.80 16 4th 2017 Division 3C 8 7 1 0 0 +2.00 28 1st Promoted 2018 Division 2 8 1 7 0 0 −1.90 4 8th Relegated 2019 Division 3B 8 8 0 0 0 +2.20 32 1st 2021 East Midlands 8 1 5 0 2 –1.92 6 6th 2022 Group 5 6 6 0 0 0 +2.28 24 1st Lost final 2023 Group 7 6 4 2 0 0 +1.21 16 1st Group winners 2024 Group 2 8 2 2 0 4 –0.58 50 6th
ECB Women's County One-Day Season Group League standings Notes P W L T A/C BP Pts Pos 2024 Group 2 4 2 2 0 0 2 10 4th
Honours Women's Twenty20 Cup: Group winners (1) – 2023
See also Northamptonshire County Cricket Club Sunrisers (women's cricket)
References