Five clubs from across the County will form the inaugural Premier League; Bells Yew Green, Brighton & Hove, Burgess Hill, Eastbourne and Horsham, with a further 10 teams making up the second division.

The structure has been created to continue the excellent growth and development of Women & Girls Cricket in Sussex, whilst also aiming to improve the quality and standard of cricket played, as well as increasing opportunities along the way.

The objective will also be to grow the Premier League over the coming years and continue to produce players for Sussex Women, Southern Vipers and Brave and England Women.

Charlotte Burton, Women & Girls Lead Officer, said: “Providing a Premier League for Women’s clubs is something we have wanted to develop for a number of years and with the continued growth of Women’s and Girls cricket in Sussex, we wanted a structure in place where Women can access more opportunities to play the longer format of the game.

It is an exciting time for Women and Girls cricket and through the work we do at schools with our two secondary school projects with Chance to Shine and the ECB, we hope to get even more girls coming into the game.”

Premier League teams will compete in both a 40 over and T20 competition, with Division 2 sides playing in a 30 over format.

The balls used for both divisions will be supplied by Gray Nicolls, who also supply balls for The 1st Central Sussex Cricket League.

Hannah Phelps, Horsham Cricket Club Women’s Captain said, “We at Horsham Cricket Club are excited to be involved in the new Sussex Women’s Premier League and believe this will strengthen the Women’s game in Sussex.

The league has the potential to grow more in the next five to ten years and we are excited to be part of the journey from the start.”

Gary Wallis-Tayler, Community Cricket Director, added: “We are thrilled to launch the first ever Sussex Women’s Premier League, a really important step to continue growing the game.

“We want to continue developing our offerings for women & girls cricketers and we hope this will encourage more female participants to want to access the game as well as wanting to play club cricket in a quality, competitive environment across Sussex.”

We are actively seeking a sponsor for the Sussex Women’s Premier League, if anyone would be interested in discussing this opportunity please contact Gary Wallis-Tayler, Community Cricket Director gary.wallis-tayler@sussexcricket.co.uk

To find out more about Women & Girls Cricket in Sussex please visit their website or contact Charlotte Burton for more information charlotte.burton@sussexcricket.co.uk

With thanks to Sussex Cricket

Bradford’s Amy Hardcastle and Rhiannon Marshall both scored three tries each, Lisa Taylor scored twice and there were further tries for Shona Hoyle, Dani Swaine and Lauren Hickey. Lisa Taylor added seven goals and Rhiannon Marshall added one. The player of the match for Bradford went to Amy Hardcastle and for Leigh Miners Mairead Quinn.

Thatto Heath St Helens were at home to Wigan St Patricks and the home side edged out Wigan 38-24.

Featherstone Rovers travelled to Oulton Raidette’s and it was the away side who earned a 32-0 win. Featherstone’s Emma Hardy scored two tries and there were further tries for Tasha Fox, Katie Cooper-Birkenhead, Jess Hammond and Sinead Peach. Katie Cooper-Birkenhead added four goals and earned the player of the match award, Oulton’s Kath Redpath earned the award for her team.

Stanningley Ladies made the journey to Normanton Knights and in a high scoring game the away side emerged with a 44-36 win.

Meanwhile, Lindley Swifts made short work of Brighouse Rangers winning  80-6.

There are no Premier League fixtures next week.

Report by Rebecca Bird

Sunday 15th May 2016 : Premier League

Oulton Raidettes 0 Featherstone Rovers 32

Selby Warriors 24 Rochdale Hornets 0

Normanton Knights 36 Stanningley 44

Thatto Heath St Helens 38 Wigan St Patricks 24

Bradford Bulls Women 60 Leigh Miners Rangers 6

Women’s Premier League Table at 15 May 2016

On Sunday Featherstone Rovers played host to Normanton Knights and it was the home side who impressed with a 56-0 win. Featherstones Nat Gilmore, Kayleigh Bulman and Emma Slowe all crossed for two tries each and there were further tries for Katie Cooper-Birkenhead, Hannah Bairstow, Andrea Dobson, Sarah Roper and Emily Rudge. Katie Cooper-Birkenhead further added to her tally with six successful goals.

Oulton Raidettes made the journey to West Craven Warriors and the visiting side worked hard to earn a 40-0 win. Vanessa Harriman impressed with a hat-rick of tries and Donna Milner and Sam Longley both scored twice each. Steph Geldard scored one try and Reagan Walker landed four successful goals.

Brighouse Ladies welcomed Selby Warriors and it was the travelling side who left with a 48-10 win. Selby’s Ash Hyde scored three tries and Sam Boyes scored twice. There were further tries for Megs Summers, Georgina Cuit, Claire Raynard and Laura Stanworth. The goal kicking for Selby was shared between Yaz Copeland and Becky Brierly who both landed one goal and Sam Boyes who converted three. Brighouses’ two tries came from Anna Simpson and Lousie Townsend with Vicky Brook converting one of the tries.

Bradford Thunderbirds welcomed Wigan St Patricks and Bradford stormed away to a 76-0 win. Shona Hoyle scored four tries and Rhiannon Marshall scored a hat-rick. Charlene Henegan scored two tries and there was one try each for Charlotte Booth, Lisa Taylor, Jess Courtman, Lauren Hickey and Jo Ollerenshaw. Lisa Taylor was on target with ten goals.

By Rebecca Bird

All Results: Sunday 6th September 2015

Premier League

Featherstone Rovers 56-0 Normanton Knights

Bradford Thunderbirds 76-0 Wigan St Patricks

Brighouse Rangers 10-48 Selby Warriors

West Craven Warriors 0-40 Oulton Raidettes

Rochdale Hornets 0-24 Stanningley

Friendly:

Hull Wyke 24-0 Ince Rose Bridge

Premier League Table:

Fixtures : Sunday 13th September 2015

Premier League:

Featherstone Rovers v Bradford Thunderbirds;

Selby Warriors v Wigan St Patricks;

Brighouse Rangers v West Craven Warriors;

Oulton Raidettes v Leigh Miners Rangers;

Stanningley v Normanton Knights;

Friendly:

Hunslet Hawks v Hull Wyke;

On Sunday Thatto Heath St Helens welcomed Leigh Miners Rangers and it was the home side who came out on top to card an impressive 80-0 win. Thatto’s Sammi Simpson led the way with a hat-trick of tries. There were two tries each for Tara Jones, Naomi Williams, Alex Simpson and Faye Gaskin. Jodie Cunningham, Rachel Thompson and Ashley Green all scored one each and Faye Gaskin added an impressive twelve goal kicks.

Normanton Knights were at home to Featherstone Rovers and it was the travelling side who emerged victorious with a 50-4 win. Featherstone’s Hannah Bairstow crossed for two tries and there were further tries for; Nat Gilmour, Kayliegh Bulman, Jas Rowley, Tasha Fox, Katie Cooper Birkenhead, Alex Wallace, Andrea Dobson Slowe and Grace Field. Katie Cooper Birkenhead added five goals and a player of the match performance to her name for the day. Normanton’s try scorer was Katie Hepworth and Marie Colley earned a deserved player of the match award.

The West Craven v Brighouse game was called off at 56 minutes because of a player injury, the score at the time was West Craven 8-28 Brighouse, we are waiting for clarification on whether the score the stand or the match will be replayed.  In the meantime we hope the injury is not serious and the player recovers quickly.

Premier League Results : Sunday 9th August 2015

Stanningley 24-0 Rochdale Hornets

Thatto Heath St Helens 80-0 Leigh Miners Rangers

Normanton Knights 4-50 Featherstone Rovers

Premier League Table:

Premier League Fixtures : Sunday 16th August 2015

Thatto Heath St Helens v Featherstone Rovers;

Selby Warriors v Stanningley;

Leigh Miners Rangers v West Craven Warriors;

Normanton Knights v Rochdale Hornets;

Oulton Raidettes v Bradford Thunderbirds;

Friendlies:

RAF Ladies Team v Hull Wyke;

Report by Rebecca Bird

On 24 minutes Selby Warriors had a try of their own, Yas Copeland crossed the white wash, and crucially landed the conversion. The remainder of the match saw both teams battle hard but neither side was able to breach the others defence, Selby held on for a very hard earned 6-4 win.

Bradford Thunderbirds welcomed Normanton Knights and it was the home side who took the spoils 44-28.

Bradford’s Manina Spurr, Shona Hoyle and Rhiannon Marshall all scored two tries each, with Lisa Taylor, Kirsty Moroney and Amy Staveley scoring one. Taylor also added 4 goals.

Normanton’s try scorers were; Lucy Eastwood, Claire Barnes, Sammy Watts, Hayley Fielding and Ana Moran, Katie Hepworth converted 4 of the tries.

Thatto Heath St Helens played host to Stanningley Ladies and in the end it was the home side who had the fire power to take the win 56-12.

Thatto’s Tara Stanley led the way with an impressive point’s tally of 32 with 4 tries and 8 goals. Further tries for Thatto came courtesy of; Jodie Cunningham, Alex Simpson, Sammi Simpson, Rachel Thompson, Chloe Hammond and Faye Gaskin.

Stanningley’s two tries came from the hard working Danika Priim with Sarah Dunn successfully converting both.

Featherstone Rovers were on the road to Oulton Raidettes and it was the travelling side who emerged with a strong 46-0 win. Hannah Bairstow lead the try scorers with a hatrick whilst Steph Grenham and Emma Slowe both scored two each. There were further tries for Grace Field, Kayliegh Bulmand and Sinead Peach. Katie Cooper-Birkenhead added 4 goals.

Full results are as follows:

Premier League : Sunday 12th July 2015

Selby Warriors 6-4 Leigh Miners Rangers

Thatto Heath St Helens 56-12 Stanningley

Bradford Thunderbirds 44-28 Normanton Knights

Oulton Raidettes 0-46 Featherstone Rovers

West Craven Warriors 24-0 Hunslet Hawks

Friendly:

Hull Wyke 24-0 Brighouse Rangers

The table now looks like this:

Report/table/scores courtesy of Rebecca Bird

League Table after just one match: