Steph Davies

Stephanie Ann Davies (born 21 October 1987) is a former international cricketer who represented England in four One Day Internationals (ODIs) as well as Somerset in county cricket.

She was a right-arm medium-fast bowler and right-handed batter.

After making her county debut for Somerset at the age of 13, Davies quickly progressed into the England development and youth sides.

She played four of Somerset's five Women's County Championship matches in 2001, and claimed her first wicket for the side in the third of these, trapping Derbyshire's Jane Morris leg before wicket during an economical spell in which she conceded only five runs off four overs.

Davies progressed quickly into the England development squad, representing them in a 2002 match against British Universities Sports Association.

She also played a match for Wales, helping her native country defeat Scotland by seven wickets.

Although she did not appear for Somerset in the County Championship during the season, she did help Somerset Wanderers reach the semi-final of the ECB Women's National Knockout.

In 2002, she made her first appearance in the Super Fours—a competition in which the England selectors place the 48 leading players into four teams—playing one match for the Knight Riders.

She was chosen as part of the England Under-19s squad to tour Australia during the English winter of 2002–03, in which the England side took part in the Women's Australian Under-19 Championships.

Davies had little impact in the competition, claiming two wickets from her nine overs, and scoring eleven runs during her two innings.

She also played in one of the two matches against the Australia Under-19s side, bowling six overs in which she claimed one wicket.

In 2003, Davies was again selected for the Super Fours competition, appearing in three matches for the Braves without standing out.

She played five County Championship matches for Somerset, moving up the batting order; after batting at number four in her first match of the season, she was promoted to open the innings for the remainder of the season.

The move proved profitable, she passed her previous highest total during her first match in the new position, scoring 35 against Middlesex, and after a couple of lower totals, she made her highest score in women's List A cricket when she scored 70 against Hampshire.

Despite this move she remained in the lower order on her next international appearance, a 50-over contest for the England development squad which served as a warm-up for the touring South Africa national women's cricket team.

She claimed three wickets during her seven overs as the English side won by seven wickets.

Twenty20 cricket was introduced into the English women's domestic game for the first time in 2004 as part of the Super Fours competition.

Playing her first match of this format, Davies took four wickets for Braves, helping them to a 12 run victory in the semi-final of the competition.

Davies had some success in the 50-over tournament; although she only claimed two wickets in her four matches, she boasted the third lowest economy rate.

She continued to open the batting for Somerset, but did not pass 50 runs in a match during her four matches for the county.

Upon the conclusion of the English domestic season, Davies travelled to Ireland as part of the England squad to compete in the 2004 Women's European Under-21 Championships.

Davies played two different roles for England during the tournament; in the first match she was used purely as an opening batsman, scoring 25 runs off 27 balls to help chase down a small Scotland total of 57 in under 10 overs.

In the subsequent two matches, she batted as part of the middle order, and bowled at least five overs in each match.

Against the Netherlands, she bowled very economically, finishing with figures of 1/5 off her 5.3 overs.

England won all three of their matches to win the competition.

During 2005, Davies passed 50 twice, making 65 against Nottinghamshire and 51 against Berkshire in the second half of the season.

Due to her improved performances with the bat in the previous season, Davies was promoted to bat slightly higher in the order for the Braves, playing two matches at number five and two at number three.

At the close of the season, she played for England A women in a match against the senior England side, scoring 8 runs after opening the batting.

She was then selected as part of the England Development Squad to compete in the 2005 Women's European Championship in Wales.

As with her appearances in the Under-21 European Championship, her role altered from match to match.

On the two occasions on which she was asked to bat, she scored 23 at number three against Ireland, and 31 opening the innings against Netherlands.

She finished the tournament as the leading bowler in terms of wickets, bowling average and economy.

She toured Australia with England Under-19s aged 15 and after two successful European tournaments, she captained the England Under-21s to victory in the 2006 Under-21 European Championships.

After more matches for the development squad, and a number of tour matches for England, she made her ODI debut during the 2007–08 tour of Australia and New Zealand, playing the fifth and final one-day match against Australia, and three of the five matches against New Zealand.

Following this, she continued to be involved in the England Academy, but did not make any further ODI appearances.

In 2009, she took on the captaincy of Somerset.

After watching cricket with her father, Davies began playing Kwik cricket, and then played age-group cricket for local boys' teams, including Mountain Ash and Mid Glamorgan.

At the age of 13, she took part in a women's trial match, and was selected to play with the older women cricketers in the South West of England.

At this time, she began to play women's cricket for Somerset Wanderers as well as her boys' matches.

She soon progressed into the Somerset county side, making her debut that same year, aged 13 against Lancashire.