There’s a Storm coming to the Women’s Cricket Super League
25 February 2016
The South West consortium that will compete in the inaugural Women’s Cricket Super League can now exclusively reveal their team name.
The Western Storm will be one of the six sides taking part in the round-robin Twenty20 competition this summer which will see 90 of the most talented female players from England and across the world competing in this ground breaking tournament.
The competition will run from Saturday July 30th to Sunday August 14th and will feature 15 group matches in 16 days, all culminating with Finals Day on Sunday August 21st at the Essex County Ground, Chelmsford.
The complete list of teams is as follows:
| Team Name | Host Details |
| Lancashire Thunder | Lancashire County Cricket Board with partners |
| Loughborough Lightning | Loughborough University |
| Southern Vipers | Hampshire Cricket with partners |
| Surrey Stars | Surrey County Cricket Club |
| Western Storm | Somerset County Cricket Club, Gloucestershire County Cricket Club, University of Exeter |
| Yorkshire Diamonds | Yorkshire County Cricket Club |
The Western Storm will make their competitive debut on Sunday July 31st when they welcome Lancashire Thunder to the Cooper Associates County Ground, Taunton.
The team’s full list of fixtures is as follows:
- Sunday July 31st – Western Storm v Lancashire Thunder at the Cooper Associates County Ground, Taunton.
- Friday August 5th - Loughborough Lightning v Western Storm at Haselgrave.
- Sunday August 7th - Western Storm v Surrey Stars at the Bristol County Ground.
- Friday August 12th – Western Storm v Southern Vipers at the Cooper Associates County Ground, Taunton.
- Sunday August 14th – Yorkshire Diamonds v Western Storm at Headingley .
ECB Director of England Women’s Cricket, Clare Connor, said: “Today represents another huge step towards delivering our vision of creating a dynamic, inspirational and high quality domestic women’s game in England. The fixture list includes some exciting prospects, and it is excellent news that Western Storm will host three of their matches – against Lancashire Thunder, Surrey Stars and Southern Vipers – at the Cooper Associates County Ground, Taunton and the Bristol County Ground.
“This time last year the Women’s Cricket Super League was simply a concept, and now we have six exciting new teams, some innovative partnerships and a fixture list that includes at least 11 matches being played at seven different First Class grounds across the country.
“As each stage of the process unfolds, we keep striving to push new boundaries. We are now looking forward to working with Western Storm and the other five teams over the next few weeks to reveal their kits, colours and brands, as well as the central competition logo and branding.”
Following the announcement of the team name Somerset CCC CEO Guy Lavender said: “It has been a big week for the team. Yesterday we announced the appointment of the General Manager and the Head Coach and now we have revealed the name. This landmark tournament is tremendously important for the women’s game in this country and I am delighted that we are part of the consortium for the South West. I have no doubt that the Western Storm will be at the forefront of this new revolution in the women’s game.”
The key aims of the Women’s Cricket Super League include the development of ever higher standards for the England women’s team with greater competition for places, alongside inspiring more women and girls to play cricket at all levels. It will offer new opportunities, a new narrative for the game and new role models, as well as a network of six new teams linked to their communities.
The six selected hosts provide a strong geographical spread and encompass diverse partnership working from across the cricket and educational landscapes. In total, seven First Class counties, five Non-First Class counties and three universities are involved, creating a collaborative, imaginative and wide-ranging project.
The Women’s Cricket Super League will expand from only including Twenty20 cricket in 2016 to incorporating both T20 and 50-over formats in future seasons. All six teams have been awarded hosting rights for a four-year period from 2016-2019 inclusive.
