Worcestershire Women’s Rapids player Hannah Baker has been selected for an England Development Programme (EDP) for spin bowlers.
Leg spinner Baker will link up at the start of the programme at Loughborough next month and it will run throughout the winter months.
Baker impressed during a series of trial games and sessions under the England Women’s Academy umbrella which helped to earn her selection.
She was part of the Rapids side which competed in the Royal London Women’s County One-Day Championship and Vitality Women’s County T20 competitions last summer when they successfully held onto their Division Two status in both formats.
Baker also plays for Beacon Cricket Club and is part of the newly created Academy-emerging players programme for women and girls set up by Academy Coach Elliot Wilson and Worcestershire CCC.
Wilson said: “We’ve got a group of players from 13 to 16 years of age we feel warrant and merit some additional support.
“We’ve created an additional weekly session for them from November through to the end of March which will be run from King Charles School, Kidderminster.
“We’ve got 11 players who are going to be involved in that programme and we are excited to run an Academy-emerging players’ programme for our women and girls over the next 12 months and hopefully support them to get onto higher programmes.
“One of the girls selected onto that programme has already been selected onto an EDP (England Development Programme) in Hannah Baker.
“She bowls right arm leg spin and she has been selected onto an England Development Programme for spin bowlers.
“ECB have full time contracted England players, full-time contracted Academy players and then under that they have some development programmes.
“One of the development programmes they are running this winter is for a group of spinners. That is overseen and delivered by John Stanworth who is head coach of the England Women’s Academy.
“This group of players will have 8-10 days of contact time at Loughborough over the winter, focusing purely on the art of spin bowling.
“Hannah plays for the Rapids senior side and has played a number of games at the end of the summer in the England Women’s Academy environment, part of the monitoring-selection process for all of these programmes.
“She had a very successful time at a regional development centre, got selected into additional games-trials. She is a little young for the full Academy programme, and this is also her GCSE year, but the ECB have invited her onto a spin bowling programme which starts in November and runs through the winter.”
The full list of players participating in the Academy-emerging players’ programme this winter are:
—
Hannah Baker
Hannah Hardwick
Phoebe Chew
Ellie Anderson
Charis Pavely
Jenny Fallows
Molly Hicks
Bryony Gilgrass
Charlotte Roberts
Millie Carr
Grace Van Vuuren
