South East Stars, the team representing the London & South East Centre of Excellence in women’s cricket, will play the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy this summer.
The England and Wales Cricket Board has confirmed that this summer’s women’s domestic 50-over competition will be named the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy in honour of England’s pioneering World Cup-winning captain.
The special-edition competition has been created for this summer only to ensure women’s domestic cricket is played despite the challenges of COVID-19 and underlines the ECB’s commitment to professionalise the domestic game for women.
The competition will begin on the August Bank Holiday weekend and will feature the eight teams from the new elite domestic structure playing in two regionalised groups of four.
Each team will play six group-stage matches with the top team in each group to progress to a final to be staged on Saturday, 26 September. The final will be hosted by the finalist with the most points at the end of the group stage.
The full schedule for the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy will be released alongside the Vitality Blast fixtures on Wednesday morning.
Bowler Tash Farrant said: “I’m so glad we’ll be playing domestic cricket this summer. I know in the wake of COVID-19 it’s taken a lot of work to get to this point and it’s really important that we’ve got here.
“Playing regular and competitive regional cricket will be vital for the women’s domestic game, and it’s good that even in the current climate we’ve seen an emphasis placed on getting it across the line.
“I can’t wait to play, and I’m sure it’s the same for every player. To be competing this year for the Rachael Heyhoe Flint trophy, given everything she has done for women’s cricket, is particularly special and hopefully the trophy will head the way of South East Stars.”
