Successful year celebrated at girls' end of season awards

More than 300 people gathered for the Sussex Cricket girls’ end of season awards ceremony at Brighton Aldridge Academy on Saturday night.

The evening celebrated a fantastic year for the county girls’ programme, which saw 105 players involved in seven squads from under-11 to under-17 level.

The under-11 awards were sponsored by Brighton Aldridge Community Academy and presented by principal Bob Speight. Emily Stewart (Most Improved Player), Maddie Storey (Bowler of the Year) & Indigo Ashworth (Batter of the Year) were the individual award winners from the South West squad.  From the North East squad, awards were presented to Emma Valks (Most Improved), Maisy Harris (Batter) & Lottie Tomlin (Bowler).

The under-13 awards were sponsored by Steve Thomas who presented Eliza Steeles (Most Improved), Tia Joseph (Batter) & Daisy Gibb (Bowler) with the South East squad awards and Maria Veness (Most Improved), Hanna van Niekerk (Batter) & Cerys Pegley (Bowler) with the South West squad awards.

Both the under-15 and under-17 awards were sponsored by www.womenscricket.net and presented by Don Miles. Rose Grayson won the under-15 development squad Most Improved Player award which was presented by Sussex Women captain Georgia Adam, with Frankie Angel (Batter), Freya Kemp (Bowler), Matilda Dow (Players’ Player) and Sophie Grayson (Player of the Year) taking the awards for the main under-15 squad.

Cassidy McCarthy was presented with the under-17 Player of the Year award. Hollie Young (Bowler), Anna Buckle (Players Player) and Ella McCaughan (Batter) were named as the other age group winners, although were unable to attend the event.

There were also three special awards. Steve Thomas was presented with the Unsung Hero Award by Terry Burton, Freya Kemp was presented with the Alexia Walker Award for Most Sixes by Alexia Walker and Connie Filtness was awarded the Endeavour Award by Keith Greenfield. 

Next year is set to be an even bigger year for county girls’ cricket in Sussex. Over 230 players attended recent assessments, with the quality on show leading to the decision to have county squads at under-11, 12, 13, 15 and 17 levels as well as development squads for under-11s, 13s and 16s.