? Player Profile: Charlie Phillips
? Role at the Club: Bowler/Women’s coach/captain
? Favourite Player: Jos Buttler
? Likes: Cricket in the sun
? Dislikes: Cricket in the rain
? Favourite Away Ground: Anywhere that turns
? Target for this year: Most wickets, not bat 11
? Prediction for the year: One team promoted, women win the league

Charlie has been with the club all her life, her dad Jamie has joint residence at Ironmould Lane, and used to run the under 9s cricket on a Sunday morning. At first Charlie bowled seam, but then switched to off-spin in her early teens and never looked back. Back then there were fewer girls cricket teams, and so Charlie would play in the youth sides, taking wickets, with lots of people surprised at ‘how good that girl is.’

She continued to take wickets for Devon and Gloucestershire in representative cricket and holds a great record for our 2nd XI. Over the winter, playing in the indoor league Charlie outperformed first team bowlers James Riley, Harry King and Milo Ayres. She also got more wickets than me, but that’s no achievement Charlie.

On the weekend, history was made as she became the first female cricketer to play for the first team in a league game vs Keynsham. She handled the pressure courageously, bowling 1-17 from 5 overs at a difficult time to come on in the game, where support was becoming raucous from both sides. We want to say that it is the first time that a woman has ever played in the WEPL, but Jon George needs to verify this (pull your finger out Jon).

And after all the excitement on Saturday, she still managed to produce a match winning 45* for the women’s hardball team on Sunday. This year, Charlie has undertaken the role of women’s captain/coach, helping to lead the womens section into further success.

#spintowin #thebestinthefamily #historymaker