History
In 2020, women's cricket in England was restructured, creating eight new 'regional hub' teams, with the intention of playing both 50-over and 20-over cricket. [7] Central Sparks were one of the sides created under this structure, representing the West Midlands and partnered with Warwickshire, Worcestershire, Herefordshire, Staffordshire and Shropshire. [5] The side was to be captained by Evelyn Jones and coached by Lloyd Tennant. [8] Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2020 season was truncated, and only 50-over cricket was played, in the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy. [9] Central Sparks finished second in the North Group of the competition, winning three of their six games but failing to progress to the final. [10] At the end of the season, five Sparks players were given full-time domestic contracts, the first of their kind in England: Evelyn Jones, Marie Kelly, Issy Wong, Emily Arlott and Gwenan Davies. [11]
The following season, 2021, Sparks competed in both the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy and the newly-formed Twenty20 competition, the Charlotte Edwards Cup. In the Charlotte Edwards Cup the side finished third in their group, winning three of their six matches. [12] In the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy, Central Sparks qualified for the knockout stages of the tournament, finishing third in the group of eight with five wins from their seven matches. [13] During the group stages, Amy Jones hit the highest score of the tournament, scoring 163* against Western Storm, whilst Emily Arlott recorded the best individual bowling figures of the tournament against Southern Vipers, taking 5/29 including a hat-trick. [14] [15] In the play-off, however, the side lost to Northern Diamonds by 6 wickets to be eliminated from the competition. [16] In 2022, they reached the final of the Charlotte Edwards Cup after finishing second in Group A and beating South East Stars in the semi-final. [17] [18] However, they lost to Southern Vipers in the final. [19] Sparks batter Amy Jones was the leading run-scorer in the tournament, with 289 runs, and was named the PCA Player of the Tournament. [20] In July 2022, the side launched the West Midlands Regional Cup, to aid the development of players playing for county sides in the region. [21] The side finished fifth in the group of eight in the 2022 Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy. [22]
In 2023, Central Sparks finished seventh out of eight in the Charlotte Edwards Cup and fifth out of eight in the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy. [23] [24] Sparks bowler Georgia Davis was the leading wicket-taker in the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy, with 27 wickets. [25] In 2024, the side reached the semi-finals of the Charlotte Edwards Cup and finished seventh in the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy. [26] [27]
2024 was the side's final season, with reforms to the structure of domestic cricket in England meaning that the side was effectively replaced by a professionalised Warwickshire team. [6]
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