Kent Cricket have announced the names of ten former Kent Women stars that will receive cap numbers six to fifteen during the Club’s 150th Year.
Following the announcement of the first five recipients of Kent Women caps in January, the Club has been in contact with some of the families of Kent cricketing pioneers, and the same is hoped with some of the players, and families of the players, mentioned in this round of announcements.
Kent Women Cap no. 6: Doris Coysh
England career: 4 Tests, 1934/5; Kent Women career: 1949-1951
Born in 1908 in West Ham, all-rounder Coysh made five appearances for Kent Women across a three-year period, including a fixture against Australia Women at Sevenoaks in 1951. In that match, she top-scored for the hosts, before taking 4/57 with the ball in nineteen overs. He best innings with the bat for Kent Women came against Surrey in 1949, when she scored 59.
She played Test cricket for England four times, including in the first ever Women’s Test match, in Australia in 1934. After retiring as a player, Coysh became the first ever female cricket umpire, going on to umpire two Women’s Test matches.
Kent Women Cap no. 7: Cecilia Robinson
England career: 14 Tests, 1948-1963; Kent Women career: 1949-1967
Mary Cecilia Robinson was born in Canterbury, Kent in 1924.
She went on to have a career spanning 18 years with Kent Women, amassing 1,109 runs for The Horses at an average of 50.40 and captaining the county eight times. She scored eight fifties and one Century for Kent, managing 100 not out opening the batting against the Women’s Cricket Association at Sevenoaks in 1952.
In 1949, Robinson became the first person born in Canterbury to play Test cricket for England, and went on to play 14 Women’s Tests for England in a 15-year International career, averaging 33.16 with the bat and scoring two Centuries, both during Women’s Ashes Tests against Australia.
Kent Women Cap no. 8: Jean Clark
England career: 1 Test, 1968; Kent Women career: 1956-1968
Born in London in 1936, Clark made 16 appearances for Kent Women, taking 17 wickets, over a 12-year period.
She played one Women’s Test at Adelaide versus Australia in 1968, also playing for England against local Australian sides during the tour, as well as “two-innings matches” against sides in New Zealand for her country.
Clark also toured Jamaica with England Women in 1970, playing three matches against Jamaica Women.
Kent Women Cap no. 9: Mollie Hunt
England career: 3 Tests, 1960/1; Kent Women career: 1956-1973
Born in Leeds in 1936, Mollie Hunt moved to Kent Women from Yorkshire during the 1956 season. She played 22 matches for Kent Women over 17 years, taking 23 wickets at an average of 22.04.
For England, Hunt played three Test matches on a tour of South Africa in 1960/1, scoring 35 runs and taking a wicket.
Kent Women Cap no. 10: Mary Pilling
England career: 11 Tests, 9 ODIs, 1963-1978; Kent Women career: 1959-1983
Born in Cheshire in 1938, Pilling made 38 appearances for Kent Women over 24 years, one of them as captain.
A right-arm fast bowler, Pilling took 48 wickets for The Horses with a bowling average of 20.50, and also scored 403 runs at 20.14.
She played 57 times for England across two formats, and was England’s leading wicket-taker during their 1973 Women’s Cricket World Cup victory with nine scalps at an average of just 10.22 and an economy rate of 1.55.
Pilling was also the captain of the England side that were also runners-up in the 1978 World Cup.
Kent Women Cap no. 11: Ruth Westbrook
England career: 11 Tests, 1967-1963; Kent Women career: 1959-1964
Ruth Prideaux, née Westbrook during her Kent Women playing days, was a Kent & England wicketkeeper-batter, who went on to become England women’s first permanent head coach in 1988 and guided them to the 1993 World Cup title.
For Kent Women, Westbrook played sixteen matches in five years, scoring 389 runs at an average of 29.92; her best score of 75 not out came against the Women’s Cricket Association in 1961.
She married Roger Prideaux, who played for Kent in 1960-1961, and the pair become one of three married couples in history that have both played Test Cricket, the only couple to do so for England.
Westbrook earned 11 Test caps between 1957 and 1963, during which time she scored 476 runs at 31.73, with a top score of 87 against South Africa in Cape Town. However, it was for her off-field role that she will arguably be best remembered.
She was acknowledged as having helped England become leaders in the women’s game during the early 1990s – bringing in a backroom staff which included nutritionists and physios – which had its crowning moment at Lord’s in 1993 when they defeated New Zealand in the final.
Kent Women Cap no. 12: Audrey Disbury
England career: 10 Tests, 6 ODIs, 1957-1969; Kent Women career: 1961-1975
Born in Bedfordshire in 1934, Disbury came to Kent when she was stationed at Chatham Dockyard as a Petty Officer in the Women’s Royal Navy Service. Her brother, Brian, also military personnel, played for the Kent men’s side and made 14 first-class appearances.
She played 21 matches for Kent in 14 years, five of them as captain, and was described as a ‘hard-hitting’ opening batter that could also bowl handy off-spin. For Kent, Disbury averaged 19.44 with the bat but scored a Century for the county against Surrey in 1967.
Disbury played 57 matches for England in all contemporary formats in twelve years, and was Captain on two occasions, although not for full international matches. Sixteen of her England appearances were recognised as International appearances.
She averaged 28.66 with the bat for her country, scoring three centuries, and took 29 wickets at 18.89.
Disbury also played in the 1973 Women’s Cricket World Cup, for the International XI, playing in all six of their matches.
Kent Women Cap no. 13: Jill Cruwys
England career: 5 Tests, 7 ODIs, 1968-1976; Kent Women career: 1963-1968
A native of Bromley, Kent, Jill Cruwys was a member of England’s 1973 Cricket World Cup winning side, alongside her former Kent teammate, Mary Pilling. She made five appearances in the competition.
She played ten matches for Kent in five years, but made 46 appearances for England across a career spanning eight seasons. She made her test debut in 1969 when she was a member of the England team that played against New Zealand in Wellington.
Kent Women Cap no. 14: Heather Dewdney
England career: 1 Test, 6 ODIs, 1968-1978; Kent Women career: 1965-1979
Born in Bromley in 1947, Dewdney played three matches during England’s 1973 Women’s Cricket World Cup win.
She played 14 times for Kent Women in 14 years, averaging 20.81 with the bat and 14.66 with the ball.
Aside from her role in winning a World Cup with England, Dewdney played 45 matches for England in two formats, seven of those recognised as full international appearances. She scored 914 runs at 26.11, and took 23 wickets at 20.13. She also represented her country at the 1978 World Cup.
Kent Women Cap no. 15: Kate Brown
England career: 1 Test, 3 ODIs, 1973-1979; Kent Women career: 1966-1998
A middle-order batter and right-arm off-break bowler born in Essex in 1953, Brown made 88 appearances for Kent Women across a remarkable 32-year Kent career, taking 108 wickets at a bowling average of 19.42, and scoring 1,694 runs at 24.55.
Her best bowling figures for The Horses of 6/28 came against Middlesex at The County Ground, Beckenham in 1993, and her highest score with the bat came with a score of 82 against East Anglia in 1997.
She played a Test match for the England in 1979 against West Indies, scoring 16 in her only innings and, took two wickets in the match for 56 runs.
She also played five recognised One-Day Internationals, making her debut against Australia for Young England in the 1973 World Cup and playing her last match against the West Indies in July 1979.
On being informed that she would be receiving a Kent Women cap, Brown said: “It has been a huge privilege to play for Kent and be part of a fantastic cricket family.
“I’d like to pay tribute to all my fellow cricketers (cap or no cap) for their great contributions too. We were always seriously competitive and had many memorable times but above all it was great fun.”