News

Two students from the University of Chichester have represented Sussex Women’s U19 in an international cricket tournament in Dubai.

Sophie Parnell and Jade Elphick were part of the team that competed in the Arabian Cricket Challenge (ARCH). The Sussex U19 team was only established last year; previously the Women's section had only gone up to Under 17's and then straight to seniors.

Sophie and Jade are not the first female cricketers to study at the University; indeed, when it was a training college for female teachers between 1873 and 1957, it operated a competitive women’s cricket team. The present day institution continues to be an active promoter of women’s sport and is the home of the Anita White Foundation (AWF), which holds the archive of the women’s sport movement. Recently the AWF were commissioned to conduct a report for the IWG due to be published in March.

The team won all three of their group games against Lancashire, Wales and Scotland, to progress to the final where they face Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC), selected from England’s U19 development squad. Unfortunately the team were unable to continue their winning streak, coming within 22 runs of victory but falling just short.

Jade said, “I got into cricket from about the age of nine and have played for my county (Sussex) ever since and also play for Brighton and Hove CC Women’s with Sophie. It was amazing and such a good opportunity; we were lucky enough to play on international test grounds including Zayed Stadium. I took a wicket in the final; my figures were 19-1 from 7 overs. Sophie also batted very well in the final.”

Sophie said, “I have been playing cricket for about 11 years now and have made my way through the SWCA set up from U11's. I started playing for the Sussex Women seniors in 2009 and currently am still in that team.”