Kent Women cricket team

Kent Women played their first recorded match in 1935, against Civil Service Women.[6] Over the following years, Kent were one of the most prolific women's sides, playing various one-off and tourist games, against surrounding counties and national sides such as Australia, New Zealand and the Netherlands.[7] Kent joined the Women's Area Championship in 1980, and played in the competition until 1996 (including one title win, in 1986), after which they joined the Women's County Championship.[8]

In 1997, their first season in the County Championship, Kent finished 5th in Division One with just one win.[9] Over the next few seasons, Kent were a consistently mid-table side, plus one season in Division Two, in 2002.[10] A steady improvement after their promotion, however, eventually led them to their first Championship title, in 2006.[11] They retained their title in 2007, going unbeaten in both seasons. Key to their success was England captain Charlotte Edwards, who played for Kent from 2000 to 2016.[12] This started an extremely successful era for Kent Women, winning the most titles in Championship history, eight, and only finishing outside the top 3 of Division 1 once, in 2017: the further times they won the Championship were in 2009, 2011, 2012, 2014, 2016 and 2019.[13] In 2016, Kent bowlers Megan Belt, Tash Farrant and Charlotte Pape were the first, third and fourth leading wicket-takers respectively, whilst Tammy Beaumont was the leading run-scorer.[14] Kent batters Fran Wilson, Tammy Beaumont and Maxine Blythin were all in the top ten leading run-scorers in 2019.[15]

Kent Women have also been the most successful side in the history of the Women's Twenty20 Cup, winning the tournament three times, in 2011, 2013 and 2016.[16] They also reached the semi-finals of the competition in 2013 and 2012, losing to Berkshire both times.[17] In 2011, however, they beat Berkshire by 8 wickets after bowling them out for just 73.[18] In 2013, Kent beat Sussex in the final by 8 wickets,[19] whilst in 2016 they won the title by topping Division One, with five wins from seven games.[20]