Congratulations Lauren
August 2017
NEWPORT'S Lauren Parfitt will play alongside England World Cup winning heroes Anya
Shrubsole, Heather Knight and Fran Wilson for the Western Storm in the upcoming Kia
Super League. The 23-year-old is joined in the 15-strong squad for the August Twenty20
tournament by former Spytty Park teammate Claire Thomas, who now plays for Dafen.
The Storm are based at Bristol, Tauton and Exeter and Parfitt, a regular for Wales, has been backed to rise to the occasion.
"Lauren has deserved this because she has played a lot of very good cricket without really getting the recognition that she deserves," said Newport coach Mike Knight. "She has done really well for Wales and played senior men's cricket, adapting to whatever level she has gone up to. Lauren is a great role model for the other girls at the club, they all look up to her, and helps out with the coaching, so it's fantastic that she has been recognised. This will be a great experience and hopefully she will take the opportunity, show what she can do and go on to even bigger things."
Parfitt, who opens for Wales, will now aim to break into the Storm XI for the six-team competition. The Super League follows a round-robin format at 12 different venues from Thursday, August 10 to Saturday, August 26 before a finals day at Hove on Friday, September 1.
England's World Cup-winning heroes will feature with Shrubsole, Knight and Wilson joined at the Storm by New Zealander Holly Huddleston and Rachel Priest and Stafanie Taylor of the West Indies.
The Southern Vipers, based in Southampton, are the reigning champions and will start the defence of their title against the Storm as part of a double-header at the Ageas Bowl ahead of Hampshire versus Glamorgan in the NatWest T20 Blast.
Western Storm Squad: Heather Knight (captain), Anya Shrubsole, Fran Wilson, Holly Huddleston (NZ), Stafanie Taylor (WI), Rachel Priest (NZ), Georgia Hennessy, Sophie Luff, Freya Davies, Danielle Gibson, Claire Thomas, Lauren Parfitt, Jodie Dibble, Amara Carr, Alice MacDonald