Sutton’s Nat Brown may be the only woman to have taken a 1st XI five-for in the Liverpool Competition - but it’s not a record she expects to hold for long.
The Thunder all-rounder ran through Prestatyn with 5/20 to set up a nine-wicket win on Saturday.
Having taken 7/85 against Alder in 2016, it was her second five-wicket haul in Division Two - her regional team-mate, Norley Hall’s Laura Jackson, claimed 5/25 for Halsall West End in the Southport League in 2019.
With the recent explosion in women’s and girls’ cricket in the region, Brown reckons it won’t be long before such achievements are a lot more common.
She said: “I’m sure it’ll happen more and more - and there’ll be girls getting hundreds as well, it wouldn’t surprise me.
“There’s plenty of talent there, as long as they get the opportunity.
“And I think it’ll help expand the women’s game, the more they play with men - with the different skills involved with playing both.
“I’ve always played in lads’ teams, so it’s not fazed me to do it, but I know some might feel uncomfortable doing that.
“But as long as they’ve got the environment to be able to do it, there’s no reason they can’t.”
Brown knows the biggest barrier for women and girls is getting the opportunity in the first place.
“It’s nice not being the only girl in the league,” she said. “Jacko and Ellie [Threlkeld] have both played in their first teams, and I know there’s a couple of young girls creeping into some of the other second and third teams.
“Having their own women’s team was a pipe dream for me - when I was younger, there were no girls’ teams around, or you had to do a lot of travelling and the standard wasn’t the greatest.”
Brown hasn’t broken into the Thunder side this year, nor has she been retained by the Manchester Originals for the Hundred - but a silver lining is that she gets to turn out for Joe Noctor’s side on a Saturday.
She added: “It’s only this year that I’ve been able to put the time in and be available consistently, so I can actually have a role in the team rather than standing in the field for 55 overs.
“Joe said to me, will you play in the ones, you’ll bat four, five or six and come on first change - he’s given me a specific role and I’m quite happy to do that.”
With six wins, Sutton are already just one short of their 2021 tally - if they can hold on to some more catches, Brown reckons the sky’s the limit.
“I probably bowled better the week before last, but we couldn’t catch,” she said.
“We’re moving in the right direction - we’ve got a strong unit that’s all working together and we do want promotion.
“If we get our fielding sorted, I feel like we can always pull it out of the bag with the bat and the ball.”
