Leicestershire Women played their first recorded match in 1948, againstBuckinghamshire Women.[2] They also played a match against a touringAustralia side in 1951, as a combined team with Buckinghamshire.[3] Leicestershire joined the national women's cricket structure in2004, competing in the County Challenge Cup, the lower tier of theWomen's County Championship: they finished bottom of their group in their first season.[4] After this, Leicestershire remained in the lower levels of the Championship. They won their Division 5 group two years in a row, in2010 and2011, and after this have mainly played in Division Three.[5] They did gain promotion from Division Three in2015, coming second, but were relegated the following season.[6]
In theWomen's Twenty20 Cup, Leicestershire have had some successful seasons in the lower divisions of the competition: for example, they went unbeaten in2015 and2016.[7][8] Between 2017 and 2019, they played in Division Three.[9] In2021, they competed in the East Midlands Group of the Twenty20 Cup, finishing 5th with 2 victories.[10] In2022 they finished third in Group 5 of the Twenty20 Cup, before beatingOxfordshire andNorthamptonshire on Finals Day to win their group.[11] They also joined theEast of England Women's County Championship in 2022, finishing third out of seven in their first season.[12] In2023, all of their group stage matches were rained-off in the Twenty20 Cup, but they lost in the semi-final on the group Finals Day.[13] They won the East of England Women's County Championship that season, going unbeaten to top the table.[14] In 2024, the side finished 4th in their group in theTwenty20 Cup and won their group in the newECB Women's County One-Day tournament, winning all four of their matches.[15][16]
Players who have played for Leicestershire and played internationally are listed below, in order of first international appearance (given in brackets):[17]
England
Scotland
Ella Claridge (2024)
