Today, Sunrisers can confirm their Academy intake for the upcoming winter programme, ahead of the 2024 season. We are delighted to welcome several new faces onto the programme, alongside a number of existing players.
After a long, extensive selection process which has been in place throughout the summer, fifteen players have been selected to benefit from a winter training programme leading into pre-season, ahead of what will be another busy summer of matches and festivals in 2024.
Four players have progressed from the Emerging Player Programme (EPP), having impressed throughout the summer. These are Prisha Bedi, Bella Johnson, Sarah Pearson, and Mabel Reid. All four featured for the Academy at the back end of the season, and we are excited to see them continue to progress.
Exciting all-rounder Olivia Barnes also joins the programme, having been involved in the South East Stars EPP programme last summer. She has grown up playing her county cricket for Kent, alongside First Team star Grace Scrivens.
Esmae MacGregor made her First Team debut this summer, having been superb whilst captaining the Academy at the start of the year, and will now train with the Senior squad full time. Amu Surenkumar and Jess Olorenshaw, who have both made an impact in the First Team, will continue their development on the programme.
Elsa Barnfather, Anisha Dissanayake, Maddy Reynolds, and Jazz Westley leave the programme after making significant contributions as senior members of the side over the last three years. We would like to thank them for their performances in a Sunrisers shirt, and wish them all the best in their cricketing journey going forward.
Women’s cricket in the region is continuing to go from strength to strength, and this is reflected in the fact that all of the nine partnering counties have played significant roles in the development of these fifteen young cricketers.
Sunrisers Senior Regional Talent Manager, Luke Pomfret, is looking forward to welcoming the cohort back to training:
“It’s exciting to be able to announce this year’s 2023-24 Academy squad.
With the depth of talent that we have to choose from, selecting a squad of just fifteen was extremely difficult. County Boards and Cricket Clubs around our region can be really proud of the skill level that is on show, and the standard of cricket that we have seen all summer is brilliant for Sunrisers going forward.
After the success of the past couple of years, it’s always sad to see faces leave the group. All four have been brilliant for us, and are fantastic cricketers and people. We will continue to support their individual journeys and help them continue to develop.
Esmae and Amu making their senior debuts this summer was testament to the hard work that they have put into their games, and they are constantly hitting new levels and continuing to impress week on week. Amu is still so young, and Jess missed a lot of the early part of the season through injury, and they’ll keep progressing on the Academy programme.
We’re really proud of the environment that the girls have built around the Academy programme, and we’re confident that the players coming in will continue to mirror the success of those before them as they develop their game.
The squad of fifteen, selected for the Academy is as follows:
Molly Barbour-Smith, Middlesex (right arm seam)
Olivia Barnes, Kent (left arm orthodox, new to the programme)
Prisha Bedi, Essex (off spin, graduated from EPP)
Evie Booker, Norfolk (right arm seam)
Hannah Davis, Essex (leg spin)
May Drinkell, Norfolk (top order bat)
Isabella James, Cambridgeshire (leg spin)
Bella Johnson, Essex (middle order bat & off spin, graduated from EPP)
Layla Judge, Middlesex (left arm seam)
Jess Olorenshaw, Essex (top order bat)
Sarah Pearson, Middlesex (right arm seam, graduated from EPP)
Charley Phillips, Hertfordshire (right arm seam)
Mabel Reid, Hertfordshire (right arm seam, graduated from EPP)
Riva Pindoria, Middlesex (off spin)
Amuruthaa Surenkumar, Essex (top order bat & right arm seam)