A New Era: Tier 1 Preview

Project Darwin fully evolves from theory to reality on Wednesday as the eight Tier One sides take to the field for the first time in competitive action. The ten Tier Two sides have already sprung into action over the Easter weekend, with wins for Gloucestershire, Middlesex, Glamorgan, Northamptonshire and, most notably, Worcestershire who beat Yorkshire by 114 runs. Yorkshire will join the top tier in 2026 and will be followed in 2027 by Glamorgan. Tier Three, incorporating the National Counties, formerly Minor Counties, also began over the Easter weekend.

The eight regional sides from 2020 to 2024 have been incorporated into eight counties ahead of the 2025 season and the competitions in the 50-over and 20-over formats are now aligned with the men's. The Metro Bank One-Day Cup gets going this Wednesday (April 23) and the Vitality Blast kicks off on May 30 (Tier Two begins the day before when Middlesex play Sussex). Finals day for the Tier/League One Vitality Blast takes place at the Kia Oval on July 27, and for Tier/League Two, the finals will be at Northampton on the previous day.

The Vitality T20 Women's County Cup is a direct knockout competition similar to the FA Cup and incorporates teams from all three tiers. This begins on May 5 with the opening two rounds featuring the teams from Tier Two and Tier Three, and then Tier One sides join in the third round, which will be played on May 16 and 17. Quarter Finals are then played on May 24 and the semi-finals and final will be held at Taunton on the May 26 Bank Holiday, which unfortunately clashes with the third WT20I between England and West Indies at Chelmsford.

Whilst each of the sides have kept a strong core of players from their regional sides, there has also been significant movement between sides as players take advantage of the new era to seek new challenges.

The eight sides are:

Durham

Captain: Hollie Armitage

Coach: Dani Hazell

Overseas: Suzie Bates (NZ)

Durham began the Project Darwin process with the most challenging of recruitment circumstances, given the disquiet caused by Yorkshire's initial omission from Tier One and the desire of several players from Northern Diamonds to remain in Leeds. Lauren Winfield-Hill, Rachel Slater and Sterre Kalis have all opted to sign for Yorkshire, with the latter going on loan to Warwickshire.

However, they have also made the best use of the market to sign some impressive domestic and international talent. Emily Windsor, Mady Villiers and Lauren Filer, who have chosen Durham over Hampshire, Essex and Somerset, respectively.

Bess Heath, Katie Levick and Katherine Fraser have all moved across from the Diamonds and will be looking to make a big impact during the season. It is especially important for Heath, who has spent much of the last eighteen months carrying drinks for England and, when she has played, has had limited opportunities to play as a wicketkeeper. She will be looking for a strong start to the season to cement her place as England's number two behind Amy Jones.

Suzie Bates joins as the overseas signing and this opens up the prospect of an opening partnership between her and Emma Marlow, with the captain, Hollie Armitage, batting at three. Bates is available for the entirety of the season.

In 2024, Northern Diamonds finished top of the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy league stage with 41 points acquired from nine wins. They lost the semi-final to eventual winners Sunrisers. In the Charlotte Edwards Cup, they were less successful, finishing sixth with just 13 points.

As a result of the personnel changes, Durham are one of the sides that can have 'blank canvas' attributed to them, and this makes them a very interesting side to follow throughout this inaugural season.

Essex

Captain: Grace Scrivens

Coach: Andy Tennant

Overseas: Maddie Penna (AUS)

Essex have managed to keep the vast bulk of the Sunrisers squad together following their successful 2024 campaign, which saw them lift their first, and only, piece of silverware in the regional era. Off-spinner Mady Villiers (Durham) is the only significant loss from the core playing group and she has been replaced by the left-arm spinner Sophia Smale - a similar, but not like-for-like replacement.

The lack of England centrally contracted players had worked to the Sunrisers' advantage and may do so for Essex as it means that they can field a regular eleven. This assists players in terms of developing rhythm and having clarity of role. They do, however, have some present/recent England A players available, such as Jodi Grewcock, Eva Gray, Grace Scrivens and Sophie Munro, and experienced domestic players such as Cordelia Griffith and Jo Gardner.

Australia A's Maddie Penna, a leg-spinner who can bat in the middle order, joins and will combine with Grewcock and Smale in the spin attack. Grewcock, also a leg-spinner who bats left-handed and in the middle order, is one of the players to keep an eye on after a successful season in 2024, in which she took 19 wickets in the RHFT at an average of 25.94 and scored 370 runs at 28.46. She was one of the big beneficiaries of The Hundred draft and was picked by Trent Rockets for £36k.

Whereas they may be able to compete in the 50-over competition, as Sunrisers, they particularly struggled in T20. In 2024, they finished bottom of the pile and were only able to get two wins out of the ten games that they played. Essex's fortunes in T20 cricket will be of particular interest this season.

Hampshire

Captain: Georgia Adams

Coach: Paul Prichard

Overseas: Charli Knott and Ellyse Perry (both AUS)

The departure of Charlotte Edwards as Head Coach before the season is a blow to a side that had undergone a lot of personnel upheaval from the days of the Southern Vipers. Her appointment to the England Head Coach role came on April 1, the same day as Hampshire's media day. Her presence on the front row of the team photo was one of the two lasting impressions left by Edwards.

The other impression was on the recruitment front with the signing of Ellyse Perry, her captain at Sydney Sixers, for six T20s and two one-day cup matches in July. Charli Knott will be returning to the Utilita Bowl where she had previously been the overseas signing for Southern Vipers.

Emily Windsor (Durham), Charlie Dean (Somerset), Georgia Elwiss (The Blaze), Danni Wyatt-Hodge and Alice Monaghan (both Surrey) have all left and Naomi Dattani joins, permanently, from Lancashire, having spent time on loan at Vipers at the end of last season.

Established players such as Georgia Adams, Linsey Smith and Freya Davies, along with the younger players who have come through the Vipers system, will prove crucial to any success that Hampshire have this season.

Perennial winners for much of the regional era, how Hampshire has adapted to new leadership and a next generation of players will be a fascinating narrative throughout 2025.

Lancashire

Captain: Ellie Threlkeld

Coach: Chris Read

Overseas: Katie Mack and Alana King (both AUS)

If Hampshire and Southern Vipers have been perennial achievers, Lancashire (as Thunder and North West Thunder) have been regular underachievers. During the regional era, they only reached the play-offs once, a semi-final against Vipers in the 2023 Charlotte Edwards Cup, which was the furthest they progressed out of the ten trophies that were available across the five seasons.

This is despite having an impressive group of players that include Kate Cross, Sophie Ecclestone and Mahika Gaur, who are all England centrally contracted players, and Seren Smale who is a regular with the England A side. The squad has been strengthened by the inclusion of Grace Potts and Eve Jones (both from Central Sparks/Warwickshire). Potts joins off the back of a successful stint with England A, which followed a first call-up to the senior side for the Test match in South Africa.

Katie Mack and Alana King will join as overseas players. Mack is returning after a spell at Old Trafford in 2024, in which she scored 324 runs in the RHFT at an average of 40.50. King will join during the Vitality Blast, and Lancashire expect her to also be available for a couple of fixtures in the 50-over competition.

Lancashire is undoubtedly a team for whom a fresh start is the most beneficial, and a quick positive start will be much hoped for in their quest for an improvement in results.

Somerset

Captain: Sophie Luff

Coach: Trevor Griffin

Overseas: Amanda-Jade Wellington (AUS)

The most successful side in the Kia Super League (Western Storm) became one of the least successful of the regional era, not progressing out of the group stage in any competition. A core of Western Storm players remain, and they will be led by Somerset stalwart Sophie Luff, an ever-present throughout both the KSL and regional era.

The off-season started with the departures of Lauren Filer (Durham) Nat Wraith (Warwickshire) and Sophia Smale (Essex), the three most notable departures from Storm. Seam bowler Laura Jackson arrives from Lancashire, and Ellie Anderson's 2024 loan to Storm has been converted into a full professional contract with Somerset. Olivia Barnes, a left-arm spinner from Kent, also joins.

Heather Knight and Dani Gibson are the two centrally contracted players who have previously played for Western Storm. Knight had previously captained during the KSL period. The big signing was that of Charlie Dean, who joins from Hampshire and will provide the team with a match-winner with bat and ball. Katie Jones, the under-19 wicketkeeper, is one of the names to watch this season and is set to start as Somerset's number one following the departure of Wraith. Her fast hands and six-hitting ability is likely to mark her out as a candidate for future England honours.

Somerset may struggle initially with an incredibly young squad - a squad that has recruited from the breadth of the old Storm region: Cornwall, Devon, Gloucestershire, Glamorgan and, of course, Somerset, all have representation in the squad. However, as with Durham, the 'blank canvas' approach is exciting to see how the team grows and develops.

Surrey

Captain: Bryony Smith

Coach: Johann Myburgh

Overseas: Amy Hunter (IRE) and Grace Harris (AUS)

In men's cricket, Surrey are known as a star-studded side and their women's team is no different. Sophia Dunkley and Alice Capsey move across from South East Stars and are joined by Danni Wyatt-Hodge from Vipers. Ryana MacDonald Gay, who is on an ECB Development Contract, and Paige Scholfield, who was unable to play during the recent South Africa tour due to injury and made a century for England A against Australia in the recent unofficial Test, have also joined Surrey. Alice Davidson-Richards was the leading run-scorer in the RHFT in 2024 with 650 runs - almost 100 more than the next best.

The bowling attack comprises left-arm seamer Tash Farrant, a former England international, and left-arm spinner Tilly Corteen-Coleman, tipped by many as a future England international. Danielle Gregory, a leg-spinner, and Kalea Moore, an off-spinner, are also set to play a key role in the Surrey line-up.

Corteen-Coleman enjoyed a breakout season in 2024, which culminated in her becoming a regular in The Hundred for Southern Brave (her first wicket for Brave was that of Meg Lanning). She claimed six wickets in The Hundred and nine in the RHFT. It was, however, in the T20 competition that she shone with 16 wickets at an average of 13.31 and included a best of 5/19. The left-armer has positively started 2025, and at the Under-19 World Cup, she took seven wickets at 7.57, featuring a best return of 4/8, to help England to the semi-final of that competition.

The recruitment of Grace Harris for the Vitality Blast has added additional firepower to a batting line-up that has a lot of it already. If all players are available (and there is a window between the international series against West Indies and India) then the top order is likely to contain Bryony Smith, Danni Wyatt-Hodge, Sophia Dunkley, Alice Capsey, Grace Harris, Paige Scholfield and Alice Davidson-Richards. A seriously impressive, international quality, batting line-up.

Surrey are very likely to reach the finals of both main competitions, and possibly the T20 Cup, and therefore reap the rewards of a successful recruitment process. In 2024, they were runner-up in both the RHFT and CEC tournaments.

The Blaze

Captain: Kirstie Gordon

Coach: Craig Cumming

Overseas: Orla Prendergast (IRE) and Heather Graham (AUS)

After finishing as runner-up twice in 2023, The Blaze finally got their hands on the silverware that their form and performances had so deserved. They are the only side not to embrace the identity of their county (Nottinghamshire) and will continue in the colours and branding of the previous era.

An embarrassment of riches sees The Blaze have four centrally contracted England players available to them: Tammy Beaumont, Nat Sciver-Brunt, Amy Jones and Sarah Glenn. Whereas Sciver-Brunt's time will be limited due to paternity leave, the other England players are set to be made available for the opening rounds of matches.

The Scotland duo of Kathryn Bryce and Sarah Bryce, the latter recently played for Delhi Capitals in the WPL and the former was player of the tournament in the recent World Cup qualifiers, add further to the international quality in the side. As does the captain, Kirstie Gordon, although her involvement in the early part of the season is in doubt following an injury picked up in Australia.

Georgia Elwiss has been brought in from Southern Vipers and this furthers the experience level of the squad. Elwiss is more than capable of playing as a utility player and fitting into whatever role is required of her. Last season, when at Vipers, this included opening the batting when others were on England duty. Josie Groves, a young leg-spinner who has played for Trent Rockets and has been recruited by Southern Brave for the 2025 season, is another to keep an eye on after taking 17 wickets in 2024 and being part of the 2023 Under-19 World Cup.

Overall, on paper, they look as strong as Surrey and should therefore be challenging on all fronts come the business end of each of the competitions. How they adapt with the loss of international players and the probable early-season loss of Gordon will no doubt define how they progress.

Warwickshire

Captain: Georgia Davis

Coach: Ali Maiden

Overseas: TBC

Warwickshire are one of the sides, similar to Hampshire, that has been particularly impacted by player departures from their regional sides. Most notably, Eve Jones and Grace Potts (Lancashire), as well as Amy Jones (The Blaze), will all play their cricket elsewhere.

Importantly, they have kept hold of Issy Wong, following her departure on loan for the second half of 2024, and there were many positive signs during the A tour that her rhythm is returning to her bowling. Sterre Kalis, who signed a professional contract with Tier Two side Yorkshire, has been brought in on loan and has been in the runs during the pre-season. Katie George, also in the runs and back on the England radar, is expected to play a big role with bat, ball and in the field where she is one of the best on the domestic circuit.

There has not been an overseas player announced, however, Laura MacLeod the High Performance Manager confirmed to The Cricketer Podcast that an overseas was being lined up for the Vitality Blast.

As with other sides it will be interesting to see what is made of a relatively fresh-looking Tier One side and to see how they can grow and develop over not just this season but the seasons to come.

Opening Fixtures

Durham v Essex at Chester-le-Street

Surrey v Somerset at Beckenham

The Blaze v Lancashire at Trent Bridge

Warwickshire v Hampshire at Edgbaston

(All played on Wednesday 23rd April)