Chester-born Ecclestone passed through the Under-13s, 15s and 17s before debuting for Cheshire in 2013. Two years later, the left-arm spinner, known for her accuracy, was part of Lancashire set-up, Ecclestone made her first-class debut against Nottinghamshire at the age of 16.

A 17-year-old Sophie Ecclestone won her first England cap in 2016 in a T20I game against Pakistan. In the same year, she made her one-day international debut against West Indies and played a major role in her team’s victory. Defending a below-par score of 149, Ecclestone removed both the openers and England won that encounter by 5 runs.

The tall spinner, while bowling, is often compared with New Zealand veteran Daniel Vettori. She made her Test debut in the Ashes Test in 2017 at Sydney and Alyssa Healy became her first victim, falling to an arm-ball. Ecclestone was a regular member of the England set-up in the drawn Ashes series.

Ecclestone scalped 10 wickets in 5 matches of the T20 tri-series in 2018 featuring South Africa and New Zealand. Being the highest wicket-taker, she was named player of the competition. Sophie Ecclestone plays for Lancashire Thunder in the Women’s Cricket Super League.

Written by Abhinand Raghavendran