by Martin Saxon

As has been so often the case in recent years, there was a new name on the Cheshire Women’s League trophy this year. There has only been one instance of a team retaining the title in the last 13 years, and in this time, as many as eight different clubs have topped the table. 

For the first time, the Championship was won by Wilmslow club Lindow, completing their remarkable rise through the league structure, with their women’s first team having been champions of division 4 as recently as 2019. Heidi Cheadle grabbed many of the headlines throughout the season, scoring a league record 777 runs, including four centuries. Lindow’s varied and exciting young bowling attack also played a significant role though. 

Lindow didn’t have it all their own way, losing two league matches along the way, and you now must go back as far as 2013 to find the last time that a Division 1 team went through a season unbeaten. Chester Boughton Hall finished second and Leigh third. 

In the highly competitive top division, it was always going to be a good team who were relegated, and here Stockport Georgians well and truly pulled off a great escape, winning all of their last three matches when their position had looked more than precarious prior to this. It was Nantwich who eventually ended up with the wooden spoon, and they will be replaced in next year’s top flight by Northop Hall.  

The joint highest wicket takers in Division 1 were Chester Boughton Hall’s Carys Lambe and Oakmere’s Sarah Worsdale, with 18 each. 

Lindow’s successes continued as their second team won Division 3 East, while the only teams in the hardball leagues to finish with an unbeaten record were Runcorn in Division 4 West and Whalley Range in Division 4 East. The feat was also repeated by three of the six winners of the Division 5 softball competitions: Widnes, Sale and Macclesfield. Didsbury were unbeaten champions of the senior T20 competition. 

There were also significant achievements for league clubs in external competitions. Leyland became the first Cheshire League team to win a national competition by landing the Plate prize in the ECB’s National Knockout.  

Five of the league’s Division 1 teams were chosen – alongside three from the Lancashire League – to play in the Thunder Cup, a new competition for the north-west of England, organised by Lancashire CCC. Significantly, the final of this competition was played at Old Trafford, surely the first time that a women’s club match has been played at the Test ground? It was Stockport Georgians who emerged triumphant here, beating Leigh by eight wickets in the final. 

2025 TEAM HONOURS

	WINNERS	RUNNERS-UP
Division 1	Lindow	Chester Boughton Hall
Division 2	Northop Hall	Upton
Division 3 West	Alvanley	Chester Boughton Hall 2nd XI
Division 3 East	Lindow 2nd XI	Stockport Georgians 2nd XI
Division 4 West	Runcorn	Kingsley
Division 4 East	Whalley Range	Brooklands
Division 4 South East	North East Cheshire	New Mills & High Peak North
Division 5 Wirral	Old Parkonians	New Brighton
Division 5 Mid	Widnes	Christleton
Division 5 South 1	Crewe	Aston
Division 5 South 2	Elworth	Crewe 2nd XI
Division 5 East 1	Sale	Brooklands
Division 5 East 2	Macclesfield	Romiley
T20 Championship	Didsbury Swordettes	Chester Boughton Hall Deemons