Taking on the captaincy of a club mid-season is always tricky. Doubly so when they’ve just fired their existing skipper.

That’s the situation Warwickshire’s Katie George finds herself in, after she returned to the club last week fresh from a month representing London Spirit in The Hundred and was immediately launched into a dramatic few days.

Monday – head coach Ali Maiden informs the squad via Zoom that Georgia Davis is parting ways with the club and been placed on gardening leave until her contract expires at the end of the season. Tuesday – the squad reassemble at Edgbaston, train, and try to come to terms with the news. Wednesday – Warwickshire face Yorkshire in a One-Day Cup match, with George at the helm.

“I don’t think it’s easy for any team,” George tells CRICKETher. “Obviously, like the England men with Stokes, when you lose your captain it does affect things.

“I’m definitely not trying to be G [Davis]. I can’t be. She’s a brilliant girl and I wish her all the best.

“Any feelings towards that stuff is allowed to be there. It’s not like it’s been dismissed or anything like that.

“But I think there is a real sense of, let’s be in it together, this group of players, and then move forward.”

Davis has represented the Bears since 2015, and was unveiled as their first ever professional captain at the start of the 2025 season.

But CRICKETher understands that the level of disagreement between her and Maiden this year about both selection and the overall future of the team was so high that any future relationship was felt to be untenable.

A spokesperson for the club told CRICKETher: “The Club initiated renewal talks with Georgia in April 2026 and offered updated terms to stay. Despite numerous attempts to engage in discussion, Georgia did not choose to engage in any discussions until June 2026, by which time alternative recruitment plans had been made and the contract offer was rescinded.”

Warwickshire are also rumoured to be losing keeper-better Abbey Freeborn and all-rounder Bethan Ellis to Glamorgan at the end of the season, while seamer Em Arlott has announced her departure to Yorkshire.

Amidst the upheaval, George is clear about her own role:

“I think I can bring a little bit of stability and calmness for the next five weeks. It’s important we come together as a team and come together as a group and we’re in it together, and have that collective goal of trying to get these trophies.

“My plan is to try and have that calm presence in a little bit of turmoil.”

George herself recently signed a two-year contract extension with the club, meaning she will remain at Edgbaston at least until the end of 2028.

But she says that the possibility of her taking on the club captaincy on a permanent basis has not yet been discussed.

“Personally, I wouldn’t want that conversation now,” she says. “I don’t think it’s right. I don’t think it’s respectful.

“If I get asked, then that’s something I’ll think about. But for now, it’s about these five weeks.

“As someone that wants to be involved in all three facets of the game it would be a decision to be made for myself as well. And honestly, I don’t know the answer right now.”

Left-arm seamer George played two ODIs and five T20s for England as a teenager back in 2018, but a series of back injuries left her future career hanging in the balance.

She joined Warwickshire’s previous iteration as Central Sparks back in 2023, and praises the club for their support of her recent transition into a batting all-rounder who has made her mark in the No 4 position, hitting scores of 98 and 127 in the One-Day Cup this season.

But she has never given up on bowling.

“People ask me why I keep trying to bowl, and it’s just my passion. It’s what made me fall in love with cricket. It was watching Jimmy Anderson bowl at Sachin Tendulkar at Lord’s, waking up at 5AM to go and watch because my dad decided it was a good idea.

“That love doesn’t go away. It’s tricky because it’s taken a lot from me, but the love for it’s still there.”

Being handed the new ball midway through The Hundred for London Spirit – the culmination of several long, hard periods of rehab – was therefore particularly special.

George says she started the competition not knowing if she would be able to bowl at all. “I hadn’t bowled for over a year. I only bowled off a full run-up once before The Hundred. I was in Regents Park bowling during the World Cup when I was supporting [girlfriend and England bowler] Issy Wong. Thanks to her for picking the ball up for me!

“The first time I bowled at a left-hander was [Phoebe] Litchfield in Leeds, so it was crazy. And I hadn’t really thought about it until I was at the end of my mark and I was like, sh*t. This isn’t optimal.”

The encounter ended with George having the Aussies overseas caught at deep midwicket – a satisfying moment for the English seamer. 

“I feel like I’ve smiled playing cricket again,” she says.

As for what comes next? Well, her bowling workload is still being carefully managed by Warwickshire… sort of.

“Sometimes we have three 50-over games in seven days. So do I not bowl in one of those? They’re sensible conversations to be having, which I think are the right conversations.

“But if it’s a must win game, we obviously throw it out the window because I’m getting f*cking stuck in. That’s me. And I never want to lose that.”

As Warwickshire look for their next permanent captain, they could do a lot worse.