Martin Saxon reports
No team has retained the Cheshire Women’s League first division title for eight years now, and it has only happened once in the last 14 years. 2026 duly saw another new name on the trophy with Stockport Georgians claiming a first title.
There were some eye-catching batting contributions from Cheshire captain Ellie Mason and new Lancashire and England Under-19 breakthrough star Skye Thomas during the season, but Georgians couldn’t call on their services for every match, so they needed some consistent performances from young players who were available regularly, with Neve Boon and Gracie Whittle standing out in this respect.
2025 champions Lindow had to settle for second place, despite losing just one match in the main league competition all year and having the leading top-flight run scorer in Heidi Cheadle and the leading wicket taker in Faye Smith. In what was of course mostly a very dry season, two cancelled matches in late August cost the Wilmslow club dearly.
That’s to take nothing away from Georgians, who played some superb cricket in reeling off ten wins on the bounce, after they had lost their opening day fixture. The Stockport club also completed a double by winning the Senior Knockout Cup.
It completed a dramatic turnaround for Georgians, as both they and third-placed Leyland were in danger of relegation on the final day of the 2025 season.
The Division 1 record for best individual score fell four times during the season. Leigh’s Danielle Collins made 174, which was followed by 187* and then 190* from Cheadle. Collins then broke the overall league record with 204* and also became the first double centurion in league history.
Nantwich were champions of the second division and will be back in the top flight for 2027, and they also recorded a statement win in the T20 Championship, where they topped the table, ahead of five first division clubs. Sarah Nettleton’s tally of 28 Division 2 wickets breaks the all-time record for the most wickets taken in any division of the league.
Most divisions were closely fought affairs, but unbeaten seasons were recorded by a few teams in winning their divisions: Whalley Range in Division 3 East, Lindow’s third team in Division 4 South East, the Brooklands softball team in Division 6 East, Bredbury St Mark’s in Division 7 East III, Kingsley’s softball team in Division 7 West I and Christleton in Division 7 West II.
There were also significant achievements for league clubs in external competitions. For the second year in succession, Leyland bagged the Plate prize in the ECB’s National Knockout. Lindow came within a hair’s breadth of becoming the first Cheshire League team to make the final of the National Cup.
Five of the league’s Division 1 teams again played alongside three from the Lancashire League in the Thunder Cup, a competition for the north-west of England, organised by Lancashire CCC. Again, the Cheshire League supplied three of the semi-finalists and both finalists, with Lindow emerging triumphant against Leyland.
TEAM HONOURS
| Winners | Runners up | |
| Elite Hardball | ||
| Division 1 | Stockport Georgians | Lindow |
| Division 2 | Nantwich | Hayfield |
| T20 Championship | Nantwich | Chester Boughton Hall |
| Senior Knockout Cup | Stockport Georgians | Didsbury |
| Development Hardball – Standard Scoring | ||
| Division 3 West | Chester Boughton Hall 2nd | Runcorn |
| Division 3 East | Whalley Range | Macclesfield |
| Division 4 West | Crewe | Oxton |
| Division 4 East | Didsbury 3rd | Brooklands |
| Division 4 South East | Lindow 3rd | Romiley |
| Development Knockout Cup | Chester Boughton Hall 2nd | Whalley Range |
| Development Hardball – Pairs Scoring | ||
| Division 5 West | Elworth 2nd | Grappenhall |
| Division 5 East | Heaton Mersey 2nd | Macclesfield 2nd |
| Softball – Standard Scoring | ||
| Division 6 West & South | Christleton | Holmes Chapel |
| Division 6 East | Brooklands Softball | Sale |
| Division 6 Wirral | Old Parkonians | Irby |
| Softball – Pairs Scoring | ||
| Division 7 West I | Kingsley Softball | Over Peover |
| Division 7 West II | Christleton | Widnes |
| Division 7 East I | Sale | Brooklands Softball 2nd |
| Division 7 East II | Bowdon Vale | Holmes Chapel 2nd |
| Division 7 East III | Bredbury St Mark’s | Stockport 2nd |
| Division 7 South | Alsager | Rode Park & Lawton |
| Division 7 Wirral | Old Parkonians | Upton Softball |
| Softball Knockout Cup | Crewe Softball | Holmes Chapel |
INDIVIDUAL AWARD WINNERS
| Batting Award (Most Runs) | Bowling Award (Most Wickets) | Fielding Award (Most Catches & Run Outs as Fielder) | Wicketkeeping Award (Most Catches & Stumpings as Wicketkeeper) | |
| Division 1 | Heidi Cheadle (Lindow) 776 | Faye Smith (Lindow) 20 | Hollie Sigsworth (Northop Hall) 8 | Heidi Cheadle (Lindow) 16 |
| Division 2 | Alice Dyson (Hayfield) 539 | Sarah Nettleton (Nantwich) 28 | Sarah Nettleton (Nantwich) 9 | Bethan Hughes (Nantwich) 6 |
| Division 3 West | Bella Williams (Chester BH 2nd) 289 | Nicola Heaton (Runcorn) 14 | Ffion Jones (Chester BH 2nd) 5 | No qualifier |
| Division 3 East | Rachel Monteath (New Mills & High Peak North) 456 | Hannah Price (Whalley Range) 20 | Rebecca Scholes (North East Cheshire) 9 | Nida Bano (Whalley Range) 5 |
| Division 4 West | Molly Price (Oxton) 247 | Amy Bourne (Crewe) 17 | Tarryn-Lee Warman (Kingsley) 10 | Ailsa Meakin (Crewe) 8 |
| Division 4 East | Charlotte Howard (Didsbury 3rd) 129 | Tasnim Akram (Didsbury 3rd) 18 | Anjali Santhakumar (Didsbury 3rd) 6 | No qualifier |
| Division 4 South East | Cheryl Reville (Romiley) 123 | Poppy Hague (Langley) 11 | No qualifier | No qualifier |
| T20 Championship | Roshini Prince-Navaratnam (Didsbury) 200 | Roshini Prince-Navaratnam (Didsbury) 9 | No qualifier | Katie Bennett (Chester BH) 4 |
| Batting Award (best average) | Bowling Award (best average) | |
| Division 5 | Claire Higgs (Elworth 2nd) not dismissed (122 runs, 5 innings) | Jess Isaacs (Heaton Mersey 2nd) 3.43 |
| Division 6 | Helen Jones (Old Parkonians) 108 | Leeann Hilton (Alsager) 7.14 |
| Division 7 | Julie Harris (Rode Park & Lawton) 220 | Aimee Scragg (Haslington) 4.33 |
