Boundary-breaking Cricketer

One of our Sports Scholars, whose aim is to play for England, has been highlighted as ‘one to watch’ by the world’s leading historian of women’s cricket.

Dia in Year 8 was recently interviewed by Raf Nicholson of the cricketing website CricketHer, which focuses on women’s cricket in England and around the world.  The article mentions Dia’s ambition to play for England:

“Judging by the collection of trophies she shows me during our interview, it’s an ambition that could well be within her grasp. Last year, Dia was named Colt of the Year by her club, Hampstead CC… In 156 years of the club’s history, Dia is the first girl ever to win the award. 

Dia is an all-rounder, though she describes pace bowling as her ‘stronger point’…  She’s never been clocked on a speed gun, but at the age of 10, she bowled the ball so quickly in a match for Middlesex against Hampshire that she broke a stump clean in half. 

As a talented junior, she regularly plays for Hampstead’s boys teams… she still sometimes encounters surprise when she turns up to open the batting or the bowling against an all-boys opposition. “They are always not expecting me or the other girls in my team to be quite as good as we are!” she says. Has she ever got one of them out? “Yeah, yeah,” she says, casually. “Most games!”

Read the full article here.

Dia is one of two South Hampstead pupils selected to play for the Middlesex U13 squad last year; both Dia and Alice participate in our Sports Scholarship programme which supports our elite athletes.  Dia was recently selected as a reserve in the GDST Select Squad – one of the very youngest players to be in the running for the GDST’s national U19 team.

South Hampstead has a long legacy of cricketing – alumna Netta Rheinberg MBE (1911 – 2006) played for the English women’s team; the game was re-introduced as a key school sport in 2018, with pupils training at our premier league pitch on Lymington Road, also home to Hampstead Cricket Club, throughout the summer term.