Ella Caterina Claridge (born 28 September 2002) is an English-born

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

er who currently plays internationally for the

USA The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 contiguous ...

and domestically for

The Blaze Blaze Media is an American conservative media company. It was founded in 2018 as a result of a merger between TheBlaze and CRTV LLC. The company's leadership consists of CEO Tyler Cardon and president Gaston Mooney. It is based in Irving, ...

. She plays as a right-handed batter and

wicket-keeper In cricket, the wicket-keeper is the Cricket player, player on the fielding (cricket), fielding side who stands behind the wicket, ready to stop Delivery (cricket), deliveries that pass the batsman, and take a Caught, catch, Stumped, stump the ...

. In 2021 and 2022 she was in the

Trent Rockets Trent Rockets are a franchise 100-ball cricket side based in the city of Nottingham. The team represents the Historic counties of England, historic counties of Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire and Leicestershire in the newly founded The Hundred (cri ...

squad for The Hundred, and was later drafted by

Northern Superchargers Northern Superchargers are a franchise 100-ball cricket side based in the English city of Leeds. The team represents the areas of North East England and Yorkshire in The Hundred competition, which first took place during the 2021 English and W ...

for the 2024 season.

Domestic career

Claridge made her county debut in 2017, for

Buckinghamshire Buckinghamshire (, abbreviated ''Bucks'') is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-east, Hertfordshir ...

against Cambridgeshire and Huntingdonshire, in which she top-scored with 57 from 52 balls in a 79-run victory. The following season, 2018, she was Buckinghamshire's leading run-scorer in the

Twenty20 Cup The T20 Blast, officially known as the Vitality Blast for sponsorship reasons, is a professional Twenty20 cricket league in England and Wales. The competition was established by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) in 2003. T20 Blast is ...

, with 196 runs including two half-centuries, both against

Dorset Dorset ( ; Archaism, archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Somerset to the north-west, Wiltshire to the north and the north-east, Hampshire to the east, t ...

. Claridge was again Buckinghamshire's leading run-scorer in the 2019 Women's Twenty20 Cup, with 100 runs, including 51 made against

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (), abbreviated ''Lincs'', is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands and Yorkshire and the Humber regions of England. It is bordered by the East Riding of Yorkshire across the Humber estuary to th ...

. Claridge's 166 runs in the

2021 Women's Twenty20 Cup The 2021 Women's Twenty20 Cup, known for sponsorship reasons as the 2021 Vitality Women's County T20, was the 12th cricket Women's Twenty20 Cup tournament, taking place in April and May, with 36 teams taking part: 34 county teams plus Scotland ...

again made her Buckinghamshire's leading run-scorer for the competition, including two half-centuries, made against

Norfolk Norfolk ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in England, located in East Anglia and officially part of the East of England region. It borders Lincolnshire and The Wash to the north-west, the North Sea to the north and eas ...

and

Huntingdonshire Huntingdonshire (; abbreviated Hunts) is a local government district in Cambridgeshire, England, which was historically a county in its own right. It borders Peterborough to the north, Fenland to the north-east, East Cambridgeshire to the e ...

. She was again Buckinghamshire's leading run-scorer in the

2022 Women's Twenty20 Cup The 2022 Women's Twenty20 Cup, known for sponsorship reasons as the 2022 Vitality Women's County T20, was the 13th edition of the Women's Twenty20 Cup, an English women's cricket Women's Twenty20, Twenty20 domestic competition. It took place in ...

, with 199 runs at an average of 24.87. Against

, Claridge made her

Twenty20 Twenty20 (abbreviated T20) is a shortened format of cricket. At the professional level, it was introduced by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) in 2003 for the county cricket, inter-county competition. In a Twenty20 game, the two t ...

high score, scoring 96 from 61 deliveries. Ahead of the 2023 season, she joined

Leicestershire Leicestershire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It is bordered by Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire to the north, Rutland to the east, Northamptonshire to the south-east, Warw ...

, for the

2023 Women's Twenty20 Cup The 2023 Women's Twenty20 Cup, known for sponsorship reasons as the 2023 Vitality Women's County T20, was the 14th edition of the Women's Twenty20 Cup, an English women's cricket Twenty20 domestic competition. It was scheduled to take place in ...

, playing one match, whilst remaining with Buckinghamshire for the South Central Counties Cup. In 2021, Claridge was included in

Lightning Lightning is a natural phenomenon consisting of electrostatic discharges occurring through the atmosphere between two electrically charged regions. One or both regions are within the atmosphere, with the second region sometimes occurring on ...

's Academy squad for the season. She was also included in the

squad for the

2021 season 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

, but did not play a match. Claridge made her debut for the senior Lightning team on 28 August 2021, in a

Charlotte Edwards Cup The Charlotte Edwards Cup, initially named the Women's Regional T20, was an English and Welsh women's cricket Twenty20 domestic competition, held annually from 2021 to 2024. The tournament was named after England's former captain and most capped ...

match against

Central Sparks Central Sparks were a women's cricket team that represented the West Midlands region, one of eight regional hubs in English domestic women's cricket. They primarily played their home matches at Edgbaston and New Road. They were captained by E ...

. She appeared three times for the side in the

Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy The Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy was an English and Welsh women's cricket domestic competition, named after former England captain Rachael Heyhoe Flint, who died in 2017. The Trophy was held from 2020 to 2024, and was the premier women's 50-ov ...

later that season, scoring 46 runs including 39 * made against

Western Storm Western Storm were a women's cricket team that represented South West England and Wales, one of eight regional hubs in English domestic cricket. They primarily played their home matches at the County Ground, Taunton, the County Ground, Bristol ...

. She played six matches for Lightning in 2022, across the

and the

, scoring 118 runs with a top score of 41. She was also once again part of the Trent Rockets squad for The Hundred, but did not play a match. She played four matches for The Blaze (the new name for Lightning) in 2023, scoring 58 runs at an average of 19.33. In March 2024, Claridge was drafted by

for The Hundred in 2024. Claridge made 12 appearances for The Blaze as they won the 2024 Charlotte Edwards Cup. She played in both the semi-final versus

and the final against

South East Stars South East Stars were a women's cricket team that represented the London & South East region, one of eight regional hubs in English domestic women's cricket. They played their home matches at various grounds, including the County Cricket Ground ...

on Finals Day. Claridge signed a new two-year contract with The Blaze in August 2024.

International career

On 1 October 2024, Claridge was named in the

squad for their tour of Zimbabwe later that month.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Claridge, Ella 2002 births Living people English women cricketers Cricketers from Aylesbury Buckinghamshire women cricketers Leicestershire women cricketers The Blaze women's cricketers 21st-century English sportswomen English expatriate sportspeople in the United States American women cricketers United States women One Day International cricketers United States women Twenty20 International cricketers