Mady Villiers chose Durham over Essex on a three-year contract

Prior to the start of the new county competition in 2019, Durham has bolstered their women’s team by bringing in England offspinning all-rounder Mady Villiers for a three-year contract.

Twenty times, Villiers has played for England; most recently, on their tour of Ireland, she bowled two victories nearly out of the jaws of loss with her death-over technique.

She has amassed over 2000 career runs with eight half-centuries and 221 white-ball wickets in her professional career. She has also been a constant for Oval Invincibles in the Women’s Hundred, helping the team win titles in 2021 and 2022.

Her arrival at Durham is a big win for the team, which is set to unseat the Northern Diamonds of Headingley to become the North-East regional representatives in women’s domestic cricket before Yorkshire’s 2026 Tier 1 admission.

Mady Villiers, who graduated from the Essex pathway, has chosen not to stick with her home county.

which will also have Tier 1 status starting in 2025 when they unseat Sunrisers, who won the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy final last week. Hollie Armitage, her England teammate, will now serve as her captain.

“I’m really excited to be joining Durham ahead of the 2025 season,” Villiers stated. “I was immediately drawn to the club’s and the coaching staff’s inspiring vision, and I knew I wanted to be involved.”

The team has a tonne of quality, and I’ve always enjoyed playing with Hollie as captain, so I’m sure that moving up north is the correct decision for me.

It was going to take a lot for me to leave Essex, where I had played my entire career. I think it says a lot about how I feel about Durham and our potential as a team. I’m eager to get started and watch this team’s progress over the next years.”

“We are thrilled to announce Mady has agreed to join Durham on a three-year deal,” stated Marcus North, Director of Cricket. Our team is gelling well, and it’s a major coup for the area and us to be able to bring in an England international in Mady.

“After demonstrating her excellence as a domestic player for the Sunrisers and the Oval Invincibles for a number of years, we are thrilled that Mady will be joining us in the North East.

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“Hopefully her move to Durham will see her thrive in the county as she looks to add more England caps to her name and further excel with bat and ball.”