SHROPSHIRE CCC Women’s opening bat, Naomi Payne, a Sports Science student at Walford & North Shropshire College, is raring to get stuck into the new cricket season after training with the England Women’s High Performance Academy.
Academy Coach, Paul Shaw, invited Naomi, a promising opening bat and medium pace bowler, to a day at the England Women’s Academy pre-tour training camp at the ECB’s National Cricket Performance Centre at Loughborough University.
The daughter of former first class cricketer and ex-Shropshire CCC Captain, Ian Payne, Naomi has enjoyed success in both women’s and men’s cricket in recent years. The 19-year-old opens the batting for the Shropshire Women’s County team and Quatt CC Ladies XI and bats in the middle order for the men’s Oswestry 2nd XI team.
“I worked closely with the England Women’s opening bat, Sarah Taylor, at Loughborough and she was brilliant with me,” Naomi reveals. “It’s inspiring working with someone of Sarah’s ability and I would love to play for England alongside her in the future.
“I spent the morning with Sarah as my batting partner working on my batting technique. In the afternoon we were playing in temperatures of 35 degrees centigrade as the England Academy girls were acclimatising for their tour to India. It was an intense but fantastic day that has really set me up for the season ahead,” she added.
The Shropshire Women’s cricket team open their season with a friendly fixture against an Aberystwyth University Women’s XI on Sunday, April 18 at Aberystwyth University.
l England Women’s international opening bat, Sarah Taylor, left, with Naomi Payne at the ECB National Performance Centre at Loughborough.