Whilst contracts are still to be finalised, Surrey and South East Stars’ Bryony Smith is “massively excited” by knowing that her home club will have a professional team next season.
Joining the Three Feathers set-up as a nine-year-old and making her senior team debut at the age of 16, Bryony is as Surrey as it gets. The 26-year-old believes that it will be a ‘full-circle’ moment for her if she takes the field for the Club as a professional.
“Looking back as a nine-year-old to be told ‘you’d have a chance to be playing full-time professionally for Surrey’ is something that I would have never believed!” she adds.
The ECB announcement that Surrey were successful in their bid to run a fully professional women’s team from 2025 ended a period of ambiguity for the Stars. “We were at training, we knew it was happening that day, so we were all a bit anxious, but when we got that message from our director saying Surrey were successful, we were all pretty excited,” shares the Stars skipper.
“Surrey have led the way over the last few years in terms of women’s cricket… we know there are already some exciting plans in place,” continues Bryony. “We can’t wait to hopefully finish on a high with the Stars this season and then get going with the Surrey badge on in a few months.”
Surrey’s bid talked about the Club’s vision to provide equal treatment to the men’s and women’s teams, offer considerable playing and training opportunities for the new team at The Kia Oval, and commit to growing the size of the professional squad.
Bryony, who grew up playing cricket with her brothers and in boys’ teams at club level during a time when “the only way to be a professional was to play for England”, knows well the impact that professionalisation of women’s cricket has had on cricketers and the game at large.
“It’s been great to see [the women’s game] evolve and those domestic contracts we have now give people security and enable them to train full-time,” says Bryony. “Hearing plans of more contracts for more professionals is only going to help raise the level of the game.”
Being able to call The Kia Oval “a real home” is also something that Bryony cannot wait for. The famous ground holds a special place for the Stars skipper: “I’ve watched a lot of cricket at the Oval with my family… I’d go down with my brother or my dad, normally to a T20 game on a Friday night and the atmosphere there is amazing,” she shares.
It is an ambition of the Club to ambition to host 50% of the women’s team matches at The Kia Oval from 2025, especially focusing on T20 fixtures through double-headers and standalone games.
Taking a larger view of the restructuring of women’s domestic cricket in England, Bryony believes the move is going to be a “really positive thing.” She goes on: “Having that one club, two teams aspect is only going to benefit not just the women’s game, but cricket in general.
“Women’s cricket has its own fans, so to bring those back into a county and get both sets of fans coming together and watching – not just men’s or women’s cricket – but cricket, in general, is only going to benefit the sport.”
Steve Elworthy, CEO at Surrey Cricket, echoes the thoughts of the Stars’ skipper. “There is no doubt in my mind that this is a game-changing moment for women’s cricket,” says Elworthy, before adding: “I believe that this move will help the women’s game to flourish and will also bring new fans into the Club.
“To have a fully professional women’s team under the Surrey banner will give women and girls across the region a clear route to playing the game they love as a career,” Elworthy continues. “A professional team is the final piece of the jigsaw puzzle for us and gives all those players in the recreational game and in the talent pathway a goal to aim for within the Club.”
Elworthy adds: “We believe that this evolution in the professionalisation of the domestic women’s game will be a revolutionary step for cricket and we want Surrey to be at the forefront of that.”
