MORE than 100 players, parents and guests attended the 2017 Women’s and Girls’ Presentation Night at the Cooper Associates County Ground, in Taunton, last Friday, with Lympsham’s Sophie Luff one of the star attractions.

Among the guests in attendance were Somerset chief executive Lee Cooper, Trevor Griffin, head coach of the Kia Super League-winning team Western Storm, and Richard Brice, the managing director of Somerset County Sports, one of the main sponsors of female cricket in the county.

Somerset Cricket development manager Andy Fairbairn welcomed everyone at the start of the evening, saying what a hugely successful summer it had been for women’s cricket with England winning the World Cup, Somerset gaining promotion back to the top division of the one-day competition and Western Storm lifting the Kia Super League title for the first time.

Following supper, Luff – the captain of the successful Somerset Women’s team and a member of the victorious Western Storm side – was interviewed about the season and her career so far, before giving advice to the young players who aim to follow in her footsteps.

Storm coach Griffin then spoke about their triumphant 2017 season and mentioned some of the changes that were going to be made for next summer.

An audio-visual presentation for each of the age group teams followed, and then awards were made.

Luff claimed the Somerset Women’s batting prize and the Players’ Player of the Year award, after a season in which she hit 629 runs in 12 innings for the team.

Other award winners: Somerset Women’s bowling award - Nicole Richards; Under-17 Girls batting award - Olivia Hamilton; Under-17 Girls bowling award - Jodie Filer; Under-15 Girls batting award - Tilly Scull; Under-15 Girls bowling award - Neve Kennedy; Under-13 Girls batting award - India Owen; Under-13 Girls bowling award - Lola Harris.

The evening concluded with a raffle that raised in excess of £300 towards the forthcoming Girls Under-17s tour to Sri Lanka.