SOMERSET'S most successful ever woman cricketer Anya Shrubsole was back at the Cooper Associates County Ground in Taunton on the opening day of the Women’s Test Match between England and South Africa.

Anya who hails from Bath first played for Somerset Women when she was 12 and was signed up to join the Somerset Academy soon after that. She made her international debut in 2008, since when she has appeared in eight Test Matches, 80 One Day Internationals,79 T20 Internationals and 189 List A matches.

Anya who was predominantly a fast bowler claimed 19 Test Match wickets at an average of 33.42, in ODI she took 106 wickets at 26.53, in WT20I she took 102 wickets at 15.55 while in List A she claimed 217 wickets at 21.85.

“It’s really nice to be back here watching Test Match cricket, which doesn’t happen too much for the women so to be here for a Test is really special. I have got some really fond memories of being here having spent a lot of my life here so it is always special to come back here.”

Anya, who played her early cricket for Bath CC talked about how her career started.

“I was playing for Somerset Women when I was maybe 11 or 12 and I was picked up to join the Somerset Academy by Kevin Shine who was the Director at that time, and then Jason Kerr took over from him, so I have been coming down to this ground for coming up to 20 years now.

“I think I was probably the first girl onto the Somerset Academy and guess I was lucky that ‘Shiney’ saw something in me. At that time there were some players on there who have gone onto do some pretty incredible things- like Jos Buttler and Jack Leach - we were all on the Academy at the same time so it has produced some decent players.”

What were some of Anya’s favourite memories of playing at Taunton?

“I’ve got a number of special memories of playing here and one of them is playing for Somerset as a youngster when I think I got seven wickets against Surrey on this ground, so thats probably my finest memory.

“Getting to play for England in a Test match here would be another special memory but I guess that anytime you get to comeback to somewhere that featured in your junior and formative years is a bit special.”

Since Anya started to play senior cricket for the county there have been some quite dramatic changes in the women’s game.

“It’s remarkable where the game has come in such a short space of time. In the past 10 years, or less than that, the game has gone through the roof which is really exciting to see and I still don’t think that its got to anywhere close to where it could go.”

“I am now the player coach with the Southern Vipers so still playing a bit and helping to coach the young fast bowlers. These are exciting times to be involved with women’s cricket and I am enjoying what I am doing now, and watching lots of youngsters coming through.”

What advice would Anya give to any girl wanting to get involved with cricket?

“What is available to girls playing cricket now is really exciting so its a great time to get involved. Play it and enjoy it and see how it goes, but obviously there is a career there and not just if you reach international level, but also at domestic level, so it’s probably the most exciting time now to be involved in women’s cricket so take it up!”