Southern Vipers To Contest Two Fixtures At Hove In 2021

The Southern Vipers are pleased to announce The 1st Central County Ground will host two of the side's fixtures this summer.

The venue will be the setting for 50-over action on Saturday 5th June as Southern Vipers face Central Sparks in the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy before Georgia Adams’ side take on the Sparks again on Wednesday 25th August, this time in the new Regional T20 competition.

The Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy will return alongside the new Women’s Regional T20 as a new era begins for women’s domestic cricket this summer, with 56 matches to be played across both competitions.

After claiming the inaugural competition title last season, The Ageas Bowl-based Southern Vipers will begin their 2021 Rachael Heyhoe Flint trophy title defence on Saturday 29^th May with a home fixture against Loughborough Lightning at The Ageas Bowl. Matches against South East Stars (Monday 31^st May), Central Sparks (Saturday 5^th June) and Western Storm (Saturday 12^th June) round out the first block of 50-over fixtures.

Following a period of T20 action, Southern Vipers will then travel to face Lancashire Thunder (Friday 10^th September) and Sunrisers (Sunday 12^th September) before returning home for the final group-stage fixture on Sunday 18^th September. The competition’s Final is scheduled for Sunday 25^th September.

The Women’s Regional T20 is set to commence on Saturday 26th June with the eight teams split into two groups of four and each team playing three home and three away matches during the group stage.

Central Sparks will be Southern Vipers opponents in the competition curtain-raiser at Edgbaston, followed by a home match against Loughborough Lightning (Saturday 2rd July) and an away clash against Surrey Stars (Saturday 10^th July).

A third consecutive home clash will see Central Sparks (Wednesday 25^th August) travel to Hove, whilst return matches against South East Stars (Saturday 28^th August) and Loughborough Lightning (Monday 30^th August) complete the competition’s group stage. Finals Day is then scheduled to take place on Sunday 5th September.

This summer 41 female players have signed full-time professional domestic contracts – in addition to 17 centrally contracted England players – while the launch of The Hundred will establish further opportunity for female cricketers.

Tickets for this summer's Southern Vipers' matches at the The Ageas Bowl will be available to purchase soon.

All 2021 Hampshire Cricket Members can access each Southern Vipers fixture played at The Ageas Bowl this summer as part of their Membership.

To find out more about Hampshire Cricket Memberships, please click here.