Western Storm pair Danielle Gibson and Lauren Filer, both uncapped at senior international level, have been included in England Women’s Ashes Test squad – here’s all you need to know about England’s newest Test recruits.
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Gibson and Filer are two of four potential Test debutants in England’s squad. Alice Capsey and Danni Wyatt have also been included in the squad, both with firm spots in England’s white-ball sides but yet to make their Test debuts.
England Women’s Ashes Test squad: Heather Knight (C), Nat Sciver-Brunt (VC), Tammy Beaumont, Lauren Bell, Alice Capsey, Kate Cross, Alice Davidson-Richards, Sophia Dunkley, Sophie Ecclestone, Lauren Filer, Danielle Gibson, Amy Jones, Emma Lamb, Issy Wong.
Gibson, 22, is an all-rounder who was also included as the travelling reserve in England’s T20 World Cup squad earlier this year. A right-arm seam bowler and aggressive batter, she made her county debut for Gloucestershire in 2014 before moving to Wales in 2018, As of 2023 she is playing her county cricket for Gloucestershire. In the now defunct Kia Super League she played for Western Storm, taking five wickets in the 2018 season.
In 2020, she was one of the 41 players who signed domestic professional contracts in England and also played for London Spirit in that year’s inaugural season of The Hundred. She scored 108 runs at a strike rate of 180 for the franchise, and took three wickets.
After a successful season with Western Storm in 2022, where she was their second-highest run scorer in the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy, she was named vice-captain ahead of the 2023 season. In the recently concluded Charlotte Edwards Cup, Gibson scored 166 runs in six matches at a strike rate of 141.88, including two half-centuries.
Filer, also 22, is the bolter among the names in England’s squad. Another right-arm seamer, she bowls with decent pace and has impressed at Western Storm after signing her first professional contract at the end of last season.
She took five wickets in five outings in the Charlotte Edwards Cup this season, with an average of 19.20. In 2022, she was Storm’s leading wicket-taker with 11 across the competition at 22.63. She is eighth in the competitions wicket-taking charts so far this season, having taken eight wickets in four matches.
Although she sat out England’s intra-squad match last week with a thigh niggle, she is set to feature in England’s three-day match against Australia A which begins on Wednesday this week (June 15).
The only women’s Ashes Test begins on June 22 at Trent Bridge and will be the first five-day match under the multi-format points system.
