A QUARTET of Newport cricketers have been selected for the England Women's U15 Development Programme (EWDP) summer competition.

Jessica Thornton, Charlotte Scarborough, Rose Evans and Georgia Parfitt will take part in the event at Shrewsbury School along with Port Talbot and Llangennech's Alexandra Griffiths.

The best young women cricketers from England and Wales will take part in a week of matches between August 10 and 14 with the competition involving four select teams – three under-15 and one under-16.

Thornton, Griffiths and Scarborough have been included in the U15 squads. Parfitt has been selected in the U16 squad and opening batter Evans is a reserve for the competition. All five have been part of the Glamorgan Academy for the last 10 months.

Thornton, a 14-year-old all-rounder, and 13-year-old all-rounder Griffiths were part of the winter EWDP as part of a 22-girl squad who trained on a monthly basis at the ECB Loughborough Performance Centre.

The winter squad members are always included in the summer competition - Griffiths is currently the youngest member of the EWDP U15 squad. The ECB then looks at other county players who have been performing well to take part in the competition.

Another Newport CC all-rounder Scarborough, 14, has performed exceptionally well this season for Wales U15 and U17 and has forced her way into the Wales women's team

Parfitt, 16, a wicket-keeper batter, has been selected for the U16s at the summer competition after impressive performances for Wales U17 and Wales Women.

She was also recently invited to attend an U19 talent detection day at Loughborough recently where she performed well.

"It's a great achievement to have five Welsh girls involved in the EWDP U15 summer competition in one way or another," said Aimee Rees, of Cricket Wales, who is the Wales U17 girls coach and women's team manager.

"The girls thoroughly deserve their success which is a just reward for all their hard work. Their selection for this important competition shows that the future is very bright for Welsh cricket."

Cricket Wales is the national governing body for junior and recreational senior cricket in Wales. It works closely with Glamorgan County Cricket Club, which governs the men's professional game. For information visit cricketwales.org.uk