The 1 Champion Madeline Welham Joins Team Kookaburra

The 2023 finals day of The 1, the leading cricket competition for girls aged 11-18, saw Madeline Welham crowned Champion following a competitive day of action with 40 girls taking part in a series of batting, bowling and fielding tests.  2023’s event was the third edition of the rapidly growing event. The final was hosted at the iconic Trent Bridge in Nottingham with the event also being held in partnership with The Blaze, the home of elite women’s cricket in the East Midlands. 

Created by England legend Lydia Greenway, The 1 has established itself as the leading competition developed specifically to create pathways for girls in cricket through a search for the next number one female all-rounder.

On winning the one, Madeline said: “It was a lot of pressure, especially doing the bowling last, but it was amazing.  It was so much fun, so many different activities, so many different things you can do to show how good you are at cricket!”

Madeline scored a total of 76 points of 100 to get her hands on the trophy. In becoming ‘The 1 2023’,  As Winner of the competition, Madeline has earnt a pro-player contract from Kookaburra Sport.  Madeleine visited Kookaburra with her father and sister to select her equipment for the season - choosing the Kookaburra Rapid cricket bat, batting gloves and batting pads.

"We are delighted to welcome Maddy to the Kookaburra Family", Kookaburra's Stuart Waterton commented, "One of the great pleasures we have is seelng players progress through the ranks.  It's really important to us for the next generation of cricketers and we want to work with those players to hopefully help them achieve their dreams and play first class cricket - and hopefully international cricket in the future".

Founder of the competition, Lydia Greenway, was impressed with Madeline’s performance and commented: “Madeline was phenomenal. For me it is about delivering all of the skills consistently and under pressure and she was able to do that. She was able to churn out the challenges on a consistent basis and at a good level as well. To me, that says a lot about the mental side of the game and how mentally tough she was.”

The 1 cricket competition gives the girls an insight of where a professional career in cricket could take them, as well as being a new pathway to showcase the hidden talent within the female game. 

You can register your interest for The 1 2024 by visiting, https://girlssports.club/pages/the-1-2024