Worcester hooker Steph Clarke will captain North Midlands Women in their county friendly against Cheshire at Chester on Sunday May 1 (2pm).
The fixture replaces the scheduled opening match in the inaugural County Championship against Buckinghamshire which was cancelled because of Buckinghamshire’s withdrawal from the competition.
North Midlands will now use the Cheshire match to complete their preparations for the match against Gloucestershire at Five Ways OE on May 8 which will now be the Championship opener.
North Midlands Women
15 Samantha Bree (Worcester); 14 Hayley Brain (Dudley Kingswinford), 13 Alexia Mavroudis (Camp Hill), 12 Charlie Byrne (Worcester), 11 Heather Cowell (Birmingham University); 10 Hannah Bussey (Moseley0, 9 Melissa Wright (Moseley); 1 Nicola Brown (Moseley), 2 Steph Clarke (Worcester – captain), 3 Rhiannon Watkins (Worcester), 4 Joy Potter (Moseley), 5 Rowena Meaton (Moseley), 6 Lyndsay O’Donnell (Worcester), 7 Rhiannon Donnahey (Worcester), 8 Charlotte Browning (Birmingham University and Camp Hill). Replacements: Alex Butterworth (Worcester), Emma Pallister (Birmingham University), Gemma Reynard (Birmingham University), Hannah Haywood (Wasps), Harriet Mustard (Moseley), Jaimee Leigh North (Birmingham University and Camp Hill), Josie Symonds (Worcester), Kat Hackett (Five Ways OE), Laura Redhead (Moseley), Lauren Dockombe (Moseley), Stephanie Smith ( Worcester).