Player Profile
Alice Clarke is a wicketkeeper-batter from Accrington, following the same path taken to Emirates Old Trafford as men’s greats David and Graham Lloyd.
She has played first and second-team cricket for the Lancashire League club.
Clarke, aged 22, is one of a couple of understudies to first choice Thunder keeper and captain Ellie Threlkeld - England Under 19 Seren Smale is the other.
Like Threlkeld, Clarke has had captaincy experience, skippering Cumbria in county cricket. She made her senior debut for Lancashire in 2018, also playing for the Northern Representative XI.
Clarke debuted for Thunder in the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy, playing as a specialist batter and going in at three. She has a top-score of 19 in 10 appearances, including friendlies.
She has played Under 15s and Under 17s cricket for Lancashire and has impressed for Thunder’s Academy.
Clarke has scored a quartet of half-centuries for the Red Rose Under 17s and Thunder Academy, her best of 79 not out coming as an opener for the Academy in a 20-over win against Myerscough College in April 2022.
A couple of months later, June to be precise, Clarke took part in a women in sport and business panel discussion before Thunder played a floodlit Charlotte Edwards Cup match against Vipers at Old Trafford.
It was a panel of female local leaders and sport stars.
Lancashire chief executive Daniel Gidney said shortly afterwards: “Alice speaks so well and confidently for one so young, and I think she’s got a bright future. The day after the panel, she was netting at 9am because she hadn’t made the squad.
"For her to see it and think, 'I want a bit of that playing under lights at Emirates Old Trafford', to me that kind of proves it (hosting the match under lights) was success.”
Fingers crossed, Gidney is right and Clarke is shining bright for Thunder in years to come.
The arrival of former England men’s wicketkeeper Chris Read as Thunder’s new coach ahead of 2024 will no doubt be seen by Clarke as a great opportunity to kick her game forwards.