Player Profile
Seren Smale is undoubtedly in the midst of a golden period in her career.
Ahead of 2023, the Welsh wicketkeeper-batter was awarded her maiden professional contract at Emirates Old Trafford. In 2024, she starred for Lancashire Thunder and went on to make her senior international debut for England.
Smale, 20-years-old, played twice for England in their September T20I series against Ireland in Dublin, posting scores of 25 and 10 whilst taking the gloves.
She had already represented England’s Under 19s and A sides in South Africa and New Zealand, the former at the inaugural T20 World Cup in early 2023 when they reached the final.
To 2024….Smale scored 722 runs from 22 competitive appearances for Thunder, including 515 of them in the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy.
She was third-leading run-scorer across the whole of that competition and was named as Lancashire Thunder’s Charlotte Edwards (T20) Cup player-of-the-year and the overall Thunder player-of-the-year.
Wrexham’s Smale scored five half-centuries in competitive matches for Thunder last summer, enjoying success as an opener but also whilst batting at three and four in their order.
Two scores of particular note were 99 opening in an early-season RHFT clash with with Southern Vipers at Wormsley before hitting an unbeaten 88 from number four against Central Sparks at Edgbaston, a defeat which ended Thunder’s Charlotte Edwards hopes.
Smale warmed up for 2025 with a winter in Australia, first in Queensland grade cricket and then on an A tour with England.
Despite her tender age, she is without doubt one of Lancashire’s key players for the start of the county structure in 2025 and then beyond.
In late April 2023, aggressive right-hander Smale crashed 121 not out off 69 balls opening the batting for Lancashire women in a T20 win over Cumbria in Glasgow. It was the highest ever T20 score by any batter for the Red Rose - women or men - and was the joint highest for any team in that competition.
Smale also had a distinguished junior tennis career.
It was, therefore, ironic that she would make her senior regional debut for Thunder in 2021 on the same weekend that Emma Raducanu won the US Open women’s title at Flushing Meadows in New York. Seren had previously practiced with one of Raducanu’s coaches.
Smale represented Wales Under 15s at cricket in 2018 and Lancashire Under 15s the following summer.
She has gone on to play senior county cricket for Cheshire, Cumbria, the Northern Representative XI and, in 2022 and 2023, Lancashire.
She helped the Red Rose win the regionalised County T20 Cup competition at the start of 2022, though the strength of top order performances meant she didn’t bat in four of the six games.
Ellie Threlkeld’s presence behind the stumps means that Smale has had to make her name as a specialist batter rather than with the wicketkeeping gloves. But keeping is something she is very keen to progress with.
Smale represented Birmingham Phoenix in the Hundred in 2024 having previously been part of the Southern Brave squad in 2023. However, she didn’t play for Brave as they won the title that year.