Player Profile
There’s no other way of putting this. Ellie Threlkeld = Captain Fantastic.
In 2025, Threlkeld led Lancashire to two trophies, their first of the professional era, with them winning the Vitality T20 County Cup in May and the Metro Bank One-Day Cup in September.
And she was a heavy contributor in both campaigns, with the wicketkeeping gloves and the bat.
In the County Cup, she posted a best of 45 in four innings with two catches and two stumpings. In the semi-final, she posted a crucial 34 not out as the Red Rose beat The Blaze at Taunton, chasing a revised target of 90.
In the One-Day Cup, Threlkeld - now aged 27 - returned 329 runs from 15 matches, added to 11 catches and six stumpings.
She saved her season’s best of 92 for a pivotal time. In the semi-final against The Blaze at Trent Bridge, the Red Rose were 52-4, only for Threlkeld to share a fifth-wicket 166 with Ailsa Lister to underpin an unassailable 241-6 total.
In March 2026, Threlkeld was subsequently selected by England for a T20 intra-squad series in South Africa as they assessed options for the summer’s home World Cup.
In between, Lancashire chief executive Daniel Gidney praised Threlkeld, telling the new website Lanky Lanky: “Ellie’s an extraordinary individual.
“She is the only player in England going back to the start of the KSL to have played every match (135 matches).
“She could easily be playing football now in the Women’s Super League if that was the path she wanted to go down. She played football before she committed fully to her cricket, and she’s a brilliant coach as well.”
Let’s have a look at the football. She played for the club she supports, Liverpool, before moving to Wigan Athletic prior to fully throwing her lot in with cricket. She was a defender.
Gidney isn’t the only one to have praised the Knowsley-born star, who calls Rainford CC home.
In 2021, legendary former England wicketkeeper Sarah Taylor said of Threlkeld: “She has got phenomenal hands - one of the best in the country.”
As we have already established, Threlkeld is also a hugely talented middle order batter who has previously represented England A.
Threlkeld hit a measured 91 in Lancashire Thunder’s 2022 Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy defeat against Lightning before bettering that score in the final game of 2023.
In the same competition, she hit a brilliant 107 not out off 115 balls to seal a victory over Western Storm at Emirates Old Trafford.
Threlkeld was named as Thunder’s One-Day player-of-the-year for two years running, in 2022 and 2023 - the former being her first as captain.
In the early stages of 2024, she topped 200 senior competitive career appearances for all teams in List A and T20 cricket.
In 2025, her first victim behind the stumps was the 200th of her career.
Threlkeld is a wonderful ambassador for the county, added to her skills with gloves and bat.
Before successfully leading Lancashire’s bid for silverware in 2025, she was at the helm in 2023 when Thunder - as a regional side - went close by reaching Finals Day in the Charlotte Edwards Cup. They were beaten semi-finalists.
Threlkeld also skippered the Manchester Originals in The Hundred. But, in 2025, she moved to the Trent Rockets.
In all cricket, since making her senior debut in July 2013 - aged 14 - she has gone on to play 262 all-format matches, with an aforementioned best of 107 not out.
She was part of the Lancashire team which won the county one-day and T20 double in 2017 and captained the side as they won the 2022 regional T20 title. All three were non-professional competitions.
She came through the Lancashire age-groups from Under 13s and has played Development, Academy and A cricket for England.
Threlkeld has played men’s cricket - and kept wicket - for Rainford’s first team in the Liverpool Competition.
She was a team-mate of England legend Taylor’s for a brief time in Lancashire Thunder colours during the days of the old Kia Super League.
Speaking about Threlkeld’s development three years ago, World Cup winner Taylor said: “She has got phenomenal hands - one of the best in the country.
“The talent has always been there. The next thing you know, she scores a fifty, gets more experience and knows her game a bit more.”
Her game is clearly in an exciting place now having developed significantly since those comments by Taylor - and that’s brilliant news for all concerned with Lancashire.