Staffordshire are on the up – and ahead of schedule
Staffordshire's women are look forward to mixing it with the best sides in the country next summer.
The cricketers will be plying their trade in Division One of the Royal London One-Day 50-over competition.
A stunning season saw Staffs finish runners-up to Somerset to clinch their place at the top table of women's cricket.
The promotion was achieved within the five-year plan set in place by Staffordshire Performance and Pathway manager Bob Askey and coaches Leigh Rees and Chris Guest.
And Staffs' success has been noticed by the England hierarchy with Fordhouses skipper Guest joining with England's senior side in the build up for this summer's Ashes showdown with Australia, while talented batter Evelyn Jones earned a call to the England Academy squad.
A delighted Askey said: "This is an excellent achievement. Since myself and Leigh Rees took over the coaching and management of the squad during 2010 we have seen a season-on-season improvement.
"Chris Guest was brought in as lead coach, resulting in structured winter training programme and individual player development.
"In 2011, Leigh and I put a five-year plan in place to achieve Division One status and this has been achieved a year early, despite the loss of Chris to England Women's coaching duties.
"This is down to the on-field commitment of the players the stability of the coaching and support team.
"We are under no illusions that the step up will be massive and we will structure our winter programme to meet the demands of Division One cricket.
"Staffordshire has a strong women's and girls' pathway and our senior women's success is also down to the support from the clubs, who should also take some of the credit for this outcome.
"The future looks good with our county age groups performing well with a large talent pool from which we can select for the future."
Staffs bagged five wins from their eight games, with victories over Durham, Ireland, Wales, Devon and Scotland.
Their only defeat came in the final clash of the season against Worcestershire when they had already sealed the step up in class.
Jones struck two centuries during the course of the summer.
Rees added: "Great credit has to go to the players, for the application shown during the winter to the consistency shown through the summer."
