SOMERSET County Cricket Club have signed right arm off spinner Chloe Skelton on an initial two year contract.

The 23-year-old is a product of the Gloucestershire Pathway and made her debut for her home county in 2018 before joining the Western Storm Academy in 2021. Her Storm debut came later that year and she signed her first professional contract in the winter of 2022.

Since then Chloe has represented Western Storm in 50 matches across the two formats, claiming 50 wickets and scoring 250 runs. In 2023 she was named Western Storm Bowler of the Year.

After putting pen to paper on her contract, Chloe said: “It’s brilliant that the professional teams are aligned to First Class counties and I’m really excited to get going. You can’t forget your roots and where you’ve come from, so it’s great to still be affiliated to a South West county.

“It’s really exciting that we will be the first and it’s certainly something to look forward to. Being a professional cricketer means an awful lot to me because throughout my journey I’ve had to work very hard, so I’m very grateful to have reached this stage.

“I’m looking forward to hitting the ground running this month and showing people what we’re all about.

”Somerset Women head coach Trevor Griffin said: “Chloe’s hard work and commitment has seen her go from strength to strength since signing as a professional cricketer. She is a consistent wicket-taker and her fielding has seen fantastic improvement.

“I love her passion for wanting to influence and win games of cricket and I can’t wait to see her influence games for Somerset.”

SCCC director of cricket Andy Hurry added: “Chloe’s passion for the game is infectious. She has continued to show growth in her ability to positively impact games year on year, and we look forward to her development continuing with Somerset.”

Meanwhile those who have visited the Cooper Associates County Ground during the last few weeks will have noticed that there is a substantial amount of work being undertaken in both the Stragglers Bar and Coffee Shop and the Andy Caddick Pavilion.

All of the alterations are being carried out to enable the club to provide facilities for both the Somerset men’s and women’s teams that are now based at the ground.

To this end the commercial team, including reception and membership, have moved from the Andy Caddick Pavilion and are temporarily located on the first floor of the Marcus Trescothick Pavilion, before moving into part of the Stragglers Bar when the space has been reconfigured.

Looking toward to the 2025 season it is hoped that next year’s fixtures for both the men’s and worms’s teams will be released later this month.