Холли Колвин: Англия крикетшісінің өмірі мен жетістіктері

English cricketer

Holly Louise Colvin (born 7 September 1989) is an English former cricketer who played as a slow left arm orthodox bowler and right handed batter. She appeared in five Test matches, 72 One Day Internationals and 50 Twenty20 Internationals for England between 2005 and her international retirement in 2013.

Born in Chichester, Colvin attended the nearby Westbourne House School. A right hand bat and slow left arm bowler, she originally played as a batter and started playing for the 1st XI in year 7 and soon averaged over 100. After Westbourne House, Colvin followed in the footsteps of England women's captain Clare Connor by playing in the boys' team at Brighton College. Competing in the Lord's Taverners under 15 Cup in 2004, Colvin and fellow Brightonian Sarah Taylor were the only girls among the 1,000 participating teams. Colvin and Taylor's involvement in the competition caused controversy within the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC), with president Robin Marlar calling their inclusion "absolutely outrageous". He proceeded to argue that, "if there's an 18 year old who can bowl at 80mph and he's been brought up properly then he shouldn't want to hurt a lady at any cost". On a cricket tour to Sri Lanka in December 2004, she was one of the last people to play at the Galle International Stadium before it was flattened by the tsunami of Boxing Day that year. In December 2006, Colvin was named as 'Female Pupil of the Year' by The Telegraph's 'School Sport Matters' campaign, receiving the award at Lord's from Olympic gold medallist Kelly Holmes.

Colvin played for Sussex from May 2005 to September 2015. She was part of the Sussex teams that won the women's County Championship in 2005, and again in 2008. The West Sussex Cricket League has named a trophy after her, awarded annually to the most improved young female cricketer in the county.

Colvin's first involvement with international cricket came in August 2005, when the England team was preparing to face the Australian women's international team at the Hove County Cricket Ground. She was invited to bowl against the English team in the nets to give them practice against a left arm spinner, who the Australian team was fielding in the form of Shelley Nitschke. She took three wickets in her inaugural game, dismissing Kate Blackwell and Julia Price in two consecutive balls and nearly taking Julie Hayes for a hat trick. Reminiscing over the experience in February 2008, Colvin remarked that "I think I was fortunate I had no idea who I was playing against – all these big names that were coming up against me and I had pretty much no idea". and then 3 for 50 in the 3rd–4th playoff to secure the England team 3rd place. On 10 August 2007, Colvin took a wicket and two catches in her inaugural Twenty20 International match, against South Africa at Taunton. Despite being the smallest member of the squad – a photograph published by the BBC shows her fitting comfortably inside a cricket bag – she proved her worth in the subsequent three match T20I series against New Zealand, taking wickets in both games that she played. In February 2008, Colvin played her third international Test match, on tour in Australia, as part of the England Women's Team defending the Ashes won in 2005. Colvin admitted that she felt "a little under pressure" before the one match series; England had not won the Women's Ashes for 42 years prior to the victory in 2005. She claimed that the team were "definitely looking to win we’ve got more to lose". She was an integral part of the England attack during the 2009 Women's Cricket World Cup, taking 9 wickets at 18 in the competition and hitting the winning runs in a tense finish in the final against New Zealand. She was the highest wicket taker, with 9 for 106, in the inaugural Women's World Twenty20 in England in 2009.

Colvin gained 10 A* grades in her GCSEs, three As in AS level exams, and 4 As in her A levels. In 2009, she started studying natural sciences at Durham University, to which is attached one of England's six University Centres of Cricketing Excellence. After retiring from playing aged 32, Colvin worked as Sports Competition Manager for Cricket at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.