NIAMH Holland, one of the local girls in the Somerset Women’s squad, has become one of Sophie Luff’s two vice captains for the upcoming season.

The 21 year old batter, who attended Wellington School and played up through the Somerset age groups, has also just signed an extension to her contract.

Last season Niamh played in five Metro Bank One Day Cup games in which she scored 174 runs at an average of 34.80 with a best of 78, while in her 11 Vitality Blast appearances she scored 167 runs at 18.56 with a best of 60.

She is no stranger to captaincy and in the absence of Luff in 2025 Niamh skippered the side on four occasions, leading Somerset to their only T20 victory against Essex at Taunton.

Regarding the vice captaincy, Niamh said: “It’s definitely a very special moment for me, and probably something that I wouldn’t have ever thought would happen. Now I’m just settling into the role and I’m really excited to see how that plays out this year.”

Niamh has spent a large part of the winter back at Taunton, so how different has it been since Erin Osborne has taken over as coach?

“It has been very different with Erin coming in but all the girls have loved it; she has been great so far and I’m really looking forward to see what the season holds and how far we can go this year.”

What is Niamh hoping for in 2026? This year I really want to push on in the 50 over competition and I feel like we definitely have a really good chance in that and we are really focussing on trying to qualify and go on and win the trophy.” She added: “I think that the girls have come on in leaps and bounds in the winter.”