FORMER Australia A international and Western Storm star Piepa Cleary has joined the Somerset Women coaching team as bowling consultant.

Piepa, who was born in Perth, is a right arm medium bowler and only retired from playing earlier this year after 13 years with her native Western Australia. During her career she has also played for Perth Scorchers in the Big Bash, Welsh Fire in The 100, as well as Lancashire in 2012 and Leicestershire from 2023-25, so is vastly experienced in the women’s game.

“I played for Western Storm a couple of years ago, so its nice to be back at Taunton - it’s a beautiful ground and I really like this area of England; it’s a lovely place to be,” Piepa said.

How does she come to find herself at Somerset? “I retired from playing earlier this year and since then I have been starting to get into the coaching scene with pace bowling. I met Erin Osborne, the Somerset Women’s head coach at one of the England Under 19 games recently, and got chatting with her and now I’m here. I’m really excited with the opportunity to come down and meet a new group and see a new environment, and I’m really looking forward to it.

“I am going to be working with the bowlers and getting stuck in, meet the girls and see the way that they like to operate. I want to try and make some sort of an impact, even if it’s only in a short amount of time.

“It’s beautiful and the ground itself is an awesome place with great facilities to get to train at. The girls I have met are lovely, everyone is quite young and eager to learn so I’m really excited about it.”

What’s Piepa’s impression with the way that the Tier One system in England is being implemented? “I think it’s very similar to how it is back in Australia; there is a little bit of a difference in how long it’s been happening but I actually think that now the county systems of Tier One are really starting to gel quite nicely. It seems that the quality environments are creating cultures that allow the players to grow and develop.

“Back home everyone is starting to develop as cricketers so I think it’s is exactly the same over here even though England is lightly behind time wise. I think it’s really exciting and it looks like the girls here are being really well supported.”

What is Piepa hoping to achieve in the time that she is here - between now and the end of the campaign? “Having another person around who has played the game and only recently retired I feel like, on the practical side of things, there is a lot I can offer. I am not coming here to change things drastically, just here to be a support.

Piepa added: “High challenge high support environment. I will offer what I can to the players and be dictated by what the players want and what they need.”

On Sunday, 23rd August, Somerset play against Hampshire in the Vitality T20 Women’s County Cup before returning home to play Durham in the Metro Bank One Day Cup on Wednesday, 26th August.