Katie George’s breakthrough 2026

Katie George was yesterday named in the 50-over and 4-day England Women A squads for the multi-format series against India A this winter, following an outstanding season with the bat for the Bears.

2026-10-19T10:30+01:00

The right-handed top order batter ended the league stage of the Metro Bank One Day Cup as the competition’s leading scorer with 698 runs at a staggering average of 77.55 in only 12 starts.

Having recorded her maiden List A hundred against Lancashire in June, the 27-year-old soon followed it with another, as well as registering four other 50s in the campaign.

While the results are there for all to see, George has put in the hard yards to get to where she finds herself now.

Having started her career as a left-arm quick, George suffered a stress fracture in her back in 2018, shortly after making her debut for England in both T20 and 50-over formats. Ever since, George has put in countless hours developing her batting. Those hours paid off in 2026.

A regular contributor with the bat as List A high scores of 80 in 2019 and 74 in 2022 can attest, in 2026 those contributions have been greater and more consistent than ever.

Speaking after scoring 72 in a win against Essex towards the end of this season’s campaign, George mentioned the consistency being a pleasing factor in her year’s work.

“I want to contribute to winning games of cricket and that's been my goal for the season. To do that has been really pleasing,” she said.

“It's been something I've worked really hard on over the winter and thanks to the coaches’ help, they’ve put that hard work in with me. To then be able to put some performances out that hopefully try and win games for us and to also do it consistently has been really pleasing for me personally."

To put George’s season into context, her next best 50-over year in terms of run-scoring came in 2024 when she scored 321 runs.

The signs were there early in the campaign. In week one, George scored 41 in a high-scoring game against Surrey at Edgbaston, before she followed that with scores of 56 in a rain-affected match against Hampshire, and an unbeaten 42 against Essex, where she led the team to a five-wicket win.

In the next fixture, she fell agonisingly short of a maiden List A hundred, scoring 98 off 86 against The Blaze in a narrow defeat against the league’s in-form team.

She didn’t have to wait long for that first century.

That came against Lancashire on 13 June at Portland Road, and when she was eventually dismissed for 127 from only 97 deliveries after putting on a 166-run partnership with fellow century-maker Meg Austin, the Bears were in control, and would go on to win by 20 runs.

George would contribute right until the end of the season, scoring 274 runs over the final four matches while being dismissed just twice. Scores of 89, 72 not out, 12 and a closing, unbeaten 101 against Durham, rubber-stamped her place as the league’s leading scorer prior to the knockout phase of the competition.

After a stellar season, her selection for England A for their winter tour of India provides yet another opportunity for George to impress, and having recently signed a two-year extension to stay at Edgbaston until at least the end of the 2028 season, Bears fans will have the best view to see what she can achieve in 2027.