Rebecca Blake

Rebecca Layla Blake (born 13 November 1998) is a Romanian cricketer and sport scientist who plays for the Romanian women's national cricket team as a right handed batter and offbreak bowler. She is presently the captain of the Romanian team, and has also captained the French national team.

Off the field, she works as a laboratory technician at Solent University in Southampton, England, and as a sport scientist for the GB Speedway Team.

Early life and education Blake was born in Romania, to a Romanian mother, Greta, and an English father, John. She was raised in Romania, where she lived until she was nine years old, and in France.

In early 2022, she was said to be "in the process of organising a doctorate".

Domestic career Inspired by her introduction to cricket as an 11 year old, Blake joined the Saumur Cricket Club. She soon became the youngest and only girl player, and a regular, in the club's only team, which was otherwise a men's team.

In 2017, she moved to the Hursley Park Cricket Club in Hampshire, England, for which she played initially in the Women's 2nd XI, alongside Shami Mosweu, captain of the Botswana national team. In September 2019, she was a member of the Hursley Park team led by Emily Windsor that won the inaugural Summer Smash T10 tournament at The Oval in South London.

As of her international debut in September 2022, she was still a member of the Hursley Park club.

International career France Blake's batting and bowling feats for Saumur soon came to the attention of the French national squad's selectors. In August 2011, aged 12, she played her first two matches for the French national team, against Jersey; the two contests were also the first matches ever played by the team, of which she was the youngest member. In the first match, Blake and the team did not do well, but in the second, she took two wickets and was given the best bowler award. Once again, she soon became a team regular. when the then 15-year-old Blake played in that year's annual European women's cricket tournament at the Olympic Stadium in Berlin, she had become one of her team's vice-captains, The previous month, she had scored her maiden international half century, against Belgium. France bagged a total of three 'upset' wins, against Jersey, Denmark and Gibraltar, and finished "an unexpected third", behind Italy and Germany. At that time, she was hailed as having "perfect knowledge of the game".

When Blake moved to England in 2017, she ceased to be eligible for selection in the French team.

The following day, in a T20I against Serbia, Blake became the first woman to score a T20I century for Romania when she made 110* in 61 balls, with 17 fours, to lead the team to its first ever victory, by 145 runs. She was also named as player of the match. Romania was involved in two matches on the next day, 11 September 2022. In the first match, a playoff against Serbia for third place in the tournament, the team won by seven wickets, with Blake taking 2/7 and scoring 20*. In the second match, the tournament final, Blake made 49 in 34 balls, in Romania's defeat by Greece by 10 wickets.

As of the end of the tournament, Blake had played four T20Is, and had a batting average of 108.50 at a strike rate of 148.63.

Playing style Blake is a right handed batter and offbreak bowler.

Off the field Blake is known to her friends and fellow cricketers as "Becky" or "Becks".

She has worked as a part-time cricket coach for Game Changers Coaching, a private coaching business, and for Sandroyd School in Wiltshire, England.

Since 2020, she has been a part time sport scientist for the GB Speedway Team. In that capacity, she monitors the progress, and assists with the development, of speedway riders; in particular, she collects, analyses and reports on telemetric data with the objective of maximising riders' performance.

In 2021–22, she was a full-time student hub advisor for the University of Southampton, England. In October 2022, she commenced working full time as a Laboratory Technician (Sport Science) at Solent University.