Taunton Deane were right in the thick of the Division Two title race throughout 2026, eventually finishing runners-up before going on to reach the T20 Plate final in a season that brought plenty of reasons to be positive.

Four wins from six league matches earned them 79 points, leaving them just nine behind champions Hatherleigh and comfortably clear of the rest of the division.

There was very little between the top two over the course of the summer, and Deane showed on several occasions why they were genuine title contenders.

One of their biggest performances came against Clyst St George in September, when they amassed 332 for five from their 35 overs on the way to a 145-run victory.

That innings also provided a special personal moment for Harriet Kelly ( pictured) who made her first ever century. Kelly carried her bat for an unbeaten 116, while Megan Clark added an unbeaten 79 as Deane put together their biggest total of the league season.

The reverse fixture against Clyst had also produced an emphatic Deane win. Chasing 182, they reached the target for the loss of just one wicket, with Pippa Stephens making 92 and Imogen Dunne unbeaten on 61.

Stephens was the driving force behind Deane’s batting throughout the league campaign.

She finished as the leading run-scorer in the whole of Division Two with 276 runs, making three half-centuries along the way. Her 92 against Clyst was her highest score of the season and one of several innings that gave Deane a strong platform at the top of the order.

Kelly finished with 133 runs, while Dunne also passed the 100-run mark with 105.

There was plenty of depth with the ball too.

Martha Wilkes finished as Deane’s leading league wicket-taker with 11 wickets. Her best return was three for 12 in the four-wicket victory away to Hatherleigh, where she played an important part in dismissing the eventual champions for 132.

Daisy Farrow took nine wickets, while Georgia Adams and Beatrice How both finished with eight, giving Deane a number of different options throughout the season.

Not everything went their way. Plympton produced an excellent bowling display to dismiss Deane for 76 in July before chasing the target with eight wickets to spare, but performances like that were very much the exception in what was otherwise an impressively consistent league campaign.

Deane also carried their good form into the T20 Plate.

They progressed all the way to the final, including victory over Clyst St George in the semi-final, before eventually losing out to Hatherleigh with the trophy on the line.

It meant Deane finished the year as runners-up in both the league and the Plate, which perhaps tells the story of just how close they came to turning a very good season into one with silverware attached.

There was still plenty to celebrate. The division’s leading run-scorer, Kelly’s first century, a bowling attack with contributions throughout and strong runs in two competitions all made 2026 a season of real substance.

Deane were never far away from the action and, after pushing the champions hard in the league and reaching the Plate final, they have plenty to build on heading into 2027.