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“It went even better than I’d hoped for”: Liv’s first year
2025 will certainly be a year that Liv Barnes looks back on with a great deal of fondness.
It was the year that she became a professional cricketer.
We caught up with the 19-year-old earlier this week to look back on her first season as a pro.
“It went even better than I’d hoped for,” she said when we asked her to sum up the summer. “There were obviously a few ups and downs, like picking up an injury during the Blast, but I feel like it’s gone really, really well. When I was growing up, I always wanted to be what I was seeing on tv and now I’m able to do it. It’s honestly like a dream come true.
“You can’t achieve your dreams without putting in the hard work and making sacrifices. I knew it wouldn’t be easy, and it was a difficult adjustment at the start. It’s a big jump from the Academy to professional cricket but being around a great bunch of girls has made it that much easier.
“We’d set out our goals ahead of the season and that opening win at Beckenham against Surrey was a real ‘We Are Somerset’ moment. That laid out what we can do as a team. Even though we didn’t have a great Blast, we will learn from that and there were also a lot of positives during that time.”
Did Liv achieve everything that she set out to do ahead of the 2025 season?
“I didn’t really set myself any concrete goals this season because it was my first season and I didn’t really know what to expect. I just took it one day at a time and each match on its merits.
“I didn’t expect to make my debut as soon as I did. That game against The Blaze at Loughborough will definitely be a moment that I’ll always remember. Becoming a regular in the First Team this year wasn’t something that was on my bingo card at all!”
Liv was impressed by how much the Club means to the Members and supporters.
“I was 100% shocked by how many people knew who I was,” she said. “I was sitting in the crowd one day watching a 50-over game and a guy who was about my age came up to me and said that he wanted to play cricket after having watched us play. That blew me away. It made me realise that we can actually have an effect on people. That’s really rewarding. To have people come up to you after a game and say how much they enjoyed it is amazing.
“We get so much support from the Members, fans and everyone around the Club. The stewards have been great this year. Every time I see them, they ask me how I am and one of them even asked me how my loan spell at Kent went. It shows how much people care about the Club.”
What will Liv be doing over the Winter?
“Over the winter I’ll be working hard on my fitness and spending a lot of time in the nets. I’ll be working as hard as I can with the coaches to make my game better because you can always improve.”
What does 2026 have in store?
“We want to be in contention for everything next year and from a personal point of view I just want to help the team on and off the pitch. I want to be out there helping the girls get over the line with ball in hand and with bat in hand.”
