Luke Williams will lead Southern Brave in the 2025 Women’s Hundred, moving up from long-time assistant after Charlotte Edwards left to coach England Women.
The promotion feels a natural next step: Williams has been in the Brave dug-out since ball one of the competition, sharing the pain of losing finals in 2021 and 2022 before helping deliver the club’s first title in 2023.
His CV is already busy. Adelaide Strikers landed back-to-back Women’s Big Bash League crowns under him in 2022 and 2023, and Royal Challengers Bengaluru finally lifted a trophy – the 2024 Women’s Premier League – with Williams in charge. A short consultancy stint with England during last month’s home series against West Indies topped up the international experience.
“It’s a privilege to take charge of Southern Brave this year from Charlotte Edwards,” he said. “Having worked with the team since for a number of years, we have an excellent group of players and staff and recruited well in the draft earlier this year, so hopefully we can get back to Finals Day and lift the trophy this summer.”
South Africa skipper Laura Wolvaardt, also one of Williams’ key players at the Strikers, re-links with him at the Ageas Bowl. Continuity should help, yet expectations remain high; Brave supporters have grown used to late-August cricket.
Trescothick to sharpen men’s batting
Across the corridor Marcus Trescothick, the former England opener and current national batting coach, comes in as men’s batting mentor for the 2025 campaign. He replaces Jimmy Adams, who will switch focus to Hampshire’s One-Day Cup squad in August.
For Trescothick, it is a first formal role in The Hundred. White-ball coaching with England last July offered a taste of franchise-style scheduling; the Brave job will ask him to distil advice into 100-ball bursts.
Neither appointment is headline-grabbing, yet both look sensible. Williams knows the women’s group inside out, Trescothick brings a fresh eye to a men’s side that mis-fired with the bat last season. If they get it right, Brave could be back in the shake-up on both fronts.
