Sarah Glenn, England’s Queen of Spin and Instagram

Sarah Glenn has risen through the ranks of English cricket to become one of the most reliable performers in the English Women’s team. Alongside her success on the field, she has been able to grow an impressive following off it.

Glenn was born and bred in Derbyshire where she attended Trent College, playing alongside boys in the school’s first XI cricket team. A sign of things to come.

Aged just 14, Glenn made her first appearance for Derbyshire in a Women’s County Championship match-up. 14 is young for any cricketer, but especially for a leg spinner, generally considered the hardest skill in the game to master.

She was soon drawing the attention of the England pathways system, playing in the England Development Programme Under-15s competition in 2015.

2017 saw Glenn make her debut in the Kia Women’s Cricket Super League (KSL) for the Loughborough Lightning regional side.

After multiple years of playing at a good level, Glenn’s rise accelerated rapidly in 2019, taking 11 wickets for the Lightning and earning her first senior England call-up.

In November of 2019, Glenn appeared for England for the first time, playing in the One Day International series against Pakistan in Malaysia.

After the ODI series, Glenn also played in three T20 internationals against the same opposition. Following the conclusion of both series, England captain Heather Knight said Glenn, “definitely deserved to be player of the series in the ODIs”.

The Women’s Big Bash League has been one of the premium women’s cricket tournaments in the world for some time, so when the Perth Scorchers signed Glenn for the 2020-21 season, it was a sign of how well respected Glenn was in the world of cricket.

Since 2020, Glenn has been a regular in the England side, taking regular wickets and even being recognised as the second-best T20I bowler in the world following a series against India.

So far in her career, Glenn has played 14 ODIs, taking 19 wickets at 22.1. Even more impressively, she has taken 61 wickets at 17.14 in just 52 T20Is, including a best of 4/23.

Glenn has grown a huge following on both TikTok and Instagram, with over 28,000 followers on TikTok and a staggering 131,000 on Instagram.

Glenn is a makeup aficionado, regularly showcasing her makeup routines on both social media platforms, something she has been outspoken about.

Glenn once told BBC Sport, “Outside of cricket I like to have a proper dress-up, to do my nails and things like that. It might not be as common in cricket, but I love doing it”.

In that interview with BBC Sport, Glenn continued by saying, “We want to get more women and girls into cricket. They might want to wear their make-up and their nails, but they are seeing some of us get hate for it… I want them to see you can be yourself, regardless of the sport you're playing.”

Glenn’s style and love of dressing up has caused some outrage and negativity from fans, but Glenn is not ready to let that stop her, telling The Telegraph, “I do it to feel more confident, but people would comment, saying really demeaning stuff. Do you really think one layer of foundation is going to affect how I bowl?”