A TEENAGE girl has made history by becoming the first female player to play in one of Britain's leading cricketing leagues.

And 15-year-old Helen Fenby, thought to be the first female to to play in the Premier Division of the North Yorkshire and South Durham League since it was founded in 1892, did her Norton Cricket Club teammates proud, taking two wickets for 40 runs.

“It was the best spell of amateur leg spin bowling I have seen,” said her teammate, former Darlington captain, Peter Armstrong after the team's much-needed victory over Marton, near Middlesbrough. "She will play for the full England women’s team in the next five years.”

All-rounder Helen already plays for Durham Ladies, as well as Norton under-15s and under-17s boys teams and the Durham under-15s and under-17s girls teams.

A pupil at Stockton's Grangefield Academy, Helen started attending sessions at her local club aged nine. By ten, she was playing for the Durham under-13s ladies team and by the age of 13 she was a regular for Norton thirds.

Her female cricketing heroine is England off-spinner, Dannie Hazell and Andrew Flintoff and Shane Warne are her heroes from the male game.

The Norton youngster, who recently scored 111 for Durham girls against Nottinghamshire, had no qualms about playing the boys.

She said: "I've never had any sexist comments or anything like that. Most of the time, people are good about having a girl playing."

She played with her brother, Adam, who is also a teenage prodigy who opens the batting for the team. And the Fenbys aren't the only siblings to play for Norton, well known as a family-orientated club.

There's a record number of sibling partnerships at the club with player David and 11-year-old scorer Aiden Cross, players, Chris and Andy Parr, Nick and Matthew Thomas and Marc and Craig Symington, although one of the Symingtons was injured on Saturday.

Team captain Matty Thomas, who scored 90 runs in the eight-wicket victory, said: "I don't think anyone even noticed there was a girl playing after a while. It was fantastic display from her."

Norton chairman, Neil Tate, said there was no question or rules needing to be changed to allow Helen to play and the whole process had been straightforward. "She's there on merit and it was fantastic she played," he said. "The only issue is she has to get changed somewhere else."

North Yorkshire and South Durham president, Chris West, has confirmed that it is believed that that Helen Fenby is the first female to play in the premier division in the league's 123-year history, although women have played in other divisions.