The Scottish women’s cricket team carries their flag wherever they go.
This is a tradition that began in 2019 by awarding hats to all former players. The first Scottish women’s match took place in 2001 and every player representing the country signed the flag.
“It’s a really special piece of history,” says Sarah Bryce, the team’s current vice-captain and wicketkeeper. “We hear stories of people trying to build teams as best as they can without a support structure. And just over 20 years later, we are approaching the World Cup. “It’s really crazy.”
Sarah, along with her sister Kathryn, played an integral role in the process. The pair are also the face of Scottish women’s cricket and its leadership team. Kathryn is the captain. Sarah’s representative.
Sarah, who made her debut aged 15 in 2015, said: “Kari Carswell (nee Anderson) was a player and coach when I first started and she was number one.” The all-rounder recalls Kathryn’s first cap coming in 2011 when she was 13. “And I think it’s crazy that I played against someone who was literally in the first Scotland team.”
Although Sarah is only 24 years old, she is a veteran of 10 years of international cricket. And before flying to Dubai for the World Cup, she remembers traveling by minibus to Devon to play in the county championships.
“When I started we (Scotland) were basically Division Three,” explains Sarah. “I remember going on so many journeys by bus for five, seven, nine hours. We went to Devon once, drove on Saturday, played on Sunday, returned at midnight and went to school or work the next day.
“That’s what it looked like, traveling a few hours to England every weekend, or every few weeks, to play a county game against anyone in our division.”
Qualification for the T20 World Cup was secured in the match against Ireland held in Abu Dhabi earlier this year. It is a dream achieved by this generation, inspired by previous generations.
“I think we’ve reached a bit of a turning point,” Sarah said. “A lot of it is down to Kari and the first team who have invested so much in creating the structure. When I debuted, I entered the global preliminaries and placed 4th. We had two games left and we definitely had faith that we would eventually succeed.”
A series of qualifying defeats followed and the inevitable dream turned into an unattainable nightmare until Catherine Bryce produced a man-of-the-match performance against Ireland to send her country to their first Women’s World Cup.
When did the achievements subside? “It was actually a few days later,” Kathryn said. “I was sitting in a coffee shop and reading an article someone had written about the team and what we had achieved and how amazing it was. It makes me realize how amazing it is that this group of girls did what we did. I was sitting there with Sarah and Abtaha (Maqsood) and it was a really, really special moment.”
Feelings about the actual tournament are mixed. Ahead of the tournament, Scotland beat Pakistan and the West Indies in the warm-up, and talk began to spread that a surprise could be in store for the newbies.
A narrow loss to Bangladesh on the opening day was followed by heavy defeats against South Africa and a Windies team they had beaten just a few weeks ago, ending any hopes of making it to the semi-finals.
Sarah says: “It’s hard to know what to feel. “The results have come this far. But as a competitive sportsman, when you’re actually here, you want to win.
“We took a moment the other day to actually take a step back. It’s really easy to get caught up in it. “We’ve had a few big losses and we’ve had those difficulties, but they’re actually a very good opponent and we have to learn from that.”
Before the opening match, the group held a presentation awarding each player the official World Cup Best Player Award and Kathryn gave a speech that was later referenced by several of her teammates.
“Before we even played our first game, we said we had already created a legacy and accomplished something no other team had done,” Kathryn said.
“And I think it’s always easy to find the next thing. And we obviously want to win cricket matches. But at the same time, if we don’t win, we’ve already done for Scotland what no other team has done. It’s a special thing to remember that with women.”
There is still a chance to finish the tournament on a high note. On Sunday, Scotland face England, a World Cup hopeful they have never beaten before. But if there’s any group that knows how to achieve something for the first time, it’s this group.
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