Kathryn Bryce

Kathryn Emma Bryce (born 17 November 1997) is a Scottish cricketer and the current captain of the national women's cricket team.

An all-rounder, she plays at the domestic level for the Watsonian cricket club, and for English teams The Blaze (formerly known as Lightning) and Derbyshire; she has also been drafted by Manchester Originals.

Previously, she has taken the field for English teams Warwickshire, Loughborough Lightning, Lincolnshire and Trent Rockets.

She also plays for the Warriors team in FairBreak Invitational T20 tournaments.

Bryce's earliest memory of watching cricket is watching the 2005 Men's Ashes series, during which the whole of her family would gather in front of the television, while Bryce and her sister would play cricket.

As well as playing "a lot of hockey and tennis", Bryce joined a girls' cricket team at her school, George Watson's College.

At the age of nine, she received a standard form letter from former Scotland international player Liz Smith, who was setting up the girls' team; after signing up immediately, she went through her first-ever experience of organised cricket training.

Bryce does not know whether she would have taken up cricket if there had not been a girls' team at her school, and is thankful to Smith for introducing her to the game.

At that time, Edinburgh had no other girls' school teams, and so Bryce's school played against many University teams, made up of similarly inexperienced players.

In 2015 and again in 2016, the girls' first XI team, with Bryce as a member, won the senior-level Women's Scottish Cup tournament.

Bryce's cricketing talent was evident from early on; she was later the first girl to take the field for the school's boys first XI.

She also joined Watsonian cricket club: "... I was playing for the girls' first XI, basically as a fielder but having a great time."

Bryce left school in 2015, and has since been included in the school's sporting Wall of Fame.

Becoming a full-time professional cricketer in Scotland was not an option for her.

In 2017, after taking a gap year, she therefore moved to Loughborough University in Leicestershire, England.

At Loughborough, where she studied Sport and Exercise Science, she was able to improve her cricket full-time in a high-performance programme, although she was only an unpaid student, and participating only during the academic year.

She credits the university for supporting her in balancing her studies with playing sport at a high level.

Bryce's sister later joined her at Loughborough University.

The two sisters have also usually played cricket for the same team.

Bryce has described their relationship as 'probably quite unique'.

She has also said:

""Most sisters probably aren't at the same uni, doing the same sport.

I think to be able to share it with someone so close is special.

You might be feeling down and don't want to show it to the group.

But Sarah knows me really well and [it takes her] just one little sentence to realise, and then get you back on track.""

In 2017, after leaving school, Bryce won the third of a hat-trick of Women's Scottish Cup winner's medals with the GWC girls' 1st XI team.

At Scotland, Bryce has been team captain since April 2018, and her sister is her deputy.

However, the two sisters have sometimes played for opposing teams, both in English domestic competitions, and in FairBreak Invitational T20 tournaments.

Bryce finished her sport science degree in June 2021.

By then, there was sufficient professionalism in women's cricket for her to be able to make a living as a Scottish international cricketer, without having to have another job as well.

In 2019, she told The Scotsman:

""I grew up playing with boys but you do learn a lot from that, because they hit the ball a lot harder, etc. But if we had more women’s teams, that would help the overall standard improve.

A lot of girls don't enjoy playing with men when they're younger.

It can be intimidating.

You lose people from the sport and the best thing is to keep girls involved for longer.""

In December 2020, Bryce was named the ICC Associate Cricketer of the Decade.

In June 2021, she became the first cricketer for Scotland, male or female, to make it into the top ten of the ICC Player Rankings.

Her younger sister, Sarah, also plays international cricket for Scotland.

Bryce was born in Edinburgh, into a cricket-loving family, and, together with her sister Sarah, developed an enthusiasm for all sports at an early age.

"We played pretty much every sport growing up, throwing every sort of ball around in the garden," she told ESPNcricinfo in 2021.