Sarah Bryce

Sarah Jennifer Bryce (born 8 January 2000) is a Scottish cricketer who plays for the national cricket team as a wicket-keeper-batter.

At the domestic level, she plays for the Watsonian cricket club, for English teams The Blaze (formerly known as Lightning) and Kent, and for Welsh Fire.

Previously, she has taken the field for English teams Nottinghamshire and Oval Invincibles.

Bryce is best known as a batter who has represented Scotland at cricket since she was fifteen years old.

However, she is also an accomplished wicket keeper.

Her older sister, Kathryn, similarly plays international cricket for Scotland.

Bryce was born in Edinburgh into a cricket-mad family.

She and her sister developed an enthusiasm for all sports at an early age.

With the encouragement of their parents, Bryce and her sister played hockey and tennis, and her sister joined a cricket club and took the field for its girls 1st XI team.

Bryce always went to the club cricket matches, started watching them, and eventually joined in.

According to Bryce, her father played a "huge role" in exposing her to cricket.

She has said that he was full of enthusiasm for the game every time the family played it, either in the back garden or on the beach, or watched it on television.

That enthusiasm fuelled her own love of the game.

The Bryce sisters also played girls' cricket at their school, George Watson's College.

Bryce joined the girls' 1st XI team when she was about nine years old, and the boys' 1st XI when she was about 12.

At that time, Edinburgh had no other girls' school teams, and so the GWC girls' 1st XI team played against many University teams, made up of similarly inexperienced players.

In 2015 and 2016, the GWC girls' 1st XI team, with the sisters as members, won the senior-level Women's Scottish Cup tournament; Bryce co-captained the team in the latter year.

Bryce also played for the GWC 1st XI hockey team.

However:

""I always felt that I had more potential with cricket.

I was involved in the U17 Scotland program from 11 years old and then made my debut for the women’s team when I was 15.

I loved playing hockey at school but never played much club hockey.

There was never an active decision choosing cricket over hockey, it just kind of happened.""

When not playing sport, Bryce learned to play the violin and piano, and was also involved in several choirs, bands and orchestras.

She particularly enjoyed piano playing as "... an opportunity to switch off from cricket."

Upon leaving school, Bryce did not consider becoming a professional cricketer to be a viable option, but wanted to take the game as far as she could.

She therefore began a maths degree at Loughborough University in England, where her sister was already combining the study of sports science with playing cricket as a professional.

She completed the degree in 2022.

Bryce and her sister have done more than just study at the same university and play the same sport.

They have also usually played for the same team.

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

Bryce herself has said:

""I think it's always like having a best friend with you all the time ...

... [as] Kathryn was older and better than me, I always wanted to be as good as her and beat her.

You always have that target of what you're striving to be like.

That definitely pushed me on.""

Bryce's sister has been Scotland's captain since April 2018, and Bryce is her deputy.

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

Bryce plays club cricket for the Watsonian Cricket Club, which is based in Edinburgh.

She joined the club as a young girl, and played initially in a boys' team as there was no girls' team at that time.