Any cricket scorer’s dream would be to score a World Cup Final at the Home of Cricket and Twickenham Cricket Club 1st team scorer had the honour of doing so. Carol Bryant who scores in the Middlesex Premier League was appointed to the ICC Women’s World Cup Final between England and India back in July. Bryant caught up with Boundary6 for today’s post.
Twickenham Cricket Club (Photo Pitchero)
Carol got into scoring through her family, her mam being a keen listener of Test Match Special with Carol enjoying listening to the cricket on the radio too. Carol, would note the scores down and details of the batsman when listening on the radio and her passion from cricket all started there.
“It wasn’t until I was about 14, when at Twickenham County School, the PE mistress, who played for the England Women’s Cricket team, ran an after school cricket club that I played a proper game.
Carol at Lord’s for the Women’s World Cup Final
“Although I had bought a book on how to play the game this is where I first began to learn the finer points of the game and how to score. On leaving school I joined Riverside Women’s Cricket Club in 1962 and have been with them ever since, although we joined with Twickenham Cricket Club in 2000 and are now known as Twickenham CC Ladies.
Twickenham Cricket Club Ladies Team
“I was selected for the Middlesex Women’s County second team soon after joining Riverside and then the first XI but gave up playing county cricket after my daughter, Mandy, was born. I continued playing club cricket until 2002 when arthritis behind the knee caps made it too painful.
“I started umpiring as my husband who had umpired while I was playing had to give it up as he had Parkinson’s disease. I passed some exams becoming, what was then, an intermediate umpire. After five years I returned to my first love of scoring. I was already a qualified scorer passing the ACU&S exams in 1998, and am now Level 2 scorer with the ECBACO.”
Carol has continued to develop as a scorer over the years and her experience and qualifications meant she was appointed to score the ICC Women’s World Cup Final at Lord’s.
Carol said: “When I first received the email telling me what World Cup matches I had been appointed for I couldn’t believe my luck. I was elated but unfortunately I couldn’t tell anyone as I had been asked to keep it confidential and by the time I could tell my fiends, the euphoria had worn off.”
England Women winning the ICC World Cup
“I arrived an hour before the game and the ground was already teeming with people. Having been searched etc. I made my way to the scorebox and met my fellow scorer, scoreboard operator and the team for making everything run smoothly. Then settled back to enjoy the event, the atmosphere was already electric and continued to build as the ground filled up to capacity and the various pre match activities were played out.
“From the first ball the noise was tremendous and escalated during the day and it was difficult to communicate with my colleague, fortunately everything went well with no errors. The icing on the cake was that England pulled off a win after things looked a bit bleak. I really enjoyed the day, although I had scored at Lord’s before this was completely different being a full house and the atmosphere accompanying this, it is something I shall never forget.
I suppose there was a bit more pressure in not to make a mistake but really it is just another game albeit at Lord’s the home of cricket.”
Any scorers reading this piece, it does tell you that the opportunities are out there, if you work hard as a scorer and complete the various levels and gain the experience as a scorer . A big thanks to Carol for this interview, in what I am sure was a fantastic experience.
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