A CRICKET LIFE
KATHERINE SCIVER-BRUNT
England’s greatest female fast bowler retired from international cricket this summer. She revisits the matches and moments that comprise her astonishing story
Interview Phil Walker
Early escapism
I honestly believe that cricket saved me. I had a happy childhood but I suffered bullying in my high-school years and cricket became my way out. I went along to our local club in Barnsley with my brother Daniel, was accepted and it felt good. It became an escape, and this is why I’ve done it for so long and loved it so much. I don’t know where I’d be without it, to be honest. I never got to be in an England academy or an age-group team. It was Yorkshire and then straight into the full-blown England squad. When I was 14, playing and enjoying some women’s county cricket, I’d been scouted without knowing it and was invited to a trial at Trent Bridge. I didn’t want to go, I was so shy. I hated the idea of being at a trial with girls from all over who are the best in the country. I liked where I was, being the best in the team, and I was going to be probably the worst of the bunch. I was completely terrorised by this coach the whole time and I told my dad that I never wanted to go back again or be part of anything like that.
Dismissing Australia captain Meg Lanning at Canberra in the 2021/22 Ashes series
PHOTO BY MARK KOLBE
England come calling again
For a couple of years after that trial, I just played in the Super 4s competition for Yorkshire Women. I was doing well, but I was just playing because I enjoyed it. The captain of my team was Clare Connor, and it was the Yorkshire versus Surrey final and I did really well. As a reward we got to watch the New Zealand team so I went to watch it with my sister. After the game Clare came and found me in the crowd and invited me to join them on an England tour, something like four days away. I turned it down because I wanted to go to a festival and I was too scared, so I walked away. My sister slapped me and told me off! She said I’d regret it for the rest of my life. I went back and told Clare I was joking. A few days later I was on that tour.