Fiona Elaine Urquhart (born 20 August 1987) is a Scottish former international

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

er who debuted for the Scottish national side in 2000. An

all-rounder An all-rounder is a cricketer who regularly performs well at both batting and bowling. Although all bowlers must bat and quite a handful of batsmen do bowl occasionally, most players are skilled in only one of the two disciplines and are cons ...

, she has appeared in all eight of the

One Day International One Day International (ODI) is a format of cricket, played between two teams with international status, in which each team faces a fixed number of fifty overs, with the game lasting up to 7 hours. The World Cup, generally held every four yea ...

(ODI) matches that Scotland has played to date. In April 2017, she announced her retirement from international cricket.

Early life

Urquhart was born in

Aberdeen Aberdeen ( ; ; ) is a port city in North East Scotland, and is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, third most populous Cities of Scotland, Scottish city. Historically, Aberdeen was within the historic county of Aberdeensh ...

. She began her career at the city's Stoneywood Dyce Cricket Club.

Career

She was first called up to the national squad shortly before her thirteenth birthday, playing two matches against English county teams (

Durham Durham most commonly refers to: *Durham, England, a cathedral city in north east England **County Durham, a ceremonial county which includes Durham *Durham, North Carolina, a city in North Carolina, United States Durham may also refer to: Places ...

and

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ) is an area of Northern England which was History of Yorkshire, historically a county. Despite no longer being used for administration, Yorkshire retains a strong regional identity. The county was named after its county town, the ...

) during the 2000 season.Women's miscellaneous matches played by Fiona Urquhart
– CricketArchive. Retrieved 22 October 2015. The following year, Urquhart was selected in the Scottish squad for the 2001 European Championship, where Scotland was appearing at ODI level for the first time.Women's ODI matches played by Fiona Urquhart
– CricketArchive. Retrieved 22 October 2015. She went on to play in all three of her team's matches, going runless and wicketless against

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

and

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

, but taking 2/19 against the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

and also scoring nine runs. At the time of her ODI debut, Urquhart was 13 years and 355 days old, making her the second-youngest debutant after Pakistan's

Sajjida Shah Sajjida Bibi Shah (born 25 June 1988) is a Pakistani former cricketer who played as an all-rounder, Batting (cricket), batting right-handed and Bowling (cricket), bowling right-arm off spin, off break. She appeared in two Women's Test cricket, Te ...

. Two other players,

Lucy O'Reilly Lucy Katherine O'Reilly (born 9 November 1999) is an Irish cricketer who plays primarily as a right-arm medium bowler. In June 2018, she was named in Ireland's squad for the 2018 ICC Women's World Twenty20 Qualifier tournament. She was the lead ...

and

Elena Tice Elena Joy Neill (née Tice, born 16 November 1997), also referred to as Lena Tice, is an Ireland women's field hockey international. She was a member of the Ireland team that played in the 2018 Women's Hockey World Cup final. Tice is also an I ...

, have since played at younger ages, both representing Ireland. At the

2003 IWCC Trophy The 2003 IWCC Trophy was an international women's cricket tournament held in the Netherlands from 21 to 26 July 2003. Organised by the International Women's Cricket Council (IWCC). It was the inaugural edition of what is now the World Cup Qualif ...

in the Netherlands, Scotland's next major international tournament, Urquhart again appeared in all of her team's matches. She took 1/26 against

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

and 1/8 against

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

, but was wicketless in the other matches. Her highest score, 16 runs from fourth in the batting order, came in the opening match against the Netherlands. The IWCC Trophy is Scotland's most recent ODI tournament to date, with Urquhart being one of only three players (along with

Kari Anderson Kari Carswell also known as Kari Anderson (born 21 October 1982) is a former Scottish cricketer and coach who was the former captain of the Scotland women's national cricket team. She had established a playing and coaching career with Scotland wo ...

and Kathryn White) to feature in every ODI played by the team. At the 2005 and 2007 European Championships, Scotland's next major events, Urquhart appeared in all but one match, although she had little success in either year. In January 2008, aged 20, Urquhart was appointed captain of Scotland for the 2008 World Cup Qualifier in South Africa. However, at the tournament itself, a finger injury meant she was only able to appear in the matches against Ireland and

Zimbabwe file:Zimbabwe, relief map.jpg, upright=1.22, Zimbabwe, relief map Zimbabwe, officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Bots ...

, with Kari Anderson taking over as skipper in the remaining games. In the

Women's County Championship The Women's County Championship, known since 2014 as the Royal London Women's One-Day Cup,Worcestershire Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It is bordered by Shropshire, Staffordshire, and the West Midlands (county), West ...

and 3/30 against

Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation ''Staffs''.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It borders Cheshire to the north-west, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, ...

. A few years later, in 2012, she scored her maiden County Championship half-century, making 50 runs exactly against

Northamptonshire Northamptonshire ( ; abbreviated Northants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It is bordered by Leicestershire, Rutland and Lincolnshire to the north, Cambridgeshire to the east, Bedfordshi ...

. Urquhart spent the 2013–14

Northern Hemisphere The Northern Hemisphere is the half of Earth that is north of the equator. For other planets in the Solar System, north is defined by humans as being in the same celestial sphere, celestial hemisphere relative to the invariable plane of the Solar ...

off-season playing in Australia, appearing for Campbelltown-Camden in the

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

grade cricket competition. She returned for the 2014–15 season, but switched to the Sydney Cricket Club, which plays in the same league. Urquhart remained in Australia after the season's end, and in July 2015, it was announced that she had been appointed head coach of the club's women teams for the 2015–16 season, while continuing on as a player. Despite not having played in any of Scotland's matches in English domestic competitions, she was selected in the national squad for the 2015 World Twenty Qualifier late in the year.(28 October 2015)
"Scotland Announce Women’s Squad for WWT20Q"
– Cricket Europe. Retrieved 28 October 2015.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Urquhart, Fiona 1987 births Living people Cricketers from Aberdeen Scotland women One Day International cricketers Scottish cricket coaches Scottish women cricket captains Scottish women cricketers Sportspeople from Aberdeen