Sarah Jennifer Bryce (born 8 January 2000) is a Scottish

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 plays for the national cricket team as a

wicket-keeper-batter In cricket, the wicket-keeper is the player on the fielding side who stands behind the wicket, ready to stop deliveries that pass the batsman, and take a catch, stump the batsman out, or run out a batsman when occasion arises. The wicket-ke ...

. At the domestic level, she plays for the Watsonian cricket club, for English teams

The Blaze Blaze Media is an American conservative media company. It was founded in 2018 as a result of a merger between TheBlaze and CRTV LLC. The company's leadership consists of CEO Tyler Cardon and president Gaston Mooney. It is based in Irving, ...

(formerly known as

Lightning Lightning is a natural phenomenon consisting of electrostatic discharges occurring through the atmosphere between two electrically charged regions. One or both regions are within the atmosphere, with the second region sometimes occurring on ...

) and

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

, and for

Welsh Fire Welsh Fire () are a franchise 100-ball cricket side based in the city of Cardiff. The team represents the historic counties of Glamorgan, Gloucestershire and Somerset in the newly founded competition called The Hundred, which took place for t ...

. Previously, she has taken the field for English teams

Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated ''Notts.'') is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. The county is bordered by South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. Th ...

and

Oval Invincibles Oval Invincibles is a franchise 100-ball cricket side based in South London. The team represents the Historic counties of England, historic counties of Surrey and Kent in the newly founded The Hundred (cricket), The Hundred competition, which t ...

. 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 In cricket, the wicket-keeper is the player on the fielding side who stands behind the wicket, ready to stop deliveries that pass the batsman, and take a catch, stump the batsman out, or run out a batsman when occasion arises. The wicket-ke ...

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

Early life, family and education

Bryce was born in

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. 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 George Watson's College is a co-educational Private schools in the United Kingdom, private day school in Scotland, situated on Colinton Road, in the Merchiston area of Edinburgh. It was first established as a Scottish education in the eighteenth ...

. 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: 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 Loughborough University (abbreviated as ''Lough'' or ''Lboro'' for Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a public university, public research university in the market town of Loughborough, Leicestershire, England. It has been a university sinc ...

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: Bryce's sister has been Scotland's

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

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.

Domestic career

Scotland

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. , Bryce was still playing club cricket alongside many of the same boys with whom she had played while growing up. She has said that the club, since even before it started fielding a women's team, has always been "hugely supportive" of her and her sister.

England: County cricket

Bryce made her English County cricket debut for the Scotland team in 2015, against

Somerset Somerset ( , ), Archaism, archaically Somersetshire ( , , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel, Gloucestershire, and Bristol to the north, Wiltshire to the east ...

. In the 2016 Women's County Championship, she played five matches for Scotland in Division 3, and made 72 runs at 14.40, with a top score of 22. During the 2016 Women's Twenty20 Cup, Bryce scored the most runs of any of Scotland's players, and recorded the fourth-highest aggregate in Division 3, as Scotland went undefeated in eight matches to win the Division and achieve promotion to Division 2. In those eight matches, she made 191 runs at 27.29, with a top score of 62. In the

2017 Women's Twenty20 Cup The 2017 Women's Twenty20 Cup, known for sponsorship reasons as the 2017 NatWest Women's Twenty20 Cup was the 9th cricket Women's Twenty20 Cup tournament. It took place in June and July, with 36 teams taking part: 34 county teams plus Scotland a ...

, Bryce played eight Division 2 matches for Scotland A, and scored 96 runs at 19.20, with a top score of 37*. During the 2018 Women's County Championship, Bryce, playing for Scotland in Division 3 Group A, scored the most runs of any player in the Group. In six matches, she made 258 runs at 64.50, with a top score of 81*, against

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 ...

. In the

2018 Women's Twenty20 Cup The 2018 Women's Twenty20 Cup, known for sponsorship reasons as the 2018 Vitality Women's Twenty20 Cup was the 10th cricket Women's Twenty20 Cup tournament. It took place in June and July, with 36 teams taking part: 34 county teams plus Scotland ...

, Bryce took the field for Scotland A in eight Division 2 matches, and made 203 runs at 40.60, with a top score of 53. In 2019, Bryce played for

in the

Women's County Championship The Women's County Championship, known since 2014 as the Royal London Women's One-Day Cup, In that season's Women's County T20 Division 1, she played six further matches for Notts, scoring a total of 175 runs at 29.17, with a top score of 60. She also played six matches for Scotland A in the Women's County T20 Division 2, making 272 runs at 90.70, including 101* against

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Merseyside to the north-west, Greater Manchester to the north-east, Derbyshire to the east, Staffordshire to the south-east, and Shrop ...

. Bryce signed for

in 2020. By then, the final edition of the Women's County Championship had already taken place, and in 2020 the Women's Twenty20 Cup was not held, due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. However, Kent did take part in the inaugural 50-over

Women's London Championship The Women's London Championship (WLC) is an English women's cricket competition. It was created in 2020 following the introduction of the regional Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy as the highest domestic competition in women's One Day cricket. The co ...

(WLC), which was organised as "... the start of the county comeback." In two innings in the WLC, Bryce scored 78 runs at a strike rate of 93.98, including 51* in Kent's 10-wicket victory against

Essex Essex ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the ...

, which was enough for her to place fourth in the overall run chart, and be named as Kent's Batter of the Year and Women's Player of the Year. The next season, 2021, Bryce played six matches for Kent in the South East Group of that year's Women's Twenty20 Cup, which Kent won. She scored an aggregate of 165 runs at 41.25, with two half centuries including 63* opening the batting against

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a Historic counties of England, former county in South East England, now mainly within Greater London. Its boundaries largely followed three rivers: the River Thames, Thames in the south, the River Lea, Le ...

, and was Kent's T20 Player of the Tournament. Additionally, she played in the 2021 WLC, from which Kent similarly emerged victorious. In the first of that season's WLC matches, she also captained Kent for the first time, in a 46-run win against

. In April 2022, Bryce was awarded Kent Women Cap 55. However, she played only four matches for Kent in that season's Women's Twenty20 Cup, Group 6; she scored 74 runs in all at 24.67, with a highest score of 45* against

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Berkshire to the north, Surrey and West Sussex to the east, the Isle of Wight across the Solent to the south, ...

England: Regional cricket

In June 2020, Bryce and her sister were signed to play for the East Midlands Regional Hub, which was then based at Loughborough University and was due to field the team

in England's new regionally based women's elite domestic competitions. The Bryce sisters were recruited on the basis that they would be released for international duty with Scotland as required; both were already ranked in the world's top 20 in T20 internationals. Even so, neither of them was well known in England at that time; Bryce had never played in the then newly defunct

Women's Cricket Super League The Women's Cricket Super League (WCSL), known as the Kia Super League (KSL) for sponsorship reasons, was a semi-professional women's Twenty20 cricket competition in England and Wales operated by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB). The comp ...

regional franchise competition, and her sister had played in that league for just one season. In that year's

inaugural In government and politics, inauguration is the process of swearing a person into office and thus making that person the incumbent. Such an inauguration commonly occurs through a formal ceremony or special event, which may also include an inau ...

50-over

Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy The Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy was an English and Welsh women's cricket domestic competition, named after former England captain Rachael Heyhoe Flint, who died in 2017. The Trophy was held from 2020 to 2024, and was the premier women's 50-ov ...

, Bryce ended up as the competition's second-highest run scorer. with 395 runs in six games at 79.00. Her innings included four successive half centuries culminating in a share in a partnership with Bethan Ellis of 148 runs in 33 overs against

Central Sparks Central Sparks were a women's cricket team that represented the West Midlands region, one of eight regional hubs in English domestic women's cricket. They primarily played their home matches at Edgbaston and New Road. They were captained by E ...

(a new record partnership for any wicket in the RHF Trophy), and then, a week later, a

List A List A cricket is a classification of the Limited overs cricket, limited-overs (one-day) form of the sport of cricket, with games lasting up to eight hours. List A cricket includes One Day International (ODI) matches and various domestic competit ...

career-best 136* in her team's final match, also against Central Sparks. In December 2020, Lightning awarded the two sisters full-time contracts, in recognition of their highly successful performances that year; of the 41 players nationally who were given a full-time regional contract, they were the only ones from an ICC Associate member nation. As was observed by ''Emerging Cricket'' at the time, the full time contracts not only "... supported ryce and her sisterfinancially...", but also gave them "... increased access and opportunities to develop their game as professional cricketers beyond their lives as students and without having to potentially sacrifice representing their nation to earn a living overseas." In the ensuing season, 2021, Bryce played a much less prominent role in the second RHF Trophy, recording only 202 runs in seven matches at 28.85, with a highest score of 90. The following year, she made five appearances in the 2022 RHF Trophy and scored 115 runs at 23. Late in 2022, the Lightning team parted company from Loughborough University, was rebadged as The Blaze, and was relocated to

Trent Bridge Trent Bridge Cricket Ground is a cricket ground mostly used for Test cricket, Test, One-day cricket, One-Day International and county cricket located in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England, just across the River Trent from the city of Nott ...

, Nottingham, to become the

East Midlands The East Midlands is one of nine official regions of England. It comprises the eastern half of the area traditionally known as the Midlands. It consists of Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire (except for North Lincolnshire and North East ...

' new regional side. Both Bryce and her sister remained as contracted members of the squad.

England: The Hundred

In 2021, Bryce was drafted by

ahead of the inaugural season of The Hundred. In her 10 matches for the competition-winning Invincibles team that season, including a match in which, unusually, her sister was in the opposing team, she scored only 32 runs in four innings with a top score of 29. On the other hand, she headed the overall figures for wicketkeeper dismissals by taking eight catches and completing three stumpings. Bryce was then signed by the

for the 2022 tournament. Her batting performance in that year's Hundred turned out to be much more satisfactory; amongst her teammates, she finished with an aggregate second only to

Tammy Beaumont Tamsin Tilley Beaumont (born 11 March 1991) is an English cricketer who currently plays as an opening batter and occasional wicket-keeper for the national team. She is second on list of most international centuries and third on ODI centuries ...

and an average second only to

Hayley Matthews Hayley Kristen Matthews (born 19 March 1998) is a Barbadian sportswoman. She plays international cricket for the West Indies and Mumbai Indians as an all-rounder, batting right-handed and bowling right-arm off break. She plays domestic cricket ...

. However, the team as a whole ended up coming last in the competition. In May 2023, Bryce was re-signed by Welsh Fire ahead of the 2023 season.

Australia

In the WBBL03 edition of the

Women's Big Bash League The Women's Big Bash League (WBBL) also known as Weber WBBL for sponsorship reasons, is the Australian professional Women's Twenty20 Cricket league. The WBBL replaced the Australian Women's Twenty20 Cup, which ran from the 2007–08 season ...

Twenty20 competition, held during the 2017–18 Australian season, Bryce was the Associate Rookie for

Hobart Hurricanes Hobart Hurricanes are an Australian professional men's Twenty20 franchise cricket team based in Hobart, Tasmania. They compete in Australia's domestic Big Bash League. The Hurricanes play the majority of their home matches at Ninja Stadium ...

under the ICC Associate Rookie programme.

International career

2011–2017: Early years

Bryce became involved in Scotland's U17 program at the age of 11 years. A highlight of her U17 career for Scotland was an unbroken partnership of 336 with her sister, against Lincolnshire U17s in 2015. Bryce's contribution to that partnership was a score of 132*, her first ever century. Reminiscing to ''Female Cricket'' in 2020 about the occasion, she said: Additionally, the partnership helped her to believe that if she kept working hard, it would be possible for her to make a debut for Scotland's senior women's team. Even though she had previously started training with the senior squad, she had found it overwhelming, and had felt that she was not good enough to be where she was. Later in 2015, Bryce made her debut for the senior team, against Somerset in a county match. The same year, she was awarded her first international cap, against

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea, officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is an island country in Oceania that comprises the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and offshore islands in Melanesia, a region of the southwestern Pacific Ocean n ...

, in the

ICC Women's World Twenty20 Qualifier The Women's T20 World Cup Qualifier (until 2018, the Women's World Twenty20 Qualifier) is an international cricket tournament that serves as the final step of the qualification process for the Women's T20 World Cup. The qualifier was held for the ...

in Thailand. During the latter match, which Scotland won by eight wickets with 26 balls remaining, she participated in two run outs of PNG players, but was not required to bat. In July 2016, Bryce scored 109 runs and was "a very handy wicket-keeper" in the Europe qualifier tournament for the 2017 Women's Cricket World Cup in Essex, England. Only two teams, Scotland and 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 ...

, participated in the tournament. Scotland won all three of that tournament's matches, and thereby qualified for the

2017 Women's Cricket World Cup Qualifier The 2017 ICC Women's Cricket World Cup Qualifier was an international women's cricket tournament that was held in Colombo, Sri Lanka, from 7 to 21 February 2017. It was the final stage of the qualification process for the 2017 World Cup in Engl ...

, held in Sri Lanka in February 2017, in which Bryce also played. In the latter Qualifier, Scotland finished fourth in the five-team Group B.

2018–2020: WT20I player

In June 2018, Bryce was selected in Scotland's squad ahead of the

2018 ICC Women's World Twenty20 Qualifier The 2018 ICC Women's World Twenty20 Qualifier was an international women's cricket tournament held from 7 to 14 July 2018 in the Netherlands. It was the third edition of the Women's World Twenty20 Qualifier and was the qualification tournament ...

tournament. Her sister had recently been appointed as Scotland's new captain, replacing Abbi Aitken. She made her

Women's Twenty20 International Women's Twenty20 international (WT20I) is the shortest form of women's international cricket. A women's Twenty20 international is a 20 overs-per-side cricket match between two of the International Cricket Council (ICC) members. The very firs ...

(WT20I) debut for Scotland in a match against

Uganda Uganda, officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the ...

in that tournament on 7 July 2018. During that match, which was also Scotland's first ever WT20I, Bryce carried out a stumping, took a catch, and then top scored with 36* in Scotland's nine wicket victory. She later told ''Female Cricket'' that " was really special sharing that first T20I cap moment with the whole team." She also finished the tournament as Scotland's leading run-scorer, with 162 runs at an average of 81 across five matches, and was named by the

International Cricket Council The International Cricket Council (ICC) is the global Sports governing body, governing body of cricket. It was founded as the Imperial Cricket Conference in 1909 by representatives from Australia, England, and South Africa. In 1965, the body wa ...

(ICC) as the rising star in Scotland's squad. Her individual achievements during the qualifier were summarised by the ICC as follows: On the other hand, as Bryce put it herself in an interview published in September 2020, "... it was definitely mixed emotions at the end of the tournament as we’d been one win away from going to the World Cup so that was disappointing." Bryce's final international cricket activities for 2018 were as a member of the inaugural ICC Women's Global Development Squad, which played five matches in mid-July 2018 against English Super League teams; her sister was also a member of that squad. In June 2019, Bryce was again selected in Scotland's squad, this time for the three team 2019 ICC Women's Qualifier Europe tournament in Spain. The other two competing teams were

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

and the Netherlands. Both Scotland and the Netherlands won three of their four matches in that qualifier, with Bryce finishing sixth (and also third for Scotland) on the aggregate run scorers table. Bryce also featured prominently in Scotland's victory in its second match against the Netherlands; in a

super over Super Over, also known as a one-over eliminator or a one over per side eliminator, is a Tiebreaker, tie-breaking method used in Limited overs cricket, limited-overs cricket matches. If a match ends in a "Result (cricket)#Tie, tie", it proceeds t ...

thriller, she and her sister combined to rack up an unbroken match-winning super over partnership. The Netherlands ultimately won the qualifier by recording a better net run rate, but Scotland, as the host of the next qualifying stage of the

2022 Women's Cricket World Cup The 2022 ICC Women's Cricket World Cup was the twelfth edition of the Women's Cricket World Cup, which was held in New Zealand in March and April 2022. It was originally scheduled for 6 February to 7 March 2021 but was postponed by one year due ...

, also qualified for that stage. Bryce later told ''Female Cricket'': Scotland, the Netherlands,

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 ...

and

Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...

then combined to participate in a quadrangular tournament in the Netherlands in August 2019, ahead of the

2019 ICC Women's World Twenty20 Qualifier The 2019 ICC Women's T20 World Cup Qualifier was an international women's cricket tournament that was held in August and September 2019 in Scotland. It was the fourth edition of the Women's T20 World Cup Qualifier and was the qualification tour ...

tournament in Scotland. In the absence of her sister, who had commitments with Loughborough Lightning in the English domestic Super League competition, Bryce was appointed to captain the Scottish side. After an initial loss to Thailand in the quadrangular's opening round of fixtures, Bryce led Scotland to four consecutive wins, including Scotland's first defeat of Ireland since 2011, and a victory against Thailand that ended that team's record-breaking 17 WT20I wins in a row. Bryce later described the defeat of Ireland as her 'favourite match'. "It was only the second win against Ireland in our history, and the first time for all but one in our squad," she told Cricket Scotland in 2020. In Scotland's victory over Thailand, she scored 63*, including a four to seal the win off the final ball of the match. The following day, she made 41 in 19 balls in leading her team to another win, against the Netherlands. However, her top score of 49 for Scotland in its final match of the tournament, another contest against Ireland, was not enough to prevent a nine wicket loss. In late August/early September 2019, the Scotland captaincy reverted to Bryce's sister, but Bryce was selected in Scotland's squad, for the 2019 ICC Women's World Twenty20 Qualifier. Bryce was the third highest run-scorer in that tournament, with 121 runs in five matches. She was also twice awarded Player of the Match, the first time for top scoring with 37* in 30 balls in a play-off semi-final against

Namibia Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country on the west coast of Southern Africa. Its borders include the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south; in the no ...

, and secondly for making 65 in 48 balls and completing four stumpings in Scotland's defeat of the Netherlands in the playoff for fifth place. When the ICC Women's T20I Rankings were next updated on 10 September 2019, Bryce jumped five positions to no. 14 in the batters rankings, with a career-high rating of 605 points. In the 20 WT20I matches she had played up to that date, she had scored two half centuries, against Thailand and the Netherlands, respectively, had achieved an average of just under 40 at over a run a ball, and had claimed 14 catches and 15 stumpings. In October 2019, Bryce was selected in the Women's Global Development Squad, ahead of a six-match series in Australia. The

then intervened, and the Scotland team was left facing an uncertain future after several years of progress and rebuilding. In November 2020, Bryce and her sister were both nominated for the ICC Women's Associate Cricketer of the Decade award. At the end of the following month, the ICC announced that her sister had won the award.

2021–present

In April 2021, Bryce and her sister were members of an England academy team that played two pre-season T20s. The following month, they told ESPNcricinfo that it would be an agonising decision if they were asked to be part of England's national set-up. Also in May 2021, Bryce played for Scotland in the team's post-COVID-19 return to international competition, in a bilateral series against Ireland at Stormont in

Belfast Belfast (, , , ; from ) is the capital city and principal port of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan and connected to the open sea through Belfast Lough and the North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland), North Channel ...

. Scotland won the first of the four matches by 11 runs, with Bryce completing four stumpings. Bryce also bagged two stumpings and a catch in the third match, but Scotland ended up losing the series 1–3. Bryce then played for Scotland in the 2021 ICC Women's T20 World Cup Europe Qualifier, which was originally scheduled to take place in Scotland, but later moved to the

La Manga Club La Manga Club is a sports and leisure resort located in the south-eastern region of Spain, Murcia, south of La Manga, and bordered by the Mar Menor and Calblanque Regional Park. The resort complex opened in 1972 and covers an area of 1,400 ...

, Spain, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and held in August 2021. Scotland won all four of its matches, and therefore qualified for the

2022 ICC Women's T20 World Cup Qualifier The 2022 ICC Women's T20 World Cup Qualifier was an international women's cricket tournament held in September 2022. It was the fifth edition of the ICC Women's World Twenty20 Qualifier, Women's T20 World Cup Qualifier and served as the qualific ...

. Bryce's high point in the tournament was in her team's opening contest, against the Netherlands, in which she was Player of the Match for scoring 46 in 36 balls to guide Scotland to a six wicket victory. She also top scored in Scotland's 10 wicket win over Germany. In January 2022, Bryce was part of Scotland's team in the five-team

2022 Commonwealth Games Cricket Qualifier The 2022 Commonwealth Games Qualifier was a cricket tournament played in Malaysia in January 2022. Five national teams competed for one place in the cricket tournament at the 2022 Commonwealth Games, in Birmingham, England, from July to August ...

tournament in Malaysia, and was the team's second highest run scorer, after her sister. Scotland won the first two of its four matches, lost the other two, and eventually finished third in a tournament in which only the first placed team qualified. Bryce's best performance in the qualifier was her top score of 29 for her team in its final-match loss to Bangladesh; earlier, she had scored a less important 30 runs in the team's first-up victory over

Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...

, in which her sister had been Player of the Match. Bryce then stood in as captain for Scotland's next two matches, during a home bilateral series against Ireland in September 2022, as her sister was absent. Ireland won both matches; a third contest had to be abandoned due to rain. Bryce's next appearances for Scotland were at the

Abu Dhabi Abu Dhabi is the capital city of the United Arab Emirates. The city is the seat of the Abu Dhabi Central Capital District, the capital city of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, and the UAE's List of cities in the United Arab Emirates, second-most popu ...

, United Arab Emirates. In her five innings in that tournament, she made the fourth highest number of runs, with an aggregate of 152, just one run fewer than her sister. She was also awarded Player of the Match for scoring 45 in 32 balls in her team's victory over the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, and top scored for the team with 49 in its loss to Ireland. Scotland finished the qualifier in sixth place. In September 2024 she was named in the Scotland squad for the

2024 ICC Women's T20 World Cup The 2024 Women's T20 World Cup was the ninth edition of the Women's T20 World Cup. Originally scheduled to be hosted in Bangladesh from 3 to 20 October 2024, it was later relocated to the United Arab Emirates for the same dates due to political ...

. Bryce was part of the Scotland squad for the

2025 Women's Cricket World Cup Qualifier The 2025 ICC Women's Cricket World Cup Qualifier was an international women's cricket tournament that was held in Pakistan in April 2025. The tournament served as the final stage of the qualification process for the 2025 Women's Cricket World ...

in Pakistan in April 2025.

FairBreak career

Bryce has played for the Spirit team in two FairBreak Invitational T20 competitions. During the inaugural Invitational, held in Dubai in May 2022, she participated in all seven of Spirit's matches, made an aggregate of 145 runs at 20.71 with a top score of 39, took two catches and achieved four stumpings. At the second tournament, in Hong Kong in April 2023, her fortunes were more mixed. Although in six matches for Spirit she scored only 45 runs at 7.50 with a highest score of 25, she also took six catches and made two stumpings.

Playing style

Bryce is a wicket-keeper-batter who

bats Bats are flying mammals of the order Chiroptera (). With their forelimbs adapted as wings, they are the only mammals capable of true and sustained flight. Bats are more agile in flight than most birds, flying with their very long spread-out ...

right-handed in the top order. She has told ''Female Cricket'' that she always fancied being a wicket-keeper; she appreciated that it was a "bit different" from the roles of every other player, and that wicket-keepers are "always in the game".

ESPNcricinfo ESPNcricinfo (formerly known as Cricinfo or CricInfo) is a sports news website exclusively for the game of cricket. The site features news, articles, live coverage of cricket matches (including liveblogs and scorecards), and ''StatsGuru'', a ...

observes that Bryce is a "... powerful cutter of the ball ... strong down the ground against spin ... nd... also a superb wicketkeeper ..." In May 2021, Matt Roller wrote for ESPNcricinfo that she: ''

The Cricketer ''The Cricketer'' is a monthly English cricket magazine providing writing and photography from international, county, club and schools cricket. Overview The magazine was founded in 1921 by Sir Pelham Warner, an ex-England captain turned cric ...

'' describes her as "a seasoned international ... hooffers consistency and steadfastness", and also comments that she "... is highly respected by all her teammates not only for her cricketing ability, but also for the positivity and charisma she brings to her teams." Bryce's role models, particularly in relation to wicket-keeping, are James Foster and Sarah Taylor. She also credits former Scotland international player Kari Carswell, who has coached and played alongside her, as having had a "massive impact".

Off the field

Aside from cricket, Bryce continues to play the piano, and is also an avid and accomplished golfer. While in quarantine ahead of the 2022 Commonwealth Games Cricket Qualifier in Malaysia, she passed the time by practising her putting.

Honours

Team

* The Hundred champion:

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

* Women's Twenty20 Cup South East Group champion:

Individual

Women Player of the Year: 2020 * Kent Batter of the Year: 2020 * Kent Women's Twenty20 Cup Player of the Tournament:

References

External links

* * * – ''Cricket Scotland'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Bryce, Sarah 2000 births Living people Scottish women cricketers Scotland women Twenty20 International cricketers Nottinghamshire women cricketers Kent women cricketers The Blaze women's cricketers Cricketers from Edinburgh Oval Invincibles cricketers Welsh Fire cricketers People educated at George Watson's College