Kari Anderson is the first to admit that when she first started playing cricket thoughts or earning a living from the game looked fanciful.

Now, she has been appointed as Scotland's first women's cricket manager, with a broad remit to take the game forward in this country.

It is a dream position for the 28 year-old, who admits that being a paid professional player in the women's game was unrealistic.

Capped 67 times for Scotland, the Stirling-born player has no intentions of giving up playing ("as long as I can still hit runs and take wickets, I'll continue to play for Scotland") but will now look at the game in a fresh light as she seeks to put the building blocks in place for a strong and lasting structure.

"It's difficult to say how many girls and women are currently playing in this country but Stirling - where I started out - Kinross, Corstorphine, Ayr and Glasgow Accies all have women's sections and the universities, Edinburgh and St Andrews, also have well-organised women's teams," Anderson states.

"How many each club has can vary between 10 to 30 but I think there is more and more interest in the women's game. When I first started, the numbers could not have been lower - you can't get negative numbers playing - but it is getting better all the time.

"We're tending to get women from the age of 25 upwards who are keen to try it out and many have not played before. Many are under the misapprehension that it's a boring game or it takes days to complete a match and they are pleasantly surprised when they try it out for the first time."

Anderson first started playing Kwik Cricket at Stirling County Cricket Club at the age of 10 when Raymond Bond - who is still coaching - was her first big influence on the game.

With two brothers who played, she was keen to try it out and, at Dollar Academy, she regularly played in the boys' teams right through to sixth year.

"It was unheard of in those days for me to come up against another female player but I went on to play for Stirling from the fourth team right through to the firsts," she goes on.

"But it has been a great statement of intent on behalf of Cricket Scotland to appoint a full-time women's manager. It could be the biggest growth area in the game here and it is in my remit to work right through from the grass-roots to the national team.

"It's not just about players but getting more women umpires and scorers and I am really working with a blank canvas so there is a real chance to make an impact."

Last season saw the inaugural Scottish Women's Cup with six teams entered and Anderson hopes that can be expanded this year and also has ambitious plans to introduce some sort of national league this summer.

"The feedback we have been getting is that clubs would prefer some sort of regular fixtures and not just not spending time training, training, training," she continues.

"I know it's ambitious but we can hopefully get something started as I think it would be a good thing. I will also be working closely with the community development managers at Cricket Scotland to tap into the schools and clubs and see what can be done and support them in any way I can.

"It is difficult getting into the state schools as football and rugby has such a grip and there is a belief that cricket is hard to teach. It's something I'd like to change but I realise there is a lot to do in that area."

So what would Anderson like her legacy to be as women's manager? "I'd like to see a strong network of clubs playing regularly in between five to ten year’s time," he concludes.

"I'm not talking about 400 clubs but between 15-20 strong clubs playing weekly cricket. I'd also like to see the Scottish Cup expanded and skills levels improving.

"I would also like to see Scotland women winning more regularly. We have been playing well in matches and not winning and we need to start beating the likes of Ireland and the Netherlands.

"We are closing the gap but we need to start winning regularly and that would make a big difference to the women's game."

RM

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