International Cricket Council (ICC) awarded individuals for their performances and contribution to the sport in the “Player of the Decade” awards, announced on 28th December 2020 across broadcast television and social media platforms.
Scotland internationals Kyle Coetzer and Kathryn Bryce were named the “Associate Player of the Decade” winners in their respective categories, and were up against tough competition from the other nominees in the lists. But both the wins will take forward Cricket Scotland’s vision of making cricket known as a mainstream sporting activity in the country and attract more youngsters (boys and girls) to take up the sport as an amateur/professional career option in the near future.
Scotland Men’s have had a stellar decade in terms of team achievements, and leading them for the later half of the decade has been Kyle Coetzer, whose own individual performances have garnered much attention and praise. With 3429 runs across ODIs and T20Is in the past 10 years, he is the leading player among the batsmen in Associate cricket landscape. Coetzer is also the recipient of an “MBE for services to cricket” award in the Queen’s Honours List in 2019.
Similarly, Kathryn Bryce has been leading the Scotland Women’s squad since 2018, after making her debut in 2011 at the age of 13. While Kathryn’s international numbers has been instrumental (over 400+ runs and 15 wickets in 14 T20Is), her individual performances for Scotland / Lightning in ECB (England and Wales Cricket Board) Women’s domestic competitions, including a stellar 2020 season in the Rachael Heyhoe Flint trophy (50-overs), that saw her sign a professional contract in England with Lightning for the 2021 season along with her sister Sarah Bryce.
Other players from Scotland in the nominations included Richie Berrington, Calum MacLeod and Sarah Bryce. Natthakan Chantham (Thailand), Sterre Kalis (Netherlands), Chanida Sutthiruang (Thailand) and Sornnorin Tippoch (Thailand) were the other nominations in the Women’s category, while Peter Borren (Netherlands), Assad Vala (Papua New Guinea) and Paras Khadka (Nepal) were the other nominations in the Men’s category.
