6. Becky Glen
Before I started this new project, I was firstly hoping that athletes from right across the spectrum of elite women’s sport would be willing to talk to me and share their stories and experiences. From there, I expected that the interviewees would come from two groups … people that I had met, or friends of friends (of friends).
Interview number six is slightly different as it is the first article to feature someone I didn’t know, but whose father has been a friend for in excess of three decades.
Becky Glen is a Scottish international cricketer; her father Jon attended the same school as me (St Peter’s, York), and although he left in the year I started, we would go on to play together in many club games against the school – “Glenny” at the top of the order; me at the bottom; him standing at slip watching on as another of my deliveries disappeared over the boundary…
They were good times, and I was really looking forward to chatting all things cricket with his significantly more talented offspring.
Our conversation took place while Becky was in Berlin, the Scottish Saltire hanging on the wall behind her. My first question was school-related, as Becky had been a pupil at Sedbergh School, one of St Peter’s’ arch rivals back in my day. Was there any particular reason why Becky had chosen Cumbria over North Yorkshire?
“I’d been to Terrington [Hall, the York prep school where Becky’s father had been headmaster] and I guess it was a straight choice between Sedbergh and St Peter’s. My brother went to Peter’s, but at that time they didn’t have an astro[turf pitch] whereas Sedbergh did, and for me that was a big selling point. I couldn’t play hockey on grass again; it was horrendous!
“But I had a look round Sedbergh and just fell in love with the school – it’s a beautiful place.”
Presumably, that would mean being a boarder?
“Yes. I went home occasionally; my Mum was really good at coming up and taking me to all sorts of cricket stuff in Leeds when I was playing for Yorkshire, but most of the time was spent at the school.”
Although I wasn’t a boarder at school, my father ran a boarding house, so my school was also my home, which is a highly unusual setting in which to grow up. That said going to school and living many miles from home would seem to be an equally difficult situation, especially at the age of 13; how did Becky find life at a boarding school?
“I have hardly lived at home since then,” Becky admitted. “I think I’ve spent about one year living there, between leaving school and going to university; but apart from that I’ve hardly spent any time at home. ‘Home’ is a concept, isn’t it; it’s not really a thing. Home is what you make of it, and for me school was great; I loved being with my friends, I loved being away, doing what I wanted.
“Dad and I always had a good relationship, but I think it’s quite difficult growing up when your Dad is headmaster; it can make things a little tricky in terms of learning who you are and being who you want to be, and not who people expect you to be; so for me, it [Sedbergh] was a bit of freedom, I suppose.”
Sedbergh has a reputation for sporting excellence, so Becky would presumably have had a wide variety of sporting opportunity throughout her education…
“At Terrington I played everything, and I’ve learned since that it’s so important to try as many different sports as you can.
“AB de Villiers [the South African cricketer] talks about it a lot, and I think there’s been quite a lot of research done into movement patterns; if you only play one sport, you just move in one way. If you play a number of sports, your body moves in multiple ways and can react better to different situations. I love American Football at the moment – I’m obsessed! – and they talk quite a lot about their athletes playing basketball and taking movement from basketball and replicating it in American Football…
“When I was at Terrington, I played under-9 rugby … boy’s rugby that was, football, cricket, hockey, netball, tennis, rounders – if that counts as a sport! – and I did cross-country and athletics as well.
“I couldn’t do as much at Sedbergh. I did cricket, hockey, netball, rounders, athletics and tennis for a year I think, during games lessons as compulsory activities; but when I could choose what I wanted to play, I stuck with cricket, hockey and netball.
“And I think that was another reason why I chose to go to Sedbergh over St Peter’s; the schools are pretty similar now, but at the time, I just felt like girls’ sport was taken that bit more seriously, that it really mattered; and that was really important for me.”
Given Becky’s strong sporting background, how easy was the choice to focus on cricket, and how did she progress through school and beyond?
“For me, cricket was always the game I enjoyed the most. I really loved playing hockey, but I never quite took it as seriously as cricket. I suppose when you get the passion for cricket, it’s a totally different feeling.
“I’d trained and played cricket with boys at school, and I think it’s quite special to be known for something around school: ‘Ahh, you’re the girl that plays cricket’. The language could have been better, but yes, that was me; and there’s a sense of pride that you can do something well enough to get noticed.
“After school, I played a season with Yorkshire’s senior team. I didn’t play much for the first team, but it was a great experience to be part of the squad with the likes of Katherine Brunt, Dani Hazell and Lauren Whinfield.
“But then I moved up to Durham; Yorkshire wanted me to go on loan, but I chose to move permanently and even though I went to university in York, I was still going up to Durham every weekend to train and play. We played at Durham City, which was my Dad’s old club! It was a bit of a fortress actually; it was a terrible wicket, terrible outfield, they never cut it; and we just got used to defending or chasing really low totals!
“I left Durham last year because I was moving down to Hertfordshire, and I was intending to just play for Scotland, because they had a side in the 50-over ECB League. I was just going to train down there, play a few club games and meet up with the Scotland squad for their matches; but because of Covid it didn’t work out.”
Having mentioned Scotland, I was interested in how Becky had come to the attention of her national side.
“It was a bit of a fluke story actually. I was playing for Durham against Scotland in the ECB League and we had bowled them out for somewhere around 90. As it turned out we chased them down in the 49th over – one for the spectators! We were nine [wickets] down and I ended up 45 not out, but the Scotland coach was walking round the boundary and he stopped next to my Mum, who used to come to every home game without fail … Dad never turned up, Mum was there all the time! She was sat with the dogs and ‘Knoxy’ [Scotland coach Steven Knox] stopped and asker her who she thought was going to win the game…
“And Mum said ‘the ginger Scottish girl is going to win it!’
“’Knoxy’ has gone for another lap,” Becky made an anti-clockwise circular motion with her hand – anti-clockwise being very much the correct way to walk round a boundary, “and in his head he’s realised that he doesn’t have a ginger girl in his team; so he asked Mum if I was Scottish, to which she replied that I was born in Edinburgh … and two days later I got a call asking me to go and play in a regional game!”
I have seen from a couple of statistical cricket websites that Becky has gained 20 caps in T20 internationals – the 20-over-a-side format of the game; although she has actually represented her country on a number of other occasions as well.
“I played in a series against Ireland, but those games weren’t classed as internationals,” Becky explained, “and then we played a European qualifier … and they weren’t internationals either; but the following qualifying series counted as T20 internationals, so even though some girls had played over a hundred games for Scotland, technically we all got our international caps on the same day, which was a bit weird!”
My in-depth research led me to discover Becky’s international debut had come against the might of Uganda, a DNB [did not bat] for the newcomer as Scotland knocked off the African side’s score of 43 with a minimum of fuss, although Becky did take a couple of catches at point and deep midwicket.
Whilst the Scottish side also play the 50-over format of the game, for some reason, those matches are again not classed as internationals, but which of those forms of one-day cricket does Becky prefer?
“Easy, the T20s,” she laughed, “get it done and dusted! My concentration levels are atrocious! I just drift in and out, that’s why they put me on the boundary; I’ve got a good arm and a pretty safe pair of hands … I’m just out there in my own little world! I field at point for the first few overs then deep midwicket after that; I’m backwards and forwards across the pitch, the captain loves making me do it!”
Obviously, any international sport requires money, whether that be funding, sponsorship etc., to compete, develop and grow. I wondered firstly, how cricket was viewed in Scotland, and also how difficult it was from a financial perspective to be involved in the game.”
“I tell you a quick story,” Becky smiled. “I got on a plane, a couple of years ago; I’d just flown in from the Netherlands where we’d been playing world cup qualifiers and I still had my Cricket Scotland rucksack. I was getting onto another plane at Newcastle, there were two Scottish fellas behind me and one of them pointed at the rucksack and said: ‘I think they spelt rugby wrong!’ - I think that just about sums up the attitude to cricket in Scotland.
“Having said that I do think the sport is really on the up; when the men beat England in 2018; that gave the game a massive boost…
“From a personal point of view, I have a great guy sponsoring me at the moment; he’s awesome. He has a company down in Hertfordshire. I think for all of the girls, that little bit extra is so important. Obviously the Bryces [sisters Kathryn and Sarah] have a big sponsor, but most of us are just hoping for a start-up company who are looking for someone to take a chance on …
“But there’s no money in Scottish women’s cricket at the moment; it’s sad, but I can understand why sponsors want to put their money where’s it’s going to get noticed.
“We do get some media coverage. Some of our games are streamed on YouTube, and I think there have been one or two articles in the newspapers, so there is some coverage out there; but I think what would be good for us would be if one of the bigger teams came over and played Scotland as a warm up for a series against England … it’s happened with the Aussie and New Zealand men; and to get high profile players playing against us would be phenomenal. We might get annihilated, but we might also show what we’re capable of; the Scots love being an underdog!”
One of my abiding memories of my extremely average club cricket career was the nerves I felt when I bowled, and particularly when I went out to bat. I’m sure there are so many different approaches or attitudes to batting at all levels of the game – from beyond apprehensive to the supremely confident: what sort of attitude does Becky have?
“I’m so relaxed about batting. For me, cricket is just a game. I absolutely love it and of course I want to do well for my team; but I’m still going to keep breathing if I get none … or if I get 50, or however many I get. I think my lack of concentration helps because I don’t really think about it; I just go out and bat.
“I’m at my best when my mind is clear. I love chasing … I have a total in mind, and that’s all; and that allows me to just play each ball as it comes. For me life’s challenges come off the pitch … it’s just cricket!
“I’m hard on myself at training, in terms of the standards I set, so I actually put more pressure on myself in training. If I’ve trained hard and well, then I know the game should be okay.
“I think it’s something I’ve learned through my coaching as well. I’ve seen so many young cricketers, girls and boys, put so much pressure on themselves. They’ll be worried that if they get out they might lose their place, but equally they could go out and score a hundred. As a bowler, I suppose you always get a second chance, and if you can have that attitude with the bat, then I think that helps. If you believe the next ball will be your last, it probably will be; if you believe that you’ll be facing the next delivery and then the one after that, then you will.”
It all sounds so simple, but I’d wager Becky is in the minority…
“For sure, a lot of the team have different attitudes; some get very nervous, but I don’t think I’ve ever been nervous around cricket. It may have something to do with the way my parents brought me up. They never put pressure on me to do well … if things hadn’t gone my way, Dad would just say: ‘Ah well, there’s always the next game’.
Helpful advice that probably reflected a string of low scores at various points in her father’s career…
Becky chuckled: “He could never comment on my bowling because he couldn’t bowl, and I’ve heard about his fielding … I think I was born being able to catch better than him!
“Don’t take that bit out..!”
Don’t worry Becky; that was never going to happen!
It was fascinating listening to Becky’s thoughts on her own approach to the game – so different to mine; perhaps that’s why she’s been able to make the transition from county to international cricket so readily. Presumably then, the element of mental strength on top of cricketing ability is a crucial ingredient in the elite athlete, whatever the sport?
“Absolutely; it’s the biggest difference between those that make it and those that don’t. Having worked with kids and talented young adults, I have had people say to me that this person is arrogant … and I’ll say no, that’s what sets them apart. They believe in themselves and if there is a tinge of arrogance, then it’s up to us as coaches to channel that into something that is purely just belief. Look at Jonny Bairstow as an example, a lot of people call him arrogant, Ben Stokes the same; but they believe so much in themselves and their ability to perform. I am a massive admirer of Serena Williams and one of her best quotes is: ‘If you don’t believe in yourself, who will?’”
Can you teach that mental strength, or is it something that you either have, or you don’t; and is there a sports psychologist in the Scotland set-up?
“You can encourage it in the way you speak to people. If I keep saying you’re awesome, at some point you’re going to start believing it. With someone it might take years, with someone else it might take seconds; so whilst some of it might be inherent, I believe if you can encourage people in the right way, you can develop that mental strength…
“Yes we have been working with a sports psychologist, although she’s just left and we’re hoping for a new one soon. She’s been awesome, and took so much time working through lockdown with us. She did a lot of work with us on how each individual works; it’s a team game, but each of us responds to things differently. When we’re under pressure, what does each of us need in a certain situation? For me, it’s ‘leave me alone’, I’ll find a way out of it and make it work. Others might need a word of reassurance, but knowing how each other responds in those pressure situations was so good for us.”
Having mentioned a quote from Serena Williams, was Becky an admirer of the 23-time Grand Slam winner?
“I love Serena Williams; I’m such a huge fan.”
That’ll be a yes then…
“It’s her winning mentality, she is the ultimate competitor. She goes on that court knowing that no one is better than her – and I love that. Certainly in her prime a couple of years ago, I’d have backed her to beat some of the lower-ranked male players; she’s such a good role model for any young girl wanting to play sport.”
So are there any female cricketers for whom Becky has similar admiration?
“I wasn’t really interested in women’s cricket when I was growing up, just because it wasn’t televised. Back when I was twelve, I don’t think I could have named an England women’s cricketer; so I never really grew up with that appreciation for just how good the women were. I just watched men’s cricket: obviously AB [de Villiers] and KP [Kevin Pietersen] … phenomenal, Dad hated him, so that made me like him even more!
“Women’s players...? There are few outstanding cricketers around: Meg Lanning is brilliant, Alyssa Healy as well, Heather Knight … some of the shots they play are just so good. That said if I want to compete against these people, I can’t hold them in too much esteem; so I suppose I’ve always looked to other sports for female role models. Jess Ennis would be another. I read once where she basically said she was lazy and hated training, yet still went and still performed at unreal levels … just incredible.
“And I also think it’s great that you can now name endless female athletes. It used to be tennis players and a few athletes because the Olympics came round; but now you can name footballers, cricketers, rugby players, hockey players. When I was young, I used to watch sport every hour of every day … unless I was climbing a tree; and I couldn’t name anyone from those sports. It’s quite sad in a way, but things are so different now…”
Heather Knight and Meg Lanning had both appeared in the recent final of the Women’s Big Bash League in Australia, with the former, the current England captain, and her Sydney Thunder team mates having enjoyed a seven-wicket success over the Melbourne Stars. Had Becky been able to watch any of the action?
“Yes, I watched the highlights of just about every game. There was some phenomenal striking and the fielding is getting better and better. There’s a girl called Laura Kimmince, who plays for Brisbane Heat, and she was hitting bombs, the noise off the bat was unreal, so good to watch.”
The victorious Sydney Thunder squad included 17-year old Phoebe Litchfield, a hugely gifted left-handed bat, outstanding fielder and definite star of the future, as well as fellow teenager Hannah Darlington, who bowled so impressively in both the semi-final and final. The youngest player in the competition was 15-year old spinner Amy Smith from the Hobart Hurricanes and arguably the outstanding youngster in WBBL06 was Adelaide Strikers’ 17-year-old pace bowler Darcie Brown. What were Becky’s thoughts on the emergence of such young and talented players?
“Of course it’s so good, but it’s not just in Australia. We’ve got Katherine Fraser, she’s only 15, and started playing with us when she was 14.
“I think it’s different in the men’s game because they’re so much stronger. The difference between a 14-year old and a 20-year old in the women’s game isn’t that great, but in the men’s game it’s huge. Girls develop younger in terms of physical strength, so whilst it’s great, it’s probably not that rare for teenagers in the women’s game to come along and get noticed.”
So, in terms of cricket, what do the next couple of years hold in store for Becky and her Scotland team mates?
“We hopefully have a series against Ireland, which will be really good. My first games for Scotland were against Ireland and we got hammered, absolutely annihilated in every game, never looked like winning … thankfully we were playing in Scotland, so it rained quite a lot, which helped!
“We beat them last year in a T20I in the Netherlands; it was our first win against Ireland in quite a few years and was really special. I think as a team we almost believed we couldn’t do it, until we did; and our whole mindset changed immediately. We should also have World Cup qualifiers and potentially Commonwealth Games qualifiers as well in 2021. I think our aim as a team has to be to qualify for a world cup, whether it’s the next one or the one after, that’s what we’re working towards.
“We should have a full-time coach in January, which will help as well. It’s a massive step forward for Cricket Scotland. Our current coach has done some phenomenal work for us, but to have someone full-time, whoever it may be, will be so good.”
But can Scotland actually make their mark on the world game?
“I feel like we’re not that far away, we’re really not. We’ve got some insane talent coming through; we’re a very young team, we’re close as a group and we get some really good backing from the Scottish Institute of Sport – there are twelve players funded through that and they get fantastic support – so let’s see where we are in a couple of years.
“The Thailand girls got to the last world cup and we beat them in the series before they went, we beat Ireland last year; so I think if we can become that little bit more consistent, we’re not far off…”
A smile and a knowing nod followed – these weren’t just words; there’s a genuine warmth and compelling assurance about Becky Glen that makes you feel that she might just be right.
© Richard Kirby and Becky Glen 2020
Interview number six is slightly different as it is the first article to feature someone I didn’t know, but whose father has been a friend for in excess of three decades.
Becky Glen is a Scottish international cricketer; her father Jon attended the same school as me (St Peter’s, York), and although he left in the year I started, we would go on to play together in many club games against the school – “Glenny” at the top of the order; me at the bottom; him standing at slip watching on as another of my deliveries disappeared over the boundary…
They were good times, and I was really looking forward to chatting all things cricket with his significantly more talented offspring.
Our conversation took place while Becky was in Berlin, the Scottish Saltire hanging on the wall behind her. My first question was school-related, as Becky had been a pupil at Sedbergh School, one of St Peter’s’ arch rivals back in my day. Was there any particular reason why Becky had chosen Cumbria over North Yorkshire?
“I’d been to Terrington [Hall, the York prep school where Becky’s father had been headmaster] and I guess it was a straight choice between Sedbergh and St Peter’s. My brother went to Peter’s, but at that time they didn’t have an astro[turf pitch] whereas Sedbergh did, and for me that was a big selling point. I couldn’t play hockey on grass again; it was horrendous!
“But I had a look round Sedbergh and just fell in love with the school – it’s a beautiful place.”
Presumably, that would mean being a boarder?
“Yes. I went home occasionally; my Mum was really good at coming up and taking me to all sorts of cricket stuff in Leeds when I was playing for Yorkshire, but most of the time was spent at the school.”
Although I wasn’t a boarder at school, my father ran a boarding house, so my school was also my home, which is a highly unusual setting in which to grow up. That said going to school and living many miles from home would seem to be an equally difficult situation, especially at the age of 13; how did Becky find life at a boarding school?
“I have hardly lived at home since then,” Becky admitted. “I think I’ve spent about one year living there, between leaving school and going to university; but apart from that I’ve hardly spent any time at home. ‘Home’ is a concept, isn’t it; it’s not really a thing. Home is what you make of it, and for me school was great; I loved being with my friends, I loved being away, doing what I wanted.
“Dad and I always had a good relationship, but I think it’s quite difficult growing up when your Dad is headmaster; it can make things a little tricky in terms of learning who you are and being who you want to be, and not who people expect you to be; so for me, it [Sedbergh] was a bit of freedom, I suppose.”
Sedbergh has a reputation for sporting excellence, so Becky would presumably have had a wide variety of sporting opportunity throughout her education…
“At Terrington I played everything, and I’ve learned since that it’s so important to try as many different sports as you can.
“AB de Villiers [the South African cricketer] talks about it a lot, and I think there’s been quite a lot of research done into movement patterns; if you only play one sport, you just move in one way. If you play a number of sports, your body moves in multiple ways and can react better to different situations. I love American Football at the moment – I’m obsessed! – and they talk quite a lot about their athletes playing basketball and taking movement from basketball and replicating it in American Football…
“When I was at Terrington, I played under-9 rugby … boy’s rugby that was, football, cricket, hockey, netball, tennis, rounders – if that counts as a sport! – and I did cross-country and athletics as well.
“I couldn’t do as much at Sedbergh. I did cricket, hockey, netball, rounders, athletics and tennis for a year I think, during games lessons as compulsory activities; but when I could choose what I wanted to play, I stuck with cricket, hockey and netball.
“And I think that was another reason why I chose to go to Sedbergh over St Peter’s; the schools are pretty similar now, but at the time, I just felt like girls’ sport was taken that bit more seriously, that it really mattered; and that was really important for me.”
Given Becky’s strong sporting background, how easy was the choice to focus on cricket, and how did she progress through school and beyond?
“For me, cricket was always the game I enjoyed the most. I really loved playing hockey, but I never quite took it as seriously as cricket. I suppose when you get the passion for cricket, it’s a totally different feeling.
“I’d trained and played cricket with boys at school, and I think it’s quite special to be known for something around school: ‘Ahh, you’re the girl that plays cricket’. The language could have been better, but yes, that was me; and there’s a sense of pride that you can do something well enough to get noticed.
“After school, I played a season with Yorkshire’s senior team. I didn’t play much for the first team, but it was a great experience to be part of the squad with the likes of Katherine Brunt, Dani Hazell and Lauren Whinfield.
“But then I moved up to Durham; Yorkshire wanted me to go on loan, but I chose to move permanently and even though I went to university in York, I was still going up to Durham every weekend to train and play. We played at Durham City, which was my Dad’s old club! It was a bit of a fortress actually; it was a terrible wicket, terrible outfield, they never cut it; and we just got used to defending or chasing really low totals!
“I left Durham last year because I was moving down to Hertfordshire, and I was intending to just play for Scotland, because they had a side in the 50-over ECB League. I was just going to train down there, play a few club games and meet up with the Scotland squad for their matches; but because of Covid it didn’t work out.”
Having mentioned Scotland, I was interested in how Becky had come to the attention of her national side.
“It was a bit of a fluke story actually. I was playing for Durham against Scotland in the ECB League and we had bowled them out for somewhere around 90. As it turned out we chased them down in the 49th over – one for the spectators! We were nine [wickets] down and I ended up 45 not out, but the Scotland coach was walking round the boundary and he stopped next to my Mum, who used to come to every home game without fail … Dad never turned up, Mum was there all the time! She was sat with the dogs and ‘Knoxy’ [Scotland coach Steven Knox] stopped and asker her who she thought was going to win the game…
“And Mum said ‘the ginger Scottish girl is going to win it!’
“’Knoxy’ has gone for another lap,” Becky made an anti-clockwise circular motion with her hand – anti-clockwise being very much the correct way to walk round a boundary, “and in his head he’s realised that he doesn’t have a ginger girl in his team; so he asked Mum if I was Scottish, to which she replied that I was born in Edinburgh … and two days later I got a call asking me to go and play in a regional game!”
I have seen from a couple of statistical cricket websites that Becky has gained 20 caps in T20 internationals – the 20-over-a-side format of the game; although she has actually represented her country on a number of other occasions as well.
“I played in a series against Ireland, but those games weren’t classed as internationals,” Becky explained, “and then we played a European qualifier … and they weren’t internationals either; but the following qualifying series counted as T20 internationals, so even though some girls had played over a hundred games for Scotland, technically we all got our international caps on the same day, which was a bit weird!”
My in-depth research led me to discover Becky’s international debut had come against the might of Uganda, a DNB [did not bat] for the newcomer as Scotland knocked off the African side’s score of 43 with a minimum of fuss, although Becky did take a couple of catches at point and deep midwicket.
Whilst the Scottish side also play the 50-over format of the game, for some reason, those matches are again not classed as internationals, but which of those forms of one-day cricket does Becky prefer?
“Easy, the T20s,” she laughed, “get it done and dusted! My concentration levels are atrocious! I just drift in and out, that’s why they put me on the boundary; I’ve got a good arm and a pretty safe pair of hands … I’m just out there in my own little world! I field at point for the first few overs then deep midwicket after that; I’m backwards and forwards across the pitch, the captain loves making me do it!”
Obviously, any international sport requires money, whether that be funding, sponsorship etc., to compete, develop and grow. I wondered firstly, how cricket was viewed in Scotland, and also how difficult it was from a financial perspective to be involved in the game.”
“I tell you a quick story,” Becky smiled. “I got on a plane, a couple of years ago; I’d just flown in from the Netherlands where we’d been playing world cup qualifiers and I still had my Cricket Scotland rucksack. I was getting onto another plane at Newcastle, there were two Scottish fellas behind me and one of them pointed at the rucksack and said: ‘I think they spelt rugby wrong!’ - I think that just about sums up the attitude to cricket in Scotland.
“Having said that I do think the sport is really on the up; when the men beat England in 2018; that gave the game a massive boost…
“From a personal point of view, I have a great guy sponsoring me at the moment; he’s awesome. He has a company down in Hertfordshire. I think for all of the girls, that little bit extra is so important. Obviously the Bryces [sisters Kathryn and Sarah] have a big sponsor, but most of us are just hoping for a start-up company who are looking for someone to take a chance on …
“But there’s no money in Scottish women’s cricket at the moment; it’s sad, but I can understand why sponsors want to put their money where’s it’s going to get noticed.
“We do get some media coverage. Some of our games are streamed on YouTube, and I think there have been one or two articles in the newspapers, so there is some coverage out there; but I think what would be good for us would be if one of the bigger teams came over and played Scotland as a warm up for a series against England … it’s happened with the Aussie and New Zealand men; and to get high profile players playing against us would be phenomenal. We might get annihilated, but we might also show what we’re capable of; the Scots love being an underdog!”
One of my abiding memories of my extremely average club cricket career was the nerves I felt when I bowled, and particularly when I went out to bat. I’m sure there are so many different approaches or attitudes to batting at all levels of the game – from beyond apprehensive to the supremely confident: what sort of attitude does Becky have?
“I’m so relaxed about batting. For me, cricket is just a game. I absolutely love it and of course I want to do well for my team; but I’m still going to keep breathing if I get none … or if I get 50, or however many I get. I think my lack of concentration helps because I don’t really think about it; I just go out and bat.
“I’m at my best when my mind is clear. I love chasing … I have a total in mind, and that’s all; and that allows me to just play each ball as it comes. For me life’s challenges come off the pitch … it’s just cricket!
“I’m hard on myself at training, in terms of the standards I set, so I actually put more pressure on myself in training. If I’ve trained hard and well, then I know the game should be okay.
“I think it’s something I’ve learned through my coaching as well. I’ve seen so many young cricketers, girls and boys, put so much pressure on themselves. They’ll be worried that if they get out they might lose their place, but equally they could go out and score a hundred. As a bowler, I suppose you always get a second chance, and if you can have that attitude with the bat, then I think that helps. If you believe the next ball will be your last, it probably will be; if you believe that you’ll be facing the next delivery and then the one after that, then you will.”
It all sounds so simple, but I’d wager Becky is in the minority…
“For sure, a lot of the team have different attitudes; some get very nervous, but I don’t think I’ve ever been nervous around cricket. It may have something to do with the way my parents brought me up. They never put pressure on me to do well … if things hadn’t gone my way, Dad would just say: ‘Ah well, there’s always the next game’.
Helpful advice that probably reflected a string of low scores at various points in her father’s career…
Becky chuckled: “He could never comment on my bowling because he couldn’t bowl, and I’ve heard about his fielding … I think I was born being able to catch better than him!
“Don’t take that bit out..!”
Don’t worry Becky; that was never going to happen!
It was fascinating listening to Becky’s thoughts on her own approach to the game – so different to mine; perhaps that’s why she’s been able to make the transition from county to international cricket so readily. Presumably then, the element of mental strength on top of cricketing ability is a crucial ingredient in the elite athlete, whatever the sport?
“Absolutely; it’s the biggest difference between those that make it and those that don’t. Having worked with kids and talented young adults, I have had people say to me that this person is arrogant … and I’ll say no, that’s what sets them apart. They believe in themselves and if there is a tinge of arrogance, then it’s up to us as coaches to channel that into something that is purely just belief. Look at Jonny Bairstow as an example, a lot of people call him arrogant, Ben Stokes the same; but they believe so much in themselves and their ability to perform. I am a massive admirer of Serena Williams and one of her best quotes is: ‘If you don’t believe in yourself, who will?’”
Can you teach that mental strength, or is it something that you either have, or you don’t; and is there a sports psychologist in the Scotland set-up?
“You can encourage it in the way you speak to people. If I keep saying you’re awesome, at some point you’re going to start believing it. With someone it might take years, with someone else it might take seconds; so whilst some of it might be inherent, I believe if you can encourage people in the right way, you can develop that mental strength…
“Yes we have been working with a sports psychologist, although she’s just left and we’re hoping for a new one soon. She’s been awesome, and took so much time working through lockdown with us. She did a lot of work with us on how each individual works; it’s a team game, but each of us responds to things differently. When we’re under pressure, what does each of us need in a certain situation? For me, it’s ‘leave me alone’, I’ll find a way out of it and make it work. Others might need a word of reassurance, but knowing how each other responds in those pressure situations was so good for us.”
Having mentioned a quote from Serena Williams, was Becky an admirer of the 23-time Grand Slam winner?
“I love Serena Williams; I’m such a huge fan.”
That’ll be a yes then…
“It’s her winning mentality, she is the ultimate competitor. She goes on that court knowing that no one is better than her – and I love that. Certainly in her prime a couple of years ago, I’d have backed her to beat some of the lower-ranked male players; she’s such a good role model for any young girl wanting to play sport.”
So are there any female cricketers for whom Becky has similar admiration?
“I wasn’t really interested in women’s cricket when I was growing up, just because it wasn’t televised. Back when I was twelve, I don’t think I could have named an England women’s cricketer; so I never really grew up with that appreciation for just how good the women were. I just watched men’s cricket: obviously AB [de Villiers] and KP [Kevin Pietersen] … phenomenal, Dad hated him, so that made me like him even more!
“Women’s players...? There are few outstanding cricketers around: Meg Lanning is brilliant, Alyssa Healy as well, Heather Knight … some of the shots they play are just so good. That said if I want to compete against these people, I can’t hold them in too much esteem; so I suppose I’ve always looked to other sports for female role models. Jess Ennis would be another. I read once where she basically said she was lazy and hated training, yet still went and still performed at unreal levels … just incredible.
“And I also think it’s great that you can now name endless female athletes. It used to be tennis players and a few athletes because the Olympics came round; but now you can name footballers, cricketers, rugby players, hockey players. When I was young, I used to watch sport every hour of every day … unless I was climbing a tree; and I couldn’t name anyone from those sports. It’s quite sad in a way, but things are so different now…”
Heather Knight and Meg Lanning had both appeared in the recent final of the Women’s Big Bash League in Australia, with the former, the current England captain, and her Sydney Thunder team mates having enjoyed a seven-wicket success over the Melbourne Stars. Had Becky been able to watch any of the action?
“Yes, I watched the highlights of just about every game. There was some phenomenal striking and the fielding is getting better and better. There’s a girl called Laura Kimmince, who plays for Brisbane Heat, and she was hitting bombs, the noise off the bat was unreal, so good to watch.”
The victorious Sydney Thunder squad included 17-year old Phoebe Litchfield, a hugely gifted left-handed bat, outstanding fielder and definite star of the future, as well as fellow teenager Hannah Darlington, who bowled so impressively in both the semi-final and final. The youngest player in the competition was 15-year old spinner Amy Smith from the Hobart Hurricanes and arguably the outstanding youngster in WBBL06 was Adelaide Strikers’ 17-year-old pace bowler Darcie Brown. What were Becky’s thoughts on the emergence of such young and talented players?
“Of course it’s so good, but it’s not just in Australia. We’ve got Katherine Fraser, she’s only 15, and started playing with us when she was 14.
“I think it’s different in the men’s game because they’re so much stronger. The difference between a 14-year old and a 20-year old in the women’s game isn’t that great, but in the men’s game it’s huge. Girls develop younger in terms of physical strength, so whilst it’s great, it’s probably not that rare for teenagers in the women’s game to come along and get noticed.”
So, in terms of cricket, what do the next couple of years hold in store for Becky and her Scotland team mates?
“We hopefully have a series against Ireland, which will be really good. My first games for Scotland were against Ireland and we got hammered, absolutely annihilated in every game, never looked like winning … thankfully we were playing in Scotland, so it rained quite a lot, which helped!
“We beat them last year in a T20I in the Netherlands; it was our first win against Ireland in quite a few years and was really special. I think as a team we almost believed we couldn’t do it, until we did; and our whole mindset changed immediately. We should also have World Cup qualifiers and potentially Commonwealth Games qualifiers as well in 2021. I think our aim as a team has to be to qualify for a world cup, whether it’s the next one or the one after, that’s what we’re working towards.
“We should have a full-time coach in January, which will help as well. It’s a massive step forward for Cricket Scotland. Our current coach has done some phenomenal work for us, but to have someone full-time, whoever it may be, will be so good.”
But can Scotland actually make their mark on the world game?
“I feel like we’re not that far away, we’re really not. We’ve got some insane talent coming through; we’re a very young team, we’re close as a group and we get some really good backing from the Scottish Institute of Sport – there are twelve players funded through that and they get fantastic support – so let’s see where we are in a couple of years.
“The Thailand girls got to the last world cup and we beat them in the series before they went, we beat Ireland last year; so I think if we can become that little bit more consistent, we’re not far off…”
A smile and a knowing nod followed – these weren’t just words; there’s a genuine warmth and compelling assurance about Becky Glen that makes you feel that she might just be right.
© Richard Kirby and Becky Glen 2020