Howzat? Nicola Sturgeon shows off cricket skills at Holyrood

Nicola Sturgeon shows off her technique with a bat and ball at Holyrood. Picture: twitter/scotgovfm

The Wildcats made an official visit to the Scottish Parliament as part of a bid to raise the profile of Scottish women’s cricket.

Scottish Conservative MSP Liz Smith, who played for the Scotland women’s team before entering politics, also met the squad on their visit.

The Member for Mid Scotland and Fife has long championed Scottish women in sport, and is currently the president of the Scottish Women’s Cricket Association (SWCA) and remains the fourth oldest debutant in a One Day International (ODI), after making her bow against England at the age of 41 years and 164 days in the 2001 European Championship.

She is also the oldest Scottish player, male or female, to have played in a full ODI.

Ms Sturgeon played down her cricket skills however, tweeting: “Don’t think I’ll be getting a call up to the team any time soon!”

The Scotland women’s team wasn’t raised between 1932 and 1979, when a match was played against a junior England side in Worcestershire.

There was a further gap between 1979 and 2000, when it was once again reassembled.

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