Sixty seconds with…..Carol Bryant
Name: Carol Bryant
Age: 74
Place of birth: Twickenham
Occupation: Micro analytical chemist until birth of my daughter in 1970 then homemaker.
Have you got any ACO qualifications? Qualified scorer and intermediate umpire with ACU&S now level 2 qualified scorer.
First game, where and when: Although I learnt to score at school and took my turn at scoring when playing I think the first full game I scored was at the Women’s County Championship in Cambridge in 1986.
Why did you start officiating? I don’t really know but I listened to Test Match Special with my mum from an early age and wrote down batsmen’s scores and bowling analysis in an exercise book. I began to love scoring at 14 when I started playing but I loved playing more so the scoring had to wait. I started umpiring when I gave up playing as my husband had to give up so Twickenham Ladies had nobody to take his place.
Careers highlights so far: Scoring for Middlesex Women and England Women at various County Grounds especially Lord’s and The Oval, but nothing can top scoring the Women’s World Cup Final 2017 at Lord’s.
Strangest thing to happen on field whilst officiating: I can’t recall anything whilst umpiring or scoring but when playing at Barne Elms a coach pulled up on the road next to the ground and several men got out and jumped the fence a couple then ran on to the pitch and pinched the bails, ran back to the coach and drove away.
Any superstitions? No
Can you recall learning from a mistake made in a game and what you did in future games? Nothing of note but I have learnt several things from colleagues over the years adding details and making checking easier.
Any ambitions? I don’t think anything can top the World Cup Final
Best piece of advice to scorers and umpires. Keep focused.
Four famous people that you would love to have dinner with. Charlotte Edwards, Graham Swann, Jeremy Vine and Claudia Winkleman
ICC Women’s World Cup
When did you find out and where were you at the time? I found out by email on 25th February sitting at my computer desk at home. The matches that I had been selected for had to be kept confidential.
How did you find the experience? I was a bit surprised and I couldn’t believe my luck to be asked to do the final but I couldn’t tell anyone until much later.
Tell us about the final. It was fantastic! I’d been to the final of 1993 as a spectator when I believe there were around 5000 people present but this was completely different, a full house the atmosphere and noise was phenomenal it was difficult to communicate with my colleague. Then the icing on the cake was England winning but unfortunately no memento of the day for scorers, not even a mention at the presentation as far as I’m aware.