COVERED 2024 Winter

COVERED 30 TRENTBRIDGE.CO.UK went about the final, and so pleased we could show what we’re capable of.” The Bryce sisters were the stars of the show in the final, Kathryn and younger sibling Sarah sharing an instrumental partnership of 79 to help chase 141 with eight balls to spare – quite the topic of conversation around the dinner table that night. “It felt really comfortable and easy, we’ve batted a lot together and really understand each other’s game well,” she admits. In truth, Kathryn was by far and away the tournament’s most influential player, and on a shortlist of one for the Most Valuable Player award. Across 12 innings, she struck 478 runs – including five fifties – at an average over 43.The next top run scorer, Hollie Armitage, hit 155 fewer. In the final, she calmly put the Stars to the sword, with a 45-ball 62. She bats away any praise, though, with a modesty in keeping with her down-to- earth character. “I was really pleased to do it for the girls in a final when it really mattered.” She puts her unflappability down to form carried over from her international duties early in the season – which, incidentally, caused her to miss the first half of the Rachael Heyhoe Flint campaign in whichThe Blaze suffered a string of defeats. “It worked well as the team were having a bit of a reset,” she says. “I felt comfortable coming back into this environment – and knowing we’d just had that success with Scotland before- hand helped.” It’s something she’d discussed on the way back to the UK with Sarah, “We felt we could just come back and enjoy our cricket a bit more.We’d had so much pressure on us that it was nice to have that taken away and we just relaxed a bit.” A new chapter will unfold in 2025, with Head Coach Chris Guest departing “IT’S HARD GOING INTO A FINAL LIKE THAT WHEN YOU’VE DOMINATED THE TOURNAMENT, BECAUSE REALLY IT DOESN’T MATTER WHAT’S COME BEFORE.” Kathryn Bryce