Arran Brindle (; born 23 November 1981) is an English former

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by str ...

er who played as an

all-rounder An all-rounder is a cricketer who regularly performs well at both batting and bowling. Although all bowlers must bat and quite a handful of batsmen do bowl occasionally, most players are skilled in only one of the two disciplines and are consi ...

. She was a right-handed batter and right-arm

medium Medium may refer to: Science and technology Aviation *Medium bomber, a class of war plane *Tecma Medium, a French hang glider design Communication * Media (communication), tools used to store and deliver information or data * Medium of ...

bowler. She appeared in 11 Test matches, 88

One Day Internationals A One Day International (ODI) is a form of limited overs cricket, played between two teams with international status, in which each team faces a fixed number of overs, currently 50, with the game lasting up to 9 hours. The Cricket World Cup ...

and 35

Twenty20 Internationals A Twenty20 International (T20I) is a form of cricket, played between two of the international members of the International Cricket Council (ICC), in which each team faces a maximum of twenty overs. The matches have top-class status and are the ...

for

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

between 1999 and 2014. She played county cricket for

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancash ...

and Sussex, and played in the

Women's Cricket Super League The Women's Cricket Super League (WCSL), known as the Kia Super League (KSL) for sponsorship reasons, was a semi-professional women's Twenty20 cricket competition in England and Wales operated by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB). The comp ...

for the

Southern Vipers The Southern Vipers are a women's cricket team that represent the South of England. The Vipers wear an orange and black kit and play their home matches at the Ageas Bowl and the County Cricket Ground, Hove. They are currently coached by former ...

Early life

Brindle was born on 23 November 1981 in Steeton,

West Yorkshire West Yorkshire is a metropolitan and ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and Humber Region of England. It is an inland and upland county having eastward-draining valleys while taking in the moors of the Pennines. West Yorkshire came into exi ...

. After completing her

A-Levels The A-Level (Advanced Level) is a subject-based qualification conferred as part of the General Certificate of Education, as well as a school leaving qualification offered by the educational bodies in the United Kingdom and the educational au ...

in 2000, Brindle studied Sports Science at the

University of Sheffield , mottoeng = To discover the causes of things , established = – University of SheffieldPredecessor institutions: – Sheffield Medical School – Firth College – Sheffield Technical School – University College of Sheffield , type = Pu ...

Domestic career

Brindle began playing cricket against boys at under 12 level in

and also played club cricket in the Lincolnshire Men's Premier League for Louth CC. She became the first woman to score a century in men's Premier League cricket as she scored 128 for her team against Market Deeping CC on 21 May 2011. In May 2021, she along with her twelve-year-old son Harry Brindle put on an unbeaten opening century run stand partnership (143*) batting together playing for the Owmby CC Trojans team in a men's club cricket match against the Nettleham CC Academy in the Lincoln and District League Division 3. Arran ended up unbeaten on 94 while her son remained unbeaten on 32 as Owmby Trojans chased a small target of 141 by a margin of ten wickets. It was also the first instance where a mother and son registered 100 run partnership for opening wicket in a men's club cricket game.

International career

She made her WODI debut under her maiden name Thompson at the age of 18 against Denmark on 20 July 1999 during the

1999 Women's European Cricket Championship The 1999 Women's European Cricket Championship was an international cricket tournament held in Denmark from 19 to 21 July 1999. It was the fifth edition of the Women's European Cricket Championship, Women's European Championship, and the second to ...

which was held in Denmark. In January 2002, Brindle and

Caroline Atkins Caroline Mary Ghislaine Foster (; born 13 January 1981) is an English cricket coach and former player. She was a right-handed batter and right-arm medium bowler who appeared in 9 Test matches, 58 One Day Internationals and 19 Twenty20 Interna ...

shared a partnership of 200 against

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

at K. D. Singh Babu Stadium,

Lucknow Lucknow (, ) is the capital and the largest city of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and it is also the second largest urban agglomeration in Uttar Pradesh. Lucknow is the administrative headquarters of the eponymous district and division ...

, which was at the time a record for the first wicket in women's Test cricket. Brindle scored 101 *, her only Test century, against Australia at

Hove Hove is a seaside resort and one of the two main parts of the city of Brighton and Hove, along with Brighton in East Sussex, England. Originally a "small but ancient fishing village" surrounded by open farmland, it grew rapidly in the 19th c ...

in the 2005 Women's Ashes and her knock eventually turned out to be a match saving knock as England drew the test match. She ended the 2005

Women's Ashes The Women's Ashes is the perpetual trophy in women's international cricket series between England and Australia. The name derives from the historic precedent of the Ashes in male cricket and, until 2013, was similarly decided exclusively on the ...

as the leading runscorer with 199 runs in 2 matches as England secured 1-0 historic Ashes series victory over Australia, as England won the second test by 6 wickets to register their first test win against Australia after December 1984. The win was also turned out to be England's first successful attempt in regaining the Ashes after 42 years. In 2006, Brindle took a break from top-level cricket to spend more time with her family. She returned to the international fold in 2011 when she was picked in the England squad for the summer's ODIs and T20Is. She was also part of the England side which defeated Australia in the final of the 2011 NatWest Women's T20 Quadrangular Series by 16 runs. During her comeback return to England side for the 2011 NatWest Quadrangular series, she was hailed as a resident mother figures by her teammates and her son Harry was adopted as an unofficial team mascot whenever Arran played for England at international level. She scored her maiden one day international century – an unbeaten 107 – against South Africa at

Senwes Park Senwes Cricket Stadium is a Cricket ground in Potchefstroom, North West Province, South Africa. It has hosted two Test matches, with the first in 2002. The Highveld Lions also play some home matches here. It is also home to AFL South Africa, ...

, Potchefstroom in October 2011. She was also part of the England team which won the one-off Ashes test against Australia in January 2014 at

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth i ...

whereas she also ended up as the leading runscorer in the one-off test with 103 runs. It also turned out to be her last test match of her career. She retired from international cricket in February 2014 at the age of 32.

After cricket

Brindle is now a teacher and coach at Greenwich House Independent School.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Brindle, Arran 1981 births Living people People from West Yorkshire Alumni of the University of Sheffield England women Test cricketers England women One Day International cricketers England women Twenty20 International cricketers Lancashire women cricketers Southern Vipers cricketers Sussex women cricketers