Kirstie Louise Gordon (born 20 October 1997) is a Scottish

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 striki ...

er who currently plays for

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

, The Blaze and

Trent Rockets Trent Rockets are a franchise 100-ball cricket side based in the city of Nottingham. The team represents the Historic counties of England, historic counties of Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire and Leicestershire in the newly founded The Hundred (cri ...

as a slow-left arm orthodox bowler. She played for

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

from 2012 to 2017, before switching nationality to

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 ...

for the

2018 ICC Women's World Twenty20 The 2018 ICC Women's World Twenty20 was the sixth edition of the ICC Women's World Twenty20, hosted in the West Indies from 9 to 24 November 2018. It the second World Twenty20 hosted by the West Indies (after the 2010 edition), and the West Ind ...

tournament. She has previously played for

Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated Notts.) is a landlocked county in the East Midlands region of England, bordering South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. The traditi ...

, Loughborough Lightning,

Birmingham Phoenix Birmingham Phoenix are a franchise 100-ball cricket side based in the city of Birmingham. The team represents the historic counties of Warwickshire and Worcestershire in the newly founded The Hundred competition, which began its inaugural se ...

and

Otago Otago (, ; mi, Ōtākou ) is a region of New Zealand located in the southern half of the South Island administered by the Otago Regional Council. It has an area of approximately , making it the country's second largest local government reg ...

Early life

Gordon was born in

Huntly Huntly ( gd, Srath Bhalgaidh or ''Hunndaidh'') is a town in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, formerly known as Milton of Strathbogie or simply Strathbogie. It had a population of 4,460 in 2004 and is the site of Huntly Castle. Its neighbouring settlemen ...

Aberdeenshire Aberdeenshire ( sco, Aiberdeenshire; gd, Siorrachd Obar Dheathain) is one of the 32 Subdivisions of Scotland#council areas of Scotland, council areas of Scotland. It takes its name from the County of Aberdeen which has substantially differe ...

, Scotland, on 20 October 1997. As a youngster, she represented the North of Scotland at football and tennis. She began to play junior cricket at school and at Huntly Cricket Club. She progressed to play with the Huntly men's first XI aged 14, taking four wickets on debut.

Career

Gordon made her debut for the

Scotland women's national cricket team The Scotland women's national cricket team, nicknamed the Wildcats, represents Scotland in international women's cricket. The team is organised by Cricket Scotland, an associate member of the International Cricket Council (ICC). Scotland was ...

aged 14 in May 2012, in a

Women's County Championship The Women's County Championship, known since 2014 as the Royal London Women’s One-Day Cup,Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean. The county town is the city of Gl ...

, and established herself as a regular member of the team. In 2014 she was named Scotland's under-17 player, batter and bowler of the year. Her first appearances against international opposition came at the 2015 ICC Women's World Twenty20 Qualifier event. In 2015, Gordon moved to England to study for a Sports Science and Management degree at

Loughborough University Loughborough University (abbreviated as ''Lough'' or ''Lboro'' for post-nominals) is a public research university in the market town of Loughborough, Leicestershire, England. It has been a university since 1966, but it dates back to 1909, when L ...

, while also playing county cricket for Nottinghamshire Women. This first brought her to the attention of coaches at the Loughborough-based England Women's Academy. Gordon played for Scotland in the

2017 Women's Cricket World Cup Qualifier The 2017 ICC Women's Cricket World Cup Qualifier was an international women's cricket tournament that was held in Colombo, Sri Lanka, from 7 to 21 February 2017. It was the final stage of the qualification process for the 2017 World Cup in Engl ...

in February 2017. In the tournament, she was the highest wicket-taker for Scotland, with eight dismissals. Gordon was offered a part-time contract as a talent identification player with Loughborough Lightning ahead of the

2018 Women's Cricket Super League The 2018 Women's Cricket Super League, or 2018 Kia Super League for sponsorship reasons, was the third season of the Women's Cricket Super League (WCSL), the semi-professional women's cricket competition in England and Wales. The competition, ru ...

season. As this was dependent on her not being classed as an overseas player, she was obliged to give up her qualification to play for Scotland in order to accept. She described her change of national status as a "massive risk". Now eligible to represent

, she was named in the squad for the

tournament. She made her

Women's Twenty20 International Women's Twenty20 International (WT20I) is the shortest form of women's international cricket. A women's Twenty20 International is a 20 overs-per-side cricket match between two of the International Cricket Council (ICC) members. The first Twent ...

(WT20I) debut for England against Bangladesh women on 12 November 2018, taking three wickets for sixteen runs. The

International Cricket Council The International Cricket Council (ICC) is the world governing body of cricket. Headquartered in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, its members are List of International Cricket Council members, 108 national associations, with 12 List of Internation ...

(ICC) named Gordon as one of the five breakout stars in women's cricket in 2018. In July 2019, Gordon was named in England's squad for their one-off

Test Test(s), testing, or TEST may refer to: * Test (assessment), an educational assessment intended to measure the respondents' knowledge or other abilities Arts and entertainment * ''Test'' (2013 film), an American film * ''Test'' (2014 film), ...

match against Australia, as part of the

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 ...

. She made her Test debut for England against Australia women on 18 July 2019. In November 2019, she was named in England's

Women's One Day International Women's One Day International (WODI) is the limited overs form of women's cricket. Matches are scheduled for 50 overs, equivalent to the men's game. The first women's ODIs were played in 1973, as part of the first Women's World Cup which was ...

(WODI) squad for their series against Pakistan. On 18 June 2020, Gordon was named in a squad of 24 players to begin training ahead of international women's fixtures starting in England following the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. In January 2020, Gordon left Nottinghamshire after four years to sign for

. She returned to Loughborough as part of the

Lightning Lightning is a naturally occurring electrostatic discharge during which two electric charge, electrically charged regions, both in the atmosphere or with one on the land, ground, temporarily neutralize themselves, causing the instantaneous ...

squad for the opening rounds of the

2020 Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy The 2020 Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy was the first edition of the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy, an English women's cricket domestic competition, which took place between 29 August and 27 September 2020. It featured eight teams in two groups, an ...

. In 2021, she was the leading wicket-taker in the

Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy The Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy is an English women's cricket domestic competition, named after former England captain Rachael Heyhoe Flint, Baroness Heyhoe-Flint, who died in 2017. The first edition of the tournament took place during August ...

, with 16 wickets. At the end of the 2021 season, it was announced that Gordon had signed a professional contract with Lightning, having missed out on an England central contract earlier that year. She also played for

in the first season of The Hundred. In December 2021, Gordon was named in England's A squad for their tour to Australia, with the matches being played alongside the

. In April 2022, she was bought by the

for the 2022 season of The Hundred. In January 2023, Gordon signed for

Otago Sparks The Otago Sparks is the women's representative cricket team for the New Zealand region of Otago and the surrounding area. They play their home games at University Oval, Dunedin. They compete in the Hallyburton Johnstone Shield one-day competit ...

for the remainder of the Super Smash.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Gordon, Kirstie 1997 births Living people Alumni of Loughborough University Birmingham Phoenix cricketers Cricketers from Aberdeenshire England women Test cricketers England women Twenty20 International cricketers English women cricketers Kent women cricketers The Blaze women's cricketers Loughborough Lightning cricketers Nottinghamshire women cricketers Otago Sparks cricketers People from Huntly Scottish women cricketers