Kirstie Gordon finally happy that she can sing when she’s winning

Kirstie Gordon has never been afraid to speak her mind, but mid-interview, even she worries she may have gone too far. “I’ll probably get battered for this. But everyone knows the Scottish national anthem is better than the English one.”

In December, the Aberdeenshire-born spin bowler, who represented England six times between 2018 and 2019, announced that she was returning to her home nation. Under International Cricket Council rules, Gordon had been eligible to make the switch since July 2022.

In the years since, the possibility was always there, especially when Scotland qualified for their first World Cup in 2024. “I hadn’t made peace with myself that it was the end with England, probably because of the 50-over World Cup in 2025,” she says. “I was holding on a bit of hope that I could have been picked for that.”

What made up her mind? A long, weary day in the field at Beckenham last June, when she was called up to play in an England Development XI against India, and was smacked for 58 runs in her seven overs.

“I hated every minute of it,” she says. “And I thought: ‘This is exactly how I needed to feel to confirm to myself that this was the right decision.’” Weeks later, after it became apparent that fellow left-armer Linsey Smith had jumped ahead of her in the pecking order, she picked up the phone and told England head coach Charlotte Edwards that she was done.

Now, pending selection in Scotland’s squad, she has the chance to make history as just the third female cricketer in history to represent two nations in a World Cup. So what, I wonder, would be the difference between singing God Save The Queen at the 2018 World T20, and Flower of Scotland in 2026?

“Singing the [English] anthem has never felt the same to me,” Gordon, 28, says. “I always sung it because I’ve always felt like: ‘I’ve made the decision to play for England, so I’m going to stand here and sing the national anthem.’ But I grew up singing Flower of Scotland, at the rugby, at the football. It’s ingrained in you from when you’re five years old if you’re Scottish. So naturally it probably does mean a little bit more to me.”

It is an answer which hints at the intense emotional struggle which Gordon went through back in 2018, when at the age of 20 she was presented with a stark choice: switch allegiance to England and take up the professional contract offered by Loughborough Lightning, or remain playing for Scotland and struggle on as an unpaid amateur.

It is a choice that her fellow Scots no longer have to make. The England and Wales Cricket Board subsequently changed its ruling and a significant core of Scottish players, including captain Kathryn Bryce, now play professionally at English counties while continuing to represent their home nation.

But at the time, Gordon was an anomaly. “The ECB were faced with a decision they’d never had to make before,” she says. “Brycey [Kathryn Bryce] jokes that it’s the ‘Kirstie Gordon rule’. I remember it being a really, really ­difficult time.”

Initially, it proved a no-brainer: within 18 months she had played in a World Cup, been awarded an England central contract, and made her Test debut. But the rise of Sophie Ecclestone gradually forced her out of contention, and in 2021, she lost her England contract. “I think I’ve probably been on every A tour that there’s been! That always kept that carrot dangling.” Does she feel that England strung her along? “No. But I do look back a little bit and think, ‘I wish I’d been able to get a foot in the door and have some more opportunities.’”

Gordon started this year recovering from a back injury, so spent the time watching nervously from home as Scotland picked their way through the qualifying tournament in Nepal for this summer’s T20 World Cup in England. “I watched them lose to Holland and I thought, ‘I’m not sure I can put myself through that again!’”

But when Scotland finally scraped through in the last match of the competition by virtue of a win against the USA, she was included in the celebrations. “After they got back to the hotel, Brycey FaceTimed me. Her, Sarah [Bryce] and Abtaha [Maqsood] were sat together just before they were heading out for a few drinks, and it was really nice just to have that little moment with them,” she says.

Her status as a trailblazer already secured, Gordon’s aim now is simply to help Scottish women’s cricket continue to grow. What of the tantalising possibility of playing against England and showing her former team-mates what they are missing? “I’ve told Linsey [Smith] that my only aim is to hit her for six,” Gordon says with a laugh.

Mostly, though, she is looking forward to the chance to follow her patriotic heart and belt out her anthem of choice at a World Cup.

Photograph by PA Images