Huntly star Ailsa Lister lands one of first nine women's cricket professional contracts
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Huntly’s Ailsa Lister said she is delighted to become one of Scotland’s first female cricketers be land a professional contract.
Lister (19) is one of nine players from the Scotland women’s set-up to be given a professional deal.
The Stoneywood-Dyce player has become a regular for Scotland’s senior Wildcats team, reward for a dedication in a career which started with her local Huntly Cricket Club.
Lister also played in the under-19 T20 World Cup in South Africa before playing cricket during the UK winter in Australia.
Her part-time professional contract means she spends three days training in Edinburgh, before returning north to play for her club.
“Cricket in Scotland is in a pretty good place just now and I’m delighted to be one of the first nine women’s players to get a part-time contract,” she said. “It means I can devote more time to my cricket and hopefully see more progress.
Lister believes the start of pro cricket for women in Scotland can help female players reach the standards being set by the men.
“Cricket Scotland have shown a commitment towards us and it’s all about trying to bridge the gap between the men’s and the women’s team.
“Not so long ago they decided to pay equal match fees for men and women, now this is helping us make even more progress. It’s a huge step forward for the sport and especially for women.”
Lister plans to spend as much of 2023 as she possibly can playing cricket.
She found employment in Huntly earlier this year and still runs her own sports massage business from home, but cricket is set to play a huge part in her year.
At the weekend she was playing for the Scotland A team competing in a T20 tourney against English county teams.
“The first was in Glasgow against Lancashire and Cumbria and we won both of those and I played pretty well in both of those.
“Because we won those we managed to get to finals day (on Sunday and we won the semi-final against Derbyshire and lost in the final against Lancashire.
“In the Lancashire team it was pretty much all full-time professionals so it was good to compete with them and see where we are at in terms of that level.”
Lister has been playing for the Lancashire academy team and hopes to feature for their second team in the near future with the aim of playing regular cricket south of the border.
She will also play for Scotland in world cup qualifiers in September and hopes to return to Australia at the end of the year.
