Surrey’s Bryony Smith has be named the first ever Women’s PCA Player of the Month.
Smith, currently playing for South East Stars in the Charlotte Edwards T20 Cup, won 47.5% of the public vote in an online poll conducted by the Professional Cricketers’ Association.
The 23-year-old all-rounder has consistently contributed with bat and ball for the Stars, reflected in the fact that she has scored almost equal batting and bowling MVP points.
Smith counts the importance of the new domestic structure, as well as the presence of a number of England players in the Stars squad, as key contributing factors to her excellent form: “It’s obviously pretty special – I didn’t know I was the first ever winner of the women’s PCA Player of the Month! To be recognised not just by my teammates, but by the wider general public as well is a really good feeling. Hopefully it will be the first of many more!
“It was a pretty long winter, it was difficult to train and prepare properly with the Covid-19 restrictions that were in place. But the whole squad put in a lot of hard work from November onwards which allowed us to hit the ground running in that first game against Sunrisers, and we managed to get off to a really good start including my own performance (59 and 3-47).
“The new structure has been massive for me. Just being able to play consistent cricket at a really high level will benefit everyone. The standard’s been amazing and wickets have been better than people were expecting, and to have played both formats can only help us moving forwards.
“We have quite a few England girls in the Stars squad, so just being around them is also really beneficial for the younger girls especially. You learn something new in every training session, even if it is just small skills that you pick up. It’s really important for the quality of the game in this country.
“I’m trying not to think about playing for England too much, but if that opportunity comes around then I’ll try to grab it with both hands. If not, then I’m happy with where I am here and I want to keep putting in performances for South East Stars and Welsh Fire.”
As well as potential international call ups, Smith’s next outing will be as a player for Welsh Fire in The Hundred.
