In our latest My Story post NBCC Mentor Amy Holmes shares how her late introduction to cricket has developed into a real passion for the game, and how she found support and help from a transwoman at her cricket club.
I didn’t really start playing regular senior cricket until my 30s, mainly due to work commitments, but once I started I made up for that first with Wendover in Buckinghamshire, then onto my current Saturday home with Stony Stratford, although as I always say, I have a few franchises on the side, including with my brother in Leicestershire for Fleckney CC.
The trans thing has been in the back of my mind since I was a teen, but then shortly after my 41st birthday (in 2021) I decided to be brave and embrace it and at that stage I guess I privately became Amy, and the same weekend I scored my first century, following it up with another one six weeks later (still waiting for my third!!).
In terms of going public that happened over the next year or so with my conversation with Stony being helped by the fact that we already had a transwoman playing, Evie, in our Diamonds (womens) team, and she’s been amazing in terms of supporting me since – she’s a decent bat too! The rest of the club has been brilliant as well, those who knew me previously treat me the same and I find the bar ladies at the club have taken me under their wing too!
I can’t talk about my journey though without mentioning the amazing Birmingham Unicorns and in particular Lachlan Smith, who a lot of us in the LGBTQ cricket community have a lot to thank him for. He was the first person in cricket that I reached out to as Amy, originally for advice on coming out, and then as my confidence has grown, I’ve increasingly being playing for them on a Sunday, and loving seeing my friendship and support group grow as a result (even though most of them support the wrong cricket team in the West Midlands!!).
Returning to my franchises, I’ve recently worn the shirts of Graces, No Boundaries and also proudly and unexpectedly my beloved Worcestershire in the first two LGBTQ T10 tournaments in Solihull and I’m already looking forward to the next tournament in 2025.
As someone with no real connection to the queer community before I started my journey, cricket has been that vital common ground in helping me find my way, especially through the lovely and loving Unicorns, and I plan to give something back by helping the ECB with its guidance for clubs on supporting more trans cricketers to play the sport we love.