The invitation to the wedding of two of our Stirling County team-mates a few years ago was not something we older blokes could have imagined receiving when we started playing the game, but by the time it arrived Kari Carswell was already long-established as ‘Mrs Cricket’.

The memory drifts back to the teenage girl mixing it with her junior team-mates and expecting to be treated exactly the same as brother Gav and the rest of a squad that was good enough to win national trophies.

Among them her passion for the sport shone brightest of all, turning her into an evangelist who has driven a project that has pretty much created a sporting culture out of nothing with the development of women’s cricket in Scotland as a serious and vibrant arm of the sport.

Others have, of course, contributed hugely as Carswell is anxious to point out, but it is inconceivable that it would have become what it has without her determined efforts as captain and coach of the national team and as a Cricket Scotland development officer.

The strength of what she has built is about to be tested, however, because Carswell’s reputation has reached the other side of the world and she is consequently about to leave Scottish cricket behind to take on a new role in New Zealand.

Offered a job by the Northern Districts Cricket Association, her move represents a reasonable exchange of talent since she will be based in Hamilton, hometown of former New Zealand Test cricketer Grant Bradburn who arrived in the Stirling area two years ago after being appointed Scotland’s head coach.

“I thought it was a real good opportunity to do something different and New Zealand… not a bad place to go and work is it?” Carswell observed.

“Change is good. Everybody says that. The thing that interests me is that Northern Districts are the first association to put a women specific officer in place, so that’s pretty cool.

“They’ve made some pretty big strides in the past few weeks as the first association to start paying their women’s squad members little retainers, little contracts. They’re introducing a new women’s Premier League now that the six feeder associations will play in.

“So I think it’s a really exciting time and the job I’ve done here obviously played a huge part in me getting that job and I am really proud of what I’ve achieved and how cricket’s moved in the right direction in Scotland and I’m sure the person who takes over from me will continue and bring in their own ideas, which is really exciting.”

Matching the commitment she has brought to the job represents a major challenge in itself, but Carswell believes women’s cricket in Scotland has passed a tipping point in terms of sustainability.

“It’s only been in the last five years that we’ve really seen the development of national league teams, schools playing more cricket, more girls playing Kwik-Cricket,” she noted.

“We got our women’s national team in ’99. It has been tough but I guess the best thing for me is that we’re now seeing loads of girls out there playing cricket.

“I say loads, there needs to be more, but back in my day it used to be a bit of a novelty if you came up against another female or saw another female playing cricket. Now it’s so cool to go out on a park and see a boys’ under-13 team with two girls in it. That’s standard which is awesome and we want to get into a position where we can field a girls’ under-13 team. At club level that will be too big an ask in the next couple of years but at district level I think it’s definitely something we should be aiming for.”

Her confidence is built on the level of engagement she has seen grow at all levels in the sport.

“We’ve got some really passionate people involved in women’s cricket in Scotland now and I think we’ve definitely seen a shift from the governing body as a whole,” said Carswell.

“Growing sustained participation, especially in female cricket, is a huge part of our strategy and we have to recognise that. That’s really exciting and I’m really pleased to have played a part in that.

“I think it will be sustainable and I think it will keep driving forward because there are so many enthusiastic people out there, whether it’s in individual clubs or the directors on our board, or even our chairman and chief executive, there are massive supporters of cricket and women’s cricket in Scotland since they’ve come in post. That change has been superb for the game in this country.”

Still only 33 and heading directly into a New Zealand cricket season she will continue to be available for Scotland’s major matches and believes the national team will continue to go from strength to strength, albeit she remains grounded in realism.

“Are we going to win the World Cup in the next 10 years, no we’re probably not if we’re honest, but are we going to be able to go to a World Cup and perform… that’s probably quite realistic for us and that’s certainly something we talk about as a squad,” she suggested.

Nor does she make the mistake so many in Scottish sport do, of thinking they somehow deserve support because they believe that what they are doing is ‘worthy’ and therefore, by extension, worthy of backing.

“My attitude’s always been that you’ve got to give people a reason to shout about you,” Carswell observed.

“I’ve been the worst for moaning about things in the past, but if you just get on and do it and bring a really positive attitude to the table I think you bring people with you. I think my attitude has changed in the last two or three years to that side rather than sitting about moaning about things.

“There has been massive change, but it’s inevitable. Women’s sport is more in the press and on telly and all those things and that helps, of course it does. It helps that our national teams are doing better, our under-17s and senior women and we’ve got more people playing the game of cricket. All those ingredients have made it a much more positive place to be and a much more positive environment to try to grow the game.”

New Zealand’s gain may, then, be Scotland’s loss in the meantime, but the likelihood is that women’s cricket in both countries will ultimately benefit.