Back in 2014, Martin Davies (AKA Women’s Cricket Blog) and I ran a fantasy game for the World Cup (or “World T20″ as it was then known) in Bangladesh.

Back then, Scotland were basically a county in the lower reaches of the English County Championship, and I knew some of the players had joined the game, so for a bit of fun I slipped an extra name into the Fantasy Player List – that of a 17-year-old left-arm spinner from Aberdeen. Alongside the likes of”Charlotte Edwards (England)” and “Alex Blackwell (Australia)” you could also have selected one “Kirstie Gordon (Scotland)”.

When she noticed what I’d done, Kirstie messaged me on Twitter asking if I thought it could ever happen? “You never know,” I replied. “Give it 10 years!”

In the end it took 12 years; not forgetting that along the way Kirstie actually did play in a T20 World Cup final, for England in 2018. (It didn’t end well for England – Australia cantering to an easy win, after bowling England out for 105.)

But today in Manchester, the now-28-year-old Kirstie Gordon stepped out in a Scotland shirt to sing Flower of Scotland before taking on Ireland in the T20 World Cup. Gordon isn’t normally the emotional type, but as the anthem drew to a close and the players shared a hug, a few tears ran down her cheek. And because I definitely am the emotional type, one ran down mine too.

And if there were any doubts that Scotland belong at this World Cup Kirstie helped allay them, taking 3 wickets in the 14th over to drive the decisive nails into an Irish coffin which, to be fair, was already halfway to the churchyard. Gordon finished with 3-16 and despite a bit of a rally, Ireland were bowled out in the last over 40 runs short.

I’m sure Kirstie Gordon would be the first to agree though that the real credit today goes to the Bryce sisters – Kathryn and Sarah – who drove Scotland to a very decent total by powering through the middle overs at a Run Rate of just over 10. Neither Bryce has enjoyed a brilliant start to the summer in domestic cricket – both averaging just 20 across the One Day Cup and the Blast. But like Robert Bruce’s troops at Bannockburn, they turned up when it mattered – Sarah making 49 and Kathryn 60 to put Scotland in a commanding position going into the death phase.

That they didn’t quite convert, will have come as some relief to Ireland – a total that might have been closer to 180 was in the end 161, with just 19 runs scored of the final 4 overs.

But 161 turned out to be more than enough to fulfil the dreams of that 17 year old girl from Aberdeen.