Meet Phoebe Brett: The 16-year-old spinner who’s a Pear and a Bear

Phoebe Brett spoke on the Noughtie Child Podcast, featuring in episode 181

Photo Credit: Worcestershire CCC

Brett had a conventional start to her cricket career aged eight or nine with her dad bowling in a local sports hall. Naturally, she joined her first cricket club, Barnards Green where she was bowling left arm seam. Spotting potential, she trialled for Worcestershire U10s. Although unsuccessful, Brett retuned the following year securing a place in the U11s, working her way up through the age groups.

So how did 11-year-old Phoebe playing club cricket turn into the 16-year-old Phoebe representing England at the U19 World Cup? A big step was changing her bowling.

“It was during COVID time really, that I started bowling spin,” Brett explained. “We lived quite close to a net so me and my dad would just bowl there pretty much every day.” Swapping to spin paid off as in 2023, Brett was picked up by the Central Sparks EPP as it was at the time.

Brett graduated to the Central Sparks academy but with the changes Project Darwin created, Central Sparks became Warwickshire and the academy was taken under Warwickshire’s sphere.

“I've been in Worcestershire girl my whole life so when we initially found out that I was going to have to play for Warwickshire, I mean, it was a tricky one to get to terms with really!” she said.

“At the end of the day, it's just more cricket that I can get in so you gotta do what you gotta do.”

More cricket is certainly what Phoebe’s got, now balancing games for the Warwickshire Academy, Worcestershire’s senior side and playing men’s cricket for Malvern. It’s also worth mentioning, Brett is just 16 and coming to the end of her first year of A-Levels where she is studying PE, psychology and geography, an impressive balancing act.

“It's not been easy to be honest, I've been able to miss school to go play for Worcester. Tier 2 has taken a bit more of a priority over Academy fixtures but then it's again just trying to play as much cricket as I can and be where I can all around the country.”

Brett’s school attendance will have also taken a hit after spending the start of the year in Malaysia for the U19 World Cup where she was called up to represent England.

“That was an incredible experience, really something that I wasn't quite expecting to happen so quickly, considering I've only been bowling spin for about 3-4 years now. It's all sort of been a whirlwind,” she explained.

The left-arm spinner’s selection came off the back of an impressive season in the Sparks academy, with Worcestershire and through the infamous School Games in Loughborough.

“The school games was honestly one of the best couple days of cricket I've ever had. The team that I was part of was amazing, it was such fun and I felt I played some of my best cricket when I was there.”

“To top it all off, my team ended up beating the other English team to win it so that was that was a great finish to it all.”

As Phoebe alluded to, her inclusion felt like a surprise. With the likes of Davina Perrin, Katie Jones and Tilly Corteen-Coleman, all who had played in the Hundred, in the squad, Brett was one of the youngest and least experienced. Featuring in four matches, taking two wickets and remaining economical, Brett impressed in the tournament.

“I'm just really proud of what I did when I was there. I felt so new to it all compared to quite a few of the other girls that I was playing with, but knowing that I've been there and done it and that I can do it. I was so grateful for the opportunity but then knowing that I actually used it I'm just really proud of how I did that.”

Returning from Malaysia, Brett had her busy summer lined up being selected for Worcestershire in Tier Two. The giant looming was the opening game of the season against full-time professionals, Yorkshire in the One Day Cup.

“It was the night before in the hotel, and we were like, imagine if we could beat them, imagine if we could,” Phoebe recalls.

“We got there [Headingley] in the morning and we were all really fired up for it. We were all ready and we all knew had the ability. If we play some of our best cricket we could do something special. On the day it came off and it was incredible.”

It didn’t just come off – Worcestershire won by 114 runs, Brett taking 3/25 from her seven overs. However, it has not been completely smooth sailing from there, Worcestershire losing to Northamptonshire in the T20 Cup, ending their run prematurely.

“In cricket, anything can happen and we've just got to keep backing ourselves, backing our skills and keep remembering back to that Yorkshire game and how we felt after that,” Brett reflected.

“I think we just want to go out there and sort of show people what we can do again. I don't want people now to start underestimating us just because we've had a few bad results.”

It’s clear Brett has a big future, already making her mark in Tier Two and on the international stage. From a sports hall in Worcestershire to thrashing Yorkshire at Headingley, it’s been a rapid rise for 16-year-old Phoebe Brett.