Lothians schoolgirl Rebecca Downie bowled over after watching Scotland cricket team don kit she designed

A Lothians schoolgirl is bowled over after meeting players from Scotland's cricket team – and watching them play in the World Cup sporting kit that she designed.

Rebecca won the competition to design the shirt for the Scotland’s men’s team for the T20 World Cup finals. PIC: Ian Jacobs

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Rebecca Downie, from Haddington, said it was “really thrilling” to present the new T20 World Cup jersey kit to players in Edinburgh before they left for Oman, while she attended the match against Zimbabwe as a special guest.

Her jersey design, based on the colours of national emblem the thistle, was selected unanimously by the Scotland team after the 12-year-old, who bats for her school and watches matches with her Granddad, won a contest beating off competition from 200 others across the country.

Rebecca with Shane Burger, head coach at the Scotland v Zimbabwe game in Edinburgh

She told the Evening News: “I was so excited when I heard I had won the competition, I couldn’t believe it. I was so happy to see the shirt in real life, it looks brilliant. I’m so happy how it has turned out.

"My teacher runs a girls’ cricket club and I play for my school. I love art and design so when I heard about the competition I just went for it. I did a few designs. When mum came up to my room a few weeks later and said I’d won I couldn’t believe it.

"It was really thrilling to meet the team and see them play against Zimbabwe. I will be wearing my shirt and cheering them on in every game in the World Cup.”

Rebecca’s mum Anne added that the competition combined the youngster’s two passions – cricket and art.

“It’s been so well received, this is such an exciting time in Rebecca’s life. She does play for her school but they’ve not been able to play fixtures during the pandemic,” she said.

"She just loves cricket and is really good a batting. She hits the ball and you just watch it fly. But she’s also into art and always has drawings on the go. She put a lot of effort into the design that won, lots of time pattern matching the geometric shapes so it flowed right round the shirt.

"It’s a lovely dynamic design with a really contemporary Scottish feel. When I posted the photos of her and shared the news I never dreamed it would go viral. It’s really captured people’s imagination. It’s all very surreal. We’re so proud of her.”

Cricket Scotland took to social media to thank Rebecca for her efforts and posted images of her wearing the kit and supporting the team during their first match against Bangladesh.

In a tweet they said: “Scotland's kit designer. 12-year-old Rebecca Downie from Haddington. She was following our first game on TV, proudly sporting the shirt she designed herself. Thank you again Rebecca!”

Scotland captain Kyle Coetzer said: “It was great to meet Rebecca and her family recently and see her wearing the new shirt. The team are really proud of the design and we are planning to go out there and do it justice with our performances in the World Cup. We hope that the fans will enjoy the new design and wear them proudly as they support us from back home.”

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