A hat-trick at 16 will get people talking. Caoimhe Bray knows that, yet the Sydney Sixers quick is still working out how to juggle two sports rather than basking in one headline.
The New South Wales teenager became the youngest bowler to claim a hat-trick in any major women’s T20 competition on Saturday evening, helping the Sixers stay in touch with the WBBL finals race. At the same time she remains part of junior Matildas camps, having already played goalkeeper for Australia’s Under-17 side.
Key facts first, then the context. Bray has a three-year WBBL contract, she is on modified training loads because she is still growing, and she missed last winter’s football after an injury. None of that has forced a decision, and she would rather delay it for as long as possible.
“I have to commit myself to the cricket for the summer part of the season. And when winter comes around, that’s when soccer comes back,” Bray said. “So many people are asking the question will you still be playing soccer or still be playing cricket. People have their own opinions, like ‘go into cricket, surely’.”
“But so much can change. I have the three years signed with the Sixers and so much can change over that period. If you don’t know the future, neither do I. I don’t know what it will be like in a few years. But I am going to try and stick to [doing both] as much as I can.”
The obvious parallel is Ellyse Perry, who once switched from a World Cup football quarter-final to an international cricket match in the same week. Perry, now 35, is Bray’s team-mate and informal sounding board. The youngster admits she is still “pinching herself” when they share a boundary rope, though she tries not to pepper the senior pro with too many questions.
From a workload point of view, the Sixers and Cricket NSW are treading carefully. Bray trained only two days a week with the state squad during pre-season, roughly half the usual load, and she is prohibited from bowling the full ten-over spell available in 50-over cricket. Sports-science staff prefer to reduce risk now rather than treat stress fractures later.
“There were things during the Breakers pre-season I didn’t do compared to others, just because of my age,” Bray said. “It was just like there is no point for you to do it. They said: ‘you are changing so much in terms of height and body’.”
“You don’t want to overwork too much because that is when you break down. They are trying to look out for that.”
Analytically, the plan makes sense. Teenage fast bowlers face higher injury rates, and Bray’s role at the bowling crease demands repetitive explosive movements. Limiting sessions while growth plates are still closing is a pragmatic trade-off between immediate performance and long-term availability, a point not lost on coaches who have seen enough young quicks sidelined before their twenties.
From the football side, national youth staff are equally understanding. Goalkeeping, ironically, places less weekly load on the lower back than fast bowling, so Bray can manage both calendars provided neither schedule overlaps.
Inevitably, a choice will arrive. The A-League Women continues to professionalise, and Cricket Australia offers multi-year central deals for the best talent. For now, though, a teenager is allowed to keep dreaming of dual careers, secure in the knowledge that the people around her are protecting both possibilities.
The Sixers will next head to Hobart, where another Bray burst could revive their season. Winter, and the Matildas, can wait a little longer.
