Scotland's Aitken-Drummond juggling a three-pronged World Cup dream

Abbi Aitken-Drummond has a full-time role as the executive assistant to Cricket Scotland's CEO in her day job. Away from work, she co-parents her 13-month-old daughter. Between these two demanding roles, she plays cricket, and is now, quite incredibly, part of Scotland's maiden T20 World Cup 2024 squad.

Aitken-Drummond, 33, is one of Scotland's longest-serving players, having first come into the set-up in 2003-04 at the age of 14. She captained from 2008 to 2015 and was more recently the team manager at the 2023 Women's Under-19 World Cup in South Africa to players she now calls colleagues.

"The other day, we were chatting about our journeys and Olivia Bell told me she was one year old when I made my debut," Aitken-Drummond tells ESPNcricinfo. "I was like, 'Wow, thanks for making me feel so old' (laughs)."

For Aitken-Drummond, the World Cup seemed like an afterthought, especially after she had to miss the Qualifiers to be on parental leave. But she made the push when a second shot at being part of a history-making squad presented itself.

"I knew it wasn't a right that I'd be back when available," she says. "I had to work for it. I played for Scotland A with county teams in England [during the build-up], featured for Scotland in a tri-series with Netherlands and Papua New Guinea. But in my mind, I wasn't sure I'd done enough."

But upon her return to Edinburgh, when Aitken-Drummond received an unexpected phone call from Cricket Scotland, her heart fluttered. "It was our head of performance to tell me I'd been picked," she remembers.

"When my phone rang, I was actually eager to know which of my phones were ringing: work phone or personal phone. I was kind of hoping it wouldn't be the work phone (laughs) because it would've then been some admin-related stuff.

"When the phone rang, in my mind I was like 'this is now or never. Which phone is it?' And then I saw his name pop up on my personal phone. I kind of knew it was about selection. Had I known we'd get calls that day, I may have been beside the phone, restless all day. It's a good thing I didn't know when the squad was being picked."

Aitken-Drummond isn't privy to sensitive matters, such as selection, despite being a Cricket Scotland employee. It's a boundary she has learnt to draw having juggled a career as a player and administrator. Having studied Event Management in university, Aitken-Drummond has loved to apply some of her learnings to "this side of the rope as well as the other side."

"Most players tend to go down the coaching path, but my passion lies in the administration," she says. "Our CEO Trudy Lindblade has been in the role for eight months now. She's my line manager back home, but over here [in the UAE] she's like, 'we're not speaking work. Focus on your game and enjoy it.' I've been away from my laptop, enjoying being on this side of the fence."

Aitken-Drummond had to put in long days - sometimes they stretch 18 hours - to make this journey possible. The motivation for her daughter to say, "my mum played in Scotland's first World Cup" and for her partner [Annette Drummond, former Scotland player] to "live a dream she missed out on" pushed her.

"It has needed a whole new level of organisation skills," she says. "I'm at work for 10 hours a day, four days a week - Monday to Thursday from 8am to 6pm. Quite often I'm able to work from home, so that helps being around our daughter. Then I head to the nets for my training. No two days are the same. It's so much easier when you have a routine, but that's been challenging.

"Sometimes, it's not possible and then I'd feel that guilt of not training enough. But I also recognise if you're not able to sleep enough, those gym sessions are unlikely to be productive either. So, I've learnt to be flexible about these things. So, most days after dinner, when I've put my daughter to sleep, I head over to the gym, try sneak in a session or two indoors. It's tough to juggle everything, but you try and do as best as you can.

"I don't want to look back and regret these small things later on, they grow up quick. But I'm really grateful to my partner for the support. This wouldn't be possible without her. She pushed me, saying, 'I don't want you to regret later, this is your chance, go get it.'"

For the moment, Aitken-Drummond is happy being part of the group, irrespective of her role within the set-up. "If you'd told me 20 years ago Scotland would play in a women's World Cup, I'd have laughed.

"The big goal was to make sure I was here. I know just being part of the 15, whether I play or not, I can provide a lot of support. I've been team manager to four of them in the past and I'd like to think my door is always open.

"I enjoy one-on-one sessions. If girls are struggling, happy or overwhelmed - just be there for them. Any game I play, I play like it's my last. Life changes quickly, juggling so many priorities, I don't want to regret that I could've potentially played my last game not having known that. So, I tried each day as it comes."