Brianna Ray hears them almost every week ― the critics sniping from outside, and sometimes inside, the boundary rope.

The only woman regularly playing in Bermuda’s domestic men’s cricket league, the 22-year-old has earned the respect of many but the disparaging comments have taken a toll.

At the end of last season, Ray admits she was struggling mentally and decided to take time away from the game to reflect on whether she loved the sport enough to continue taking the personal barbs.

“At first when I started hearing things it was so hard,” Ray said.

“I’ve worked really hard to be where I am and I still work really hard. I’m putting in all these hours and all this effort to be the player I am now and I'm only seen as this woman playing a man’s game — it took a lot mentally.

“I wanted to step away and I didn’t want to come back at the end of last season, but I still have that love to play.

“I have seen the impact of me being the first woman to do a lot of things in the cricket environment here and I felt if I walked away I would be letting down all the women and girls who looked up to me as someone who proved that they can do it too. That kind of pulled me together.”

Ray took the decision to leave Flatts and head to Somerset under coach Janeiro Tucker and captain Dominic Sabir after deciding she could not give up the game she loved.

“I decided to move to Somerset because I knew Janeiro was going to support me no matter what, but also give me tough love,” she said.

“He’s only going to let me play if I’m good enough to play and he's going to coach me and push me to be better.

“This year, the night before our first T20 game, for the first time I was actually really excited to play some cricket in Bermuda. Before, it was, ‘Do I really want to do this because I’m just going to get disrespected by a bunch of men?’

“All I want to do is just play, but I feel like I have to play better than the men to deserve a spot on the team.

“I can play my best cricket and it’s better than some of the guys, but I feel like I don’t deserve that spot unless I’m taking five wickets a game or doing something extraordinary just because of the stigma around me playing cricket here.”

That stigma still exists despite her playing in the Cup Match trials and in Colts Cup Match ― she also came on as a substitute fielder for England women in an Ashes Test at Trent Bridge ― but it is not as if Ray has much of a choice in who she plays against on island.

A Bermuda Cricket Board women’s league was disbanded after just one season a couple of years ago when Ray was playing in Australia and England, with the lack of will in providing women with a place to train and play a source of frustration and sadness.

“It’s disappointing as there are obviously enough girls and women to play, but it’s almost been swept away and I don’t even know the reason why,” she said.

“I wasn’t here for it so I don’t know what the standard was like, but I know there are a lot of girls and women who do want to play. There are female South Africans here and Bermudians who I’d love to play with — we used to have women’s training and there’s not even that any more.

“I love the challenge of playing men’s cricket, but I do miss women's cricket. That’s what I’m supposed to be playing, so it’s just a really weird space for me to be in right now.”

Ray is combining playing with pursuing a career as an actuary with Ernst & Young. She is working her way through the notoriously demanding professional exams but she feels her two chosen careers complement each other perfectly.

“Sport and exercise is my release,” Ray said.

“I’ve now worked out that what’s important is trying not to have cricket as a stress. When I go to cricket, when I go to netball, when I run or exercise, it’s like I'm releasing the stress of a day sat at a desk. I could not sit at a desk all day and then go home. I need to burn off some steam and keep pushing myself.”

Ray, a seam bowler, took the wickets of St George’s Cup Match captain and vice-captain ― Sinclair Smith and Macai Simmons ― in the T20 League this year. She would obviously love to be the first woman to play in the Annual Classic but she admits she has plenty of work to do before she is considered for selection.

“I’ve still got a long way to go until I can play Cup Match and a lot to learn still,” she said.

“I’ve only played in the Premier Division here for half a season and I I don’t want to be put in the environment because I’m a woman. I want to be put in the environment because I’m good enough to play.

“I’m working hard and not putting any pressure on myself in terms of playing Cup Match this year or next year. I’m going to enjoy my cricket and try to be the best cricketer I can be. If that’s good enough for the Cup Match team, then so be it.”

When it comes to enjoyment, Ray has something to look forward to this weekend when she is the star attraction at the Girls Play Cricket Too Day, which takes place at Warwick Academy from 8.30am to 1pm on Saturday.

Aimed at girls aged between 7 and 11 from beginner upwards, the aim is to “get girls learning and playing the game in a friendly and supportive environment”.

The initiative has been put together by Richard Todd, who introduced Ray to the game when she was just 8 and has formed a cricket academy at the school.

Ray is looking forward to doing some coaching and giving a talk to youngsters who may be considering giving the game a try.

“Our thoughts were to just get girls to play, show them that there is an opportunity for them to play and that it’s not just something for the boys to do,” Ray said.

“Mr Todd was my PE teacher and we’ve always had a good relationship, so I’m thankful that he helped to start my cricketing journey when I was here.

“We’ve been talking and with me now back here playing consistently, we decided to put something on for girls. He got some funding from Vantage to go towards it, and EY and the BCB are now also behind us.

“Our target is to have 60 girls there and we’re just testing the waters with skills, drills and a day of games. The plan is to see how this goes and to put more on if it goes well.”

The aspiring cricketers attending on Saturday can have no finer person to learn from and her status as a Bermudian role model is something that is not lost on her.

“When you’re in an environment every weekend and you’re constantly hearing things about how you're a woman in a man’s world, it can be very tough,” Ray said.

“Some people say, ‘Oh well, just don't listen to what they say’, but those comments left me close to walking away. One of the reasons I didn’t is because I want to be a good example. I want young girls to be resilient, to have someone to look up to and see someone just like them doing things that no woman’s done before.”