Test Match Special - No Balls: Alana King & I

Episode Date: August 27, 2025

One of Australia’s finest ever leg-spinners, Alana King, joins Kate Cross & Alex Hartley following her lengthy stint in the UK with Lancashire Thunder and Trent Rockets in The Hundred.They discuss Alana’s heroes growing up, including Shane Warne & Kristen Beams, as well as choosing between tennis and cricket at a younger age and why she ended up in the back of a police car on the M6 on the way to a match for Lancashire.

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a fair exchange rate with no extra markups. Be smart. Join the 15 million customers who choose Wise. Download the Wise app today or visit Wise.com. Tise and Cs apply. BBC Sounds. Music, radio, podcasts. Al, we've got to issue a swear warning because you are an absolute potty mouth. Not another one. And you need to remember that your grandma listens to this. She does. She also abuses me on social media.

But don't worry, we beep it out. See your kids can listen. And Grandma Jean. Cross. I'm doing round the wicket. Oh, that's... Boulder! Boulder! Leaving a ball alone, Litchfield. I think it's the wobble ball and it just nips back. It jags back.

It's the nipbacker. That is a beauty from Kate Cross. An absolute seed. That is a beauty from Cross. Hello and welcome back to No Bowls of Cricket podcast. Why are you surprised? Because you came through so loud and so quick after that. Countdown in five, four, three, two, go.

Sorry, I whisper. Hello. It's me Kit Cross and you're Alex Harley. And we're back for another episode. We've fired them out recently. We, I think I've done more podcast. in the last three weeks and I have played cricket. Well, I definitely have.

Because, yeah, definitely. Because we actually sat down before this tournament, didn't we? And we had our dates that we were recording because we said if we don't have the dates down, we won't record. And that is exactly what would have happened. So anyway, here we are again. Again, you're fed up of us.

With a guest. Alex, I want to introduce to you one of Australia's best leg spin bowlers they have produced in the recent past. And that is the wonderful Alana King. Yeah, Kingie. Hello ladies. I'm great. How are you guys? Yeah, we're good. We're good.

Yeah, I'm all right. She's poorly. She don't want to say it because she knows I'll moan at her, but she's poorly. Well, what's going on? Well, I woke up at quarter past two because I'm just not very well. That's a shame. You've still got a few more games to go, so get some vitamin Cs here. You've been in England for a while. You came over and you played with Crossy for Lanks. How have you found playing in England all summer? I've actually loved it. It's been a great experience.

I've loved Lancashire. Playing with Crossies, the first time we've played together, which has actually been really nice. And I think the two months that I was at Lancashire playing in the blast, I had a lot of fun. I learned a lot. And that's what I came over to do. I just wanted to work with different people,

work with different coaches, keep getting better at my game. And, yeah, had a lot of fun doing that as well. So we feel like there's been a lot of Australians have been released to come and play English cricket this summer and we're wondering with a World Cup in 2006 in England has it got anything to do with that? Maybe. No, I think it was more so case by case

with the players who came over and yeah, we had to discuss at CA why we wanted to come over and it's obviously a long time we've given the international schedule is pretty busy for us from the 100 over into the World Cup and plenty of series to come. So it was just more so for me just to keep playing cricket, keep getting better at T20 cricket and just keep expanding my game.

So I think that was a pretty enough, a pretty good enough excuse to head over here. And yeah, I've had no regrets and I've absolutely loved it. Have you, so have you played much in England in your career? No. This is the first time I've actually done like a county stint, which has been so much fun. I've only just come and play the 100 or for international duties. But yeah, this is great to be in one spot for a chunk of time and actually get into work and change a few things and work out a few things.

And I think that's been the best thing for me. And yeah, I've had a lot of fun. The lakes girls were awesome. And, you know, having Crossy and Lamie there when they could be. And Eccles as well was great to be a part of. You're teasing us, can you? You keep seeing you've worked on things and you've learned things. What have you learned?

Oh, I'm just, oh, I think, you know, working with Chris Reid for the last couple of years of the 100 at the Train Rockets, spending a bit more time with him in terms of the batting side of things, just making sure that I've got a bit more rhythm and a bit more tempo when I go about my things because I think my batting can, I'm in different situations that all the time, but just making sure that I'm really relaxed. And we just figured out some stuff with,

my wrists and my hands when I'm holding the bat. So that's been really cool to unlock. And then working with the great Stephen Parry with the Paz bowling side of things. That's the first mention he's ever had on this podcast. And Alex has worked with him. I've worked with him and you've now worked with him. And he'll be buzzing.

He's got his little shout out. I've absolutely loved working with Paz. He's a rare cat and he knows it, which is, I think that just makes it a bit more special because he loves to talk and I love to talk as well. So I think that's why we've probably got along really well. But he's just so knowledgeable about the game. And he just saw it from a different lens.

And it's always nice to see spin bowling from a different perspective. But he was great. And I've loved working with him. And hopefully, you know, we can continue along the way and along my career. That would be awesome. Stephen Perry, for anyone that doesn't know, is one of those people that when you see them, you have to be like, wow, how many red balls have you had? Or how many coffees have you had today?

And he's like, no, mate, don't touch caffeine. Don't touch caffeine me And he's like up all the time And then you almost have to go and sit him in a corner And he's really annoying everyone And just let him almost get rid of his energy Settle Settle down Stephen

Yeah we did take a couple of weeks To even chat together Because he gave me donuts When I first came over And I was like oh okay Like I've got to work all this out myself But then I think it was We played a blast game in

Or maybe Taunton and then I went and sat up the front of the bus where he was just chilling and just watching the world go by on our six hour journey back to Manchester and then I was just like, have you got anything for me? And then as soon as I probed him and then it was just like, bang.

Like he just had all these ideas and he was like, I was just trying to work you out. I was like, well, I was just trying to work you out. I didn't know if you were going to talk to me these whole two months that I was going to be here. But no, he's an absolute ripper and just picked his brain about the knowledge of the game and spin bowling, which I love talking about.

His tactical brain is incredible, isn't it? Amazing, yeah. Yeah, I think by far one of the best I've ever tapped into, to be honest. And, yeah, I think he puts off this, like, Lariken kind of facade and doesn't really care much, but I think deep down, if he actually spend some time with him, he's full of knowledge, full of tricks, and he cares so much about his players, which I, you know, thoroughly enjoyed. Lariken is a word I've heard twice in the last 24 hours

and I'd never heard it up until this point but Kristen Beams said it to us yesterday was it? I don't even know what it means. It's like, is it mean like the Joker? Yeah, yeah. Just a bit like different, bit loud, bit different. Bit different. See, this is not just an entertainment podcast, it's a learning podcast.

Educational. You can learn everything on this podcast. What, for Australian slang? Yeah. Yeah. Kingy, so this is the first time that we've, had the vitality blast which is what you came over and played in. I know you played a couple of 50 over games at the end of you stint, but how did you find, because this is also new for a lot of our domestic girls, like back-to-back games and all the travel that we do with the buses and

because I remember seeing Grace Harris played them at the Oval and she was like, I didn't know I'd signed up to this basically. She was like these packed-to-back games are a lot. Yeah, I think that's probably the biggest thing that we all kind of shocked us and probably, yeah, just didn't quite comprehend the amount of trouble that you do and you especially if you're playing if you're playing in a central team that that's fine you don't have trouble as much but when you like based in manchester and you're traveling to taunton that's like six hours you play the game get to the game three and a half hours early and then yep show i readie i reckon there's a story there um and then you play the game and it's great and then the next morning or that that night

you're on to the next place to play the next day. And I think, yeah, it's a lot different when you're sitting on a bus. I think that's the biggest adjustment that we've had to make. And I think it just emphasised how important recovery is and making sure that your body's good to go for the next game. The gains came thick and fast, but then I think we had a pretty good schedule. We had a few games and then we had a bit of a break and then a few gains and then a bit of a break. And you did some good stuff in the break, didn't you?

Yeah, I had some good stuff in the break. just got to see a little bit of Europe, which was nice. How good is that? How good is that? You just pop around Europe. Yeah, well, that's the best thing about being here, I guess. You guys are so close to everything that us, Aussies want to travel. But if we want to come over here, we've got to take, you know,

full four to six weeks to actually go see a bit of Europe, a lot of Europe. Whereas you guys hop on a plane two hours later, spend a weekend and then pop back and you like sleep. We don't. We don't do it. We should do it more often. If Alarma King can do it in between blast games, then we can do it, I'll. Where did you go? What did you see? Oh, Malia. Malaga, sorry. Don't want the truth getting the way of a good story.

No, Tara Norris led me astray and was like, you've got to go to Malaga. And I was like, great, because I've always wanted to go to Spain. And she gave me some recommendations. And I kind of conned Heather Graham to come along with me. We played them at Leicester on the Thursday. Oh, I can't remember what day. Maybe it was a Wednesday. And I was like, oh, why do you just come to Malaga with me?

we've got the next little bit off. And then that night she was like, all right, I've booked my flight and here we go. So it was such a spontaneous thing. But went to Malaga, that was awesome. Then had a weekend in Scotland, which was cool. I've never been. I thought we were playing in Blackpool. Oh, you're playing in Blackpool.

Oh, it was a story. We've shown other sites, Sal, we've shown. Oh, my God, I forgot about this. It was a day on the way to Blackpool. It was a real day. Do you want to tell the story? Go on. Now, you can give your perspective.

Well, I wasn't there. I only heard about this because I was away with England at the time, but someone told me that Alana had been in the back of a police car on the way to Blackpool. No, no. Crossy, crossy. That's a different time. Oh, sorry, different story. Different story.

Oh, God. You tell it, then. Go on, you tell it. Tell us what happened. King Eat. Way to saw me up the river here. Okay. So Blackpool was our captain, Ellie Pro.

held, had a rough couple of 48 hours. And long story short, she crashed her car and she didn't have a way to get up to Blackpool. So I was like, all right, mate, I'll come pick you up. We'll have a road trip up to Blackpool. And we'll play the game. Anyhow, pick her up. And then we jump back on the M6, the famous M6. And then all of a sudden, like, there's a bit of traffic. And we're like, oh, okay. This traffic turned into waiting on the M6 or four hours because there was a, there was a lorry, as you guys would call it, a lorry. fire so and we were just like oh shit like this is this is this is this is this is tough and then we've got this is morning of the game isn't it yeah morning of the game so uh we're we're in cons

with chris reid the coach uh and i'm always like okay it's it's creeping up like the time on the m6 is creeping up and then it got to a stage where we've had about 10 phone calls with him and he's like i don't think you two are making the game um because no captain no overseas Yeah, and this would be the first time Throg would have missed a game for Lancashire in her career. And I was like, great, I'm part of it. And I'm driving the captain as well. Like, this is brilliant. So then Lancashire told all the girls from the extended squad,

we need you here because we've actually got, there was five of us on the M6 who was just stuck. No moving, nothing. And we're just like, oh my God, we're not going to play this. We're stuck in traffic. Forfeit a game. Well, lucky that the girls actually got there in time. So they have the squad ballots. And anyhow, it was going to expect,

expected us to be in Blackpool at like 4.30. Well, well and truly after the game starting at three. Anyhow, we got like, finally the road cleared. We got there. We got there as quick as we could. We literally pulled up, got our kit on. Thrulks put her reds on, did the toss. We had 15 minutes to warm up.

So I was like, do I warm up or do I eat? I haven't eaten in five hours or six hours since breakfast. So I prioritised eating. So I was just sitting there eating, brooks have done the toss. Great, we're bowling. I was like, I need to warm up. Did she win the toss and bowl? No, I think we lost the toss.

I was going to say, surely she's batting. Whatever the conditions are, you just having a bat then? I think we lost the toss. And I was like, oh my God, I've got to warm up like my shoulders, my back, everything, really. I'm doing my warm-up as we are running out to field. And the first, like, five to ten overs, I'm still warming up and then throat throws into the ball. And I was like, oh, my God, this is, I've never done this before.

Anyhow, well, the game ended up in a tie on the last ball. Because you hit six off the last ball to win the game, well, to tie the game. So, yeah, that was from that experience, then I drove to. So when did you get stopped by the police car then? Oh, okay, this was on our way. Okay, for all the listeners out there, again, we were on the M6, my favorite place to drive.

And I see these flashing, again, Threlks is in the car with me, by the way. So clearly we shouldn't be traveling together. I see the cop car behind me and I was like, oh, the lights are on. Oh, okay. And Throgg's like, maybe just pull over. I'm like, yeah, I'll move over. Cop car follows me. I was like, Throkes.

I'll pull over again. Again, she's like, no, no, no, like, I think you need to pull over, like, hard shoulder. And I was like, and co-car pulls me over. We stop. And I was like, oh, my God, oh, my God, this is, it never happened. Yeah. And then, anyhow, the cop, like, winds down the window and was like, oh, I just, just want to check. Like, I've got your car unregistered and uninsured.

And I was like, and I just went blank. And Throkes was like, oh, I think this is a club car. Like, this is our overseas place. and it should be like the club's responsibility and he's like bless him he was an actually a really nice guy and he was like no English yeah yeah no English and then she was he was really nice and he's like no worries um I believe you go you girls but because I've stopped you I need to fill in some paperwork and I was like and then Threlkes is absolutely yourself laughing so I hop out and he's like yeah just make sure you safe to get out and yeah so

clearly I've never been pulled over by the cops or been in a cop car before. So he's like, I just need to grab a seat and I just need to get some details. No problem. I go into jump in the front seat. And he's like, no, no, in the back. And I was like, oh, yep, okay, yep, this is really real. And then he was just like getting a few details and he was sound. It was all good.

But my God, if I had a GoPro in our car, Throkes was just laughing. and also there was two of our like we do this exchange thing with New South Wales where two of our girls go over to Australia in the winter for four weeks to train so we get two girls back so there's these two young girls in the back of the car just sat there well he gets pulled over by the police and Ellie's just laughing at it and then yeah I can't maybe try to get in the front of the car panic out I've never been and I just thought he was being friendly and then he actually was like no you wouldn't fit in the front seat

because there's like lots of paperwork and stuff I was like oh my god I'm going to get like proper arrested like but it was and then we also do we do the day at length you know where you've got to wear the horrible shirt and the hat and kingy didn't get it she got stopped by the police pulled over arrested and meek's got it for thinking that chickens produce milk how's that happened correct that is that is such a question mine had nothing to do with me if anything that was no comment actually never mind well I forgot completely forgot about those stories I should have written them down but we've completely gone off my very professional planned piece of paper that's actually just my

signing sheet for the hotel I'm in we actually wanted to talk to a bit back Kingy about how like obviously leg spin is such a difficult skill I don't even think we've had any leggy's on this podcast have we are I don't think so I think so if we have we've forgotten about you so we're really sorry you're the best one thank you're the best appreciate it why leg spin because it is notoriously hard to be good at leg spin? I think just because there's so many variations of bowling leg spin, like I don't think everyone's built the same. And I think that's just with every bowling, I guess.

But for some reason, I think leg spin, I would always be a bit biased is because of like you've got to get your wrist in like the perfect position to create that drift and to create that turn off the wicket. And you get a lot of leg spinners around the world who are quite high release. So they can't actually get that snap off the wrist to create that nice, you know, drift outside leg or on leg stump line to go outside off. You get quite high releases and that comes from a lot of tall spinners. And they can only get a lot of top spin off the ball because they can't like change

their wrist angle to get that spin. And also like being, cricket being more white ball dominant now. Like I think the art of leg spin, like you don't see those, you don't see the Shane warns in white ball cricket anymore. Like you see a lot of bowlers bowling like Rashid Khan because he's so successful in the white ball game, right? I think some teams and some people are just scared of the traditional leg spin of like having a little bit of flight on it,

seeing that drift because I think it's going to get taken for plenty of runs. And no doubt there's going to be times that the ball will come out extremely well and you will get hit all around the path. But I just think sometimes like spin bowling to me is a feel thing. And you can feel so good one game and feel great at training. And then in a game, you can feel completely different. It's the pressure of the game. It's the batter you're bowling against.

It's a situation. So many parts of it come into mind. But I just think it's a big feel thing. And you can't really teach feel. You've got to find it and you've got to find the rhythm yourself no matter how much. I love how you're smiling talking about leg spin here. Oh, yeah. You're like so passionate about this.

Well, yeah. So, well, who got you into it? Like, what's made you pick up a ball as a kid and go, I'm going to try and. Well, my brother, he was the first one who introduced a leg spin. As every kid starts off, like, you start off as a medium, medium pace bowler because it's probably the easiest technique to follow, right? You got the old windmill arms and rock and roll type thing, whereas he was like, why don't you just try some spin bowling?

And then he's a bit older than me. So he watched Shane Warren. And he was like, well, this is what like Shane, Shane, Shane, warn does. And I was like, oh, okay. So I kind of got led astray because I didn't realize how hard it was at 10, 11 years old. And then I just started really enjoying, like, seeing a bull spin. And I think, yeah, that's cool.

Like, I think I was like, oh, my God, it's doing so much of, like, synthetic. I was like, this is so cool. And I actually thought it was just really cool. And then the moment I started watching Warnie Bowl, at the MCG like boxing day was a ritual for our family would always go and no matter who was playing and if it was Australia India obviously it was it was big but just to see him bowl to see him on TV and was probably like I'm like wow this is so much fun and he looked like he had fun and I was like I always wanted to be like him it was in any sport that I played it was

Serena Williams and I wanted to play tennis I wanted to be in grants lands playing tennis so so yeah just to see people have fun doing what they they did i was like i want to be that i want to do that so when you've started by leg spin you've gone to watch shame warn what was it like when you first met him then oh i was in awe it was like a kid in a candy store like when you you look at someone and you um they become kind of be your idol i'm just like oh my god this is like so cool you're in his presence and um probably and you know what he actually understood what he was doing in terms of like he was with a bunch of primary school kids bowling with a leg spin bowling masterclass and he just kept it really simple I've said this before but he just kind of

encourage kids to rip it as hard as you can and do it with like a smile on your face and like because that's what he did and I was like it doesn't matter how hard it is just keep ripping it and have fun doing it and they're like that's what I'm like always will take into my career and bowling leg spin I'm just like yeah it's hard it's hard but like it's so it's so much fun and it's the reward is so so great is when you see that beautiful one that that drifts grips turns and that's what gives me pure joy and you have that do you you bowled you so many magic balls oh i wouldn't call it magic balls but um come on no you've had some belters you do me and i were reeling them off before we came on so you had

obviously that absolute worldly that got me out all traffic um what that had to Well, that's a straight one. Yeah, that was a straight one, I miss. No, the dunks, the dunks got a good one in the test match, I think. Outside, like, clipped off. And then you got Best with a brilliant one at Headingley last year in the 100. Similar. She went back.

I always, I always say to her when it comes up on repos, I'm like, Best, she did just sweat that way. Yeah, she should have sweat back. I know, I know. I just sweat. Yeah, but, like, they don't happen all the time, right? Like, I think that's a beauty of it, because. Sometimes they just come out so well, but sometimes that ball can get hit for six. It could drift, it can spin, but someone like Pez or Meg can just come out of the blocks

and absolutely hit your best ball for six. Nat Silverbrant hate bowling to her because she's one of the hardest people to bowl to. You might be feeling clever being in her team. Very clever. Go to Tremarkets. You don't have to bowl that. Smart lady. Kingie, you said that you met, Shane, what sounds like when you were at school,

so you would have been quite young. Did you get the opportunity to meet him again whilst your career, like once you'd start bowling, like spin professionally or start playing with it? No, didn't have a chance to. And I really wish I did just to even chat to him because I learnt so much more so when he was talking in the commentary. Yeah, it was great to watch him bowl.

He was at the Melbourne Stars, seeing him on TV, Big Bash and all that. But I learnt so much more from him, just being in the commentary box and talking about young spinners, all around the globe, but his knowledge of the game was something that, you know, he can't be replaced. And I think every commentary box that doesn't have Shane Warner, it is a bit poorer for it. And I know, even in Oz and over here, big fans of Warney.

And, yeah, he's missed every summer, that's for sure. I find it, like, I know people grow up having, like, idolizing somebody and wanting to be them. But, like, you really, really, he's made such an impression on you. Yeah, just because there's not many leg spinners around the world or even when I was growing up. And there was lots of off spinners that I watched growing up. But he was the only one who I was like, all right, Warnie was the one. Like, yeah, Stuart McGill was there. But unfortunately, he was in the shadow of Shane Warn.

Like, he didn't have a lot to do in the Australian team or I saw a lot of him. So he was it. And I didn't have any, like, female idols to look up to in the legs spinning. world, I guess. And then until I started becoming into the underage stuff for Victoria and then getting a rookie contract for Victoria, that's when I got exposed to Christian Beams, who's been phenomenal. What a hero. She is. It's my first time working with a Kingie, and I am so blown away by how brilliant she is. She's, she was a great mental for me and like still, we're still good mates. And she challenged me a lot in my younger days, but I think she just wanted the best out of me.

And when she presented my baggy green, it was like probably the best person who could present that to me because she's obviously seen me from a really young, inexperienced kid coming into the ranks. We played a lot of cricket for the Victoria and the Melbourne stars together. And it was a really special moment that she presented. Obviously, it was COVID, so we couldn't, like, we're all in masks and she had to be 10 metres away.

But other than that, she's been a great support for me. We still chat about like leg spin all the time and I'm still keen to, you know, bowl with her whenever I get the chance and she's already said, whenever you're in Hobart, I hope we're having a bowl and I was like, absolutely we will. And a beer, a bowl and a beer. Yeah, absolutely. But she was instrumental in my development as a young kid

because she was the only leg spinner that I could look up to and I was playing alongside her, which was even better. I feel like leg spinners, there's obviously been a lot of leg spinners around but it's the longevity of those careers that's really difficult, isn't it? Because I even remember, I don't know Shane Warren's story massively, but he had a bad injury, didn't he, that then I think he had to have an operation on his hand or his wrist, was it? So then that obviously affects your skills so delicately

because it's so intricate. So, like, I imagine actually being a successful leg spinner for a long time is really difficult. Yeah, and I think the key to it is like, I'm blessed that I've got taught a pretty good action. So I didn't have to change a lot. And every coach that I've worked with have always said, your action's really strong. It's definitely been tweaks along the way.

Probably in the last 10 years, I've definitely tweaked my action because the games developed. I used to bowl, as some of my mates would say, like some filthy pies, like I would toss them up and be quite slow through the air. But as the games progressed and evolved, I've had to do the same. So I had to go a little bit quicker.

But I didn't ever want to lose what I'm good at. And that's turning the ball. And I think that that was a hardest thing to find the right balance of you want to have enough speed on the ball, but you don't want to lose what you can do. And I think, yeah, probably over the last 10 years is what I've learned a lot about my game, the game itself and coming up against different opposition all the time. You've got to find that happy medium to make sure that you're not neglecting what you do best. Talking about not very many lake spinners in the world, Australia women.

Kingie, there's you, there's Wareham, and there has been Amanda Jade Wellington. How hard has that been for you to almost compete with, well, especially Wareham, because Amanda's, you know, no longer around? Yeah, I think it was, it's always tough. But I think it's also healthy competition. And I think Ulfie and I get along really well. I didn't play a lot with Wello, so we always played against each other. It was the ODI World Cup in New Zealand.

I think that was a first time that there was a game, it was a game against South Africa, I think, or New Zealand. It was the first time that I actually played with Weller in the same team at an international game. So I didn't have, we always played a lot against each other underage, WNCL domestically. But yeah, I think more so with Wolfie, we played at Victoria together.

and that was like competition in itself but she was always ahead of me because she was in the Australian team and that just made me like be more hungry to get better to compete with them and to compete with the Aussie bowlers because you know I strive to be in that Australian team

and yeah I think I think it got the best out of us when we train together played again I think it still does when we are in the same team for Aussies like we learn off each other I still think we're slightly different bowlers and as players as such. Yeah. But I think as a spin unit, like not just us, Wolfie and I,

but it's like Sophie Mollineau, Ash Gardner, it's Grace Harris. I think we're all trying to make sure that we keep pushing each other and we want to keep getting better. And that's just, you know, finding little nuggets and telling each other what we're working on as well and being really kind of open. I'm working on being better than you. No, but I genuinely think like there's space for, you know, all of us to play in the same team. Obviously, that's me being so biased and I want to see more spin.

But again, we all know how big matchups are when you come against oppositions and stuff like that. So someone is going to miss out, unfortunately. That's just the nature of what we do. But we know that whoever's in the team. That's the nature of your team as well, though, because your team is so strong. Like, you just don't have a missing. link really in the Australia team, do you? So there's always going to be some brilliant players start on the batch. Yeah, and that's, yeah, it's, it's hard, it's sometimes a hard pill to swallow

because you always want to be out there. But, you know, that it's a bloody hard a letter to crack into. Whether you're in it or you're not, it's, yeah, we're trying to put our best foot forward. The Dakar Rally is the ultimate off-road challenge, perfect for the Ultimate Defender, the high-performance Defender Octa, 626 horsepower twin turbo V8 engine and intelligent 6D dynamics air suspension. Learn more at Landrover.ca. In Turkey, if you're willing to take a detour, you'll discover the food, even social media hasn't got to yet. From Michelin Stars and Wine in Uola to traditional recipes and the home of Baclava in the east.

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which sometimes throw out some curveballs like what kind of animal we're going to throw out a can on at you to try and catch but there's still some like really crickety ones because I think there's some some little leg spinners that have got in touch with us So while we're talking quite crickety, we've had one that says,

how do I increase speed as a leg spin bowler? Oh, that's a great one. I think speed... Is that too hard to do on a podcast? Well, I can try and dumb it down as much as I can without showing you physically. But I think speed on the ball comes through like momentum at the crease. I think as spinners, we don't obviously come off 15, 20 metres,

like the fast bowl. So they've got a lot of momentum behind them. We've actually got to create that at the crease. So it's really hard. I would just say you don't want to be running at the crease, but you want to slowly build up to the crease and making sure when you hit the crease, you're explosive. And that's as hard as it is to say it and describe it on a podcast. You want to get off your back leg as quick as you can and you want to get off your front leg as quick as you can. So as soon as you land, you want to get off it, but then you want to put your top half into it. When I imagine your bowling action now, that's exactly what I see. It's like you slow, slow, slow, and then you like bang, hit the crease.

And then the picture is almost like your back leg in the air as it's driving through. Yeah. Like I can almost picture that. So this person needs to go and watch your bowl. Well, just like, yeah, get off your back leg as quick as you can. But you're also got to drive off your front foot and get your back leg through. Very technical. How many hat tricks have you had in your career?

One. The famous one. Do you know anything about that one? Do you know what? That was, yeah, I was the hatchet ball in the second year, the 100. Yeah, it was my first game at the Rockets, Crossey. Yeah, you're welcome. Hey, hey, I also, I faced another of your hat trick balls.

Do you remember? Do you remember where we were? were hat trick balls no I actually don't Pune in the WPL challenge WPL was yeah before it was the WPL we went and played it was like two games each I played in purple

and I went and it was after the 100 one it happened and I was like there's no way to get me out again on a hat trick ball it was before it wasn't it was after it was definitely after because I remember going I'm going to defend it because I'm not giving you another hat trick okay 100%

guy still bloody troll me with that i subscribe to sky pay them bloody thousands every month to watch sports and then it's me getting out to you on the slow-mo cheers sky hey but you did you did have the um i would say like we're even because that test match in cambra it was a last over oh yeah that was great so and i and i bowed you a absolute full bunger that could not have bowled it any worse on on the day but it was a drawn test match last ball of the day

and I gave him like here crossy just block this straight dead batted I have never ever in my career tried to get a full toss to go down before

I was like gosh I've got to get on top of this I had 11 people well 10 people around the bat you bowling for one was up there it was the last ball I was expecting to face so I'd say we're even

but you reckon yeah okay yeah I don't think I've ever got you out actually, so. I think I got out to you in my first ODI. It was either you or you or Catherine Brunt, one of them. We're very similar. Lucy Webster asks, who's the funniest member of the Trent Rockets team?

Well, Alexis Stonehouse definitely is up there. We love Stoney. I've heard a lot about Lex. I've not really spent any time with it, but I've heard a lot about it. But also, like, we call them the Rat Pack. The youngsters off our team, because I I think they lead each other astray at times. But Grace Thompson definitely is up there.

And this is the first time I've obviously played with Tomo, played against her when she played at Durham. But I think between Lex, Tomo, Nat Raith, and Jody Grewcock actually is in the Rat Pack because... Joe, so I was going to say about she's in there. She's come out of a cellist of them. Yeah, she has. So the Rat Pack, I think, you know, egg each other on.

and they're actually hilarious together so I would say them we've had a lot of questions about the episode with Pez and the fact that she reckons she could catch a wombat if you can't have a wombat at her so I'm going to reel a couple off here so you think you could catch more or less

wombats than Pez okay are they getting shot out of a cannon is that all we're saying? Yeah, yeah or you can decide the trajectory it comes out at, though. I wouldn't want it flat because I reckon the wombat will... No, you wouldn't.

A combat will... Got some power behind it. Yeah, I need to meet. I would... I'd say Pez would catch more wombats of me. Unfortunately. Do you think you'd be able to catch Pez out of cannon? Coala, she'd have to come out and, like, latch on to you.

Well, yeah, I reckon she could... If she could koala me, I'd catch her. Yeah. You... You're happy with that. And what animal, what's the biggest animal you think you could catch out of the canon? Oh, I thought I was not going to get this question after the last episode. But I would say, oh no, I wouldn't catch anything with wings because I would scare the shit out of me.

Like them flapping around would not be great. Oh, that's a hard one. Maybe a koala because I want to go for the hug. they're going for the hug I'll go a koala because I don't know if you know with my celebrations I do love to koala some people

when I get a bit excited about a wicket so yeah the thing with koala bears you can have to catch one without chlamydia because don't they quite famously carry chlamydia

you don't just get chlamydia by touching a koala Izzy's asked who would win in a boat race not sailing between England and Australia women's teams not sailing um so like oh well it depends is it the old head coach in charge for the new one

i was okay no we're not in a boat okay we're on it we're in the bar um a boat race between england and australia uh oh i would be a good one it would be close i think we'd give it a nudge but i feel as though the english just might pep us because i think they like a pint a bit more than us, I would say. I'm going to get so much stick for this for saying that, but we don't have like... Let us win at something. Okay, you can have the boat race.

And would you rather, this is from Ellie, would you rather be Hartley or Crossy for the day? Oh, they're two different personalities. Right. And it also depends what life... Yeah, it depends what lifestyle you want. I got out of bed at 2pm. Yeah. Can I split my day?

A half and a half. I would go crossy in the morning because Al, you're not awake after a big night. You're not awake before midday. So then I'll have you in the afternoon because I think you'll be rejuvenated by the evening and then you're good to go again. Yeah, I would have the night out. Yeah, that's fair. I'd take you to some good places.

Oh, we've already been. Yeah, true. God, we have had loads about the wombats, haven't we? We've had so many about the wombats. There's quite a good one here. What's the largest bit of fruit you think you could turn on a cricket pitch? Oh, good question. God, well, that's not going to be big because I've got the tiniest hands.

I would say... Little hands. I would say an orange because I won't be able to... A large orange. Yeah, I won't be able to grip something bigger than an orange. Yeah. before it like slips out. Like I'm not grabbing a melon and trying to spin that.

A small honeydew melon though, small one. You've only got to be able to turn it a little bit. We can test the theory out. Oh my God. Let's do fruit bowling with a larnikie. This feels more doable than the one bat in the camera. I think so, yeah. I think this is more, yeah, correct. What's the smallest you think you could spin?

Oh, crighty. Like a raspberry? no it's squish I would say something like a grape a grape or if I want some grip on it it would be a strawberry

oh yeah but they're there it's like throwing a piece of Tobler around down that's going to turn it's like my foot when I play football you didn't say it had to be a round object you just said what fruit no I didn't

I'm sad we've not had time to chat about tennis So I'm just going to say it, because for anyone that doesn't know, Alana King, we played tennis a couple of weeks ago. Me, you, Tara Norris and Phoebe G. And I'm quite bad at tennis as well as football. So the team's football. I was with Kingie. I got better, but I'm going to tell you why. So I played with Kingie, Al.

So she was my partner. And Phoebe D and Tara played together. And then literally before the first ball went down, Kingie came up to me, she's like, how long is it until I let them know that I used to coach tennis? So I was like, no, don't tell them, don't tell them. So then Kingie, like, made me better at tennis throughout it. And I think we wouldn't actually. Yeah, we did. Yeah, yeah.

But Kingy is elite at tennis. Oh, no, that's not elite. That's not elite. Stand and hit the ball in it. No, you are. You're selling yourself. Compared to the average person. Yeah.

Made it look effortless, annoyingly. I did play tennis, like, since I was five. It was my first sport. And then you were a ball girl. I was a ball girl, which was probably like, one of my childhood highlights, being in a final. How old were you when you were a ball girl? 15 and 16.

Oh, crossy. Do you have to do the whole? Oh, no, here we go. Here we go. Oh, yep, look at that. Looks like you're wearing the Trent Rockets kit early. I'm just born to being yellow. You are?

Oh, you're doing that. Oh, that's so cute. You know, a funny thing is, people think, people think like that's a but to, like, get better games as a ball kid, you get graded throughout the day. So when you're on shift, you have a supervisor come around to courts and they grade you on, like, your technique, you're servicing, you're rolling off the balls. Like, it's genuinely like a, you have to go for trials and everything. So if you, if your arm is like slightly bent or like to the side or the other side,

crossy, great technique. Yep, and you've got to stand nice and tall. I've got donkey arms, they go on that way, look. Yeah, but that's where you have to. Do you hyper extend? You have to be like straight up, like straight to your, yeah. Don't change your shoulder. The only way I could do it is on the dance floor.

Bulk kid duties are a serious thing. And like to get actually to the final, you have to get graded throughout the two weeks. And then it's pretty brutal. After the first week, people, ball kids get cut. Like, are people upset? Oh, yeah, people get proper upset. So when did you, when did you decide that being a ball kid wasn't for you? Because I figured, no, I didn't get cut.

I just, I've always seen them on TV and I heard that you used to get, they used to get paid. They used to get paid $500 for the two weeks. What? Yeah, as a ball kid. And you could keep all the merch and everything. And I was like, oh my God, like, what better place to watch a Grand Slam than being on the court servicing players that you absolutely love? So I like just, well, my brother tried. He, he, not an audition, he trialled out.

Unfortunately, he got cut, so he wasn't good enough. Look, how smile are you are. And then I was like, oh, I'll give it a go when I'm like 15. And then I went through and did two years of it. and then we didn't get paid. When I started doing it, we didn't get paid, but we got a massive gift bag at the end of it. And one of the years, we got an iPod Nano.

Like, it was unreal. Yep. But you're showing your age there, iPod Nano. Yeah, it was, yeah. It was actually one of the best prizes like we ever got. And then was it like, okay, I can't be a ball girl anymore. I've got played cricket. Well, yeah, just got to a crossroads, unfortunately,

with my tennis and cricket just being like I had to pick one because I was going away for underage tournaments for cricket but I wasn't really progressing and with my tennis and I loved tennis I wanted to as I said before playing grant slams and and work my way up but my tennis coach wasn't happy that I was picking cricket because I was away and we didn't fall out or anything he just was disappointed um that I'm not angry yeah I'm just disappointed yeah but then he understood as soon as I was climbing up the ranks on how professional cricket was and then I decided to put all my eggs in the cricket basket but I still played senior tennis so senior pennant I played with with him he was my coach from when I was five years old and

he's still my coach I still call my tennis coach and I played with like it was a family affair his wife his daughter and three other girls who I played junior tennis with we all played in a senior team and we won our grade three pennant, which was a pretty big thing for us because we were just like, we wouldn't take it seriously, but we were there on a Saturday, Saturday afternoon playing against these top clubs in Melbourne, some rich clubs as well. How have you had any time for cricket? Yeah, it was because I played cricket on a Friday night in the juniors and Saturday morning was tennis.

There you go. Until I started moving into the senior, into senior cricket. and then I was like, okay, Saturday, Saturday up. Okay, something's got to get. And unfortunately it was tennis, but I do love having a hit on tour with anyone really, just to get me outside. I played as much as I can,

but obviously not as much as I'd love to. Kingy. Well, you're making your way with cricket very much. I feel like you've made the right decision. Yeah, yeah. Well, you can earn more money at tennis, but then there's not as many of you there's, so. And you don't have as many friends.

No, you don't, because you're not on it, well, Well, you are on a team in tennis, but it's only your team. Like, it's not the same. And I think I'm a big person to be in a team. I love being around other people. And being in a solo sport, I don't think is for me. I don't think it's for you either. Who are you going to talk to?

No, I don't. The wall. Yeah, genuine. I'd drive myself crazy, I reckon. So, yeah, team sports for me. Yes, good. Me too, you're going to play cricket and dominate for a lot longer. It's a lucky England.

Kingie, we've stole way too much of your time. I swear we tell her, I guess it's 30 minutes and then look at us. Thank you so much for being an absolute trooper. You've answered all our questions and you've been a gem. Thank you so much. Thanks for having me, ladies. Crossy, I genuinely, genuinely feel like we could have spoken to her for another hour. I think we, I mean, we definitely lost track of time there.

We didn't really get enough of the tennis that I would have liked. I feel like there was a lot more to unearth there. She really started smiling when we talked about tennis. I barely spoke about the fact that she's played loads of cricket for Australia and there's World Cup coming up Yeah, World Cup, I didn't even get into the World Cup But I just think that's the first time

I've had a guess that has like come across Like they've genuinely loved their craft Yeah, yeah And I often see that she does a lot of like You know, when Sky do before games They'll do like Masterclass with whoever They always pick Kingie and you can tell why now Because she's so, she articulates herself so well

To describe leg spin on a podcast Might be the hardest skill actually Not bowling it I'm describing it's well hard. But thank you, Alana. Do you know what? She's one of those players that I played against her in the Big Bash years back when I first went over and played for the heat.

And she's the kind of player that you know is great to have on your team, but she's annoying to play against because she's so good. But then obviously got the opportunity to play with her at Lanks this summer. And she, what I love them most about it was nothing that she brought on the pitch. I mean, that was excellent in itself. but how much time she had for everyone off it. Like she made friends within two days of being there. Apart from with Paz.

Well, yeah, because Paz, Pider. But just like we've got a young spinner in our academy called Venus and she's going to be a good player. And it was just crying out for a moment where Kingy got to spend time with Venus. But she went above and beyond that and had a full net session with her where she really taught through stuff with it.

Like, do you know, just being a really good senior pro around and a young group of girls and she was just so impressive in that regard. I just love her. She's another great Australian crossy. A belt her. And she is, the game's better for having her in it because she actually,

like her celebrations again, when you're playing for England and she gets you out really fucking annoying. But then she's on your team and I'm like, go, girl, you go. Yeah, you go. Go, go, go. This podcast has gone on for far too long,

crossy. You can email us on. No, Boerspodcast at BBC.co.com. No ballspodcast at BBC.co.com. It's so good. They've said it twice. Text 8-1-1-1-8-1-1-8-1-1-0-3-0-2-3-18-26. And my advice with that WhatsApp number is to save it as TMS.

That's what I've done in my phone. And save it as No-Balls. But you've got to start your message with No-Balls. But look, I've saved it here and I text it the other day. So you've got to start your message with No-Balls, all one word, because otherwise you get lost in need for, and we'll never read your messages. Yeah, right, bye. Bye, everyone.

Hope you're all well. He scored goals, lifted trophies and broken records along the way. There it is. It's a day to remember for Wayne Rooney. And now he's got a podcast. Welcome to the Wayne Rooney show. Twice a week, Wayne Rooney, Kay Kerrude and me, Kelly Summers, break down the biggest stories in the Premier League and beyond.

As much as you'd like to say it, loyalty in football now is not. existence, whether that's fun players or managers. Plus, we'll hear the funniest, wildest and most outrageous stories from Wayne's career. The Wayne Rooney Show. Everybody's talking about it. Listen on BBC Sounds.