Test Match Special - No Balls: Kates & Dogs

Episode Date: November 22, 2024

Alex Hartley & Kate Cross look ahead to England’s tour of South Africa with Kate in the ODI and Test squad. She discusses how she’s been preparing for the series having had six weeks away from cricket. They speak to a listener who has named their puppy after one of them, and have you named a pet after someone famous?[e-mail]

This BBC podcast is supported by ads outside the UK. To embrace the impossible requires a vehicle that pushes what's possible. Defender 110 boasts a towing capacity of 3,500 kilograms, a weighting depth of 900 millimeters, and a roof load up to 300 kilograms. Learn more at landrover.ca. This podcast is brought to you by Wise, the app for international people using money around the globe. With Wise, you can send, spend, and receive up to 40 currencies with only a few simple taps. Plus, Wise won't add hidden fees to your transfer. Whether you're buying

souvenirs with pesos in Puerto Vallata or sending euros to a loved one in Paris, you know you're getting 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. T's and Cs 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 beautiful. beauty from Kate Cross, an absolute seed. That is a beauty from Cross. Hello and welcome back finally to Nobles Brickett podcast with me, Alex. How are you? Oh, good God. I knew Kate Cross. For everyone that's not been part of our lives for the last 15 minutes, it has taken us that long to get you connected, to get your headphones working, to get your microphone working. My microphone wasn't working. my headphones weren't working and then we got it all sorted and my door went off your wash machine went off and then I disappeared and we need to tell everyone but we've got a new producer

so this is exactly how it's going to be so it's what it's like every week Jack so Jack welcome to our podcast welcome to the shambles and the chaos that is this podcast but hello everyone we need to let everyone know we are going through producers like hot dinners yeah we really are. And I think now, having just gone through what we've gone through, Jack's going to understand why he might hand his letter of resignation in probably tomorrow. Why? So if anyone wants us to produce our show, we're probably going to need a new producer soon. Anyway, how are you? Hello. Hi. I'm very well, thanks. It's a bit earlier in the morning here, Al, and let me tell you, I can't see out my window because it's so foggy. Oh, no, that's

It's winter Properly winter I've just woken up from an afternoon nap And it's beautiful And you're in Dubai She's in Dubai, everyone I don't know if you've noticed On her Instagram

But she's in Dubai On my holidays Forever holiday, you I know I know I might just get my job I thought you were Yeah

I'm good Thank you Really good A little bit bored If I'm honest There's an echo in my ear So it's stressing me out But other than that

I'm good Does your dad know that you've got his shirt in Dubai? I just don't think you understand fashion. Of course I don't. I'm 33, why would I understand fashion? But I know that that looks like you wearing your dad's shirt. Yeah, well, I just thought I don't see my family very often, so I'd steal their clothes.

Nice. But yeah, all good here, all good here. What have you been up to? Like, we haven't done a podcast. We did the emergency one when he got booted out of the World Cup. We actually haven't caught up since. We've not really. I am fully into cricket again.

It's November, and we're at the tent. The tent's back up in Luffalo, so I've been in the tent for anyone that doesn't know. We get a big gazebo put up, and they make outdoors, indoors, so that we can train on grass before we go away on tour. The T20 squad is flying out South Africa on Saturday. I can't make this come around so quick. I am not going to be on that plane. I am flying out a little bit later to join them for the O.E.

the eyes and the test match so prepping for that. Is that weird? Not really. No. Because normally like if you're not in a squad then you still fly out. No you don't know these days. It might have done when you were playing. It's all changed. It's all changed. Yeah. So

I think it'd be weirder if I flew out and wasn't part of that squad. Yeah, okay. Yeah. You won't get a match face of a bit waste of time. No. but we'd get out in the sunshine a bit earlier, so maybe it wouldn't be a waste of time. How's prep been? Been good, been really good. We're kind of flitting between white ball, red ball, pink ball.

Obviously, we've got a lot of cricket coming up in the next two months that both tours involve a test match. And a test match in Australia is a day-night test match with a pink ball. So we're kind of like trying to prep as best we can for all formats that we're going to play in the next two months. And is a test match in South Africa, Pink ball? No, that's red ball.

Red Cuckabra. That makes sense. The worst. At least the pink ball does a bit on the lights. So, apparently, Matt Mason, our bowling coach, he'll love that I've given him a shout out because he's desperate to come on this podcast. But apparently, he was talking to some swing guru man. Don't know who this person is.

And they, the swinger, speaking to the swinger. And apparently it doesn't actually swing anymore, the pink ball and the lights. It's just the perception of the light and the pink ball. Like, it doesn't actually do more. Is that one of these, like when Paul Collingwood said in Pakistan, it's not actually hot, we're not thinking about the heat when it was boiling? No, I think this is actually, like, scientifically proven. I don't think that's just Paul Collinwood saying it's not hot.

Yeah, well, maybe this is actually our opportunity to get Matt on and talk about it, and he does love talking about cricket, so maybe. So the pink ball just looks like it swings more. Yeah, because of the way the light is, obviously, because it's like dusk time, isn't it? So I think it's just harder to pick up, so batters think it's doing more. It doesn't actually swing any more than the Red Bull. How are the vibes being post-World Cup? Really good. I've been asked this a lot, you know.

I think I said on, I can't remember who I said it to, so I'll say it now on this podcast. I think when years and years ago, when you lost a World Cup, you had to wait until you're summer to play cricket and prove yourself again. And for the girls that were at the World Cup, obviously I wasn't there, so I'm not carrying that baggage. I've had the emotional baggage because it's my mates that have gone through it. But I feel like we've got cricket on the horizon again. We're playing cricket again in two weeks' time, or less than that probably till the first T20,

against the team who lost in the World Cup finals. So we'll be able to measure ourselves against a really good team in their home conditions. And you're kind of backing the fight straight away. Yeah. So I think people have then just reflected, we're obviously doing a lot of work on why we lost that game

and how we move forward and if we're in that situation again how do we not lose that game but you can only do so much of that without the competition yeah that's true you've got to wait a back in the battle yeah so I think we'll really be able to

measure ourselves over the next month and then we've got probably the hardest challenge of all going to Australia and trying to regain the ashes so that will be a really true reflection of where we're at as a team okay where are you at that's what I want to know.

I know you're at home right now. Yeah, I'm at home. I'm just really praying that everyone can hear what we're saying because we don't know. I feel in a really good place, but again, I've not had cricket since Ireland. But I've had my time off. I haven't not bowled for six weeks ever. So this was quite a new thing for me. But my prep so far has been really good.

I feel like I'm bowling okay. I don't feel ready yet but I've still got probably two weeks until my first game so yeah I feel like I'm in a good place and another week I might feel a lot different but why you're smiling so much

you freak me out because tell everyone what Louis said to you post six weeks off oh yeah so I went into Loughborough turned up saw Louis and I was like I am 8 and he was like oh gosh you look well I said yeah because I've had six weeks off

our game Louis I've been not had cricket for six weeks and he was like right So you're not stressed. I was like, no, I'm not stressed. No, I'm happy. Happy, loving it. But I'm still happy now. I'm three weeks into cricket.

What have you been up to? You've been out and about. I have, you see. Yeah, come back from Pakistan. Well, come back from Pakistan, I haven't been home yet. And I'm a new person. I'm getting up. I'm going to the gym.

And don't we all know it? Because every time you go to the gym, you've got to put it on your Instagram and let everybody know. Because it's just not me anymore. You've changed. And because of who? Let's give her a shout out. Georgia Elwis.

Georgia Elwis. You actually text there saying, oh my God, you've made impossible, possible. Yeah. She's got you to the gym. She'll be running. We went to Run Club. Amazing. Do you feel better for it?

No, I can't set the toilet. Great. I did say the big challenge for you, again, is when you get back to England and it's dark at 3.30 p.m. And you don't want to go to the gym. You don't want to get up and run, because it's cold. Yeah, when my alarm goes up at 6.40 a.m. in England and do an 8 a.m. gym class, it'll be a no. But the thing is here in Dubai, so there's a gym class at 6am, 7 a.m., 8am. And then not one till 6pm or 7pm, because it's so hot during the day.

But I'd love to do one at like 10 or 2. Can you not just go to a gym? Yeah, but I don't do that, do I? No, she doesn't do that. What about Pakistan, Al, you're over there for those test matches? Yes. And we're not spoken about that at all. Well, we haven't.

Because we were too busy talking about England, weren't we? An amazing series, Pakistan, were rogue. In the fact that they played on a EU's wicket. Well, I think it was more rogue that they played on a fresh pitch in the first game because they're then second two test matches. No, second and third test match suited them. It was the home advantage then. They'd just never done it before, had they?

It had never been done before, used a day six page for day one, which I loved. And then literally in the third 10th, before it starts, they had like rakes and they were like digging holes in the Pacific. You've got to do what you've got to do. It's your home advantage, isn't it? And it worked. It did work. England struggled, fair to say? Yeah, against spin, really struggled.

They were so good in that first-nest match. I'll call them flat track bullies but they were a little bit but that partnership between Root and Brooke was like incredible to watch ridiculous the second two test matches even though in the loss

was so much better to watch right because there's like a contest between battle yeah yeah you're quite funny to talk to and there's a test match going on because I'll be like how's it going you okay and you'd be like I'm bored it's boring this nothing going on

and I'm like that's actually test cricket there's like these periods where not much happened and it can't just always be wickets and runs because otherwise you're watching a T20 match. Yeah, I've learnt to love it. Right, that's good. So in the last 10 days, you've learned to love it. Yeah, and then I did, went up to Moulatown and did a spendballing count.

Gosh, we're really far behind here, actually. Crossy, I flew on a private jet. Yes, talk us through it. Why, who, when, why, what? I got picked up from Islamabad and flew to Maltan in Ali Tarene's private jet. So Ali owns Maltan Sultans. Yeah, so I stayed with him for three or four days and just an incredible experience. What are the differences? What happens, talk people through it?

Because a lot of people never experienced this in the life. So you fly at 12. Always, do you have to? No, you fly whenever you fly. Well, we were going to fly at 12 and then we decided, nah, we'll fly at half one because you can. So we got there at quarter past one. Bags went early. And passports went early

And you're basically around the side of the airport And like drive onto the runway And they just get on the plane Okay And do you get greeted by a butler or a pilot? A pilot, okay Two pilots, it's good It's good that there's still a pilot on a private jet

Yeah And actually last time that Wazim got on Ali's plane He said, the pilots Pilots? You had a drink today? day. I'm on lemon squash. Okay.

Pilots were in casual clothes. So he said, I feel better that they're in pilot clothes this time. Also known as a uniform? Yeah. Yeah. Okay. What else are different? You've got your own seat, obviously, but you have your own seat on an easy-de-flight to Benny Dorm. You just face each other, so it's social. Hell, you're not selling it to me. What's different? Come on. Well, it's obviously really expensive. It's not worth it if you can't afford it.

obviously obviously it's just really nice did you actually go on this plane did this happen well I didn't put it on Instagram because I felt like a bit

but I feel like I'm talking about it you did put it on social media yeah but I put it on TikTok no you put a picture on Instagram only on my story yeah but you still put it on that's putting it on social media what is wrong with you

what has happened come on I've had no social interaction all day. Switch on. And then Ali's got a runway at his house, so we just landed at home. Of course. So you need the, that's the difference. You need the runway at your house. Okay, so it's all basically the same.

So book you £14 flight to Benny Dorm through Ryanair. And it's like flying a private jet. I think we've got some listeners that will go site, Santa Pay and things. Yeah, maybe if anyone that does listen to this podcast has been on a private jet, can you give us a better rundown than Alex just did because it felt like a really anti-climax actually. Or if you've got one, we'd love to be your sugar babies.

Or we'd just like to go on the plane. Yeah, that's well. Moving on. So you did a spin camp in Moulton. Yeah, which was amazing. We went to a couple of the people's houses to see where they live, to see their families.

They made us a cup of tea. Did they have runways? milk, then no, we had to drive there. They made us a cup of tea with fresh milk. They said, oh, where's the milk from? I had to head around and there's three cows in the garden. Like, no, actually got that cow. Actually, just milk the cow.

But it was so good to see Pakistan because every time I've been, I'm not being allowed out. So this time I could go out. I could see how businesses work. I could see how the locals live in Moultan. So it's just an incredible experience. So are these new people that you might sign for Moultan next year, or is this, what was the, who's the calibre of people that you train him? So there was a young lad who was 12, so it's anywhere from 12 to probably about 30.

And I whittled it down to 12 boys who had potential to maybe be an emerging player for the Moulton Salt House. So they got an academy or something similar that they can go and train at? Yeah, it's called the, well, we were at the Terrain Academy. Right, I'm with you. Exciting. Have they got anything on you sticking out? Do you know what?

I really don't think I do But I have got something I want to talk about Again Tell you what I've got my sticking out I've got everything that I've been doing in the gym recently I've been tracking it all so that I know how fit I am Or how I'm fit I am Where I'm a podcast, no

Not literally not one thing I've got one story Go on And I'm not going to name The umpire's name So if you could beep it out Jack But I'd been working out in Bangladesh

and he was flying back to oh but by Dubai and one of the Hawkeye boys was flying to Dubai to work on the Bangladesh Afghanistan series and this is so wholesome and they were all checking in and obviously the umpires flying business class hawkow boy is flying economy paid for him to fly business oh how sweet is that

How sweet is that. Umpires are getting paid these days. Yeah. I want to be an umpire. Oh, good on you. I know. We keep saying his name and Jack's going to have to do more beep him. Yeah.

Did you see Josh Butler how he got it out in the first game? No, but I did see he got a golden duck on return. Right. So that's the point. So he got a golden duck on return, which is always going to happen, isn't it? Best T20 player in the world comes back after four months away. They're not going to score any runs. But he gets out.

out to this unbelievable catch on the boundary. So he's like, kind of like, short ball guided it. The one-handed, left-handed screamer on the boundary where the guy, I don't know who it was, Motie maybe, he's in the complete wrong position, he's 10 yards out of place, and then like almost Ben Stokes it and pulls off this specky because he's in the wrong place, that has to catch it. Then he comes back the next game, the day after, and scores 80-yard off 40 balls. And Josh is back.

Of course he does. 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. Right, should we run through some questions with an umpire really quickly? Yeah, well we've got to go upstairs with our new millionaire umpire, haven't we?

Beep, beep. Okay, email number one, this comes from Tom, and it says, Crossy and Alex, after such a change in the fortunes of Pakistan since the previous series, it's hard to overlook the impact of Alex's coaching in Pakistan and their spin it to win its success. Is Alex now up in her coaching fees to reflect the impact that she's had? Has a rider been added to her arrival? Did the England team try and get in on the act for the third? third test, an issue available for coaching in the UK.

I really enjoyed her commentary as ever, and her local knowledge was brilliant. Thank you, Tom. Oh, cheers, Tommy boy. Success of the Pakistan Spinner's was nothing to do with me. I've never seen either of them before. But it was good to see. I loved it. Would I coach in England?

If the money's right. I ain't travelling to Barksha for 50 quid. No, no. You know? He did travel to lords for free But that was for charity That was for charity But I would travel to Barkship

But more than 50 quid In a private jet Yeah you have to pick me up in a car And take me a on a jet I know I'm not opening my coaching fees I love coaching it's so different I don't actually know if I'm any good I mean Moultan got through to the finals

So that's a good sign We were having a laugh right When we were all sat around having dinner one night And a couple of the coaches that were there We're like, did you know you are the most famous female cricket coach on the planet? And they're like, it doesn't mean you're the best and it doesn't mean you're any good, but you're the most well known? That's weird, isn't it? Why, how have they qualified that?

Because everyone in India and Pakistan knows who I am as well as, I guess, commentary work, every single person. Everyone. I guess people who have seen my commentary in England and Australia and South Africa and things like that. So we asked, what is it, chat, GBT or something? Is that what it's called? Chat GTP. GTP. GTP.

GTP. Jackson. Jackson. Who are the most famous female cricket coach in the world was, and it came up with Alex Hartley, but Charlotte Edwards is the best. I was just about to say, I feel like Lottie's been done dirty there. Yeah. But, yeah, I guess if you've got more Instagram followers, does that make you more famous?

The whole thing made me feel really uneasy, I can't lie. No, but you've brought it up on the podcast. Well, I just wanted everyone to know. I feel really awkward talking about this, but I'm going to talk about it. Let's talk about me. That's enough about me. Let's talk about me for a minute. Right, let's do one more, crossy, and then I've got a surprise for you. Okay.

Can you read it that for a long? Yeah, sure. Dear Alex and Kate, I hope this email finds you both well. What a lovely start to an email. I'm a huge fan of this podcast, and I discovered it after Kate joined the RCB women's team, and I've been hooked ever since. Your blend of cricket insights and humour is just fantastic.

First off, congratulations to Kate for being retained by RCB for the 2025 WPL campaign. We forgot. We're going back. I don't know how I've been retained. And also, I'm still getting loads of abuse from the RCB fans. Are your, like, trousers falling down when you walk now because they're like full of cash? I keep getting loads of abuse on social media.

One guy commented on my post the other day, which was about golf. It wasn't about anything to do with cricket saying, please leave RCB, you mole. Mole. I got called a mole. I'm not a mole. Better than being called a chameleon, I reckon. Yeah. I don't know. Mollies like I'm doing something bad. Yeah, I'm doing, well, I am a rat, if anyone

knows the pig of the rat theory. I am a rat, but I'm not a mole. You know, a mole rat? Have you ever Googled a mole rat? Yeah, I don't want to be a mole rat. A lot of boys really look like mole rats. I'm really excited and I can't wait to see her bowling for RCB. Coach Luke, please make it happen. Also, congratulations on your selection for the England versus South Africa ODIR and TestFod. Thank you very much. Secondly, I'd love to hear from both of you about Danny White's moved to RCB.

How did she react when she got the news? And can we expect an RCB inside a show this time around with the three of you? That really would be something. Lastly, I'd also love to hear from both of you about something you mentioned in the emergency podcast when Kate was drafted by RCB. You mentioned plans to do a live podcast in Mumbai or Bangalore. Any chance that's happening this time around, I'd love to get your autographs on my jerseys. Thank you both for the amazing content you both create.

I look forward to every episode, Best Wishes. and that's from Eldridge. The live in Bangalore won't happen. No, I don't remember talking about that. It feels really ambitious that we did say it in the first place. No, because we said I would come on holiday and stay with you, but the time it just didn't work. And the time is this time round, don't work.

No, because the WPL is basically straight after the whashes, so it's straight on a plane from Australia to India. Also, really sorry, so new producer Jack has actually set our emails out, So we meant to say, hello Eldridge, who's emailed us on No Bowlspodcast at BBC.com. And then go into the email, but I ignored that. Obviously. Sorry, Jack.

Danny Wyatt. How good. She's a huge RCB fan. This is like her dream. Do you know, the other gossip, like how did it come about? She just swapped teams. Yeah, so you get, while the retentions are all going on, you've got the opportunity to swap players.

So if anyone, like, R.C.B wanted Danny Wyatt and UP were willing to get rid of her, then you can do swaps. Don't quite know the logistics of it, but it stops Danny having to get put into the draft, even though she's already a player in the competition. So it means that she doesn't have to go back into the draft and get picked up again. So do UP get a player as well? I think they probably would, but I don't, I didn't hear of that. No, really either. I don't know. but it might be UP's opportunity to

obviously they weren't going to retain Danny but she's then still in the WP I don't really know I feel like I'm probably not qualified to answer that question but anyway she's coming to RCB on the swap system and I think she'll play you know because we needed an opener last year so I feel like she'll get a game and her as MIT do so well together

yeah and they've always played a lot at Southern Brave together and I think they might play another franchise somewhere together I feel like they've got yeah they've got a history of working together so I feel like she will she'll have a good opportunity playing and the crowd and their fans will love her yeah they will I can't believe you've been returned

I mean I can't believe it I'm just so excited for you again I can't I think I'm probably one of the highest paid netballers out there because I basically just went over and bowl Schmidty into some form and pez into some form and then we won but you did all the media too Danny will be doing that this year though yeah fresh blood right

I have a surprise for you yeah I don't I've said this all week don't like surprises okay but I did tell you this would be worth it okay

now I'm looking at a dog so crossy before we finish today there's one more thing we've got to do we came across an incredible email from Joe who's going to be joined us on the podcast who is actually just joined us

on this podcast so Kate Cross please let me introduce you to Kate Cross. Is that dog named after me? Yes. Oh my God, that does not look like a mole right. That is well cute.

Isn't she adorable? Oh my gosh. Because you can hear the dog. Is it a boy? Is it a girl? It's got to be a girl. Kate. Girl, it's Kate Cross.

It's a girl. This girl is Kate. So I hope that surprise was worth it. Oh, that's really cute. Hello. Who am I talking to? I'm just looking at a dog. This is Joe. I'm Joe. Hi, Joe. This is Kate Cross.

Oh, there's so many puppies. Yeah, well, they're all named after cricketer's. Okay, so good. They're all coming. They're all so excited to you. So shall I introduce you to all of them? Yes, please. Going mental. Okay, this is Zach Crawley. Yeah, obviously.

Lauren Bell. Ben Duckett. They're all colour-coordinated. Ben Duckett. And is Kate Cross' favourite to snuggle up to. Oh, nice. Sarah Glenn. Oh, but I missed.

Oh, and Danny White Hodge is here. Danny. Oh, so everyone's colour-coordinated so you know who's who. Yeah, exactly, which is kind of chaotic. Oh, my goodness me. So, yeah, my kids wanted to name them all after cricketers. Can we come and see these dogs? Where do they live?

We are near Swindon. oh damn it's not near us definitely not near Dubai okay Joe why cricketers we're all obsessed with cricket I've got a weird like midlife obsession going on with it even though I don't actually play cricket but my kids play cricket my daughter does county and we saw UK at Bristol

which was just like the best day out ever of cricket the ashes Bristol we were there so that was pretty fun and yeah so when our daughter dog was pregnant. We think we'd got to call them cricketers. We thought maybe we'd get 11 and then we could have a full like fantasy cricket team. You'd have to work on the balance of the squad though. You've got a lot of openers in there. Not many bowlers. I know. Exactly. We do need to work on that. We had some quite funny comments. So an older generation said, we said, yeah,

we're going to call them all after cricketers. And they were like, but what if you have girls? Oh, there it is. There it is. And we did have girls. Which really knocked my daughter. It feels like there's more girls than boys, though. There's more girls than boys, yeah. So that we're happy about. Oh, she's so cute. How old are they?

They're three weeks old. Oh. And they're mostly. So Kate Cross has, she's quadrupled her body weight in three weeks. Sounds about that. Sounds like my time off. She's very cute. She's, you see her, when she's dreaming, she's like running.

She's obviously like planning her run-ups. Can we just have a look at Kate again, please? She's such a cutie. Oh, Ben Duckett's on the keyboard. Has Ben Duckett grown in size in the last three weeks? Yeah, he's quite smushy. That's as big as he'll get that, shall we say. I've got a little, you know, I'm obviously annoyed.

I don't have a dog. Oh. But why Crossy? Where's Kate come from? We didn't know who we were going to name them until we met them. But we are, as I say, we are big fans of yours. And when we met her, we just knew it had to be. She was just such a Kate Cross.

She's a quite good team player. She's always in the mix of things. Danny Wyatt Hodges is quite funny. She's always like on the boundary of the box. She's like doing her own thing. And she's got purple on and she's wearing purple for the Hobart Hurricanes at the minute. Oh, that was like, that was not planned, but that was magic. I don't know if green is your colour.

I can wear green. I wear whatever. You want me to wear, really? And they've got, I'll show you, they've got a little cricket ball. Oh, stop it. Which, we couldn't give them a real one because it's too hard, but we found this lady who knits covers for Terry's chocolate oranges. This is so fun.

I mean, I do actually have a life and a job, but I have gone slightly mad. Joe, are you keeping these puppies or are you going to sell them? I can't keep six puppies. I am keeping one. I'm trying to sell one to your producer, but they have mostly all found homes. Where's Kate going? We don't know yet.

We're kind of just working out who's keeping what. Who's keeping him? It's just hilarious. The girls are very popular. So, yeah, lots of people want the girls. Joe, before we let you go, I hear you have a question for us. Yeah. Well, oh, Ben, Ben Duckett just loves the keyboard. Sorry. At the beginning, it was really funny because I guess you project all this stuff onto them,

but we'd see that all the batters would be snuggling up together, and all the bowlers would be snuggling up together. And I was wondering if that happens in real life. Not so much the snuggling, but the kind of, like, naturally when you're practicing, do you kind of end up in different groups? I suppose. You hang out. It's not like clicky in that in that respect. But I guess

I naturally spend a lot of time with Lauren Bell because I don't spend too much time with Ben Ducky but I do spend a bit of time with Lauren Bell. You do kind of hang out with the people that you train with, I guess, because that's who you spend a little, well, most of your tall life with. But it's not to say that I don't hang out with the batters. I don't have a lot in common with the batters

because I don't know how to talk to the batters but I do hang out with them. Thank you. You do, you gravitate to people that you have a lot in common with, don't you? Yeah. And I think fast bowlers aren't quite all there because why would you put your body through that?

So I think we've just got that in common as well. Yes, okay. So you just with you. Oh, someone's tired of us. Who's that? Who's having a yawn in the blue? That's Zach. Oh, Zach.

He's like, oh, talking about bowlers. Joe, thank you so much for that surprise. Crossie was so anxious about it, but I reckon it was worth it. I've been nervous about this all week. That's amazing. Thank you. I'm honoured. Absolutely honoured.

Kate says goodbye. Okay, it was a pleasure to meet you. Yeah, nice to meet you. Okay. Thank you, Joe. Bye. Thanks, Joe. Bye.

Crossie, you've got a puppy. Got a dog named after me. Was it worth it? I really want that puppy now. Yes, that was really sweet. Thank you so much. But you, so I was anxious because, you know, I hate surprises. And what if, like, you, like, you.

bring someone on and I don't like it. I don't like it as when she think I showed her. My reaction's really good. And then I'm not a good actor, so I can't fake it. And then that person's disappointed. So that's why I was stressed. But that was really sweet. Thank you.

And I've got a dog named after me. So I'm actually feminine, but it's actually really cute. Again, for podcast purposes, there was a lot of that that needed to be quite visual. But they were black labs. They were tiny and just so shiny and so cute. So cute. And they were like crawling all over each. other and yawning and oh they were adorable really adorable I think we should talk about pet

names though because I feel like it's a thing and like that dog's obviously going to get bought and it's not going to be cake cross because someone's going to buy it not know who cake cross is and probably call it biscuit or something such a dog name such a dog name um but I so this it was prompted because I was walking the other day I went for a walk with mom and dad and there was someone with a Black Lab, actually, ironically, and they were shouting at this dog, and this dog was called Margaret. And it didn't feel like a very dog name.

Yeah, producer Jack's got a human name for his dog. Oh, yeah. What is it, Jack? My dog is called Hector. That's not that bad. Why Hector? So I support Arsenal, and I jokingly said to my partner that we should name our dog after an Arsenal

the footballer and she obviously scoffed at the idea and then there was a little bit of silence and she went oh but what about Hector after asked her about Hector Bellerin who we were both bit obsessed with I'm sorry he's just one of the prettiest footballers around as well prettiest so we want you to get in touch because I know Roberta who's captain of the Brazil team has named all her dogs after cricketers so she's got James Anderson Ben Stokes and Stuart Broad all living in her house quite sexist actually yeah where the

well female dogs don't play cricket remember of course of course don't so please get in touch with us on no balls podcast at bbc.c.c.combec co.com. Well done no ballspodcast at bbcc.combec.combec. It's so good

they said it twice. It's said it twice and please get in touch with us about who you've named your dog after. It was nice to see you twice today crossy. Yes I exist twice in this world what a wonderful day bye! Bye! Bye. Bye, everyone. Merry Christmas. Happy New Year. Welcome to the Planet Premier League podcast where myself Mark Chapman, Nadineer and Stapman, Dave talk all things Premier League and we're often joined by some special guests as well.

Chelsea and Dutch striker Jimmy Floyd Hasselbank. He struggled at times with his chances, but he's getting better. If he keeps on improving, he's going to be worth a lot of money. Former Manchester United and England defender Phil Jones. 3-0 down. We ended up coming back and winning 5'3, that Cup game. So, DeLora, I wasn't playing in that. Planet Premier League. Listen on BBC Sound.