Test Match Special - No Balls: The Cricket Podcast - Emergency Semi-Final Edition

Episode Date: March 31, 2022

Kate Cross has just helped England to the World Cup final, and quite rightly is ready to tell NBTCP listeners how it happened. Alex is rather excited, just so you're warned...

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And cross strikes in the first over. It's what England we're looking for. Partly falls down. the track comes scoring this time she connects it's either six or out it's six it's six hello and welcome back

to no balls the cricket podcast the emergency episode with me Alex Hartley and you Catherine Cross Al there's something we really really need to talk about well this is why we're doing an emergency episode isn't it? Yep, absolutely. We've got some

breaking news. Breaking news. This is the biggest news of the week. Sue Redfern slid into our DMs. And not only did she slide into our DMs, she asked if we wanted the hunky umpire on our podcast. Alex Worf? Absolutely we want Alex Worf on the podcast. Get him on? Alex Worf! Crossie, seriously, don't care about that right now. You are a World Cup

finalist. Al, I don't, it doesn't make sense. How on earth did we lose three games and then now we're going to play in a World Cup final on Sunday? You are the only team in the history of cricket teams to lose three games and make it through to a World Cup final? I think I heard NASA say on one of the interviews at the end that no team has lost two and made it to a final.

Yeah, well you know, you're breaking boundaries one way or another. God, oh my goodness, mate. Okay, I want to know how you feel right now. It is half past ten in the evening. Yeah literally come back to our rooms

so happy so so so happy because of the way that we played cricket today that's been the performance that we've been searching for this whole World Cup but I also feel so tired so emotional and just

ah ah so I had to text saying are you okay because I went down onto the pitch I snuck onto the pitch post game don't tell anyone and somebody said crossy's crying so I was like oh my god so I text you like are you okay and you were like oh my god I don't know yeah do you know when do you know when you have those weeks where someone can just give you a hug and it just sets you off like I've probably I've had a bit of a week like that this week didn't train very well leading up to

the semi-final and then had a day to myself yesterday day to just try and recoup and regain some energy and then when all the staff when we came off and shook hands with the South Africans today and all the staff our staff then gave us all a hug each like just their faces like the smiles on their faces and the smiles on the girls that have have done the drinks for most of the tournament as well like it just I think it just all hit me that we're going to play in a World Cup final and I'd just had tears my eyes it was it was nice it was lovely tears but it was just yeah just emotion did you stay in your lane and look up

I wrote three goals actually I'm on the phone to you so I can't get them up but I wrote three goals for myself today this morning number one sing loudly number two smile and number three be a basic they were my three goals and how did that go for you

we sang so loudly best anthem we've ever done I could hear you our comms box isn't a million miles away don't get me wrong but we could hear you here with our headphones on like you were that loud yeah we said it was definitely our best worst obviously sounding wise it didn't sound good but it was our best amplitude of the national anthem um so yeah sang loudly smiled a lot because a lot of stuff happened on the pitch that was funny

today i thought like there's can we can we talk about the funniest thing that's ever happened in world cup cricket sophie eccleston's lbw review yeah i was really adamant that that was pad first Like I was almost one of the ones that convinced Heather to go through. It's definitely pad first. I was on air like, oh my God, pad first definitely. Yeah, it was obviously the noise of her hitting the pad that sound that is what we heard. But yeah, that was embarrassing. Nat Siver taking that catch and then throwing the ball in the bin.

That was hilarious. I knew I love that you saw that. And they kept playing it on the big screen and she was saluted the big screen. We all had a giggle at that. And then the next one, she celebrated that much throwing the ball up that she knocked her own hat off. So that was also funny. And then, I had a little giggle at one of my stops where I tried to throw the ball

whilst also doing a forward's roll at the stump. And it threw it over your head. Yeah, I had a little giggle. So yeah, I did, I smiled a lot. And obviously we won, so we were smiling, beaming at the end. And then be a basic, I think I did that again. I think I bowled all right, nothing special, but all right, yeah. Did you or did you not bowl a beautiful wobble ball to dismiss?

Nick after I'm actually as I was as I was celebrating I was like knit back her knit back her and I was like it's a wobble ball that actually taught me how to spot it yeah well you know my wobble ball is a stock ball yeah so one of the other commentators like does she need to bowl that I was like look she's got wicket with it look how successful she's been this World Cup I think she needs to bolt it so yeah throw three things down at the start of the day and I think I can tick all three off honestly I'm so proud of you but I know we getting giddy but it's not done yeah well that's what i was a bit like um in and iron about whether we should do this emergency podcast and then i was like hang on a minute me and you both involved in a

world cup whoever is going to report their own little podcast going into a final so why not i don't know how you obviously cried post game but i cried post game so sunday could be an emotional roller coaster well you actually had a shocker of a day really didn't you because you weren't even sure if you were going to make this semi-final at one point i'm really glad you spoke about this because this is the main reason we're doing the emergency podcast is for me to explain how we actually ended up, maybe not being on air today. Yeah, I want to hear it because we've not actually spoke that much today. You wish me looked before the game, but that was pretty much it.

I did wish you looked before the game, and I sent you a video of some mashed potato because last night you said, when you die, please could your ashes be put in mashed potato? and I said, I'll feed them to all the podcast fans with a dispooh. I didn't get that video, by the way. No, did you not? No. Oh, well, maybe I sent it someone else by accident. Yeah, maybe you sent it to Redfern.

She slid into RDMs. Maybe. Anyway, so woke up this morning, my phone's ringing in my hotel, not my mobile phone, because that's on Do Not Disturb, later becomes apparent why my hotel phone's ringing. And I'm like, why is that ringing? So I sat up in my bed and watched it ring because I was like, it's the middle of the night.

Why is my hotel phone ring? Surely it's going to stop and it, ring, ring, ring, ring. And it didn't stop. I clicked my phone and it's quarter past six, ring ring. So I pick it up and Henry's like, good morning. And I was like, hello Henry. He's like, I'm terribly, I'm terribly sorry, typical Henry. But you're going to have to get up because our flight's been cancelled.

We need to drive two hours to the nearest airport to get a different flight to crash. Oh, could you imagine? Especially when we were talking last night and you were like, how funny would it be if our flight got cancelled? And I was like, well, why would it? It's not going to happen.

And then I woke up to a message from you this morning saying, loll, the flight's been cancelled. It's like I made sure that that flight was going to be cancelled by saying to you, imagine if we've covered this really rubbish game between Australia and the West Indies for no reason and we can't make yours. Anyway, we normally get to the ground about 12. We got to the ground about 10 past 1.

We were late, but we made it. Not horrendous though, yeah, because at one point you actually weren't sure if you were going to make it on time. But, Al, you were there. We were speaking about doing it off the telly. Oh, God. Oh, God, could you imagine? You were there to witness Danny Wyatt, scoring 120-something in a World Cup semi-final, and Sophie Eccleston took six for, scored 30-odd, not out at the end,

and still didn't get player of the match in a World Cup semi-final. Like, could you imagine? Do you think Eccleston has been robbed? No, she's fine because she got on her phone after we won and saw that Everton had tweeted her saying congratulations, so she is absolutely buzzing. She ran around the dress room celebrating more than any wicket that she got. She was like, oh my God, they've tweeted me.

So she's fine. So, yeah, Danny Wyatt got 129 off 125. Sophie Eccleston got 24 off nine balls, had a massive argument with Ishmael on the pitch, which was hilarious. like literally hilarious I could tell you what got said in that because I was obviously privy to it being out there

I'm not going to for it was bad let's just put it that way it was very bad I can tell you what I said because it came through the stump mic oh brilliant yeah so Sophie Eccleston hit two fours

three fours in a row but one of them let's not talk about this no no I'm not going to but one of them so she like top edged a four and like walked down the other end and laughed out loud

like was like ha ha ha ha ha ha and you could see the steam coming out of Ishmael's ears anyway Sof then went and got Ishmael out and at the end of the game they had a hug so it's fine Yeah they were all fine It was just semi-final heat at the moment It was all fine

But yeah I don't think Sof was robbed because I think Danny set the game up for us Without Danny scoring those runs We couldn't have bowled the way that we did with the fields that we did going into that second inning. Yeah, without down, he'd have been 220 all out probably. And how often does Sophie come on as like fifth change bowler?

That was crazy. Do you know, Sophie Eccleston, I'm going to take Stefan to start here, and I don't know if it's in his article or not, took every single wicket available once she came on to bowl? Yeah, well, they were four down, and then Sov came on, and then the game's over, so, I mean, amazing. And I also heard a little stat tonight that England haven't played Australia in a World Cup final.

since 1988. Which actually blows my mind. Mental, yeah, because it makes sense because normally they're both the semis and then someone gets knocked out and goes on to win it, but yeah, I mean, whew. I mean, did you watch their semi yesterday?

West Indies had a 0.1% chance of beating us yesterday. Yeah, it was a shame, wasn't it? It was a shame that, I mean, in a way, I'm not saying this now, coming off the pitch, having a really comfortable win against South Africa, but it's a shame that the semis haven't emulated the tournament

because the games have been so brilliant and there's been so much competition for wins and losses and they've not quite been there in the semis which is a bit of a shame but also don't care because we're in a final. Yeah, the semifinals have been the two worst games of the tournament and they've been identical, like literally identical games. Heather said she would have won the toss and bold and I said at the time,

don't mind them losing the toss and being put into bat because could you imagine if they got 300 South Africa have to go out and chase it it's exactly what happened and it was so good well we were pretty set on bowling first all week as soon as we knew we were going to play South Africa in the final just because of how well they've chased teams down in this tournament

and also under lights as well it does generally get a little bit easier bat in second so we like can I just stop you the game was finished before it even got dark today yeah I mean another thing as well we hadn't even trained under lights this week like we're

normally you do that before every game and we didn't get the opportunity this week because it's just all been a bit manic but yeah so when the toss went up I was a bit like oh I hope that's not one of those tosses that because we've been so set on bowling first all week that it then disrupts us

and then we're two down early and you think oh oh here we go but also I feel like she's not had a proper mention for most of this World Cup, but how good was Dunks? Oh my God, amazing. Do you know what I've really enjoyed about Dunks of, like, big respect? Is that she came out and said, yeah, I'm playing all right. I'm getting starts, but I'm not really helping the team in any way.

Comes out today when it matters and has a massive partnership with Wyatt and gets 60. Yeah, and she won't, well, you know, it's important, especially at Hagley Oval, to extend their batting partnerships. It doesn't matter what length you've all, you ought to extend their bat in partnerships. but yeah she's like almost unsung hero in that in that partnership because she'll have been brilliant for Danny they ran so well like there was twos everywhere they pushed the fielders and she's not going to get any kind of headlines for what she's done but she was such a big part of it so I'm very very pleased for donkey I'm pleased for all of your crossy you

board really well unfortunately you were out shone by the dawn Sophia Eccleston honestly I was just so happy she finally got a fire for like it's mad that she's not had one before this. Yeah. I was just so happy she got it. When did you know you'd won that semi-final? At what point? Um,

and, um, probably when we got Lazelle out. That early? Yeah, I thought getting Woolfart and Lazelle so early and so cheaply, I, I thought we've got, you know, we're favourites to win this now. Wow. I mean, that's like, because it's always that, Do you know how you said when you played South Africa

and you're like, that's it, we're going home? I was like, well, when are they going to think that they've won? I thought it was when you got probably DePri out that it's dead cert going to win, when the run rate was like sevens. Well, they were up at eights quite early. Like, I was quite aware of the run rate required. So I was keeping an eye on that and making sure that the batters out there knew that they needed to go at eights or nines.

But I just, yeah, I just thought it felt too big without your openers getting runs. To chase that down, you needed a wolf fart, 80 and a, a quick Lizelle's 70 or 80 as well and I thought without that it would always be a tough ask so how did you knowing you'd won the game in the first 10 overs

so you got your second wicket after 12.4 overs how the hell did you like just go through the motions for the rest of the day I actually kept just thinking to myself I was like wow I could play in a walk-up final here like that kept going through my head

but obviously you don't want to I think too far ahead. So I think then when we started getting regular wickets and then just soap just comes on and cleans up basically. But yeah, it didn't feel real really. It's hard to unpick it. I think the best thing about it is that we just played such good cricket and we've just been desperate for that game.

We've been searching for that game for four weeks now. And there's a lot of tired bodies. There's a lot of tired heads in this dressing room and it's just it was just what we needed. Yeah. I mean, there's no time to be tired. You're playing in a World Cup final. Excuse me.

Excuse me again. That's my beer coming back up. I knew it was going to be a good day when Catherine Brunt walked past our commentary box this morning for the anthems and give us all of a big fist pump and said, come on, come on, we've got this. And I was like, oh my God, I think we do.

Yeah. We had a really good vibe in the warm up actually. Like Lisa barely said anything. She's just like, it feels really good She was like, go out there, do your thing You know, we're ready for this And you just, I think you said it in the last podcast But you just, anyone can beat anyone in a semi

Anyone can beat anyone in a final Like almost the group stages is irrelevant at that point So yeah, I think like Hev said in the dress room at the end Just two weeks ago we would not have imagined That we were able to sing the team song tonight So it's obviously not finished yet We've still got a huge, really difficult game ahead of us on Sunday but we've got ourselves to the final

and we didn't think we would get there. You've got the momentum, whatever happens, it's a win. You've got there when you didn't think you'd get there. You thought you'd be flying home a couple of days ago. So good luck. Thank you very much. Before we go, I want you to tell me how you're feeling right this second. Proud.

Really proud of everyone, of the whole group, the staff included as well and especially Sophie like she had she had a start to the tournament that could have easily made her I don't know what the right word is could easily have just thrown her off

and she turned her yeah and she turned up and she was like I mean I consoled her in that dressing room after that game she was like I'm embarrassed I'm embarrassed about what I've just done on that pitch

and she's now leading wicket taker of the tournament just taking her first five for for England and six for her in the tournament. She's not just leading wicket-taker in the tournament. She's leading a wicket-taker for England in a tournament ever. Yeah, she's just brilliant. So, yeah, I think just proud, just really proud. And just, I think, just really want to do justice to ourselves on Sunday as well

and have a really good game against a really tough opposition. Well, you're proud of everybody. I'm proud of you. Good luck on Sunday. Everybody's watching. I've got the second best seat in the house, so I'll be crying the whole day. stay in your lane

look up enjoy it and be a basic bhae make sure you reply to Sue as well because it's been a couple of hours and we've not replied so you get on that see you soon

woof bye bye and cross strikes in the first over it's what England we're looking for partly balls down the track comes scoring this time

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