Test Match Special - No Balls: The Cricket Podcast - Kate and Alex are together in New Zealand!

Episode Date: March 30, 2024

Kate Cross and Alex Hartley react to England Women's successful T20 series in New Zealand and preview the upcoming ODIs. Plus, a full analysis of Alex's first round of golf!

This BBC podcast is supported by ads outside the UK. Bring more gear, carry more passengers, face greater challenges. Welcome to the world of Defender, with seating up to eight, ample cargo space, and legendary off-road capability. It's built to make the most of every adventure. Learn more at landrover.ca. Hi, my name's Eddie Hearn, and this is no passion, no point. I'm excited to be back with this new series.

As always, I'll be talking to top performers about what drives them, how they gain an edge over competitors, and whether their dedication to constant improvement comes at a cost. I love golf, I play it until my hands be. I just enjoy going out there, playing with no fear. What makes them feel fulfilled? It's not the money, it's not the trophies,

it's the friendships and the memories I've got. And does that change as their career progresses? It's just a girl who grew up playing football and now I'm getting pets, like, without even seeing the camera, like, it's crazy. From BBC Radio 5 Live. No passion, no point. and whenever you like on BBC Sounds.

BBC Sounds, music, radio, podcasts. Hi, everyone. The BBC have told us that we've got to issue a warning. We swear too much. Henry does beep it out for us because he's a good man. It is actually so that your family can all listen. Your kids can listen. But we will say... Sugar.

That's not a sweet. He said a really bad one. Cross comes in round, a wicket. Boulder, Lover, leaving a ball alone, Litchfield. 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 Balls the Cricket podcast with me, Alex Hartley, and you, Kate, Cross. I'm thinking about that. Thinking about what? You were really thinking about it, and you, Kate, cross. Yeah, I don't want to get it wrong. We're together. Yes, and we're a video in it.

You can have a hug. Oh, hello. How are you? I'm good. This is the first time we've done a podcast together since I'm going to say February. Yeah, it feels about that, doesn't it? Yes. It feels about that.

And Jonathan Finch's daughter, Lily Finch, who's a big fan of this podcast, she's been listening since day one, she reckons, said to me yesterday, when's the next podcast coming out? And I went, oh, I need to text Alex, because we're meant to do a podcast. What'd bless you. It would have been a podcast without we needing to sneeze at them in it, would it? Very true. So thanks Lily Finch for reminding us that we've got to pod. Yes. We're back. Yeas. Yes. How are you? I'm good, thank you. I literally haven't seen you at all. And we went for a copy actually last week, didn't we? So that's a lie. That's a lie I have. I saw you twice last week in Nelson.

Yeah, you joined up with the England girls, and on day one we had lunch and tea. So I've not seen you for ages. Yeah, it feels like ages. It does feel like ages. So let's, right, let's try and work this out for everyone because we're a bit confused. So we did a last podcast after you were in the final of the PSL. Yeah. I was in the final of WPL.

I had already landed in New Zealand when we did that pod, and you were on your way. Yes, New Zealand. We're both here. We're both in New Zealand. We're currently in Wellington. the T20 series he's done and dusted England have won 4-1 Yeah but it's 5-0 if you count the moral victory

Which was the moral victory? The one we lost Why was it a moral victory? Because England always have the moral win But we lost badly that day Yeah we did We did So congratulations to the T20 girls

Yes Very very good And I think that gets everyone up to date Of where we're at Yeah you've been with the academy You played the A team The A team. Oh, it's not the Academy anymore.

Not the Academy anymore. The Lionesses. You bowled your first over for six months. Two for four in one over. Thank you next. Yes, one bad ball that got a wicket, one good ball that got a wicket. So it felt fair.

So I was watching, well, I didn't watch your first over, but I went on the high to see your wickets, and it said, so I saw LBW cross. And then someone got caught at mid-off. I was like, that's not LBW. And I was watching it. in time again and they just definitely got the video of the LBW up. Oh, okay.

So I watched that poor batter get out. Whack it to me off. Yeah. Yeah, so I basically haven't played a white ball game of cricket since the Sri Lanka series at the end of last summer. So when was that September? You don't count those ones either. Oh, I think I have to.

Well, the ODIs I can count. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Those don't count. Scratch them out of my stats. So, yeah, it was really nice to get back and play, and they're a great group of the A team. So good. Got Holly, Lindsay and ADR from the Super Chargers.

How good. And Holly batted unbelievably well. I've scored 100 off like 100 balls. Ridiculous. And Freya Kemp batted really well as well. So yeah, good to be back. I've now joined up with the ODI squad because the T20s are done. And I don't really have much to tell you.

Is it weird? Like joining back up with the England girls after being away, not in the T20 squad? Yeah, really weird. And I also, when I met you in Nelson last week, I trained with the full squad so the T20 team for like two days so I was kind of in, kind of not

obviously not in the WhatsApp groups but you're around the group I've just been added to the players group today so thanks Heather congrats thanks Heather I was already in the golf group though which is nice

so yeah it's a bit strange you never quite feel like you're in it until the day that you meet up with the squad and I'm the only one from any of the squads that is meeting up for the ODIs so Nat Katsi Sophie

Wyatt. All came back from the WPL and joined up with the T-20s. So yeah, I'm the last one to join up. Last man stands. Last man standing. Well, here we are. I'm here. So yeah, looking forward to a bit of cricket, hopefully. It's Monday. Monday, first ODI.

It's all quick. It's all done in a week. I know, very quick, isn't it? We need to tell people what we've done today. We've played golf. So the girl who hates golf. Played. I would say a full round. Got Moulthansultan sulton's top of.

here a little golf polo um yeah loved it you weren't as bad as i was expecting actually i was quite um along the floor yeah there was a lot of top in it so if there's any tips out there on how to get some elevation i probably kept hitting it 120 yards on the floor yep some 20 yards on the floor but you kept going straight you've got a good swing you're just you're hitting it straight we just need to work i think you need to get to a driving range yeah have a lesson i mean i've never done that either No, but you've got the book now. I have, I actually got halfway around.

I was like, it's quite good fun, you know? And all the courses are really nice here, aren't it? Yeah, yeah, so I'll play golf for you next week. Looking forward to. You're a lot better than I thought. Really? Yeah. Tell everyone about it.

Oh, because it's right. I'll ask crossy how golf club, what is this collar? What is it? Jumper. Looks like a school jumper, you know, when little boys go to, like, secondary school. It's my Multan, Sultan supremacy top. Because if you didn't know, it's the PSL So every time I ask you how golf's been

You're like, oh, I didn't play well today I was all right Or I had a really good round today But you've only ever said that to me once And then you're just like hitting this ball, you and Dino So far My two shots were to your one

I like my driver Yeah I've got a lot better in the last two weeks I would say I don't like the driver It's too big I think I liked the little driver that you've got The three would.

Yeah. Yeah. You just need to practice, but it's good fun, isn't it? It is good fun. And I really appreciate that you didn't get frustrated with me. Oh, I was you six months ago, and when I played with Sof and Heather, I was going to get really annoyed at me because I'm off that way and they've gone straight and they really helped me. So I'm like you were, be the coach that you want to be coached by. I'm going to be the golfer that I want to be golfed by.

Yes, but I really enjoyed it, so I can't wait to pop two grand on some golf course until I get on. You popped a grand on that watch. I know. Got a new watch. Right. So do you know how I've been saying I need to run? I need some fitness motivation? It's just never come. I like a beer and then I like, and then I'm a bit dusty the next day. So I think, well, I can't run. So I bought a watch, hoping it'll give me some motivation. So she's got the golf, like the greens and everything set up on the watch. So she's the worst player there. And he's like, oh, 120 yards to the pin. I was. I was like, the wind direction has just gone easterly breeze. Oh, all the gear, absolutely no idea

Because you were like, 120 oars, it feels further I was like, oh, it says feels like 160 We are like Tweedledum and Tweedledee, aren't we? We'll be on charity golf days as nobles before we know it I can't wait, I cannot wait Sticky note Yes, have you got anything on yours? I have, I've got a few bits and bobs

But not much really So I'm here working for TVNZ Yes you are On work experience Doing a little bit of work experience So On work experience

If you didn't get that Yeah work experience It's been good fun You enjoyed it Really enjoyed it Did your first pitch report Done my first pitch report It was fine

Like when I was Pitch reporting But being the person that reads the grass That was alright Bit like could have got your watch out I'm being like Should have got my watch out Feels like 22 yards

A bit of a bit of a breeze Is it 22 yards? I don't even know it. I think it is. God knows. Don't ask us cricket questions. That was fine reading the grass because I was like, oh, a bit of grass

means a bit of extra carry. They do that over here actually, don't they in New Zealand? The carry's always quite good. I came to watch him Wellington yesterday for the 5th T20. Filer played and was firing it through. But they always leave a bit of grass on to get carry and bounce. Yeah. So that was fine.

I read that pitch. It was absolutely fine. I hosted it yesterday, right? So I'm like, I'm like, welcome to Windy Wellington. It's not windy. It ended up being really windy by the time the game started. Really windy. When we did the pitch report, it wasn't.

Anyway, got through the pitch report. I'm with Frankie McKin. I'm like, how do you think the pitch is going to play? And I'm like, anyway, looking like a beautiful day here in Wellington for the fifth ODI. There it is. Got it wrong. So did you have to do it again? No.

And left it? They cut it out. Oh, nice. So they went, we've got an out. We've got an out. Don't worry, Alex, don't panic. Because I was like, oh, no, that was really good. until then and basically they just got rid of me saying that it's a lovely day for a game

of cricket and just finished with Frankie well for everyone that would have watched that is or whether it transferred to whatever you can watch it on back home that's the magic of television they just cut all the crap out exactly so when you think we're nailing it it's actually the seventh tape they've cut loads of stuff out and you've probably sworn four times that you can't hear yeah the floor manager's like let's do a practice run and then she's like right we're not doing another one yeah if you nail your practice Take it, one take. So I've got a little screenshot that I need to share it.

It's from a lad called Harry. He, I think this is on the No Bulls account, but I've had it ages. I've been meaning to talk about it. He said, hi, guys, I've got a question about the whole bread knife debate. It's been a while. It has been a while. Crossy, would it be acceptable if I was to wipe my bread knife with a sponge with soap and water on it? So not washing it, but wiping it.

Is that allowed or not? That's washing it. That is washing it, isn't it? Soap gets rid of 99.9% of bacteria. If I was to wipe my bread knife with a sponge with soap and water on it, that is washing it, Harry. Harry, you cannot, that's how you wash dishes. Yeah, what else are you doing? What's the other option there?

The thing that I hate about Al is that she wipes out on her trousers and then pops it back in. Yeah, always. Anyway, Harry, I'm going to delete that now because it's been in my photos for about four months. Nice. Anything else on you sticking out? Harry's here. Not different Harry. Different Harry.

Wrong, Harry. Harry Joseph's. He's here. He's made it. He's over. So is Chris Cross. Yes. Mother Hubbard too.

You're not having to deal with your mum's jet lag though. What do you mean? You're not sharing a bed. Well, I don't think you were. I wouldn't share a bed with my mum. Yeah. Oh, alright, sorry, I'm with you. Harry's waking up in the middle of the night.

Right, got you. Doing my... Right. I've slept so well for the last six weeks. Like, so well. And then I forget that I don't sleep well. he's there. You've never slept well when you've shared your bed though. Never. This is why you should stay single. I keep saying it to you.

Is it weird, guys? I want your opinion on this as well as my golf. If we had separate bedrooms. I think that's the key to a happy marriage. Maybe we should do a little like, we've not married, we don't know. But I think when I hear about relationships and people who have their own bedrooms, I think you're going to last longer. Okay. So do you share a bed? Yes or no? Do you have separate rooms? Yes or no? And are you happily married? Yes or no Or happily divorced Yes or no

Yeah Little announcement came out last week Oh The Ashes The Washes Didn't see a Mashes announcement actually Just Washes There isn't once, just washes

That's why Lovely MCG test How are you feeling about this So it's a day nighter So pink ball Four days MCG

Go Pink ball rubbish Four day rubbish MCG test match Great Right I'm gonna be I'm gonna play a small amount of devil's advocate here

I played at the MCG we had no crowd absolute ghost town terrible you could like when you clapped at finally I get echoed it's that bad I it's a challenge I think cricket Australia are going to have to get a minimum of 40,000 people in that ground

every day to make that atmosphere good and I'm not sure that that's happening Katie Perry you around maybe she could do like a weekend I like it though because you've outgrown the small grounds so they're trying to move on. The problem with Australia is they've got the small grounds that hold 4,000 people, or the grounds that hold 100,000 people. There is not much in between. I would have loved to have seen it at the SCG.

Yeah. I think that would have been perfect for where we're at. I love the ambition, and if they get it right, it's going to be unbelievable. What are your thoughts about the day-night test? I've never played one, so I don't know. You played the one in Blacktown, Sydney? I ran the drinks. You ran the drinks. Was that the Perry 200? Yeah, it was. Was that Blacktown? No, that was it.

North Sydney Oval. We trained at Blacktown before and because that's where I saw you. I guess it's something different. And again, worth a try maybe. We're not going to have the Jukes anyway, so I don't think it matters. Oh, that's true. You wouldn't have a Jukes ball in Australia. No, it could breathe away, so I don't think it matters.

Four days. Yeah, it feels like a small backward step, doesn't it? But then it feels like we're doing the whole. ashes over five days. It does, doesn't it? It's really short. But, like, they've got great venues for the ashes. Really good, yeah.

That's exciting. We're in Hobart, we're at Adelaide Oval, SCG, MCG, Junction, MCG, where else I'm missing one? Brisbane, any in Brisbane? I don't think we're in Brisbane. That's a shame.

But it feels like we finished the ashes a minute ago and now we're looking at the next ashes already. It's so quick. So you don't have a game in Brisbane, which means a holiday in Brisbane at the end? Possibly. Oh, God. Oh, take your golf clubs

The ones that you've not bought yet But you'll have five then But yes, exciting It's exciting that it's been announced And to be fair to cricket Australia When they put their mind to something They do it They come up trumps

So I am playing devil's advocate I am very excited But I hope it's better than What the announcement looks like If there's no one there I'll sit in the crowd when I'm not on air going Grossie If Grossey was

As a goal, she'd be bathed. So yes. Ash's announcement done. She swings to the left. No, she doesn't. She swings to the right. Like Kate Cross, she's f***. That's about right.

Another thing on my podcast, Stigernow, it says, Alexa, you came second in your awards. For you, Min. This is because you couldn't get people to vote for you. I'm actually, Harry said congratulations last night. I said, I've come second in the award. And he went, oh, congrats, no, what's the point to finish his second? You don't start a race to finish second.

What's the saying out of that film? If you ain't first, you're last. If you ain't first, your last. A lovely lady called Miriam won. Did she deserve to win? She's very, very good at her job, yeah. For the people who don't know, what was it for? Sports, Journalist Awards.

Want to watch? On to watch on air. So you can't watch people on air, can you? Ones to listen to on air? No, it's watch on the telly. Oh, right. Yeah. Miriam's really, really good at her job

and she's been really successful. Well, congratulations Miriam then and well done you for coming seconds. Thank you. Anything else, any of you sticking out? No, I deleted it all. Good. Right, I have got something that I need to bring up.

So a man in India, I'm presuming from Bangalore, has had every single player's name from the RCB women's team tattooed on his forearm. No, he hasn't. He has. Did I send you the photo? Yeah. Right, let me just.

just find it quickly. It's really bad. It's not. It's good. It's belt right and everything, so it's great, but it's a super fan. It's a super fan.

There it is. But how many people are in the squad? There was 18 of us. It's a full four-round. It's a whole four-round. It's elbow to wrist. It's pretty at the top. Where am I?

One, two, three, four, five, six, seven. Eighth. I'll take that. Yeah, you should have actually been 15th. I'll take that. What did it say at the bottom? I should have been 17th. Ah, it says he saw the cup

Namdu at the bottom, which means the cups come home. That's quite cute. He's not wrong. He's not wrong. You could have just put that without the full squad list. Nah. Imagine getting the full... This should be you, you're a big RCB fan.

Imagine me getting... Virac Colin. A. B. DeVilleus, Glenn Maxwell. Kate Cross. Yeah, please get me tattooed on you. Right, that's it from my sticky notes. However, I want to go upstairs And I've got a newbie

Oh, there's a noobie So I hope I pronounce this right But Sharfadoula Has become the first Bangladeshi To join the ICC elite panel of umpires And I think we should go upstairs with Welcome to the Wild West of 1980s wrestling A world of chair throwing

Blood spilling Steroid taking And spandex wearing Bruiser Brody was pulling in crowds all around the world. He would burst through the curtain and fans would scatter. But then, at the height of his fame, he's gone. In the dressing room before a match, Brody was knifed in the abdomen. This is a story of unreality.

Misdirection, fakery, rivalry, revenge, and ultimately death. He pushed the buttons hard enough and one of the buttons pushed back. Nobody is ever going to know exactly what happened. Hills. Join me for Sport Strangers' Crimes, The Ballad of Bruiser Brody. Listen on BBC Sounds. Off you go. Hi, Kate, Alex and Henry. This is from Dave. It's called Bowling versus throwing. I won't do the long-time listener first-time email a thing for the sake of it. But you've done it. Even though that is the case. So I'll get right down to business with this question. Why is throwing not allowed in cricket?

Is it because the ball would go faster and be even more dangerous? If so, then why not get rid of the chuck rule and have a speed limit instead? To be honest, I feel daft asking the question, but hearing Kate failed to spot the Taylor Swift's booth. Embboiled. Embroiled, I would guess. Emboldened me. Intrigued me. Tar for the podcast, keep up the good work.

I thought I was a test only fan, but I'm surprised to say that I'm looking forward to the hundred this summer. love that why can you know so you're obviously throwing the outfield I don't know why that rule is that but it used to be underarm didn't it and then one of the women playing in skirts couldn't bowl because the skirt was getting in the way so she went over arm yeah but I don't know why it has to be a straight arm it's just probably one of those rules random rules in sport that make no sense but it's just become a thing yeah um love that he's looking forward to the hundred we've converted someone yes he is hi al and k this is from max in wiltshire congrats on the wPL title and

PSL final and on continuing to bring us a wonderful podcast semi regularly while you are both busy with actual cricket jobs i really enjoyed the WPL my son and i was supporting rcb because of crossy so it was amazing to see them win maybe the son got the tattoo oh probably not probably not it's not max in Wiltshire i don't think hearing you both talk about your franchise cricket experiences at the PSL and WPL made me wonder what it's like to play franchise cricket against your friends from the England team. For example, are the ECB players

all in a little bubble without any contact with friends playing for Delhi and Mumbai, etc? Or do you still chat with and see friends during competitions when you're playing for different teams? You still chat to everybody, don't you? I mean, just for context, Amelia Kerr had half the England team

around at her house last night for dinner. Yeah. So it actually makes you closer to opposition and things, doesn't it? Yeah, and obviously you try not to give away too many secrets because you really still want your friends to do well, but you want your team to do well at the same time. So I find like the tactical meeting is quite interesting

because you see who dishes all the dirt and who doesn't. Yeah. But yeah, you do still catch up with everyone. It was just hard in the WPL because our hotels weren't all that close together and everyone's on a crazy schedule and training and doing their own thing. So it was actually quite difficult. But you always saw them after the game. I think that's a really nice thing about the IPL and the WPL

is you see everyone having a chat at the end and it looks like... It's like that in the PSL. Like everybody would just stand chatting after the game on the outfield because you can't leave for ages anyway. Yeah, you're there for like 30 minutes, just catching off, aren't you? As always, thanks for the podcast, it really is a little window of sunshine from Max.

Thanks Max. On the Who Dishes the Dirt in the Tactical Meetings and things like that. Excuse me. That was a burp. That was a burp. That was another one. I feel better now, though. I think if you dish is the dirt.

the dirt on your teammates right so if i dish the dirt on you let's say good on the drive plays a scoop brilliantly can't play the short ball i don't know if that's true i don't know if you can play the short ball and then other teams like start to do that to you you're going to get better at playing the short ball so i don't think it's a bad thing or i'm going to get hit in the head and have concussion well that's a bad thing yeah everyone knows there's too much cricket now that you can't get away with what you're not very good at. So, like, everyone knows who to bowl short at. Everyone knows who's not great with Yorkers or whatever,

or slower balls, etc. Everyone knows that at the death belly balls, slow balls. Like, there's enough cricket for people to see what happens and see the trends. But years ago, when there wasn't that much televised cricket for a start. Yeah, that was when. That was when, yeah. So it is interesting, though.

Kevin, dear Kate and Alex, just a quick one for you to look out for when Kate is up here in lead to the superchargers, the record store near the ground and there's a picture here she is a belter differ from the rest diamonds on a finger and she always looks her best she is a gangster

that's on the wall in a shop that's a good tune cherry cinnamon right we've got one here from Kamesh and it says credit where it's due I love Smriti but credit for her but credit of her giving the trophy to Srianka belongs to the tradition

started by a certain Mahendra Singh Doni long back. All Indian captains have upheld that tradition. Harmon gave the WPL 2003 trophy to Saika and Roit gave the England Test Series trophy to Jarrell and Sharfraz. I didn't see that. So yes, all Indian captains like to slip away to the far left in the trophy picture. Why do they do it? Just Google. Thala explained it was very nicely during a satching event and tell us what you think of that on your next podcast. Congratulations to you on RCB win and Alex for your PSL final

Tell you now If I was captain And we won the final I'd be lifted So do I need to Google it Yeah Why did Doney Put DJ Doney

Why did DJ Doney give DJ DJ DJ give the Jovey to who did I say Jarrell Yeah We'll Google it and find out Yeah Sorry this is a terrible bit

of podcasting but okay if anyone knows actually why aren't you get in touch with us and let us know so we don't have to Google the answer. Chris Knights in brackets Surrey Knights Peace sign love heart cricket bat Hey ladies I hope you're both well congratulations to you both on your varied success and experiences in the WPL and PSL

it was an absolute joy to hear about your exploits Alex loving your contribution so far to the New Zealand New Zealand series I particularly like liked your A varsity jacket, thumbs up. After your brief demo with Susie, prior to the 4th T20, any chance you could persuade her to appear as a next guest in the summer. Basically wants Susie to be a guest on no balls when they come over in the summer.

I'm slightly disappointed that Susie wasn't retained by Oval Invincibles this year, but we signed Amanda Jade Wellington instead, so that's not too bad. Another potential guest? Anyways, go well. I hope to say hello to you both in person at Taunton. in May. P.S. shout out to Henry 2. Hello ladies. Sorry a long one but I will start by saying that

I've just caught up with the last 10 or so episodes and they've been cracking especially the romance episode. That was probably I know we went together for that. You just left hadn't you? That was fun though, wasn't it? Very much, very much fun. Very much fun. Very good. But I've only just finished the email mix-up

episodes. Before then I had sent in emails with my first few being read and later ones not. I've just realized I made the same mistake as Alex and have used the incorrect email address. This is because you keep giving them away the wrong email. I'm so sorry.

Both options showed up on the drop-down when I drafted this, so I had to double-check. Ah, they've sent a little picture to show us. Ah, it's no ballspodcast at BBC.co.com. Noblespodcast at BBC.co.com. It's so good. They said it twice. I'll keep the rest short. Firstly, I've always supported Rajasthan Royals in the men's IPL

and Mumbai Indians in the women's IPL but this podcast made me interested in the women's RCB team and I'm now an avid women's RCB fan at 90% because of Mr. Nags. Did you see the interview with Mr Nags? I never watched the Mr Nags stuff because it annoys me. Right, okay, so that's no. Kay, I don't know how you've gone a whole season without talking about him. He's amazing.

I would love some of your stories about him and more of the behind the scenes of the RCB set up. I would as well, you know. Who is, right, who is Mr. Nags? So Mr. Nags is Danish, who's a comedian over in India. He's a big Bangalore fan anyway. And he dresses up as Mr. Nags and it's just become this like comedian, almost like take the Mick persona

that follows RCP around and interviews all the players. But he just basically takes the piss out of everyone so much. Right, okay. Is he good fun? Yeah, he's really good fun. But his sense of humour is just savageness. Right, okay. So when he interviewed me and Sophie Devine, like he said to Sophie,

he was like, what's it like being sat next to someone who's not very good at cricket basically and was like reeling off my stats and was like, have we just been scraping the barrel? Is this why we signed her? So he's really, he's like unfunny but funny. Yeah, okay. He's so unfunny that he's funny basically. And then does he apologise at the end? He kept saying to me at the end, yeah, he's like, I'm really sorry.

I was like, no, it's fine. But we had to give him the dirt back. So we had to dish back. So it was quite a good fun. It was basically like this podcast and why this started. So yeah, but he's huge in. Like the fans love him Absolutely love him

Yeah But he is a genuine RCB fan Okay More specials like the romance special Would be interesting Maybe even a couple of co-labs With Tail Enders Or Zero Ducks Given

A year A year would add even more spice to life Love the pod Keep them coming That's from Anonymous And we do kind of Like the romance one with Greg And matching

Was hilarious wasn't it Yeah true We've never done An actual Tail Enders Noballs crossover No We need to try and do that. Maybe we need to try and do, like, one of our lives in the summer.

Yeah, that would be good. We'll work it out, guys. Hi, Kate. Was a pleasure to meet you at the Basin Reserve today. You were chatty and friendly and interesting. You may... Imagine being described as interesting. You may remember us.

We are from Northampton and discussed my wife and daughter traveling the world whilst I head back to work. I would like to say, and should have said, how much I enjoyed your documentary on women's cricket and wondered if you have any other projects on the horizon of a similar ilk. My son Marcus and I are cricket mad and have both commented on how good your delivery and presentation was.

We believe you will go a very, very long way in journalism and wish you well. Nice to meet you down. Another journalist on the podcast. Another journalist. Welcome to the world. Thank you very much. What's the name?

Darren. Thank you very much, Darren. I do remember meeting you because it was 24 hours ago. But thank you for emailing. Very nice. I had three people come up to me yesterday at the game. saying they love the podcast. That's cute.

Three Kiwis. Very nice. Very nice. Good out. Have we got time for one more? Yeah. It's a long one and it's called coaching and handedness. Okay.

And this is from Malcolm. I don't know what handedness means. Like right-handed, left-handed. Oh, okay. Okay. Hi Kate and Alex. Been listening since you moved to TMS, but first time emailing. I've been a cricket fan for about 50 years now,

but haven't played since school, apart from 2020-like matches after work in the 1980s. 2020 wasn't invented until the 2000s was it Malcolm's ahead of his time I've dabbled at batting spin bowling and wicket-keeping but my speciality was silly mid-anything He's brave in the field then Or an idiot

One or the other I've always believed This was due to my best ability Being my reactions And being unique I was a soccer goalie And also played ice hockey in net Glory Seeker

Called himself Glory Seeker not me Whilst I'm here Last time here, handedness referencing golf and cricket is also a discussion in ice hockey. I remember trying to shoot both left and right. I'm naturally right-handed. Initially, both were awkward. So I did a survey and found that most Canadians, Americans and Scandinavians who were right-handed, shot left. Whereas for Britain and most of Europe, the lesser hockey nations at the time, saw right-handed shots right. Okay. Right-handed shoots right, sorry. I did try batting left-handed. I think this is all around the fact that you should be playing golf left-handed.

But I shouldn't because I tried it yesterday. So I played with you today, obviously, but tried golf yesterday and I went to swing right-handed, but my hands were the wrong way. And as soon as I put my hands to the left-handed grip, I couldn't swing. Right, okay. So that pro was wrong in Pakistan. Yeah, that pro is the reason he's not top 50 in the world. I've been and listened to this.

I try batting, left-handed, but didn't get anywhere, needed, probably needed hours in the nets. and I've never been in a position to use left-handed golf clubs. It's always been a debate that's interested me. Sorry for the lengthy message and thanks for the entertaining and award-winning podcast, Malcolm. There's no question there, but it's just a little insight into Malcolm's left-handed right-handedness. So after watching me play golf, do you think I'm left-handed right-handed? I did say to Harry after two holes, he said, oh, this is nice, isn't it? Because you always joke that mine and Harry's time together was going to be golf

and you were going to play golf to come and ruin our time together. And then after two holes, they said, this is nice. nice. I said, yeah, it's the first and last time I'm playing golf with Alex. Oh. Because I'm going to take everyone out there exactly why. Because you hit a ball, it went into the ruff under the trees, and you went, all right, I'll just pick it up and put it in the fairway. And I went, no, you won't. You absolutely won't.

Yeah, you're not really competitive. Yeah, you know, I'm competitive. Right, honestly, if you're playing with football that's never played golf before, and they're shanking it, left, right, very rarely centre. You just pick it up and put it on the fairways. Yeah, but you were putting it 20,000. yards onto the fairway. Like, you sometimes can move it a little bit easier, but...

Look, I got around. You did say I was good, so that was, after that, I was loosened up a little bit. Would you play with me again now? If you were interested in being better. I don't want to get better, like, genuinely. Then yes, I will play with you again. I'm very comfortable with how bad I am at the minute. Yeah.

But I want to be better. That's okay. Because I want to be able to hack my way around a golf course. I was only plus 18 today. I put my handicap as 43. And you golf app as well. And we played nine holes, not 18. We played nine, we did, we played nine and we walked.

And you didn't have a set of clubs. No. It was nice. I was choosing, like... You were hilarious. You would just take a club out of my back and then find you way onto the green, no matter how far you were from there. Start with a seven iron.

You'd be ten yards out. It's still whacking your seven iron. Get it onto the green. Yeah. To be fair, you hit some good shots. I enjoyed like the little chipping. I'm good at the little chips. Chips and puts you're okay out.

Yeah. Yeah. Told you a lot of mini golf. Yeah, a lot of mini golf. A lot of the... All right, legend. All those dates. Oh, should we leave it there?

Yeah, should we go for some tea? Yeah, let's do it. Right, email us on. Noblespodcast at BBC.com.com. Noblespodcast at BBC.com. Go.com. That's noblespodcast at BBC.com. It's so good.

They said it twice. See ya. Bye, everyone. Cross. Come doing round the wickets. Oh, that's... Hold her. 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 beautiful for Cross.