Test Match Special - No Balls: The Cricket Podcast - Shall we do a World Cup?

Episode Date: March 3, 2022

England bowler Kate Cross and World Cup winner Alex Hartley look ahead to this year's tournament. Plus, it turns out Alex remembers pretty much nothing from her success in 2017...

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And cross strikes in the first over. It's what England we're looking for. Hartley falls down the track comes scoring this time she connects it's either six or out it's six it's six in what looks a little bit like a shirt that my dad might wear it's funny you should say that it's a dress actually

It's one of those dress shirts But it's very golfy, isn't it? Very golfy, very like just got off the yacht And just going to... Yes, I feel very Lauren Winfield Very Longfield, Winfield Hill, yes Yes, I feel like Just pass me my umbrero

Whatever they're called, those long brim hats A sombrero? What? What are those wide brim hats called? Not a sombrero Well, a sombrero is a wide-brimmed hat But I don't think... Well, I said umbrero.

Oh. What, right, this is triflegate all over again. I'm going to try and work out what you mean. An umbrero hat. Is it a fedora? Are you thinking of a fedora? Yes, yes. They're the long, they're the round, stiff hats, aren't they?

Yeah. Like, yeah, we'll say you mean, yeah, you mean that. I don't know. What, I start. How are you doing? I'm all right. Thank you. In fact, last time we did an episode, I was in quarantine. Yes. Yeah, we've got a bit of filling in to do, haven't we? I actually feel like I've barely spoke to you in the last week as well, because you've been off Gallivanting since getting out. Yeah, I've been quite lonely. I've not spoke to you or anyone else in the camp, actually. It's just been me and Henry swarling around.

Nice. Did you have some, well, how was quarantine? Let's start there. I found it a lot tougher than I thought I would. Have we spoken about this? No, sure. Well, I remember you saying that you want, well, you're glad you did it because you now appreciate what teams around the world have kind of been having to do. I feel like we do speak about this a lot, but like you see so many people pulling out of like cricket tournaments now, don't you? Because of more bubble life.

Like Jason Roy being the latest victim of it, but it's got to end soon, hasn't it? Got to, it's got to. But yeah, I'm good, I'm out, I'm free. I'm currently just sighting my room because it's podcast recording day. It is podcast recording day. We forgot a little bit about it. We had to remind each other this morning. Whoops.

I text you this morning like, babe, we need to do the podcast. It just kind of floats into, you don't have weeks when you're on tourdy. You don't have days. You have like moments. So you know it's training day. You know it's travel day or you know it's game day. For you, I'm guessing similar but without the training. Yeah.

Although no, with the training. as in you don't have a media training day no I just have to go and get through my overs somewhere on the beach or something delightful no but a commentator isn't thinking I've got a training day I've got a meed you know what I mean yeah forget you a cricketer for a minute oh okay yeah so Stefan was saying today

he's only now got one day or two days off work before he goes home from the World Cup because if you count the day before a game with all the press conferences where you've got to work and write your articles and then the game day and then obviously

post game day writing and I said luckily for me I've just got game days I guess we can add homework days into it maybe there you're training days

homework days yes yes nice how are you yeah I'm good thank you we've just arrived in Hamilton which is where we play the first game of the World Cup

so it all definitely feels a lot more real now since we've been in Christchurch playing warm-up games and it's like World Cup bug has kind of hit the group now. Yeah, we're driving to Hamilton, not tomorrow the day after to come and watch. I didn't realize we weren't staying there, so we're staying in Mount Manganoi and then just going to travel. So I don't actually get to proper catch up with you until you're here in the

Mount. We have two games in the Mount, though, don't we? Yes. And also, did you know, Manganoi, Mount Manganoi, translates to Mountain. So it's called Mount Mountain. Nice, a little bit of information. Don't know how useful that is, but a little bit of information for everyone to start your day off or end your day. That's how my homework's going.

Nice, I like that. Mount Manganoi, when we have two games there, is like the last time that we're in one place for more than three days, I think. Now it's literally going to be nonstop. You get to a hotel room, you go to sleep, you play a game of cricket, you get to the next hotel room.

It's going to be crazy from now. Are you ready? I think I am. Yeah, it's weird because I've never experienced this before. So I'm only kind of lightening it to franchise cricket now where you literally travel around and play different teams, so like the 100 or the Big Bash, whatever. But I think I'm ready.

I don't know. Yeah. I was slightly concerned yesterday and text another member of your staff saying, is Crossie all right? Because I text you saying, did you bowl well? You just said, okay, thanks. So I was like, oh no. Oh, no. Did it go really wrong?

Has it gone really right? And she's panicking that it's too good. And then I just got a message saying she's probably just catching up on her phone post the game. I was like, okay, don't overthink. She's all right. No, well, you said did you bowl all right? I was like, yeah, all right.

Like it wasn't, I didn't ball well. I didn't ball badly. It was just like an okay day. Yeah. You get everything out of the warm games that you needed? I think we did. I say we obviously as a team because it's the first time we've played cricket since the ashes.

so I feel like the Bangladesh game was the perfect first runout for us like we got 300 plus on the board someone scored 100 we had loads of big partnerships all the batters got time in the middle and then the bowling unit were able to have long spells you know get into some rhythm so it did that felt like the perfect game and then we you know without sounding arrogant we kind of blew south Africa out the water yesterday and you and katherine just bowled so well up front and that was their first game game because they didn't play against Bangladesh. So I think as a group, you've got your, or you know, your big names firing already, which I think is going to give us loads of

confidence going into it. But yeah, I guess you just never know, because on World Cup Day is literally like, it's anyone's game, isn't it? It's who, I guess, deals with the pressure the best on the day. And Crossy, how does it feel to actually win a game again? Literally when we beat Bangladesh We all sat in the dresser room And everyone's kind of getting ready Ice Bath in doing what they need to do Sort of food out

I was like girls First win of the year Like I think we should We should have a little moment here We obviously didn't sing the team song Though first win Of the whole English cricket winter tour Men and Women

Yes So good good day Good yeah good week I'd say I feel like everyone got what they needed out of it I think everyone's now just ready to play cricket properly again and warm up games are great but you go into them really selfishly knowing what you need to get out of it and almost result is a bit irrelevant but yeah it just felt like everyone's kind of chomping at the bit to get going on Saturday now which is mad because

it's two days away I know cross it you're playing in a 50 over World Cup it's like what dreams are made of yeah so that's all I've got to report really there's not really been anything significant that's happened other than I was playing some more games. It's a bit boring really. Yeah, it's a bit boring. I've got nothing either, so should we just end it there? Well, I was going to ask you how Queenstown was, because I know you had a little jaunt to Queenstown. Yes, we did. So went to Queenstown for two days, and we did every activity under the sun. So we did like a speedboat race thing where you went through the... Through the valleys. Yeah, through the valleys for an hour

and learnt a bit about Queenstown. Don't ask me what, because I wasn't listening to that. taking in all the views. What else did we do? We were going to do a bungee jump, but I'm too scared of that. Well, you messaged me saying you were going to climb the mountain that we all climbed, and I was like, I'll make sure you've eaten any carbs. It's quite tough, like, it's not a nice walk. It was a nice walk, obviously, because of the views, but it's quite difficult.

And you were like, oh, I don't think we're going to do it. And then next minute you're like, I can't do this mountain, turning back, going home too hard. Crossy, when I say, I was like, I was like a puppy so I had the zoomies I was like racing up so 45 minutes of like

just pure incline isn't it at the start yeah at the beginning it's well hard so I think next time I do it I'm gonna get the gondola halfway okay

yeah but then I got to like the bit and there's a mountain on the left and one on the right and I was like well if it's the one on the right we're nearly there

and Henry he was like if it's the one on the left I am categorically not doing that and I was like it's not gonna be that one because that is so big. I was like, we're not doing that one.

It was the one on the left. Yeah, Ben Lomond, yeah. And actually, I'll give you a little fact. So, Ben Lomond is taller than Scarfell Pike, which is the tallest mountain we have in England, and it's actually taller than that. So when our girls did it, they basically climbed higher than you could do in England.

Yeah. You turned around after about three and a half hours. Yeah, so we went, me, Dunks and Lammy went to the saddle, which is like, I don't know why it's called the saddle or what that means, but we went to that bit and then we're like, right, we've had enough now, let's go, get some lunch and everyone else carried on. I can't believe they did it. So the bit on the left where you're like, won't be that bit, when we turned around after like 20 minutes of going downhill, we turned around and we could just see these teeny, teeny, tiny tiny little people like walking up this mountain edge cliff and we're like, that can't be them, but it also has to be them. yeah one of your guys was just like the second bit was so much harder than the first bit and I was like I'm glad I turned around I just ran out of energy

I'd just not eating enough I didn't have any water I literally went in my casuals like I don't know what I was thinking but it was horrific and I'm really sad that I've not done it but I'll do it next time and I'll be more prepared but when you do it next time you won't have done it because you've got a gondola halfway up so technically it's cheating but technically I did the first bit

So maybe... Oh, so you're putting two together? You're going to put the two... Right, okay, nice, okay. And then I'll have done Ben Lomond. Nice, okay. Do you have anything on your sticky note? I have indeed.

Oh, lovely. This is the first. Do you feel an all right? Yeah. So I've got four things on my sticky note. Okay, I've only got one. The first thing was the day of checkout from quarantine. I rang and said,

Hello, please can I come for a walk? It's Alex Hartleyer in. 519, there's no walking today because it's checkout day. I was like, I don't check out till 6pm. They're like, yeah, you're not allowed to walk today. I was like, oh. I mean, first of all, the fact that you had to ring up to ask permission to go for a walk is mad. But yeah, that rule makes no sense.

No, so the last day of quarantine was easily, easily the hardest. Because obviously I couldn't leave. But as soon as I left, we dumped our bags and went to the pub. All right, would you rather have to do that whole day again, 6pm checkout, can't walk, or climb the entire Ben Luman Mountain? Climb the mountain, I really want to do it. I was just so under-prepared. Okay.

One burrito for the day is just not enough. No, nowhere near enough. Yeah, so the second thing I must take it out is we've had a really, really sad announcement, Crossy. you had a text message that said word for word good news all we're allowed to give our hats to the umpires no more broken caps kathy which means there's no more hat stacking no hat stacking women's world cup will take place this year which i'm really sad about because i was so ready to do the hat stacking world cup honestly so when we played the warm-up games we obviously like practice that bit as well

because we've not been doing that for two years and everyone I gave me a cat to the umpire well I gave mine to Jackie yesterday in a warm-up game and she was like she just stared at me she didn't take the hat and I was like you're allowed to take them now Jackie

and she was like oh alright okay but she just forgot as well because it's just not been a thing for two years but I know that Jackie the umpire I know exactly who you mean because in 2016 Catherine Brunk kept bowling no balls in the West Indies

and she turned around and went Jackie that is not a no ball so now from that I know who Jackie is okay nice so yeah I'm glad you've got that so in the first game we're in the little huddle before we go out to bowl and Heather's like don't forget girls

you know really good news you can hand your hats to the umpire and everyone's like whey and I had to do like a really fakes file like uh yeah good news great I was like if anyone wants to give the hat to me though like oh you know I will still take your hat I'll accept your hat I will still stack them on my very large head.

Very large bunt, yes. But it means you can't break anybody's cats, I suppose. Very true. And Catherine can't fake slap me on the pitch, so win-win. Win, win. Third thing on my sticky note, Lizelle Lee has had a baby. Yay!

And I was 99.9% sure she was not coming to this World Cup. She's not given birth, her partner's given birth. Yeah. But she's only missing the first game. She's here. She's in New Zealand. Crazy. The baby is seven days old today.

Crazy. So we played South Africa in the warm day and I went up to Minion and I said Minion, how do I pronounce La Zelle's little boy's name? Because it's obviously like South African name that is not a name that you'd hear in England. And I thought he was called Weehan. He's called Vhan. Vhan. So it's a V. not a W.

Vihan. So, Vihan Lee, welcome to the world. I hope you're as good at cricket as your mum is because you're going to go far. Yeah. So congratulations, Lizelle. And why have you come over? Like, just give England a bit more of a chance

and stay at home. Look after your baby. Oh, could you imagine? It's not a short tournament either, so you know it's like five weeks. That baby's going to be two months old by the time she gets home. That poor child,

slash what, not a poor child. but we'll have changed so much in five weeks. They don't do much for the first couple of weeks, though. They're just little blobs that rely on milk, so... She's not going to miss a great deal. Yeah, I hate newborns because I don't want to touch them because I feel like I'm going to break them. Yeah, they are very fragile, aren't they?

So if and when I come to have children, if I could give birth to a four-month-old, that would be ideal. Okay. Well, and what's the last thing on you sticking out? I think we should talk about post your sticking up. Okay. I have written down on my sticking out. out, wordle.

Have you tried swirdle? I've not tried swirdle. I have tried Loodle, though, which... What's that one? So, well, for anyone that doesn't know what a wordal is, I was really scared of it because I only knew about it through Twitter, and I didn't want to play it. I love a word game, don't get me wrong,

but I didn't want to play it because I was too scared that you had to post it on Twitter. Yeah. I didn't get it. Anyway, I found out that... I've got to mute wordle. Well, since then I found out you don't. have to and people are choosing to post things on Twitter, which is even more of a question

mark for me, really. Anyway, Wordle is a game that renews every 24 hours. I think it's from the New York Times, but basically you go online and you try and guess a five-letter word, but if you get letters in the right place, they come up green. If you've got letters that are in the word, but in the wrong place, they come up yellow. So you've got to try and figure out what the word is, but you only get the six guesses. There is, however, another one called Loodle. which is lewd words and it's run by the urban dictionary. So it's basically swear words, rude words, anything that's basically up your street.

I'm going to just write that down because I've been playing swirdle. And that's just swear words, four letter swear words. And it's the only, I can't do wordle crossy it because I just don't have the brain capacity for it. Yeah. Whereas four letter swear words, I keep getting them on a second try.

Nice, bit of you. Well, we actually, like, when we get on the bus in the morning to go to training or go to a game, it's like wordal time, so everyone's on their phone playing wordal now. And then it's like if someone gets it, they're trying not to give too many clues away. But then Harry, our digital guy, the other day, was playing with Dino. He doesn't play it, actually. He was just sat next to Dino and she was playing it. And he just said the word out loud.

And we were like, everyone fell out with him for like 45 minutes. Oh, Harry. And he was like, I don't play this game. I don't know what I'm doing. And we're like, yes, but you've also been in social interactions before. Like, you know how to deal with people. Terrible. Terrible wordal etiquette.

That's it, that's all I've got. I'm sticking out. But great game, so are you good at Wurdle? I can imagine you're quite good at Wurdle. I'm all right at it. Yeah, I'm one of those that I just give it a go, like throw words in if they're wrong, then. I'm willing to take a risk, I guess.

Have you got a starting word that you use all the time? No, I don't actually. I use a different word every day. Oh, interesting. My last thing on my sticking out is Ash Gardner Yes, Ash Gardner The girl's got COVID

I feel, oh my God Like, she's worked so hard for such a long time And she's got COVID Could you imagine Like put yourself in her position Two days out from your opening game And a World Cup And not only is it that you can't play

She's now stuck in a room on her own I know, I know I feel so sorry for her and we knew it was going to happen you know Heather Knight came out and said this is not going to be a COVID-free tournament it can't be but I was not expecting

an Australian to get COVID first it's been really strange really because like I must admit I thought the rules would tighten up as we got closer to the tournament but they haven't so you're still allowed to make judgment calls as to what you think is a safe place to go and get a takeaway coffee

you know, not too busy, that kind of thing. But generally I've found that as we've started playing certainly the warm-up games last week in Christchurch, like you don't get back to 8pm, you don't really want to go out to dinner so you get an Uber Eats in, you eat in your room or eating in the team room. So, like, she must have been so unlucky to have picked COVID up. Yeah. But I was then also thinking if I was the Australian team, I'd be so worried about, like, the close contact element of it now.

And, yeah, not a nice position to be in. The England men's, like, families all got COVID, didn't they? And it didn't spread through the players. So for Australia's sake, hopefully nobody else gets COVID. I must admit for us, like, we heard it today just before we flew. And it was like probably a bit of a reminder for us that it's still here, still part of the game. We've still got to be really strict and sensible.

And, yeah, it's probably a bit of a wake-up call. Yeah. It could still very much affect the group. because, yeah, you just, I think when you're in a tournament like this, you just don't, you don't want it to be anything that could have been avoidable. No, I just don't let it be you, Crossie. I'll literally not left my room for, like, other than to play cricket, I don't, there's no way that I would give myself, like, the chance of,

in fact, I'm not even going to say it, because then if it happens, and I get quoted as saying it, I'll just look like a right idiot, so I'm not going to. But she was about to say she's not going to give a chance to get, so. Mute her, Henry, mute her. Al, I've got a little surprise for you. Oh, yeah. Moving on. Because it's the Eve of the World Cup,

you are going into the first game of the tournament tomorrow as a commentator, having played in the 20th... So I don't know if anyone knows this. Al's never spoken about it. She's never brought it up on this podcast. If you're new to the podcast. Alex played in the 2017 World Cup.

She played a big part of it. player of the, you're in the team of the tournament, if I remember correctly? Yes, I was indeed. Just pipped at the final post by Tammy Bowman as player of the series? Yeah. Well, tournament, not series. Yeah. I don't know, I can't remember.

All right, well, great. Now, did I get a player of the series? Whatever it was, I can't remember. Well, my thinking was, because you bang on about it so much, and you got so much to say about the 2017 World Cup, I've prepared you a little quiz to see how much you actually paid attention in that World Cup

Okay, I like it, okay So, guys, England won the World Cup in 2017 and Crossy is about to go and defend that title and defend that trophy And if they don't, just steal it and bring it back anyway because I want to be able to say I'm still a World Cup winner Yeah, well you'll always be a World Cup winner

That's the beauty of it, it doesn't matter who wins this one doesn't mean your medal becomes null and void so you've got a quiz for me got a quiz 12 questions long there's a few bonus questions but yeah

are you ready to play no I don't think I am how many questions out of 12 do you think you're going to get right now you know me I think I will get two or three I think that's generous okay

question number one in the 2017 Alex quiz What date was the first game That Ingun played Date Date What? What? It was Derby against India

We lost It was The 28th of June That's not far off You know But that's wrong It's the 24th of June

Oh I knew that's my brother's birth Oh, Ali. Didn't he go on watch as well with all his mates? It was his 21st birthday, he brought all his mates to come on a watch so he could have a few beers. Oh, stinker. Wow, that went well. Okay, question number two. What were your figures in that game?

Oh, no. One for 40. No. None for 38 off 7 Oh that was a bad day England actually only had India 3 down in that match Oh and I yeah I didn't get one of them That's a bad day for me I had a

Yeah Wasn't many games I was wicketless I should remember that Question number three What were the five grounds Used for the World Cup Bristol Derby

Leicester Yeah Taunton and Lords Correct Well done One point Yes Just one

What was the prize money For the winners Individually Nope As a team Let me just do some maps Quick maps Thousand

You better not be googling this No I'm googling the I think it was 750 grand It was 660,000 US dollars Okay so it wasn't as much as I thought Yeah so I don't know where you're collecting all your money from No I remember getting my money and being really annoyed That the tax man like double tax sticks it came from abroad

Yeah that makes sense okay Right we're nearly halfway through and you've got one question right so far Oh wait crossy the prize money has been doubled for this World Cup I know I saw that I saw it So do you remember what I did for you Gave you some money

Did he give me money I mean no The team did Didn't we technically Yeah But now I'm not part of the team So that's like I was going to say

A bit of a difference Because the team gave The girls who played In the championship leading up to the Qualification of the World Cup They gave the money To those people

Not to you Who's not played sins Imagine that Ebate well here's some money Here you go Anyone who has ever played in the past here, I'm a fiver. Right, question number five, in round four, you played against South Africa. Who did you get out?

I didn't. I didn't get a wicket. He did. Are you all right? Did I? Yep. I don't think I got a wicket against South Africa. The semi-final, I didn't get a wicket. Oh, okay, so I got Minion out.

Nope. You got Suna Lose out. Oh, did I? Yep, I'm going to ask you how you got her out, but I'm guessing you don't know that either. LBW? No, caught by not a scyver. I caught midwicket then.

Question six. Who was your final group stage game against? Oh, no idea. Australia. West Indies? Brilliant. Who did you get out in that game? I got.

Haley Matthews. Yep. I got... I don't know. I just remember Matthews because she reviewed it on DRS and it was in the middle of middle. Maybe I only got one for.

Correct. You only got Hayley Matthews out. Well done. Yes. One point. Right. You played against South Africa in the semi-final. Yeah.

Who won the toss and who elected to do what? Heather Won the toss and bowled South Africa won the toss and batted What time Did the final start Oh it was really weird time It wasn't 11 o'clock or half ten

I think it was like 1040 Yeah it was 1030 Oh yeah Who top scored for England in the final? Jenny Gunn Nat. Oh, she got 49! She got 51 out.

Oh! Oh, this is so much worse than I thought it was going to be. Do you know why I thought it was Jenny Gunn? Because she had a nice little... Cameo at the back end to get us up to 200. No, I think she's got like 20. What were your figures in the final? Two for 58.

Off how many? Ten. Correct. And who did you get out? I don't know. I got harm and freak core out. Yeah. And then I bowled someone around the legs and I still, to this day, don't know who it was. I think it was the wicket keeper. It was. Shushma Verme, yes, I'll give you that because I feel very sorry for you.

you're going to have a point for that. So out of a possible, God knows how many, you've got three. Right. Now is my chance to explain why. Going into that World Cup, I'd played cricket for England,

obviously, and I was very new to the team. And I was so, I like to say naive, you like to say oblivious. As to, the occasion, what was going on, and I just, like, literally put on my spikes and went out to bowl, and that was it,

took them off and had an Uber Eats, and, like, that was my day, every single day of that World Cup. Yeah, and it seems to be in between the time if you're putting your spikes on and taking them off, you had your eyes shut. I don't think I dropped a catch in that World Cup that wasn't off my own bowling.

I dropped a few off my own bowling. I remember dropping, I think, Haynes, and then she went on to get some runs, and that wasn't good. but yeah, shambolic, so I don't have a good memory, which is why when I'm now commentating, I have to write every single detail down. Yeah.

It also goes to show, I was listening back to Nat and Catherine's episode the other day, like, you two were like, take it all in, make sure you're present at every moment, and then you don't remember a thing. I honestly thought you'd be like, who umpired the final? I'd have been like, I couldn't tell you.

I thought they were quite tough questions, but relatively like you should have known the answer to a lot. of them. There'll be people out there that know the answers to my questions that you've just done. I can't wait to, in four years' time, redo that quiz with you. We will not be doing this podcast in four years' time. I mean, we forgot about it this week, so. We're already struggling for guests. Yeah. Shall we head upstairs for a very quick one with an umpire? Yeah, I think we should. I know how I want to go upstairs with this week, because I saw him in a lift the other day.

Alex Worf. Do you know what? I wouldn't mind going upstairs with Alex Worf. I'm keen for that. Let's go upstairs with Alex Warf. Greetings. I'm a 16-year-old bread knife washer with a toaster

permanently on the kitchen counter. I'm writing this on the day that the fixtures for the England Women's Summer are being on. released and thrilled to see that the team will be playing an ODI at Lords. So my question is, does playing at Lords have a different feeling to other grounds? And if so, can you put that feeling into words? Yes, it does. Have you ever played at Lords?

Yes, I've played a game for the MCC there in the, when we played the rest of the world. I watched that game. I was drinking beers. I'm surprised you remember. I remember it more than my own career. It does have a different feel, doesn't it? It does, and I think anyone that plays cricket around the world, like men or women, will always say Lords has got a different feel to it.

Because it's just, it's so prestigious, isn't it? And it's got so much history, and I think there's an element of that to it. Yeah, I'm going to say something now that I might regret. Okay. I didn't enjoy playing at Lords. For what reason? On the training day, you're not allowed to drag your bag across the field. You've got to go all the way around.

They lock all the doors so you can't get out. So I'm like locked in the pavilion going, excuse me, which door can I get out? Like, well, you can't wait your spikes through here. I'm like, but I'm walking through here tomorrow to get onto the pitch. Can't wait spikes in there. Can't get your bag out the front door.

It's locked. And you've got to drag it downstairs, but you can't drag it. You've got to carry it. And it is the most stressful 10 minutes. And it really, like, if I never played at Lodes again, I wouldn't be disappointed. But I think that's kind of part and parcel with Lourdes

because of, like, that's the history. that's like the long room and you can't be not disrespectful but it's all like sacred isn't it and that's the specialness of playing there but the one thing that everyone does talk about is the food yes the food amazing isn't it I say I wouldn't be disappointed that's a lie because the first thing I did when I signed for my 100 team was to see if they were playing at lords or not I also think if you played at lords more frequently you'd know all those little nuances so you'd know where you could get out of the pavilion or not

so I feel like because we don't play there enough maybe it's all very new to us when we do play there it was all just very stressful but the slope do you think did the slope affect you not when I bowled actually no I tried to just bowl as if I would normally ball

and then was getting it to kind of I think I actually got a least Perry out with a nip backer up the slope so it should have gone down the slope and it knit back up the slope and LB so yeah I also have a couple of LBWs for you speaking of as listening to the podcast

has made me think about all the little bit weird things that I do in my life when I'm adjusting volume on a device the volume must be a multiple of five this causes problems when the scale goes up to 10 such as my phone meaning that your podcast is either very loud or somewhat quiet

that makes sense yeah I'm an even number but I don't like the number 18 so I put it on the number 7 Oh. Yeah. Why don't you like the number 18? I think my ex-partner that we were together for years and years and years, his squad number was 17.

So we always used to just put the telly on 17. So now I just put stuff on 17. Just have it. Wow. Yeah, just have it. Also, when I'm traversing a staircase. Does that mean? Tackling a staircase?

Yeah, when you're tackling a staircase, okay. I have to skip at least one step. matter which step, but I have to skip one. However, this is only the case when going up and not down. Okay, yeah. A lot of people do that, don't they? But just one, that's random. That is random. Have you ever tried to go downstairs without touching any of the stairs? So, like, you put your hands on the, your hands on the banister each side and fling yourself down? Well, it depends how long the stairs are, I'm guessing. I used to do it all the time.

Like Spider-Man, watch this, and jump down stairs. Anyway, keep up the great work, love the podcast, it brings joy to a rainy day. Many thanks, Shay, but this person is not 16. No. It brings joy to a rainy day. How lovely. Hi, both. I have been re-listening to your old podcast in order because I'm not a psychopath.

And it got me thinking, who has been your favourite guest on the podcast so far and who would be your dream guest for the podcast. Keep up the good work on and off the pitch. Ben. P.S. no pressure crossy, but I'm using the day England got knocked out or more likely win the World Cup as a deadline for the first draft of my uni dissertation. PPS, if you're reading this in six months, I'm sure the dissertation went fine. Well, first of all, I feel the pain about the dissertation because I've got to start thinking about writing mine soon and I'm starting to panic. So good luck with that. Best guess we've had, is an impossible question because I put on my story the other day

that the Siverbruns were up there as like my favourite guest and every, well, six guests that we've had on this podcast messaged me saying, brilliant. And I got really, I got really bad so I had to change it and put top three. Yeah, nice. Because we have had some amazing guests. We had Hen, obviously, telling their story. Yeah, that was special.

We had Shooter, Megan Shook, giving us an exclusive that. They were playing India in a test match. Yeah. We had Glenn Maxwell. Like, before this podcast was big, we had Glenn on. Yeah. Honestly, we've had amazing people on. We've had producer Henry Moran on as a guest.

We had Simon Kattich. That was a random one. Oh, my God. Carlos was amazing. Oh, we've had some unbelievable guests. It's impossible to pick. It's impossible because every, Every time we come off, we're like, they were amazing, they were brilliant, how are we going to top that?

And then someone else comes on and they tell their story and it's brilliant and amazing. Have you ever had a guest where you've gone, oh, is that going to be all right? I actually, yeah, well, I had, I prepared a quiz for a guest just recently about a World Cup that they were involved in and they didn't know any of the answers and it was all a bit awkward. I never thought I'd be a guest on my own podcast. I don't think you were. I don't think I can consider you as a guest. You're that bad. Oh, that's bad.

No mind. Dear Alex and Kate, in a recent show, Alex said how she felt about losing her England place. I thought this was one of the saddest things that I had heard for quite some time. Particularly is from her commentaries, she comes across as a very enthusiastic person. My question is, given her past England travails, what would Alex say if she was offered an England recall? Good luck to you both in New Zealand. Best wishes Richard. Richard we shouldn't laugh at that because it is

really sad she said while she's laughing Richard if you'd have asked me that question a year ago I'd have said absolutely not categorically no if England have a COVID crisis in this World Cup and they really desperately need a left off spinner

I will say yes and I do say never say never and I've said it on a different podcast I've said it in an interview I would like to play cricket for England again, but I genuinely don't think I'm quite good enough or good enough anymore. Very fair answer. Slash, who's going to be better than Sophie Eccleston?

Yeah, but you never know. Like Ash Gardner is the perfect example of you just don't know what's going to happen. Yeah, very, very true. Should do some LBWs? I've got one here, and it's titled Big Head Club. Okay, I'm interested in this one. Oh, no, this is going to be about. Dear Kate and Alex,

I am very glad to hear that Kate is a member of the massive Bons Club. My head is just over 62 centimetres, and it can make life quite tricky. My cricket team at school got adjustable caps that only went up to 61 centimetre. So, I had to strap the tapes together at the back. Similarly, similarly, similarly, say the word for me. I don't know what the word is now, you've said it wrong so many times.

Similarly, similarly. Similory. Similarly, similarly. Similarly. I now have to make my own scrub hats to wear in the operating theatres that work because my head is too big to tie it not properly in the disposable ones that we get. but they do say that people with big heads have more brain packed in there sorry Alex

people have the good work Freddy Wow Freddy must be like a nurse or a surgeon or a doctor or something if they're wearing scrubs that's well called Yeah and they make their own scrub hats in the operating theatre because their head doesn't fit

The heads are too big I mean it is obviously very true If I'm doing wordle and you're doing swirdle I've obviously got more brains than you And I had to refresh the old swear words I googled them the other day Hi Kate and Alex Firstly commiserations crossy

On the outcome of the washes But good luck for the World Cup coming up I feel like we're on top of our emails at the minute Something I've only found out recently Is that my mum stirs her tea In an anti-clockwise direction Whereas I've always stood it clockwise Which is the correct way

It's odd that people stir their teeth tea in different directions. Also, I count to 30 as I stir my tea, so I know the milk sugar and boiled tea bag water have had plenty of time to get to know each other. Is there an appropriate amount of time to stir your tea before drinking it? Keep up the great work you're doing. The podcast is certainly a highlight of my week. All the best, Lee. I have never thought about stirring coffee or tea until right now, and I stir it clockwise. I go clockwise too. Anticlockwise is weird. Anticlockwise is really. Anticlockwise is really. really weird.

I do three bag squeezes and that's enough for me. Okay. I don't drink. I don't drink tea, what are you going to say? Yeah, I don't. You just said I stir my tea clockwise. Yeah, for podcast purposes, I mean, I coffee. I stir my coffee clockwise. Okay, okay, yeah.

No, you don't drink tea, do you? No, tea is just warm brown water with milking. That is an accurate description of what tea is, well done. Yeah. Okay, but yeah, a bit weird, though. Very weird. How many times, what do you count to while you're spinning your tea? Well, that's why I did my squeezes,

because I do three squeezes against the cup. Let it get water in it again, squeeze it against the cup, let it get water in again, three of those, and then that's it for me. Put a bit of milk in done. Slam a timetam in it. Strange. How good. How good.

How good. Hi, Alex, Kate, and H. Okay, just in case. I've been wanting to email in for a long time, but since I've been listening to the back catalogue, I didn't feel like I had the right until I was finally caught up. Today is that day, long time listener, first time emailer. Yes.

When I first started listening, I struggled to think of my own little bit weird, almost to the point I thought I was so boring that I didn't have one. That was until I started living with my partner. Oh, this is good. Yes. We both like to crack our knuckles and get immense satisfaction from doing it. Not that weird, I know a lot of people that do the same. Where I think it goes into an LBW territory

is when we crack each other's knuckles back and even toes, it's sometimes so bad that instead of a hello or honey I'm home, my partner will just ask me straight away to crack her back seconds as I walk through the door. Right, I found all of this a bit weird until the crack in the back thing because you can't crack your own back sometimes and you in the past

have to ask people to crack your back yeah she will sometimes even just start pulling at my toes while I'm horizontal in the couch and hope to see some of them go crack that's weird I'm pretty sure this is weird but it's become part of our routine

and I'm firmly here for it okay do you know what we can't judge anyone's relationships really Like, no one, if cracking each other's toes is the thing that you like doing, go for it. Keep up the amazing work. You make my morning bike rides into work very enjoyable in the dark winter mornings. Lots of love. Go well, Eddie.

Cracking knuckles, I do, like I do it. Like, I do it all the time. Cracking someone else's knuckles, not so sure how I feel about that. But also, I don't like people who crack their necks. really puts me off. Crack what next? Yeah, I don't like that. But then I get jealous because the pressure, the relief must be amazing.

I always just think like, what if you get paralysed? It's not worth it. Yeah. Exhibit A of Crossy catastrophizing this. Yeah. Yeah. You keep freezing, so I think on that note we should say goodbye. Good luck in the over.

opening game of England's World Cup campaign. Thank you. Good luck to you tomorrow, commentating on the first game of the actual World Cup. Thank you. I am well and truly, firmly, knee-deep in England's camp, so come on, girls. Nice.

Love that, unbiased bias. Yeah, yeah. Don't forget to no ballers on. Do you know what? I saw the no context post today, and I was like, I don't get it. When did I say that? Who said, if you want to no-ball us, and I didn't get it.

But yeah, if you want to know-ball us, email us on. If you want to eat, no-balls podcast at bbc.com.com.com.com. It's so good. It's so good. They've said it twice. We hope you're all all right. See you, everybody. See you soon. Bye.

And cross-strikes in the first over. It's what England we're looking for. Hartley balls. Down the track comes scoring this time, chicken egg. It's either six or out, it's six. Have you just missed that amazing goal on five luck? Oh, what a goal! It's not that dreams are made of!

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