Test Match Special - No Balls: The Cricket Podcast - Test match fun, publicity shoots and a chat with James Taylor

Episode Date: June 22, 2021

Fresh from a thrilling Test match in Bristol, Kate Cross and Alex Hartley reveal all from the field and commentary box. Plus, former England batsman James Taylor joins the pod.

This BBC podcast is supported by ads outside the UK. The Dakar Rally is the ultimate off-road challenge. Perfect for the ultimate defender. The high-performance Defender Octa, 626 horsepower twin turbo V8 engine and intelligent 6D dynamics air suspension. Learn more at landrover.ca. BBC Sounds, music, radio, podcasts. Hello, I'm Mark Chapman.

Before you get stuck into this podcast, I want to tell you about the Daily Euros. The Football Daily podcast is changing as we turn our full attention to the international stage. It'll be your daily dose of Euros analysis, debate and news as we bring you all the action with some of the biggest names in the game. We'll have reporters inside all the Home Nations camps bringing you interviews with the players, coaches and managers throughout the tournament. So join us and get ready for the Euros like no other on the Daily Euros. Listen on BBC Sounds. Now, back to your podcast. And cross strikes in the first over.

It's what England we're looking for. Partley balls. Down the track comes scoring. This time, chicken out. It's either six or out. It's six. Hello, and welcome back to Nobles. Balls the Cricket podcast with me, Alex Hartley, and you, the, I want to say test superstar,

but not quite Kate Cross. Oh, God's sake, Al. Thanks, thanks for that. Before we start talking about the test match, though, can we just double check that you've actually plugged your microphone in this week? Because obviously, you're a commentary superstar now, and the first podcast we put out on the BBC, you forgot to plug your mic in? I plugged my mic in.

I just didn't turn it off. Oh, well done. So is it turned on this week? And if you can hear it, it's not on. But if you can't, it's on. Silence, silence. I can't hear it. Yes. For anybody that doesn't know, before we get into it, I'm just going to give a little round of what's been going on this week. So you've been playing in a test match against India. And England got a massive first inning score.

score and then you bowled in and you're out and you made them follow on and it was a really hard fought game but unfortunately it ended up in a draw but how are you feeling do you know what I'm actually not as bad as I thought I was going to be I mean wait if I had to go out and warm up again this morning I think I would have struggled I'd have found a way of getting through it because I've done that for four days but for the for the fourth consecutive day. Honestly, we have to film monitoring and out every day, you know, on our daily thing that we've got to send into the ECB.

And I was counting up the minutes that I spent in the field yesterday and it was 390 minutes in the field and that was just yesterday, day four. So add all the other days up, thank God we had that rainbreak. So day one, you text me in the evening and you were like, what a bonus. I get to carb bowl load tonight because I'm going to be in the field tomorrow. You spent every single day in the field there on out.

Yeah, but I loved it because how good was it that we enforced the follow on? Like I've not seen many, I've not seen that happen many times in any test cricket that played. And the fact that we were part of that, and obviously we were trying to be aggressive, trying to get a result out of the game, I just thought that it was pretty exciting. However, there was a part where I looked at the big clock at Bristol and I thought, that's wrong. And it said it was 20 to 3.

I thought it must be 23 in the morning because we have been out here for so long and you know when you get a bit delusional about the time you just don't know what, if someone had done a concussion test on me I wouldn't have been able to tell you what day it was, what time it was. So I got the same sort of feeling in the comms box.

I checked the time and I was like, oh, it must be nearly tea, 10 past 2. I was like, what is happening? When I came back on to bowl right at the end of the day, obviously we were trying to get the last two wickets and I came on and did that spell at the end. I was walking back to my mark I said to Sophie who was at mid-on

I said sof is he just me or does it feel like we've been on this pitch for 45 hours and Chris the umpire turned around and went more like 45 days so my favourite thing to do on the radio was refer to Sue Redfern and Chris Walt as umpire Sue and umpire Chris and then it just

just everyone latched onto it and it just kept referring to Sue Redfern as umpire Sue and I thought it was brilliant I had so much fun with Sue Because obviously a few people tweeted Saying if any referrals go upstairs When I'm bowling at Sue's end It'll be brilliant

If she calls a no ball it'll be brilliant And she kept saying to me She kept bantering me going Oh crossy close to that front line I was like Sue I can see my spike marks behind that line I can see them I was like don't you dare

She did call a no ball Right at the end of this game Georgia Elvis I think was bowling It was a no ball I wasn't on air but I was at the back of the comments box and I was like, The Cricket podcast!

She was loving it. She was loving it. How was your four days? Anyway, first time you've done a long format commentary, wasn't it? I thought it would just be like a holiday for four days. Every single night, I was in bed at quarter past nine because I was absolutely drained.

Like, you were in bed earlier than me most nights. I can't believe how like mentally tiring it is. but I had so much fun and like the best game of cricket, the best test match, female test match I've watched in a long time. Well, that's because we play them every two years. Yeah, and then I said that on the radio. So it was like, you've only watched three. Yeah.

So come on, you want to do an interview, don't you? So I think it would be, I thought it would be a really good idea. For me, we're going to get crickety early. We are. We've spoke for six minutes about cricket already. This has never happened on this podcast. By the way, before we go into this, just want to say a huge massive thank you

for all the feedback that we had on our episode last week with Chris. Chris Wokes, the cricketer, not Chris the umpire, because it was just so nice to see and we had so much positive feedback and we've liked to enjoy it. And if you've got any negative feedback, just keep it to yourselves, can't be asked with,

I can't be bothered with another Twitter battle. Five-star reviews only. Right. So I thought it'd be really good to interview you to get your thoughts on the test match and how you found it in stuff. Do I have to be like ECB interview we're here. Okay, so obviously question number one, how was the test match? Yeah, it was

a, I can't be serious with you as a proper interview. Yeah, I think I've said it a few times on social media in the past couple of days, but it is always special when we get to play test football cricket, test match cricket, and when we get to wear our whites, because it doesn't happen often. And I genuinely, I was a bit anxious going into it because you're always worried that you've got one opportunity to showcase test cricket in the women's game because we don't play it often. So we've literally got one game this summer to do it and do it well. And so I really just wanted it to be a good game. And I was so pleased to read all the journalists, all the feedback that I got on the tweet I sent out and the Instagram I put out this morning. All the feedback

was really positive saying it was such a good game to watch. It ebbed and flowed. There was motion there was follow-ons there was everything so I'm just glad it was a really good game for a better game obviously England win would have been a better game but like it provided everything but would it have been a better game or actually the fact that India dug in that 109 run partnership for a ninth wicket stand was like that's being spoken about around the world on like Twitter and Instagram and stuff so would it have been a better game if we want obviously for us as players it would have been nice to have a result but actually I thought the fact that India didn't

crumble made it more, like there was more to talk about so you don't play test match cricket often and there was six debutantes across the two teams India having five but firstly Sophia Dunkley 74 not out on

test match debut like how good so so good and I said this in an interview with TMS actually but you know dunks we all obviously know dunks because she's part of our dressing. But she is the happiest girl that you will ever meet. She is the hardest worker and she's just so desperate to do well that it makes you so desperate for her to do well. So she goes out to bat and she was so nervous. There was so many, I can't remember how many of the were, but there was a load of LB reviews just before she was going in. So every time she puts her

helmet on, she puts gloves on and she has to take her helmet off and her gloves off because they were given not out. So she was so nervous. So we're just desperate for her to do well. And then end of day two she comes in her and Annia had had that little partnership and she comes in and everyone's tap her on the back and she goes oh did I do well and she just didn't know she didn't know how to play

the circumstance and we don't do because that's the thing about not playing much test cricket but she's just an absolute belter and I'm just so pleased that my mum was there for a start so that was really special. Epps gave her an amazing little speech that Heather read out to us in the huddle before she got a cap

Georgie did an amazing speech for her as well as her best mate in the team and obviously there's like the added layer of her being the first black woman to play test cricket for England as well so it was just so special and like I said you just really wanted her to do well The donkey smile is so infectious isn't it

like there's a picture of her with a 50 and like there's smile on her face and you can't like I'm smiling now like you can't help but just smile with her yeah and she's got a donkey laugh as well hasn't she like she's got a really infectious laugh yeah she's a belt and I'm so glad that that like she got to enjoy it as much

I asked her as we're having a drink as a team at the end of the game and I said did you enjoy it dunk she was like honestly it was nothing like what I expected but I loved it and she was going around at the end like everyone was obviously a bit disappointed not getting a result so we weren't flat in the dresser room at the end of it but obviously not celebrating the win and she's going around getting everyone to sign her shirt

and she's like crossy would you just mind signing this obviously dunk so she's got like a little memento Yeah, no, I'm all right, thanks. Oh, it's so cute. And then in came, Anna Shrug's All, and got 47 off. I don't even know how many balls. I'm going to say 30 odd balls and looked like she was, that game we played at Bristol and she whacked us to all parts.

I was on air going, I've been on the receiving end of this. I don't know what to do. Finally on the England stuff, actually two more points. You didn't bat. And I was so sad. Were you gutted or were you relieved? There was a point where I was really, really keen to go in because I was allowed to just go in

and try and score runs but then it got to the point where Hoof was just moosing it everywhere and I was like actually I'm only going to fail here if I are going because if I try and slog sweeps and want to get bowled I'm going to look like an idiot

but I did promise everyone that if Shulang came back on I was just going to ramp her first ball I was going to get my ramp out but no I was pretty it meant that I could just concentrate on bowling so yeah I think I was actually quite happy having that

you decided England were declaring in? Yeah, because Lisa had said to me and Heather had said to me that we were going to try and get 30 or 40 more after lunch, so it'd be like five overs, hopefully, that we'd get them in.

So if I, Lisa actually said to me, she went crossy, if you get in, you let Dunks know she can have a dip. And I was like, oh, but not me. But not me. You just got to get her on strike. Not me. And she goes, well, you know, mate, it can be quite hard to score as soon as you get in

so you get dunks on strike I thought for God say at least let me go in and have some fun but yeah there was a point where we'd scored at least 30 and Ani was still going like there was you know she was smoking it into the stands and I just said to Lisa I was like hey Lisa can I take my gloves and pads off now and put my ball in spikes on she was like yeah mate yeah mate so I tried to like sneak off so the cameras couldn't see me

but then I think daggers picked up on it and I heard on guy when I got in the dress room I heard him say oh Kate Cross was padded up and she's now disappeared I did notice that but I love that you decided England were declaring and Heather called them off but you you're the one Sophie Eccleston bold a whole ODI and war in two days like that poor girl how is she like have you seen her this morning so the only I guess the only way I can describe it to you as to how tired she was is that she's 22 years old and she's never had an injury touchwood and she's never needed any physio treatment never had stiffness never had don't never had a massage or anything as she

because she always said massages what are they for them probably make me more stiff yeah um and then last night she put in our group what's the go with the massages in the morning anna we've got massage therapist with us and i was like we've cracked her we've we've done it it took us 64 overs but we have done it so she was first on the slab this morning i hope she had a good hour because that poor girl I noticed she was at a fine leg towards the end of the game and everyone's like

she's a better fielder than that I was like watch her she's clinging onto her shoulder and she's throwing the ball under arm back to Amy Jones that girl is broken oh bless her but she's just

do you know what I was thinking we get to a point now with sofa where we just expect her to like this eighth for has not surprised me what does surprise me she's never had a five for Fringland I cannot believe that

she said that to me and I couldn't believe it but we just expect her to change games because she does it every time she plays cricket for England she does it every time she plays for us at Lanks or for Thunder or whoever it is and it's not how good she is at bowling

that I worry about now but it's the pressure that she is under when she plays because of that expectation level but she delivers every single time and it's just because of how naturally talented she is like she's a pleasure to watch as well and I was saying to everyone in the comments box you know when she's in the battle because she like gets a lot of momentum with her arms and a swing

of her arms because you told me that actually so i've kept on to it as a little bit of nugget like when she's not trying she sort of like just eases herself in yeah saunters in yesterday she was so fired up and really wanted that five for and i was gutted for her but the poor girl couldn't turn her arm over towards the end of her spell oh no bless it there was one part of the game she thinks she bowled in the morning and then she came off must have been before we had the new ball and um we lost her you know when she just goes into her own little world because she she she i think she'd got hit for a couple of fours. For Straker might have heard her.

I can't remember who it was. So I lost her for a little bit, so I'll play a game with her and see if I can get her back into the, onto the pitch. So I copied everything that she said. And normally it takes what, like two or three balls

for someone to notice that you're copying them. Three overs, I had her. Three overs, I was copying everything she said and she didn't pick up on it. But she'd done it to me the day before and I noticed she was doing it. So I'd be like,

come on Brunty, come on Brunty. And so she'd say the same thing. and then I noticed she said it so I was like come on you big lemon and she was like oh for God's sake come on you big lemon

it looked like you all had so much fun out there though yeah we did I've got a little stuff have you finished interviewing me yet I've got a little story I sort of did want to talk about Sheffali Verma

because I feel like we should talk about her go on them her test match debut I don't want to look past Dicti Sharma or anyone else but Shefali Verma there was a lot of talk in the media that

she's not going to open the bat in for India because she's just a T20 player and I said, hang on a minute. How do we know she's a T20 player? She's never played a test match. She's never played a test match. She's never played an ODR? She's not played a test match since 2014.

This girl should open the bat in. And it looked like it was always going to take something spectacular to get her out. Like genuinely did. And you got her out and I couldn't. No, it wasn't. It was heard of timing a shot. I couldn't have been more probably. He did.

And then that Brunty catch off Sophie Eccleston to dismiss her in the second innings, Like A few stories about that actually So first of all I got so much abuse online For getting her out I say getting her out in inverted commas Just before she got 100

Or so much abuse from all the Indian fans Like why didn't you let her get 100 I was like guys I genuinely think She got herself out there Because the shot she went for a 6 She went for 100 in style fair play to But that's the way she plays though isn't it Like everyone there's loads of criticism

Like why didn't you just knock it around but she doesn't take singles. She doesn't run. She sees a ball to hit and she hits it. Second, the catch, Bronte's catch. I was at mid-off for this. And no word of a lie, you cannot see the ball when it gets hit. So many times.

In fact, two balls before that, she'd hit Sophie back over her head. And I was like, oh my God, don't hit me in the face. I don't know where this ball's gone. And then I saw it bounce over the ropes. I was like, oh, thank God I'm safe. But, yeah, it was really difficult to see. So I see this one go up.

Off a full toss, no less. I could imagine you in the commons box 33%. I did, I did. I did. I knew you would have done. So I see it go up and I see Brunty not move at Long Gone. And I was like, oh my God, it's my catch. I've messed this up.

I've completely messed this up. It must be my catch if Brunty's not moving. And then you can hear Soph on Stump Mike going, Kathy B! So then Brunty reacts and starts moving. But because she'd not picked it up, I was like, oh my God, the one chance that Shafali's going. given us and we've lost it and then she pulls out that absolute specky hashtag speckies only and like ridiculous and everyone now on the social medias has gone why did crossy not react

like that to hartley's catch when she took a specky i mean katherine's was on sight better than mine purely for the fact she actually covered about 10 yards like running 10 yards to her left pulled out this diving catch and I was on comms at the time and I was like I can't believe what I've just witnessed from the old girl that was so good but I probably had the best view of it

and it was I don't think you quite see on TV how low she caught it it was literally about to bounce and she's caught it so yeah I think that's why my celebrate I was like hanging on to her because I was like you absolutely something that we did get in right I'm done

so speaking of Catherine Brunt Speaking of Brunty, she is something else, like, oh, absolutely. She's just a belt her. And I've never, in my life, heard anyone in the middle of a test match at the back of her, the back of their run-up go, right, that's it, cake ball. And she ran in, she called her own cake ball. And she ran in and bombed the worst delivery I've ever seen. I think he went for four down to find leg.

And she was like, oh, never mind. She is, honestly, like I said, if anyone wants to be entertained, just watch Catherine Brunt and just keep everything just keep your eyes on her so there was like this battle between Shafali Verma and Catherine Brunt

and you could physically see the steam coming out of Brunty's ears and then Vermet hit her for four and Catherine just stuck a tongue out at her she just went yeah she's a belter honestly she kept me entertained for all that 390 minutes I was on the pitch yesterday

my favourite Brutty moment from the test fact she probably got more but I mean there was obviously a few she got picked up swearing on the stunt mic quite a lot so the stunt mic's got turned down on the last day but they tried to run a drink out five minutes after tea and the umpike Chris said no you can't have a drink and Catherine went over to the bathroom

and went you're thirsty I'm bowling at you I'm thirsty you are not having a drink oh she is honestly she's something else she was something else a lot got picked up on the stunt mic actually didn't it we were we couldn't believe how much was turned up because you could hear people at mid on mid off talking normally you just get the keeper um god there's so much to talk about because loads of people have emailed us in about actually about amy jones on the stump mic and how she wrote me a little poem it's like yes crossy

come on crossy good crossy yes crossy shall we go upstairs and do some questions with umpire christen umpire see both of them let's go upstairs with both of them it's been an emotional four days. Would you like to go first? Okay. I've had one here from Flow and she just says, is everyone okay? That looked exhausting and often painful. Well done team. It was a truly brilliant match to watch. Flow. We are all okay. Thank you so much, Flo. Thank you for. It was exhausting to watch. Hi, Kate and Alex. I noticed that Georgia Owis, fielding a deep backward square leg, still had her pads on beneath the whites. Is it common just to leave them on? All the best, Daniel. It's funny actually

because G had to then go down to fine leg because she couldn't move very well in them and Tammy did the same she was struggling to run around in them when you've got them on but you keep them on often when there's a spinner like spinner and seamer at one end obviously you're going to keep them on

but if there's a spell where two seamers are going to be on then that's when they'll generally take them off and get the helmet's off the pitch while we're on the subject of short leg and silly backward point someone's emailed in saying love the pod quick question why does Tammy, or every short leg for that matter,

wear their pads on the inside of their trousers? And if so, why don't the batters wear their pads on the inside of their trousers too? I feel like the women's game has actually pioneered the shim pads for the wicketkeepers, haven't they? Someone actually emailed that and said, because that Nick that I got that hit Jonesy on the kneecap that blew a kneecap off.

They're like, why has she not got bigger pads on? But we've just, like, I think obviously Sarah started it, but it's just, I think it's just for more, like, agility, isn't it? I mean, like we were just saying, Tammy and G found it difficult to run in those pads. So why would you want your keeper to be at all, like, inhibited by pads? Yeah, although you actually blew Amy Jones's kneecap off because you could hear her on the stunt mic again go, oh, I think that was the worst one I've ever had. Oh, sorry, Amy, but you couldn't write it. I mean, you should have caught it.

Right, moving on from the test match. Hi, ladies. I've just started listening recently from the most. recent backwards like a psychopath and I love the pod. You've mentioned SMC a bunch of times and I've tried looking it up but I can't seem to find what it means. Can you explain this and what it stands for? Is it an acronym or am I being a complete clod? I've never heard the word clod before. So this email yeah I was like what on earth is SMC? Why have we ever spoken about this and I worked it out? S and C strength and conditioning. Ah S and C SMC right.

S and C. Yeah, so sorry, Liam, it's probably our accents, but it's S and C, not S&C, but it's our strength and conditioning coach, Ian, so that's your gym stuff, your fitness, all that kind of business. So it's actually nothing interesting. I really enjoyed that.

Hi, Kate and Alex. How long do you spend on set when you're filming a promotional campaign? How long do you spend twiddling your thumbs? All the best, Daniel. Great question, because I had my first on set day on Tuesday. So I did a promotional thing. thing for something that's getting announced

on the 30th of June and I spent an hour and 15 minutes in hair and makeup so I don't know what that says about me wow wow you needed it clearly I must look tired and then it was literally like I was there from one till five hour

and a half let's say hair and makeup and then five minutes getting changed I did three outfit changes and then the rest is just taking loads of photos I don't know if you've seen the advert of our new sponsors where me, Jimmy, Swanee and Phil Tufnell did like a day with a team and we were at that for probably five hours and I've seen approximately 37 seconds of footage of it

so there's a lot of there was definitely a lot of hanging around there but it was a lot of fun but yeah there is a lot of sitting around isn't it when we did we've done a lot of hundred stuff recently because they've obviously got no content of that and that we went down to Twickenham and that was a good four hours again picking up content so forever for not much reward yeah dear kate and Alex firstly a massive congratulations for the job you're doing it was only a matter of time before someone paid you to do the pod so my dilemma can't wait for the hundred and the fantastic benefit it's going to bring to the game not just for

watching sport but putting the women's game on the same deserved stage as the men's game but also for the opportunities for the players. And yes, if the 100 haters have already started grumbling about this email, get in, verbin. My problem is my identity. I'm Lancashire born and bred. All my cricket education came from the Lancashire League and Ribblesdale League, enjoy many a rivalry with the likes of Clitherow and Reed.

Throwback. Hartley. That's a bit of you. I then converted to the dark side for love. Oh, no. I married a beautiful white rose and have two white roses of my own. So when the 100 introduced franchise teams I felt I was okay to get behind

the franchise of my location, North Superchargers. However, I'm still a red rose and cup carrying psychopath. So when I attend the Northern Supercharges versus the Manchester Originals on the 12th of August with my son, I intend to support the originals in the women's game and the Supercharges in the Men's, is this okay?

Right. If you're supporting the originals throughout the competition in the women's game and the Northern Supercharges throughout in the Mends, I think I can let you off. I think that's all right. I sense a book coming. Why did you marry someone from Yorkshire? Yeah, what's happened there?

How do you even meet anyone from Yorkshire? Yeah, we're certainly not allowed over there. I think we should leave it there before you get yourself in trouble about Yorkshire and Lancashire. Right, it's time to introduce this week's guest. He's a former England men's star. I wonder if you can guess who it is. And now works to help select the England team. He's also an ambassador for chance to shine.

It's James Taylor. Crossy, as always, it gives me great pleasure to introduce this week's guest. It's been so hard to tie him down. It's been weeks we've been trying to get him. But we've got James Taylor on No Balls of Cricket Podcast. Thanks a lot for having me, guys. I'm looking forward to this. I mean, there's a bit of pressure following, well, the one I listen to, Chris Wokes,

and I'll obviously be listening to a lot more. So there's a bit of pressure on me following that. we didn't even ask you to say that so that's really kind of you yeah I just do my regret how are you getting on yeah good thank you I was just as I was speaking off air I'm tired I've been doing a lot of

travelling around the country but loving it and I'm really good thank you had a quiet weekend so I needed that playing some golf having a bit of me time on the golf course yes nice I love that How's the golf going? Good.

When I get to play, obviously, like, the amount of miles I'm doing at the minute because obviously T20 Blas is so busy at the minute, going all around the country, seeing lots of different players, is full on, but brilliant. It's a great job, isn't it? Isn't it mad? Isn't it mad that you just watch cricket for a living now? No, it's brilliant.

Best job in the world. Other than playing, obviously. Yeah, well, that's, yeah, that's a given. This is brilliant. I love what I'm doing. I work with great people. and get to watch some good cricket. So it's good fun.

So it is National Cricket Week this week. You are a Chance to Shine ambassador. Do you want to talk us through your role there? What you get up to with the Chance of Shine team? Yes. When I finish playing cricket, I only wanted to get involved in initiatives that I could resonate with.

And Chance to Shine is a special charity with great people involved as well. So I love working with good people and having an impact on other people's lives in a positive way and chance to shine is a special place. It's a national charity aims to give all children the opportunity to play, learn and develop through cricket, which is obviously close to my heart.

And I've done, I've been an ambassador now for four, four or five years since I've finished playing cricket and it's brilliant. Just going into the schools, primary schools, especially I've done and delivering whether it would be P lessons. I even read at World Book Day for a little bit. I can barely read, but I gave it a go. And then just like mass classes, I actually delivered a class on resilience,

so I spoke through my story and tried to get across things that they can learn about resilience and how that can help them in their life. But Chance to Shine is more than just the game, and it's so inclusive. And I love how children, men, women, can learn through cricket. And I learned so much through play,

the game. I learned so much about myself. I learned so much about other people, different cultures, different people. And this is everything that Chance Shine brings to developing and young children as well. And educating them is really good. So for anybody that doesn't know, it is National Cricket Week this week. I mean, Chance to Shine has actually got a special place in a lot of our hearts, I think, because when we first turned professional, we kind of had a bit of a deal with Chance to Shine that we'd kind of subsidise our income by working with Chance to Shine two days a week. So we used to go into schools and coach as the women's team. And I think it was probably two or three years into being involved that we had the one millionth girl come through

the system through Chance to Shine. And I saw a stat this week that this is the first year that you've had a 50-50 split with girls and boys coming through that Chance to Shine program, which is just incredible, isn't it? Like how far it's coming in such a short space of time. Yeah, I was just actually about to bring it up. I mean, there's some brilliant stats. That 50-50 male and female split in participants for the first time, it just shows it's a sport for everybody as well. And that's obviously an initiative that a number of different organisations

are bringing into cricket. And it's more than just cricket. It has a positive impact on mental, social and physical well-being for young people at the moment, especially with the pandemic. Yeah. people, us, kids as well, being locked in the houses, missing school, it's more than just cricket. So it is a brilliant charity and they're doing some amazing things. It's great to be a part of and all of us are a part of it. So what have you actually been up to since retirement?

How have you found having to leave the game? I mean, being forced to leave the game as well, which is I can't imagine how tough that was to deal with. Yeah, I mean, that's probably the thing that I'm most proud of. Obviously, scoring 100 against Australia is nice and stuff like that. Drop that in there, love it. But I'll get that out of the way. But probably the proudest thing I've done is being able to cope with all the setbacks and obviously working so hard for so many years for as long as I can remember, to be a professional athlete, to get to the top of my field and play international cricket, earn a living through it and travel around the world. It's the dream, isn't it? And then having the carpet pull from underneath your feet is incredibly

hard to take. But that's why I'm most proud of how I've bounced back from that. And mentally, I've been in a really good place a whole way through. So I'm lucky to have a good support network around me. It's some great people to help me through that. But to come through it and be in a good place. And now to be enjoying my life, I'm really pleased with. So I can't complain. I've done lots of things. As you guys know, similar things to you guys working in the media, coaching, select head scout now writing podcast guest podcast guess i mean what more do you want um it is does it pay the bills unfortunately not um but you know i i'm very very lucky to to live a good life and it might not have been that straightforward had things been different in april 2016

gosh i can't believe it was that long ago it seems like yesterday it's mad isn't it i mean it even time in lockdown, I thought it flew by. I know for some people it was different, but I thought it absolutely flew by. The five years, where's it gone since I finished? Yeah, gosh. I saw an interview that you did on the back of the Christian Erickson incident because naturally I think every cricketer's thoughts went to you

when that happened. And I saw an amazing quote where you said, he can choose life now. And I found that so powerful. I actually then weirdly woke up this morning singing Breathe Life by Jack Garrett. So that was because of you. Yeah, no, it's a cringy line.

But, like, I just said, like, life itself is a great option to have. And that was it. I've quoted you really wrong there. Yeah. But it is. And, like, that's, I shouldn't have survived what I went through. I mean, with my condition, when it presents 80% of cases, are found in post-mortem.

So you die, 80% of cases and 8% of people die. So I was very fortunate. And I always look back to that. I mean, I live a great life. I arguably, I shouldn't have been here. I might not have been, had the odds, not been in my favour. So, yeah, it's, it was, like I said, tough. But it's interesting watching and seeing the fallout from Christian Erickson.

He's incredibly lucky to be alive. Had the medics, and had he not been playing international football, I imagine things would be very, very different. So he's very fortunate. it's just frightening when you put like when you put a stat out there like that like how do you even put things into well i guess you it's easy to put things into perspective now isn't it as like has everything changed for you yeah you like naturally i'm super positive i'm very lucky i'm very positive but you you second guess a lot even walking out the door every time i say goodbye

to my wife i think you never know it could be your last time so i i make it a good a nice goodbye if you know what I mean and like things now crossing the road I think twice because I don't want my heart rate to go up like there's so many things in life that I'm now second guess and every time I hear a loud bang that's my defib going off because that's the sound of my deep thing going off like there's so many things that you think about that you shouldn't be thinking about because life should be a lot simpler than that um but having said that you learn to it's coping mechanisms isn't it you learn to deal with these things in in your own way Are you able to exercise these days, or are you still very much just, like, walking and easy exercise?

Yeah. I do the odd jog, and when I say jog, I mean shuffle. I'm literally shuffling. That's the same as us, too, don't worry. Yeah, I was going to say, shuffling's my life. Lock down was brilliant because my wife is a very good cook, healthy. So I lost a little bit of weight because I can at least control what's going in my body. whereas when I'm out on the road cruising around,

I mean, those McDonald's sign is just staring at me on the motorway. So I eat a lot of junk. So I'm doing well to not put on too many pounds. But my exercise is just walking around the golf course. So even golf course, like, it's a great hobby to have. It's my release. It's also my exercise and there's a challenge for me. So that's why it's not just me gallivanting around the golf course,

playing a bit of golf and some great courses. and is actually my exercise as well. I saw that you actually play off a pretty low handicap, though. Have you got down to scratch yet? Yeah, so I got to plus 0.6 to any golf bigs out there, that's like plus 1. So, yeah, I'm pleased, I'm pleased. How do you get to 0.6?

Is it not just 0 or 1? Yeah, so it's either scratch or it's plus 1. So I'm like 1 under scratch. So if you don't know golf, you're basically giving the course one shot. so the easiest hold on the course I have to make birdie or so I'm losing a shot

it's yeah this is going all over my head right but let's bring it back to cricket yeah let's stick to cricket what is the one thing that you miss the most about playing cricket okay this is going to sound funny but I reckon being an international cricketer

and that's that's probably the one thing you've worked all your life to be the best and I was the best, the one thing I did and obviously in a team of a number of other guys but I was effectively the best or being the best in the county team that was quite a cool thing and it was the biggest ego ever

when you're not that bloke walking down the street as an international cricketer and that is a very self-absor thing to say but as a cricketer you are pretty selfish and you do have a decent size ego as how you balance that out is the important thing but that was the hardest thing to take

and that was like not being able to be the best anymore and perform in front of thousands of people doing what you love was probably the hardest thing to take yeah that was something you can resonate a bit with our wasn't it because when you lost your England contract that was like you took your World Cup shirt down

and you woke up medal down because you thought that you didn't deserve that poured it anymore even though you've still had that like I went from being the world's best overnight but the actual headline in the paper was world's beta to trash heap overnight no they kind of

that's ridiculous but the thing is like regardless of what we do for the rest of our lives isn't if we flop massively we've still done it which is which is cool yeah you don't want to bang on about it however that's nice sometimes obviously but we still done it

we've still done it what is what's being your best moment in an England shirt then your favourite, when you look back at your career and you go, God, that was me. There's a number of moments. I think playing in front of 99,000 people, first game of the World Cup, England and Australia, MCG is pretty cool, even though we lost. And scoring some runs in that game was pretty cool.

Scoring 100 against Australia is cool. But I think the best moment I've ever had in my life, my wife hates me saying that, but the best feeling I've ever had was taking those catches at Joburg at The Wanderers and honestly the feeling was like nothing I've ever had before it should be scoring 100 against Australia like I said but to have an impact in the game

like I had at that moment and the way I had it was mega best feeling that leads us nicely because we put short leg field in a big box there why why would you want to be a short leg field? like fielder. You know what, it's classic.

As a young kid, as a young guy when you were playing in the first team or whatever, making your day in your professional team, you just get stuck in that position. And I love being in the game. And there you're the closest to the batsman. You're in the game. Yeah, and that was just something where I stuck. I love like being able to have quick reactions, having an impact in the game when you're not expected to. Like nobody was expecting me to take those catches.

pretty cool when you pull them off. I remember speaking to Dane Billass once and he said that he absolutely hates you because I never realised that it was him who you caught at Short Leg and he reckons that you ruined his international career. I think that his one

cat? I think it was, yeah. Yeah, and you've ruined it. So it's funny, isn't it how it works? Because now I'm watching all the time because obviously I'm watching our, I'm not watching him but I'm watching the game and the players, isn't it?

But I watch him all the time. He's a world-class operator now. He is quality. So we're lucky to have him in England playing. But, yeah, God, shame. Well, that's down to you. I did it, but poor guy, because he's a quality bloke, isn't it? I don't know him, but from what I do know,

and the way I see him operate on the field and he's a class player. Do you know, I love about those catches is your reaction. And I see it so much with short-legged catches. And our equivalent in the England team is Tammy Beaumont, and she took one off Sophie Eccleston in the 2019 Ashes. And there's this like second where there's the surprise that you've caught it and then the celebration where you fly off and you're like, I was just about to say that was,

it's funny because when you're playing in front of a crowd, I honestly caught those characters and I needed a second to realize if it had happened. It was like a dream. Like honestly, I needed that split second just to hear the crowd erupt. And then I was off. I was like running around like a headless chicken.

That is so not me in my character, but I was on it. It was brilliant. That elation, both the catches, it was like the elation was brilliant. I honestly felt I could stop anything. And you don't often get those moments in life where you think you can do anything. You're invincible. And that was that day.

I think as well, what people don't see is the training element of that kind of stuff, isn't it? So you practice that day in day out and you take those speckies in training and you wish that the cameras were there. And then you actually do it live. You're like, yes, I've got footage of it. I can show the kids. Yeah.

And the thing is, like Alex is that, it will be there. Whatever we do now, it will still be there. So, yeah, it was a cool moment. And that was, the weird thing is, that was like my last, one of my last ever games I played. So to finish on the top is quite cool as well. Yeah, that's true. Imagine if you'd finished on, like, a duck and drop catches.

Yeah, exactly. My last game I ever finished was 100 for England. It was against South Africa, right? So, like, in a warm-up game for the ODIs. So that was the last game I ever, like, properly finished, like, proper game, which is pretty cool. Well, then, you'd be like, I've finished on a high. It's fine. I mean, talk about finishing on a high.

Thank you so much, James Taylor, for joining us. What you're doing with Chance Shine is amazing. You know, I've seen it first hand. I've been involved in it as a female cricketer as well, seeing the likes of you talk about the game as equal for men and women. It is amazing. and it is going to inspire so many girls to pick up a bat as well. So thank you so much for everything that you're doing.

And thanks for coming on the podcast. Thank you so much for having me, guys. Keep up the great work on and off the field. And hopefully I'll catch that with you very soon. Thank you, James. And for anyone that wants to get involved in National Cricket Week, it's chance to shine.org. What a story that man has to tell.

And I urge anyone who doesn't actually know the ins and outs of it to just Google it, read his book, he's got a book out. He is something else, isn't he? I mean, what a man as well. And such a nice guy in everything he does for cricket. And now the fact he watches cricket for a living, like, what a legend. I know, I mean, I know we talk about cricket for a living as well as play it for a living. Actually, we can't talk really.

We've got a great job, haven't we? Yeah, well, this is the worst job ever. I've got to catch up with you once a week. All right, moving on. No, thanks, James, for coming on. Like we said, National Cricket Week. Make sure you get involved however you can. There's loads of things that you can do to help

and encourage anyone to pick up a cricket bat and ball because that is what cricket is about. And I love to see it. I'll... We need some emails. We do. We really need some emails. We're short because we've swapped emails over and we've lost our other logging. Yeah, we have. So if you sent some to our old email address,

send them to the new one because we're dead posh now because you can email us on. No balls podcast at BBC.co.com. Noblespodcast at BBC.co.com. It's so good. They've said it twice. Also, if you've got any LBWs, if you've got anything that you do that is a little bit weird, we're so keen to get these back involved now. So please send them in. Any cricket stories? Like literally anything you think that a friend's done. I mean, we've had somebody tell a story about them swapping a box with their dad. So honestly, get your stories in. And we'll see you next week for another episode.

and crossy it's nearly the ODI time White ball baby yes we're back we're back where we belong bring back the white ball baby I can't wait to commentate again 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 she connects it's either six or out it's six BBC Sounds Music Radio Podcasts