Test Match Special - No Balls: The Cricket Podcast - The greatest day of Alex Hartley's life

Episode Date: June 9, 2022

Kate Cross and Alex Hartley have ALL the gossip from an amazing game played in aid of the Ruth Strauss Foundation. Look out for a special contribution from Michael McIntyre...

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And cross strikes in the first over. It's Waddingham. Looking for. Hartley falls. Down the track comes scoring. This time she connects. It's either six or out. It's six. Hello and welcome back to No Balls, the Cricket podcast, the emergency podcast, the much-needed podcast, with me Kate Cross and you, Alex Hartley. I mean, it's, it is an emergency one because, you know, it needs doing like, right now but it is normal podcast recording day yeah but it sounds more thrilling and exciting and we've got something fun to talk about if we say it's an emergency podcast so go with it welcome to

the emergency podcast baby how are you or dare i not ask i have been on the most incredible high all day and i can't stop talking about this charity event and now i've hit a wall and i really need to go to bed because I didn't get in till 3.30 in the morning, I was driving and I couldn't sleep until about quarter past five. So the one time that we need you to talk about the charity do and the amazing 24 hour high that you've been on and you don't want to. No, I do. I do. I'll turn on my energy when you're ever. Turn it up. I'll turn it. Let's go, baby. You know what I'm going to do before we get going? I'm going to start the timer. Do you know what? I'm I was thinking before I was like, remember the timer, remember the timer.

What did I do? Didn't remember the timer. Forgot the timer. What do we do? How many minutes? 35. Yeah, let's go 35. We've not actually, we've not done it from the right time yet.

It's been like 12 minutes, 25 minutes. I'm going to start it for 35 minutes. Henry, hope you happy. Boom. How are you? I'm good. I'm very similar to you. I feel like I've been very non-stop, very energetic most of the day.

And then I think. I've run out of people to tell my story to. So now I'm getting a bit more energy now that I've got all the listeners. You haven't because you've got 60,000 people to tell. There is one thing I want to talk about before we get into the podcast because you have given me stick for my earrings, my scrunchies. 60,000 and 3 because now Bear Grills, Michael McIntyre and Carrie Rue all listen to this podcast. Yep, they did all say they were going to listen.

But yeah, you've given me so much stick for certain things over the last couple of weeks. crossy i've seen you wear that jumper every day for three days now yeah you have you're right al because uh i packed a bag on monday morning and only packed one item of clothing in it so it's either this or my england kit so you're going to give me stick either way so i've gone for the jumper you've seen gone for the smelly jumper you know it smells lovely you know you actually had that on yesterday over a dress with a bucket hat with some stupid trainers and you looked at you I did. It was the end of the night and it was the drive home time. Right, let's do this properly. Let's not start at the end. Let's start at the beginning. Okay. And let's do this actually properly because people need to know what we have just experienced. One of the greater days of my life, Crossey. It was. It was brilliant, wasn't it? So it was the Ruth Strauss Foundation, said that so well then.

Proud of you. And it was rock for Ruth, the charity event. So there was a game of cricket on which was almost by the by, to be completely honest with you. That happened. We were invited to play in the cricket match. It was a hundred ball fixture. We'll go through the teams in a minute. But then after that, we had some dinner.

We had an auction, which was incredible. And then the Ed Sheeran, the Ed Sheeran plays to like 300 people in a room. we're part of it. People all day have been like, how was it? And I'm just like, genuinely one of the best days of my life. Like, I just cannot comprehend how me and you were invited to this event. Well, it was because of the podcast. Literally, we've been invited because of the podcast.

So all you lovely listeners out there that keep us going, thank you, because you made us have such a cool, great day. So, Team Strauss, Sir Andrew Strauss, Damien Lewis, Damien, Jason Robinson, Ian Bell, Bear Grills, Sam Mendes, didn't show up, Kate Cross, Paul Collingwood, Joe Root. Yeah, who played, so we also had two partners playing as well, so there's two more men that played in that. You had Chris St. George, and you had Dave Henderson. Who played instead of Sam Mendes then? Unsure.

It's a great question. I can't answer it. Yeah, that was my team, Team Strauss. What a day. Team Sheeran. Sir Alistair. Michael McIntyre. Steve Harmson didn't show up. Ian Ward.

David Hay. Harry Judd. Alex Hartley. Graham Swan. Ben Stokes. Marcus Trestcotic. Why did I have to read the teams out? Go again.

Marcus Trescotic. Marcus Trescotic. Treskoth thick Yes Thick Well done Treskoth thick Partner Mike Tobin

So It started well Because We did the toss Team Strauss My team Were batting first Yeah

And you came up And told me that you were batting first So you were waiting for nothing really Because you were batting 11 I just thought I get some content Yeah, but getting a bit of content

And like your team's going to have to feel Some guys like, Al, I think you need to go And you're all too busy on Instagram getting a video So that was a great start I'm like, no, no, we're batting And cookies's like, no Alex, we're bowling. I'm like, oh, I swear I heard of the tannoy That team Sheerant were batting.

So Ed didn't actually play in the game, did he was due to But he couldn't make it He's had a child, so he couldn't make it He came later to do some singing. So that was, yeah, great start Also, we put a picture on Instagram of us wearing the Red for Ruth bucket hats, because for me, they were actual highlight of the day. And someone, well, quite a few people actually messages saying,

this looks like an advert for Kevin and Perry go large. Right, perfect. Brilliant. That bucket hat was like, I was like, I stole David Hay's bucket hat, crossy. And I was like, it's fine, he'll never know. He's not even here yet. He was late. Too big for my head, so I had to field with it down my trousers.

Yeah, I saw. that. I saw you started with the bucket hat and then it disappeared. Every time I walked, ran, moved in the field, it flew off. So we didn't really know how serious to take the cricket, did we? So we kind of get in a bit of a feel for it when we got there. I said to Joe Root

I said, look, I've not played in many of these things. You know, do I'm running off my full run-up? Are we going doing a lap for warm-ups? You know what's happening? He was like, no, Kate. It was like, two things. Don't get injured. Play at 70%. So I was like, right, okay, I can do that. I can do that. you come on to bowl

yeah do you know we talk about a lot of best when fresh I still think you need to warm up and this is why so yeah you came on to bowl in fact the best way for me to tell this is actually through Damien Lewis

so Damien Lewis came off the field from batting he got 25 I think he retired you had to retire at 25 so everyone got to go basically I think he hit my first ball for four yeah Damien Lewis comes off the pitch and he goes Cookie was turning it a little bit

Joe Root turned it Ben wasn't really turning it and Alex I don't know whether she was turning it because she didn't pitch one Yeah my first five balls Not one of them hit the facilities provided So when Joe was saying play at 70% He meant he didn't mean like just 70% of the pitch

Al he meant like play the whole pitch Yeah yeah it was It was quite embarrassing because like you know obviously there as female professional cricketers, the ball was heavier and I just couldn't get it right. Yeah, you did blame the ball which was probably not the best thing

from you. The ball was too heavy. It was. It was really heavy. Anyway, my first five balls didn't pitch and then Joe Root comes out to bat and I pitched the next two and he hit them both for six, so that was nice. Yeah. Again, another highlight for me. So Joe's waiting to go into bat

and I saw that he didn't have a new balance bat and we're obviously both sponsored by a new balance. So I was like, Joe, do you need a new balance bat thinking if there's pictures around or he wants to use them? Me thinking with my media head on. And then he was like, no, it's fine, I'll use this. I was like, oh, actually, please will you use one of my bats

and tell me if they're any good? Like how good Joe Roots gone out and batted with one of my bats? The first two balls you face is over off you and he hit you into the car park. He came up at the other end. I went, do you feel guilty? And he went, yeah, actually, not at all. He went, you deserved it.

I was like, deserved it. Apparently I gave him some stick when he came out. He said, he said, I hit her for two sixes, and then she was giving me some grief because I hit one down the ground for one, and she's going, oh, my strike rate's gone down. The game was actually played in such a lovely fashion, wasn't it? It was so encouraging, but also people got to do everything,

everyone batted and bold, and it was just so much fun. Crossy, like Michael McIntyre, warming up to go, like, he's the only people, person that warmed up, the funniest man and the funniest thing I've ever seen, he's doing... Did you hear that? Yeah. I don't know what that was. He was doing leg swings, he was doing lunges, he was on his back rolling around on the ground.

He's one of the men that doesn't try to be funny, but he's very funny. Like, he chased a ball down to the boundary, and I'm pretty sure he just used his own running technique, and I was laughing so hard. Like, just the way... He was like a cartoon running. across the pitch. I never thought the words, Alex, thank you for looking after me, we can be friends forever, would come out of an A-list celebrity's mouth. Honestly, what a day. Just all the interactions that I had with everyone were absolutely brilliant.

But just, yeah, just loved it. What a day. What a day. It's hard to describe, isn't it? And then obviously we had the meal that was provided, Mitchell and Star Meal. I personally didn't really like it. Well that's funny because you ate a lot of it because you ate my starter which I actually didn't like and you then. The starter was 10 out of 10 good and nobody on the table really liked it. So I ate mine and yours but the main course I was like just get it down. Just get it down. You're driving home. You need the energy. So I was sat next to Paul Collingwood. I was in between you and him and I said to him and obviously he's a northerner as well. He knows we've got the same deep roots. We've probably had the same upbringing. I was like you know you're a posh dinner when

you've not got a lot of food on your plate. No, you actually said when you got one piece of asparagus. And he said, he said, that's a very large chip. And it wasn't, it was posh potatoes. It was just one big chip on the plate. But who serves one asparagus? Asparagus. Who serves just one?

Tom Kerrigan. Kerrigan. I don't think that's his name. Tom Kerrigan. Is that nice name? I think it's Tom Kerriguez. We'll have to check. Tom Carriage. There is Tom Carriage. Yeah. Yeah, it's Tom Carriage. Anyway, it was, yeah, it was

great. And then they did the auction. Oh, no, then Michael, but he gets up on stage and does some stand-up. We've not even mentioned that. Just the whole day of how we were at this private event, playing this cricket game, then we had, there was like 150 people in this room. We got a private stand-up gig from Michael McIntyre, an live auction where 1.4 million pounds was raised. crossy can we talk about how rich the people were in that room yeah it was crazy crazy rich but i think so first and foremost i want to actually do a public apology at this stage to the ruth strouse foundation because i got a little slap on the old wrist about two weeks ago um because we so giddy about this game talked about it on the podcast and at that point

um it actually hadn't been confirmed that any of these guests were going so we announced the lineup on behalf of the Ruth Strauss Foundation and I got a little phone call saying really, really pleased that you're excited and you want to come but, you know, Ed's not actually confirmed he's coming so that podcast probably needs to get taken off the internet and I was like, oh, can't do that. Sorry. So I thought in return we can be, obviously we've spoken for 12 minutes now about this event and there was a lot of people there and 1.4 million pounds was raised. However, But that doesn't mean that people cannot go and donate to the Ruth Strauss Foundation now. If you're listening to this podcast, it is an incredible cause.

The stories that we heard yesterday were heartbreaking, weren't they? We were, you know, listening to these stories and pretty much everyone in the room had tears in their eyes. So please, if you do feel like you can go and donate them, go and look at the website. It's incredible. And get me out of the bad books. Yeah, nice. Good from you. There's one more thing I want to say on that.

There was a piece of art sold for three times the price of money. my house well we said didn't we said this is probably going to go for a lot this one and I was like yeah about 100,000 I reckon um the starting bid was a hundred thousand pound it went up in increments of 25,000 pound which Ed Shearron was bidding for and actually just took it up to a million to half a million which was it was fascinating to watch wasn't it yeah it was it was just mind blowing but the best probably one of the best days of my life it was it was incredible and very proud of us actually because when Sir Andrew Strauss

stood up and spoke and thanked everyone and his guests for coming we got a little mention because we were actually the only two females that turned up and I think Isha was meant to be there and for some reason couldn't make it so we were properly representing and a lot of people would have been like

who are these girls and I'm still I'm sure a lot of these people are like going who are these girls who's that a girl that can't play cricket yeah we were joking all day that we felt a bit like competition winners, especially wearing our bucket hats in all the pictures. We genuinely do look like we've just, you know, won something or entered a competition

to be there. And then Strauss is saying, thank you to all his guests. And we actually got like a woo as like a cheer in the room. Yeah, it was really lovely. So if anyone who's listening to it that was there, thank you so much for making us feel very welcome. Everyone was so much. Like the biggest of the night.

Even put some showers outside the building that. the um pavilion for us because they were so conscious that we were the two girls in the dressing room and obviously we can't go and get in the showers with the lads but i um i've got a dressing room story so obviously they're getting changed it's men they're post-showering and we've got and got in and i've knocked on the door and gone hi it's Alex any d's out and then harry judd from mcfly goes no no no d's out here he goes what's the what's the male equivalent of that Some things you're only here in certain places, don't you? We've got a good Harry Judd's story, haven't we?

We're like, hi, Harry, Alex, Kate, nice to meet you. I was like, do you like cricket? And he's like, I love cricket. I love playing cricket. I had to stop at 17 to join a band. And you're like, what band? No, I was like, when you say a band, are you talking about Mengfly?

Yeah. He was like, yeah. I was like, okay, just our band. I had to stop at 17 to join a band. that would be I actually had a little chat with Harry from McFly because do you remember we slid in didn't we I think I did it off the No Bulls account

or it might have been my own personal one I can't remember but I asked him if he'd come on the podcast and then we were telling him the story and you said to him you were like yeah we were really struggling for guests so then we slid in and asked you if you wanted to come on and then it's one of those things that when you say it and as you're saying it you're like

don't say that don't say that that's too late it's too late. Oh, it's gone, it's gone. Yeah. But we've lined up. Michael McIntyre said he'll come on. In fact, should I play the little clip that I've got from him? Why not? Yeah. Will it work? Let's give it a whirl. So, we're speaking to Michael McIntyre and we're like, have you got a message for No Bulls, the cricket podcast? And he said, of course I do. Here it is. You got a message for us? Um, yes, I want to say that I'm a fan of, well, I love balls.

Yep. But, I mean, since I was a child. All balls. Basket balls. Not so much snooker balls. But they're quite satisfying to fold. And so I like all balls. I can't think of it.

Pinkbon balls are annoying when you drop them on an uneven surface. And you go too big enough and it bounces up. So I hate those balls. What balls do you like? But my favourite is no balls. Yes. No balls. Which I've told is the leading podcast of cricket.

Yep. Yeah, we'll take that. Women's Greenwich? No, we've got all. All cricket. So there's some balls. Yeah, we get some balls off. So you can come on.

I can come on. Of course I could. Let's just leave it out there. So it took him a while to get there. Yeah. I mean, we wanted just a, I listened to No Bulls's Creek podcast. You could too, or you should too.

He just took... Instead, he spoke about how much he likes the feel of Snooker balls. very peculiar but there you go that was the kind of day that we had so it was great and also we've definitely

called Joe Root because we spoke to his wife we're like Carrie we need to get Joe on the podcast and she was like yeah I'll sort it out don't worry I just love the fact that like Damien Lewis is like can I come on like yeah

of course you can't like why not Damien Lewis you loved what he was wearing didn't you because we got told to wear summer smart casual it was like a strange dress code so we packed some dresses to wear with some little wedge heels so that we you know we didn't look too out of place once i mean we looked probably quite out of place on the field um yeah and then you went up to damien lewis and told him that you loved his

trousers he had these big flared brown trousers on is the only way i can describe them with a brown coloured polo shirt and i said oh my god i love your trousers and he was like yep they're just from the beach from cos and i was like pardon and he went yeah just from the beach. No Gucci here. And then he went, not today anyway. I was like, all right, rub it in, rub it in. Yeah. Sorry, Damien, sorry. Anyway, I feel like one of those, like days like that are amazing for us and people see the bits that we've put up on Instagram and see how much fun we've had. Everyone's message say it looks great. But no one actually really cares because they weren't there. So I feel like we've banged on about it for a bit too long now. So should we move on?

Although, I do just want to say one more thing. the best day in the life not going to get top loved it um crossy we need to do dumb things I thought were real as a kid but weren't we've got some more

and I tell you what someone sent us a little DM on Instagram and it's it's cracked me up so I'm going to read this one out to start us off dumb things that you thought were a thing when you were a kid is that what we called it something like that

we said we were going to tighten it up and we've not thought about it so anyway So your new feature Dumb things you thought were real when you were kids I've got a slight twist on this because I've got a dumb thing that I didn't realize was fake But unfortunately I wasn't a child when I found out I was 29 years old

So until last year I thought reindeer's were fake Only created as a fictitious Christmas character I only found out when I commented How realistic they looked when I went to the Christmas market last year Please keep me anonymous I mean, I can see why you would think they are fake because they sort of don't really make sense, do they? But are they actually...

Right, okay, now, they're just deer with horns. Yeah, they're just called reindeer, but they're very much associated with Christmas. But they fly, but in real life they obviously don't fly, so I can see that. Yeah, yeah, okay, I can get that. Well, that bit is very fictitious, so, yeah. I thought when people say,

a building was being pulled down, that workers went inside, attached ropes to the ceiling, and literally pulled it down. Wow. I mean, there's a lot... I mean, you're going to have to wear your hard helmet, your hard hat in that situation, aren't you?

That's, yeah. This is a goodie. Hi, Kate, Alex. My parents told me that if I played the same song over and over again on the CD player, sorry, I didn't say that right, because it's such an old word, over and over on the CD player in the car

that I would burn through that song and you'd never be able to listen to it again. I only realized at the age of 23 that a CD player can't do that. In case you're curious, the song was Something Stupid by Robbie Williams and Nicole Kidman because it was used in an episode of The Thunderbird all day.

Is that the, and we'll paint by numbers until something sticks. No, that's kids. Something stupid was, and then I go and spoil it all, by saying something stupid. Like I love. It's just reminding me actually.

Michael McIntyre said apparently he was on the table with Joe Root and Ed Shearhan, maybe. Can't remember. Anyway, he said if he could go and do a duet with Ed Shearin at some point, he'd donate £20,000 to the charity. And Ed held him to that. And so we actually watched Ed Shearin sing a duet with Michael McIntyre to Flying Without Wings by Westlife. Yeah, and the actual song that they did was perfect. and that was going to be my wedding song

to my future husband but now it's not. It's roomerooned. Yeah. I've not got any more on the emails. Oh, I found one. Dear Kate and Alex, obviously love the pod. I think you're both legends, et cetera, et cetera,

but I'll get to the point. When I was in primary school, my best friend persuaded me that TV presenters shout so we can get the loudest volume on the TV. I believe this for a good few years and always amazed at how relaxed. say a look while yelling as loud as they could. What?

Shamefully, I never learnt my lesson, and I'm still a very trusting person, ludicrously gullible. Yeah, that is gullible. Now, for the bit I know you get a lot, but I still want to say it. Yours was the first podcast I ever listened to, and I've listened to every episode since.

Thanks for giving us a window into your lives. You're just great people enjoying life and just being astonishingly good at everything you do. That's from Josh. Oh, thanks, Josh. Should we go upstairs? Let's go upstairs. And let's tackle some emails that you have all sent in

because this week we actually had our emails sent to us. I want to go upstairs with the one, the only, Ali Mdardar, because it was his birthday lashes. Yes, happy birthday to you. Day to you. This one is titled Hartley Excels. So obviously I'm going to read it out. Hi both.

From Cricky Info's report on Thunder's Live, loss to diamond, Hartley took a superb diving catch at mid-wicket to help dispose of Leah Dobson before Leah Kasprick was caught behind by the captain Ellie Threlkeld stood up to the stumps and Hartley also had a hand in the run out of Abbey Glenn with the accurate thrower from long off off the next over, capping a loss with three wickets for nine runs in ten balls. An explanation is needed. The floor is yours. Well, I often when playing cricket for lanks, just fill a hole in the first.

wherever there's a gap I'll go. Found myself at midwicket because there was a gap. I was like, feel the gap. I'm at midwicket. Ellie went, do you want to swap? I went, no. First ball from Fee Turner,

the ball gets hit to me and I actually take a specky. Yeah? Proper diving specky at midwicket and I was like, oh my word. So yeah, that was that. And then the run out, I was at Long Off, Georgie Boy sat long on,

she runs round, flicks it up to me, I turn, throw it over the stumps out. Love it. So I've gone from... You've not been nominated for MVP of the month, unfortunately, though, but the player of the month, not seeing you on the left. No, I've not been getting many wickets in this tournament. My economy's been good, though.

But yeah, it was just one of those days where, you know, do you remember that last game where Danny Collin said, I've never seen Alex stop a two? And I stopped loads. I didn't know. I didn't know if you said that. So we're playing it. Now I'm thinking about it.

I've never seen you stop the two. Right. And then, since then, Crossy, I've been like, I am being good, and I've saved so many twos. It's funny, wasn't it? And then I love the fact that one of the girls grasped her in and told me. And I was like, you are, you are. I love that. There's no secrets in the dressing room.

Hi, Alex and Kate. I hope you both well. Oh, this one's titled Throwback, by the way. Oh, speaking of throwback, just thought I'd mentioned last week on the podcast. I spoke about how I had a really good feeling about it was playing at Old Trafford and that we were going to go on to win that game and we lost quite badly. So we're probably not going to get invited to Headline, Glastonbury again. No, probably not. Yeah, I listened to the podcast yesterday actually and that it just reminded me.

Anyway, hope you well. I know this has been a while. But did anyone ever find Kev? Cheers, Andrew. No, but my dad did get a cabby from London to pretend he was Kev and send me a voice note. It was a weird, yeah, it was a weird stage of our life, that wasn't it? Because your dad was really adamant that we should go along with this and pretend that we found Kev.

So I've got a voice note from my dad being like, White Hartway, it's Kev from the cabs. I found him, I found him. It's Kevin from the cabs, down in London. Yeah, anyway, no, we don't know where Kev is. don't know if he's all right. We hope he's still working on the cabs. We hope he's still enjoying himself.

Hi, Kate and Alex. Long-time listener, first time emailing a... Emailer, even. Email me. I was at your opening game of the Charlotte Edwards Cup at Hove. And despite being born and bred in the South, and being a big Sussex fan, I found myself supporting the Thunder.

It was a pleasure to see you both play and hopefully things improve for the Thunder. Yeah, thank you. We hope so, too. I've got a few questions for you. One, do you get to pick which trousers you wear. Alex's trousers look to be more fitted and tapered than crosses.

Where are we going with this? And there seemed to be a variety of different fits worn by the team. All in all, we all had different trousers on because the trousers that were provided weren't great. And they didn't send enough of the trousers. So we had to, some people wore trousers from the 100 because thankfully they're both black trousers. as though some people coloured in the branding on the trouser leg

that might have got noticed. It was a bit village. But anyway, it doesn't matter what you're wearing. It matters what's happening on the pitch and that was also a tiny bit village. Yeah, we move. How do the team WhatsApp groups work when someone leaves the team? Do they leave themselves or do they get booted out by somebody else?

Well, actually, you told the Manchester Originals girls you were leaving and then immediately left the group. You didn't give anyone a chance to say anything. and you don't know this actually but Emma Lam replied to your message but you'd already it said Alex Hartley has left and she sent a few love hearts

a little message I was like Lammy she's gone mate you've missed her send her a private message we actually have a very savage way of doing it at the thunder at the moment which is down to the new captain Ellie Threlcold that if you're not picked for the game

we've got one WhatsApp group for like all the footage and the information about the team we're going to play in times travel etc if you're in the team obviously you're in the WhatsApp group if not you just get booted out of it and someone else gets put in

and it just from game to game it changes so you could be in for two days out for four days back in for three days I think that's the way it should be though because if you're using the same WhatsApp group there's people don't want to see who's going for breakfast yeah yeah I know I get it I do get it I'd screenshot it and sent it to Ellie actually

because I went to India obviously and it said Kate Cross has been removed from this group so I had a screenshot and sent it to her I was like didn't take it long did it mate and she's like well I was doing it for you I was like no I'm only joking it's probably for the best. Who controls the team warm-up playlist? There were some absolute tunes blaring out of the thunder speaker. Yes, Fee Turner, he's our little DJ, isn't she? Her or Dan Collins?

What's it like working with your sister, Crossy? I'm an only child, but my cousins are like my brothers, and I could not imagine working with them. I think someone would commit murder. Do you have any funny stories? Did she ask you before taking the job, and do you sit next to her on the bus? No, I don't sit next to her on the bus. I sit next to my little friend, Alex. often I actually really like working with Jen I'm not just saying this because she's my sister

but I do think she's very good physio yeah she listens to the podcast so I can't slate her but no I do think she's a very good physio she worked very hard to get the job that she is in and she's this is like her dream job she's always wanted to physio for a team but unfortunately for her

we look a lot alike and she gets asked pretty much every single game that we go to for her autograph so we're getting to the stage now we were like, you might as well just start doing my autograph or like learning my autograph. But anyway, on Friday, she got asked as the physio for her autograph.

She was absolutely delighted. This kid asked, yeah, this kid asked her for her autograph. She went, oh, it's not me, you want, it's Kate. I'm her sister. And she was like, no, no, I want yours, you're the physio. Oh, that'll have made a day. Yeah, fame at last. So, no, I do like working with it.

And also, it's really handy to have a physio in the family because, like, you get a little niggle and you're, oh, Jen, what does this? rather than having to like, you know, alert the church elders at the ECB and, you know, tell everyone that you might have a little niggle, you can just get a little way in first to see if it's serious. So no murders? No murders, no, no.

When you have an away game, how much luggage do you take? Do you wear regular clothes when you travel and when you're not training? We touched on this, haven't we? I brought one jumper with me for five days worth of travelling. So I, you tend to just. Take your cricket stuff. I overpack. A little toiletry bag.

Yeah, we always do. And we always put nice clothes in when we never wet. We always put our sweats on. I'm going away for three nights. Okay, that's at least seven pairs of knickers. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha. What were we like going into that hotel on Tuesday night though? What do you mean?

Like two bags, duffel bag, cricket kit. I mean, we did have, we had our hundred content. day this week, didn't we? So we're in Nottingham for that. Then we had this charity game. You were going to your tailors to get your suits. It was. I don't know what I was doing. I'm just, I've got one jumper, so don't ask me questions about packing. On the back of that, I want to say a huge thank you to you both for all you are doing through the podcast. You have both been incredible company, keeping me sane on what's been a tricky few months. And thank you for your honesty about your struggles. I don't think you realize how much of a difference you have made to mine and

countless others' lives. Keep up the good work with the podcast and go well for the rest of the season. Thank you so much. This one is titled, I Need Your Help. Interesting. Dear Alex and Kate, I'm a huge fan of the podcast, it never fails to make me laugh or brighten my day up, whether I'm at work, uni, or walking the dog, and I'm asking for your help with something. My girlfriend has just started getting into cricket, and I recently introduced her to the No Bulls and Tail Enders podcast, to which she slowly started getting into. We're recently watching a repeat of a hundred game between the Manchester originals and the Trent Rockets

when Alex was interviewed during the game and my girlfriend shouts, oh, no balls! Yes! I'm taking her to the men's Warwickshire versus Northampton at Edgebaston tomorrow. But I want to take her to a women's game. I've been to loads last year and they were all brilliant to watch, especially being at Worcester and listening to the now infamous cloud crapper

while sat in the ground. I've now got June the 29th free and would like to ask your help in convincing my girlfriend to come to watch day three of the test match between England and South Africa so she can experience the ultimate form of the game. Could I get a shout out for Sam and could you guys convince her

to please come to watch the match? Go well, George. Sam, if you don't go to day three of the test match, I just don't think you should listen to our podcast anymore. that's really threatening actually you've gone down a really aggressive route quite early there Sam please come on day three I'll be there you'll be there

George is going what about you buy Sam and ice cream if you see her and George at the test match Sam if you go to the test match I will buy you and George an ice cream and all three of us can have one together and if you don't go

unfortunately for you Alex is now banning you from listening to the podcast. We can't police that in any way, shape or form. So we won't know. I'm sure George might email us. But you might get a free ice cream. I will definitely give you a free ice cream. Time has just gone off.

Right then you two, you're banging on. That is the alarm that tells us that we're heading towards our time limit. People have things to do and people to see. Or is it the other way around? Love you. All right, all the time has gone off, but there's one email, and the title has grabbed me, and we need to read it out. It says, no-ball's balcony flag at Old Trafford.

Yes. How good was that? How good. Did we talk about that on the pod? No, we've not done a podcast since then. Well, some absolute belter made a no-bowls flag and hung it off the balcony at Old Trafford for our game. Yeah, so you were about to bowl, got you around a little headlock, and I was like, I'll look at that.

Class. Look at that. So good. It was nice of your dad to come and watch us. actually. It says hi Kate and Alex. We took our little all-star, Nye, he's six,

to his first set of T20 cricket games at Old Traffered over half term to celebrate our first year back as Lank's members. Really enjoyed the opportunities to see Thunder on both Wednesday and Friday. Hard luck and well done, respectively. As we had the little one with us, we stayed at the hotel on Wednesday

to make sure that we could watch the full Thunder game and we were in the B-stand on Friday. It was all very exciting. I don't know whether he even. means being in the B-stand or going to the cricket, but anyway. We also got to say a star-struck hello to a southern viper as we were heading for our room who very politely endured us whispering. That was Danny Wyatt all the way down the rest of the hotel corridor.

Anyway, to get to the point, on Friday, we looked up at the third floor room that we had on Wednesday night, and we're delighted to see that Friday's occupants draped a nobles flag from the balcony. Kate, we tried to get a photo of the sign in the background when you were near the B-stand fielding, It ended up looking a bit crappy and stalkerish and we're definitely not psychos. Anyway, thanks both. It was great to watch you both. Great to see the Thunder at Altrafford

and fantastic to see Nobles' representation in the crowd. Go well, David, Sarah and Neil. Oh, thanks guys. Honestly, the people that listen to this podcast are the only reason we carry on going. Let's be honest. Without you guys, we don't have a podcast. We actually did an interview this week.

We were very coupley this week, weren't we? because we did all our content for the 100, and you've obviously signed for the Welsh Fire. And we can say it now, even though we said it in seven podcasts when you weren't meant to say it. And we had to do an interview together, like a genuine couple. And we had our first challenge as Welsh Fire versus Manchester Originals. It was the water challenge,

which was probably the worst thing to watch in the world. But quite fun to do, actually. Quite fun to do. and you'll have to keep your eyes peeled during the 100 to see who wins. To see who bought the water on the table. I'm going to give you a clue. It was me. We got an Instagram message, Al.

Last thing before we sign off. From a guy called Ollie, he says, keeping myself entertained with the latest episode of the pod on my drive to work, went to my surprise, my local Chippy gets a mention. Binly Mega Chippy, remember you were banging on about this last week. and I didn't have a clue. Yeah. So Binley Mega Chippy.

However, Hartley's geography. Little bit out. About 120 miles when she said it was in Southampton, it's actually in Coventry. Oh, come on, it's down south. Love the pod, keep smiling, ladies, and keep being new.

Good luck in the game this afternoon. Get Hartley up the order. P.S., we need a no-balls TikTok account. Oh, but don't tempt me. Don't tempt me. Binly mega-chipy. Binly mega-chipy. Pinley mega chippy.

Still don't get it. See everybody. If you want to no-ball us, you can on... No-Bose podcast at BBC.com.com. No-ballspodcast at BBC.com. It's so good. They said it twice, really fast. They've said it twice.

Bye. Bye, everyone. And cross strikes in the first over. It's what England we're looking for. Partly falls. Down the track comes scoring this time she connects. It's either six or out It's six.

Hello, I'm Stefan, the BBC's gaming reporter. I'm also the host of PressX to continue the BBC's gaming podcast, and I think you might like it. On the podcast, we talk gaming news and reviews. We had such a lot. early start this year with February, just having great game after great game after great game. We discussed some of the biggest games of the moment.

The characters all have their experiences that they bring to it and you feel, you know, kind of part of that puzzle. And we get into some of the things the gamers are talking about right now. Elder Ring is a game where it wants you to kind of talk about it with other people to kind of decipher different things and discover different things. Oh, I didn't know you could do that. That's Press X to continue the BBC's gaming podcast, available only. on BBC Sounds.