Test Match Special - No Balls: The Cricket Podcast - World Cup reflections and Jemimah Rodrigues!

Episode Date: November 19, 2021

After a dramatic few weeks in the UAE, Kate and Alex reflect on victory for Australia. Plus, India superstar Jemimah Rodrigues joins the pod from the Women's Big Bash League.

This BBC podcast is supported by ads outside the UK. Bring more gear, carry more passengers, face greater challenges. Welcome to the world of Defender, with seating up to eight, ample cargo space and legendary off-road capability. It's built to make the most of every adventure. Learn more at landrover.ca. Before you get stuck into your podcast, I'm Jonathan Agnew talking you through a very new miniseries hitting test match special. It's called Project Ashes. Over the last year,

I've been speaking to the people who are in charge of England's attempts to win down under. It's loud. They let you know that they don't like you. Got to try and embrace it if you can. We're under no illusions. You know, in our last 10 tests, but 9-0 down. England have only won once in Australia

in the last 34 years, but could that change this winter? And in comes Pat Cummins from the far-ready. Bowles to Stokes who hammers it for four! Come up against this baggy green thing that they keep talking about and I'd love to, you know, stick one up on. This is Project Ashes.

Listen on BBC Sounds. Now, back to your podcast. Guys, this is your warning. We do swear, occasionally. Every now and then, we'll say the word. Sometimes. Sometimes. And even maybe.

But don't let that put you off with nice people. We beep them out. So your kids can listen. Enjoy. And cross strikes in the first over. It's what England we're looking for. Hartley balls. Down the track comes scoring this time she connects.

It's either six or out. It's six. Hello and welcome back to Nobles a great podcast with me, Alex Hartley and you. Kate Cross The home of the hat stacking World Cup It's official It's been done

It's been dusting And we've got a winner Everybody we've got a winner Congratulations to South Africa's captain Basuma Consistently Brilliant

It was a tough final I thought I don't think the result The percentage of the votes actually I don't think it recognised Marmadulla's effort

neither well you've actually just put some caps on well we've put some caps on for social media purposes

and you said it's hurting my head having five caps on my head really did hurt I did continue I thought I'd try and get

into the mindset and I carried on my day with the hats on I cooked the Sunday roast was cooking the Sunday roast sorting the spuds

out with my six hats on but yeah my forehead's a bit tingling now but we had Sonny's a cap Sonny's

Sonny's cap floppy for the winner Brilliant So good Get your flops on Get your flop on Someone sent a message saying It was a tough

Sorry if you can hear Fireworks going off That's for the winner Bottom of him Someone messaged us saying There was a real simplicity Like a beautiful simplicity About Marmodulla's

Four hat effort And how perfectly aligned it was But we've just thrown some pictures out on social media and Bovuma, every picture is of him with multiple hats on his head. So good, so good. So that's the start of our World Cup,

well, the end, sorry, of our World Cup hat stacking challenge. We've actually watched the World Cup final. It's just, it's a bit of a non-event now that we've done the hat stacking World Cup though, isn't it? I mean, congratulations Australia, but really what have you won in the context of it. There was just what there wasn't much at stake was. They're not like Bovuma and Marmadulla and.

No, they were playing for a lot more, weren't they? By the way, there's no trophy. We were going to get one made, but then we realised it it cost us money, so we didn't. How are we going to get perfumers' trophy? We just write his name on it. Send it to Minion or Lesellet get it to him, weren't they? But it's been such a success.

I'm going to do it. Oh, we're going to do it. You'll probably be there during the Women's World Cup in March. I'm really hopeful I can influence it. Like, really influence it. But we don't know. We're not a culture that has many floppies. Yeah.

The women's game. It doesn't see many floppies. Yeah. Yeah. World Cup cricket. Actually seriously. Congratulations, Australia. We've been watching it.

Well, we've kind of been watching it together, haven't we? I've watched it most of it. Like you said, you've slept. You've been a bit hung over today. Yeah. Yeah, you actually said, should we Zoom the podcast? I said, absolutely not. I don't want anyone to see me in this state.

You went out for a run being the athlete that you are And I just had a little A little granny nap, a little snooze We actually We have been discussing cricket properly in this house today And we all said that Win the toss, win the game Especially in Dubai

Yeah Because it made such a difference I don't understand what our New Zealand Batted the way they did when They've lost the toss I would so much rather than be 90 all out Trying to get to like a big total A big 190 or 2

then just back the way they did for that post-power play period post-power play over seven to what 12 yeah just did nothing until until Williamson had that over against stark it was just a bit nothing wasn't it yeah it was a bit odd anyway how are you yeah the longest intro ever we've started a cricket podcast talking about cricket this is a first for us well we haven't we talked about a hat stacking yeah that's true okay yeah um I'm all right I've had a tough week I've had a long week with properly ramped up training and I'm shattered, a bit run down. Uni as well.

Yeah, I've got some assignments coming up. But yeah, there's a lot going on, but I'm all right. You're all right. Just all right. Just all right. Yeah, I'm just all right as well. It's been one of those weeks, on it. Training's been good.

I've been enjoying it, which is the first. Nice. Went out last night. Did I wake you up when I got in? Yeah. Well, I didn't go to sleep because I didn't go to sleep properly because I always know I'll get woken up. You were very quiet though, I'll give you that.

Well, I was taking my shoes off outside the front door so the heels didn't wait you up when I came in. And then two blocks came out of their house. I was like, hi. I was like, I'm just taking my shoes off so I don't wait my house made up. At 2 a.m. 2 a.m.

He's like, okay. Nice. I've got a few things on my sticking out that are in relation to the World Cup, so can we go back to cricket? Yeah, of course we can. Okay. So I've got written down a few.

you think to it. Conway. Devon Conway. Broken, his little finger. Because he punched his bat and he had to miss the World Cup fight. Imagine, I mean, now with hindsight, it's not a bad one to miss. But they could have got more if he was batting. Yeah, he could have influenced it, couldn't he? But who punches their bat that hard with a pair of gloves on? I'm convinced, I've said this to you, I'm convinced he's punched something else, like in the dressing room. you don't break your hand punching your bat with your glove on surely i've in response to that said that i just don't believe that they'd lie about it because they actually he punched his bat out on the pitch so they couldn't hide that but they would hide him doing it inside but for me that's

a really really poor bit of advertisement for his glove company really poor yeah yeah didn't think of that but yeah missed the world cup final because he got angry because he got out in the semi-final, punched his bat, broke his hand, and his team lost the World Cup final. He didn't even play a part in the hat-stacking World Cup. He didn't. Selfish. The other thing I got written down is Rizwan. You see the story about him? Yeah.

Like, incredible. In hospital for two days. So he didn't get out of hospital to 3 a.m. The game. It looks like you coming in last night. They're then going to play cricket, except I wasn't in ICU. You were struggling this afternoon. But yeah, just amazing, in it?

It blew my mind that they managed to keep it quiet as well for the semi-final, and no one knew that that had happened until after the game. I know, I know. But again, they lost, so. Yeah, well. It wasn't his fault, he actually batted well. All these problems. But he's okay, he's fine, thankfully.

Do we touch on England getting knocked out? I guess we should. Briefly. Could do. Unlucky, lads. Luckily, there's only 12 months till the next one. We go again. they're struggling though

because they're on the plane with Australia going over to the ashes you'd be gutted and you Sam Cohen just said on telly as well that it's either going to be a very very quiet plane or a rowdy plane but I think if I was the England man

I'd just get involved get to the back of the plane get to that bar yeah why not you've got two weeks in isolation anyway I don't think about that fill your boots why not drown your sorrows

I actually feel really bad for England because they played so well and then there was just those two overs against New Zealand but that seems like ages ago now does doesn't it and I feel so much for Jordan because he's getting a lot of flack for that over isn't it like genuine true cricket fans

understand that he has not lost the game he had an over that didn't go his way don't make him a bad bowler doesn't make him a non-competitor he just had one of those days that you really don't wish for when you go out to play it

Oh, well, it can happen. But Australia, they won. We've decided that Wade looks like... Right, so he's doing Movember, which is obviously an amazing charity to support, but he looks like... He looks like he could be that bloke that turns up to service the boiler.

He looks like he could be the bloke that cleans the window. He could be any kind of tradesman, I think. Yeah, he does look like a tradesman. Really do. But more so than any of the other lads that are doing Movember, which really blows my mind. There's something about him that I hate. Like, every time he speaks behind the stumps, I'm like, shut up.

I don't even know him. He's probably a nice guy. I'm sure he probably is. Good on you, mate. Yeah, he's popping around to do the flu, though, tomorrow, isn't he? I don't think he'll be any fit to date to me, sort of anyone's flew out tomorrow. Are you got any more cricket on you sticking out? No, that's it for me.

I've got something really big. I have got one more thing I would just like to say about England losing the World Cup semi-final. I saw a start the other day that no face. going into a T20 World Cup has won it, and England were favourites. So you're almost better being crap leading up to it. I thought India were favourites. No, the Bucky's favourites were England.

Really? Yeah, no Bucky's favourite has ever won it. I've been telling him for the Buckey's favourite, it was India, the whole time. Oh, nice. Yeah. Say anything with enough conviction, and people believe you. They do.

They do. Yeah, but good fact, I use that on the radio. Nice, but wrongly, with the wrong team. Yeah. Moving on. Moving on. My something that's really big, like really big, you don't like fish

I don't like you don't like the idea of food looking like it did when it is alive so I can't eat any type of food that looks like it did when it was living that's my that's my weird probably an LBW so I can eat a piece of cod

if it looks like a square because fish aren't square chicken on the bone don't want to go near it lamb shank don't want to go near it ribs don't know well this week grussy you ate a

I ate seven prawns. And like them. And I text you about it. Honestly, podcast notes, I was like, this is a big deal. Yeah. I don't, I feel like people will be like, why is they talking about this? Why they're making this into anything for this podcast? But it is a real, I feel like it's a real pivotal moment of my life.

It is. It's massive. I felt like I became an adult. Now I can, when I'm doing dinners, I can include prawn dishes into our dinners. The thing about them that enticed me, because it was all my own accord, but they, proud of you, 30 years old. 30 years old and at a pro myself. They, they didn't look squishy, which puts me off a lot of food. I don't like soggy food.

I don't like squishy food. Yeah, I don't like aubergine because it's like... Squishy. Yeah. Do you know what I mean? I know exactly what you mean. So they looked quite, not dry makes me sound like this look bad, but they just look delicious.

I was like, I need to try one of them. And I even went up to the chef. I was like, I don't know how to pay you a bigger compliment than by telling you that I've tried a prong for the first time because of just how they looked. And what did he say? He didn't really get it. But why would you?

Because it was odd. Yeah, it is odd. And I tried to explain the whole living, what they look like when they're alive and dead kind of thing, and he just looked at me like, it's a bit weird, so I just moved on. Fair enough. But don't put them in a stew or a curry.

I don't think I'll be able to tackle them like that, yeah. We'll do dry proms, yeah. Baby steps. You said something to me this week. we were just sat on the sofa watching telly and out of nowhere you went why are you doing this I went do you know what I'm going to say

it's not bad you went I bet you're the kind of person that can make a crisp packet into a triangle yeah out of nowhere literally out of nowhere well I'd just finished a packet of crisps and I was like looking at it thinking

I need to go and put that in the bin and said what I said and you replied with well yeah I am how did you know that Yeah, but who is that the next theory? Is it like pig and rap? There are two types of people in the world. People that make triangles out of crisp packets, people that don't. Yeah. It's a simple skill. I can do a little, like, you, well, Instagram tutorial if people want to learn. And I asked you, I said, do you want to know? And you went, no, I don't want to know. But then when you gave it me, I was like, that's actually really impressive. So you're quite happy being a non-christ triangle person? Yeah, yeah. And you want to stay like that? Yeah. Right.

Yeah, do you want to change who you are? Well, I can't unlearn it. That's very true. I just know how to do it now. Right, my note. For anyone that actually really cares about the inner workings of this house and what we chat about and how deep the conversations are, this is it. We're teaching each other how to do crisp packets.

I FaceTime my dad this week and he was listening to the podcast catching up on the train. Not while I rang him before. And he was laughing out loud on the train until he realized where he was. And then he was like, gosh. I love those stories. Yeah, he's like, I can't believe I was that person that was like laughing out loud on the train listening to a podcast.

Then he was like, blah, blah, blah. And then he went, oh, he said, Crossy's just posted on our Instagram story because he gets notifications for certain people. And he went, what would actually be good if I got a notification that said, Crossie and Alex went a day without posting on their Instagram story? I actually, that's weird you say that

because I've been thinking about this a lot recently about, there's just so much stuff that goes on there that people probably really don't care about. Yeah, yeah. And I actually have tried to kind of whittle down and tried to make the highlights be the highlights, not every minute of every day of what I'm doing. Yeah.

I've had a lot of dog content recently. You actually came back saying, I want a dog. You have a lot of crap content. I know I do. Genuinely like, what are you doing? Yeah, I did enjoy my leaf blower content. That was great. I was just thinking about that as an example of good content.

Dancing our chair last night, crap content. Terrible content. Funny though. Just letting people know you went out and got drunk. Yeah. If anyone didn't know, I went out last night. Yeah. Tough day today.

Do the leaf blower story though, because people who've not seen that will now be wondering what that is. So I got woken up by the leaf blower, and I called it a leaf jet wash, but it's a leaf blower. So I looked out the window and thinking, What time is it? It's half past 8 in the morning. I've got a lion today. Woke me up. They'd only done half the car park and left the other half unleaf blown. Well, they blew the leaves into the other half, didn't they really?

So it's almost like a bit of, I don't know what the word, it's a bit of sabotage. Yeah. So I've come up with a theory that the owners of this building and the owners of the next door building fell out. It's funny you say that because in the summer they did jet wash the car park and they cleaned it, but they only cleaned half of it. So my half where my two car parking spaces are didn't get cleaned, but now there's no leaves on them.

So maybe, yeah, it's leaf blower versus jet wash. Maybe it is. Maybe it is. Remembering lockdown when everyone was jet washing stuff? My dad got me to jet wash a wooden bench. It was probably the highlight of my lockdown.

You were like, loved it? I'm going to put my phone down for an hour, going to go jet wash the flags. I'd be there for like six hours straight. There was nothing else to do though, was there? My thumb's still not recovered. We like put a hole through the bench because we're just jet washing stuff. Just for the sake of it, yeah.

You got anything else on you're sticking out? Yeah. We sent some people some stuff in the post, didn't we? And we sent one lucky, lucky person, some Nando sauce with their thing. Yeah, we did. So I've got a question for you. What is the weirdest thing that you've ever received or sent in the post? I know what the weirdest thing I've sent in the post is.

What is it? I played a prank on a teammate. You were involved in this. Oh my God, yes. And we sent a, can only be described as a seductive-style dress to... Leather. Latex. And the only way I can describe it is that when it was worn,

you looked like you were a piece of ham that had been wrapped up in string because it had bits cut out of it um anyway we sent this dress to a member of our England cricket team from a fan in quote marks yeah from a fake fan from a fake fan um and it was absolutely hilarious and I can still hear that person scream when they opened it were we out in the middle we were out of the net yeah we were like oh they've opened We've opened it. Yeah. So that's the weirdest thing I've sent, but it was a prank.

Yeah. I think the weirdest thing we received was that hate mail we got the other week. Yeah, yeah. Speaking of which, it has been completely counteracted, hasn't it? Oh my God. In fact, let me go get it so I get the name of the person, right? Because I think they're called Dan. You want me to read it?

Yeah. So you got this from, you went to all Traff of the first. the other day didn't you and picked it up yeah and the manager came in and said Alex you've got more mail I said oh more I said I'm a bit nervous to open this one but here we go here we go hi all no hi al you want me to read it sorry I just wanted to be involved hi al my eldest daughter maisie who is nine and I love the podcast and enjoy listening to it together this is weird reading out off actual paper not an email we're sorry to hear that you received an angry letter from a listener, it must be understandably upsetting to receive this and it sounds like you handled

it well and talked to you're okay. I am now, thank you. Very sweet. We thought we'd be nice to send a friendly letter to come to receive instead along with a gift. We thought the book would provide you and crossy some amusement and hopefully you won't argue if it's left out next to the toaster. So we've been sent a book called the Humble Spud. Right? How many pages are in that book. There are 144 pages. And it is basically the different ways to make spuds.

Yeah, and I've never ever thought about making a vegetable pie with potato pastry, but we can give it a go. Is that not just a shepherd's party? I don't know, don't mean on my parade. Sorry, well I think you picked

a bad page there. Yeah, I did. I've never thought about making a roast potato. But here, Parmesan and olive oil and pine nut mashed potato. Yeah, nice. So many ways. Honestly, potatoes are so versatile.

The humble spud. And I feel very humbled, so thank you so much. And they went on to say that Macy and this must be her dad, Dan, went to the final ODI at Canterbury where Crossy took her 50th wicket. Favorite photo of the day below, and it's a photo of me and Macy. We're at the ground. And she looks dead happy, bless her. And it was a great day and topped off when Macy was able to get some autograph.

and photos with the players, and the players couldn't have been kinder. Macy spent the whole drive home grinning and carefully holding the signed ball which now has pride of place on the shelf. Oh, honestly, Dan, Macy, thank you so much. I feel like a humbled spud. You are a humbled spud. Speaking of which, we've actually got spuds in the oven because we're making a roast, so we won't go on too much with this.

But one more thing on my sticking out before we go and introduce our guest. You completely, if we did trough and peekily, which I'm aware, done, this would be my trough. You threw me under the bus so hard this week on Twitter that it genuinely hurt me. No, I didn't. I kept your name out of it. Oh my God, Al. It was so obvious that that you screenshot a WhatsApp message, it was so obvious it was from me. Because you tagged me in it. Do you know what? I only did that because I knew the receiver would really, really like it. So I thought we'd just, we've got another theory. haven't we?

We have got a theory. And I don't know if we spoke about it on the podcast before, but I thought we should enlighten people. Yep. Got a theory about voice noting. Love a voice note. Yeah, we do enjoy it. We have phases, don't we?

We have phases where we're really particular with how we message each other. So it'll be like... Videos. We go through a phase of videos. We go through a phase of voice noting. We go through a phase of like one message style WhatsApp or then 17 messages in a row. You do kind of just follow what the other person does that, don't you? Yeah.

If you send me a voice note, I'll voice note back. I don't text you back. Yeah, that's true. But voice notes, guys, they cannot be over. Ideally, keep them under 30 seconds long. Yep. That's an absolute ideal situation. Unless you're allowed to go over the 30 seconds.

If you have a story to tell about the same subject and you need a bit more time to get the details in there, then it can be over 30 seconds. But no more than a minute. You might as well just ring them. You know, nobody wants that. Yeah. Someone said something about if it's over two minutes,

it's definitely like a start of a podcast or something. So you've got to keep it under two minutes for absolute sure. But my agent, Luke, he will send a voice note that's like four minutes long. God, when he first started with you. So now he's like voice note in me, he's like, Hi, Al, can you work Tuesday, bye. Yeah. Like, I like it.

I like it. So we gave him some rules, didn't we? that no pleasantries get rid of the pleasantries you don't need to do the high how you're doing hope you've had a good sleep get rid now now he's sending them to me to almost check them before he sends them to you so i don't know what you're up to now he sent me this the other day good morning no pleasantries 30 seconds uh hope you're good still a pleasantry you're going to get the fighting talk topics anyway so that was before i went on to fighting talk he's wanting to make sure i was all right so he said no pleasantries it was actually 27th century

seconds long. He actually said, are you okay? I hope you're okay. Yeah, no pleasantries, but I hope you're okay. And I just replied, nothing to do with his voice note. Nailed it. Smashed it. So he sent me that voice note as well, and he said you'll enjoy this one. But the best bit about it is right at the end of the voice note, he goes, kept under 30 seconds, bye. Does he? Should I pass forward it? So let me know when the topic's come through and we'll speak then. Here we go. Okay, seconds, yes.

Less and 30 seconds, yes. We actually had a phase, didn't we, where we were doing the voice notes and it gets 30 seconds and it just stopped and we'd start a new voice note. So that's where the rule of if it's the same content, keep it in the same voice note. But the problem with it is is that you can't send a four minute voice note.

And remember what's been said at the start. Exactly, yeah. So what I've started doing with longer voice notes now is typing a reply as I'm listening. So then I know what I'm, I can like, say, yeah, I'm good, thank you. Brilliant, got that bit. Excellent, thank you. X, Y, Z.

Yeah. Anyway, that was on my, yeah, but you completely threw me under the bus because I made a sarcastic comment on what's up to you about Luke doing us a favour, but I think probably getting us a guest for this podcast. Rob, there's spending 55 minutes, voice not in me. He did like it, though, but sorry, Luke, if you are listening. I loved it. Hope you're all right, no pleasantries. Should we introduce this week's absolute legend of a human?

I think we should. Yeah. Right, it gives me great pleasure to introduce our guest this week, Alex. We have got all the way from Perth at the moment, Jamima Rodriguez, Jamima, welcome to Nobles the Cricket podcast. What's up, guys, it's my debut on your podcast. I'm so excited after so many years, you know. We've been threatening to have you on this podcast now for six months.

Oh, yeah. So it was actually my mistake. me on Instagram but at that time I wasn't following you so I didn't have like it went it went to the request and I didn't check it maybe and after like we are playing you guys now in the UK I'm like oh crossy messaged me I was like okay fine you can do this I'm so sorry for the late reply so it's your fault that you've not been on yeah I'm so sorry um so we just spoke about where you are you but our first question is where are you and what are you up to yeah so right now I am in Australia. We're playing the WBDL. We're playing for the Renegates, which is on the top of the table right now. And we're very excited for that. So out of seven games, we won five. One got washed out and we lost one. And tomorrow we're going to play the Scotchers. So yeah. It always shocks me that in Australia, you can have a rained out game.

Oh, yeah. It shouldn't rain over there. That should happen in UK. It should happen in UK might happen here. Yeah. Are you enjoying it? Yeah, I'm having a lot of fun. So this is my first time I'm playing the WBBL. The previous years also we had gotten, like, teams that approached, but then we didn't get the NOC. And the other time it was that the international games were thrashing. So that is the reason we couldn't play.

But now it's so exciting to see so many Indians playing also and the standard of the BBL, you know, just to compete with the best people in the world. It's same like the 100, you know. It was so good to be part of the 100. So it's so exciting to, you know, go to another franchise and play. apart from the northern superchargers so yeah um jemmy

we actually need to double check because people get your name wrong when they say it so I've been told you're jamima yeah not jemima no right okay so I got it right that's fine good start good start

we were actually discussing it before we came on I was like honestly I don't know I said jemima no no you guys are late Rod Riggs where is this come from I think Portuguese, it's a Portuguese son-name. And surprisingly, I'm wearing a Portuguese jersey today. Is that why?

That was coincidence. But I think it's my great-great-great-grandfather, something with that. I don't know. My mom was telling this story. And when she was telling me, I just zoned out because it was so way bad. I'm like, okay, it's Roderick's I can pronounce it. That's more than enough. Right, back to the cricket.

So your first time in the WBBL, you said you're enjoying it. how did you find it compared to the 100? I think the 100 is a totally different format. It is very exciting. It was fun to be a part of quick changes. I mean, new rules. I think the starting just went and getting to know these rules and how three four games just went in that.

But I think it was very exciting playing the 100 format and also, you know, getting back to the North. I really love the North and I've been that like in 2019 for the Kia so could even again going there. It was fun and it was good outing for me. to I got a lot of run. And compared to this and now we're playing the Big Bass.

So I think just the difference is that Big Bash is, this is a season 7th. And the 100 or the Kia Super League, what was there, it doesn't have many seasons compared to this. So just because they have so many seasons, the girls have more experience. And the more experience you have,

you guys know you've played so much cricket, the better you get, the more you're able to do and deliver things in the same situation which you were so many years back. Like, you might do something better this time because you've learned from there. So I think the only difference is that they have played more seasons over here. So that's why the standard might be a little higher.

But I'm telling you about England cricket, I think it's going to take off. Just to see the bench strength and, you know, the domestic girls is coming out and doing so well. Like, when we won the 100, I followed, like, almost every game. Just to see the bench strength that you guys are getting now, it's crazy. So I think, yeah, England cricket is going to go up from your women's cricket. I mean, every time I check the scorecard in the 100, you'd scored runs. Like, you were in a ridiculous score. Except against your team.

We just said that. We said, we think we stopped your phone because we got you out early for the first time in the corner. Yeah. But to say that you had a good out in, Gemmy, you had an incredible 100. Like, you were leading run scorer for a majority of that. And I'm pretty sure if you'd have got through to the knockout stages, whatever, the eliminator and the final, you'd have probably. been the leading run scorer so don't be modest you had an incredible hundred yeah yeah it was

really good because before that i was just coming from not such a good series against you guys against england and i was kept out for the test then got kept out for the first odii but then got an opportunity to the second odii and the third odii and i did really bad and um i was like okay gone end of my career i'm going to be dropped i wouldn't be Australia. I actually thought all that, you know. And also I was not in a very good headspace in that time because Alria was not scoring and a lot of thoughts in my mind and just I was so confused in my batting, confusion, you know, how things are going to go about and so anxious about what's going to happen in the future, what's going to happen next. And then came the

hundred. It gave like a blessing in disguise for me. We stayed back for the hundred. And I still remember before the first game, I was so nervous. I had slept the previous night and I woke up from a dream. I would rather call it a nightmare that, you know, I'm dropped from the India squad. I'm dropped from the India team. And I literally woke up in that fear and in that anxiety that, I know what's going to happen and things like that. And I still remember that morning, you know, I was very quiet. You know, you normally don't see Jamie quiet, but I was very quiet. But I think the turning point for me, uh, in the hundred was, I realized that when I was playing for India, I was trying to prove myself a lot. I prove that I belong here,

prove that you're not good enough to be at this level because obviously it happens it's very natural you're kept out and then when you get in you want to show everyone okay this is who i am but then what i realized was that uh during that time during that phase that i read one of without coli's interviews and he said when he was in england in his 2014 uh 14 time and he had low schools he was going through the same thing like he felt so low in confidence he didn't feel like waking up and you know going out there and you know i could relate and something happens when you can relate with someone like, I am not the only one going through this. So then when he said that, and then he said the thing that changed for him was he just played cricket

because he loved playing cricket and stopped trying to prove himself. And I think in the 100, I went with that mindset like, okay, anyway, nobody has no expectations from you, Jemmy, because you're not scored so nobody really cares or anything like that. So just go out there and just play cricket, just have fun. And I think that's the thing that changed for me. and after that, you know, just to get that 92 in the first game, it was one of the most special knocks for me, I would say, because of all that I went through,

a lot of heartbreak, a lot of tears, a lot of criticism, but just to come out there and, you know, to win that match for the team, obviously with ADR, with that partnership, but, like, just to win that game, I think, you know, that's one of the most memorable knocks for me. Wow. I mean, I think everyone listening to this can probably relate exactly to what you've, just gone through. But I think it just goes to show that if Virac Coli can go through something

like that, anyone can, like the best batter in world cricket or one of the best batters in world cricket at the minute. But there's so, like me and I'll talk about this on the podcast all the time. There's so much of that that you don't see from athletes because you only really see the performances on the pitch. You don't see what they go through off the pitch as well. So I think the incredible that you turned it around so quickly as well, because that, that's, that's, series that we played against you it wasn't that much before the hundred was it there's only like a couple of days yeah you did so well to turn it around i often think as well like with cricket and professionals like we've all put pressure on ourselves but you've got to remember

why you started playing and that's because you love to cricket and how much hair do you just play with a smile on your face i know that's so true and the thing is that you know that's sometimes the most difficult thing to do because now every game is watched everything is on social media whatever actions you do are so noticed by the world that sometimes you just forget the reason why you started playing cricket and you just take so much pressure about all this but you know it's a constant effort for me to keep reminding myself that you know i'm not here to play for people i'm not here to play for anything else i'm just here to play for that girl who loved holding the bat in the hand that gave her the most joy i think that's why we started playing cricket and we need

to have fun right how did you start playing cricket jemmy were you a little tyke playing or did you pick it up later? I picked it up very early, I would say. So I used to play with my brothers, my two elder brothers, Enoch and Eddie. So they used to play just outside our house. There's a small lane. We call it a gully.

You might have heard of gully cricket in India. So over there, I started off being gully cricket. I was at the age of four when I started going for practices with them. At the age of three, my grandfather gifted me a plastic bat and I used to play outside. And then at the age of four, I used to go with my brothers. so with the boys team only because that time we didn't know women's cricket existed but yeah that's how it started wow so very good that's four years old i mean you're still really young now you're how old yeah i'm 21 21 wow i feel like you played international cricket for like

five years as well i know forever i feel like i'm a senior now also because shafali and which I have come and they make me feel old. So all of 21, I feel like, you know, I'm a grandmother over there with two young kids coming. So you played in the 100, you've played in the KSL, played in the WBBL. How important to women's cricket are these leagues around the world? Because we don't play as much international cricket as the men.

So we just want your opinion on how important they are. I think it's very important. the kind of experience you get here. It's not just about playing matches and just that's there, you get to go in that pressure situation every single time. You get to learn so much, okay, and you've been in that situation so much that next time

you are there, you know, you know what you have to do. But also that, you know, you get to share the dressing room with the legends of women's cricket in the world. Also, like now I'm getting to talk to y'all and, you know, you all have played so much cricket, there's so much experience and also you all, you guys can relate that, you know, when you be a part of the team in the

100, like, so many people, people get to learn from y'all and we get to learn from them and you know how it goes about so i think more than anything else is that experience that you know keeps going and how the coaching keeps going about and goes forth so i think more than anything else is that and the more experience you get i think the better it is the more matches you play you know how much ever you practice in the nets it's fine but once you go out there imagine hitting the winning runs for your team and now going and there and then making your debut for india or making a debut for England, how much more confidence you go out there walking, you know, because you've already

played so many matches before. So I think these matches are really important and it teaches you so much and there are so many, so many other things you can learn. So I think also it's high time that the women's IPL starts soon and hopefully like we all can be a part of it and, you know, share so much more experience and let Mumbai win and not CSK and I think. We were going to say, who do you support, so you support Mumbai Indians? all the way. So on a scale of one to a hundred, where do you think we are before a women's IPL starts? A hundred being like it's going to start tomorrow. Okay. Oh, okay. So I would say 90, 90 percent. Oh, it's very, it's very close. I think I'm just speaking in faith. I don't know.

Yeah, we're all hoping. But we're hoping. But, but no, like a lot of talks are going on back there in India. hopefully it will start very soon because it's high time. And even if you go to see that, you know, India has done so well in the last two years. Like we've reached, I think, two World Cup finals, one semifinals. And unfortunately, we lost against England. But I'm just kind of saying that, you know, if we get that kind of experience, you know, we want to do well in such important and big games, I think to absorb that pressure and to handle that pressure,

the only way we can do it is, you know, by playing the IPL and such. tournaments like the WBBL or the 100 because it gives you a lot of a lot of pressure playing in front of a crowd playing under the lights so I think that's the only way you know if we want like I speak for India like if you want women's cricket in India to improve I think that's the only way at the moment you know cricket in India can improve and you know there is a lot of bench strength there are so many girls out there playing cricket even now I'm following the domestic season that's going on in India like almost this is a I think the first time so many people have scored hundreds and centuries and you know you can imagine

the kind of bench strength that is there and everyone is a good team well-balanced good teams on the youngsters you never know you might just get a star you know suddenly in the ipal you'll find a star and that person wins you the world come it can happen so i think yeah but jemmy speaking about crowds and learning to play in front of crowds we can't have you on the podcast and not have you talk about that world cook final like playing in front of 86 000 people what i know the result didn't go your way. We'll just brush that aside. But how was that day? Oh, I think it was more than anything else, it was a win for women's cricket because I was speaking to my teammates just before the game. And they were saying, you know, it's going to be crazy tomorrow

because we have played in the stadium where literally there were just five people you could count them on the bench. And we got to know like a lot of crowds going to come. We didn't know actually they're going to actually be 86,000 people. We saw, okay, maybe it's up and down like 40, 50,000 thousand. But literally when we walked in the stadium and came out for warm up, that time the entire stadium was almost full. And it was a crazy sight.

And I still remember, you know, even my mom and my dad had come that time. Oh, my. And yeah, I was feeling a deep mid-wicket. And I remember that, you know, normally I just tried to see them in the crowd wherever they are always. I just like, I said, how am I going to spot them in 86,000 crowd? But you know,

I just looked behind me and there was like the small, small box. Literally, it was like this a small box and I can see like two people just coming out and doing like that high and I'm like I was embarrassed I'm like oh my god no don't look back but then I felt so happy you know seeing them over there and I'm like okay whatever happens today I just know that these two people are always going to cheer me on like this and always going to be there for me so that was one of the sweetest things for me but but yeah it was it was it was a crazy experience just to be a part and although we didn't win that day but I told us in my captionals on Instagram

that women's cricket definitely won that day and just to be a part of that game was I think one of the best memories for me ever and I think nothing can ever beat that to come close to that. Apart from if you win it. Yeah, oh yeah, correct, sorry. Apart from if we win it.

But in a way, I think that Australia needed to win that game because it was their home. It was like the fairy tale story then, wasn't it? I know we shouldn't be saying this with an Indian player on the podcast, but it felt right that Australia won't. No, we're not there yet. No. Did you meet Katie Perry?

Oh, no. After the match, everyone was so sad. We didn't even go for a concert. Oh, no. Yeah, it was Harmon's birthday that day. Sorry, we did meet her the previous day, though. She had come and she'd spoken to us, and we had a few pictures. So that was really nice.

I forgot, sorry. and we've sort of touched on this but we haven't actually answered it what has been your career highlight so far my career highlight that's a tough one I'll still go with my debut my debut for India getting the cap from Harman Piscord and playing in South Africa

I had been doing well in domestic cricket like one entire season I did well but just the three most important games that was against railways so railways It's like almost the 10 of them are currently playing for India in our domestic. Okay. So if you do well against them, it's like you're doing well against the Indian team. Yeah. So them and then two challengers games.

Challengers is that India A, India B, India C. Against railways and the two challenges, the teams I played, I got out on 0,1 and 0. Oh, no. So then all the selectors, yeah, so all the selectors are like, you know, she scores against the easy teams, but against these teams, she can't. score, so I don't think we can take her. Now, the next season, again, I scored in, like, in the Mexican 7 games, I had

some 1,013 runs. I had a double century in a 50-over game. Yeah, I scored heavily, and then came the challengers. And I wanted to play for India so desperately, you know, with my dream. But I was so annoyed with myself that when it mattered the most, I did score.

So then I had to keep some motivation in front of me. So what I did, I went on Google, and I picked a screenshot of the India jersey at that moment and from one of the pictures I cropped out my head and I I pasted it over there. So I needed something to keep me motivating. So I used to look at that every day and I am quite a spiritual person. So I was like, thank you Jesus.

This year I'm going to pray for India. Like literally every day I should tell it before stepping out of bed. I should tell that. And then we used to go to the theatres and when the national anthem used to play. So before the movie, they always played the national anthem in India. So before the national anthem used to play, I used to imagine myself, you know, standing there with the entire Indian team and wearing the jersey

and I used to imagine myself singing the national anthem with everyone over there and within six months then the challenges happened I was the third highest one scorer there and I got through in the Indian team and when I was standing in South Africa

and I was singing the national anthem I was thinking am I still in the theatre is this is so good I can't describe that feeling so I think that would be the most precious moment for me Wow they talk about manifesting

and how it actually works well you jemmy you are i never knew that jemmy that's actually incredible i'd like to have that much motivation and that much drive to do something that's yeah that's outstanding jemmy you've been amazing thank you so much for giving us your time and thank you for checking your dms finally so that it could come on if i if i just knew six months back that my life would turn around so much i would check my dm every day but thank you so much guys for having me. It was so much fun and I love the work you guys are doing. Thank you so much. Thank you guys. So nice stuff to do. Jamima Rodriguez. What a hero. What a belter. I mean we got up in the middle of the night for that.

Yeah, we did. On reflection, it was 7 a.m. People are getting up for normal working hours. I've got to go. We've got a teammate because the gym. at 3 a.m. after a shift because it's the only time she can go to the gym. Oh God. I know. And there's us complaining that we've got to do work at 7 a.m. because this is work now. I know. We probably went to bed at 9pm as well. So we've probably got a full 9 hours in. But how good. I mean, check your DMs, guys. You don't know what opportunities lie in those DMs. Exactly. And just the fact that she was able to be so open and honest with us as well, like an absolute belter of a human. Yeah. And she's one of those people, ironically, I was talking about

how much we post on social media at the start of this episode. You see a lot of her on social media, but you don't see the side of it that she explained to us. And I would have, I just would have had no idea how much she was struggling in that series against England at the start of the year, or start the summer, sorry. But that's almost something we talk about in the dressing room.

We're aware that she's not scored a run, so make sure we get on top of her early and don't let the score, but you don't know how that mentally affects people. But that's competitive sport, isn't it? Yeah, of course, of course is. Oh, by the way, she's not scored a run, just give her a half folly. Yeah, like one through your legs on the boundary, yeah. No, of course not, but I think, I don't know,

I guess it's just the different sides of sport that everyone is aware that she might not scored runs, and then everyone's pleased for when she, like, absolutely smashes the 100. But we almost are using that to her detriment when we're playing against her. Yeah, but as a human, as a player, you've got to find your own way out of these things, which is what she did. So good on her, because she's had a brilliant, summer after that rubbish start um but i think we can all kind of relate to that story can't we we've all been where she's been and we've all found our ways of doing it and it is just

how you find your way out of it which is the main thing sorry i had a hair stuck i can see it i can get it have you got it thank you so thank you jemima yes thank you very much um guys if you want to get in touch it's no balls podcast at bbccom co. UK. It's no balls podcast at bbc.com.com.com. It's so good. They've said it twice. You can tell when we're together because that just so much smoother. And everybody listening, remember, if you need somebody,

you've got us. That works as well. I didn't even, I don't know what that saying was. I don't know. No, we did it on purpose. By accident, I mean, we didn't do it on purpose. For one last time, let's just all take a minute to congratulate Bovuma on his incredible tournament, his incredible campaign. It was a pleasure to witness a pleasure to report on well done australia

see you guys 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 Match of the Day Top Ten Podcast Gary Linneker here to bring you a little message

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