Test Match Special - No Balls: The Golf Day

Episode Date: September 20, 2024

It's finally here! Kate and Alex take on umpires Anna Harris and Sue Redfern in the first No Balls Players-Umpires golf day. But who will come out on top?Kate also tells us about second part of England's white-ball tour of Ireland and her feelings now her stint as captain has finished.

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you're getting a fair exchange rate with no extra markups. Be smart. Join the 15 million customers who choose Wise. Download the Wise app today or visit wise.com. T's and Cs and Cs apply. BBC Sounds, music, radio, podcasts. Al, we've got to issue a swear warning because you are absolute potty mouth. Not another one. And you need to remember that your grandma listens to this. She does. She also abuses me on social media. But don't worry, we beep it out. See your kids can listen. And Grandma Jean. Cross. I'm doing round the wicked. Oh, that's... Boulder! Boulder! Leaving a ball alone. Litchfield.

Think it's the wobble ball. And it just nips back. It jags back. It's the nipbacker. That is a beauty from Kate Cross. An absolute seed. That is a beautiful cross. Hello and welcome back to No Balls, the Cricket podcast with me, Alex Hartley and you, Captain Kate Cross. We're doing an Alfrisco one, Al. We are, we are out in South Birmingham. I know, well, we're actually at Goudat-Looke golf course, Al. We've just played 18 holes. It's posh. It's lovely. Sunny. And we've just played with Anna and Sue. And it's one of the nicest courses I've actually played. It was beautiful.

It was the inaugural annual golf day with Anna and Sue. So good. So good. It finally happened. We've only spoke about it for about four years. We'll get on to the golf day and how amazing this whole day was. But I want to talk about you. The series win, the last time I spoke to you,

Tammy had scored loads of runs. You got a six fare. You lost the final ODI. Yes. What happened? Crazy game, actually. So it was a reduced game. It was raining so, so much.

We did the toss at quarter past 10. and didn't play any cricket till quarter past three. So that's how wild the day was. But we somehow managed to get a shortened game in. And it got down to the wire. We shouldn't have got anywhere near winning. And then Maddie Villiers comes on. It actually started with Big Phil, Lauren Firelishy Bowler,

an unbelievable over that got us back into the game. And then Maddie Villiers is on a hat trick in the final over. We get a run out. And then four to win off the last ball. Yeah. It goes for Paul. it's a small mistake by Holly Armitage on the boundary because the weather had been so bad

the ball plugged and she'd run past it and it was just one of those moments you just want to go oh don't worry I mean you'd won the series like it doesn't We'd won the series but obviously it gave Ireland a little bit of confidence which And three points And three points championship points

But then you're going into a T20 series Two match series that's played back to back So we played on the Saturday and the Sunday in Dublin And I was just thinking you know The short and format they've got more Gabby Lewis came out the captain

and said looking forward to beating England 3 nil it's only 2 nil it's only 2 games no she said 2 nil

she said looking forward to a 2 nil series win oh okay she didn't specify who 2 to be fair to her yeah

so it's 1 1 1 1 yeah we lost the second game again like we shouldn't have got anywhere near winning that game it was Ireland's to win all the Perendogas

batted so well she would think she was 80 or 50 up balls and then Maddieville last over you're joking last over

she's on a hat trick she goes for a now she's probably about 10 yards away from the stumps absolutely launches the ball and it goes for overthrowes and island won so it was nothing if it wasn't exciting a bit stressful from a captaincy point of view but good actually i felt really challenged in both those games so it was good to get the thinking hat back on england captain completed it mate done it that's probably it now that's my tenure done and dusted shake my hand congratulations never to be don't think i got the best win rate i know i was so that's not too bad though what percentage is that

very good. Three-fifths. I don't know what it is as a percentage, but someone will work it out for us. But congratulations, because, you know, not everybody can say they've captained their country

and you can't. I was actually talking to someone about this the other day and it changes how you are introduced to people forever now. So every time you're on comms, it would be like former England captain Kate Cross.

Forever. Because it's like... And this podcast. England World Cup winner, Ebony, Renford, Brent. Alex Harley. England, World Cup winner, Alex Hartley.

Oh, she's got her two fingers, everyone that's playing the drinking game. Former England Captain Kate Cross. That's it forever. It is cool. I've had some really lovely messages as well. I've had one from Claire Connor, who obviously was a former England captain. A really sweet one. So yeah, it has been lovely.

I've not probably had the chance to reflect on it yet that I would have liked because it was so, so, so quick the tour. And cold. And cold. But it was just like, so we actually got back from Ireland yesterday. I was driving home, picked my car up from Lufbert, and I was really emotional. and I was on the verge of tears and I just felt like I've not had chance to digest or reflect

or do anything yet. But why were you nearly crying? Why are you crying for? Just like the emotion of it all. I didn't want to feel like that when I was on tour because I knew that I needed to be as switched on as possible because there was no rest days basically. So there was just no downtime

and I think that's why then it probably all came out when I was driving home because I was like, well, I've got to captain my country. You're finally on your own and you can breathe and relax. about it yeah um and then we've got in a car and drove to birmingham this morning so i've probably still not had my time to reflect but i know that maybe like in i don't know six months time i'll be able to look back and go wow i got that opportunity and it was really cool and i got to debut 11 players which is mental so my tenure will be the shortest but it'll hopefully be the most

impactful because you know i could i'll be i'll definitely definitely be a pointless answer in fact that's what izie said to me izzie wong when i took the feel for the first odi she said you've just got one step closer to being a pointless answer. Congratulations, Kate. Yeah, she's probably not wrong. Who were you impressed by the most from the debutants? Really, really impressed with Caris Pavely. I thought she bowled really well in that first T20.

Left arm spinner? Left arm spinner, yeah. I actually thought the way Paige Schofield batted in the first ODI and Holly, for that matter, I know they'll both be kicking themselves because they got out at a time when, sorry for everyone that's just heard that, but we are outside at a golf course. Yeah, they'll both be kicking themselves for how they got out, because they could have gone on and got big runs that day.

But obviously, we spoke loads about Tammy in the last podcast as well. No, she's not a debutante. I'm trying to think of all's played. There's 11 of them. I'm trying to remember the names that the toss was a killer. Oh, yeah, but if the interviewer's asking you that, that's a bad question, because she knows, they know that you're going to rest and rotate players. Well, Georgia Heath, actually, I forgot to ask me about my team news,

and I had a debutante that day. So I was like, oh, do you want my team news? And she was like, I would love your team news. Thank you so much. Loads happened when I was doing. interviews though because the screen that sits behind what you when you talk so that all the sponsors are on it just blew down whilst I was mid-talking so I was like oh that's us live on television and it just opened up our dressing room to everyone but now

overall it I think when I get chance to properly think about it I'm gonna love every second of it as tiring as it was and there's so many people that are so proud of your mum and your sister went for the whole thing little grace baby grace must have been to the most cricket grounds ever for a three-month-old child I think She probably has, yeah. I got her a little vest top that says apparently I like cricket. She's already a cricket with her four months. I know.

But in more exciting news, we've had the day. We've had the day. Should we listen to some highlights? I reckon let's play some highlights and then we'll speak to Anna and Sue. Okay. Welcome to the annual Players versus Unpires. golf day and we've just decided it's annual because we're going to do it every year. Sue's got us the bucket hats. Anna's got us the balls. We've got some balls with our faces on them from Anna.

Amazing. And we've got the bucket hats. We're ready to go. Sue's just worked out how we're going to score this because we don't have a clue what we're doing. She's playing off 52. 42 actually. So yeah, it's me and Crossie versus Anna and Sue. Bring it on. Hey, come on, this is going to be the best day ever. Here they are. And Sue, welcome to the annual golf day. Thank you. The first in inaugural one.

Did you plan these outfits? No. No, positive. All I knew was that Sue was wearing shorts and I was not wearing shorts. She wouldn't wear shorts today. She said it was too cold for shorts. Yeah, she said that. I've brought a jump up.

18 degrees. I said anything over 16 degrees is shorts. She looks like to go to Smarbeah. You do? Come on then, let's get on the golf club. Let's do it. Yeah, make the best team win. Yeah, good luck.

Enjoy. Oh, save. And we're off. We're off. And we've started. Oh, what? Shut out. Oh my goodness.

Bandit. Straightest drive. Straightest drive. Come on. I'll get that one. You go hit yours. Alex Hartley is laying up with her. What you got there?

What you got? Five iron. Okay. She's going with a firebion. Hit the ball. When she hits it well, it'll be a good shot. But she'll talk. Oh, she's hit all right, into the bunker, brilliant.

That's alright, that isn't it? Oh, she's happy. She's happy with that one. I'm happy with that one. You're not going to stop when I'm commentating. Yeah, I know, but I could hear you. You're not when I'm going to put your pub. It's called Crossie.

Crossie's currently deep in the bush. She's got a lot of trees to contend with. If she's lucky, she'll hit a tree and it'll hit her. Oh, she's hit a tree. Oh, she's got it through. We're out. We're out, but we're in trouble. We're out, but it's a worse shot.

Sean! Anna! Anna! Anna! No, that's fine. That's good. Great. Right, we're at the halfway stage and it's not been great golf really, has it?

There's been moments. Small, small moments. But, scores on the doors please, Sue. Well, we've managed 13 points. Yep. And you have burgled, burgled, 18 points so far. And that is basically because Alex scored a bogey on that last hole, which I'm still not sure about it.

Which means four points. for her because she got three shots. I'm not convinced by her county, you know. So we've got a long way to go on the back nine. It's been fun though, lots of fun. Lots of people asking about the bucket hats as well which have been enjoyable. Kick her, hon. What is that? It's the ball retriever. Why where's your ball?

It was, no, they're not mine. I found two that aren't mine in the ditch. That is well annoying. We've turned up for the cameras now. We need points back. Nice out. Oh, that's good. That's nice, Alex. You've gone very far, has it?

Anna duffed her last shot on the last tee because Alex hiccooked behind her in her back swing. Oh, sorry Anna. Two. Oh! Yeah! Honestly, bring out the camera. First birthday of the day?

Yep. Woohoo! You got it? This girl loves finding golf balls. If you've got points for that, she'd be winning today. Cute beauty and she's raised. Get in your cart! So Sue, we're at the second last.

Have you been impressed so far? There's been moments, there's been glimpses of brilliance, in parts. We've had some moments. some moments. I think there's potential. Yes, potential. So there's six shots ahead of us. So we're in a spot of bother, I would say. Energy is waning a little bit. Alex is just mulliganed and her second shot was worse than her first shot. Got a bad shoulder, Sue? My hand is over my head. No, no. Alex is about to take a shot and just double checking that Sue's shoulders okay.

She's lying up. Oh, 15 yards in front of it. It's gone straight. I'm going to count the yardage. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, sixteen, sixteen, seventeen, eighteen, eighteen, nineteen, twenty one, twenty one, twenty-three, twenty-five, twenty-five, twenty-five, twenty-four, four sandwich. That's a good shot. Oh, right, we're probably 50 yards away from the hole. It's a bar three.

It's better. Is it? And it's in the bum. So whatever Crossy was saying about me, three minutes ago, live. So probably 15 seconds ago on the podcast. Karma got her because she was in the bushes. She hit one back into the bushes. And now she's gone back over the other side of the green.

Go fetch your ball, Crossie. six shots ahead. Are we? Yeah. So, closing in. I secretly think Sue's quite angry about it. Yeah, Anna hasn't played well at all. And Anna is normally better than me, and I've comfortably played better than Anna today.

But Sue keeps having a pet talk with Anna, being like, come on, come on. There's still room for us to mess this out. Yeah, there is. I'll just get this into the wind. Sue, please can you walk us through the final scores? So at the end of the front line we were five points behind because they were on 18 points and we were on 13. We had a good strong start I'd say on the back line but the bandits kind of like came back with four point holes, four point holes can I just say. So we finished on 33 points and you guys scored 38.

So hit us by 5. Get in. Well played. Congratulations. Yeah, very well played. It was a good game. All done. It was a good game.

Unlucky, mate. Al, we've only mentioned this a thousand times on the podcast. It finally happened. We've finished 18 holes. We're sat in the clubhouse with Anna. Harris and Sue Redfern welcome officially to the podcast it's a pleasure to be here likewise thank you we have been trying to get you on together for such a long time and what perfect opportunity then post golf you say that we've not actually asked them on together but we just keep saying

every week that we need to get them on together how are you both doing yeah great after a round of golf so this is the best days when you're out in the blue sky And it's been a great company, and it's been a real pleasure to play golf. So, yeah, really, really pleased. I'm not so great about the result, but, you know, kind of like it's still awesome to be out playing golf. We want a deep dive into you two as umpires. And we, so you've been on the pod before, Anna, you haven't. So we want to know.

Debute. Debute, well done. We want to know how you got into umpiring, but we all talk about your friendship as well, because you've got the cutest friendship in the world. You wear matching shoes. You're even wearing matching clothes now. It's actually ridiculous. But before we get started on the friendship, Anna, how did you get into umpiring?

It all started with mum. So I used to play cricket from when I was five and then I played my women's cricket on the Sunday and we never had any umpires. So mum went, oh, I'll just go and do my umpiring course. Started umpiring my cricket. And then went, Anna, why don't you do it? And you can earn some pocket money. So off I went, did my course. Um, did a couple of friendlies with mum. And then I just, I went out to Melbourne to play cricket and ended up umpiring cricket as well um sort of help pay the bills basically and then came back and picked it up with a league and here we are now but you've done all of this while studying to be a medic a doctor yes i'm in i've just gone into my final year of medical school still go you're still going yes oh dear yes um so i

went part time last year which meant that my fourth year took two years um so that i could fit more cricket in but thankfully i can do this year full time so hopefully if i pass my exams in about 10 months time I'll be Dr Harris which is terrifying but exciting wow given out by Dr Harris dr umpire Harris first time I came across you Anna was actually on TikTok with your mum umpiring in COVID doing um cringy umpire dances I forgot about those cringy is the exact word for it um mum's keen to bring back the TikTok I am decidedly less keen but it was a good way to try and simplify some of the umpiring concepts um but yes I do look back on my lockdown with regret probably I think a lot of people do to be

fair I was dancing with my clothes off as well embarrassing you still do that every Saturday so obviously don't want to embarrass Sue too much because she sat right next year but was there any element of seeing Sue umpiring at a higher level you know being one of the highest female elite umpires out there that you thought I want to do that I'll be honest I hadn't really thought about Sue that much because women's cricket wasn't out of context that's unbelievable quote well because women's cricket wasn't as publicised

as it is now so I just didn't have the access to watching women's cricket seeing Sue do her stuff and then once I started taking those steps into professional game probably a couple of years before that's maybe 2018 2019 sort of really started paying attention more to

the umpires and starting to take my umpiring a bit more seriously and that's when Sue came into the picture and Here we are now, standing together. You've such an incredible friendship, but how did that start? I suppose, kind of like it was just down to the fact that we umpired a lot together. And, you know, I think you and I umpire in a very similar way on field, we enjoy each other's company. And I think, you know, the way we get the best out of each other is just to enjoy what we're doing.

And I think a lot of the time, if you're not enjoying it, if you're not being you on field, then you're not really going to perform. so I think you know kind of like some umpires just we there's different routines and different processes so I think you know it's a real pleasure to umpire with you because I know that A you've got my back and you know the most important thing is you know we can have a little gig and some stuff that goes on and we're kind of like thinking the same thing so it's probably always your no balls yeah probably so I think it's just that and then obviously just spending a lot of time off field as well and yeah kind of like it's you know it's just really nice you know in my early career I was umpiring a lot with guys and just to have another female around, just a different dynamic, really.

So that was pretty good. Do you think there was an element of, you know, female sticking together and you wanted to take Anna under your wing a little bit? I think it's just really important, you know, when you work in an environment that's quite male-dominated, you know, it would be really naive to be a competitor, you know, to work together to try and be the best umpires we can be. And to prove some stereotypes wrong, I think, is really important.

You know, so, you know, kind of from my perspective, the more females that get involved in the game the more people that get involved and the more you work as a team actually helps your own performance so if you're trying to compete against people and not helping and not supporting then that's where it all goes wrong really

so it's great to see more females and to prove that there's not any job in cricket that can't be done by anybody and that's the really important thing what I like about you too is like I'm not calling you old too it's going to sound really bad but Anna you're a lot younger

and we don't often see umpires your age so it's a bit weird actually when like Anna's saying things aren't out and I'll turn around a smacker in the face like you do when you're playing but then you realise she's younger than you and you're like oh she's got more authority that's quite annoying

yeah I think it was interesting as well when I first started especially progressing through is I've played a lot of cricket with a lot of the current regional players and even some of the England players I mean Sophie Ackleston and I were on the England and 15s together and now I'm telling it when stuff's not out and she's getting annoyed

when it's an umpires cool so yeah it was really interesting especially with some of the friendships formed through playing cricket trying to create that distinction when you cross the boundary of Anna the friend and Anna the umpire was really tricky to start with I found that hard because I was constantly flirting with both of you or trying to and just having a bit of a laugh and a bit of banter I could bowl from your end too I was fine Anna I couldn't bowl from your end because I'd just be laughing and joking and like I ended up I don't think I ever got a wicket actually when Anna umpired a game at hypercourse look it up yeah let us know yeah let us know

I don't reckon I ever did. It got to a stage where I was like, Tammy, in the 100, I can't ball from Anna Zend. I just can't because I forget about bowling. I actually love that, though, and I know that I've got one of you two playing a game. It actually relaxes me because I know that I've got someone on the pitch that I can have a joke with.

Like, every time these two turn up, they're like, keep your foot behind the line. Every time, every time it's front foot no ball, first ball, isn't it? Or last time, when the first thing I said to you, when you were walking to your mark, gave you the ball and went, Crossie, when are we doing this golf day? Sue wants to know

and Crossie went Oh is Sue on the microphone No no she's in the crowd But she'd just like to know What day we're doing it please So without even there Oh hello how are you There is a lot of banter

I wish they could mic us up on the pitch Actually I think it would be quite dangerous Probably Right so you both did the Ashes test match At Trembridge On field together Matching shoes Whose idea was that

Anna Mine Yeah so I need For the sake of the podcast Who was pointing at Anna It's like a police interview So yeah so I bought the shoes. I needed some new white on field shoes because I didn't really do much

red ball cricket. There's not really any red ball cricket in the women's game. So I'd invested in these new shoes and they arrived and Sue was quite jealous. So we happened to have a discount code and that was it. The matching shoes were born but then Sue you like to change your shoes each session. I do. Yeah. So obviously then it becomes really difficult because you haven't got the same shoes for the other two sessions. So I'm now feeling awkward. But can I just mention, kind of like, we were meant to buy white shoes. What colour are these shoes which you actually bought? Mildly green? But they are white. They've just got the under, the under bit is a little bit green. But we're playing green grass, so. True. They're green. They're just

green. Yeah. So do you have to wear white shoes when you're doing Red Bull? Oh, I didn't know that. So why did you put black ones on then? You'll have black as well. Not in the test match. Oh, did you not? Oh, I thought you did. No, we're just white The other two I've got I've got a pair of golf shoes Which are waterproof And then I've got another pair

That are just a little bit They've got orange on them Which is quite funky Genuine question Do you have to wear your shoes in Because we have to wear our bowling boots in Yeah definitely My shoes now

Are more comfortable And they're two seasons old So Are we talking about I don't know This is ridiculous What I wanted to ask If there's any shoe sponsor out there

I'm very keen To hear from you Two very willing participants here So I noticed today playing golf, you two obviously in a buggy together, Sue, you're very much mentoring slash coaching Anna through the day. That's because I'm old. According to Alex. I said not old. But does that cross over into the umpiring as well?

Do you like really help each other with feedback and stuff like that? Yeah, I think we've got to a good place we can be really honest with each other. I've definitely learnt loads from Sue. Hopefully Sue's learnt sort of tough from me. So I think it's just about being candid and you know, you don't improve unless you reflect. on your own performances honestly and sue someone who I feel I can drop her a message and go what would you have done or send videos of stuff that's happened and kind of talk through the processes did you send through the video of where you both fell over and

compared notes on that absolutely we did I don't think we necessarily reflected Sue fell over Sue fell over Anna Zana Ross on her ass what I will say is Sue has far more grace and elegance than I do so that's something for me to improve on So good like she was twerking like Beyonce It was great I didn't suffer a concussion though For several days Did you Anna

Yeah so my fall in the Eliminator I got a bit Cherped by Heather Knight really She said oh she's not too good on the short ball Maya Bouchier's pulled one towards square leg And I've gone back smack my head Yeah I was out for 10 days As a concussion headache

Much sympathy shown here Yeah sorry about us Right, you're obviously both elite level umpires You do the World Cups around the world You know, you do all the professional games Where do you practice? Like where do you go and practice your umpiring So there's Nets, net sessions just like you guys have

So we go and join in on net sessions We do a lot of kind of like With an umpire coach We do a lot of kind of like simulations for TV umpiring And things like that And a lot of it is just regs And just reflection on your own umpiring And I think in the season, with our English season, there's so much cricket in comparison to many other countries.

And I think, you know, you just, it goes bang, bang. You just don't have time to think about the next game or the next decision. You just got to get back on and just, you know, try and learn as you're going on in the games and try and rectify some stuff. You know, so, and I think now what's really great is for, for Anna and I, we get the opportunities to do kind of like beyond the season and do more games, which is fantastic to keep you in the routine. It's a little bit like the golf, isn't it? if you know kind of like you don't play for a while you get a bit rusty yeah there it is yeah next time there's a howl ago have you been practicing if you're in your first one for a while I actually before the last world cup I came to your nets Alex and I got to watch the delights of

Alex Hartley batting in the nets um which I think really prepared me well for the World Cup actually a lot of going across the line working out what was getting in front questioning the impact and probably the shot choice but you know I was giving you you and some well-needed practice. Needed, that was fantastic. That's how much. Who do you think is the hardest bowler to umpire in the women's game? That's a really good question.

I find Ash Gardner really difficult because when she's in her follow-through, her right arm flicks up and it can sometimes just catch right in your eye line and it's something really off-putting. And I've tried different techniques standing back, standing forward. I mean obviously she turns the ball she's why she got a six for in our test match that was Sue's ending sorry Sue bus came by and I threw you under it

all got reviewed correct yeah but it's just different challenges so I find Ash Garden are quite difficult yeah a couple a couple of people Sophie's quite difficult because of the bounce

and you know you can see her setting batters up so you can see her kind of like with the pace She's got extra pace and bounce in comparison to a lot of spin bowlers in the women's game. And also as well, she's quite particular about where she wants you to stand and you try and work with her and things just similar to what you've said. So she can be quite difficult and aggressive in a good way, if that makes sense. I did the Rachel A. Flint semi the other day. And is it Danny Gregory, who plays for South East Stars?

With the platts. Yeah, she's got the follow-through of a fast bowler. which was quite distracting kind of like so you know so players who've got kind of like unique kind of like actions I suppose kind of like so you can get distracted quite quickly and just players who are kind of like generally quite tight in front of you don't think about this sort of stuff because obviously from our point of view we're just thinking about or we're thinking you're thinking where the ball's pitch where it's going to hit but you don't think about the Ashgardner right arm flicking through and stuff like that

that you you obviously is in your eyelines yeah and I mean Charlie Dean's a bit of a culprit for starting to creep in a little bit so she always knows she gets a smile on her face she's like oh I was a bit in front of you there wasn't I yes Charlie said oh yeah sorry and Lauren Bell coming around the wicket as well she's got that smile on her face because she knows that she's going to get told to move off yeah someone told me that actually the women's game is harder to umpire or men who have only umpired men's cricket coming into the women's game find it difficult because obviously the ball's slower and it tends to swing a lot more and a little bit later so like a Lauren Bell who pitches it miles outside off stump and it hits the pads like it's quite hard to

know. Yeah there's a really good clip actually from Lauren in the South Africa test match a couple of years ago where she started the ball on the return crease on the off side and it's come back just impacting the line and hit the stumps and there's so many instances of people thinking that it's going to hit the stumps and the angle just takes it beyond down leg's side so I definitely find the pace and the swing is a lot harder to pick than in the men's game where the sort of the different skill set and more speed and i think there's a stat out there comparing men's and women's cricket on these on the swing that's something like 1.7 degrees more in women's cricket compared to men's and i think with the women's game as well you have a lot of batters who start

on off stumps so the stumps are always in play and obviously the bounce is slightly different with the pace so therefore your lbs are always in play your noises are different because it's kind of like less pace if that makes sense so and there's more sweeping and there's more reverse sweeping I think in the women's game so there's there's everything around you're trying to watch that ball and you're like was it glove was it pad was it bat you know because sometimes it's hidden and things like that so there is slightly different kind of like decision making in the in the men's game to the women's game definitely when you're talking to me about all this I don't know why he choose to do it I don't but if I was to decide to be an umpire where do I start God help us

I don't worry I'm not leaving the coach box but for anyone that's listening to us I want to give it a go where do you start how do you how do you get involved well so a great place to start is the umpire course um which you can find online have they've been running some women's only courses as well if if something you know as a woman if you feel off sort of put off by being male dominated there are women only options being run and there was a great stat coming out i mean on the old courses a couple of years ago you're looking at three percent of the people participants were female and now we're up to about 25 percent is amazing. So, you know, it's massively growing and it's a course where you don't have

to go on to do men's league cricket, women's league cricket. You can umpire your kids, you can umpire your women's softball, you can do your Sunday game and step in for 30 overs. You don't have to suddenly go and do four-day cricket and give up loads of hours for it. So give it a go. It gives you great tools. And I think actually for players, even if you're not going to take up straight away, you can learn so much about the game. Before we let you go, what's the best thing and the worst thing about being an umpire from both of you? Just the best thing is obviously, you know, you're still part of the on-field. You're still part and you can feel the passion and the competitiveness on the field.

And it's a real privilege to see some great cricket out there and, you know, kind of like a real challenge. It's a real challenge for me as an individual because, you know, kind of like when I was playing, I wanted umpires to make good decisions and that's, you know, we're there for the players. in my opinion, and we're there to make good decisions. We're going to make mistakes, just like players make mistakes, but you try and be the best you can be. So, you know, from that perspective, the best thing is, you know, the fact that you can just enjoy the game from a really close-up,

integral part of it, really. Worst part, can I, you know, knowing, you know, we're going to beat ourselves up more than anybody else who's going to beat yourself up in terms of on decisions and things. You know, yeah, kind of like you want to take pride in what you do and you want to be the best you can be sometimes that doesn't quite work and you've just got to go away

and kind of like you've got to be true to yourself to kind of like improve and that can be quite a lonely place sometimes just like I'm sure in the playing changing room I was just going to say that's probably really similar to being a player isn't really responsible if you made a mistake

I honestly thought you were just going to say like a sore knees or something not go really deep like that falling over every day's a fielding day yeah worst part TV cameras catching your fall from multiple angles. But no, best part as well, I think the colleagues you stand with,

I mean, you're always going to get colleagues that you don't necessarily work as well with or don't enjoy working as much with, but then you'll come across people. You'll come across people, you know, everyone will find their Sue. Oh, stop it. What's your worst thing, though? Worst thing, standing with Sue. Being flirted with by Alex Hartley, so I don't give a wide. Guys, thanks for the golf.

we did take the trophy home but we said it was annual so it won't be annual we'll probably do it like three times a year let's be honest because we're always going to be same place, same time so thank you very much

yeah thank you very much they are the cutest they are the cutest pair of umpires I've ever met they're like a married couple they are but they're also like best mates and many people that are married best mates I don't know

I think you're meant to be married to your best best supposedly. Which, you know, Sue's wife's probably kicking herself. No, the day was brilliant. It was the longest round of golf I've ever played. Yeah, me too. They're hoarders. Oh, I couldn't believe it, right?

When Anna is knee-deep in the nearest river and she's got a ball fetcher. She's brought it herself? Well, I thought she's just picked it up from the side of the lake and she'll put it back. No, no, no. She goes around golf courses picking up golf balls. She's a scavenger. An absolute hoarder. So she's picking up broken tea.

she's picking up range balls she's like oh i found a tight list she yeah there was a lot of just waiting for them to just look through the trees so if that hadn't happened we'd probably got around in at least four and a half hours but it took us five and a half it did um sorry i swallowed a fly again um but also really important to hear them talking about almost like the future of female umpiring and how we get more females into it because i feel like we're getting to a point where female cricketers are seen as normal and standard and it's not just men that play cricket anymore but how do we get more women umpiring as well i would love to have sat down and spoken to them for like more than an hour like anna bless her she's she's gonna be doctor anna harris she's smart

she's not stupid is she upset when she did say something stupid about maths she's not very good at lining up a put no that's one thing she's not good at she's one of those that's good at everything um i just think that it's like more people should actually get into umpiring i'm not even going to like because they get to travel the world and you get to play golf with me and you exactly so if you want to be an umpire anna's told you how to do it go and do it um beautiful golf course where are we at again gaudelous golf club beautiful and they gave us a little freebie so thank you so much to everyone that hosted us um there will be a little video on this that's going to go out because sykesi producer sykesi's been getting sunburn as he's followed us around bless him he's off

as well this is day off i thought he was in forever i thought he was a no-ball's producer forever but But apparently he's back to five lives. So RIP, on to the next. We're going through producers, like we go through Christmas dinners. Yeah. What once a year? Yeah, I've had 32 of them. Hot dinners.

Hot dinners. Get that on a curing. We're going on holiday next week, so we're probably not going to hear from us for a few weeks now. No, we're putting our feet up, aren't we? We are. But please email us. Actually, we need the emails that keeps up. going I know we've not done any this week

but I had a little look over Henry Moran's shoulder during T20 Blast final stay 993 emails they were in that no balls account. Sexy! What are you not why we only get three a week? Right they're either really really really bad or that good that they're not sending them on what's going on but no ballers on.

Nobles podcast at BBC.co.com. No balls podcast at BBC.co.com. It's so good. They said it twice. Arro-voir. See you in Portugal. Oh that's French. See ya. Bye. Cross comes in round, the wicket.

Boulder, Boulder, leaving a ball alone, Litchfield. Think it's the wobble ball. And it just nips back. It jags back. It's the nipbacker. That is a beauty from Kate Cross. An absolute seed. That is a beauty for cross.

Hello, I'm Greg James. He's Felix White. Hello. And that is England's greatest ever bowler, Jimmy Anderson. Hello. Felix, what can people expect to hear on Tail Enders? A loosely cricket-based chat, and we've probed Jimmy about not meeting Dalai Lama. Jimmy, what's your favourite thing about Tail Enders? I like hanging out with you guys and listening to you talk about cricket

and then putting you right when you get everything. Thanks for your support as ever. We also have some very special guests every now and then. Stuart Broad, so they're running into bowling. I'm going, oh, it's interesting the skippers bowling the top end, and you're borrowing this thing because, you know, you're only at drop, aren't it?

So, I love it. That's Tail Enders. Listen now on BBC Sounds. Go well.