Kate Cross

And I thought all three titles were very different.

and I thought this is the one I think I mentioned this last week that Kate Cross described this as the most like the county championship because one you start the season with it the tier one season you start the tier one season with it and you end it with it so it stretches across the whole season so you get all the player unavailability through internationals you also get sort of you might have an overseas for some of it and not and And the length of the game means that it's probably the hardest to win.

It's the best indicator of the best team.

And I think in that sense, the Blazers are very fitting champions.

Lancashire have let go of seven players.

And I mean, when I say let go, two of them are retirements, well, Kate Cross and Fee Morris.

And I don't think that many of them are a huge surprise.

Even the ones that maybe are slightly more surprising, I think, you could almost see them coming.

Yay.

With me, G-Force Craig James, and her, Kate Cross.

And that's it.

And that's it.

... can do that while Matchan does his quiz that he's prepared.

Oh, cool.

Is this a celebratory Kate Cross quiz?

Of course, it's a celebratory cr- Kate Cross quiz.

Yeah, yeah.

And I, I guess for you, uh, a nice way to end the season playing in Kate Cross' last ever professional game and also getting a few runs as well.

Yeah, I think, um, I, I, I re- I sort of actually...

You know, I was keeping an eye on the Lancs game 'cause I obviously had a chance to go through and I, and you know, I think it was actually really nice for Crossy to...

Yeah.

I, I spoke to Kate Cross before the season and she compared the One Day Cup to the County Championship in terms of-

Yeah

...

Now, Sid, um, in, in kind of, um, related news in terms of the one day cup, um, there's been a couple of other retirements this week.

So we've already talked about Kate Cross, who obviously played her last game for Lancashire this week.

Um, Fi Morris, um, has also played her last game for Lancashire.

Um, and one that's kind of slipped under the radar, and it doesn't look like Essex have even put out any communication about this, is that Lissy McLeod also appears to have retired.

So you think that would be something she's definitely sort of suggested to the group.

You know, why aren't we standing up to... bowlers when you know the pitch is sort of it's not going to be sort of like bouncing and searing like it is on some of the pitches in like Australia for example why not utilize the fact that the English wickets are quite low and slow at times why and why don't you sort of stand up and build pressure because it's been working in the women's game why not try it and you've seen over the last 12 months I think Kate Cross and Alex Hartley on their podcast did a good piece where it's been working in women's cricket for years so it's why haven't the men's teams tried it but

and i understand i mean you're not going to stand up to archer and tongue

yeah

Check with your plan for coverage.

Hello, and welcome back to No Balls to Grow Your podcast with me, Alex Hartley, and you, Kate Cross.

You, the birthday girl, Alex Hartley.

Happy birthday.

Um, and then Jen came with the kids, um, so that was nice.

Um, and then, uh, like, everyone's family was there as well, which was quite nice.

So, uh, Fi's Kate was there.

Um, so yeah, it was just a really nice occasion, really, and then we all had a beer in the dressing room afterwards.

Two really big retirements at Lancashire.

The first being Fee Morris and the second being Kate Cross.

Yeah, both big friends of the pod.

And yeah, I mean, retirements happen, don't they? I guess Kate Cross is not a big surprise.

Fee Morris, I guess I wasn't expecting it,

but

Um,

um whereas whereas now people yeah with sort of more formalized professional contracts and that sort of thing people have got a chance to to sort of announce these things and to move away from the game when they're ready to do that but yes we wish them well