Due to England’s white-ball strength in world cricket, England women’s cricket team’s pacer Kate Cross was out of action for a period of two months. However, she made a comeback and featured in the opening ODI against Harmanpreet Kaur-led India where she dismissed opener Smriti Mandhana and Shafali Verma not before Mandhana had scored 91 runs.
In an exclusive chat with timesnownews.com, Cross heaped praise on Indian opener Mandhana saying she can be frustrating to bowl at as she is very patient and technically sound. Cross, who is also a big fan of MS Dhoni and Chennai Super Kings (CSK), also spoke on how Dhoni is on her TV screen throughout the IPL and about the former Indian captain’s role in inspiring many to take up the sport in India.
Kross, who has represented England in 6 Tests, 49 ODIs and 13 T20Is, also shared her views on how a Women’s IPL is missing from the calendar and the time was right for the tournament to kick-off in 2023 as promised.
Excerpts from the interview
How was the feeling of resuming international duties after a period of two months?
It was really nice actually, I have been a part of the T20 team and have not been able to get a game. It was nice to get on the pitch. Unfortunately, we did not get the result we wanted. It’s still very special when you get to play for England. It was a really enjoyable day even though we did not get the win.
You claimed the big wicket of Indian opener Smriti Mandhana in the first ODI after she scored 91 runs. As a bowler, how frustrating can she be for the opposition?
She is hard to bowl at because she is so patient and also because she is so technically correct. You have to bowl really well to get her out and to build pressure. In the first ODI, I thought, she did not give us any chances and that’s the mark of a great player, somebody who really values her wicket in order to grind out some runs. She can be really frustrating to bowl at and we know we have to comeback even better to keep her quiet in the upcoming games.
You are also a big fan of MS Dhoni. How big an inspiration has he been for women cricketers like you?
The IPL is something that has been a global success and the fact that so many fans around the world watch it just goes to show that. So the fact that MS Dhoni is on my TV screen for a big chunk of the start of the season here in England when the IPL is on and it just goes on to show that he is accessible for any cricket fan to watch.
He has been so brilliant for the game and the name like his has probably inspired a lot of female Indian cricketers as well to play cricket. So people like Dhoni are the reason you might pick up a bat or a ball. Cricket is about how many people can you get to play the game we all love and Dhoni has been able to do that for an entire nation back in India.
Despite announcing his retirement from international cricket, Dhoni remains to be an inspiration for several cricketers. Which of his qualities inspire you the most?
I think one of Dhoni’s biggest qualities is how calm he looks all the time. Cricket can be a very stressful sport, especially when you are in the middle trying to make decisions but watching him captain, it never looks like he is under any sort of pressure. And obviously, he has got the ability to win games out of nowhere. That’s why he was a brilliant finisher for CSK and has been doing that for CSK now. He is just a huge talent and just the fact that when he retired, people were literally crying which goes to show how badly he was missed. Thankfully, he is still involved with the Indian team and is also involved with CSK. So he is still keeping his fans happy.
England boast of a strong bowling attack with the likes of Issy Wong and Lauren Bell in the team. How frustrating is it to be on the sidelines with England’s star-studded line up?
Yes, it is frustrating to be on the sidelines because you want to play as much as you can and you want to try and impact results as much as possible. But you can only take eleven people out there and the exciting thing for us at the moment is that we have got so many exciting young girls coming through who are stepping into international cricket it’s almost like they are born to do it for your camp and it literally looks like they are designed to play international cricket which is brilliant because they are so young. It also goes on to show that the next generation is going to be in pretty safe hands. As frustrating as it is, it is also quite nice to see that the next generation is starting to come through and that they are able to go out there and perform with very little fear and that for me, as an older player in the squad, is nice to see and it can be inspiring as well. It’s a nice place to be even though sometimes you have to sit on the side and watch the girls do their thing.
Many teams and players have spoken about the women’s IPL. What are your thoughts on it and how do you think it would help women’s cricket?
I think it’s the thing that’s missing from the women’s calendar at the moment. There has been a T20 Challenge for the last few years and the exhibition games have been played through that. It really feels like it’s the time to get it going now and there is so much talent in the Indian women’s team and the T20 Challenge has actually produced some of those talents as well. It recognised somebody like Kiran – who has come over and made her international debut over here. She was in my team and she was absolutely brilliant with the talent she has got. From my point of view, you don’t want to waste that talent and want to be able to showcase it as much as you can. I know how cricket is a religion in India and I have absolutely no doubt that if there are women’s teams for each of the franchises, then fans would get behind us as well. It will make more household names like Harmanpreet Kaur and Smriti Mandhana even Shafali Verma now coming through as a young player. Hopefully, the women’s IPL will start in 2023 as it has been promised.
England are one of the most dominating teams in world cricket. According to you, what makes them such an intimidating team?
At the moment, we are missing quite a few key players Heather Knight is injured, Katherine Brunt has taken a break and so has Nat Sciver. I think the fact that we have got people in the ranks who are able to step up and play and we also won that T20 series against India which people might not have expected us to do with such a young and inexperienced team. I think when you have the senior players back in the squad, there’s a lot of depth there. We are trying to move towards a phase of having fearless cricketers where you play your shots, you bowl your slower balls and you are backed by the team despite what the outcome is. That can make us quite a fearless team and quite intimidating as well because if you have got nothing to lose then often you play your best cricket.
What will be the strategy going forward in the tournament?
Well, we are 1-0 behind now so we have to win the game on Wednesday to keep us alive in the series. I think we know the important players in the Indian team we have to focus on, try and get out and keep their run-scoring as low as possible. If we can get Smriti early, that’s always a huge positive. I think we also need to get a few more runs on the board to give our bowlers more of a chance to build pressure on the batters because we know how top-heavy the Indian side is and if we can pick some wickets early, there is always pressure on the batting line-up. We know we did not have a good game on Sunday so we will look to focus on those areas and come back stronger.
