Latest news with #KateCross
Yahoo
a day ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
Nat Sciver-Brunt fires England to series clean sweep over West Indies
England's Charlie Dean bowling during the third Women's One Day International match at The Cooper Associates County Ground, Taunton (Image: Nick Potts/PA) Nat Sciver-Brunt blasted 57 not out to seal a 3-0 one-day international series win for England over West Indies after a rain-affected nine-wicket success in Taunton, writes PA Sport staff. Wet weather looked set to deny new England head coach Charlotte Edwards a clean sweep across her first two white-ball series after a near five-hour delay. Advertisement However, staff at Taunton were able to get a 21-over contest under way and West Indies collapsed from 43 for three to 106 for eight before captain Sciver-Brunt's destructive 33-ball innings got England home with ease. A disastrous start for the tourists saw them slip to four for three, with England's opening attack of Kate Cross and Em Arlott proving to be deadly. Cross struck with the second ball of the match as Grimmond feathered behind to Amy Jones and a fantastic delivery from Arlott smashed into Zaida James' middle stump. Stafanie Taylor was then trapped lbw by Arlott and Shemaine Campbelle and Qiana Joseph began the recovery effort for the West Indies, dragging their side to 43 for three until rain stopped play in the 13th over just before 12pm. Advertisement A lengthy delay followed and as the hours passed more overs were lost, but at 4pm it was revealed a 21-over match could be salvaged. When play did resume an hour later, Charlie Dean accounted for West Indies captain Campbelle immediately after a fine stumping by Jones and while Aaliyah Alleyne struck six fours in an entertaining 27, she was one of three wickets for Sarah Glenn. Glenn claimed two scalps during a dramatic final over to restrict the tourists to 106 for eight before Sophia Dunkley signalled her intent, with the second ball of England's chase crunched for four through cover. Dunkley continued to hit boundaries regularly until she was trapped lbw by Karishma Ramharack for 26 to leave the hosts on 40 for one. Advertisement That brought Alice Capsey to the crease but it was captain Sciver-Brunt who upped the ante in cloudy conditions. Sciver-Brunt smashed Ramharack for three fours in a 10th over which went for 16 runs, with the final boundary an inch-perfect sweep. With her fifty within touching distance, Sciver-Brunt crunched another four down the ground before two successive boundaries off Ashmini Munisar brought up her half-century and ensured England got over the line with 61 balls to spare.
Telegraph
07-03-2025
- Sport
- Telegraph
Kate Cross hints at ‘cultural' issues in England Women's cricket team
England have 'cultural' issues to address in the wake of the disastrous 16-0 Women's Ashes whitewash, Kate Cross has said. The England and Wales Cricket Board is conducting an extensive review of the series, to which all players have had the opportunity to contribute, which will be compiled by Clare Connor, the managing director of women's cricket. Cross was one of the senior players on tour and although she did not play because of a back injury, she has opened up about the unravelling of the series in Australia and the implications of being so comprehensively outplayed. 'Obviously with a 16-0 it's hard to sit here and see much positive, but I do believe that as a team we do a lot of things really well,' said the bowler. 'I think there are areas that we obviously need to address, from cricket points of view, but probably from cultural points of view as well, so I'm hoping that this review – I don't know what's going to come of it – but I'm hoping that these are the things that will get addressed and pave the way for the next generation to want to play for England. 'Because ultimately I think that we might have lost a few fans in the last couple of months, which is really sad from our point of view. I think the 2023 Ashes was how good it can be, and the 2025 Ashes was how bad it can be. 'So as a professional sportsperson you've got to ride that wave and we as cricketers know how bad that tour was, so we're not going to try and sugar-coat that. But I'd like people to fall back in love with English cricket, which I know is something that England men and England women haven't necessarily done very well this winter.' Although Cross did not expand on what the cultural aspects affecting the tour were, there were a number of external factors that appeared to affect the side. Sophie Ecclestone refused to do an interview with former player turned broadcaster Alex Hartley, who then criticised some players for giving her the 'cold shoulder'. There were also criticisms of the team's fitness during the T20 World Cup that were never fully addressed by the coaching staff, who did acknowledge a shortcoming in athleticism compared to the Australian team. Cross sustained a serious back injury before the trip and despite travelling in the hope of being fit for the Test match and undergoing epidurals, she was ultimately ruled out of the game at the MCG. She added: 'My reflections on my trip were quite unusual. I didn't get to play a game of cricket. But as a 33-year-old getting ruled out of an Ashes series was devastating. 'Ultimately as players we still want to try and get young girls interested in the game, and us losing quite drastically isn't going to do that, so we're going to try and have a real look at how we want to portray ourselves as a team moving forwards and try to get a bit of love back from our fans.' Reflecting on the Ashes series as a whole, Cross said: 'It was unprecedented how poorly we performed over there. 'I don't think anyone probably anticipated the Ashes turning out the way it did, and obviously there was a huge disappointment that came with that. 'But I think as a group of players now we don't know what's going to come of this review, but I think it motivates you to be a better group of players and a better version of yourself without sounding too cliché. 'We didn't go over there and play good cricket for any part of that tour so we can't come away from that saying we want to 'inspire and entertain' [the team mantra] when we're not doing our jobs as well as we should have done. So with the negative, hopefully there's a big positive that comes with that.'
The Guardian
07-03-2025
- Sport
- The Guardian
Kate Cross fears England have lost fans after debacle in Women's Ashes
Kate Cross has admitted there are 'cultural' issues within England women's cricket and said she fears England have 'lost fans' after a disastrous Women's Ashes series which saw England whitewashed by Australia 16-0 amid a sea of glaring fielding and batting errors. Cross, an unused squad member on the tour, also called on the England and Wales Cricket Board to leave no stone unturned in their review of the tour, which she said is crucial to ensuring the public 'fall back in love with English cricket'. The review is being led by the ECB managing director Clare Connor and was expected to conclude within four weeks of the tour. However, that deadline has now passed and there has been radio silence on the futures of head coach Jon Lewis and captain Heather Knight. As part of the review, all current England players have been asked to provide feedback to the director of England women's cricket, Jonathan Finch: Cross, it appears, has been unstintingly honest in her own account. 'I do believe as a team we do a lot of things really well, but there's areas we know we need to address, from cricket points of view, from cultural points of view,' Cross said. 'I don't know what's going to come of this review, but I'm hoping that these are the things that will get addressed and it will pave the way for the next generation to want to play for England. 'I feel we might have lost a few fans in the last couple of months, which is really sad from our point of view. We as cricketers know how bad that tour was – we're not going to try to sugarcoat that. But I'd like people to fall back in love with English cricket.' Cross's views are in stark contrast with those of Connor, who maintained in her own post-Ashes press conference that there were no cultural issues at play in the defeat. Cross further acknowledged that Lewis's 'inspire and entertain' mantra rang hollow by the end of a three week multi-format tour in which England did not win a game. 'We didn't play good cricket for any part of that tour,' she said. 'We can't come away from that and say that we want to inspire and entertain people when we're not doing our jobs as well as we should have done.' Cross was speaking at the launch of a new Women's Cricket Impact report by the Professional Cricketers' Association, which celebrates the increased professionalism of the women's game since 2021. Over the past four years, there has been a 430% increase in remuneration for the women's game across England, domestic cricket and Hundred. The average salary for an England women's player has increased by 236% since 2021, with centrally contracted players now earning up to £300,000 a year from the ECB when taking match fees into account. Sign up to The Spin Subscribe to our cricket newsletter for our writers' thoughts on the biggest stories and a review of the week's action after newsletter promotion But as salaries have increased, so have public expectations of the team. 'The positive from a really terrible Ashes is that the scrutiny that we got showed how much more people are interested now. People care, and that is why there is so much frustration at the result,' Cross said. Cross added that the back injury which prevented her from playing in the Ashes was healing well. 'I'm on track for the start of the season,' she said.
BBC News
29-01-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
England seamer Cross out of Women's Ashes Test
England seamer Kate Cross has been ruled out of the one-off Women's Ashes Test starting at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Heather Knight confirmed that Cross, 33, had not sufficiently recovered from a back injury that she suffered against South Africa in was not part of the T20 side for the Ashes series but missed the three one-day internationals which opened the tour with the same issue. "Kate is pretty much close to full fitness now, but just not quite at the pace and the performance that we know she can reach at her best," Knight told BBC Sport."A Test match is four days, so she will miss out and it is a real shame for her. "She's a really key part of our group, she loves playing Test match cricket and she's been so desperate to play. We're all really disappointed for her that she hasn't been able to make it." It is a significant blow for England as Knight will remain without her most experienced seamer. Knight did not reveal the England team as they were still deciding on the bowling attack, but confirmed that they would be playing an extra batter in Sophia Dunkley. Lauren Bell, Lauren Filer and all-rounder Nat Sciver-Brunt are likely to form the seam attack. England have lost all six white-ball matches on the tour so far and are fighting to avoid a 16-0 clean sweep, which has never been done before in the multi-format series."There's a lot of hurt and disappointment around how this tour has gone," Knight added."We haven't shown what we are capable of as a team, but we want to do that this week and show our character to the fans that are here and watching back home."A Test win is worth four points and a draw two also went winless in the 2022 series in Australia but they finished with four points overall because of a drawn Test and two T20 washouts. Knight would not be drawn into the debate surrounding her future as captain, and did not confirm whether she would remain in the role after the conclusion of the has led the side since 2016 after the retirement of Charlotte Edwards and has worn the heavy burden of England's disappointing performances on the tour. The Melbourne Test will be her 199th game in charge in all formats. "I'm just concentrating on this week," said Knight."There's been lot of frustration around this tour that we haven't performed how we want to, and you always take that on your shoulders as the leader because you're at the helm of it all."This week is a chance for us to show our best cricket and, whatever happens after that, we'll see."On Tuesday all-rounder and vice-captain Sciver-Brunt said she would be interested in taking on the captaincy if the opportunity arose, but no timeframe has been given around the decision, with England out of action until May after the Ashes is also speculation surrounding the future of head coach Jon Lewis, who has also made headlines in the Australian media for his comments around "climate benefits" which contribute to the opponents' superiority in athleticism.
