Kate Cross, veteran fast bowler for the England women’s cricket team, had a summer to forget. In the process, she lost her UK Athletics central contract. After a string of underwhelming displays, she was eventually dropped in the midst of the one-day series against India. She ended up not being called up to the roster for the upcoming World Cup.
In 2013, Cross made a real splash on the international scene with her debut against the West Indies. Since then she’s made 76 ODIs, 18 T20s and eight Test matches for England. Smooth sailing Throughout her 12-year career, she’s been bowled a total of 140 times across formats. This groundbreaking feat puts her amongst just eight women to have gone past 100 ODI wickets for the national team.
Cross has already reached extraordinary heights, such as a strike-rate of 33.4 in ODIs, which puts her above the vast majority of her cohort. This season, she faced egregious obstacles. A batter who opened the bowling for England as vice-captain at the start of the series against India. She was not able to earn a place in the team for the title game. This abrupt change put a major damper on her skyrocketing career path.
Just days before the start of the inaugural Women’s Hundred in August, Cross found out that she wouldn’t have her contract extended. Reflecting on this difficult period, she stated,
“I thought how am I going to get through the appraisal without crying, and then I had cried it out and got in there and within 45 seconds, I found out I wasn’t getting my contract renewed so it all happened really quickly.”
Cross would go on to describe her appraisal with England head coach Charlotte Edwards as fiery. She was ready, having done her homework, and brought numbers to back up her argument. She never even got the opportunity to introduce them to a floor, saying,
“I was weirdly more calm in my appraisal than chatting before it. I had gone in there armed with a lot of my stats and stuff to talk about and I didn’t open my book, I didn’t get a chance to. It was a pretty savage day.”
The termination of her contract follows a difficult week for Cross. And she was open about the emotional cost it had on her, saying,
“It’s probably been one of the toughest weeks I’ve had in my career actually.”
Cross’s departure from the central contract adds to the challenges faced by the England women’s team as they navigate through transitions within their squad. After Katherine Sciver-Brunt retired earlier in 2023, Cross dealt with recent struggles. Significantly, new talent will need to step up as England prepares for future tournaments.
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