00:00You're not a good fast bowler until you get a stress fracture.
00:02Even when I started playing for England, it still wasn't a career really.
00:05I always had that belief I was going to be a good cricketer.
00:08I sort of had to make a decision between footy and cricket.
00:10They've got gal playing or girls can't play cricket.
00:12I'm like, I'll show you.
00:17Who was your cricketing hero when you were growing up?
00:20So I didn't get to watch women's cricket when I was growing up.
00:22So Marcus Triscothic, West Country guy as well and West Country gal.
00:26How he just stood and delivered really.
00:28Like clean striker of the ball.
00:29Opened the bat and I was an opener when I was younger.
00:31Lovely cover drive.
00:32Because he was a very cool character I always felt.
00:34I never felt like he'd ever get choked up by a situation.
00:37Watched you play cricket.
00:38Quite similar.
00:38Yeah, he's just quite a normal bloke I think.
00:40So I've had a bit of time with Trez as well.
00:43He's a really lovely guy.
00:44Just likes sausages and likes batting.
00:46So quite like that, quite like a simple life.
00:48When and how did you realise or sort of discover your love for the sport?
00:52So I started pretty young.
00:53I played against a boys team.
00:54And I really remember actually taking two wickets
00:57and just loving that sort of like individual yes.
00:59And then all your teammates sort of celebrating together.
01:03So I love that.
01:04Did you know then that you wanted to go and pursue it as a career?
01:08Because as you just said then you couldn't watch the women's game.
01:11Not like you can now.
01:13Not then, definitely not then.
01:15There was no real pathway to be a professional cricketer as a girl.
01:18Even when I started playing for England I was at uni.
01:20It still wasn't a career really.
01:22I made my debut in 2010 which was in my second term of first year.
01:28I enjoyed my first term.
01:30I wasn't a professional athlete back then.
01:32Went on tour, had a little bit of success early on.
01:34And that was when I was like right, I want to sort of really nail this.
01:37I wanted to do the other stuff as well and have my identity outside of cricket.
01:40I think that's really important and helps my cricket actually.
01:43So yeah, I was really keen to finish my degree
01:45and also travel the world and play cricket for England.
01:47I was quite lucky that it wasn't as busy as it is now.
01:50I think it would be quite hard to do what I did now.
01:52Did you have a mentor or a coach that helped you hone your skills?
01:56I guess Ali Maidens, the batting coach,
01:57has probably had the biggest influence on my batting.
02:00Worked with him a lot sort of in my mid-20s around just getting a method against spin.
02:04So we had that really good relationship where we could just bounce ideas off
02:07and challenge each other with a lot of trust there.
02:10Which teammate would you say had like the biggest influence for you?
02:13One of my best mates, Isha Guha, had a big impact on me
02:16I think when I first came on the England side.
02:17Like was always wanting to help me and try and settle me into the team.
02:21She retired obviously pretty young at 26 I think it was
02:24and how she's gone on to her career in the media.
02:27And she's a big influence on me when I was younger
02:29and yeah still a big inspiration as one of my best mates.
02:32What's been your biggest challenge in your career and how did you overcome that?
02:36I mean COVID was pretty tough.
02:37Like just more like off the pitch really.
02:40Just trying to captain that and captain a team that's lost their autonomy and freedom and stuff.
02:45And I guess probably made me value like what we do have, the freedoms we have.
02:49What would you say are the important sort of mental attributes
02:52that players need in the modern game?
02:53Overcoming setbacks I think.
02:55International cricket is a very sort of up and down roller coaster
02:58that if you get too caught up on it and you ride the highs and the lows too much
03:02then it's really tough.
03:03I think trying to stay as level as possible and having quite a thick skin.
03:06Outside of cricket and sport, are there any heroes that you look up to?
03:10Ruth Bader Ginsburg, first woman to be on the Supreme Court
03:12and she seemed like an absolute joker.
03:14Full of personality and breaking boundaries and going
03:18where no woman has gone before which is pretty cool.
03:20You probably know in the back of your mind
03:22that there's a lot of young females that look up to yourself.
03:25How do you wear that?
03:26Still find it a bit weird to be honest, yeah.
03:28But it's cool, like I said my heroes in cricket were men
03:31because they didn't have an opportunity to watch any women.
03:33So I guess for younger girls to have that, to have women to look up to
03:38and try and emulate.
03:39And I think perceptions have changed so much in women's sport which is pretty cool.
03:42What's one piece of advice you'd give someone who's trying to get into the game?
03:45Don't be like too hard on yourself I think.
03:47I think probably early in my career I was quite like,
03:49took everything quite seriously down the line
03:51and probably got down when things weren't going well.
03:54Cricket can be a tough sport, you can nick off first ball
03:57and you can't judge yourself completely on that.
03:59What would you say your role is that you bring to a team
04:02and what do you think are the skills that you bring on the pitch?
04:05Hopefully people can bounce ideas off me
04:07and try and get the best out of players on the pitch.
04:10I do like a bit of dry humour as well.
04:13That's probably what I'd add to a dressing room.
04:15I play that sort of anchor-ish role in middle to top order.
04:19So yeah, pretty reliable, pretty solid hopefully, pretty boring.
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