This summer promises to be a ‘huge’ one for women’s cricket, and Lancashire star Kate Cross has told MM that she’s desperate to be a part of it.
Cross became Lancashire’s first female professional cricketer when she was awarded an England Cricket Board central contract in May last year, after taking match figures of 6-70 in her test debut in the Ashes test in Australia in January.
With the Bury-born bowler also taking six wickets in her second test against India, the future looks bright. And Cross is looking to continue her progress in another Ashes summer that looks set to be the biggest one in women’s cricket history.
She said: “My main aim [for the summer] is to get in that squad, play as many matches as I can and help us bring that big trophy back!
“Obviously my main aim has to be to get in the Ashes squad: it’s going to be a huge, huge summer.
“For the first time this year we’ve got all county grounds for fixtures, with the test match at Canterbury. Also, we’ve got Sky backing us now and the BBC doing every single ball so it’s going to be an awesome summer in that respect.”
That Sky deal is a source of massive excitement in the women’s game, with the giant broadcaster committing to showing every ball of the women’s Ashes live for the first time.
Add to this those professional contracts that were introduced last year, and the emergence of major commercial sponsors such as Kia, and the sport looks to be heading towards a future set much more firmly in the public limelight.
“The thing with the women’s game is that we don’t have a lot of media coverage,” Cross admitted. “So if Sky are willing to give the public a way of watching us without having to leave the house, without having to pay to watch us play live, then it’s only going to make the game better.
“It’s probably one of the biggest breakthroughs we’ve had in the last 12 months, and we’ve had the Kia deal, professional contracts.
“I think how the game has improved over the last 18 months is having that increased coverage – when we were in Australia and India last year it was all done via a live YouTube stream so to actually have it on TV now, it’s going to be huge.”
Cross thinks that this increased media coverage can help the women’s team to become increasingly popular – especially in the face of their recent success.
But the University of Leeds graduate does admit that a lot of people still aren’t as clued up about the women’s sport as she would like.
“A lot of people don’t even realize that women have the Ashes,” she confessed.
“There’s always a huge buzz around an Ashes summer anyway and that’s where Sky have been brilliant in terms of helping us to create that excitement.
“I think our biggest selling point at the minute is that we’re doing well and people want to come and see a successful team, so hopefully that’s where we can generate a bit more interest from the public.”
While uncertainty surrounds the future of the men’s game – embrace the furore of Twenty20 or protect the traditions of tests – the women’s Ashes adopts a points system that ties all three formats (the two mentioned and 50-over matches) into one series.
Although Cross thinks this system is crucial to heightening the excitement of the women’s Ashes, she admits to having a soft spot for the longer format, and hopes for there to be more tests to be played between women’s teams in the future.
She said: “For any English cricketer test cricket is what you want to do – I always wanted to play test cricket for England.
“Because we don’t play a lot of it, when we do play it it’s really special.
“When we won the test match in Australia, I just can’t describe to you… It was really special, it’s something we always go back to, how we came through that and won it. We were completely knackered at the end of it because we weren’t used to playing four days of cricket on the bounce!
“What’s special about our format in the Ashes is that it’s tested over every format so it is literally the best team that wins, you can’t hide in any format. The point system brings everything to life.”
Not only was Cross the only Lancashire representative to receive a professional contract, but she was the only Lancastrian to tour New Zealand in February earlier this year.
But with the county’s promotion to the top tier of county cricket last season, and an exciting crop of youngsters coming through, Cross is confident that she’ll have some regional company in the international squad some time soon.
“We’ve got really good young talent at Lancs,” she revealed.
“Emma Lamb has been head and shoulders above any opener I’ve seen while we’ve been in Division Two, so it’ll be really interesting to see how she’ll cope this year playing against England opening bowlers.
“I’ve got bets on Ellie Threlkeld taking the gloves from Sarah Taylor as well. She’s a serious keeper.”
Watching the England men’s cricket team has proven to be a slightly underwhelming experience as of late. But with increased media interest pouring into the women’s sport, we will now have two shots at watching an Ashes victory from our living rooms this summer.
Here’s hoping that Cross can lead the women’s team, at least, to a famous victory on home soil.
Main image courtesy of England Cricket via YouTube, with thanks.
