Lauren Filer & Freya Kemp can’t tell each other apart!

This BBC podcast is supported by ads outside the UK. Take the leash off your laptop with the processor that gives you long battery life. Work on the go, jump between back-to-back calls, stay locked in from brewing morning coffee to burning the midnight oil. Get maximum performance even when unplugged. Finally, the freedom to move across the room or across the world is here. Snapdragon. That's how. Formula 1 is all about precision, tiny margins, massive ambition, flat-out performance. And that's exactly why it's exciting to see Cadillac entering Formula 1, bringing an American luxury brand with performance pedigree onto the biggest stage in motorsport. But this isn't just about the grid. That same racing mindset, the obsession with engineering, the pursuit of perfection, lives in the Cadillac V-Series lineup. Giving you the chance to experience the precision and performance of the grid on the open road. Cadillac V-Series. Distinctive luxury performance engineered to thrill. Discover the V-Series lineup at cadillac.com.

Hello and welcome to Test Match Special at the Women's T20 World Cup. My name is Amber Sandhu and we are going behind the scenes with England's women. I'm so pleased to say we're getting to know a little bit better the two players alongside me. Welcome, Freya Kemp and Lauren Phyller.

Thanks, Sarah.

How are you both?

Good, yeah.

It is lovely to see you. Now, you know each other very well, so I feel like we should just get straight into it. I'd like you to describe each other with 3 words, straight in. 3 words that come to mind for you, Lauren, that you would use to describe Fire.

Gosh. Caring, hardworking, overthinker.

Okay. I was about to say that about you. I was gonna say caring, overthinker, and fast.

Oh, thanks.

That's a good— that's quite nice.

Would you agree with the words that you both used?

Do you know, I literally just spoke to Gibbo actually, and she was like, I said we're doing this. To get with Phyla, and she was like, "You're both so similar." Yeah, we are. But actually, it's probably quite good.

Yeah, we are very similar. But yeah, so yeah, that— I would say that explains us both quite well.

Would you say then you're probably quite close in camp amongst the team as well?

We've got like really similar friendship groups, don't we? Yeah. So we're all like, they're always sort of like near each other in some capacity.

Mixing, yeah.

Yeah. No, I love this. So already quite similar. Do you remember the first time you both met?

I don't know about first met. We toured India for England Aces, didn't we? Oh, we both got very unwell. Oh, it was not good. We were supposed to go on this shopping trip and me, Kempe and Scriv all woke up in the morning and was like, the shopping trip's cancelled. We're both— we're all three of us went down. It was bad. That was bad.

We were just down for like 3 days and we were like, we all— our rooms were in the same corridor and And like the whole team went down and we just sat outside our doors eating cereal.

Yeah, because you couldn't stomach anything else.

Oh no. Oh, it was so bad. We were like, guys, this is terrible.

And then we like played a game maybe like a day after we got ill, didn't we? And she was like heaving in deep cover. I was bowling, trying not to like—

I'd like bowl and then go out to the boundary and just be like, oh, struggling.

So hot as well. Yeah, that's my first memory of—

Probably bonded over that.

Yeah, I think we did.

I was literally about to say, I feel like you bonded over that terrible illness.

That was, yeah, that was, I think that might have been the worst I've ever been ill-wise. That was, yeah, tough.

Take me back, both of you, your earliest memories of cricket then. Do you remember the first time that you picked up a cricket ball or a bat?

I think, well, I've got two brothers, so—

Did they used to play then?

Yeah, we all used to play in the garden and it got very competitive. I think one word you missed out is competitive.

Yeah, that is true actually. White-lime fever.

But like, yeah, with my brothers it got very competitive. They didn't hold back. I've got one older one as well who used to just bowl as quick as he could at me.

Yeah, I think I'm trying to think what mine would be. I only think I picked up a cricket ball when I started playing, weirdly. So like, I didn't have any— I just— me and I've got a twin, so me and my sister just went to the local cricket club and we— there was an under-11 girls team, so we just decided to go down and try because we just love sport, and then yeah, loved it straight away. It was, yeah, it was good fun.

You mentioned your twin there. What was it like growing up playing alongside her?

And yeah, uh, it was, it was hard, challenging, because we both got into Somerset at the same time, and she actually was probably the better bowler, weirdly, growing up. Like, she got loads of wickets and I didn't get any, um, because I was, I was just trying to bowl as fast as I could and I could not hit the stumps. To save my life. And then as we got older, I think she decided to probably not go down the cricket and I sort of stayed and carried on. So yeah, it was weird but nice to have each other in like different environments, like going into different teams and stuff. That was always nice to have someone there.

Did you both know that you kind of wanted to play for England? Was that always the goal?

Not for me, no. I, well, I was like, oh, it would be cool, but I never thought it was a path. Really. Like, when I was younger, I think they only really got professional into what, 2015? Something like that, yeah. Which I would have been 14 at the time, so I think I probably didn't really think of it as a path because they— it was only about 15 players that got contracted. So I was like, well, I'm not going to be lucky enough to have one of those. So it was probably only really when I was sort of 17, 18 was actually when I was a bit more like, oh, like, this could be— like, this could start going more that way. Maybe not England, but just sort of like trying to play a bit more like professional cricket. Obviously the women's game's grown so much over the last sort of 6 years that we're very, very lucky to do that and also play for England. So yeah, it's good fun.

What about for you, Freya? Because you made your debut for England at 17.

Yeah.

What was a 17-year-old Freya like?

Well, obviously I was still at school.

Yeah, take me back to that moment when you found out. I imagine they had to call your parents.

Yeah, Mum got called, well Mum and Dad got called and then I think I spoke to Finchy first and then Lisa called me, but yeah, I was just shocked.

You hadn't played a 50-over game, had you, ever?

I don't think— oh no, I think I had for Vikings.

Okay, not many though.

But yeah, I hadn't played that much cricket really, so yeah, it was just surprise really. But yeah, didn't really know what to expect.

Was it slightly daunting going into a group that where you're the youngest?

Yeah, I think, yeah, definitely, but everyone was so welcoming. I was really lucky, and yeah, I've made some, some amazing friends along, along the way. So yeah, I think like Dani Wyatt, obviously we played at Vipers together, and she's always looked out for me and has almost been like an older sister, or yeah, so she's always been amazing.

There are quite a few characters in your group. You mentioned Dani. She is a huge character. Of course, recently become a mum as well. What is the group like? Give me an insight into those characters and the roles that everyone plays.

Oh, I think we're like chaotic, but in a good way.

So much fun.

I love chaos.

Yeah, yeah, we do have some. We have a lot of fun. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

And like, on the, like, even like going to games sometimes, like the bus chat is just like, so some of it's outrageous, but it's funny. Like, it's in a good way. Yeah, let's not go into the details of that, but Yeah, it's just, I think we have got such a mixture of personalities, and I think that's where we sort of like thrive, because actually if there is a bit of a serious time needed, we've got the people that can get others to be like that. Or if there's times where tension needs to be broken, there are players like Dani Wyatt who will just say something stupid or do something stupid that breaks the tension and it makes everyone laugh. So yeah, I think we've got like a really nice balance of sort of, yeah, being able to have fun when we can, but also, yeah, turn it on and be serious when we need to be.

Going back to also when you were kind of growing up, were you playing other sports? Because you were playing football, weren't you, as well? So was it football and cricket at the same time and eventually you had to make a choice?

Yeah, I think I was like 16, 17, I was playing for Yeovil Town Academy as a goalkeeper, and I think one of the girls, one of the senior girls, came up to me and was like, you can't keep doing this, mate. And I was like, I was so blissfully unaware, I was like, what do you mean? She's like, you need to pick, like, you can't keep like not turning up to training, like you need to, because they were, I don't know if they were professional, they might have been, I can't remember, but they might have been professional at that time and they were like, this is just not, it's not gonna work. And I think I was like, okay, well, I'm better at cricket, so bye. Which, yeah, I miss football, like it was, it was like a really nice outlet for me with when cricket got really tense, but Yeah, like obviously I can still watch it and stuff, so, but yeah, it was definitely like an easy decision in the end. It was hard to give up football, but I knew I was way better at cricket, so.

And it seemed the right decision at the time. Yeah. And it's all paid off. Freya, for you, was it just, was sport just a massive part of your life? I can imagine with growing up with your brothers, was it just a big part of your life?

Yeah, literally, I think we were outside literally the whole time. Like the girls take the mick out of me because they're like, oh, did you ever watch TV when you were younger? 'Cause I never know any of these shows or anything, but I think we were just like, with Toby and Jack, my brothers, we were just always in the garden and running around playing football. Well, they play rugby and I lost about 5 minutes doing that, so I didn't participate in that, but yeah, I tried to play as much sport as I could and played a lot of football with the boys at school and stuff, so yeah, I guess, That was another thing that I did.

You can tell because she's one of those annoying people that is really good at everything. Like, she can literally not—

I'm not sure about that.

She could, like, never tried it, she just picks it up and she's good at it, and you're like, oh, for God's sake, not again. But yeah, like, you could tell you just, like, played sport from, like, so young.

You spoke a little bit about the pathway and not seeing that when you were younger. I just wondered, were there any kind of memories of watching cricket? Were there any players that you watched, you kind of wanted to be like, were kind of your role models? Or, you know, perhaps any games that you remember watching when you were younger?

I remember going to, because I'm from Somerset, so I remember going to Taunton to watch, I feel like it was like an ODI against South Africa and maybe the Ashes, the home Ashes at some point, but I don't think it had, like it had a really big influence on the fact that I loved it and it was amazing and I like wanted to go watch but not necessarily play and then when I watched the 2017 World Cup that was where I was like 'Oh my God, I want to do that. That's really cool.' That was your turning point then? Yeah, I think so. Like, before that, it was amazing, like, watching them do all of this, and it was, like, really cool to— I think I did a bit of, like, waving the flag when I was 13 or something, whatever it was, and then I think they came in and did a training session with us, and it was always really, like, nice for them to come in, but I never really thought anything of it. I think, to throw Tammy under the bus, but I've definitely got a photo of Tammy when I was very young and she was teaching me how to bat, and with Lotte as well, to be fair. But yeah, it's kind of a weird, like, full circle moment when you're, like, looking back at all these memories and then you're, like, playing with these people. But yeah, 2017 was definitely, like, a turning point in the sense of, like, oh wow, like, this is— this— it felt like a really big movement for women's cricket in the sense of, like, funding, media coverage, like, how people just thought about the game. Which was, yeah, like really cool.

For you, Fred, 2017, what are your memories?

Yeah, that was a big one for me, I think. Like, I just remember seeing it and being so inspired by it.

You were probably about 9, weren't you? I was gonna say— 12, actually.

But yeah, I just remember seeing it and just kind of, that was a real moment where I was like, actually, you can really make a career out of this. And yeah, I guess, yeah, it was just amazing what they did in 2017.

And then growing up, I heard that you worked at a very popular supermarket. It didn't last very long. I also worked there as well, Lauren. Were you checkouts?

Were you stacking shelves? I was, I actually worked there for 5 years. Oh wow. Yeah, yeah.

Oh, so you did your service.

Yeah, I did a bit of everything pretty much. The only thing I didn't do was like the, like fishmonger or something like that, but, and bakery. Everything else I reckon I covered.

And it all came to an end, I'm assuming because you needed your weekends to play cricket and they wanted you It was, yeah, it was in The Hundred.

So I told them—

Wait, you were still working? Was this the first year of The Hundred that you were still working at Tesco?

I think it was the first or the second year because first year was COVID. I think it might have been the second year I was still working there. So first and second year of The Hundred. And then I, yeah, I said to them, I was— because there's this thing that you, when you go away for uni, you can have time off and then you come back and work again. And I basically said, can I do that now? And then I'll work after. And they were like, yeah, okay, and I was like, okay, great, and then I'd come back after the Hundred and my dad was like, I've got some news, and I was like, oh, what? And he was like, you've been sacked, and I was like, what? Oh no! And luckily, well, I wouldn't have known, but he, so my dad works there as well, and he actually got given a letter that they had sent to my house that got lost, and then it come back to me with a footprint on it and a hole in it, and it said, thank you for your months of service. So it was quite savage. Do you know what, I didn't mind because I was probably gonna leave because I got my first, I think I got, might have got my first maybe like kind of contract at that point I think, and I was gonna leave anyway, but they always give you chocolates when you decide to leave and I didn't get chocolates because I got sacked, so I was gutted.

Gutted. Gutted, yeah. I was gonna say devastated. You missed out on the chocolates.

I did. My dad was like, I'll get you chocolates. I said, that's not the point, Dad. They need to come from Tesco.

Tesco, if you're watching this, Lawrence is waiting for the chocolates, please. Oh gosh.

The TMS Podcast from BBC Radio 5 Live.

Take the leash off your laptop with the processor that gives you long battery life. Work on the go, jump between back-to-back calls, stay locked in from brewing morning coffee to burning the midnight oil. Get maximum performance even when unplugged. Finally, the freedom to move across the room or across the world is here. Snapdragon. That's how.

What do Beatles member Sir Paul McCartney, YouTube megastar MrBeast, and former Facebook executive Sheryl Sandberg all have in common?

They're all being discussed in the new season of Good Bad Billionaire, the podcast which explores the lives and fortunes of the world's super-rich.

That's Good Bad Billionaire from the BBC World Service. Listen now.

Search for Good Bad Billionaire wherever you get your BBC podcasts. Freya, were there any jobs growing up that you did?

Not really, to be honest. No, it was just sports. I did, my mum actually had a tonic water business and I helped her a bit.

I didn't know that.

Um, so I did a bit of that, packing some boxes in lockdown.

Yep.

There's nothing else to do. No, that's so fair. Um, and I'm quite good on the computer, if I say so myself, so I helped her a bit doing that, but, um, Yeah, I guess I've been very lucky that since I was younger, I've like, cricket's, there's been, it's like I've had some amazing opportunities and yeah, I guess I'm very grateful for that. And yeah, I just haven't had a job basically.

Well, it's amazing for the younger people, like the younger players coming through like yourselves. Like there wasn't, when I was that young, there wasn't that pathway really. So the fact that there's now domestic cricket where you can get paid and work full-time as a cricketer is amazing. And the fact that there are like 17, 18-year-old— like Tilly's a great example of it, coming into the squad being 18. Like, yeah, it's incredible that that's an opportunity now. But there are going to be people that are coming in that have never worked at a so-called normal job. So it is, yeah, it's like something that's weird when you sometimes speak to the younger players that they don't have any concept of that. And it's, it's, it's very like hard to explain, like having a normal job.

I guess it shows how far the game has come though as well, right? I was even surprised that you were working up until the second year of The Hundred, but there'll be players coming through that won't have to do that. You've also been on quite the journey though, Freya. I mean, making your debut so young and then having the injuries when you were in INC. That time must have been really difficult to overcome. But what did you learn about yourself as well? Because it's not easy to go through something like that, is it?

No, it's been a really tricky couple of, well, few years now. But I guess I'm very lucky. I've got an amazing family and support network around me, and obviously all the girls and coaches and science and medicine team have been so good. So I guess I couldn't have done it without them. But yeah, I guess it's— I've learned to just be grateful for every day that you're on the pitch and with your friends. It's literally the most amazing job ever, really, isn't it? Yeah, it's just made me very grateful and taught me a lot of things just to, yeah, be grateful and how lucky we are really.

You're very resilient.

Oh, thank you.

Like, I think one of the most resilient people I've ever met because I think a lot of people would have gone absolutely mental with everything that you had to deal with.

Yeah, and like, I guess I'm lucky that I can— I've been able to play as a batter and it's really helped my game. But yeah, there's been some tough days grinding away in the gym and—

She loves a bike.

Yeah, get back, Mikey got me through it. And I am lucky, like, I do, I enjoy working hard and I enjoy, like, trying to improve myself and improve my game and stuff, so that it's been good for that in that aspect, but yeah, it's definitely not been easy at points.

You mentioned the support of the teammates. This group, you all seem so close, it seems like a really special group, and we had Heather and we had Izzy on the show as well. They were talking about pub quiz and the things that you do to switch off. So when you aren't training, when you're not on the bike and when you're not on the pitch, what does that switching off time look like? What does fun look like for the team?

A lot of coffee.

Yeah, there's 5 coffees a day.

That's an understatement. It's honestly ridiculous.

Honestly, I'm trickled up today as well. Are you?

Because you're absolutely buzzing.

And are you not a big coffee drinker, but you've had to be, right?

Well, she's a mocha girl.

I can just drink an iced mocha.

Yeah, I like a mocha.

But it has to be iced. I can't drink hot coffee. Fine. But I do it more just for the social rather than— because every time I order a sparkling water, they're all like— so I'm like, fine, I'll have an iced mocha.

I let you have a sparkling water sometimes.

Yeah, no, you do. But yeah, coffee's a big one. It's quite a nice way to just like explore where you're where you are because you try and find— because there's a few coffee snobs, so we've got to find the best coffee wherever we go.

Well, I was speaking to— I can't remember who it was, but they had an app. They had an app about the best coffee shop.

Do you have an app?

I've got the Best Coffee app.

Do you?

But I never really use it.

Maybe that's what it is.

I'm more of just like, I just go where everyone else wants to go because it's just easier.

Yeah, people pleaser.

Then it's taken seriously within the group, the coffee.

Definitely. We also we do have, a few of us, well I definitely do it, is like on Google Maps we'll always like heart places. Oh, I love doing that. And so yeah, so if we go back to the—

You know the new thing is you can put like whether it's a coffee shop or a restaurant.

Oh really, can you?

So I've got like little coffee markers everywhere.

Yeah, that's what's up. Yeah, and it's great when like people are heading up to certain places, you're like, I've got 10 restaurants or 10 coffee shops that you could go to. But we do a lot of that.

What else do we do? Walks, a lot of the girls play golf and paddle.

Yeah, golf and paddle's a big one.

I'm on a ban.

Yeah, I'm not allowed to play either.

Just because injury or?

Injuries.

Yeah, niggles. Yeah, being careful. I'm quite a clumsy person as well, so I probably end up hurting myself. But yeah, yeah, I'm trying to think.

What else do we do?

I feel like depending on where we are, how long we've got, we probably, we do find time to do something. It's just sometimes it's not always like, it's not always the same. Yeah, shopping. London's a big It always gets a big hit to the back account, that one, doesn't it? Yeah.

I'm getting a good sense of the personalities. The coffee, shopping, walks.

Yeah.

YouTube, badminton, paddle, and any extra activities. Your only chill activities. Let's talk World Cup then. A home World Cup. We've heard how special it is. What is it going to mean to you to have your friends and family there? Because I guess that's a big part of it being so special and why it will mean so much.

Yeah, I can't wait. Like, it's just so nice when you're playing and walking on the pitch and all the family are sat together, all together. And, um, yeah, I guess it's so nice that kind of because it's, because it's a home World Cup, it's so much easier for everyone to get to all the games and stuff. So yeah, I guess that makes it very special.

Um, I don't know what you think, but yeah, so I think similar, like, it's my parents still don't, aren't really used to it. I don't think. Really? Yeah, like we've not come from like a very like sort of rich background, so actually a lot of this is quite far, like so amazing to them and they're just not used to it. So it's quite like a, it's a really like wholesome thing to be able to even like hospitality tickets to give them and they just have like a lovely time and like even if I'm not playing there, they love the hospo in more ways than one. And yeah, and it's just like, it's so nice to be given, like, give them the opportunity to sort of like watch this and stuff and sort of watch the games. And a home World Cup is probably a once-in-a-career opportunity. Luckily, a few of the girls have been lucky enough to have two.

When you were talking about your parents, I thought it was so lovely because it's like that, you know, that meme where it's like, it's like your parents living their life for the first time as well. I just thought it was very sweet.

Yeah, that is so true.

It was just really nice.

No, they, yeah, they love it and I always get Heather's partner Tim always says, "I love your parents." I've said, "Were they drunk again?" He was like, "No." I was like, "Oh my God, thanks." It's when someone goes, "They're just such great fun." I'm like, "Oh no, what have they done this time?" It's all the free drinks, the hospitality.

They're having a great time, as they should.

Yeah, very true. They worked hard for me when I was younger, so they deserve it.

Right, before you go, Few quickfire questions. I've got 3 or 4 if that's okay. The last gig that you went to?

Oh, quickfire. Uh, um, RAYE.

Oh, was that in London?

It was in Manchester. I went with Gibberg. It was so good. Very good, yeah. She was very good.

Gig? Coldplay? Is that—

that's a gig? Yeah, yeah, Coldplay.

That was a concert.

Yeah, yeah, amazing. If you weren't a cricketer, what would you be?

A nature videographer. Niche.

Yeah.

Tell me more.

Well, I just love watching—

That's really niche.

Well, when I was young, I love animals.

I also wasn't expecting to go there. Tell me more, David Attenborough.

Well, that was it. That was— I watched so much like Planet Earth and like all that sort of stuff. And yeah, loved, loved all of that. So I was like, how cool would it be just traveling the world with David Attenborough?

That honestly might be the best answer. Yeah, no hesitation.

What about you, Fresh? I'd like to be like an S&C or a physio. Not a physio, probably, actually. Probably a personal trainer or something like that.

Yeah, you'd be good at that. So still into sport?

Quite interested in, yeah, the human body and stuff.

What's one thing people don't know about you?

Quickfire, quickfire.

Oh, I've got two sausage dogs.

Oh, names?

Tommy and Dave.

Oh, everyone knows I've got a dog.

I talk about him all the time. Yeah, Barney. Although I probably talk about my dog all the time.

Also, Dave is just a great name.

Yeah, especially for a sausage dog. Um, God, I like to draw. Oh, that's so boring. No, it's not boring. Yeah, I like to draw.

And we didn't know that about you, so good to brief. Um, if there was one skill that you could add from your teammate's game to your own game, who and what would it be?

Her, with her bat, of how far she can hit the ball. Okay. Like when you watch her in like range hitting, it's incredible. I'm like, I want to hit sixes like that, be fun.

Thank you, Faya.

No worries.

You don't have to say— I think you're awesome at high speed with the ball.

Oh, I like this, it's wholesome.

Yeah. Oh, you didn't have to say me. No, I know, but I'd like to bowl as fast as you.

It's been a pleasure. Thank you for being here. Remember, you can catch them both in action on Test Match Special via BBC Sounds. We've got every ball of every game live from the Women's T20 World Cup and we'll see you there.

My favourite World Cup moment? It's the first World Cup I properly remember watching. Argentina '78. The ticker tape. Mario Kempes, Ari Hahn scoring goals from miles out, and always one of my favorite World Cup moments, Archie Gemmell's great goal for Scotland against the Dutch. What makes the World Cup such a special tournament is the atmosphere, the color. It is a meeting of the nations and of people who love football. The People World Cup 2026.

Listen on BBC Sounds.

Take the leash off your laptop with the processor that gives you long battery life. Work on the go. Jump between back-to-back calls. Stay locked in from brewing morning coffee to burning the midnight oil. Get maximum performance even when unplugged. Finally, the freedom to move across the room or across the world is here. Snapdragon. That's how.