No Balls: 50 Shades of Grace Harris

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Al. We've got to issue a swear warning because you are an absolute potty mouth.

Not another one.

And you need to remember that your grandma listens to this.

She does.

She also abuses me on social media.

But don't worry, we beep it out.

So your kids can listen.

And Grandma g.

First ball castled.

Now I'm celebrating for crossing.

That one was for Crossy. That was a beautiful delivery.

The wobble ball again from Kate Cross. And that is such an important wicket. Kate crossing for the hat trick ball. Oh, so wide. Hello, and welcome back to no Balls, the cricket podcast with me, Alex Hartley. And you play Cross. Hello, Dante.

We got our time zones wrong again.

We did. So I need to just make a public apology. My Internet's rubbish. I'm in a pub on a golf course in Dubai because I'm on My holidays. And we have got a guest and.

You'Re on your date at Roman, so anything could happen.

Anything could happen. Anything could happen.

And if we could do a quick GoFundMe page for Alex's phone bill next month because she's gonna need to pay it.

Please. Thank you. How are you, Crossy?

I'm good, Al. I'm good. I'm in Navi Mumbai in the middle of India doing a little bit of commentary. And it is. It's been good. It's been full on. It's been good. Yeah, it's been good.

When you were like, oh, I'm not at home on those weeks, I was like, where the hell are you? You're, like, commentating. I was like, commentating on what? You're at wpl. And I was like, you know what? You've got the best of both worlds. Last year you played in it year before you commented. Yeah, after you've commentated. Just.

I know I'm going, like, I'm going commentate. Play year off. Commentate Play year off. That's how my theme's going at the minute. So if anyone wants to pick me up in the auction next year, you go for it because I'm due to play. Well, not play, because I didn't play, but you know what I mean?

Yeah, but you got the prize money for winning.

Got a nice watch. Yeah, yeah. Are you fine?

I'm fine. Do you know what? I'm on my holidays post Ashes. Got them a little bit of. Have I just done an Ashes series thought process. Do you know what I mean?

I saw someone messages on Instagram saying, which was the worst Ashes, the men's or the women? So I thought that'd be a perfect question for you to answer. Oh, God.

The women's. Easily the men. Obviously, I want to win, but, like, I'm not attached to them.

Yeah, fair enough. Okay. But, yeah, you've done. You did. What did you do? Eight weeks out there and it was just.

Yeah, yeah, two months. So, yeah, it feels like it now I've left. It feels like it went really quickly. But at the time, because England were losing, there was so much criticism. It was quite a hard tour to do. It was almost like the last week, you're counting down the days to leave. So I'm very thankful. I had a little holiday on the way home.

Nice. And we've just realised, which we didn't know. I think we might have known, but we both land back in the UK this weekend.

Yes.

We can see each other.

I can't wait.

I can't wait. You're going to be sick of me because I don't have a job now, Crossie. I've got time off.

Yeah, that is true. And I kind of do have a job again, so.

Well, I need to speak to you at Office Call, but I'm gonna have to come and do a little bit of cricket training, so I might actually have to come and train with you.

Have you said yes?

Yeah.

Oh, amazing. Are you. Can you tell people? Not yet, though. Okay. Right, well, hold that thought. She's back in the hundred, everybody.

Yes. I'm fighting for the sunrises. No, I'm joking.

I'm not.

But yes, I need to. It's okay, we'll have a quick chat.

We'll have a quick chat.

I actually would just want to hear from our guest, to be honest with you, because she. She's great.

Yeah, let's get her in. Okay, everyone, I'm so excited to say that we've got an RCB current player on the podcast. We've got Grace Harris. Welcome, Grace.

Thanks for having me. Thanks for having me.

I should say Australian international as well. Sorry, put that to the side.

That one's fun.

Yeah, nice. How you doing?

I'm going good. Going good. Little rest day today. So excited to be on the podcast to do something in Nabi Mumbai. Something entertaining.

Yeah. I did think when Crossy was, I'm gonna ask Grace to come on the pod, I was like, if she's got a day off, she's probably not gonna be doing much else.

Yeah, yeah.

Nah, there's not, There's. There hasn't. I haven't been getting up to too much, but we do have a pretty intense period coming up with three games in four days. So I think a rest day right now is ideal. So happy to have a chat. Really?

Yeah, you can have a chat with us about all things rcb. How's your sleep schedule? Because mine is messed up.

I have changed my alarm in the mornings to quite later, pretty much midday. It's at 11:30 currently and not often do I actually sleep in that much. But I've been going to bed at about 3am Post a good celebration in the team room recently, so at least we've got the things to celebrate, which is enjoyable.

That's the one thing people don't see about the WPL is that they put on a party after every game, win or lose. There's food in the team room, dancing, singing, all sorts, and you kind of. You kind of get sucked into it. Don't you?

Yep. Yep. I'm working on my Hindi and working on some Hindi dances. Although I've got two left feet compared to a lot of these girls. They can dance, right? And I thought maybe I need a couple more drinks, like just get better at it. Maybe relax a little bit more. But Srianka Patel, she can. She can dance. And Radha Yadav can dance.

They love it.

Oh yeah, they love it. But I've never really done dry karaoke before until coming to India and I was like, no generally and crossy. You know about karaoke back in the Brinzani days. Right.

So. So forever. No one will know this story. I don't think I've told it on the podcast. But we did karaoke when I played for the Heat, didn't I? And Courtney Winfield Hill got me up to do a duet with her. I'm not a singer. I'm not an entertainer. And just as the song's about to start, she bolted off the stage and left me up there to sing. Was it Hero? I need a hero. That one.

Adelaide. Was it Adelaide in Chinatown?

Adelaide, yeah.

Found a karaoke bar.

Was it you that sang Titanic? Was that you?

No, I think I did Adele Rolling in the Date. Maybe I didn't hit a single note, but of course. But I really.

They're the best karaoke. They're the best karaoke. We've lost Al, but she'll join us in a minute. Grace, how. How are you finding rcb? Because obviously up last year. Well, last couple of years. Haven't you?

Yeah.

How's rcb? Bigger franchise.

Oh look, I didn't. You up obviously very brand new franchise. Right. I absolutely loved our owner there, Janisha. She was such a lovely owner. We had really good like good, good coaches and everything in the three seasons that I was involved with up. But being a brand new franchise, probably didn't expect how intense the fan base can get rcb. So I think over my. Over my time too, it's a lot more intense than in Oz. Anyway. So for up, I even got a burger sent to my room in Mumbai one season. Right. And I.

How many have you had this year?

None. This so far which has been. Which has been outstanding. Only because I reckon they don't know where we're staying. Okay. But usually flags out the front everything. And I was like, I think we could be a little bit more incognito here.

Like that's hard with the buses as well. I've seen your bus driving around. It's hard to be incognito yeah, yeah, yeah.

But luckily, well, this season, you know, previous years, there's a knock on the door at 2:00am, you know, ma', am, there's a burger here. And I was like, I didn't order it. Like, it's not mine, you know, like next door maybe, but no, ma', am, ma', am, it's yours. And I was like, okay.

There's some, some sponsorship that for you. You love your burgers, don't you?

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Didn't mind it. But I, I was just thinking, like, I've already eaten, done my dry karaoke celebration, had a cake to the face, covered all, all the celebrations that you could get. And then the burger came up about 3am and I was just like, who's got my hotel room prank? Like, you know, did someone else send this as a bit of a little. Little. But RCV just. They. They're so passionate about cricket, aren't they? Indian like.

Well, Grace, you say that you didn't know the fan base. I've just gone on their Instagram. They have 21.5 million followers on their Instagram account. How did you not know that this was going to happen?

I just figured they'd go for the Indian players, not the internationals. But they, they've jumped on board and I've really, I've actually enjoyed it for now while I'm doing well. Can't wait until I'm see what happens.

I feel like you're 80 odd. The other day, that was kind of settled you in. I feel like they're going to love you no matter what. Now you could get three ducks in a row and they'll know that you've got that in you. That at.

Oh, yeah. Okay, good. Yeah. So just start off on the good foot, like, start off well and then you can go downhill, but no pressure, obviously.

Did you enjoy the other evening because it looked so much fun out there. Yeah, yeah.

And I must admit, you know when you said in comms like, oh, you're gonna build some boundaries, I was like, hang on, I've only played one game. Like, ease up. And Belly was swinging it around corners, you know, swinging it from London to Mumbai. And then, then you're like, oh, yeah, you're gonna whack it. And I was like, hang on a second. They got Shika. You can also swing it from London to Mumbai. They've got, they've got.

She's falling cross. See him to you.

Yeah, yeah. It comes back in, but it doesn't matter. It's still a moving Ball. Come on, now. They're hard to work with. You've played golf, right? You just have to hit a ball. And how hard is that?

Yeah, my. Yeah. Grace, my golf does not go straight either. That swings as soon as I hit it.

See, that's it. That's hitting a still ball. I always say to dad, listen, pipe down, Chachi. You. You. You have to hit a still ball off the ground and you still can't hit it straight. So don't. Don't come at me when we hit a moving ball. But, yeah, like, it just. They've got a good bowling lineup, too. And I thought, you know, just with D dots is over. I just. I was thinking like, oh, it's a short boundary. You know, I've been batting on. Off stunt recently anyway for a moving ball just to have better access and just see if I can reach one and.

Grace, you made her cry. You hit her for 32 in and over and she cried.

I didn't intentionally, okay?

Do you feel bad about that? Should we address it?

I love hitting international bowlers.

I love ruining people's careers.

I would have checked in if it was an Australian player or a friend, but international bowlers, I'm like, oh, yeah, how good is this clubby? I'm whacking a skillful player.

Yeah, nice. What's it been like batting with Smriti? Oh, because when she does the task, Grace, I don't know if you recognize this because you might be warming up, but as soon as she speaks into the microphone, the whole stadium just cheers and you can't hear anything.

Yeah. She doesn't even have to do the toss. She just has to walk out for the toss and the whole stadium cheers. You're like, oh, Schmitty's made it to the ground. That's good.

She said, we've got our captain.

No need to worry, everyone. Our opening bat is here now. She's very. Like, I did say to Smriti when she said, when the coach actually tapped me on the shoulder was like, you know, you're going to be opening. And I thought I better face a new bull at training. You know, like, got to have a crack.

Well, you said that on comms to me. You said you'd practice with the old ball and not the new ball.

Yeah. Yeah. Well, I didn't know I was. I was figuring, like, you know, we've got Georgia Vol, We've got Myself, we've got Noodle and Belly. Now, obviously, we were down pez, which probably provided this opportunity for me anyway, like, as in pez being out probably meant that I was more likely to get selected, especially because there's only five internationals in it where one short, you know.

Yeah. They replaced PEZ with a local girl, didn't they?

Yeah, yeah. Same skill set, I think, like, as in the pace, bowling and batting all rounder. But, like, obviously, PEZ is class. Like.

Yeah, you know, there's big shoes to fill.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like, good luck. Good luck.

Good on you, girl. Give it a good go.

Yeah. No expectations there.

No, not at all.

But, like, it just. When. When the coach was like, oh, you're going to open, then I was like, I'm opening with Schmitty. So I walked over. In the very first training session, she came over. Now, if Schmitty sneezes and you say, bless you, that's about as outgoing as she gets, right? Like, that's a conversation with, like. She's one of the quietest, like, introverted people and shook my hand. She's like, how you going? I'm like, yeah, yeah, good. And that was it, right? We walk out to bat together and I was like, oh, shapes, girl. Like, how good she's batting out here and whatnot. And she's like, you talk like this all the time. I'm a.

She's like, can you just dial it down a bit, Grace?

Just a little.

No, but it's working. You have two good partnerships so far.

She goes to me, oh, I've batted with Danny Wyatt, and so she talks so I could get used to this. And I was like, yeah, me and daddy might be a bit different. Like, same same. But diff.

Like, if you carry on batting the way you are, she won't care whether you're talking, whether you're quiet. She'll just be like, keep scoring runs.

Great.

Yeah, pretty much. I did say to her, though, sometimes I'm just talking to myself, so don't feel like you have to respond and then I'll tell you when I'm talking to you. Okay. But I'll. Most of the time. Most of the time I'm just like, oh, what a shot. Like, was it deep D the other game that bowled and she hit it inside out over cover extra. Yeah, dreams. Dreams of that. Sure. That's. I wish I could do it on the offside like that. I've got to hold my shape better. But you know that bottom hand comes in.

No, you're not bottom hand dominant, are you?

Not at all. At all.

I think you had a free hit the other night, and I was on comms. And they said, where's she gonna go? I was like, she'll go to the deep mid wicket boundary.

Oh. And then I got that slow, low full toss. And I was like, thank you. Because what I was thinking was just anything but wide. Just don't go wide. I'm not ready to go.

Don't fall wide.

Yeah, like, not ready for a wider delivery, but got the old slower ball full toss. I was like, that's a dream delivery for a free hit.

The closest I've ever got to batting with Smriti was in a training session in 2024. And she. She was doing the. We did like a gameplay situation, so she was captain in the fielding team. And then so she batted later down in the order. So I was batting with her and I was like, oh, I could get used to this, Smriti. I said, but you're either gonna have to bat nine or I'm gonna have to bat two. So which one do you want? She's like, I think I'll stick with one and you can have two.

I don't want to bat with you.

Yeah. Basically she was like, you stick to your role, mate. I was like, yeah, that's just me. I actually just bowled at her in the nets that season and got her into some form. Oh, yeah.

Nice, nice. That's. That's my job lately in the nets too. I've get noodle into form. Really?

Well, you've not bowled yet. What's going on?

No, no, I'm not recorded. We've got a few. Listen, I'm. I'm not like, you know, if stuff's hitting the fan and you know that you just need something to happen. I could either go for 36 or I might get a wicket. Like, something's gonna happen, but we don't know what it is.

We don't know which way.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

And that's the fun of cricket.

And now that I'm a mystery bowler, I'm a mystery spinner because no one's really actually seen me roll for a little while. So I keep using that tagline.

You're gonna come in and bowl seam or something.

Yeah, I don't know.

Yeah, nice.

I'm working on my bouncer recently because I've watched Haley Matthews do it and I was like, oh, yeah, I could do that.

Like I'm tall one the other night as well. I really appreciate it. Yeah, yeah.

And over here, it skids onto you faster. So off the wicked block. So I'm like, it's actually effective. Like, it's surprisingly quick. And if you can get it right at their head, like, or, you know, right at that helmet crest. Yeah, not bad. Like, it's harder to hit or to control.

So for anyone that's wondering, by the way, I'll lost her connection. She's just disappeared. So me and Grace are just having a chat about cricket, which is perfect, but we're going to carry on.

We're going to keep the golf course.

Yeah. Oh, yeah, she's. She was at the golf club, so she's probably. Yeah, she's on the third already. Right, Grace? So he's chatted a little bit about wpl, but we wanted to. There's been a certain announcement recently about a certain opening batter for Australia retiring. And do you. Are we thinking this might open the opportunity up for you?

I don't know. I don't know. We've got, like, we've got a lot of openers and a lot of good batters, but also, do you juggle going, like back to a person who's already. Well, you know, do you go back to an opening batter who's already 32, which is me, or do you look to the future and then because you've still got Moons opening, so you've already got experience there.

So, yeah, Grace, you want to win this World Australia, you're going to want to win this World Cup. And if you're in the form that you're in, obviously, if you're in the form that you're in, surely you might be getting the opportunity.

Oh, yeah, like, I'll take it, like.

So you've not had any chats about it. Basically, you've given nothing away.

Listen, she's only just announced her retirement's gonna be like, oh, Grace.

Grace is there digging the grave.

She's like, getting there, mate. Grace has convinced Healy to retire.

We have to pick a captain first.

Oh, yeah, you're putting your name in the ring.

No, no, thanks. I'm still a FIFI worker in this squad. I'll still fly. Fly?

There's no way you're 32.

Yeah, mate. Yeah, I just act, like, amazing.

Oh, my God.

Yeah, okay.

Yeah, I was like, who's this 32 year old you're talking about? Is that Mooney?

Yeah, it is. I'm still not the oldest, though, in the squad, so, you know, I'll take that now.

Now I'm back and I'm back in the podcast. I actually want to know how you find it, Grace, because obviously you're such a good opening batter. But then for Australia, you're back in the middle order.

Yeah.

How do you find that adjustment?

Well, it actually, to be honest, I find it, it actually is a little bit difficult if you're trying to get ready for every kind of scenario or every role and essentially within the Aussie stuff of float too. So sometimes it might not even be, oh, you're only coming in from the 15th. Like in some scenarios they're like, oh, we're off to a fly. You just, you got to pad up and you got to be ready. So I find like each one has different challenges. So up front, right, a new ball, you've got a, it can either seam or swings, but you've only got two out. So with my power game, I often back if I have really good shape and, and good shots to the right bowlers, then I know that it's only that 30 meter risk that you're taking because you basically just have to clear the infield. Now if it happens to go for six bonus but like one bound fours, I'll take early too.

Okay.

Like, like you weigh it up.

But it's just so easy.

But so easy triggered. Yeah, it's just so easy. It really is so easy. And then at the back end you've got changes of pace or you might have like I thought Eccles did really well the other night, like changing her plan, for instance, where you got to think is she gonna bow a really fast arm ball at middle stomp or is she going to go wider or wide and slow? So you've got, you've got like the variations that the bowlers can execute and then based on conditions, with four out, you've got to think how you can best either access the fifth pocket or whether you're backing yourself in just to hit over the sweepers that are already there or through them. So a lot of the time I find I'd probably do more running between the wickets, not as an opener but as a number six because you're hitting gaps and you're just running but most of the time your shots can kind of get cut off. Whereas as an opener, well, I don't know if you've watched lately, but I don't think there's been any running between the wickets for all the openers over.

Here because you're playing on a 44.

Meter boundary at one side and the outfield's lightning fast. So as you go through, I've watched Smitty the other night edge one and then she just stood there and I was like, mate, what happens if she runs that down and she's like, won't happen. Like no, I don't run. And I was like, okay, what, what do you prefer? Well, if I'm being honest, I've always preferred opening because like you get to spend the longest amount of time doing a skill set. Right. Like it's. If you're a batter or like if you're predominantly a batter, then you want to bat. Like you. The only way that you score runs is by facing the ball. But I can respect that there are better players within the the game that can take those sports. So I feel like I just wanted to kind of be a gap filler in, in cricket.

I feel like you're being a bit humble here, Grace. I feel like you're doing yourself such a big disservice. Like you've opened the button for the heat. Yeah, you've done it for Australia, you're doing it now for rcb. Like it's a really good role. I would hate to open the bowling and know that I've got a bowl at you.

But like, like if you get me out, you know.

Well, yeah, I look like a legend.

You gotta look at it both ways.

Yeah, there's a big cheese, but there's also a big cat. I'm gonna, you hear me butt down the ground.

Yeah, true.

That doesn't look good.

I guess I just, I appreciate or like when I play my best cricket I just appreciate kind of like the role clarity that you have. So yeah, with the heat, often if I'm batting with like a Georgia Red Main, my role within the power play was like I've kind of got to go beast mode straight up. Because red is holds a wicket, she takes like no risks or less risks in teaching game and so she kind of like anchors in innings. And then based on that it's like obviously moving forward the game's getting that, getting more progressive. So you do have to up your strike rate and you have to start if there's only two out for six overs, you're trying to capitalize on those six overs. So I think more teams in T20 cricket that play successful T20 cricket are now actually opening with power and, and people that are willing to take the game on.

Yeah, more than. So you've got the compliment.

Yeah. And then more your rotators go to like number four, number five. Because if there's a couple of quick wickets in the power play, you then send them in and then if not you are absolutely moosing the power play and then you just roll on from there and Then when the field's spread, your rotators come in and then it's taking the game away.

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Sounds Grace. You're talking like a true tactical captain here. Feels like there's a spot available for that World Cup.

I just, I like, I like that side of the game that, that thinking side of the game and, and I can get around when there's a game plan like with, with ca, if they want to pick an extra baseballer and a batter needs to fall out, I'm more than happy to go like, yeah, it's me. Because we've got that stacked lineup. I don't bowl for say about number eight, like play, you know, Darcy Brown or whatever comes in, does that extra baseball for conditions.

But I love the way you don't feel.

No.

Like there's a reason.

Yeah. I won't feel like in a team if we're playing a style of play that I can get around. But if you just keep your wicket, you make 130 every game. You're like, we might beat some teams but you're not going to beat the best ones. Whereas I can get around like T20 style cricket when it's, you know, you take the risks Here, or you line up your particular bowler or you can get out playing a certain style shot and instead of saying, oh, you know what you should do? You should bump that along the ground and run one. No, you shouldn't. You just execute better. Because if you want to hit a 66 meter six, you only have to hit the ball out, not up. So like what'd you do? Miss? Execute your shot but play the exact same way next game and. And we destroy it. So that's how I like it.

Oh, I could get around that to be fair because it's good to watch and I hate watching cricket.

Like kinda it's. If it's the European league and they're on those concrete wickets.

Oh, I actually love that you don't watch that. Please don't tell me you watch that.

When they kick it for four or like he throws it over the rope trying to save it. Oh, it's funny as I love.

No, Grace, I got asked to play in that this year. I was like, I can't, I actually can't. I was like, is that where my career is at now?

You eat best. What about Laris rolling over to the CPL and getting like leading wicked taker. I'm telling you, Alex, you can do it. You can do it. I laughed so hard at some of Laura's bowling recently and then when she actually got a bowl and I was like, no chance. Like this is genuine jokes. No, she's rolling around as an all rounder now. I think some teams think that Ed signed me, not her. And then she shows up and it's like, oh, you reverse a six, that's not great. Yeah, I know.

I, I've never seen her bowl before, having played with her for however many years and against her for however many years and then she's getting five for nothing.

I've never seen a bowl before either. That's why she's been successful. Crossy, what you got to do is you just become a mystery bowler. You just don't bowl for two years, then roll back in there. Like what she do? Where do I hear? I don't know. As long as you hit it.

Grace, we've taken the mick a little bit, but can you please talk to us a little bit about Midge? Because obviously she is going to be a big miss for you guys and she's played for Australia for 13 years or so, probably more actually.

I'll be sad to see her go. I guess she's one of the teammates that you actually want on your team and I know that we spoke earlier about like styles of T20 cricket. But I can guarantee you that she was probably one of the first female players that could I guess evolve the T20 game the way that it has currently. Like she used to play the exact same style that we play now but you know, five, 10 years ago and it's been so fantastic to watch. But not only that, she's fantastic off the pitch, like just some of the banter that you have over the, over the years and you know, mid, she's, she's the first one that you want to play for. There's a lot of really good players. There's a lot of really good players in women's cricket but there's sometimes they're not, you know, that they're, they're playing like for themselves or they play just that they keep in their own little bubble. But Midge, she tries to get to know each of her players or the playing group and she can take on a fair bit of criticism at times and stuff like that, which has also been kind of a little bit unfair to see. But I just, it's a big, big loss for us.

What, where do you think it's come from? The retirement? Because she's still, she still is at the peak of her game, isn't she?

Yeah, she is like she could still, she can still bat, I'd say.

Yeah.

Well recently I guess she's come out and said that the injuries and whatnot have probably been that little more mentally draining. And then if you add in being an Australian skipper, I can't imagine that roles very easy to walk into either.

There's so much pressure, so much pressure. Obviously taking over Lanning as well.

Yeah. And not only just pressure, but I reckon it's a. Probably a lot of admin and a lot of work off the field too to you know, think about how the program wants to run or you've got to think about all the series that you've got coming up or what's the best prep to try and win a World Cup. How did, how do you get yourself the best out of yourself and also the teammates that you're thinking about selecting for these squads, you know, and then if you're going to be even less self centered, which Midge is, you're also thinking like what future opportunities can you provide to develop further Australian players and you know, how does that. Like there might be some tougher calls made on older players to sit out for a series, to play young, like to get talent in, to get them in the group. You know, I think cricket. Australia have had ruthlessness to their selections for a fair period of time. But, you know, I can't imagine that the Australian women's cricket captain is actually just like a. A breezy role. You know, you just said we're just gonna dominate world cricket for the next 12 months. Hey, how are we gonna win? You gotta, you know, there's a couple of tours or there's big tours coming up. So series at home against India. There's obviously the World cup in England, so it's an away World Cup. There's.

Yeah.

Series in the West Indies, which is multi format, if I'm correct. So that's three wonders, three T20s and a test match. So that's, that's. They're actually quite draining series as well. They require a lot of energy, a lot of effort. You know, the Australian women's cricket team, it's prided itself recently on athleticism to try and make sure that you finish those series fully fit or at least be able to give a lot in them. So, yeah, I guess maybe just being that little bit older me just probably. And I guess she also might have a taste of what's. What life is like.

She said that, didn't she? Yeah. Said she's got to work on her golf because Mitch got a hole in one.

Yep. Then I get. Sometimes I feel like there might be that time where, you know, if you're enjoying stuff more away from cricket than you're. Than you are at cricket, I feel like you should probably pull up stumps then like, if you, if you have something else to look forward to, post cricket field. And it's not to say that you won't miss a lot of aspects of cricket because it is good fun and, you know, you miss your teammates and more Norm. But I feel like if you, if you're like, I think I'd rather be on the golf course or I'd rather be here than fair play days.

Enough.

Yeah.

Yeah. What was she actually like as a captain? Grace? Because to play against, she is an absolute nightmare. And she's one of those players that everybody actually hated at the start of her career. Like, oh, my God, that Alyssa Healy. Now everybody loves her. She's actually one of the best people. And we said when she came on the podcast, you're actually annoyingly likable. She was like, I'll take that as a compliment. But what is she like as a captain and as a person?

She's just genuine, I guess. With Midge, there's. I feel like you could kind of just say anything. And I'm pretty rogue in a lot of meetings.

No, you're not. Who's told you that?

I can be pretty rogue with a lot of stuff that I say. But Midge, she just kind of goes like, oh, yeah, Harry, like, we'll take that on board or I can see your point, or whatnot. And then, and sometimes she just might be like, listen, shut up. You're like, yeah, fair play. Well, she's like, you talk too much. Okay, fair enough. I'll get more to. I'll get to my point. More direct. Okay. But like, she just brought a good energy and I guess the ability to kind of like relax off field. So other captains that I've played under have been very intense and very driven and it's like yon field has to be perfect, although that's what you're striving for. And Mitch still had that drive. But off the field you could have a drink, you could go out, you could like genuinely have a good time. And it wasn't seen as you're not taking the game seriously or, or like, you know, is that really your best prep or is that really what you should be doing?

Whereas it has to be like that now, though, with the way the game's gone, doesn't it? Like, you play so much, you can't. Yeah, you can't be how professional or non professional cricketers were 10 years ago because you just eat yourself alive.

Yeah, it does. And there's cricket. 12 months of the calendar. You basically, you don't really have an off season anymore. You just find like four week breaks where you might train less.

That's a good way of putting it.

Yeah, that's, that's how it rolls these days. And like, you might try and find one tour or two tours where you think, oh, we're in a good spot here, like, and you know, we're six months out from like a World cup or something, so maybe here we get to be more relaxed or have a more relaxed approach about our prep. And then when we get, you know, the next trip, we're definitely nailing in how we want to prep for the next tour and the next big series. So she's just, she's added a bit more flexibility and kind of like you feel like you can have a life without thinking like, ah, another.

Another cricket without being judged.

Yeah, it's another cricket. We have to show up, not smile and run, run our laps. Left, right, left, right. Yes, lieutenant.

Oh, yeah. If that was cricket, I'd be no thank you.

Yeah. Hey, look, it's a pretty good job though. I've worked, I've worked admin and I think I'd rather the cricket in life.

How have the conversations been in the Australia since obviously not winning the last couple of World Cups, what have the conversations been about the next one?

Well, each World cup there's been a fairly honest debrief actually. And there's. To be honest, it's not like we've done a lot wrong. I think we lost maybe one game leading into that, that World cup, like the One Day World cup for instance. And then in the T20 side of things we, it's just kind of about how we can now we play really good cricket in the round games and then we just lose that one game in a semi where you are knocked out. We can't make it that be our loss. Let's make it in a series or let's, let's see how we can really just get switched on from the get go, especially in the knockout games. But like the way that we've played cricket and the way that we keep playing cricket is fine. It's now how we can just do it a little bit longer. There hasn't really been dramatic talks about anything.

It's just simply because it's not the end of the world. Yeah.

And if you start it like you, if you're judging it on if a loss or if the worst thing that you could do for a cricket thing is losing the semifinal, then we've, we've done poorly. But the thing is if we lost every game leading up to it, you'd go, hey, like we've got problems.

Yeah. Like when you dominated the 50 over World cup, didn't you? And then it was just that moment in the semi and then that's it, you're on the plane home.

It kind of, it comes down to maybe two, three clutch moments in a game. Like can we hold it? We hold our nerve just that little bit longer. Maybe we, maybe we miscreated, maybe we didn't. But like you can't really throw like the baby doesn't come out with the bath water for that. Like every, everything else, everything else going good, you know, and other teams are actually allowed to play really good cricket though too. Everyone kind of goes, oh cricket Australia, you know, you've won everything, you know you'll win everything or whatever. But England and India now have domestic competitions. They have professionalized setups. They have resources available that cricket Australia women's team have probably had now for a couple of years extra, but so you're allowed to play really good cricket. And everyone kind of understands how they want to play the game now, too, in this modern version. So sometimes you just got to tip your hat to really good performances as well.

And everyone loves it when Australia don't make it to a World cup final.

Sorry to tell you. Grace. Yeah, right. Grace, we've been too serious with you.

Are you.

We've got a 50 Shades of Grace game and Crossy is going to ask the questions.

Our producers come up with this. Grace. It's not weird, don't worry. But it's. It just Gray sounds like Grace. So.

Okay. Oh, yeah, Great. Great. That's.

Yeah, it's just quick fire questions.

Okay. One word responses direct, if.

If that's possible for you.

Yeah. Yeah.

Okay. Grace, you ready?

Yeah. Radio.

What's the first song you put on in the change room after a win?

IDGAF by Dua Lipa.

Do you prefer batting or bowling, buddy?

What's your favorite Burger Zinger Stacker.

Do you have a favorite wicket?

Me Granny.

Nice. KFC or Nando's?

Oh.

Oh, I'm going kfc, WPL or wbbl.

Oh, that's being harsh.

Which pays you more money.

Okay, I'll go. W. Baby. L. Because it's my home, Graham. It's my home. Predictable. Predictable. She don't mean it. She don't mean it.

RCB fans. She doesn't mean it. She loves you. Oh, you missed it Earlier. Grace said she didn't realize how big the fandom was of RCB. And I said they've got 25 million followers on Instagram. Back to 50 Shades of Gross. What is your favorite six that you've.

Hit or probably a slug sweep of Echoes recently.

Can I. Can I tell you mine?

Yeah, go on.

Mine was when you asked for a new. When you asked for a new bat because your bat was broke.

Oh, yes.

For six.

Is that. Is that your favorite?

You had asked. Stuff it. I'll hit it.

Was that off, Piper?

It was. Unfortunately it was all right. Like North Sydney. That boundary is about 38 meters top, so I think you could hit a six one handed. Like.

It'S 30 meters to the ring.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. You take two steps, you're on the boundary rope from the ring.

Grace, do you think that there's a Grace more famous than you?

Oh, yeah, These.

Can you name her?

Grace Kelly?

Yeah.

Nice.

That's a Mika song.

Well, wasn't she. Is it Elvis Presley or is that Graceland? No.

I want to be like Grace Kelly.

I could be brown I could be blue I could be fire let's go.

Oh, great singing. Yeah, I like that.

Dry karaoke.

Yeah. Yeah.

She was an old Hollywood actor.

Boom.

How have you got that info?

That's more. I don't know.

Producer Jack's a wonderful man.

Sydney or Surrey?

Oh, Surrey. That's it. Oh, Sydney. Sydney. Sydney's rubbish. Sydney's like 90 minutes traffic. Every rubbish, like Surrey every day of the week.

And if you weren't a cricketer, what would you be?

Oh, what could I be? A food critic. Although desserts. Not like, I don't want any, like, caviar or anything that's, like, you know, fancy. Fancy. I could be, like, a burger taste tester. But no veg, no vegan options. Or vegetarian. Like, I want. I want solid protein in there. I could. I don't know, actually, like, if there was an. If there was a job where you could just talk for the rest of your life, I could do that.

Commentator. Yep, sorted.

Maybe go on. Like, have you been paying attention? I love that show.

Is it like, we don't have that?

No, we haven't.

It's like, you know, they get the news or what do you guys do? 9 out of 10 cats does countdown or something.

Okay.

Yeah, yeah. Stuff like that.

Yeah.

Producer Jack has just asked, are we going to see a Grace versus Food Grace? And it reminded me of when we actually did a Grace versus food, when it was the England Academy versus the Australian Academy back in, what, 2012 or.

Something, when I was about 80 kilos heavier.

We've all been there, Grace.

It was Grace versus Holly Armitage to see who could eat the most donuts.

And they both got an absolute 24 donuts in one sitting. I can do that. Oh, great. They taste so good. And just wash them down with, like, a good drink and you're good to go. Nothing too filling, but, like, donuts.

Nothing fizzy. Yeah.

Nah, they're good. They're real good. I don't know. What about those spicy food? Like, spicy foods a little bit iffy. Like, I could try it, but I can tell you right now, I already sweat just standing still. So, like, wedding post, eating chili.

Do you remember. Do you remember when you came to training that time and you'd had your entire face threaded?

Yeah.

And you were like, it's good. But now my sweat just gets in my eyes.

That was.

That's one thing I've never done again. Okay.

I'm not surprised.

I walked into a beautician. I was like, I'm Just gonna get my eyebrows done. And then she's like, oh, get your face thread. And I was like, yeah, yeah. And there's a trainee person on. And I thought, oh, well, it's for development, but you can do it. You can do it. It'll feel real nice. And then like, ready my whole face. And I was like, it did not feel nice.

Your face did feel good at training, though. It felt so smooth.

Felt good post threading. But while I was threading also, oh, this better wrap it up.

Speaking of wrapping it up, guys, I think we can finish on that note.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, we probably.

Why not?

I can only thank you.

Thank you both for carrying this podcast that I feel like I was a guest on.

It's great to have you all. Thanks so much for joining us.

Thanks, guys.

Thank you.

See you later.

How do you dissect that?

I actually. I don't think I've ever laughed as much in my life. And I was off the call for half of it.

Yeah, you missed it. She was well funny in that first 10 minutes. Al.

I'm gonna have to listen back. What a hero.

She's an absolute. Do you know what? She did an interview post her 85 vibe that she got the other night for RCB and she just said with a massive smile on her face that whether she's batting opening, batting six, bowling, not bowling, fielding, whatever, she's just so pleased to be playing cricket and she just loves it. And that just comes through. And the way she plays, the way she talks. And I think what people probably don't see about her is how, you know, switched on she is like when she was talking about the tactical side of it, you probably don't assume that from idea. Yeah.

When she's on the player mark and you get her talking about bowling and the tactics of it, she just knows everything. I actually think she would. She'd be a crazy captain. But her cricket brain's so good, so.

She wouldn't be an absolute badger.

She is an absolute badger. She's great. And thank you for getting around.

No, no problem. I. I just thought on the off chance she might be free because we are in Navi Mumbai. There's not masses to do around here, so. And yeah, she was free. Everyone, you can email us on noblespodcastbc.co.uk. noballspodcastbc.co.uk.

It so good. They've said it twice.

They've said it twice. You've really gotta go. Okay. You can WhatsApp us on 033-01-231826 or you can text us 8 double-118 double-111 right start your message with no balls. Bye everyone.

I see.

Five live sports.

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