No Balls: Alana King & I

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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 Jean Cross comes in round the wicked.

That boulder. Boulder Laboring a ball alone. Litchfield.

Think it's the wobble ball. And it just nips back. It jagged back. It's the nip backer. That is a beauty from Kate Cross. An absolute seed. That is a beauty from Cross.

Hello and welcome back to no Balls of Cricket podcast. Why are you surprised?

Cuz you came through so loud and so quick after that countdown of 5, 4, 3, 2, go.

Sorry, I whisper. Hello, it's me, Kate Cross and you, Alex Harley.

And we're back for another episode.

We fired them out recently.

We? I think I've done more podcasts in the last three weeks than I have played cricket.

Well, I definitely have.

Because. Yeah, definitely, because we actually sat down before this tournament, didn't we? And we had our dates that we were recording because we said if we don't have the dates down, we won't record. And that is exactly what would have happened. So anyway, here we are again. Fed up of us with a guest. Alex, I want to introduce to you one of Australia's best leg spin bowlers they have produced in the recent past. And that is the wonderful Alana King.

Yeah, King.

Hello, ladies. I'm great how are you guys?

Yeah, we're good. We're good. Yeah, I'm all right. She's poorly. She don't want to say it because she knows I'll moan at her, but she's poorly.

Wow. What's going on?

Well, I woke up at quarter past two because I'm just not very well.

That's. That's a shame. You've still got a few more games to go, so get some vitamin C into you.

You've been in England for a while. You came over and you played with Crossy for Lanks. How have you found playing in England all summer?

I've actually loved it. It's been a great experience. I've loved Lancashire playing with Crosses the first time we played together, which has actually been really nice. And I think the. The two months that I was at Lancashire, playing in the Blast, I had a lot of fun, I learned a lot and that's what I came over to do. I just wanted to, you know, work with different people, work with different coaches, keep getting better at my game and, yeah, had a lot of fun doing that as well.

So we feel like there's been a lot of Australians have been released to come and play English cricket this summer, and we're wondering, with a World cup in 2026 in England, has it got anything to do with that.

Maybe? No, I think it was more so case by case with. With the players who came over and, yeah, we had to, you know, discuss at CA why we wanted to come over. And it's obviously a long time with, given the international schedules pretty busy for us from the hundred over into the World cup and plenty of series to come. So it was just more so for me just to keep playing cricket, keep getting better at T20 cricket and just keep expanding my game. So I think that was a pretty enough. A pretty good. Good enough excuse to head over here. And, yeah, I've had no regrets and I've absolutely loved it.

Have you. So have you played much in England in your career?

No, this is the first time I've actually done like a county stint, which has been so much fun. I've only just come and play the hundred or for international duties, but, yeah, this is great to be in one spot for. For a chunk of time and actually get. Get into work and change a few things and work out a few things, and I think that's been the best thing for me. And, yeah, I've had a lot of fun. The. The length scales are awesome and, you know, having Crossy and Lanny There when. When they could be. And Eccles as well, was. Was great to be a part of.

You're teasing us. Can you. You keep saying you've worked on things and you've learned things.

What.

What have you learned?

Oh, I'm just. Oh, I think, you know, working with Chris Reed for the last couple of years of the 100 at the Tren Rockets, spending a bit more time with him in terms of the batting side of things. Just making sure that I've got a bit more rhythm and a bit more tempo when I. When I go about my things, because I think my batting can. I'm in different situations that all the time, but just making sure that I'm really relaxed. And we just figured out some stuff with my wrists and my hands when I'm holding the bat, so that's been really cool to. To unlock. And then working with the great Stephen Parry with the Paz bowling side of things.

That's the first mention he's ever had on this. Yeah, that's it. And Alex has worked with him. I've worked with him, and you've now worked with him. And he'll be buzzing. He's got his little shout out.

I've absolutely loved working with Paz. He's. He's a rare cat, and he. He knows it, which is. I think that just makes it a bit more special because he. He loves to talk, and I love to talk as well. So I think that's why we probably got along really well. But he's just so knowledgeable about the game, and he just saw. Saw it from a different lens, and it's always nice to see spin bowling from a different perspective. But he was great, and I've loved working with him, and hopefully, you know, we can continue along the way and along my career. That'll be awesome.

Stephen Parry, for anyone that doesn't know, is one of those people that when you see them, you have to be like, wow, how many Red Bulls have you had? Or how many coffees have you had today? And he's like, no, mate, don't touch caffeine. Don't touch caffeine. Me up all the time. And then you almost have to go and sit him in a corner when he's really annoying everyone and just. Just let him almost get rid of his energy.

Settle.

Settle down, Stephen. Yeah, we did take a couple to have.

Yeah, we did take a couple of weeks to even chat together because he gave me donuts when I first came over, and I was like, oh, okay. Like, I've got to work all this out myself. But then I think it was we played a blast game in maybe Taunton and then I went and sat at the front of the bus where he was just chilling and just watching the world go by on our six hour journey back to Manchester. And then I was just like, have you got anything for me? And then as soon as I probed him and then it was just like bang. Like he just had all these ideas and. And he was like, I was just trying to work you out. I was like, well, I was just trying to work you out. I didn't know. I didn't know if you were going to talk to me these whole two months that I was going to be here. But no, he's an absolute ripper and just picked his brain about the knowledge of the game and spin bowling, which I love talking about.

His tactical brain is incredible. Isn't it?

Amazing? Yeah, yeah. I think by far one of the best I've ever tapped into, to be honest. And yeah, I think he puts off this like larrikin kind of facade and doesn't really care much, but I think deep down if you actually spend some time with him, he's, he's full of knowledge, full of tricks and he cares so much about his players, which are, you know, thoroughly enjoyed.

Larrikin is a word I've heard twice in the last 24 hours and I'd never heard it up until this point, but Kristen Beams said it to us yesterday.

Was it.

I don't even know what it means.

It's like. Does it mean like the Joker, Like.

A bit.

Yeah, yeah, Larry, just a bit.

Just a bit like different. Bit loud, bit different, Bit of a like. Yeah.

This is not just an entertainment podcast, it's a learning podcast.

Educational. You can learn everything on this podcast.

Brilliant. Slang.

Yeah, yeah. Kingy. So this is the first time that we've had the Vitality Blast, which is what you came over and played in. I know you played a couple of 50 over games at the end of your stint, but how did you find? Because this is also new for a lot of our domestic girls, like back to back games and all the travel that we do with the buses and because I remember seeing Grace Harris played them at the oval and she was like, I didn't know I'd signed up to this. Basically. She was like, these back to back games are a lot.

Yeah, I think that's probably the biggest thing that we all kind of shocked us and probably. Yeah. Just didn't, didn't quite comprehend the amount of travel that you do. And you. Especially if you're playing, if you're playing in a central team, that, that's fine, you don't have to travel as much. But when you, like, based in Manchester and you're traveling to Taunton, that's like six hours. You play the game. I get. Get to the game three and a half hours early. And then.

Yep, shout out, ready.

I reckon there's a story there.

And then you play the game and it's great. And then the next morning or that, that night you're on to the next place to play the next day. And I think, yeah, it's a lot different when you're sitting on a bus. I think that's the biggest adjustment that we've had to make. And I think it just emphasized how. How like important recovery is and making sure that your body's good, good to go for the next game. And the gains came thick and fast. But then I think we had a pretty good schedule. We had. We had a few games and then we had a bit of a break and then a few gains and then a bit of a break, so.

And you did some good stuff in the break, didn't you?

Yeah, had some. Had some good stuff in the break. Just got to see a little bit of Europe, which was nice.

And how good is that around Europe?

Yeah, well, that's the best thing about being here, I guess. You guys are so close to everything that us Aussies want to travel, but if we want to come over here, we've got to take, you know, four, four to six weeks to actually go see a bit of Europe, a lot of Europe. Whereas you guys hop on a plane two hours later, spend a weekend, and then we don't do it.

We should do it more often. If Alana K can do it in between blast games and we can do it all.

Where did you go? What did you see, Malia?

Malaga. Crossing Malaga. Sorry. Yeah.

The truth get in the way of a good story?

No. Tara Norris led me astray and was like, you've got to go to Malaga. And I was like, great, because I've always wanted to go to Spain. And she gave me some recommendations and I kind of conned Heather Graham to come. Come along with me. We played them at Leicester on the Thursday. Oh, I can't remember what day. Maybe it was a Wednesday. And I was like, oh, why don't you just come to Malaga with me? Like, we've got the next little bit off. And then that night she was like, all right, I've booked my flight and Here we go. So it was such a spontaneous thing, but went to Malaga. That was awesome. Then had a weekend in Scotland, which was cool. I've never been. I thought we were playing in Blackpool. Oh, which was Blackpool. Oh, it was a story.

The sites al we've shown. Oh, my God, I forgot about this.

It was a. It was a day on the way to Blackpool.

It was a real day. Do you want to tell the story?

Go on. No, you can give your perspective and then I can fill in the. I wasn't there.

I only heard about this because I was away with England at the time. But someone told me that Alana had been in the back of a police car on the way to Blackburn.

No, no, Crossy, Crossy. That's a different time.

Oh, sorry. Different story.

Different story.

Oh, go on, you tell it then. Go on, you tell it. Tell us what happened. King eat.

Way to saw me up the river here. Okay, so Blackpool was our captain, Ellie Pro Cult had a rough couple of. Couple of 48 hours, and long story short, she crashed her car and she didn't have a way to get up to Blackpool. So I was like, all right, mate, I'll. I'll come pick you up. We'll have a road trip up to Blackpool and we'll play the game anyhow, pick her up. And then we jump back on the M6, the famous M6. Then all of a sudden, like, there's a bit of traffic and we're like, oh, okay, this traffic turned into waiting on the M6 for four hours because there was a. There was a lorry, as you guys would call it, a lorry fire. So. And we were just like, oh, like, this is. This is. This is tough. And then we've got.

This is morning of the game, isn't it?

Yeah, morning of the game. So we're in comms with Chris Reid, the coach, and I'm always like, okay, it's. It's creeping up. Like, the time on the M6 is creeping up. And then it got to a stage where we've had about 10 phone calls with him and he's like, I don't think you two are making the game.

Because no captain, no overseas.

Yeah. And this would be the first time Threlke sort of missed a game for Lancashire in her career. And I was like, great, I'm part of it. And I'm driving the captain as well. Like, this is brilliant. So then Lancashire told all the girls from the extended squad, we need you here, because we've actually got. There was five of us on the M6 who was just stuck, no moving, nothing and we're just like oh my God, we're not going to play this. We're stuck in traffic, forfeit a game. Well lucky that the girls actually got there in time so they have the squad balance and anyhow it was going to expect expected us to be in Blackpool at like 4:30. Well, well and truly after the game starting at 3 anyhow we got like finally the, the road cleared. We got there, we got there as quickly as we could. We literally pulled up, got our kit on Throgs put her reds on, did the toss. We had 15 minutes to warm up. So I was like do I warm up or do I eat? I haven't eaten in five hours or six hours since breakfast. So I prioritized eating. So I was just sitting there eating bro. Done the toss. Great, we're bowling. I was like I need to warm up.

Did she win the toss and bowl?

No, I think we lost the toss.

I was going to say surely she's batting. Sure, whatever the conditions. Are you just having a bat then?

I think, I think we lost a toss. And I was like oh my God, I've got to warm up. Like my shoulders, my back, everything really. I'm doing my warm up. As we are running out to field and the first like five, five to 10 overs, I'm still warming up and then throw throws into the ball and I was like oh my God, this is, I've never done this before anyhow. Lol. The the game ended up in a tie on the last ball.

That because you hit six off the last ball to win the game. Well to tie the game.

So yeah, that was from that experience. Then I drove.

Did you get stopped by the police car then?

Okay, this was on our way. Yep. Okay. For all the listeners out there again we were on the M6, my favorite place to drive and we said I see these flashing again. Throx is in the car with me by the way, so clearly we shouldn't be traveling together. I see, I see the cop car behind me and I was like oh, the lights are on. Oh okay. And Throg's like maybe just pull over. I was like yeah, I'll move over. Cop car follows me. I was like throx, I'll pull over again. She's like no, no, like I think you need to pull over. Like hard shoulder. And I was like. And cocked car pulls me over. We stop and I was like oh my God. Oh my God. This is. Yeah. And then any other cop like, winds down the window and was like, I just. Just want to check, like, I've got your car unregistered and uninsured. And I was like. And I just went blank. And Throx was like, oh, I think this is a club car. Like, this is our overseas player and it should be, like, the club's responsibility. And he's like, bless him. He was actually a really nice guy. And he was like, no English yet. No English. And then she was. He was really nice. And he's like, no worries. I believe you got you girls. But because I've stopped you, I need to fill in some paperwork. And I was like. And then Threlks is absolutely himself laughing. So I hop out. And he's like, yeah, just make sure you're safe to get out. And, yeah, so clearly I've never been pulled over by the cops or been in a cop car before. So he's like, I see you grab a seat, and I just need to get some details. No problem. I go into. Jump in the front. Front seat. And he's like, no, no, in the back. And I was like, oh, yep, okay. Yep, this is really real. And then he was just, like, getting a few details. And he was. He was sound. It was all good. But my God, if I had a GoPro in our car, Threlks was just laughing.

And there was two of our. Like, we do this exchange thing with New South Wales, where two of our girls go over to Australia in the winter for four weeks to train. So we get two girls back. So there's these two young girls in.

The back of the car, just sat.

There while Kinky gets pulled over by the police. And Ellie's just laughing at her.

And then, yeah, I can't even try.

To get in the front of the car.

Panic out. I've never been. And I just thought he was being friendly. And then he actually was like, no, you wouldn't fit in the front seat because there's, like, lots of paperwork and stuff. I was like, oh, my God, I'm going to get, like, proper arrested. Like.

And then we also do. We do of the day at length, you know, where you've got to wear the horrible shirt and the hat. And Kingy didn't get it. She got stopped by the police, pulled over, arrested, and Meeks got it for thinking that chickens produce milk. How's that happened?

Correct. That is. That is such a question. Mine had nothing to do with me. If anything, that was no comment. Actually, never mind.

Wow. I forgot. Completely forgot about those stories. I Should have written them down, but we've completely gone off. My very professional planned piece of paper. That's actually just my signing sheet for the hotel.

I'm in.

We actually wanted to talk to you a bit about Kingi, about how, like, obviously leg spin is such a difficult skill. I don't even think we've had any leggies on this podcast. Have we all?

I don't think so.

If we have, we've forgotten about you, so we're really sorry.

You're the best one.

Thank you.

You're the best.

Appreciate it.

Why leg spin? Because it is notoriously hard to be good at leg spin.

I think just because there's so many variations of bowling leg spin, like, I don't think everyone's built the same and I think that's just with every bowling, I guess. But for some reason I think leg spin, I would always be a bit biased is because of like, you've got to get your wrist in like the perfect position to create that drift and to create that turn off the wicket. And you get a lot of leg spinners around the world who are quite high release, so they can't actually get that snap off the wrist to create that nice, you know, drift outside leg or on leg stump line to, to go outside off. You get quite high releases and that comes from a lot of tall spinners and they can only get a lot of top spin off the ball because they can't like change their wrist angle to get that spin. And also like being cricket being more white ball dominant now, like, I think the, the art of leg spin, like, you don't see those, you don't see the Shane Warnes in white ball cricket anymore. Like you see a lot of bowlers bowling like Rashid Khan because he's so successful in the white ball game. Right. I think some teams and some, some people are just scared of the traditional leg spin of like having a little bit of flight on it, seeing that drift. Because I think it's going to get taken for plenty of runs and no doubt there's going to be times that the ball will come out extremely well and you will get hit all around the par. But I just think sometimes, like spin bowling to me is a feel thing and you could feel so good one game and feel great at training and then in a game you can feel completely different. It's the pressure of the game, it's the batter you, you're bowling against. It's a situation. So many parts of it come come into mind, but I just think it's a big feel thing, and you can't really teach feel. You've got to find it and you've got to find the rhythm yourself, no.

Matter how much how you're smiling. Talking about leg spin here.

I know, yeah.

You're, like, so passionate about this.

Well, yeah.

So. Well, who. So who got you into it? Like, what's, what's made you pick up a ball as a kid and go, I'm gonna try and.

Well, my brother, he was the first one who introduced leg spin as every kid starts off like, you start off as a. As a medium, medium pace bowler because it's probably the easiest technique to. To follow. Right? You got the. The old windmill arms and, yeah, rock and roll type thing. Whereas he was like, why don't you just try some spin bowling? And then he. He's a bit older than me, and he watched Shane Warne and he was like, well, this is what like Shane. Shane Warne does. And I was like, oh, okay. So I kind of got led astray because I didn't realize how hard it was at 10, 11 years old. And then I just started really enjoying, like, seeing a bull spin. And I think, yeah, I imagine.

Yeah, that's like.

I think I was like, oh, my God, it's doing so much of, like, synthetic. I was like, this is so cool. And I actually thought it was just really cool. And then the moment I started watching Warny bowl at the mcg, like, Boxing Day was a ritual for our family. We'd always go. And no matter who was playing, if it was Australia, India, obviously it was. It was big. But just to see him bowl, to see him on TV was probably like, I'm like, wow, this is so much fun. And he look like he had fun. And I was like, I always wanted to be like him. It was in any sport that I played, it was Serena Williams and I wanted to play tennis. I wanted to be in Grand Slams playing tennis. So, yeah, just to see people have fun doing what they. They did. I was like, I want to be that. I want to do that.

So when you started bowling leg spin, you've gone to watch Shane Warne. What was it like when you first met him then?

Oh, I was in awe. It was like a kid in a candy store. Like, when you. You look at someone and you. They become kind of be idol. I'm just like, oh, my God, this is like, so cool. You're in his presence and probably. And you know what? He actually understood what he was doing in terms of, like, he was with a Bunch of primary school kids bowling with a leg spin bowling masterclass. And he just kept it really simple. I've said this before, but he just kind of encouraged kids to rip it as hard as you can and do it with like a smile on your face. And like. Because that's what he did. And I was like, doesn't matter how hard it is, just keep ripping it and have fun doing it. And they're like, that's what I'm like, always will take into my career and bowling leg spin. I'm just like, yeah, it's hard, but like, it's so. It's so much fun. And it's. The reward is so, so great, is when you see that beautiful one that, that drifts, grips, turns. That's what gives me pure joy.

And you have that. You bowled so many magic balls.

Oh, I wouldn't call it magic balls.

But come on, you've had some belters. Yeah, you do. Me and I were reeling them off before we came on. So you had obviously that absolute worldy. That got me out. Yeah, that was straight one I missed. No, the. The dunks. The dunks. Got a good one in the test match, I think. Outside leg clip, top of off. And then you got Bess with a brilliant one at headingly last year in the hundred similar. She went back. She. I was always. I always say to her, when it comes up on replays, I'm like, best. She just swept that way. Yeah, I know, I know. It's just sweat.

Yeah. But like they don't happen all the time. Right. Like, I think that's the beauty of it because sometimes it. They just come out so well. But sometimes that ball can get hit for six. It could drift, it could spin, but someone like Pez or Meg can just come out of the box and absolutely hit your best ball for six. Nat Silverbrunt. Hate bowling to her because she. She's one of the hardest people to bowl to.

You might be feeling clever being in her team then. Very clever. Go to Trent markets, you don't have to bowl smart. Lady King, you said that you met Shane, what sounds like when you were at school. So you would have been quite young. Did you get the opportunity to meet him again whilst your career, like once you'd start bowling leg spin professionally or start playing.

No, I didn't have a chance to and I really wish I did just to even chat to him because I learned so much more. So when he was talking in the commentary. Yeah, it was great to watch. Watch him bowl. He was at the Melbourne stars. Seeing him on tv, big bash and all that. But I learned so much more from him. Just being in the commentary box and talking about young spinners all around the globe. But his knowledge of the game was something that, you know, you can't be replaced. And I think every commentary box that doesn't have Shane Warne in it is, is a bit poor for it. And I know even in Oz and over here, big fans of Warnie and yeah, he's missed every summer, that's for sure.

I find it like, I know people grow up having idolizing somebody and wanting to be them, but like, you really, really, he's made such an impression on you.

Yeah. Just because there's not many leg spinners around the world or even when I was growing up and there's lots of off spinners that I watched growing up. But he was the only one who I was like, all right, Warny was the one like, yeah, Stuart McGill was there, but unfortunately he was in the shadow of Shane Warne. He didn't have a lot to do in the Australian team or I saw a lot of him, so he was it. And I didn't have any like, female idols to look up to in, in the leg spinning world, I guess. And then until I started becoming into the underage stuff for Victoria and then getting a rookie rookie contract for Victoria, that's when I got exposed to Kristen Beams, who's been phenomenal.

What a hero she is. This is my first time working with a Kingy and I am so blown away by how brilliant she is.

She's. She was a great mentor for me and like, still, we're still good mates and she challenged me a lot in my younger days, but I think she just wanted the best out of me. And when she presented my baggy green, it was like probably the, the best person who could present that to me because she's obviously seen me from a really young, inexperienced kid coming into the, into the ranks. We played a lot of cricket for this Victoria and the Melbourne Stars together and it was a really special moment that she presented. Obviously it was Covid, so we couldn't, like, we're all in masks and she had to be 10 meters away and. But other than that, she, she's been a great support for me. We still chat about like leg spin all the time and I'm still keen to, you know, bowl with her whenever I get the chance. And she's already said, whenever you're in Hobart, I hope we're having a bowl. And I was like, absolutely we will.

And a beer.

A bowl and a beer, Absolutely. She was instrumental in my development as a young kid because she was the only leg spinner that I could look up to and I was playing alongside her, which was even better.

I feel like leg spin, it's. There's obviously been a lot of leg spinners around, but it's the longevity of those careers that's really difficult, isn't it? Because I even remember, I don't know, Shane Warne's story massively. But he had a bad injury, didn't he, that. Then I think he had to have an operation on his hand or his wrist, was it? So then that obviously affects your skill so delicately because it's so intricate. So like, I imagine actually being a leg. A successful leg spinner for a long time is. Is really difficult.

Yeah. And I think the. The key to it is, like, I'm blessed that I've got taught a pretty, pretty good action, so I didn't have to change a lot. And every coach that I've worked with have always said, your action's really strong. There's definitely been tweaks along the way. Probably in the last 10 years, I've definitely tweaked my action because the gains developed. I need. I used to bowl, as some of my mates would say, like some filthy pies. Like, I would toss them up and be quite slow through the air. But as. As the games progressed and evolved, I've had to do the same. So I had to go a little bit quicker, but I didn't ever want to lose what I'm good at. And that's turning the ball. And I think that, that. That was being. That was the hardest thing to find the right balance of. You want to have enough speed on the ball, but you don't want to lose what you can do. And I think, yeah, probably over the last 10 years is what I've learned a lot about my game, the game itself. And coming up against different opposition all the time, you got to find that happy medium to make sure that you're not neglecting what you do best.

Talking about not very many leg spinners in the world. Australia Women King 8. There's you, there's Wareham, and there has been Amanda, Jade, Wellington. How hard has that been for you to almost compete with. Well, especially Wareham, because Amanda's, you know, no longer around.

Yeah, I think it was. It's always tough, but I think it's also healthy competition and I think Ulfi and I get along really well. I didn't Play a lot with Wello. So we always played against each other. There was the ODI World cup in New Zealand. I think that was the first time that there was a gay. It was a game against South Africa, I think, or New Zealand. It was the first time that I actually played with Willow in the same team at an international game. So I didn't have. We always played a lot against each other, underage wncl domestically. But yeah, I think more so with Wolfie. We. We played at Victoria together and that was like, competition in itself. But she was always ahead of me because she was in the Australian team and that just made me, like, be more hungry to get better to compete with them, to compete with the Aussie bowlers. Because, you know, I strive to be in that Australian team and yeah, I think. I think it got the best out of us when we trained together, played again. I think it still does when we are in the same team for Aussies, like, we learn off each other, I think. Still think we're slightly different bowlers and as players as such.

Yeah.

But I think as a spin unit, like, not just us, Wolfie and I, but it's like Soph Molyneux, Ash Gardiner, it's Grace Harris. I think we're all trying to make sure that we keep pushing each other and we want to keep getting better and that's just, you know, finding little nuggets and telling each other what we're working on as well and being really kind of open.

I'm working on being better than you.

No, but I, I genuinely think, like, there's space for, you know, all of us to play in the same team. Obviously, that's me being so biased and I want to see more spin. But again, we all know how. How big matchups are when you come against oppositions and, and stuff like that, so someone is going to miss out. Unfortunately, that's just the nature of what we do. But we know that whoever's in the.

Team, that's the nature of your team as well, though, because your team is so strong. Like, you just don't have a missing link, really, in the Australia team, do you? So there's always going to be some brilliant players sat on the bench.

Yeah. And that's. Yeah, it's. It's hard. It's sometimes a hard pill to swallow because you always want to be out there, but you know that it's a bloody hard 11 to crack into, whether you're. You're in it or you're not. It's. Yeah, we're trying to put our best foot forward.

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There's loads of questions that we've had on Instagram Kingy, which sometimes throw out some curveballs like what kind of animal we're going to throw out a cannon at you to try and catch. But there's still some like really crickety ones because I think there's some some little leg spinners that have got in touch with us. So while we're talking quite crickety, we've had one that says how do I increase speed as a leg spin Bowler.

Oh, that's a. That's a great one. I think speed.

Is that too hard to do on a podcast?

Well, I can try and make dumb it down as much as I can without showing you physically, but I think speed on the ball comes through, like momentum at the crease. I think as spinners, we don't obviously come off 15, 20 meters like the fast bowl, so they've got a lot of momentum behind them. We've actually got to create that at the crease, so it's. It's really hard. I would just say you don't want to be running at the crease, but you want to slowly build up to the crease and making sure when you hit the crease, you're explosive. And that's as hard as it is to say it and describe it on a podcast. It's. You want to get off your back leg as quick as you can, and you want to get off your front leg as quick as you can. So as soon as you land, you want to get off it, but then you want to put your top half into it. If.

When I imagine your bowl in action now, that's exactly what I see. It's like you slow, slow, slow, and then you like, bang, hit the crease. And then I. The picture is almost like your back leg in the air as it's driving through.

Yeah.

So like, I can almost picture.

So that's.

This person needs to go and watch you bowl.

Well, just like, yeah, get off your back leg as quick as you can, but you also got to drive off your front foot and get your back leg through.

Very technical.

How many hat tricks have you had in your career?

One. The famous one.

Do you know anything about that one?

Do you know what that was?

That was.

Yeah, I was the hat trick ball in the second year. The 100.

Yeah. It was my first game at the Rockets. Crossy.

Yeah, you're welcome.

Hey. Hey.

I think I also.

Yeah, go on.

I faced another of your hat trick balls. Do you remember? Do you remember where we were?

Hat trick balls? No, I actually don't. Pune in the WPL challenge.

WPL was. Yeah, before it was the wpl, we went and played. It was like two games each. I played in purple.

Yeah.

And I went. And it was after the hundred one had happened, and I was like, there's no. It was no again on a hat trick.

It was before.

It wasn't. It was after. It was definitely after. Because I remember going, I'm going to defend it because I'm not giving you another hat trick. Okay, 100, guy. Still bloody troll me with that. I subscribe to sky, pay them bloody thousands every month to watch sports. And then it's me getting out to you on the slow mo. Cheers, Guy.

Hey, but you did. You did have the. I would say, like, we're even, because that test match in Canberra, it was the last over.

Yeah, that was great.

So. And I. And I told you, an absolute full bunger that could not have bowled it any worse on. On the day. But it was a drawn Test match, last ball of the day, and I give him, like, here, crossy. Just block this. Straight dead, bat it.

I have never, ever in my career tried to get a full toss to go down before. I was like, gosh, I've got to get on top of this. I had 11 people. Right. Well, 10 people around the bar. You bowling four wonders. It was the last ball. I was expecting to.

So I'd say we're even. Don't you reckon?

Yeah.

Okay.

Yeah. I don't think I've ever got you out, actually.

So I think I got out to you in my first odi. It was either you or. Or you or Catherine Brunt. One of them.

Lucy Webster, asks who's the funniest member of the Trent Rockets team.

Well, Alexis Stonehouse definitely is up there. We love Stoney.

I've heard a lot about Lex. I've not really spent any time with it, but I've heard a lot about it.

But also, like, we call them the Rat Pack, the. The youngsters of our team because I think they lead each other astray at times. But Grace Thompson definitely is. Is up there. And this is the first time I've obviously played with. With Tomo, played against her when she played at Durham, but I think between Lex, Tomo, Nat Wraith and Jodie Grukok actually is in the Rat Pack, because Joe's.

I was gonna say about. She's in there. She's come out of a shell.

Yeah, she has. So the Rat Pack, I think, you know, egg each other on, and they're actually hilarious together, so I would say them.

We've had a lot of questions about the episode with Pez and the fact that she reckons she could catch a.

Wombat if you catch a wombat at her.

So I'm gonna reel a couple off here. Do you think you could catch more or less wombats than Pez?

Okay. Are they getting shot out of a cannon? Is that what we're saying?

Yeah, yeah.

Oh, you can decide the trajectory it comes out at, though.

I wouldn't want it flat because I reckon the wombat will.

No, you wouldn't.

Got some power behind it. Yeah, I would. I would say Pez would catch more wombats than me, unfortunately.

Do you think you'd be able to catch Pez out a cannon.

Koala? She'd have to come out and, like, latch onto you.

Yeah. Oh, yeah, I reckon she could. If she could koala me, I'd catch her. Yeah.

You're happy with that? And what animal. What's the biggest animal you think you could catch out of a cannon?

Oh, I thought I was not going to get this question after the last episode, but I would say, oh, no, I wouldn't catch anything with wings because that would scare the shit out of me. Like, them flapping around would not be great. That's a hard one. Maybe a koala, because I want to go for the hug. They're going for the hug. I'll go with koala because I. I don't know if, you know, with my celebrations, I. I do love to koala some people when I get a bit excited about a wicket. So, yeah, we've got.

Great thing with koala bears. You're going to have to catch one without chlamydia. Cuz don't they quite famously carry chlamydia?

You don't just get chlamydia by touching a koala. Izzy's asked who would win in a boat race not sailing between England and Australia? Women's teams not sailing. So, like.

Well, it depends. Is it the old head coach in charge of the new one?

I was okay.

No, we're not in a boat. We're in the bar.

A boat race between England and Australia.

Oh, that'd be a good one.

It would be close. I think we'd give it a nudge. But I feel as though the English just might pep us because I think they like a pint a bit more than us. I would say so. I'm gonna get so much stick for this, for saying that. But we don't have.

Let us win at something.

Okay, you can have the boat race.

And would you rather. This is from Ellie. Would you rather be Hartley or Crossy for the day?

Oh, they're two different personalities. Right.

And it also depends what. Yeah, I know. Oh, I got out of bed at 2:00pm.

Yeah.

Can I split my day.

A half and a half hybrid?

I would go Crossy in the morning because. Because, Al, you're not awake after a big night. You're not awake before midday, so then I'll have you in the afternoon, because I think you'll be rejuvenated by the evening and then you're good to go again.

Yeah, of course, I would have the night out. Yeah, that's fair.

I'd take you to some good places.

Oh, we've already bait. Yeah, true.

God. We have had loads about the wombats, haven't we?

We've had so many about the wombats. There's quite a good one here. What's the largest bit of fruit you think you could turn on a cricket pitch?

Oh, good question.

God. Well, that's. That's not going to be big because I've got the tiniest hands. I would say little hands. Little hands. I would say an orange, because I won't be able to.

A large orange.

Yeah. I won't be able to grip something bigger than an orange.

Yeah.

Before it, like, slips out. Like, I'm not grabbing a melon and trying to spin that.

A small honeydew melon, though. Oh, small one. You've only got to be able to turn it.

We can test the theory out. Oh, my God.

Let's do fruit bowling with a monkey.

This feels more doable than the one.

I think so. Yeah. I think this is more. Yeah, Correct.

What's the smallest. You think you could spin?

Crikey.

Like a raspberry.

No, it's squish.

Yeah, it would squish. I would say something like a grape. A grape. Or if I want some grip on it, it would be a strawberry.

Oh, yeah.

But they're there. It's like throwing a piece of toble around there. And that's going to turn.

Well, you didn't want to play football. You didn't say it had to be a round object. You just said, what fruit?

No, I didn't. I'm sad we've not had time to chat about tennis. So I'm just gonna say okay, because for anyone that doesn't know Alana King, we played tennis a couple of weeks ago, me, you, Tara Norris and Phoebe G. And I'm quite bad at tennis as well as football, so it seems.

Don't sell yourself with Kingy.

I got better, but I'm going to tell you why. So I played with Kingiel, so she was my partner, and Phoebe D and Tara played together. And then literally before the first ball went down, Kingy went. Came up to me. She's like, how long is it until I let them know that I used to coach tennis? So I was like, no, don't tell them, don't tell them. So then Kingy like, made me better at tennis throughout it. And I think we won, actually.

Yeah, we did.

Double.

Yeah.

Yeah. But Kingy is elite. You know, when people can just.

That's not a Lee.

Stand and hit the ball and it look. No, you. You are. You'd say you'd selling yourself compared to the average person. Yeah. Well, Made it look effortless. Annoying.

I did play tennis, like, since I was 5. It was my first sport. And then.

You're a ball girl.

I was a ball girl, which was probably, like, one of my childhood highlights, being in a final.

How old were you when you were a ball girl?

15 and 16. Oh, crossing.

Do you have to do the whole.

Oh, no, here we go. Here we go. Oh, Yep. Look at that.

Looks like you're wearing the Trent Rockets kit early.

I'm just born to be in yellow.

You are.

Oh, you're doing that.

Oh, that's so cute.

Did you know, Funny thing is, people think. People think, like, that's a. But to, like, get better gains as a bulky, you get graded throughout the day. So when you're on shift, you have a supervisor come around to courts and they grade you on, like, your technique. You're servicing, you're rolling off the balls. Like, it's. It's genuinely like a. You have to go for trials and everything. So if you. If your arm is, like, slightly bent or, like, to the side or the other side. Crossy. Great technique. Yep. And you've got to stand nice and tall.

They go that way a lot.

Yeah, but that's where you have to.

You hyper extend. That's.

You have to be, like, straight up. Like, straight to your.

Yeah, don't change your shoulder.

The only way I could do it is on the dance floor.

But bulky duties are a serious thing. And, like, to get actually to the final, you have to get graded throughout the two weeks. And then it's pretty brutal after the first week. People. Ball kids get cut.

Like, are people upset?

Oh, yeah. People get proper upset.

When. When did you. When did you decide that being a ball kid wasn't for you?

Because I. Did you get. No, I didn't get cut. I just. I've always seen them on tv, and I heard that you used to get. They used to get paid. They used to get paid.500 for the two weeks.

What?

Yeah, as a bull kid, and you could keep all the merch and everything. And I was like, oh, my God. Like, what better place to watch a grand slam than being on the court servicing players that you absolutely love? So, like, just. Well, my brother Tried he he or not audition. He trialled out. Unfortunately, he got cut, so he wasn't good enough.

Smiley, you are.

And then I was like, oh, I'll give it a go when I'm like 15. And then I went through and did two years of it. And then we didn't get paid. When I started doing it, we didn't get paid, but we got a massive gift. Gift bag at the end of it. And one of the, one of the years we got an Ipod Nano. Like, it was unreal.

Yep, you're showing your age there. Ipod Nano.

It was. Yeah, it was actually one of the best prizes like, we ever got.

And then was it like, okay, I can't be a ball girl anymore. I've got to play cricket.

Well, yeah, just got to a crossroads, unfortunately, with my tennis and cricket just being like, I had to pick one because I was going away for underage tournaments with cricket, but I wasn't really progressing with my tennis and I, I loved tennis. I wanted to, as I said before, playing Grand Slams and, and work my way up. But my tennis coach wasn't happy that I was picking cricket because I was away and we didn't fall out or anything. He just was the disappointed.

That's worse.

I'm not angry. Yeah, I'm not angry.

I was disappointed yet. But then he understood as soon as I was climbing up the ranks on how professional cricket was. And then I decided to, you know, put all my eggs in the cricket basket. But I still played senior, senior tennis, so senior pennant. I played with, with him. He was my coach from when I was five years old. And he's still my coach. I still call him my tennis coach. And I played with like it was a family affair. His wife, his daughter, and three other girls who I played junior tennis with. We all played in a senior, senior team and we won our grade three pennant, which was a pretty, pretty big thing for us because we were just like, we wouldn't take it seriously. But we were there on a Saturday, Saturday afternoon, playing against these top clubs in Melbourne, some rich clubs as well.

And how have you had any time for cricket?

Yeah, it was it because I played cricket on a Friday night in the juniors and Saturday morning was tennis.

There you go.

Until. Until I started moving into the senior, into senior cricket. And then I was like, okay, Saturday, Saturday, okay, something's got to go. And unfortunately it was tennis. But I do love having a hit on, on tour with it, with anyone, really, just to get me outside. I played as much as I can, but obviously not as much as I'd love to.

Oh, King. Well, you're making your way with cricket very well.

I think I've made the right decision. Yeah. Yeah, yeah.

Well, you can earn more money at tennis, but then there's not as many obvious there, so.

And you don't have as many.

No, you don't, because you're not on it. Well, you are on a team in tennis, but it's only your team. Like, it's not the same. And I think I'm a. I'm a big person to be in a team. I love being around other people and being in a solo sport. I don't think it's for me.

I don't think it's for you either. Who are you gonna talk to?

The wall? Yeah. Genuine. I'd drive myself crazy. I reckon so. Yeah. Team sports for me. Yes. Good.

Means you're gonna play cricket and dominate.

For a lot longer.

Unlucky England.

Kingy, we've stole way too much of your time. I swear. We tell them. I guess it's 30 minutes and then look at us. Thank you so much for being an absolute trooper. You've answered all our questions and you've been a gem. Thank you so much.

Thanks for having me. Ladies.

Crossi. I genuinely, genuinely feel like we could have spoken to her for another hour.

I think we. I mean, we definitely lost track of time there. We didn't really get enough of the tennis that I would have liked. I feel like there was a lot more to unearth there. She really started smiling when we talked about tennis. We barely spoke about the fact that she's played loads of cricket for Australia and there's World cup coming up. Yeah.

World cup winner. We didn't even get into the World cup, but I just think that's the first time I've had a guess that has, like, come across like they've genuinely loved their craft.

Yeah.

Yeah. And I. I often see that she does a lot of, like, the, you know, as guy do before games. They'll do, like, masterclass with whoever. They always pick Kingy. And you can tell why now because she's so. She articulates herself so well to describe legs. Been on a podcast. Might be the hardest skill, actually. Not bowling it, like, describing it. Swell. Hard. Yeah. But thank you, Alana. I.

Do.

You know what? She's one of those players that I played against during the Big Bash years, back when I first went over and played for the heat. And she's. She's the kind of player that, you know, is great to have on your team. But she's. Oh, she's annoying to play against because she's so good. But then obviously got the opportunity to play with her at Lancs this summer and she.

What.

What I love the most about it was nothing that she brought on the pitch. I mean, that was excellent in itself, but how much time she had for everyone off it? Like, she made friends within two days of being there.

And apart from with Paz.

Well, yeah, because Paz pied her. But just like we've got a young spinner in our academy called Venus and she's going to be a good player. And it was just crying out for a moment where Kingy got to spend time with Venus, but she went above and beyond that and had a full net session with her where she really talked through stuff with it, like, do you know, just being a really good senior pro around a young group of girls. And she was just so impressive in that regard.

I just love her. She's another great Australian. Crossie.

A belter and she is the game's better for having her in it because she actually her celebrations again. When you're playing for England and she gets you out, really annoying. But then she's on your team and I'm like, go, girl. You go, you goala someone.

This podcast has gone on for far too long, Crossie.

You can email us on noballspodcastbc.co.uk.

Noballspodcastbc.Co.Uk. it's so good. They've said it twice.

They've said it twice.

Text. 8, double 1, double 1. 8 double 1, double 1 and oh, double 301-231-826. And my advice with that WhatsApp number is to save it as TMS. That's what I've done in my phone.

Let's save it as no balls.

But you gotta start your message with no balls. But look, yeah, I've saved it here and I text it the other day.

So you've got to start your message with no balls, all one word because otherwise you get lost in than either and we'll never read your messages.

Yeah, right, bye.

Bye, everyone. Hope you're all well. He scored goals, lifted trophies and broken records along the way. There it is. It's a day to remember for Wayne Rooney. And now he's got a podcast.

Welcome to the Wayne Rooney Show.

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Biggest stories in the Premier League and beyond.

As much as you'd like to say.

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