No Balls: The amazing Alyssa Healy

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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 Cross in for the hat trick ball. Oh, so wide.

Hello, and welcome back to no Balls of Cricket podcast with me, Kate Cross. You, Alex Hartley. And you've just said you've got seven minutes in you before you're gonna cry.

So let's go, let's go. Right, England are through to semi finals. I've had a great week. See ya.

No, bye, everyone. We've got an interview for you. Have a listen here.

No, no, no. I'm actually all right. Do you know when? I've just had a really long day.

So to give everyone a little bit of context and for anyone that doesn't know Alex, and everyone should know Alex, because you listen to this podcast, you had to set an alarm today. And that is why it's been a long day for you.

Oh, my God. And anyone listening to this is going to think I'm not well. Actually, you know, I'm not well. But the games have been starting at 3 o', clock. So I've been like waking up at half 11. I'm going to bed at 2am I've been getting 12 hours sleep. Whatever I've been getting, it's been fantastic. Went to bed at 11 o' clock last night knowing I've got a day game today, England versus New Zealand. Obviously because my sleep schedule's backwards. I was wired like wide awake. My alarm went off at 9 o' clock this morning. It's not even early.

It's just a normal time. It is a weekend though. It's Sunday. You shouldn't be setting an alarm on a Sunday.

And the clocks didn't change here so I didn't get an extra hour in bed.

This is my favorite Sunday of the year. You know, this is my, this is the one where you get the extra hour in bed and you wake up and you're like, I've had 10 hours sleep or I've had nine hours sleep or have I had eight hours sleep.

Jack is just texting for context. I was also working the game today and I was up at 4.45am alright.

Mate, we get it, we get it. You've got a real job. We get it.

Yeah, yeah.

But no, I did the game today. England, New Zealand. Obviously it was a strange game not only for the cricket but also knowing it was Divine's last game.

I caught the tail end of the radio when I was, I was just driving back to my sisters this morning. So I caught the tail end of like the emotional. She got a guard of honor, didn't she? And then everyone was giving her a hug and then I heard Amy Jones's interview and it just, it's obviously a shame that it wasn't a better game for her to go out on but what a career.

Unbelievable. Like I, I don't really know so far that well, but I'm gonna sound like a wet laze here. I cried at the national anthem today. New Zealand national anthem. Because she was crying.

Well, if anyone's not listened to the episode we did a couple of weeks ago, please go back and listen to it because she spoke so candidly about this retirement and she's not actually retired from T20 cricket for new Zealand. So she, you know, could still feature next year in the World cup, but another World Cup. But yeah, this is the final bit of one day cricket and obviously she's captain them and she got a wicket. I think she got Heather night out quite late and she said how nice it was that she managed to manufacture that. It was her and Susie bowling at the, at the final stage of the game. So it was obviously we've not, we don't know anything about Susie but it kind of Feels like it's going to be her last 50 over World cup as well. But yeah, go back and listen to the episode because she spoke so well and it would make sense as to why you were then crying at the national anthem today.

Yeah. And you know more than I do. But like, what she's done for New Zealand cricket over the 19 years, playing international odis, it's just. She's been through it all, hasn't she?

It's remarkable and it's, it's hard to imagine because we're in a phase of women's cricket where there is a lot more promotion, there is a lot more bums on seats, there is a lot more money, there's a lot more resource, but she was probably there when you had to pay for your own kit. She would have been in that era. 19 years is such a long time in the space of our journey in women's cricket. So she will have seen it all, she's ridden all the waves. I'm still so gutted for her that she's never played a test match for New Zealand.

Never say never though.

Maybe she's not retired from test cricket technically. So.

No, she could come just retired from ODI cricket. Imagine she like retires from T20 cricket but never retires from test cricket. So there's always just ready turns out.

At 50 years old because they've finally put a test match on for the Kiwis.

I know, I know.

How are you?

Yeah, I'm all right. I'm all right. Obviously good days, bad days, but keeping busy, doing all right. Yeah. But what we need to do because we've not got much time is I want you to give everyone a very, very quick rundown of the semi final situation because you know it, you're there, you know what's going on.

Here we go. So it's being confirmed. England are playing South Africa in Guwahati on Wednesday, reserve day on Thursday and India are playing Australia on Thursday, reserve day Friday. India are also currently playing Bangladesh in Navi Mumbai where the semi final and the final is. And it's raining.

Oh, okay. Rain sponsors this tournament and it's due to rain.

Yeah, it's due to rain all week.

Well, good job there's reserve days then because that would have been really annoying, wouldn't it?

Well, it just put a bit of context on today's game. England, New Zealand, obviously England won, but it was. Everyone's like, it's a bit of a nothing game, it means nothing. But actually had England have lost today, they'd have finished third in the table and if it does rain next week, they'd have been out and South Africa will go through to the final. So now we finished second. If it rains, we're okay.

Okay. We're in that safe spot, so that's good. Is it fair to say that the semi finals are what we would have expected?

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I, I, in a way, I feel bad for New Zealand because they might have qualified ahead of India, but India are the better team. It just, I'm surprised on the table, I thought it would be Australia, India, England, South Africa. Not England, not Australia. England, South Africa, India.

Yeah. It's almost like India haven't taken their home advantage, isn't it?

Yeah, they've lost too many games. They've played weird cricket, but they're at Navi Mumbai. It's an absolute road. And yeah, I actually think they could, they could challenge Australia in Navi Mumbai.

I hope so. I hope the semi finals are good because obviously we saw with South Africa yesterday against Australia. What? Gosh, when they lose, they lose so badly, don't they? It's crazy.

I've never seen a team qualify for a World cup semi final with a negative 0.3, 0.3 run rate.

They've been bowled out for less than 100 twice in a one day World Cup. That's mad.

I know, I know. And I've said this on, on air today. There is absolute, I don't know why, and I might be wrong and I don't want to jinx it, but there is absolutely no doubt in my mind that we will be in the final now. England, South Africa.

But the better team.

We're the better team. We are just the better team and we're way better than them. But it doesn't mean to say that Tasmanian, Brits and Maritime Cap can't have a good day.

Yeah. And they've got, on paper, they have got a team that you want to be cautious of, haven't they? But it does just feel like when they get into that, that spiral of losing wickets, they just can't stop it. And that's been kind of a bit of a theme for them. But obviously when they get going, they can be a team that could score 350 if their top five do fire.

I know. So it'll be a good semi final either way because even if South Africa aren't good and they get rolled for 100, we'll feel great and comfortable. Or it could be a thriller.

Little shout out to former podcast guest Alana King. Just throwing out a casual 77 for against South Africa the other day. I feel like when people come on this podcast, they then go on and do really well.

Yeah, should we take it speaking of, then. Yeah, let's take it. And then let's show everybody our guest for this week then, shall we? Because then no doubt she's going to do really well.

There you go.

Crossy. Finally it was on, it was off, it was off, it was back on. The only thing that's more consistent than this podcast, Crossy, is Alyssa Healey winning ICC trophies. And we've got her on the podcast.

Hello, Mitch.

G'. Day. I thought you were going to talk about my batting, my career batting stats then being as inconsistent as my appearances on podcasts. But I appreciate you having me on.

No, thank you for joining us. And we did tell our listeners you were coming on on Monday, but obviously got in the way.

Yeah, did get in the way. A little bit old and stuff went down and as per life nowadays, trying to keep things silent is a little bit tricky. But everybody knows now what's going on, so ask away if you like.

Oh, well, how are you? Are you okay?

I'm good, I'm good. Just had a little. Yeah, a little calf niggle training. Probably pretending like I was 21 again and running a little bit further than what I should have. So I learned my lesson, but everything's tracking okay. So fingers crossed I'm still in line for some play in this tournament.

Is that not the perfect excuse not to have to run anymore?

To be honest with you, I've been telling them this for five years and they just won't let me not run. So, yeah, I'm not sure that that is the exact excuse anymore, but we'll wait and see what unfolds after this.

Did you get pulled from the podcast Monday because they didn't trust that you wouldn't tell everyone you had a little niggle?

No. Well, I mean, I think we can safely say, like, what exactly happened on Monday was. Yeah, we weren't sure how we were going to play it. I think fair, fair play to our comms team. Weren't sure how to play it. And then obviously, funnily enough, you saw me in the gym sitting SA on a bike while the rest of the team was at training. So it wasn't exactly a giant secret that something was going on, but we just delayed the podcast a few days.

I also saw you with a bucket of ice.

Do you know what I think people were like, oh, she'll just assume that you're going for beers. And I was like, nobody puts ice in their beers, guys. Come on. But I think it's a secret anymore.

And also, I don't.

I'm not.

I'm not going to tell anybody, but. Yeah, anyway, I did see you in the gym and then I didn't know you'd message the pod to say you couldn't do it. And then. So I felt really rude. I was like, oh, no. I only just. I just put my headphones in. I was like, see ya.

It's fine, guys. We're all okay.

We're all good. I need you to clarify something for me because your mum once told me off for how I pronounce your name. Yeah. So I've always called you Alyssa, and she told me off for that. It's not Alyssa, is it?

It's Elisa. I think you've got to. You got to really get the Aussie twang and get the Elisa in there. But if you're really worried about. Midge is completely fine.

That's why I've been calling you Midge for three years, because I've been scared. Scared for your mum telling me off again.

She's probably the only one that'll get you in strife for that, but, yeah, steer clear of Sandy. She'll get you.

Well, Crossy actually was dreaming about you the other night and she was telling our podcast listeners the other day she was dreaming about you and she forgot your name and called you Smudge in her dream. So we all know how weird Crossy's dreams are, as you discovered before this podcast started.

Yeah, yeah, I'm a little concerned about that dream right about now, but anyway, we'll move on.

Yeah, moving on. Anyway, so you're at a World cup and it's going well, as it often always does for Australia, obviously. No shock that you qualify for the semi as quickly as you possibly could, but how's things in camp? Are you having some fun out in India and Sri Lanka?

Yeah, it's actually gone really quickly, which I don't think too many ODI World Cups you feel like go very, very fast. It's sort of a lot of waiting and watching, a lot of games of cricket and waiting for your turn. But we've obviously been India about six weeks now after the series we played beforehand, so. And I haven't heard too many people complaining about, you know, missing home or. Or what's going on. So we've been pretty lucky. The vibes are pretty high in the group, which is a really good place to be and obviously we're playing some good cricket, which obviously does help that as well. But it's been good fun. We've. We've been out and about. We haven't been to some of these parts of India before, so kind of getting to know them and finding a decent cafe is everyone's. You know, they enjoy doing that, so it's kind of kept everyone busy.

You don't strike me as the best watcher when you're not playing.

How could you tell?

Yeah, you spent a lot of time on the TV the other day with a massive smile on your face, then a grump, then a smile again. How do you find it when you've got a niggle and you have to sit out?

Oh, it's. It's genuinely horrific. And it's. Yeah, it's one of my least favorite things to do because I actually love watching cricket. I'll sit there and watch most days of whatever's on the tv. It's sort of something I enjoy doing, but actually watching my team go about it, when I'm not involved, I get a mad bit of FOMO. So I find it really hard. And the T20 World cup last year was probably one of the hardest games of cricket I've ever had to watch. Just knowing that you can't do anything, you can't help, you can't go out there and try and do something differently. You've just got to watch it unfold and hope that. And trust that the team can get it done. So that was tough, but this one was a little bit easier. I could actually move around a little bit. I could go and sit on the boundary and talk to some of the bowlers and still feel like I'm engaged as a captain, and I still feel like I'm playing a role in this tournament. So I'll have to be back on the field at some point. So staying engaged in that regard has made it a lot easier. But, yeah, Mitch Cam was out the other night, so I've got to be careful about some of my responses to dismissals or opportunities, whatever, have passed by, because they don't miss much over here.

They really don't. Like, honestly, the camera in the dugout, they had, I think, Volley giving Perry the bird the other day, and I was like, that can't be on the telly.

Yeah, yeah, they don't miss a lot. I think at one point they got me responding to something happened on the field, but we were actually talking about someone's bowel movements behind, so that was. They assumed that I was watching the cricket, but we were talking about something else, so you got to really be careful over here.

Has it been more frustrating missing out on that game because of the form that you're in, do you reckon? Obviously, back to back hundreds in a World cup is pretty special.

Yeah. I mean, I could have walked out there and got a dark A, so maybe it saved me. But, yeah, look, I think so. I think I feel like I've been hitting the ball really well for a couple of years and just haven't really been able to stay on the park long enough to sort of find some consistency. But, yeah, I feel in a good place. I mean, I had to actually train today and I had a bit of a hit, and I still feel like I'm going okay in that regard. So I'm sure if. If the opportunity arises again, I'll be fine.

What I want to know.

Go. I think we're gonna ask the same question.

Go on, then.

I want full honesty. Was that a little bit of you that was worried the other day when you were 40 odd for 5 or whatever it was?

We're 4 for 60, 4 for 80.

I've not been watching it that closely. Sorry.

Yeah. Why is that?

Just, I've playing a bit of golf at the minute. I found a new sport. I'm just having a bit of fun in. In the cold in England.

She's been made redundant is what we're calling it.

Yeah.

All right, fair. You never know. They could come. I could come crawling back. No, I think, look, I mean, honestly, that's been the nature of this whole tournament. You know, teams have struggled at the top and, you know, you got to back the depth that you've got. And I've been saying that for ages. Even throughout the Ashes, sort of last summer, like, I backed the depth that we've got to get the done, regardless of the situation. And they continue to just pop up and stick their hand up and want to get the job done, which is really cool. So, whilst I think there was frustration, I don't think we were worried at.

Any point, you've brought the Ashes up, so I'm going to ask about the Ashes. Have you been involved in a better series?

Oh, look, I think that will. That's. That was really cool. It was a really amazing experience, I guess, to do that at home as well, in front of the home fans. Yeah, it was really special. I think everything sort of came together and we played some really good cricket. And I think probably what frustrated me the most out of that was a Lot of the. The narrative after that series was how poor England were and not. Not a lot about how good we were. And I think that's kind of what we've reflected on it at times and gone. Actually, we were really good in parts and we took the game away from them. Yes, maybe we got some lucky along the way and got some opportunities gifted to us, but I thought we were outstanding. And I think as soon as you guys thought you were getting a little look in, we shut the door really quickly. So I think from that perspective, it was a really pleasing summer.

Sorry, is that something quite hard to manage as captain and with the leadership group that you are just expected to win every game that you play?

Yeah, it's tricky, right? I think we also put that expectation on ourselves a little bit, like, we want to go out there to win. You're not going out to step on the field to lose or play really poorly. So we have that expectation of ourselves. But it's also probably reassuring within ourselves as a group that it's okay to lose. And if it's. If we're losing the right way, then that's okay. Like, if we're playing our style of cricket and we get beaten on the day, then that's completely fine. You know, India in the ODI series, leading in. India got the better of us in that second game. We didn't play the way we wanted to, and we probably took that to heart a little bit and then came out and made 400. So there's just sort of certain ways that I think we like to lose, as bad as that sounds. And you know what? The T20 World cup last year in the semi was an example of how we don't want to lose. We don't want to lose by being tentative, being shy, not taking the game on. We'd rather go out there and be really aggressive and lose that way.

I think we spoke to Kingi about this when she came on, but who kind of led the conversations around that after that T20 World Cup? Were you a big part of that? Because obviously the Ashes followed that and it didn't. You look like a different team completely from that semi final. So were you a big part of that?

To be honest, it was everybody. This group's, like, continued to evolve over the years. The young players are coming through feeling really comfortable in their place in this unit and wanting to speak up about how they feel about certain situations. So it was actually a really cool group effort. Everyone spoke in the meeting, some people said what they felt at the time and Felt under pressure and felt like they didn't have other options, were actually really honest and people were great at getting around one another and saying, well, this is what we could do next time. This is how we want to go about it. This is what we did poorly. This is actually what we did really well. And that didn't come off right. So that was really cool. It wasn't anyone driving it in particular, obviously. We got the group together to discuss it, but it was really the group's conversation and I think everyone got a heap out of that, which was really cool.

It feels like you've always been a real honest team when it comes to. Even when you win tournaments. It's like, how can we get even better?

Yeah, but that's also like the narrative outside our group is like, oh, Australia won a World Cup. Like, how are you going to improve? And you're like, oh, Christ, the people. Like, you know, we're doing everything we possibly can. Like, oh, the gap keeps closing. That one frustrates me no end. I'm like, the gap's like, not really been there that much. It's just that we've been. We've been in good positions to win tournaments and trophies. We've taken them with both hands. Right. So, yeah, I. I'd say that that's probably how we are as people as well. You know, we never get too far ahead of ourselves. In Australia, someone will cut you down pretty quickly and tell you pretty at something when you think you're going well. So, yeah, I'd pride ourselves on that. But it's. It's honesty with care, I think. I think if you're having that conversation the right way, then people are going to take it on board a lot better.

We. We won't keep talking about serious stuff for too long because this is no balls. But I remember going. Just going back to the Ashes. I remember me and you having a. We. We met in the. The tunnel down at the MCG when the test was going on and. Ow. Why have you made that weird?

Because you had a fight.

We didn't have a fight. We actually had a. We had probably one of our most serious chats that we've ever had in cricket. But I remember talking to you. Obviously you had a broken foot at the time and you just made yourself available and pass yourself off as fit to play in a test match. And I remember thinking at the time, I wonder how many male players have ever had to do that in their careers. Because there is an MCG Boxing Day Test match, every single year for your Australian guys, but for you, it was probably one opportunity of playing at the MCG in a test. And I don't really know what my question is, to be honest, but it's probably more around the opportunities that we get as female athletes feel fewer and further between. So did you feel more pressure to make yourself available for that test because you are at a certain age? I'm not going to say that you. You're an experienced player. Yeah. Did you feel that pressure or are you just. I'm gonna do anything I can to play for this team.

A little bit of both. I mean, I'd be lying if I said there wasn't some sort of selfish endeavor to play in that test match, because what an occasion it was. And I guess a part of me as well, being captain of that in that moment was something that, you know, a young Elisa Healey, starting out in her career, never, ever thought that she would ever get an opportunity like that. So there's a little bit of that. But I also trusted my body and I thought I could get through it and I wanted to be a part of it. And the opportunity to go 16 nil was there. It was dangling right in front of us and I wanted to be a part of that and I wanted to lead that. So, yeah, it's funny that you mentioned that because, yeah, I think we probably do that a lot more. We want to play in those big moments because we don't get them as often. Often as everybody else. But, yeah, I was going to do anything to play that game. And I literally wasn't even in the 11 when I did that presser. So I declared myself fit and we had to have a conversation after that. But I'd already told everyone. Heather actually, at the photo, asked me if I was playing and I said, donna yet? And she just looked at me. She was bemused. And I was like, here I am holding the trophy with her, like with the pink ball or whatever to promote the game tomorrow. And I wasn't even sure if I was playing it. So it was a wild week, that's for sure.

Ask for forgiveness, not perm.

It's true. Got through in the end, didn't I? I think someone had a conniption when I chased the ball down to third man, probably after I dropped it, but I had to chase one down there. And everyone had a conniption, but I was fine, got through it.

How much pain were you in or did you just take loads of meds?

I was genuinely. I was okay. It was. It Was a really weird. I had a lot of plantar fascia problems, as you've probably read everywhere, and apparently this bone in my foot is a bit of a. Can happen after you tear your plantar fascia, you can get a little stress in there and it wasn't, it's not a really important bone in some certain movements. It was only going to be like keeping that really aggravated it. So I was actually pretty good, to be honest. A few beers helped as well. It was bone injury, so I was happy.

One way of getting out of wicket keeping for five days straight, four days.

Straight, standing at sleep is 10 times worse. So whatever, that was good, good fun.

One more serious one before emails from our listeners. They're all really excited, but how hard is it to pick your starting elevens because you've got so many, so many cricketers?

Yeah, it's tough. Picking our squads of 15 I reckon is just as hard. Come, you know, the end of the financial year, we gotta pick a contract list. That one's tricky for them. Thankfully. I don't have to do anything about that. But yeah, 11's tough. It's a tough discussion, you know, when people are fit, when they're not fit, who's coming in to replace them, what job they're going to do. So we're really lucky. We can literally go on matchups conditions and pick the best 11 we possibly can that we think is going to get the job done. But honestly, any one of the 15 that we've got here, I know that can do the job. So it's, it's not easy and obviously where the captain gets kind of the final say, but I'm, I'm always like, whatever, whatever you guys think, whatever you're going to put in front of me, we can get the job done. So we're pretty lucky.

I feel like Australia is the only team in the world that could play under 11's old school cricket, where you all just rotate round and everyone has a bowl and everyone has a wicket keep and then if you're at fight, you just move around.

That could actually work. I mean, we got. Literally, can you do that in the next game? Well, actually, I was pretty, I was, I was actually pretty close to having a bowl against Bangladesh. So you never know what's going to unfold in these last couple of games.

Everyone keep your eyes out for that. I like that.

What will happen one day? I don't have a lot of. I don't have a lot of cricket left in me for Australia, but I haven't bowled in international cricket yet and as captain I have fun say in that so you never know what's going to unfold in the next little bit. Yeah, I can bowl whatever you need, but I actually bowled a handy medium pace growing up. Not beautiful seam presentation not quite as good as yours Crossy, but I don't have the one that comes back in. But now I've resorted to dirty sidearm off spin around the wicket to the tail enders so it's good fun.

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I imagine you were quite fiery as a seamer. You got a bit of sledge. In fact, we've got to talk about your sledging. We can't go on to anything else before we talk. We don't talk about your sledging. But yeah, I imagine you'd have proper sledge if you were bowling.

Well, to be honest with you, my fast bowling career lasted two games in under 11s and then I became the Wiki Keeper and I've been stuck there ever since, so. But I am a little bit lippy in the nets and I remind the batteries when they get out. So yeah, I'm not great. I don't think I could do fast bowling and be terrible.

I think you've actually got a bit tamer in your old age, you know, quieter. You're definitely quieter behind the stumps.

Well, I think international cricket's changed so much and I literally said this the other night that obviously wasn't playing against England. And I'm lying in bed icing and my phone buzzes about 8:30pm and it's Sophie Eccleston messaging me and I'm like, 10 years ago, this would not be a thing. Like, I wouldn't want to buy it. Like, I don't want to know, like, put me out on the field. I just want to beat whoever's in front of me and I'm going to do everything I can to possibly do that. Right. But now you're playing with everyone around the world, you're getting these amazing opportunities and, you know, if you're too much of what I've learned, if you're too much of a around the world, then everyone starts to hate you. But I think what people have come to realize is I'm really competitive and I'm really passionate and I care a lot about the teams that I'm a part of. And I think once you, you play alongside me, the, the opinion changes a little bit. So that's kind of nice, I think, for me to probably showcase that to other people. And it's definitely, I've definitely quietened down a little bit in my older age, but I'm still as competitive as ever.

I remember Ashes 20. When did we have the good test match? Was that 23?

Yeah. At Monica.

Yeah. But in the ODI bit, I remember I came out, I was back with Catherine for a little while and got a couple, like, I literally a couple of runs, got about 10. And you just, I turned around to you and I was like, I know she's going to say something. And you just, you asked me if you could have my back because it sounded really good and I was like, why are you being nice? And then that got in the head more than you sledging me.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, there you go. See, sometimes it's just about knowing which banter works in what situations. I think the hardest thing I've. The hardest thing I've ever done in my career was when I got the, the pair at Manica in that test match and I copped an almight gob full from Brunt on the way through. And Ray Chains was actually at the non strikers end and thought she was gonna have to run in there and stop a fight. But I just kept it all in and kept walking because, you know about it. You just. You got nothing. You got nothing to say. I just got a pair in a test match, yell and scream all. You're like, it's fine. Just let it all out. And then I'm gonna go back to the change room and cry. But sometimes there's just, like, nothing you can do about it. But it's good fun. It's all good.

I don't think I've ever been on the end of a sledge from you because I was batting at 11, so there's no need. I got one from Moonswap once during the wbbl. She's like, oh, here she is, the best batter. I was like, mate, you know, I'm.

Gonna get a duck.

You just have to hit the stump.

And I did.

I was like, God's sake, didn't you.

Get like, four ducks in a row?

I did, yeah. Yeah, I was. And I think I'm quite proud of it. But the worst overseas signing the WBBL's ever had.

Well, can I put it this way for you? Like, I'm not seeing up for you, but I am. But, like, the. The opening battle's right. Face the best bowlers in the world first up, up the Tail enders. Face the best bowlers in the world at the back end. So, I mean, we're both in the same boat a little bit. So ducks are okay. It happens.

Look that on socials.

And the Tail Enders don't have as much time in the nets, so.

No, you don't. You definitely don't. Just do what you can. I mean, your four defense crossing in that test match was unbelievable. So that's all you got.

Oh, my God. How frustrating was that to watch middle.

It was. You know what? It was, it was. But it was just so good. And I think you watch it back. If you watch it back, I'm smiling the whole time because it is just absolute theater that, like, we've come down to the last half an hour of play. It was remarkable, but not frustrating, just funny to be a part of.

I remember. So I walked out. Wait, we'll talk about the test match a bit more. I walk out and I turn to Lisa and I was like, lease, what we doing here? Are we going for the win? Because I was 11 in that game. Game. And she's like, mate, don't lose it. So it's like, oh, okay. So I've got that in my head and I'm going out to bat with Sophie Ecclestone. First ball, I think T Max bowling at me like this juicy half volley. I'm like, right, this is full swing and miss. You catch it behind the stumps and you're like, next ball is like, I need to get my head on here. I was like, I'm gonna just not lose this game. Next ball, single swing and miss. I was like, oh, God. Right, I've got to start defending it now.

I just love it. Kingy Baldi. Kingy Baldi. The juiciest full toss I've ever seen and I've never seen a better, more disciplined forward defense in my life.

So on top of it because as it came down it was like above my eyeline. I was like having to defend it.

Down, you know, it was wild. But fair play, man. Well done.

Good fun, good game. A great picture as well. It's one of my favorite pitches in, in my career is all of you surrounding me defending a full coffee.

Yeah, it was good, good fun. So good.

We've had our listeners get in touch and I. We have no idea where these questions are going to go because we've not looked at them, but there will be some weird and wonderful things we've had. Oh, this is actually quite a good one. I don't know who it is. Hersonly 5 says, which Siva Brunt has given you more stress in your career?

Oh, Catherine's probably kept me up more at night because I stress about the next day. But I'd say that Nat's probably given us more stress as a unit. So both equal.

She. She does well against you, doesn't she, Nat?

Yeah, she loves it. Sometimes some teams, some players just like match up really well against our bowling attack. And she's one of those Rudy Mandano as well. Like, what the hell? Like, it's just, I don't know, like, I don't know what it is, but I think we're just gonna bowl a few lob ups and see nickname instead.

Yes. About four tosses are.

33% of them get wickets.

Yeah. We've had a question from Susie B. Who is an Australian and she says, what brand of gum do you chew while you're playing? Because I often wonder when you're out there for too long, how does it, does it become tasteless? So. Yeah. What are you chewing?

Yeah, a bit of extra spearmint. Not the blue one. Peppermint sucks. Spearmint is my go to and I feed as many as I possibly can just to keep my anxiety levels at an acceptable point. Last until the drinks Break? Nah. Like I. When I go out to bat, I just chew up until I get tired and I'm normally puffing, so, you know, but if I get through to the drinks break, I don't use it after that.

Thank you.

I work really hard on it.

Yeah.

Between sledging and chewing gum, it's a quality workout.

Chiseled. Jay Cook says, who's the better cricketer, you or your fella? You've got my trophies, right?

I do. Doesn't necessarily make me any better. Well, thankfully, we're both do. Yeah.

There we go.

Actually. Well, to be completely honest, Mitch is the more sentimental one than I am, so he actually had to peel all of mine out of a BO and like, put them up beautifully in a. In a nice display. I've actually just like piled them all in a box and off I go. I'll look at them later in life, but I don't know, we both do different things. I think what he does is really impressive and how his career has panned out has been pretty cool to watch. So maybe him.

Do you have a no cricket rule when you get home? Like, you can't talk about cricket.

We can't give one another advice. That's probably the only. It's not off limits, but it's probably, like, not really on because I don't bowl left arm seam and he doesn't bat properly, so that's. That's a no go. But we do talk about cricket. Like I said, I love watching cricket. He doesn't like watching it at all, so I'll often have it on the TV and he'll go mow the lawn so it works well.

Didn't he commentate on. Was it the. Was it the pair test match? Yeah.

He, like, he actually loves it. He won't do any sort of comms on any of the men's cricket, but he's happy to do it on the women's game. And I like. He's around our groups a lot. Yeah. He knows everyone. He understands the game probably more than anybody else knowing our conversations at home. Right. So he's actually a really good one to have in there because he gets it.

He was there during the Ashes, he'd be like, come on, I'll stir the pot. Don't ask me twice.

Say something else. Do it again.

WBBL fan page have asked, do you still get discount at kfc? And I have to ask Mitch and I need confirmation. Is this you?

Yeah, that's me, yeah.

I love working in kfc.

Yeah. I was at uni studying Marine biology. And I was working at KFC and absolutely loved it. They were training me actually to be. No, KFC are our main sponsor, so I give vouchers and stuff there now. But, you know, elite athlete. I don't need it, so.

Of course, yeah, of course.

Yeah, of course. Of course. I thought that was AI. And it's really weird that it's now doing the rounds again.

Yeah. So I was literally being trained up to be the manager of that restaurant and I got picked to go to the 2010 World Cup. And I literally walked in there and was like, guys, I've just got picked for Australia. I got to go to a World Cup. I don't think I can work here anymore. And they were like, oh, we'll keep you on the books, we'll keep you on the books if you want some shifts when you come home. Never went back, so I could actually still be on the books at Concord kfc. So shout out to them then. Not coming back.

Amazing. But marine biologist that did that take a back seat as well. You're not. Are you going to go into that later in life, do you think?

No. I Sadly fell about five subjects short. In Australia, you can only defer for 10 years, I think it is. And I got to my 10th year and the uni finally booted me out, so I fell five subjects short. But I think if I did a teaching degree, I could teach science. So. Yeah.

Okay.

There you go.

Oh, wow.

Then there's me that just got scraped through my GCSEs. Pezzy's World says you're back in form. Did someone promise you unlimited beer?

Oh, stiff. No, I found some rhythm.

Yes. Nice, nice.

Yeah.

Who looks after the dogs when you're both on tour?

Yeah, good question. Actually, we. We moved house about 12 months ago.

And.

A lot of our family, Mitch's family, actually live, like on the property now, so they actually just look after the dog and they've got a young child. Wait, wait, wait.

How big.

No, no, no.

How big is your house?

Did you need a bigger house for the trophies?

No, but in Australia right now, and as you guys could probably attest to in the UK as well, like, everyone lives on top of one another now. So we actually found some land out a little bit still in Sydney. Out a little bit. So we got a couple of acres of that of land with a beautiful house and some of our family moved in because I've got a young, young child and it's expensive in Sydney, so they. They look after the dog when we are Gone. And it helps them because they've got a. Like I said, they got a young kid and it gives them a good night's sleep. So they're pretty happy about.

About it.

So, like a bit of charity work as well. You're giving back to your community.

Giving back. Giving back to the family. Yeah, it is. It's a stark hostel at the moment. There's a lot of them living there. But it is good fun. I actually don't come from a big family, so to have family around is. Is quite nice for me.

That's cool. We should get. We will get an invite to the house, obviously, when we're next in Australia, won't we?

You're more than welcome anytime. I've offered that.

As long as we're looking after the dogs.

That's it.

What's the smallest object you could use lose as a cricket bat and still hit six with?

Good question.

Oh, Jesus. I reckon you could get away with a hockey stick. So, I mean, it'd take a serious effort, but hockey stick, it's quite. I mean, it's longer but it's thinner. So.

Golf club.

Oh, no, that'd snap a cricket ball. Would not work.

Oh, yeah, true.

You like your golf as well, don't you? You've got a little bit. You've got a little husband and wife golf day or something. Little trophy.

Yeah, we do. We play for a perpetual trophy.

Yeah.

Ask how that one's going. Yeah, I think I'm five from six of years of it. Or five from seven maybe. I think Mitch won last year, so, yeah, I'm gonna pick up the slack a little bit.

Do you put that in your trophy cabinet?

Oh, it's front and center. It actually sits on the bar. So our trophy cabinet is like tucked away in another room. No one really sees, but it. The Steely cup sits front and center in the bar.

Steely cup, that's a great name. Yeah, good. Thank you. Lychee. I don't think it is. Phoebe just says if you make runs with a certain bat, do you keep it until it breaks down?

Yeah, I'm actually. I don't go through too many bats throughout my career. I've probably. The one I'm currently using, I've had for the last three years, I reckon. Just gets actually Marnus Lavishanes. I stole it off him in England a few years ago. Yeah, I wore him down. I was in his ear the whole time. That's the best bat in your bag.

I want it.

I want it. And he finally just caved and gave it to me. And I've used it for the last, like three seasons, I think. Yeah. The only bat I've retired properly is I put the. The 170 from the. Sorry. For the 170 from the world cup away. Sorry. I think I gave you T20 World Cup. Yeah. And the teeth.

Yeah.

And the T. The only. They're the only two bats. I think I've retired that. The T20 World cup in at the MCG. And the 170, I've put them away and everyone. All the others I just have used right. Throughout my career. So, yeah, I don't go through too many.

I wish I had that conundrum.

Should I retire a bat?

I don't think I've scored 170 all together with any of my.

Well, you're about sounding good. Remember, hang on to that one.

You can hang on to that, mate. You can use that one if you want.

Thank you.

Okay, here we go. Big Mick says if you were stuck on a desert island, which teammate would you want to be stuck with?

Probably in the Aussie team. Probably like Georgia Wareham or someone like that. I feel like she'd be quite handy and could probably get us off the desert island. So that would be useful. Either that or like Moons, because Moons and I'd be on the opposite sides of the island and we'd just keep to ourselves and be completely fine. And we'd high five every day on the way through and it'd be good fun. Yeah.

Or Belzy, because then Belzy's dad could just helicopter you off.

Yes. Yeah, they'd find. I think if I was on an island with Annabelle, sudden they'd find us real quick. So, yeah, that might be the one.

This is actually a really good one and I've been quite vocal about it. Have you been frustrated with the weather during this World cup, especially in Colombo?

Yeah, and this is probably another sign of me maturing in my old age is I actually feel. I feel really, really sad for the teams that have had rain affected games or washouts that have ultimately affected their World Cups. I mean, you know, for Soph Devine to sit in that press conference, kind of talk about a loss, but know that they're out of the World cup basically because two games got washed out in Colombo, I think is devastating. And, you know, you train four years for these opportunities and to have rain such a massive part in it, it's just not fair. So even for the likes of Pakistan to be as. As heavily affected as what they are, and they're forced to play there. Yeah, it's. It's been hard to watch and it's been really frustrating. I mean, we were lucky enough to get through one game. We had one washout, but we played one. So we're pretty lucky in that regard. But it's. It ultimately has affected this World cup, and it's a bit of a shame.

Very political. Well done.

I've. I've plugged it off every day.

Yeah, well, that's your job. You're paid to do that. I'm still paid by the icc.

Especially when you take the prize money.

One more.

One more. Because we've had you probably a bit longer than we should have done. We've mentioned beer a few times. So Lychee's back asking, what's the weirdest thing that you've done while celebrating? Just one. Because there's probably heaps.

The weirdest thing I've done while celebrating. Funniest thing I've heard about. And I wasn't there because I was still battling concussion. But in the 2018. Sorry, sorry. Again, in the 2018 World cup final. I'm so sorry.

Sorry. I'm so good.

We made England in the final. The girls, actually, I went to bed, but the girls went out. We were in the West Indies, and they, you know, they have, like, those floating little things you can sit on out in the water, and they've attached them to the bottom of the ocean. Yeah, well, the girls got in one and unclicked it and decided to go and try and steal a boat out in the middle of the ocean. So they were floating out to sea on one of these things at some ungodly hour. Funnily enough, it was right around the time that breakfast was reopening. So all of these older couples that were staying at the resort were watching all this unfold. And I went down to Brekkie a little bit later, and this couple came up to me and said, did you get there? And I said, what do you mean? She goes, oh, the girls on the. On the little lifebuoy thing, did they get to the boat? Did they get it? I was like, I have no idea what you're talking about. Turns out later they got there and then got booted off really quickly and got told to put it back. So I think that's probably one of the funniest ones I've heard about.

Can you name some names?

No.

Perry.

No way. I did not think she'd be doing that.

Yeah, that was. I'm happy to name Pez in That there's a little Victorian crew, so you can figure that out. But I think they had a good time. The best ones are when you stroll back in for breakfast like that, like. And you haven't been to bed yet. I think I went snorkeling after the West Indies in 2010. I went snorkeling about 6am and that was not. Not cool because I hadn't slept. So that was not the most safe thing I've ever done.

But it was good fun and crossy. You've got the final classic no balls question.

It's kind of the only thing we've asked the Aussies, though, isn't it? So we. We asked pairs or someone emailed in and said to Pez, what is the biggest animal that you could catch if it was fired out of a cannon at you? And she said that she reckoned she could catch a wombat. Kingy said koala, because it kind of grip onto you. And then we did. We sent it to Soph Divine and she said a manatee, which just feels wild thinking about it because they're about 180, slippery and massive, but she's a strong gal. So we've got to ask you if we fired an animal out of a cannon at you. What. What do you think's the biggest one you could catch?

You know what? I'm gonna go with, like, a bird of some sort. So I reckon I could catch. I reckon I could catch an emu. If you fired that at me, I reckon at some point I could grab it. So whether it's bites. Yeah. Whether it's its body, like, I could probably get that. Or I could grab its neck on the way through, I reckon. So an emu as it's trying to.

Fly like a javelin.

Yeah, we'll get it. Yeah, it would catch it.

Okay.

We're gonna make a day of it anyway. We'll get you all in. We'll get the cannon, we'll get the animals. We'll do it at your house, actually. It feels like you've got enough space.

I'm an animal lover, so I won't be taking part in shooting anything out of a cannon. But it has a heartbeat. Thank you very much. But we could. We could put some plush toys in there. Let's try that.

We won't get past hr. Don't worry.

No, but it could be funny heels.

Thank you so much for joining us and we hope that you are back out on the park.

Appreciate it. Thanks for having me.

Good luck, Elisa.

Thank you.

Rossi.

Yes.

I got A text today because a little bit of that podcast was played out in the interval of the radio tease. Everybody about podcast got a text saying she's annoyingly likable. And I couldn't agree more because she really, really wanted. It's Alyssa Healey. She's so good. She's been that Lisa. She's been that player over the years where you want to hate her and you do an interview like that, and she's so humble and so kind, and you just actually really like her.

I loved how much she hated when we spoke about how big her house was. She's just got this acreage of land that she's letting family members just reside on as long as they look after her dogs.

Yeah.

I was like, hang on, hang on. Let's go. Let's talk about how much land you have.

Yeah. She really seemed quite reluctant to invite us, but we did invite ourselves on the podcast, so she couldn't seem rude and not follow through with that.

Well, she did say to you, you're always invited. I'm not sure I quite got that invite.

Yeah.

But I don't actually know her that well. I've never played with her. She's one of those new players that you feel like when. When she's on your team, you like you'd really get on with her. But she's bloody annoying to play against, and I've never had the opportunity to play with her, so I've always just kind of been annoyed by her because she just scores loads of runs against us, and then we had the opportunity. Would have been my first year of superchargers, and she was our overseas player and she got injured and couldn't come over. And I remember being quite, like, apprehensive about our personalities clashing. But now I know that we. We would have got on so well. We would have been probably the pranksters in the dressing room.

There's always a next time.

Always there is.

But she was a belter, wasn't she? Very good interview. Hope you all enjoyed it. What's happening next? Probably there'll be a World cup winner by the time we next do a podcast.

That's exciting, isn't it? Oh, we might have to Emergency pod if England make the final.

Yeah, okay, fair enough.

Yeah. Crossy, I want you to get in touch with us and all the listeners, please, and thank you.

You. Yes, you can email us on noballspodcastbc.co.uk.

Noballspodcastbc.Co.Uk. it's so good.

They said it twice. And you can WhatsApp us on 033-01-231826.

And you can text us on 811-double-1.

And please start your message with no balls, all one word, otherwise we won't find you.

I love how we. We've got that. Like you always do. Start your message. We've just got it down to a T these days.

We've got it. It's because we've pinned the message again so we know what our email and our WhatsApp number is. Yeah. Yeah.

Because five years later, we have no idea. Crossy, I will see you in about 10 days.

You will be doing because you're home soon. Big good luck to England in the semi final. It's obviously always so special to get through to the knockout. So stages of World Cups and everyone is behind you. So go and do us all proud.

Let's go.

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