Wyatt-Hodge century seals England victory in World Cup opener

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Well, England have got off to a record-breaking win in the opening game of the Women's T20 World Cup. I'm Alison Mitchell here at Edgbaston alongside former England fast bowler and 3-time World Cup winner Katherine Siverbrunt and fellow World Cup winner Alex Hartley, who won alongside Katherine in 2017. I mean, talk about a curtain raiser, England winning this match by 87 against Sri Lanka. We had a performance during the buildup after the toss from the West End show Wicked, but cricket was the star attraction, and Danny Wyatt-Hodge stole the show. An unbeaten 105 off 62 balls to power England to a record T20 World Cup total. They beat their own record they set back in 2023. No one has ever scored more in a T20 World Cup. England 219 for 1, setting Sri Lanka the daunting, almost impossible—

turned out to be impossible— task of 220 20 to win.

Amy Jones, 53 off 38 balls in a record opening stand for England in T20 Internationals. And Nat Sciver-Brunt, the captain, who hasn't played in this format in an international since July last year, 46 from 22 to keep the momentum going when she joined Wyatt Hodge out in the middle. Catherine, Alex, talk about a curtain raiser. What a way to start the show. Showstopper from Danny Wyatt Hodge.

They've set the bar high, haven't they? I mean, follow that and people will. I don't I don't know if they'll quite do that, but yeah, I love that because people, trust me, every game, every team is what— even if they're not a cricket badger, they'll be watching because they've got to. You've got to follow it, you've got to keep up with it. And they're thinking, hmm, we didn't expect that. There's, you know, there's a little bit of something there. And I love that because it's going to just plant those seeds of not necessarily doubt, but they can, you know what I mean? So yeah, I love that. I love what that's created.

I think for me it's the first game of the World Cup for England to win so convincingly, for Danni Wyatt-Hodge to be as good as she was and then also backed up by Amy Jones and Siver-Brunt. Both of them go under the radar and unnoticed, but Amy Jones gets 50 off 30-odd balls and Siver-Brunt has a strike rate of above 200 at the back end. I mean, it's the perfect performance with the bat in hand. And look, going into the second innings, we knew England were going to win. But it's always a case of could something happen? Could somebody get some runs? Could there be a little flurry from somewhere? But England kept taking consistent wickets throughout that innings and the pressure was on throughout. I thought the spinners, Lindsay Smith, Charlie Dean, exceptional. But Freya Kemp, you know, to say she bowls a bit sometimes, then she's rested because she's recovering from a stressy— I thought she was absolutely fantastic today.

Yeah, Freya Kemp. I'll just fill in the details. Of 4 for 21. Freya Kemp from her 4 overs took 2 wickets in 2 balls at one stage. That was an over where she took 3 wickets in 4 balls in all to really get amongst Sri Lanka. We'll be able to hear from Dani Wyatt-Hodge in just a moment. She is of course the player of the match here at Edgbaston under the lights with— in front of a crowd of 14,865. Let's have a listen in.

Yeah, it was great fun out there. Um, yeah, what a crowd. Firstly, I really enjoyed playing in front of this amazing crowd here at Edgbaston. And yeah, what a start.

Let's talk about your batting. You look like you enjoyed the offside, but talk us through your thinking.

Um, yeah, I mean, it's always great to get off to a good start in a World Cup as well. Um, yeah, I really enjoyed playing out there with Amy, and then Nat just does what she does best at the end there, just hitting it to all parts.

Well, you're hitting it to all parts. Let's talk about your celebration. You have a new little one, Daisy, coming through. Talk us through your celebration.

Yeah, that was for Daisy. I hope TV got it there, a little cradle. Um, yeah, that was, that was for Daisy.

Amazing. And just finally, your team starting in this manner, how important was it for you?

Yeah, we said how important it was to start well, um, and we did that tonight. It's always a really nice picture at Edgbaston, and then Our bowlers did incredibly well as well to keep them to that total on a really good pitch. And yeah, off to Southampton we go tomorrow and play Ireland on Tuesday night and hopefully we can do it again.

Well, Dani, well done today. Thanks for your time.

Thanks, Evs.

Dani White-Hodge speaking to Ebony Rainford-Brent. England have the 2 points then to carry into their next match against Ireland, then it's Scotland, West Indies, and New Zealand. And yet just to sort of reflect that, um, the bowling effort for England before I talk more about Dani Wyatt-Hodge. Freya Kemp, 4 for 21, a wicket each for Lauren Bell, Lindsay Smith, Charlie Dean with 2, Sophie Ecclestone picking up 2 towards the end. Dani Gibson, the only bowler not to pick up a wicket, her 2 overs went for 20 runs. England wanted to be clinical in the field after putting such an awesome batting performance together from Dani Wyatt-Hodge, and she took a blinder. Dani Wyatt-Hodge in the field missed a couple as well. You perhaps can't blame her after that much time running between the wickets, but England ultimately did the job with the ball. And Dani White-Hodge, you both know her well, played with her. She seems extremely chilled in that interview for someone who has just performed an extraordinary feat.

I think she's just not great at interviews, to be honest with you. She, away from the camera, she'll speak so well about that innings and how much it meant to her. But yeah, look, an exceptional performance. And the fact that, you know, she celebrated for Daisy, her child, that's got to be what, she's 2 weeks 3 weeks old now. 3 weeks old.

Um, yeah, have you seen the video, by the way?

I have. Her wife's put on it. It's really sweet of her rocking Daisy as— standing in front of the TV, rocking the bat. Yeah, it's sweet. Um, yeah, an exceptional innings. It'll mean the world to her and all of her family and friends, I'm sure, will be pretty emotional after that.

Yeah, the significance of England starting this World Cup in such an emphatic manner will send ripples through probably others in the tournament, won't it?

Absolutely, yeah, they'll be talking about that. And you know what, the one thing I'm going to take from it is that I would have said before this tournament that England won't post a score like that without the help of Freya Kemp and Dani Gibson. I would, I would put, you know, my life on that. And so teams, watch out, that was done without them too.

So you're saying you didn't expect Danny Wyatt to pull off something like that?

Not quite.

Everybody would be lying if they thought Danny would come out here and just score a ton straight off the bat. Bosh! I think— and 2 batters to be strike rates like that, bosh! No wicket was lost cheaply or without a massive strike rate. And without— you got 220 without the help of our 2 biggest hitters with the biggest strike rates in the team.

England's record-breaking score, the record-breaking score in the T20 World Cup.

It's so good as well because Dan proving her experience, her wealth, everything she's good at. She missed 6 T20s leading into this World Cup or missed 3 T20s leading into this World Cup because of the birth of her child. So she's not played the whole series, you know, all the games that are there for her. And she had a little bit of a lean patch. She looked a bit scratchy. She was trying to play the ball off the stumps. We all know that she loves to dab the ball into the offside to get off the mark. But today she wasn't doing that. She was hitting the ball, she was striking the ball with power, and that's what worked so well for her. And look, I'm really pleased for her, you know, starting a tournament like that in the way that she has. It will give her so much more confidence.

I made it sound like I didn't think she was capable, but I know she is. She's more capable of scoring 100 than anyone in this tournament. She just is that kind of player.

England's all-time leading run scorer in T20.

Exactly.

A completely it's more the team total. It's more— it's not Dani, it's how did they get to 220 without the help of them two. Well, I mean, how her innings helped Amy Jones and Nat Sciver-Brunt. Yeah, because people would also underestimate the speed in which Nat and Amy can bat. They also think they're more, you know, people that come in and calm the ship and just tick things along at a nice 100-120 strike rate for a bit and then have the capability of doing it. So Yeah, it's been nice. It's been nice to change people's opinion for once and not have an evening full of just sort of, what do you call it, you know, comments of negativity. I guess it's just all been quite positive and refreshing.

There's no room for— no, or anything. Can you think of anything?

There's no room for negativity.

Just nitpick at the most ridiculous thing, but we're not gonna because that was just great across the board.

The feel around the ground as well when Danny White hit the shot that brought up the 100, it was a wave of noise which just showed you perhaps how this tournament and this team can grab the imagination if they put in performances like this.

Yeah, I think, I think that just has. And then obviously they're going to go to town on that now, aren't they? There's going to be so many repeats, so many highlights, so many Instagram reels, it'll be off the chain. And so I think from now on, I wouldn't be surprised if every game from now definitely the England game sold out. That's what I think will happen from that performance.

England also have to sort of get better as they go. I mean, the opposition gets stiffer as they move through the group, doesn't it?

It sort of starts quite easily, doesn't it? They've got Ireland next, then they've got Scotland.

We'll pause because Chamari Atapattu, the losing Sri Lanka captain, is speaking to Ebony Rainford-Brent.

All three departments, and we are not doing our best. So that's why we lost today's game.

In terms of bowling, first of all, what are some of the areas you're going to look to improve through the tournament?

Uh, so most important thing is that the stump is most important thing. And yeah, especially spinners, uh, they're bowling different lines, different areas, so it's not enough. And yeah, so we need to improve bowling.

And in terms of batting, what are some of the things that you want to look to do in the next match?

Actually, we need to play our positive cricket, fearless cricket all the time in the middle. And yeah, we lost a couple of wickets in power play and we are missing our momentum. And Lakshmi batted really good, but we need to improve batting as well.

And two big games back to back. You have New Zealand next. How will you prepare for that one?

Actually, next game is New Zealand, so tough team again. Yeah, the big, big two teams we play in the first two games against teams. So we need to execute our plans and we going back to the, uh, classroom and decide what we can do. And we have to plan few things and we will bounce back in next game.

Brilliant, Chamari, thank you for your time and good luck for the next game.

Thank you.

I'll call over Nat Sivert, Brunt today, the winning captain. That started all right, Nat, dream start.

Yeah, um, massive. Um, yeah, what a way to, to start off the first innings, especially Danny and Amy looked so composed in, in what they were doing and obviously, um, built a huge platform for us to to explode there at the end.

Let's talk about you for a second. You've come back in from your calf injury and you were sprinting up and down, but it looked like your form was there.

Yeah, Danny had me running from the first ball. Yeah, really happy to, I guess, find the middle. Obviously had a couple of innings in the warm-up games, but yeah, I suppose nothing compares to being out there. And yeah, it was really fun today.

Charlotte Edwards has been calling for you guys to be ruthless. That seemed like a ruthless performance today.

Yeah, absolutely. Um, yeah, really, really composed and I think thought about the game in a really good way. Um, and then obviously in the second innings, um, starting off with 3 wickets in the powerplay is going to make it difficult to chase a score like that down. So, um, yeah, a massive win for us. And, um, yeah, really happy that that first game is done.

Well, Nat, congratulations on a good win and thanks so much for your time.

Thank you.

A very happy England captain, Nat Sciver-Brunt. And Catherine, you obviously know her better than all of us, you're her wife. Um, that difference between being passed fit by a physio, netting, training, being ready, and then actually having to do it running between the wickets in a match situation— just how different is that when you've, you know, been carrying an injury?

It's been, it's It's been so up and down the last few months. It's like, oh, it's just a small injury. Then you have an MRI and it's a bit more than— it's an awkward— it was an awkward injury. It wasn't a bad one. It's very awkward. It's something that could have become very bad had she risked it. If that was the middle of the World Cup, you carry on and you risk it. But so it was like, okay, we're going to sacrifice all of your build-up. Is that okay? Okay. And then you look at the makeup of all the other players and she's so lucky that there's so many bowlers. We've never had such depth in our bowling. Australia used to be so jealous of 8 bowlers. Everybody can just sort of relax a bit, and now we have that. And so it took the pressure off a bit. But then you just keep coming back. He had something like 5— who has 5 MRIs in a month? And it's to check the progress every, every few days, it felt. Not because normally you'd go you get a stress fracture, you never MRI, you come back 3 months later, how's it progressing? But this was every few days because they were on it so much. Yeah, exactly. And so this is how detailed it's been, the rehab, the, the miles traveled on the road to get right. Um, she has been at her most vulnerable, very stressed, very anxious, was really nervous about this game. I'm not gonna lie, that warm-up games are what they are, but she said, like she said, nothing can replace this and the feeling of it. So that will be such a load off. And also, as a captain, with how her team has performed, can just give her a lot of confidence in which that she doesn't have to stress about controlling everything because they seem to have it under control. Touch wood.

Well, they had it under control with the bat and some to post that record score. And then with the ball, I mean, what a day Freya Kemp had. 4 for 21. She's been speaking to Henry Moran.

Well, Freya, that ticked about every single box you could wish for it to, that game. What is your reaction immediately after?

Yeah, obviously the girls set it up so nicely with the bat. Amy and Danni at the top. Danni's outstanding and so is Amy. And then obviously Nat came off and finished the innings off with Danni really nicely. But yeah, I think it gave us really good momentum coming into the bowling innings and Yeah, obviously, obviously really happy with the win.

We'll get on to your bowling shortly, but that innings from Dani Wyatt-Hodge.

Yeah, she's a legend of the game, isn't she? It was amazing to watch and she's just such a great person around the group and for the team and on the pitch and off the pitch. So I'm so happy for her and it was lovely to watch.

Talk to me about what she's like in the dressing room because I still think of her as a very young player. But of course she's been playing for years and years and years and still seems to have that energy.

Yeah, definitely. She's got so much energy. She's such a positive person around the group and obviously, yeah, just very happy for her. And I think, yeah, she's such an experienced player. I can— I think we can all learn so much off her. And yeah, she's just an amazing player.

What about with the ball? You being back as an available bowler again after injury makes such a difference to this side. How much are you enjoying it?

Yeah, I'm absolutely loving it, honestly. Being out with the girls, it's just so fun. And, um, yeah, I think nights like this, it's just, um, I was trying to take it all in, and it was an amazing crowd here at Birmingham. And, um, yeah, it was— I thoroughly enjoyed it.

What about that hat-trick ball then?

What were you—

what was going through your mind? You had to wait a while for it.

Uh, yeah, it was obviously— I think it was— we had drinks, and then I came on after drinks. Um, but yeah, I didn't even hit the stump, so I don't think that was a bit of a Shame.

Well, don't worry about that. I think 3 wickets in 4 balls is pretty good going. This England team looked ruthless. That was, that was a strong performance.

Yeah, I think we speak about being ruthless and yeah, I think we're very happy with that performance. I think we were amazing in the field and yeah, it really set the tone with the batting innings and then followed it up with the ball really nicely. So yeah, I think we want to be described as ruthless and I think that was ruthless tonight.

And just finally, how do you now spend the next few days? What's the plan of action?

We go down to Southampton and then travel tomorrow, and then we have a few training days, and then we play on Tuesday night.

Enjoying it?

Yeah, loving it. Yeah, obviously being injured, I think it gives you great gratitude for just being out, and yeah, I'm just loving being back with the girls, and it's, yeah, it's really, really enjoyable.

Well played today. Many thanks.

Cheers. So Freya Kemp with Henri Moran. Yeah, Dani Wyatt-Hodge, uh, just reflecting again on her— I mean, it's her third T20 International hundred, and she scored a century when she was first promoted to open in 2017. And then her highest T20 International score, the 124 off just 64 balls, uh, which was chasing a big target against India in Mumbai. So this 105 not out slots in between those two. She made her debut all the way back in 2010. I mean, so much experience, and you think there's just the 3 players, aren't there, remaining from your World Cup winning team in 2017 that are here now: Heather Knights and Nat Siver-Brunt and Dani Wyatt-Hodge. And just all of that experience wrapped up and having, you know, ridden the journey that she's been on, how much will that overall help the team?

I bet it makes her feel well old for a start, you know.

35!

Yeah, when these young girls are saying that they were in the crowd watching and inspired inspired by that 2017, um, World Cup. But, but look, Dan, Dan's been in situations all around the world. She's played franchise cricket, WPL, World Cup. She's won World Cup. She's done everything. And but the fact that she's still as good as she was is credit to her and the way that she trains. And you know, she's— I'm guessing she's still the fittest in the team. She always has been.

Where was she?

Did she always win the—

she used to do the yo-yos.

She is the proudest moment What was that? I said I beat her once.

She used to do the yo-yo, and then once Katherine stopped as the second, she got, all right, I'll beat her, so I might as well stop. She never actually went to the death that everyone else did because, you know, she's so fit and healthy. Um, but yeah, no, in all seriousness, credit to her and the way that she's able to push her body and she gets the results for it.

Yeah, and her presence in the dressing room, in terms of, you know, Henry was referencing her personality there. What is she like in the dressing room when she's not on the pitch?

She's actually, for me, has improved over, over time. She's definitely a fine wine.

When you're talking about her cricket or her in the dressing room?

Both. In every, in every facet, really. Like, um, she's a dark horse. People underestimate her intelligence. She's, she's actually very smart underneath that, you know, joker. And then that's what we loved about her. She's very relaxed. She's doesn't take anything serious, including her cricket. She's somebody that when you describe someone as being brave and ruthless and going for it, that's Dani in a bubble. And you wish you could sell that, you wish you could give that to other people. She has no fear, and I love that. And that's where hundreds come from.

They're not—

they don't happen by chance. So yeah, we're with Dan. We were saying, I've seen her obviously her whole career and been with her from nearly all of it, and she has absolutely got better and she is not declining. She's holding that level of, of skill, what she's worked so hard for. I think it was mainly a mental thing. It was almost like people were under— sort of saw her as not a very good opener, and she was very scratchy. And then all of a sudden, this person around 2017 came out from within her. People started believing in her more, which made her believe in herself. And then this is the Dani we see now. But it took a long time to get to that. It took 7, 8 years of hard work.

And that's the hard work that isn't making the headlines and isn't propelling you onto everyone's TV screens.

And it's the fact that she's been in and out the side as well, you know. It's everyone— you think of Dani Wyatt Hodgson, you think of that she's always opened the batting front, and she hasn't. She found herself out that T20 side for a while, worked really hard, got back in, and, um, Look, at the age of 35, to still have the motivation to do what she's doing is pretty incredible, really.

Yeah. And we know that the baby behind that, little Daisy, proving a massive motivation as well. It's a beautiful video of her, of her wife Georgie, just standing in front of the telly watching the Hundred celebration. And then as she sees Danni White rock the bat, she just rocks baby Daisy in motion as well to mimic that. A final thought from you both as England then will move through the tournament. We mentioned that their matches, they meet higher ranked opposition the deeper they move through their group. Remember, it's 2 groups of 6 with the top 2 from each group going through to the semi-finals at the Oval with the final at Lord's on July 5th. So England play Ireland next, then they have Scotland, then West Indies and New Zealand. Are you happy with the balance of this side, that this will be England's side for the remainder of the group games unless some injury happens and they're forced to make a change?

Yeah, this is their strongest 11. The only thing I would change potentially if they came up against India in a semi-final is if you play Lindsay Smith or another seamer. But this is their best 11 for the group stage of this tournament.

For me, it'd be pitch dependent. I mean, Lords is lovely, seam-friendly wicket, and— but that's where I think we're quite blessed at the minute with Freya and Gibbo. They are capable. We've seen, we've seen Gibbo bowl on that Lords pitch before, obviously with a home team in the Spirit, and Moving, moving the ball sideways at Lord's is, is what happens. It's known, it's seen that it's actually getting a bit of a reputation actually as actually being harder to bat on. So yeah, it's, um, yeah, I don't know.

Yeah, one group game there against the West Indies at Lord's before finishing against New Zealand at the Oval.

Not surprised if everyone's fit. This is the team all the way to the end.

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This match at Edgbaston was the opening match in a tournament where the organisers hope it'll leave a legacy for the women's game, not just in this country but throughout the world. The ICC will meet straight after the event to discuss how to spread the game further, with the status of the Afghanistan refugee women's team among those issues on the agenda. They're touring the UK over the next few weeks. Their funding runs out at the end of that tour, and we will catch up with them during this tournament. The chief executive of the ICC, Sanjog Gupta, was here at Edgbaston and he spoke earlier with Matt Henry from the BBC Sport website about a range of topics, starting with what he was expecting from this Women's T20 World Cup.

It's an adventure and it's an adventure of a lifetime because we genuinely see this event as a seminal moment for the sport and for a broader socio-cultural movement that women's sport has become. We've seen tremendous acceleration in the growth of women's cricket to an extent where we now believe that this event in England and Wales could potentially be one of the two biggest women's sporting events ever. Not just the biggest women's cricket event, but genuinely one of the two biggest women's sporting events ever. Some of that confidence comes from what we saw last year with the Women's Cricket World Cup and the growth that we've seen in the levels of interest and affiliation for women's cricket over the last 18 months or so. I think the, the, the team at ECB has done a tremendous job of building hype and buzz for the event in the last 4 weeks. We've seen ticket sales break records even before a ball is bowled. It's now the highest-selling T20 World Cup ever. We believe the attendance is now tracking towards 250,000 for the event. Our ambition is to go beyond that and, and have more than 300,000 attend the event in our stadiums. And our aspiration for it is to not just be an event which breaks records and has a significant impact on the sporting landscape, but an event which also contributes significantly to the momentum for global women's sport.

What would a successful tournament look like for you as the other person who's ICC CEO? What does a success in the next few weeks mean for you?

It's not just about the about the sport, it's also about representation, and it's also about, you know, a very large population that perhaps has not seen itself being represented on the field as widely as it should have been. And I think that's what our ambition was. On one side, we definitely want to expand the accessibility the event and the sport, but we also want to deepen the affiliation that, that the event and the sport have in, in this country for sure, but also around the world.

Because in this country, as you mentioned, got some big acts to follow in what we've seen in football and rugby union for women's— the women's teams with the Lionesses and the Red Roses in recent years. Can you follow on from them?

I think we certainly can, and I think the impact of this event should not be measured only in terms of what it does or what it delivers to in this country, but actually what it delivers in Thailand or in Japan or in Brazil. This event should inspire more girls to play, more communities to support those girls who want to play, and also inspire broadly more young audiences to associate themselves with with sport. The legacy of this event will not just be in the attendance figures that we record at the end of the event or the global viewing figures that we have. It'll truly be felt in terms of the, the spurt in participation that the event drives on a longer-term basis and how it can get more kids and families to fall in love with this Now we can take you inside the England camp.

Across the tournament, we're speaking to the people behind the players, which you can watch in full on the BBC Sport YouTube channel and on BBC iPlayer. The first episode sees Ebony Rainford-Brent speaking to Heather Knight and Izzy Wong.

Guys, first of all, welcome. To warm us up, I want to get you guys to give us 3 words that describe each other.

So you describe Heather, you describe Izzy. Can I have hardworking as one word?

Okay, yeah, that's fine.

I'm gonna say clever and funny.

Okay. Oh yeah, take funny. Yeah, I don't get that very often, so that's nice. Wongy, boingy, fun, logical.

Can you define boingy?

Just like, you know, um, you know when someone just like boings in, or like it's just got a lot of like spring, so like a bit like, um, What's the Winnie the Pooh character? Tigger. Tigger.

I've actually got the cutest picture of me in like a little Tigger costume.

Oh, have you? There you go, boingy. Is that in the dictionary?

Well, if it's not, we're going to get it in there now.

What else would you say?

Bouncy?

You're just like, you're quite boing, boing.

High energy.

High energy, yeah.

I'm here for this boing.

That's an extra word.

Okay, well, while we're boinging, I have many questions for you guys for the audience to get to know you. Heather, I did not know this, but I hear you're an Arsenal fan.

Yeah, massive Arsenal fan.

You didn't know that? No.

You must be the only person in the world.

But you're from Devon or Plymouth.

Well, my dad—

My mum's an Arsenal fan.

My dad, she's a Liverpool fan, she's from Birmingham.

Oh, we're gonna get to that.

My dad is from North London, so my granddad was an avid supporter. My dad used to go to Highbury, so there's a big connection there. Although the other side of the family, my uncle is a Tottenham fan and my cousin's a Watford fan, so there's a lot of mixed loyalties.

Bit of tension over Christmas dinner.

Well, I mean, I'm quite smug at the moment. We're doing pretty good.

What have you been celebrating?

Yeah, I've been wearing my Arsenal shirt a lot, been watching, and Wongi's been in my ear for the last 2 months saying we're going to bottle it actually, so yeah, I have been doing a lot of celebrating in front of her.

And tell us about your Liverpool love, where, I mean, where did this come from?

Well, my dad's been a season ticket holder since I was born, so yeah, I'm 136 matches, 81 wins, my win percentage I think is about 55%.

Okay, oh.

Your personal win percentage?

Logical.

Yeah, logical percentage.

Also loser.

Yeah. My dad's got a spreadsheet, so at the end of the season he sends me a picture of sort of my stats and my win percentage. Does he do that for cricket as well? Yeah, he does, yeah. What's your cricket win percentage? I don't wanna know. Not quite 55%, but—

Guys, I did not know this about you, but good to see it's in the family. Like it runs in the family. So I didn't know about your football and I didn't know, I was told about a film called Cars. That apparently you love. First of all, I've never heard of it, so you need to tell me first of all what it is and then tell me why you love it.

You're making me feel young here, actually. Even I know what that is. Well, I've not often— I feel young.

Is this like, um, what's one of those films? Pocahontas?

It's like Toy Story, but 2006. It's a bit younger than Toy Story, isn't it? Yeah, yeah, it's about cars. Yeah, talking cars.

And why do you love it?

Oh, it's just my favorite. I was like 4 when it came out.

Okay.

It's like prime, like, is this a common repeat? Lightning McQueen is like the, he's like the main guy and he's like, he's like a rookie and then he ties it and then it goes to a 3, it's like a 3-way tie. That's right at the start. And then they go to like a playoff basically. But on the way there, he falls out the back of his truck and he gets lost and he ends up in like this Radiator Springs, which is like this little village in America, and he like, you can't like, they're like holding him hostage because he's like wrecked the road and then he's got to fix the road and then he gets back.

You should do the sales pitch for Cars 2.

Well, yeah, well, there is Cars 2.

Oh, is there?

Cars 4, yeah, yeah. There's like, the first one's the best one.

So I'm behind the times, I need to catch up.

So like McQueen, he's a bit of a, at the start he thinks he's like the big deal and then he goes through this journey and then by the end he's like, through onto the finish line, he's gonna win it, but then the king, who's like, he's like kind of older car, he's won loads, he breaks down and he stops before the finish line and like forfeits the cup to go and get the king and he pushes him over the line because he thinks he needs to finish.

I thought we were going to struggle to fill 25 minutes.

Don't worry about that, mate.

Is that why, that's why you're 95, isn't it?

That's why I'm 95 for my, like, all my franchise stuff. That was Lightning McQueen as well.

Have you ever said "ka-chow" when getting a wicket?

Oh, not when getting a wicket, I don't think.

But is it a word that comes out every now and then?

Yeah.

Okay guys, I'm getting to know you both. A word that was said about you, clever or intelligent or something, apparently Cambridge was in the mix back in the day and you turned it down for cricket.

Back in the day is tough.

Back in the day, that is tough. Back in the day. Thanks, thanks, Holly. Not necessarily for cricket, but yeah, I got a place at Cambridge, but I just didn't really see myself there, to be honest. I got a bit of a gut feeling. I went to Cardiff. Really loved it there, and I wanted a little bit of balance in my life, to be honest. I wanted like uni, I wanted cricket, and I also wanted a bit of freshers' week, yeah, a bit of being a 19, 20-year-old. So, um, yeah, it didn't, it didn't feel right, and I decided to go down the Cardiff path, which, um, I'm grateful for because a lot of my best mates I met at Cardiff. Um, and yeah, it's almost like that sliding doors moment, isn't it? You don't really know how your life's going to turn out It's quite a big decision at the time. My grandma was not very happy.

I can imagine.

Yeah, she was not very happy, but yeah, worked out pretty well and pretty content with the choice I made.

What was it like balancing everything? Sport, studies at Cardiff, what was that like?

Yeah, it was tough. I think it'd be tougher now, we were kind of semi-professional back then. I was quite lucky uni looked after me, I was able to kind of go away and then I'd come back and absolutely cram and do all my essays and do all my exams in sort of periods when I was less busy. So yeah, it was fun. Like, I quite enjoy having different things going on. I think it makes me a better cricketer if I've got other things in my life, gives me a lot of perspective. And yeah, it means that cricket isn't the be-all and end-all for me, and that's probably something I've taken throughout my career, I think, and it enables me to play better on the pitch. So pretty happy.

Brilliant. So she's not the only smart one. I've seen this with my own eyes. You do a Rubik's Cube in 33 seconds live on on TV. Where did that skill come from?

That was quite the most nervous I've ever been to perform any sort of stuff on TV. I remember my legs were like shaking, like the camera's like cropped from the waist up, but you can't tell. I learned walking, I was walking to school and the guy I walked to school with when we were like 12, he could do it, and you know when you're just like watching someone and they could do something that you can't, you're like, that's annoying, like, so I learned kind of then and it's quite a nice thing, like once you can do it you don't have to think about it loads, so you can kind of just kind of on the back burner, she keeps you entertained.

So you did it whilst you're walking?

So yeah, yeah, so like that's awesome. When you, when you kind of know how to do it, you can kind of— okay, yeah, you just start each step and then you can look around, check there's no cars, look left, look right, left again, and then cross the road and stuff.

Yeah, okay. So if, uh, I was at a random cricket match, you didn't know I was going to be there, and I was walking around the boundary and I just chucked you— well, it is my— that is kind of what I've been doing for a while. If I just chucked you a random Rubik's Cube, put the camera on and said, let's go. Do you think you could get it?

I could definitely solve it. It depends on like how hard the solve is, how like what type of cube it is. Some of them are really fast, some of them are a bit slower and a bit clunkier. You have to really turn each bit. Some of them you can just do it.

So we'll get you a Peak Rubik's Cube.

Don't worry.

Yeah, you have to oil your Rubik's Cube.

They do.

Yeah, they do need lube.

Sorry I asked that.

Who knew so much about Rubik's Cubes? Yeah, I did. I also know that you both have played a lot of other sports in your background. You liked hockey and tennis?

Played football as well. I'm a Plymouth Argyle graduate.

Oh yeah?

Played for the academy down there. Far too slow to be a footballer. I was a solid sort of, yeah, centre-back. No one would really get past me, else they'd beat me, so I'd have to make sure they didn't make it past me. Occasional, like on the wing, right wing sometimes when the fancy got up. Up the pitch a little bit, but yeah, love football. Played a lot of squash as well. Squash was a big one. My reverse sweep is based on a squash backhand, I reckon, is why the sort of the flick of the wrist, definitely gained from many years on the squash court.

So if you could represent England in another sport, what would it be? I mean, I know you like your golfing.

Yeah, I was going to say golf. I'm not sure it's like you can represent England in golf.

Well, you Solheim Cup Europe.

Oh, I'd love to be Solheim Cup. Is that you? Yeah, love it. I went a couple of years ago, it was amazing. When they won it in Spain.

Yeah.

And yeah, I'd love to get there.

All right, so golf's up there. What would you go for?

Maybe like 100 meters, just because it's like a flex if you're good at it, isn't it? I'm not saying that I'm good enough now. Now?

Obviously not.

Are you working on it?

Yeah, working on it.

LA28, 100 meters.

LA28. But no, I think that's like a flex to like, yeah, like I run 100 meters.

Do you be like Usain Bolt?

Yeah, that's cool, innit?

That is pretty cool. Well, I've heard that you've also got a flex in something called Eton Fives.

Actually the current under-25 national champion with Bethan Miles, she plays for Surrey, left-arm spin.

So again, what is Eaton Foes?

It's a bit like squash, you just use your hands, you've got gloves on, use your hands, and the court's got all sorts of like funny ledges and stuff, so yeah, it's quite like, you've got to be quite agile and like learn to read it and stuff, and then like you've got to get the ball over a certain point, so use your hand and stuff, it's quite good fun.

Like a mime, like you were?

Yeah, you were right, yeah, they're like padded because the ball's quite hard.

Okay.

And then like you basically hit the ball with your hand instead of like a racket.

Okay, and how do you get to the success level that you did, you know?

You've just got to be really good, haven't you?

Talent, is it?

No, I played at school, and so me and Milo played against each other all the way we were at school, and I always used to forget she's like ambidextrous, so I'd play like a really good shot to her left hand and I'd be like, that's a winner, and she's like left-handed, so she'd just get it up.

Is it quite a small playing field?

Very small playing field, yeah. So then we obviously both play cricket now, but I texted her like at the end of the season last year being like, oh, just quietly, the under-25s, in like October, like, you doing anything? And she was like, no. And we walked off and neither of us have played in like a few months. We won it.

Yeah. All right, well, another career coming hopefully. There's 30s, under 30s.

Yeah, I've got one more year in the under 25s and then there's the Open, which is like anyone can play, but that felt like, I think I was in South Africa and Milo was—

Would have gotten away with you, England.

Yeah, it's not gotten away with me.

And your 100-meter training.

I'm 100-meter training as well, my track training. So it's been a really tough winter actually.

And Lubin, yeah.

Yeah, Lubin, my keeper.

Well, let's talk about a little bit of cricket, not too much on the field, but just generally in your career, Izzy. You mean, you came on the scene so young. Successes, tough moments, comebacks. How have you found the journey?

It's been cool, yeah. I've really enjoyed, like, certainly the last year, like, getting back out and, yeah, I guess, like, being able to represent my country as well is pretty cool. And especially when, you know, you first come on, you think it's gonna last forever and it doesn't, and then I think, yeah, to come back from that and I guess have the sort of appreciation for like, actually, like I've worked my nuts off to be here and just trying to go out and enjoy it, I guess.

What about you, Heather? I mean, you've, I played in your first debut match, I think. I think it was my last match when I was on the downer. We opened the batting together. I think we opened the batting together. And then that was it. And then obviously you've had a long—

I pushed you out the team.

You did, yeah.

You've still got that knife mark in your back.

I would've still been in England if it wasn't for Ever. And then obviously you've had an incredible career. Give me your highlights first of all.

Oh God, highlights.

There's so much more to come, but give me your highlights.

Playing with Ebs.

Yeah, that one.

Open in the bank with Ebs.

Yeah, batting with Ebs in India. Wow, 2017 World Cup was pretty special. I have to mention that one. And like some amazing Test matches as well. Like the moments that really jump out are those little moments in Test matches, not necessarily like me doing well, but like just those little spells in Test cricket where, remember one, you made your debut at Taunton, it's like 5 o'clock, new ball, witching hour, Izzy's charging in, witching hour, like hunting wickets, like the, just the buzz around the team and the sort of elation that you get when you take a wicket, just like little moments like that just really, yeah, stick in my memory, that feeling of sort of really fighting in Test cricket. I love those moments and Yeah, how they changed, like Test match in Canberra where it was sort of like ebbs and flows and somehow ended— Ebbs and flows ended in a—

That could have been us if we were still a partnership, but you've been me off the team. Anyway, carry on.

But yeah, lots, like obviously 300 caps later since I opened the batting with you, Ev, so it's been a good old journey. Lots of highs and lows, I think, but yeah, it's been a really fun ride.

There's an interview from back in 2015, Heather, you were asked what food you couldn't live without. Izzy, what food do you think she said?

Did you say something boring like wheatgrass?

Probably, yeah.

Maybe a bit. No, not wheatgrass, I can't remember what I said.

I love veg. Sometimes when we're on tour, it's not easy to get hold of asparagus, broccoli, or whatever. So I make the most of it when I'm home. So clearly you're a healthy eater. This goes back to 2015.

Yeah, that's what I do like asparagus, to be fair. I don't know why broccoli's in there. I think I felt like I had to like give the professional vibe, you know? Yeah. That doesn't sound like on stage.

First time I got asked that, what I said Pizza.

Yeah, that is quite surprising. Okay, so I could live without broccoli, I think.

But what was your comfort food?

This was 10 years ago.

Pizza.

Oh, comfort food.

Lasagne.

I love ramen noodles. Yeah, like ramen.

Yeah, I like Japanese food as well, like a good bit of sushi or like karaage chicken. Oh, delicious.

Okay, good to see you share some of that.

I do like edamame though, I do like my veg to be fair.

Okay, yeah, big into veg.

So he's changed between 2015 and now.

Yeah, a little bit, yeah.

Question for you, Izzy.

England's walkout song. I know you love Liverpool. You'll Never Walk Out Alone is a big song from them. If you had to do your England song, what would you choose? I'm not sure. What songs do you like?

What songs do I like?

Dunkley likes Power by Little Mix.

Yeah, I'm not sure about Power by Little Mix. No offence, Little Mix.

Yeah, yeah, they're not on your playlist.

They're big into their cricket.

We're quite big into our music, aren't we? So I feel like we would go for a bit more of a classic rather than Power by Little Mix.

Power by Little Mix is very sort of, yeah, 20s.

I'd go sort of like quite a punchy rocked, like a, I don't know, like a Queen or an AC/DC.

Yeah, I'd appreciate a Queen or an AC/DC.

All right, we're going to finish up. Quickfire, just say what comes to your brain. What's the last gig or event you went to?

I went to Oasis last year. Richard Ashcroft was highlight. I love, love The Verve. Watching Richard Ashcroft live was unbelievable. Have I been 26 then?

We saw Maccabees.

Oh, we did see Maccabees together actually, yeah.

Okay, if you weren't a cricketer, what would you do?

Professional camper van.

Hey mate, I'm with you on that.

I'm not sure how I'm following it, but maybe just go and watch every Liverpool game.

So you'd be a Liverpool fan professionally?

Yeah, just professionally.

Yeah, I don't know.

Just go to every game home and away? Home.

I feel like that's what I do miss sometimes when we go away, like not being able to go to the game. So when I'm at home, I try and make the most of it. So if I didn't play cricket.

Quit fire, mate. Quit fire, quit fire.

One thing that people don't know about you?

I've got the highest, the world record for the highest ever game of cricket I played in.

The high, as in?

Top of Mount Kilimanjaro.

Oh wow, I didn't know that. That is very cool.

I've got the Guinness certificate.

Have you? Oh, have you?

Yeah. That's pretty cool. I can say the months of the year backwards in under 8 seconds. It's quickfire, we don't really have time, I guess. December, November, October, September, August, July, June, May, April, March, February, January.

Oh yes, you lost it!

Alright.

That was nice.

Lastly, if you could add one skill from a teammate to your own game, who and what would it be?

I've been working on my left arm seam, but it's not quite there yet, but I haven't got the left arm spin yet, so maybe Sophie Eccleston's left arm spin.

I would go Izzy Wong's wicket celebration, because yeah, when you get a bit older, you get a bit less enthusiastic, and she's very enthusiastic when she gets a wicket, so just need to bring a bit of passion back.

Rinse and repeat, and it'll be fun.

There are episodes with the likes of Lauren Bell, Freya Kemp, and Sophia Dunkley to come. They'll be dropping every Monday throughout the tournament. That is it for this episode of the TMS Podcast. Make sure you're subscribed so you never miss an episode in what is an incredibly busy home summer on the BBC with every ball of the Women's T20 World Cup and the men's Test series against New Zealand on Test Match Special. Thanks for listening. We'll speak to you next time.

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