Kate Cross still getting to terms with World Cup snub despite being a regular in the England side for years.
She is “struggling to get [her] head around” her “savage” exclusion from England’s squad for the 50-over World Cup in India, according to Kate Cross.
Since the last World Cup, the 33-year-old Cross has been a consistent member of England’s ODI team. Earlier this summer, she claimed her 100th wicket in the format. But because England chose to include an additional spinner for subcontinent conditions, she was benched during their series against India last month and was not included in the team at all on Thursday.
“But what I’m really struggling to get my head around is it all feels like it’s happened so quickly that I’ve just clearly fallen out of favour with Lot [England coach Charlotte Edwards]. That’s a hard bit to get my head [around]. If I’d had 14-18 months of being pretty average at cricket and not performing in an England shirt, then I think I’d understand it a bit more.
“I guess to an extent I have, because I didn’t have the best summer in an England shirt and I had a really tough winter and missed out a lot through the back injury. But I think leading into that, I definitely didn’t feel like I wouldn’t be on the plane. Being in the best XI [is] a different conversation, but [not even] being on the plane… It feels savage.”
Cross, who is not part of England’s T20I lineup, was originally benched by Edwards for a rain-shortened match against India at Lord’s and was not selected again for the series finale in Durham. “There’s so much for me to get my head around, and I haven’t processed it,” she stated. “It’s still really raw.”
With skipper Nat Sciver-Brunt expected to return from injury in time to provide an alternative, England has only selected three frontline seamers for the World Cup: Em Arlott, Lauren Bell, and Lauren Filer.
“It’s what you sign up for,” Cross said. “You don’t get to have those amazing highs without having these real lows, but it doesn’t make the lows any easier knowing that they’re going to be there. I probably had a good indication that I wasn’t going to be in this, or it would be tough to come back from being dropped in that last game… But it doesn’t make it any easier.”