Follow UsEngland right-arm pacer Kate Cross has opened up on her snub from England's Women's ODI World Cup squad that will be travelling to India for the tournament later in September this year.
Speaking on No Balls Podcast, which Cross co-hosts along with her former teammate Alexandra Hartley, the pacer said that the decision was hard for her to process, and it reflected that she has fallen out of favour with head coach Charlotte Edwards. Notably, England went with Em Arlott, Lauren Filer and Lauren Bell as their three pacers for the tournament in India.
“It's hard to take, because I don't feel like I've done enough to deserve not being on that plane. Everyone who is a current player who doesn't get selected is going to disagree with selections and going to think that they should be there,” Cross said on her podcast, as quoted by ESPN Cricinfo.
“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 [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.”
While talking about the snub despite being good with the ball, Cross mentioned that it felt “savage” to be left out of the team like that. She also mentioned that she had an indication that she might not be picked, as she didn't play the Lord's ODI against India and was then left out of the Durham game as well.
“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 added.
“It's what you sign up for. 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."
The Women’s ODI World Cup will begin in India from September 29 and will go on till November 2.