Kate Cross

Lancashire-born Kate Cross started to play cricket from a very young age. She played for the junior Lancashire side at the age of 13 and two years later, she became the first girl to be accepted into the Lancashire Academy. Having made her Lancashire debut in 2005, Cross has been a regular member of the squad ever since.

The first call-up to the national side came in 2011, when Cross was picked for the Ashes. However, she couldn’t make it to the playing XI until 2013, when she made her first appearance for England in a T20I encounter against West Indies. On the same tour, she made her one-day international debut against the Caribbean side and shone in her first outing by scalping four wickets for 51 runs at Barbados. That performance earned her the Player of the Match award.

She broke into the playing XI of the national side in the Ashes one-off Test at Perth in 2014. She picked three wickets apiece in either innings and helped her side claim a victory against their arch rivals. Cross bagged her maiden five-wicket haul in international cricket in Lincoln against New Zealand in 2015, where she returned with figures of 5/24.

In the 2015-16 edition of the Big Bash League, Cross represented Brisbane Heat. Back home, since its inception, she has been part of the Lancashire Thunder set-up. In February 2019, Cross was awarded a central contract by the ECB. In The Hundred competition Cross captains the Manchester Originals.

Personal life: Her father David Cross was a footballer and won the FA Cup with West Ham United in 1980.