Hello Heather! Hello Small Talk!
Shall we get the business out of the way? We hear you’ve recently signed up to become a brand ambassador for Nutrition X. So what’s one of those? It’s just a sort of nutrition company that myself and [off-spinner] Laura Marsh have been aligned with. It’s a company I’ve started using recently and I’m really pleased with them.
Which is just as well really. Obviously with the international schedule that we have and the training that we do, it’s sort of the perfect link.
So it’s funny-tasting milkshakes with ingredients you’ve never heard of? It’s protein and caffeine and stuff. Everything I need to get me in the best shape to play on the pitch really.
Small Talk prefers a peanut butter sandwich, ideally washed down with something alcoholic. It’s really good stuff, though. Definitely one of the best I’ve tried.
Excellent. Talking of things you’ve tried, you’ve just tried playing in Australia for three months. Yeah, I’ve been out there this winter, playing for Tasmania. I felt like it was really beneficial for my game and I did reasonably well out there with Tassie. Some of their teams have got five or six international players, so it was a really good competition to get some match practice in and play to a good standard.
What with two Ashes series in the last couple of years, a meeting in the 20/20 World Cup final and now a three-month sojourn into their territory, you must know the Australia team pretty well by now. Yes, we’ve been playing against the Aussies a hell of a lot in the last year to 18 months. We’ve definitely seen a lot of them.
Are you better mates than the men seem to be? Well obviously I can’t really speak for the men, but off the pitch I don’t mind the Aussies too much. We get on reasonably well. On the pitch, they play as hard as we do. We’ve had some pretty good battles in the last few years. It’s quite nice to leave that on the pitch and get on off the pitch.
Is there much sledging in the women’s game? Any threatened arm-breaking going on? We play as hard as the men do and the occasional word is said in the heat of the moment, but I don’t think it’s a big part of the women’s game. It’s more prim and proper I guess.
The last time you spoke to The Guardian you said you “don’t want women’s cricket to be all soft and fluffy”. It sounds like you’re still a little less Poms than pom-poms. Occasionally it’s crossed the line I think in men’s cricket. I love nothing better than seeing someone who’s passionate about the game putting everything into it and playing aggressive cricket, but I guess there’s that line that shouldn’t be crossed. It can go too far at times.
There’s another Ashes series to come this summer, but right now you’re in New Zealand. It’s a really good tour actually. New Zealand haven’t had the best 12 months as a squad but they’ve got some world-class players, Suzy Bates and Sophie Devine and players like that, mixed with a few youngsters that we haven’t seen that much of. So it’s a really exciting tour. We’ve got a few massive games that count towards our seeding for the World Cup, and with the Aussies coming over, we want to be in a good place as a squad and perform really well in New Zealand.
So the Ashes are already on your mind, at least a little bit? It’s hard not to have one eye on the summer, but we’ve got this tour first and we’re going to have to play really well to beat the Kiwis out there, and there’s a lot of competition for places now everyone’s fit so everyone wants to perform really well to put them into contention for the summer.
It’s a matter of record that on at least one occasion you’ve spent an entire innings humming One Direction’s Best Song Ever to yourself. That’s true. I occasionally try to get a song in my head – well, quite often actually – because I play my best cricket when I’m quite relaxed and having a little bit of fun. Luckily enough I haven’t got any One Direction songs stuck in my head at the moment.
So what’s in there instead? Generally I try to get quite a chilled-out, upbeat song that gets me not thinking too much about what’s going on with my feet or my hands or whatever, and gets me watching the ball and reacting quite naturally to it. It’s something that seems to work. When I need it I try to get some sort of song in my head, hopefully not a One Direction song though.
Small Talk’s looking for specifics, Heather … Oh, god, trying to think what I’ve had. A bit of John Newman, a bit of Oasis. I’m trying to think of what Oasis song. Um, whatever’s one that I’ve had in my head before. I love a bit of Oasis.
So do you sit on the balcony before you come out to bat with your headphones on, choosing a tune. Not at all. Our dressing-room, with the characters we’ve got in there it’s usually a pretty loud place. We have speakers in there, put some music on and there might be a song that sticks with me, or I’ll pick a song that I like and try to get it playing in my head. I don’t really sit around in the dressing-room with my headphones on or I might get a few odd looks. It’s a bit antisocial.
You spent your youth playing in mixed teams. Do you think that helped your game, at all? I grew up down in Plymouth so there wasn’t a huge amount of women’s cricket of good standard, so I played for my local men’s teams up to first XI. I definitely think it really helped me when I was younger. It really challenged me and pushed me and gave me a good standard of cricket. And I guess being the only girl there was always pressure on me to perform. If I didn’t it was always because I was just a girl, and shouldn’t really be playing. So I wanted to show people I was good enough.
Last year you played cricket with Ashley Giles at the top of Mount Kilimanjaro. That was seriously hard. It was a completely new experience, totally out of my comfort zone. Sleeping on a mountain for eight days, sharing a tent with [former England women’s captain, now chair of the ICC women’s committee] Clare Connor was good fun – it was good to get to know a different group of people and deal with different problems on a day to day basis. It’s something I really enjoyed and it raised a lot of money for charity as well.
The ball must have really flown up there. It did actually. The air was pretty thin. There were a few sixes hit, but there weren’t many runs taken because nobody could breathe after they’d taken a few steps. There weren’t many quick singles.
What’s the last film you saw in the cinema? I went last weekend as it happens, to see The Theory of Everything. Great film. I like all sorts of things – thrillers, epics, a bit of comedy as well. As long as it’s a decent film I’m not too fussy.
Who’d win a fight between a lion and a tiger? A lion. It’s got a bigger mane. It might get in the tiger’s eyes.
Interesting analysis. What’s your favourite pasta shape? I’d have to go with good old spaghetti I think. You can’t beat a Spag Bol.
Except with a nutritional protein shake, obviously. Of course.
So there’s a tour of New Zealand, another Ashes series, and, um, probably some other stuff. What are you most looking forward to in 2015? Good question. I think it’s got to be the Ashes series, especially with it being at home as well. I think with the two sides it’ll be a massive series. So I’m definitely looking forward to having the Aussies over.
Well Small Talk for one hopes you enjoy it. Thanks! Bye!
