Kate Cross, England's experienced seam bowler, remains hopeful of securing a spot in the T20 World Cup squad despite her recent absence from the format. Cross returned to the ODI side for England's emphatic victory over New Zealand, but her sights are set on the upcoming Hundred tournament as an opportunity to showcase her skills and earn a recall to the T20 team.
Cross has not featured in a T20I since December 2019 and has not taken a wicket in the format since the Women's Ashes in 2019. However, she is determined to prove her worth to head coach Jon Lewis and convince him to include her in the squad for the T20 World Cup in Bangladesh in October.
"Lewy's said, 'never say never,' with T20 cricket, he's said he's definitely not ruled me out for future series or games," Cross said. "But I can just control what I can control and I know I've got the Hundred coming up where I'll be able to open the bowling and try and finish games off for the Superchargers."
Cross acknowledges that the competition for places in the T20 team is fierce, but she is confident in her abilities and believes that the Hundred will provide her with the perfect platform to demonstrate her value.
"So for me, that's my opportunity to showcase to him what I can do and if that's good enough, it's good enough, and if it's not, then I'll obviously support the girls from quite a distance as I won't be in Bangladesh."
If Cross is overlooked for the T20 World Cup, she will have the ODI World Cup in India next year to aim for. However, her focus remains on the immediate task of helping England win the current ODI series against New Zealand and continuing to develop her game.
"We are probably more focused on the T20 World Cup at the minute, obviously that's the one more in front of us, but we're still trying to evolve our 50-over game as well to make sure that we are as well prepared as we possibly can be when it gets to that Ashes series," Cross said.
Cross believes that England's recent success in white-ball cricket is a testament to the team's growing maturity and ruthlessness. She is confident that the team can continue to improve and achieve even greater things in the future.
"That's where winning games of cricket, how we are at the minute, is really pleasing because we're playing what's in front of us and as we keep moving forward as a group and learning how best to play conditions, then hopefully what we're learning from these series, we'll travel over and we'll be able to keep that ruthless nature and take that into big ICC events and obviously that'll stand you in good stead to win trophies."
Tags: #KateCross, #EnglandCricket, #T20WorldCup, #Hundred, #Women'sCricket
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