20 March - Auckland - England player Kate Cross post-match press conference
Reporter: Hi Kate, what was the mood like on the bench when Nat went out with 8 to win?
Kate: I think we've always got to believe you can win from that position. I've just said it in a few interviews, but we don't really have a number 11 in this team. So the fact that Anya is batting at number 11 is also quite a calming influence on the rest of the group, when she does go out in those circumstances. But I think reflecting more on the fact that we shouldn't have got ourselves to the position that Anya was walking out to bat there - so she's done brilliantly to get us over the line - it's never easy when you are number 11, because obviously if you're the wicket that goes down it's never nice, but she her and Charlie Dean I thought were brilliant out there under quite a lot of pressure.
Reporter: You getting into position, we've seen that a number of times in the tournament. Why do you think it is that these games keep getting so close for you?
Kate: I think we're just not quite being clinical enough. I guess if we look at that performance, I thought we did the first half very well to restrict New Zealand just over 200 after the start that they got I thought was a great effort in the field and with the ball. But we talked so much about partnerships and we couldn't quite extend the batting partnership today. I thought Nat and Heather batted well together but we just needed someone to stay out there and try and see it home and then I think if we're completely honest, I think the weather just obviously affected the pitch a little bit, it was skidding on a little bit more and I don't think we may be adjusted to that as well as we should have done as a batting unit. So the main thing is we've got the win on the board and we've got the points that we needed, which I think if you'd have asked us at the start the day with the weather that was around we'd have absolutely taken a one wicket win - so yeah, we don't want to be too negative about the fact that we have got that win on the board.
Reporter: Brook Hardy was a bit of a surprise bowler how much preparation and analysis have you done on her prior to today?
Kate: I'm not often in the batting meeting so I don't know but yeah, she was a bit of a surprise for us obviously when you lose two players like Leah and Sophie it's not easy for a team to come back from that, but she came on and nearly gotten out with a few bowls that she bowled and then she did pick up the wicket, so I think it's just unfortunate for them that they had the injuries that they did, but yeah then Brooke came in and did as well a job that she could have done, probably with her preparation as well.
Reporter: First is - that after you know missing the previous edition to come out here and what this tournament means to you and then to be in a position where you have to win every game and come out and perform like this. How do you feel about that.
Did you actually play that thing – Nasser had to say the podcast to the team?
Kate: No, I do encourage all the girls to listen to the podcast but I'm not sure that they did - But I think it was what he said was something that we knew anyway, we knew that if we got on a little bit of a winning streak, then there's a great chance that we can make it through to the knockout stages and hopefully get ourselves into a final here. But I think we've just got to take it a game at a time, which is what we think we're doing really well so far. As you know, we've been playing cricket now for a week. And it's just about taking things off now as we go. So the fact that we've got those first two wins is so important to us. And we've got two more must win games to come. So yes, it's been a difficult tournament for us. It's obviously not gone how we wanted it to or how we envisaged that it would but I think we're starting to just pick ourselves up at the right time, especially with the ball and in the field. I think we've been brilliant in the last two games particularly in the field.
Reporter: What does it mean for you personally to be in your first World Cup?
Kate: Yes, it's really exciting. There's a lot going on. A lot of moving around. Obviously traveling in New Zealand is by plane - a lot bigger than England. So it's quite tiring but it's been an incredible experience. And I think today was probably the performance I've been looking for personally with the ball and you know, I've not felt like I've contributed as much as I would have liked to in the first couple of games so feeling good, but yeah, we've still got a lot of a lot of cricket to play that is very important cricket so you don't want to get too far ahead of yourself. But yeah.
Reporter: First of all, how's the heart rate?
Kate: It's just got down now. I think we've all taken a breath after that. But yeah, it wasn't very nice to be sat in that dugout and I think now I know how everyone felt when I was batting in that test match. So yeah, did not enjoy being in the dugout for that.
Reporter: Yeah, my other question is, Charlie Dean now looks like has a knack of taking important wickets - it all started in the 100. It still is going on whether it was against India, whether it was against New Zealand in the home series, even today, a word on how she has been developing in the England setup.
Kate: Yeah, she's been brilliant. I think that's, I guess the 100 that we've got domestically back home is what prepares these young girls now to come in and play international cricket because that step up now isn't as drastic as it used to be. So Charlie played in 100 probably wasn't too dissimilar to kind of the crowd that we've got today and the pressure that was on her, but she keeps it nice and simple. And I think the fact that we've bated in the field as well today was really helpful but yeah, we've got a lot of young talent, got girls out on the bench who haven't played much cricket for England, but when they come in, hopefully they'll be able to put the hand up and get a good performance in - but Dean has been brilliant. She's great in the field. She's energetic, and like I said she just keeps it simple.
Reporter: It all started because of your answer to ICC about Anya Shrubsole’s Eminem love affair with Eminem - so she promised us in the post-match press conference of the last match that she's going to belt out “lose yourself” I just want to know who is going to lose it yourself to her today. Because she basically didn't drop her the game and did everything that was asked for her to do.
Kate: I'll sing anything that Anya wants me to sing to her but I'm pretty sure she won't want any attention for what she's done today. But to be able to go out there and finish that game off it was just so important to us as a team. Obviously, it keeps our hopes alive in this tournament. And I think when we look back, there are going to be the really tiny moments that when we found a way to win today. And it felt like at the start of the tournament we were finding ways to lose - so the fact that we've managed to get the win today is very, very important and kudos to Anya for going out there and completing it for us.
Reporter: On lighter note, what was your age before the tournament began? And how much have you aged nine matches into it? But on a serious note, when you came into the attack with the ball, Suzie Bates and Sophie even had gotten off to a great start - your experienced bowlers in Brunt and Shrubsole were struggling to find the lines and lengths, how did you manage to kind of almost nail it right and what was your game plan at that point?
Kate: I think I have quite a simple game plan. In any situation, really. And I think today was one where I knew that if I could just keep it simple and try and dot them up then it might force an error which it did with Suzie Bates. But yeah, I think sometimes when Katherine and Anya bat - they obviously was struggling with the wind today. It was absolutely putrid out there. If I'm being completely honest, it was really difficult spell to bowl from that end, so sometimes when it is like that, and it's that windy, it almost makes me just think about one thing and keep it strong in my action. And if I'm doing that, then you know the result will come because that's - sometimes you can get a bit caught up with what's going on at the other end, especially when Suzie bats. It can feel quite chaotic. So yeah, it was just a real case of keeping it simple again for me today and try and drive back as much as possible and try and get a little bit of control back and like I said ultimately that’s Suzie Bates, so it was just - it was nice to contribute to that and kind of calm everything down a bit after the start that we had.
Reporter: Hello, Kate. Have you played your final Get Out of Jail Free card now in this tournament?
Kate: No, I hope not. I think we've got another one in the bank somewhere. But I think like I said it's just about finding ways of winning and we found a way to win today and we'll go away we'll review our batting, honestly, and we'll review our bowling honestly as well like we do with every game. But yeah, I think it feels like we've lost - it feels a little bit like there's quite a lot of negative chatter around it, which obviously is not the case we just won a must win game of cricket against New Zealand on their home soil at Eden Park with the biggest crowd that we've played in front of so you know, to come away with two points is still massive. And we shouldn't be too disheartened either because we did half of that game very, very well. And tournament cricket is all about peaking at the right time. So as long as we can keep going and keep making improvements, which I feel like we have since the first couple of games then hopefully we can get ourselves into that knockout stage.
Reporter: Can I just ask about the weather as well? Was there any chatter about it amongst the players down on the dugout because it was obviously raining really heavily? You were miles ahead on DLS - should they have even gone that far? Should you have come off a long time actually before the finish?
Kate: Yeah, obviously not my decision to make. Obviously it was fine to keep us out there. And ultimately we did finish the game. I think at the start of the day, we weren't sure we'd even get the second innings in because the forecast was so bad. So the fact that we got to the stage where Duckworth Lewis would come into it was probably more of a positive than we realized. But yeah, I think we can't blame the weather too much when we try to chase a score of 200 on a good pitch and we get ourselves into that position. I think we've got to make sure we take responsibility for how we batted today.
Reporter: My question is just your thoughts on Heather Knights catch and just like - does it kind of feel that you have turned the contract when it comes to fielding from where you started the tournament and where you all are right now?
Kate: Heather’s catch was absolutely brilliant. She said to us in the huddle before we went out that she wanted a good run out and she wanted a specky catch. She was the one that took the specie for us- so I think the fielding is something that we recognized in the first game that we weren't our standard, and it was in Mount Manganui and our first training session before we played South Africa there. We made a real shift with our mindset with that and how we can positively influence the game in the field and obviously that helps bowlers build a bit of pressure as well. So I feel like our training has been a lot better in the past week. And that's been something that we've, I guess taken control over we know that we can control ourselves in the field. So yeah, it's something that we've worked incredibly hard on not just this tournament, over the past two years, we've really been pushing our standard. We see heather take those catches all the time in training - so the fact that she's got one on TV I'm sure we'll all get to see the replay of it when she shows it to us later.