Cross to retire from professional cricket at the end of home summer

England pacer Kate Cross has announced that she will retire from professional cricket at the end of the English summer, bringing the curtain down on a 15-year international career in which she made 102 appearances across formats.

The 34-year-old, who lost her ECB central contract in September last year and has not played for England since, will finish with 101 ODI wickets from 76 matches. She also took 25 wickets in eight Tests and 14 in 18 T20Is.

“This summer is going to be my last playing professional cricket,” Cross wrote in an Instagram post. “It's incredibly hard to imagine ever saying goodbye to playing the sport that has been such a huge part of my life and shaped me into the person I am today. But, the final chapter is in sight.”

Cross's association with Lancashire goes back almost two decades. Born in Lancashire, she joined the county's junior side at 13 before becoming the first girl admitted to the Lancashire Academy two years later. She made her senior Lancashire debut in 2005 and remained a regular for the county throughout her career.

Her England call-up came in 2011 for the Ashes, although she had to wait until 2013 for her international debut. She made her T20I bow against West Indies and followed it with her ODI debut on the same tour, taking 4/51 in Barbados to win the Player of the Match award.

Cross made her Test debut during the 2014 Ashes in Perth and immediately made an impact, taking three wickets in each innings as England won the one-off Test. Her best international figures came the following year when she claimed 5/24 against New Zealand in Lincoln.

Away from England and Lancashire, Cross also played in Australia's Women's Big Bash League for Brisbane Heat and was part of the Lancashire Thunder set-up from the beginning of the women's competition. She was awarded an ECB central contract in 2019 and later captained Manchester Originals in The Hundred.

Cross recently returned to domestic action for Sunrisers Leeds in the Hundred and will spend the remainder of the summer with Lancashire before bringing her playing career to an end.

“I feel so fortunate to have had the opportunity to play the game I love professionally and get to do it at the highest level,” she wrote. “But I'm even more fortunate to have met the people I have along the way. I have memories that will last a lifetime which I'll forever be thankful for.”