Kate Cross to Retire from Cricket at End of Summer
Kate Cross, who played 102 times for England across 12 years, has announced she will retire from cricket at the end of the summer.
The 34-year-old fast bowler made the announcement on 21 August 2026, bringing down the curtain on a career that began when she debuted for Lancashire aged 14 and became the first woman admitted to the county's academy BBC Sport.
Cross played her last international — a one-day international against India in July — and has been turning out in domestic cricket since losing her England central contract in September 2025. She signed a one-year deal with Lancashire for the 2026 county season, extending a 21-year association with the club BBC Sport. She is due to play the remainder of the season for Lancashire, including against The Blaze on Sunday in Nottingham.
Her international career stretches across formats and eras. She made her England debut aged 22 in a T20 (the shortest international format, 20 overs per side) in the West Indies and featured in England's 2013-14 Ashes win — their most recent Women's Ashes victory BBC Sport. The Ashes, for newcomers, is the historic contest between England and Australia, dating back to 1934 in the women's game.
Cross finishes with 25 wickets in Test cricket (the multi-day format), 101 in one-day internationals and 14 in T20 internationals BBC Sport. Reaching 100 ODI wickets places her among a small group of England women's bowlers to hit that mark.
The path to retirement was not a straight line. Cross was left out of the England side by new head coach Charlotte Edwards last summer, dropped during the one-day series against India BBC Sport. She had considered retirement when she lost her central contract but committed to another full season as a professional ESPN. Earlier in her career, she battled a parasite infection that required multiple rounds of antibiotics before she was named in England's Ashes Test squad BBC Sport.
Just last weekend, Cross played in The Hundred final — the franchise's 100-ball competition — for Sunrisers Leeds, a reminder that she kept competing at the top of the domestic game right to the finish BBC Sport.
Dame Sarah Storey, chair of Lancashire, described Cross as a "true Lancashire legend" who made an incredible contribution to both Lancashire and England Women BBC Sport. The England and Wales Cricket Board also published a video in which former England team-mate Alex Hartley reflected on Cross's retirement, described as a chance to say goodbye ECB.
For fans, Cross's retirement closes a chapter that spanned the amateur-to-professional transition in the women's game. She was a teenager playing county cricket before the professional era arrived, and she finishes as a centurion in England caps. Few players bridge that gap so completely.
