Kate Cross Blog: England Women start with a win in South Africa

Kate Cross and the England Women's team get off to a winning start in South Africa, try out a new team song and go on safari...

Stormy start

Having said goodbye to Potchefstroom, we made it to Pretoria to start some specific preparation for the first ODI in Benoni.

We played two warm-up matches against a South Africa Women's Emerging XI, which was a really good opportunity to put all the work from the nets into practice. We won both games convincingly, giving the group a lot of confidence going into the ODIs. 

But one thing we have discovered pretty quickly about South Africa is how rapidly the weather can change. There have been some serious thunderstorms in the last week, much to the dismay of Jenny Gunn, who is absolutely petrified of them, bless her.

Unlike her, I have been glued to my window watching them, even managing to snap a photo or two.

Squad on safari

During our time off we have been lucky enough to get a true taste of South Africa by going on safari, which was an amazing experience. We visited Pilansberg National Park and spent a good four hours out in the truck spotting some animals.

Although we only managed to see the tail of a lion (it was too hot for them to come out), we did see plenty of rhinos, giraffes, elephants, zebras and hippos. 

Our strength and conditioning coach, Ian Durrant, was left a bit red faced after shouting about spotting a 'Melvin' (a giraffe for anyone not a fan of the film Madagascar), only to then follow-up, saying, 'oh no wait, it's just a big stick'.

Everyone really enjoyed the chance to get out and see what this incredible country has to offer before we start the series. Lucky ladies!

Nicknames and new songs 

We got the ODI series off to a cracking start on Sunday with a win. 'The Hoof', aka Anya Shrubsole, was straight back into match-mode with a brilliant four-for, and it was finished off nicely with our batters showing some real intent and getting the job done quickly, despite the rain-affected innings. 

It was great to see Lauren Winfield and Amy Jones going out and attacking the opening bowlers, playing aggressive cricket. It's hopefully a good indication of the way we want to play our cricket and a sign of things to come. 

The win meant that we were able to trial our new team song which went down really a treat. Big up to Lyd (Lydia Greenway), Trev (Heather Knight), Sciver (Natalie Sciver) and Jonesy (Amy Jones) for a successful first run out. 

And speaking of successful debuts, I'd like to congratulate Robbo (Mark Robinson) and Sals (Ian Salisbury) on their winning coaching debut. Not a bad start to their campaign! 

Catch you soon, Crossy.