England Women's Kate Cross on PCA Awards and Women's Big Bash

England Women's Kate Cross reflects on two glittering awards nights and looks forward to bowling AT her international team-mates…

I still can't get my head around the fact that it is October already. Where has this year gone? 

I'm convinced cricket seasons fly by quicker and quicker every year, it seems only weeks ago that I was blogging about New Zealand! Since my last blog we have all had some time off to get away from cricket.

The PCA Awards night is to cricketers what Christmas is to children... a generous drinks allocation, great entertainment and, of course, the opportunity to celebrate a successful summer for English cricket.

An Ashes series can be as draining mentally as physically, and with England Women now not having an international series until February (when we travel to South Africa to play three ODIs and three T20Is), it's been a really good opportunity to recharge the batteries.

With the end of the cricket season comes the annual Professional Cricketers' Association (PCA) Awards.

Now, the PCA Awards night is to cricketers what Christmas is to children... an incredible London venue, a stunning four-course meal, a generous drinks allocation, great entertainment and, of course, the opportunity to celebrate a successful summer for English cricket.

England team sponsor, Waitrose, very kindly invited us as guests on their table, and having not seen some of the girls since the Women's Ashes, it was a really nice opportunity not only to put on some heels but also to have a good catch up.

The Waitrose England Women's Player of the Year award is voted for by us as players, which I think makes it slightly more special because it comes from within the dressing room.  

This year it was the turn of "The Hoof" (Anya Shrubsole) to collect the award, richly deserved, might I add.

Anya made the wise decision to drive home after the awards which obviously meant she wasn't drinking - a decision I'm convinced was made to minimise the chances of falling over on her way up to collect her award!

After all, this girl trips over dust on a daily basis! As always, it was a great night and a difficult train journey home the following day… Congratulations to all those who took home trophies.

Not long after recovering from the PCA Awards, it was onto the Lancashire Player of the Year awards on Saturday.

This was a great opportunity to applaud the Lancashire men's team on a fantastic trophy-winning, LV= County Championship Division Two promotion year!

The women's team also picked up their trophy and medals for promotion in the Women's County T20 Cup. Another fantastic evening with friends!

Now the celebrations have come to an end and it's time to get the cricket hat back on. It's just over a month until I will be flying out to Brisbane with Lauren Winfield to gear ourselves up for the inaugural Women's Big Bash League.

Having had almost a month away from cricket I'm really looking forward to getting back into the swing of things. I also have a lot of things I want to work on, as well as trying to get my head around playing against some of my team-mates.

I won't lie - the thought of bowling at Lottie, Sarah and Heather is a slightly daunting prospect but a challenge I'm really looking forward to.

I also can't wait to meet and play with my new team-mates; seeing how the likes of Jess Jonnassen, Grace Harris and Holly Ferling played against us in the Women's Ashes was fantastic - and to know I'll have them on my team is even better!

So I now can't wait to get over there and don the teal kit! I hope you will all be supporting the Heat this winter!

Crossy