Heywood cricketer represents England

Heywood cricketer Kate Cross

A Heywood cricketer made her Test debut this week as the England women’s cricket team overcame Australia in Perth.

Kate Cross took six wickets as England raced to a comfortable 61-run victory in the one-off Test match.

Kate, a right arm medium-fast bowler who also represents Lancashire, enjoyed a fine Test debut and her three wickets during Australia’s second innings proved to be the turning point for the Three Lions.

The 22-year-old, who started playing cricket at the age of eight, has risen to international level after being the first female to be accepted into the Lancashire County Cricket Club academy and making her Lancashire first team debut at just 13 years old.

Kate comes from a family of sporting success. Her father David played football for Rochdale and Manchester City, amongst a host of other clubs, whilst her sister Jennifer has represented Northern Thunder in Superleague Netball and her brother Bobby is Heywood Cricket Club’s captain and highest ever run scorer.

Despite being involved with the England set-up since 2011, Kate had to wait until October 2013 to make her debut for the national side, which came in a Twenty20 fixture versus West Indies.

Her team’s victory in this one-off Test game has given them the perfect start to this Ashes series which continues with a One Day International game in Melbourne on 19 January.