Kate Cross happy to carry great expectations as she crosses Roses divide to The Hundred's Northern Superchargers

Cross was the first female accepted into Lancashire’s cricket academy and to play in the Lancashire Central League, as well as one of the initial 18 women awarded a contract by the England and Wales Cricket Board.

An overseas signing for Brisbane Heat in the inaugural Women’s Big Bash, she captained Manchester Originals in The Hundred’s debut season and hit the women’s competition’s first six.

Adding to that resume, the England bowler was the Superchargers’ top choice in the first women’s draft. Being signed up by the Yorkshire-based franchise, for a tournament-high £31,250, was quite a shock.

“I didn’t quite anticipate I’d be going over to my rivals, but there we are,” Cross told The Yorkshire Post. “It has actually been quite a strange process because it is the first time we’ve had to deal with being sold and bought and having a price tag on your head. The men are a bit more used to it than us, but I think we will get more used to it as it happens more and I think it is actually a really good thing for the women’s game.

“There’s a lot of talking points around it and a bit more movement, which is one of the reasons why teams are only allowed to retain four players. I think it did what it set out to achieve, but it is a bit of a strange thing to be a part of.”

That said Cross, 31, accepts she has experienced “the real positive end” of a player auction and not everyone was so fortunate. She said: “Superchargers and [coach] Dani Hazel really did seem to value what I can bring to that team and were willing to pay me top bracket.

“For my confidence, that’s incredible. I am the kind of player who wants people to want me to play for them. I really value being valued. I think that’s a really positive start to what my journey at Superchargers is going to be.

“Obviously, you’ve got the flip side of that and the girls who are on the other end, not getting picked up in the draft or being sold at a price they thought they should have been higher.

“We are at a stage in the Women’s Hundred where it’s not £125,000 like the men are getting, but those value brackets aren’t quite that dissimilar. I can understand why people might think they should be valued a bit higher.

“It is a really fascinating part of the game. Tactically, we’re not that used to it and it is something we are going to have to get used to. There was a lot of movement and that’s what they wanted from that draft.”

The price tag will put Cross under added pressure, but that’s not something she will shy away from. She stressed: “With the price tag comes the expectation, but I have never really been affected by things like that.

“I have been the overseas player, I’ve been to the WBBL [Australia’s Women’s Big Bash League] and played in the T-20 Challenge over in India and there is that expectation of you.

“And I think just being the England player in the draft, even playing at Manchester, there’s that expectation to lead and do well and win games for your team.

“I think I’m just going to take the rough with the smooth with that. I think everyone wants to be the perfect cricketer, but you can’t go out there and win every single game for your team - unless you’re called Nat Sciver-Brunt - so I am just going to try and embrace it as much as possible and make sure I give my best for the team when the time comes in August.”

Cross was born in Manchester and has spent the entire English portion of her career so far based west of the Pennines, but was not retained by the Originals. That will make for an interesting occasion when the sides meet, but she is relishing a fresh challenge.

“The retention they offered me wasn’t what I was willing to be paid for by them, especially leading the team,” revealed Cross. “They offered me a lower bracket and I always knew there was a chance I could go elsewhere. Dani Hazel needed a seamer and valued me high enough to put me in that bracket, which is a really nice part of the story for me.

“On the flip side, I’d been with Manchester for two years and would have been leading them had I stayed there. It is an interesting process to get my head around. Manchester’s been all I’ve really known, so I think it’s going to be a wonderful challenge for me, coming into a new team and working with some new teammates, new captain, new overseas players and new coach.

“I am looking forward to that and I have some really good memories at Headingley. I have said before, they are the worst crowd to play in front of as an away team so it’s going to be really nice to get the opposite of that and have the home advantage, because it is a very loud crowd on the Western Terrace.”

Cross predicted: “Playing against Manchester, twice, will be strange. I am just going to embrace the challenge as much as possible. It feels like a no-lose situation for me. I get to play against the teammates I have known for a long time and that rivalry will be there, because I am a really competitive person so I am going to want to win as much as possible.

“I have got three more months to get my head around it, but I think if I had to wear a white rose on my top it would feel very, very different.”

Cross, however, has close links with her new home base, having studied at Leeds University.

“It’s my second home,” she said. “I lived in Headingley for three years and got to train in the East Stand with Leeds Uni. It is a really familiar city for me and I have got some great memories at Headingley as well. It is a great place to play cricket.”

This year will be the Hundred’s third season and the concept has yet to be adopted by any other nation. That has led to suggestions it could be axed and potentially replaced by a new T20 tournament, but Cross is a big fan.

The male and female competitions run together, with matches played as double-headers and that has raised the profile of women’s cricket, Cross believes. She said: “For all the negative comments there are, I think there’s a lot of people fighting to make people aware of how much it has done for the women’s game.

“It is easy as a player involved in it to say how wonderful it is and how much it has progressed the game in the UK and hopefully we are going to see that grow. The crowds grew by 20 per cent for the women’s games last year and we are consistently getting higher average crowds coming to watch the women’s games before they stay on to watch the men.

“That is incredible and it has kind of set women’s cricket alight in this country. A lot of people have said to me they knew nothing of women’s cricket before the Hundred came along, but it is on TV every single day and our games, being earlier, are played at times when people are at home and kids are watching TV and seeing women playing cricket.”

For someone steeped in the sport, that is heartening. Cross recalled: “When I was a kid I didn’t know women played and they were certainly never on my telly.

“That’s a big part of it, but we will have to make sure we keep moving with how quickly women’s cricket is growing. We’ve seen what’s happened in Australia with a significant increase in budgets for the women’s game and we can’t afford to fall too far behind that because we still want the best players in the world coming and playing in the Hundred.

“It has been incredible for the last two years and we want to make sure it keeps moving in the right direction and everyone’s proactive and it keeps up with the times.”

Northern Superchargers will be based at Headingley this summer with tickets prices at just £5 for juniors aged six-15, free for children five and under and from only £12 for adults.

To book, log on to https://www.thehundred.com/tickets?matches=group.