I’m really good friends with Harmanpreet. I loved playing against her: Alex Hartley Premium

Alex Hartley, former England cricketer turned coach and commentator, discusses her career, podcast, and the future of women's cricket.

On radio during an England women’s cricket match some time back, Alex Hartley’s co-commentator told her that one of her records was going to be broken. “Normally I am in the record books for things like the most expensive bowling figures,” she said. The commentators’ box broke into hearty laughter.

Hartley has indeed made her presence felt on the BBC’s iconic Test Match Special. The former World Cup-winning left-arm spinner also entertains listeners with her popular podcast ‘No Balls’, which she presents alongside her former teammate Kate Cross.

Hartley is, of course, in the headlines these days more for her coaching. She is the spin coach of Multan Sultans in the Pakistan Super League. The franchise’s fast bowling coach is also a woman — Cath Dalton from Ireland; as is the general manager — Hijab Zahid.

The strong female presence in the support staff seems to be working for the Sultans. They qualified for the knockout stage with three games to spare.

Not surprisingly, that was one of the topics Hartley talked about in the latest edition of ‘No Balls’, which went on air just a few days before the International Women’s Day. “It is such a relief actually,” she said. “There was a little bit of criticism around us going into the competition; we got rid of six of our key players and had a revamp in the staff, no Andy Flower. We have the first two female coaches in Pakistan as well as the first female general manager.”

Though she retired as a cricketer last year, at the age of 29, Hartley remains very much part of the game in her different avatars. Excerpts from an interview with The Hindu:

You retired rather young. You played a key role in England’s World Cup win in 2017, but do you think you could have done more?