Kate Cross to Retire From Cricket at End of 2026 Summer

Former England seamer Kate Cross has announced that she will retire from cricket at the end of the 2026 summer, bringing a professional career of more than a decade to a close. BBC Sport reported that the 34-year-old will complete her remaining domestic commitments with Lancashire before stepping away from the game.

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Cross said the prospect of saying goodbye was difficult because cricket had shaped her life, but she also expressed gratitude for the chance to play professionally and represent her country at the highest level. Her decision comes a year after she lost her England central contract and continued her career in the domestic game.

She appeared for Sunrisers Leeds in The Hundred final last weekend, when the team lost to Trent Rockets. Cross is now due to finish the season with Lancashire, including a match against The Blaze in Nottingham on Sunday. Lancashire has been central to her career: she debuted for the county at 14 and became the first woman admitted to its academy.

Cross made her England debut at 22 in a Twenty20 international in the West Indies. She went on to make 102 appearances across the three international formats between 2013 and 2025. Early in that run, she was part of the England squad that won the 2013-14 Women's Ashes, which remains the country's most recent victory in the series.

Her international career also included a period outside the side. Cross watched England's 2017 World Cup final victory at Lord's from a hospitality box after falling out of favour, but later regained her place. She became a regular in England's Test and one-day teams before being omitted under coach Charlotte Edwards last summer. Her final international appearance was an ODI against India in July 2025.

Cross will finish with 25 Test wickets, 101 in one-day internationals and 14 in T20 internationals, a total of 140 wickets for England. Dame Sarah Storey, Lancashire's chair, described her as a true Lancashire legend and praised her contribution to both the county and England women's cricket, according to BBC Sport.