Cross has epidural in bid to be fit for Ashes

Kate Cross has played 98 games for England across all three formats

England bowler Kate Cross has had an epidural in an attempt to recover from a back injury and be fit for the Women's Ashes.

Cross, 33, bowled five balls in the third one-day international against South Africa on 11 December before going off the field with the injury.

She missed the subsequent Test win over the Proteas and after a bowling session back in the UK "did not go well", Cross had the epidural - a pain-numbing injection into the spine - on Christmas Eve.

"The injection that I had can take two to three weeks to really settle. In my head I was just like 'I'll have a needle in my back and I'll fix it'," Cross said on No Balls: The Cricket Podcast.

"The frustrating thing with this injury is that structurally my back is fine.

"There's nothing in there to suggest I should be in as much pain, discomfort or limited movement as I am and that is frustrating the hell out of me.

"The way the doctor described it to me was that if I hadn't told them the symptoms they wouldn't have noticed it on the scan."

The opening one-day international in the multi-format series is on Sunday (23:30 GMT, Saturday) and Cross is now a serious doubt for that game.

The seamer was able to do "a bit of bowling" in the first few days after England's arrival in Australia, but the recovery "isn't moving as quickly" as she would like.

"It is so unpredictable and each day I've just got to speak to the physio, say this is how I'm feeling and this is where my movement is at," she said.

"We've got to take it day by day but with the time pressures of a series starting on Sunday."

Cross is the most senior of England's seamers and any absence could be extremely detrimental to their hopes of winning the Ashes for the first time since 2014.

The next Ashes will be in England in 2027 when Cross is 35 so this may represent her last chance to feature in the rivalry.

"I am 33 and this could be my last Ashes series," said Cross. "It is certainly, probably, going to be my last Ashes in Australia.

"It does make me sad. It is all you can think about too because it's not an injury where it just hurts when I try and bowl. It hurts when I try and put my shoes on. It hurts when I move in bed. Everything I do comes back to my back so I can't even try and switch off from it.

"I think I'm doing OK. I've had my bad days. The other day I was thinking 'there is not a chance I am going to play cricket'. I've been chatting to the psychiatrist over here a lot.

"If I didn't have any cricket until March, I wouldn't be worried. It's an injury that is going to be fine and I'll be fine."