Inside the world of Issy Wong, England's most famous uncapped woman

Typically, you wouldn't sit down with a 19-year-old athlete to discuss their primetime commentary exploits. But then, Issy Wong isn't typical.

If she was, you wouldn't have seen her smiling – and shaking, she admits – at the centre of Sky's broadcast on The Hundred's opening night. It was bold from all parties: the expectation of a bumper audience – all dripping either in scepticism or excitement – tuning in for a new flagship tournament years in the making that knew it could ill-afford a false start.

So, what did they do? They called upon a teenage novice, via Beth Barrett-Wild, head of the women's competition, who was tasked with picking the ideal current pro to join the inaugural evening's coverage. A day out from lift-off, she contacted Wong, relaxing in the team hotel.

"I looked at my phone and thought: 'Oh God, what have I done?'" Wong tells The Cricketer.

The rest was history: a bombshell offer followed by a quick decision, the green light from Birmingham Phoenix, a rushed sink-wash after a practice match at Trent Bridge the next morning and a journey southwards to The Oval. Before she knew it, the cameras were rolling, her knees were trembling and her hands were sweating so readily that she worried about dropping her microphone.

"I've never been more nervous,” she says. “I was absolutely terrified."

^{Wong was a late replacement for Shabnim Ismail in the WBBL (Ian Hitchcock/Getty Images)}

Kass Naidoo, presenting the show, could sense it. "She said: 'If you smile, your lips won't shake.' So, in the next clip I must have been grinning like an idiot."

But then, Wong was up and away. And she enjoyed it – the punditry, the commentary, the opportunity to be thrust further from her comfort zone than ever before. That has been the theme of the past 12 months for perhaps the most famous uncapped female cricketer that English cricket has ever produced.

The popular narrative is that to talk about The Hundred in glowing terms is to produce ECB advertorial, but any controversy around its worth ended with its undeniable impact on the women's game.

To present her to a new public as an authoritative voice before a ball had been bowled was a move that epitomised the message: this is the future, people. Meet Issy Wong. Because in that moment, when the cameras panned, she entered households up and down the country: a second-generation English girl with Cantonese ancestry, a glowing maturity, great-uncles who played cricket for Hong Kong and an infectious personality.

"Just to be part of that night was something else," she reflects, chuffed that she had the courage to agree to Barrett-Wild's suggestion – she had been impressed by Wong's performance on a Hundred-focused panel a fortnight earlier – that afternoon in July. "It was a challenge, but I knew it was going to be a challenge when I stepped into it."

"It's quite nice - knowing I can give cricket my all. When I'm not at training, I can just spend some time with my family"

Critiquing your peers is an awkward beast, even for the most established players on the circuit, armed with a body of work to support their assertions. She recalls a conversation with Charles Dagnall that put her at ease. "He just said: 'If you were out there and you bowled a bad ball, you'd know it's a bad ball. So, don't be afraid to say that they might have missed their line or length.'"

Wong adds: "People make mistakes, and it's just finding a way of saying it. There's an art to it, and I'm still working on that. I learnt so much from doing it, just from watching how other people play the game."

In personal development meetings, she had previously earmarked punditry as the kind of career she hopes to fall into once playing has run its course. That anecdote in itself shows how far the women's game has come. Only, her audition – with Nasser Hussain by her side – has come earlier than anticipated.

"I just thought if I said no then I might regret it." As far as mantras go, it's a good one.

"It's one of the best sporting events I've ever been part of. I wasn't even playing that night. But that was when it really hit home to me – what The Hundred was, what it was about, how big this was going to be."

^{Wong in England Academy action back in 2019  (Alex Davidson/Getty Images)}

Fascination in Wong, though, was already growing; representing England Academy in 2019 at the age of 17, she took five Australia A wickets in two games – four of them fully-fledged internationals.

In a way, though, the hype began with a Rubik's Cube – completed in 33 seconds on the boundary edge at Hove during the Kia Super League's last Finals Day. Egged on by her teammates, the footage veered towards viral. Given a hint of limelight, in an interview with ESPNcricinfo ahead of the following season, she stated her ambition to hit 80mph.

And then, on the back of that summer – truncated by Covid to the extent that Wong only played three games, all in the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy – she was fast-tracked by England and sent to New Zealand with Heather Knight's squad, effectively on work experience. She wasn't going to play, but she was going to learn plenty.

She had never even been to a team meeting before, and she soaked up whatever knowledge she could: how to use a rest day, how to practise for a series, how to live on a first senior cricket trip away from home. "A massive learner," she says. "There wasn't any pressure because I wasn't going to play, which was nice."

That was last January – the start of what Wong calls "an unexpected year", a sentiment embodied by the way it ended: in Sydney, having stayed on in Australia after a surprise stint in the Women's Big Bash. A surprise on several counts – not only because the call came late on, after Shabnim Ismail pulled out and a replacement was needed for one of the world's foremost fast bowlers, but also because this all still feels so new.

"I'm still at the point in time where it hasn’t quite sunk in yet," she says with a laugh.

"I don't think pace was ever my main goal. It's a nice thing for people to tweet about, but I'm more aware now: what do I have to do to do a job for my team?"

Sydney Thunder were weaker than when they won the title a year earlier: Heather Knight was missing and Rachael Haynes, the leader, was ruled out once all plans had been best-laid. Instead, they were left with a group of talented youngsters – Hannah Darlington captained and much is thought of Phoebe Litchfield, a year younger than Wong. They won four times but finished seventh.

For Wong's part, there were individual highlights: she took Dane van Niekerk for three consecutive sixes and accounted for Meg Lanning and Ashleigh Gardner among her nine wickets.

Good on her, you have to say. She served two weeks in quarantine upon arrival and knew none of her teammates until meeting them over a Zoom call. "The most awkward experience ever," she adds. All as a teenager enjoying a year of firsts but taking it in her stride. For many of her age, this would be a bit much: "It would probably have been a bit out of my comfort zone two years ago."

As well as the cricket – she has worked on moulding her game into something rounder – these opportunities have been about human development. Since finishing with Sydney Thunder, and while she was waiting for her England A teammates to join her – it isn't out of the question that 2022 could begin with a call-up for the World Cup – Wong has played club cricket for Bankstown, never the world's easiest gig for an English overseas player.

Sarah Aley, Thunder's bowling coach, sorted out that secondment, where she has lined up with Erin Burns, the Australia allrounder with whom she played in The Hundred. On debut, she faced Penrith, with Litchfield in their ranks, who gave her former teammate a bit of playful stick.

"It's probably something we don't do enough at home, playing club cricket," says Wong. "I really like the way they do it out here – the week before, I was watching a game and there were three international cricketers playing."

^{Wong - quite literally - throws the bat during The Hundred (Stu Forster/Getty Images)}

She has done a lot of that, watching cricket in Australia: "I went to a game the other day. I think you get into a habit of just looking at those 22 yards and you forget about the other 10 players who are taking part in the game and to watch what they're all doing. I just feel like this whole year, I've done so much learning about the game, just working out what happens, why things happen, how you can make certain things happen more and other things happen less."

It is fascinating to listen to Wong talk, and over the course of this conversation it’s increasingly easy to forget quite how young she is. She visited Australia with her family when she was nine, but this is her first time there in any kind of independent capacity.

For that, she missed the festive period at home, instead attempting to get her head around the notion of a warm Christmas. Because of border restrictions, she has only really got to know Sydney since the WBBL finished, going for coffee and long walks with her Thunder teammates. "I was at the Showground, watching the boys the other night," she says. "I really enjoyed my time with the club, and I really felt like I was part of the Thunder Nation, as they call it. But to really see Sydney and get to know it and see it for an extended period of time has been nice."

While her England colleagues have been training back at Loughborough, Wong has been working at her game with New South Wales Breakers as part of their Women's National Cricket League preparations. It's hard not to be impressed: she offers no sign of this non-stop year taking its toll.

Issy Wong in the WBBL

Matches: 13

Wickets: 9
Economy: 7.27

"Eventually, I'll probably have a break when I come back home for a couple of weeks to recharge my batteries," she says. "Only then do I think it will really start to hit home how big the last 12 months have been for me. It has been massive. I feel like I've come so far – I really hope I have. And I really hope I've made the most of these opportunities, because not many 19-year-olds have been this fortunate."

By that, she means the circumstances that have led to this point. Nobody has Covid to thank for anything, but its impact has worked in favour of Wong's career.

Without it, England might not have taken a spare player to New Zealand. "I didn't expect to go to in any capacity, so to be part of that was amazing. I guess people were just taking a bit of a punt on me."

When The Hundred came around, she might not have been as central to Birmingham Phoenix's plans as she became. Sophie Devine and Ellyse Perry were enlisted as overseas allrounders but opted out in the end, leaving Wong to pick up the seamers' load. "I hadn't expected to play that much."

Sydney Thunder would almost certainly have located a more experienced stand-in. "It came so out of the blue. I didn't even think I had that good an English summer, so to find myself out here is a dream come true. I'm just trying to make the most of it."

For all her confidence – and plenty has been required to navigate a year featuring quite so many new situations – there is a great deal of self-awareness to Wong as well.

How does she see her game at the moment?

^{Wong is handed her Bankstown cap by Australia allrounder Erin Burns (Bankstown)}

"When I went into that bubble last year, I was at a stage where I could bowl a stock ball. I didn't have much else, if I'm honest. My fielding wasn't up to scratch, my batting wasn't up to scratch. So, that time was a massive wake-up call for me. I don't want to be a bowler who has to run from fine leg to fine leg because I can't field, and I don't want to bat at No.11 because I don’t know which end to hold. I want to impact the game in all three facets."

Part of that means being more than a speed merchant. 

"I don't think the pace thing was ever my main goal. It's a nice thing for people to tweet about. But I'm more aware now: what do I have to do to do a job for my team? I need a stock ball to a right-hander and left-hander, I need a slower ball to a right-hander and left-hander. Do I need two slower balls? Do I need a bouncer and a yorker? There has definitely been a focus on making sure that I can go out and do a job."

England have fielded younger players in the past, but you'd be hard-pushed to find a female cricketer without a central contract who has ever been busier through a calendar year.

That feeling hit home when Wong was sharing a lift with Jodie Hicks, an allrounder who has previously played for Sydney Sixers. "I'd never really met her, and she said to me: 'Do you go to university? What do you do outside of cricket?' All of a sudden, I was like: 'I don't actually do anything outside of cricket. I go for coffee with my dad and play cards.' But I don’t actually do a lot.

"Eventually, I'll probably have a break where I come back home for a couple of weeks to recharge my batteries. Only then do I think it will really start to hit home how big the last 12 months have been for me"

"That's quite nice though – knowing I can give cricket my all. When I'm not at training, I can just spend some time with my family and not have a lot of other stresses and deadlines going on."

For the women's game in England, that is a new reality. Wong is of a generation where, if all goes according to plan and the money in the domestic game improves, she need know nothing else. For others – take Eve Jones, her Central Sparks captain – the journey to this point has been more roundabout: she spent years shoehorning her own training around a coaching job.

At some stage, Wong knows it will be beneficial to add another string to her bow and to have something else on the side. The Covid environment has opened her eyes to that necessity: "You end up living with your teammates and your coaches. It can be hard to switch off from cricket – that's what brought you guys together, that's what you've all got in common."

It's why she speaks so fondly of a day out playing laser tag with her Big Bash teammates.

"It's things like that where you're not thinking about cricket, which is probably healthy," she says. "It can become obsessive, especially when you're away from home and you don't have loads of existing friendships. It would have been so easy for me to sit in my hotel room and think about cricket and obsess. But no job is 24/7. It's about using your time wisely to just switch off."