Kate Cross struggling to get her head around 'savage' World Cup snub

Kate Cross has revealed that she is "struggling to get [her] head around" her "savage" omission from England's squad for the 50-over World Cup in India.

Cross, 33, has been a regular in England's ODI side since the last World Cup and took her 100th career wicket in the format earlier this summer. But she was dropped during their series against India last month and was left out of the squad altogether on Thursday as a result of England's decision to pick an extra spinner for subcontinent conditions.

"It's hard to take, because I don't feel like I've done enough to deserve not being on that plane," Cross said on No Balls, her podcast with Alex Hartley. "Everyone that is a current player who doesn't get selected is going to disagree with selections and going to think that they should be there.

"But what I'm really struggling to get my head around is it all feels like it's happened so quickly that I've just clearly fallen out of favour with Lot [England coach Charlotte Edwards]. That's a hard bit to get my head [around]. If I'd had 14-18 months of being pretty average at cricket and not performing in an England shirt, then I think I'd understand it a bit more.

"I guess to an extent I have, because I didn't have the best summer in an England shirt and I had a really tough winter and missed out a lot through the back injury. But I think leading into that, I definitely didn't feel like I wouldn't be on the plane. Being in the best XI [is] a different conversation, but [not even] being on the plane… It feels savage."

Cross was first left out by Edwards for a rain-reduced game against India at Lord's - she is not involved in England's T20I set-up - and did not regain her place for the series finale in Durham. "There's so much for me to get my head around, and I haven't processed it," she said. "It's still really raw."

England have only picked three frontline seamers for the World Cup in Em Arlott, Lauren Bell and Lauren Filer, with captain Nat Sciver-Brunt on track to recover from injury in time to offer another option.

"It's what you sign up for," Cross said. "You don't get to have those amazing highs without having these real lows, but it doesn't make the lows any easier knowing that they're going to be there. I probably had a good indication that I wasn't going to be in this, or it would be tough to come back from being dropped in that last game… But it doesn't make it any easier."