A white-ball specialist with impressive power-hitting skills, Dani Gibson became the highest-paid Englishwoman in Hundred history after securing a £190,000 contract this year.

Gibson’s rise to the top has been affected by stress fractures, but she has established herself in England’s middle order, impressing during the home side’s run to the final of the Women’s T20 World Cup this summer.

Here she talks dream dinner guests, towel warmers and a magpie mishap…

Who is the one person you would want to meet, dead or alive?

The Queen. I just love the Queen [Elizabeth II]. I think she was cool and I would just love to know what actually happened in her life, day to day, the things that she did.

What is the one rule you would like to change in your sport?

I don’t play this particular format, but I think that in red-ball cricket if a front-foot no ball is bowled, it should be a free hit rather than the batter just facing another ball.

What is your most embarrassing moment?

I took the London Spirit team bus down the street to a dentist in Birmingham because I chipped my tooth when a magpie flew at me. It was while we were walking up the stairs out of the changing rooms. A magpie was stuck in there, it flew at me, I ducked and smacked my chin on the railing. Fortunately, Charlie Dean managed to find my tooth half an hour later on the floor.

It was the first year of the Hundred and I had just met Deandra Dottin. She was like: “Who is this person taking our bus to the dentist, missing training the day before a game to get her tooth fixed?”

If you could have one superpower, what would it be? 


Teleportation, just being able to get somewhere… Going to the Big Bash and having that whole-day flight [to Australia], imagine being able to just get there. Or you’ve been at an event and you just want to be at home… bam! Straight on the sofa.

What is your most prized possession? 


My coffee machine. I knew I needed one ASAP, so I asked Charlie Dean what she had and bought the same as that. I just bought a new one to go travelling with that’s small and compact.

What is your dream three-course meal and dinner guests? 


Starter would be calamari, with a side of garlic bread with cheese. That would be really nice. A main… If it was a dinner I would go, a steak, rare, with chips. Then dessert would be a chocolate melt-in-the-middle [pudding], for sure.

My guests would be Harry Redknapp. I love Harry. I was meant to see him live at my cricket club a couple of years ago but he couldn’t make it and I was devastated. I just think he’s so funny and I love watching him on any TV programme. He was in I’m a Celebrity and I just find him really funny.

Romesh Ranganathan, because he is hilarious, and they know each other, so I feel like they bounce off each other quite well. Then let’s throw my mum in there, just so we can experience it together. 


What is your karaoke song? 


Baggy Trousers by Madness.

What is your worst habit?

Maybe sometimes being a bit too direct.

What is the most ridiculous thing you have ever bought?

My friends would say so many things. I would say my towel warmer; I thought it was like a mini tumble dryer but it wasn’t. You just put your towels in there to warm them up. I had it for three years, never used it and I just got rid of it on Facebook Marketplace, so that was probably ridiculous.

If you had a time machine, would you go back in time or to the future?

I would go back and see my grandparents. Deep.

Do you have any hidden talents or a party trick?

I can play the piano. Not very well, but I can play Someone Like You by Adele.

What is your favourite TV show? 


Emmerdale.

What is your biggest non-sporting achievement?

Maybe this year, with building my personal brand off the pitch and building the podcast [The Overshare, with team-mate Lauren Filer], building my gym programme. Then also doing this strength and conditioning course for another career after cricket. I just feel like it was quite a big summer and to do that alongside it was pretty cool.

If you were not a sports person, what would you be doing?

Something in sport, a gym coach maybe.