#hc. main.

[10power]

i regret to inform you that i am in fact having thoughts about penny & her granddad this afternoon

something, something, penny telling herself always - always - that she is angry and not upset about how tommy treats her. telling herself that she does, in fact, hate him. and there is a degree of truth in this - she is angry, and she has every right to be, because why should her brother get to follow his dreams but she has to play the part of a perfect granddaughter who does exactly what tommy wants her to? - but there's also so much grief that she doesn't necessarily recognise.

& i'm thinking that tommy probably does die, like, somewhere in 2024. mid-season, maybe even when the r.ichmond girls are up in manc for a match because the timing has to be weird because tommy has never done anything let's say gently or in a way that doesn't throw penny completely off-kilter and unsettles her. and that grief just hits her like an absolute truck, man, it takes her out.

she's good at not crying in front of other people unless there's football involved but, honestly? it's the first time for sure anyone at richmond sees her cry for personal reasons. because tommy never relents, he never says he's proud of what she's done and he never changes his mind about her being a disappointment and a failure and an embarrassment. even if she didn't really acknowledge it, there was always a part of her that thought he might change his mind one day, that she might get to be one of his beloved granddaughters again. and then that chance is kind of just gone, and she's grieving that as much as she is her granddad.

anyway. i know the team's freaked out about the bubbliest person they know suddenly being The Opposite and oh god they've never seen her cry like this before and what do they even do.

[10power]

also they launched the new p.anini stickers for the w.sl recently, and penny is absolutely collecting them. bugging other members of the team about trading stickers and stuff like that, trying to complete her silly book. she knows that it probably comes across as a bit immature but, honestly? she used to collect stickers when she was younger of the lads and she never once dreamed that she'd be in that kind of thing herself.

[sthrlnd1]

balfour does really love being a dad, and there was a really difficult point just after calum had been born where balfour was probably at one of the lowest points he's ever been. cate had broken up with him by then - and he'd hated her for it at the time, though knows now that she was right to - and actually didn't want him seeing calum until he'd sorted his shit out. she was of the opinion that he'd be no good for their son unless he got his act together, and she was right even if balfour didn't want to hear it.

balfour moves to liverpool, cate and calum stay in london. he works really hard on sorting himself out because he wants to be able to raise his son, wants to be there for him - wants calum to have a better relationship with his father than he did. by the time he returns to london, he's leading a much healthier life and is a much different person to the balfour sutherland who was known for being a party boy and getting into fights both on and off the pitch.

calum is about six now and bal and cate have a joint custody arrangement. one of the major reasons balfour actually ends up deciding to retire is that he wants to be able to spend more time with calum, to actually be his dad, because he loves that boy more than he could ever love football or travelling or anything. if anything, injuring his knee and having to spend so long in recovery was a blessing - he realised how much he really, really loved being able to just be a dad and do dad things, while not having to spend so much time focusing on being a footballer.

he's happier now than he's ever been - and happier still after he retires.

[allroundher]

anyway, baby penny learning how to bat and bowl in her back garden, having her dad teach her the rules of the game because her granddad doesn't think she should be playing, being such a natural player that it takes people by surprise when she turns up on the county scene and starts making things difficult for other teams. she's the young player people talk about a lot, of what a threat she'll be when she's refined herself - can you imagine the player she'll be at 20, 25, 30? - and eventually turning into the kind of woman that people speak about like your e.llyse p.errys, your m.arizanne k.apps, your c.harlotte e.dwardses, etc.

and i'm not sure that she ever gets her granddad's respect, if he ever changes his tune from she shouldn't be playing at her age. it probably doesn't happen.

but there's a picture of her all puffy-faced from the happy tears she's been crying after her eng squad win back the as.hes, where her dad's kissing her face and she's got her arm around her mum's shoulders and is grinning so much, and that is truly all she needs. her parents, who taught her to love the game and bent over backwards to ensure that she could in fact play it, could not be more proud of her - and there isn't a single point in her entire career where she doesn't remember this and isn't incredibly grateful for the fact that they helped her become the player she is today.

[allroundher]

anyway more penny as seen on tv moments:

that time she was slipping and sliding around the outfield, looking like a cartoon character, on a field that was quite frankly unsafe to play on at that point. incl. that one time she inadvertently slide tackled her friend when she was just trying to fetch the ball. neither of them got hurt and everyone laughed about it afterwards but penny ended up with so many bruises after that match. there's a video out there with comedy sound effects played over the clips and, yes, it was posted by the team's own media manager.

the various times she's essentially done the splits to keep her back foot in the crease when she's batting (example image incl. everyone's absolute fave, j.emimah r.odrigues)

that other time when she managed to hit the ball back into her own helmet, stumbled backwards and had to perform some true acrobatics to avoid falling into her own wicket

my personal favourite, which is the stupidest catch she has ever made. it was during a c.harlotte e.dwards c.up match and, my god, it's one of those catches she genuinely will watch sometimes when she just wants to hype herself.

also on the topic of penny being ridiculous, when she announced herself to the h.undred 2023 by hitting a six off her very first ball, thank you.

and, finally, any and every time they get her on commentary when tom is playing because she is constantly talking shit and being a gremlin.

[allroundher]

actually, i know the beeb have so much fun with the power siblings around the h.undred. like, yeah, these two idiots are having so much fun, you make any content with them and you're getting easy views. doing some stupid quiz or competition thing and they're getting ultra competitive with each other to the point where they both start cheating.

[allroundher]

there are actually too many teams in c.ricket, perhaps.

penny's on three domestically alone: m.anchester o.riginals, n.orth w.est t.hunder & lancs. she's also part of the eng ntl squad, of course, and then she's an overseas player in two other leagues, with the a.delaide s.trikers in aus in the w.omen's b.ig b.ash l.eague & i think i'm gonna have her play for the up w.arriorz in the women's i.ndian p.remier l.eague in 2024.

and she has bucket hats for all of them, can you believe it.

[allroundher]

top five penny power moments caught on tv -

obviously, it's the classic: shit-talking her granddad on live tv. anyone even vaguely aware of the women's sport - or anyone who's just a tommy braithwaite mega-fan, i guess - knows about this.

first ever match of the h.undred, penny bowls out her best friend in the second innings and jokingly gives her the finger after it happens, forgetting that she is, in fact, live on television - and the bbc, no less! it's all in good fun, and literally just a joke because sam is playing for a london team and penny keeps talking about what a betrayal it is. yes, she gets told off.

actually this is a regular occurrence but: penny dancing in the outfield to whatever the music guy at any particular ground is throwing on. it's probably a meme at this point.

that one time she spent half an extended rain delay chatting with the crowd, signing anything anyone shoved in front of her face, asking the kids if they play / what they play / are they gonna play for england one day. she only left when the covers had come off & the squad were about to have a team chat before they went back out onto the field.

when her team wins the most tense back-and-forth as.hes series going, and she just about tackles the teammate who scored the winning run to the floor & suddenly the entire team is squashing them. see also: when penny spent the entire second innings of the last match after she was out half-hidden behind a fence post and generally looking sick to her stomach because she could not take the stress of such a close match.

bonus: the 5 second clip of her completely messing up tom's hair after his team won the v.itality b.last that explains why he looked such a mess in his post-match interview.