Commentator and former England spinner Alex Hartley says women "shouldn't be scared to talk about their periods" after criticism of her discussing the topic on the radio during the Ashes. Speaking on BBC Test Match Special, Hartley said she had been "grumpy" because she had started her period during the third Test between England and Australia.

Hartley said while she has received "thousands" of positive comments on social media, there was also a significant negative reaction. "I have no problem talking about this sort of thing," Hartley said on the No Balls podcast. "It should be normalised. How is it not normalised?"

Hartley, 32, added: "If a young girl is listening to the radio and hears I am on my period she will go 'oh that is totally normal for people to talk about it'." She emphasized, "It shouldn't be taboo. Females shouldn't be scared to talk about their periods. It is normal and natural."

"I had 4,000 DMs [direct messages] from people saying it was amazing, 'thanks for talking about it'. Loads of girl dads, mums, teenagers, men defending me. It wasn't all bad." During the podcast, Hartley and her co-host, England bowler Kate Cross, discussed an email received from a female listener in India, who was banned from playing cricket with boys because of her periods.

In the UK, a 2022 campaign said 64% of school-age girls will stop playing sport by their mid-teens because of period pain and shame. "The more it is spoken about the more normalised it is," Hartley said.

The topic is often discussed in cricket in relation to menstrual bleeding and players wearing whites for Test matches. England players have said they want to keep wearing the traditional colours.

"My first period was at a club cricket game," Hartley said. "We were all in whites. You feel a bit funny and I went to the toilet and had come on my period. I was quite old. All of my friends had been through it. I had to go into the dressing room and say I have had my first period has anyone got any sort of sanitary products. Being 13 and going through that."

Cross, who played the most recent of her eight red-ball matches for England in 2023, said Test-match weeks can be "anxiety-inducing". She said some players would take pills to delay their period. "Everyone would rather do that than risk something bad happening when you're on TV in your whites," she said.

Hartley added: "I wouldn't do that. Every drinks break I would go off the field and change every hour just to be safe. Some people would put a pantiliner in as well."