Picture this: You've flown through the night, checked into your hotel and, next thing you know, you're watching the bids roll in that are going to guarantee you a huge payday. In neighbouring rooms, your peers are learning their financial fates while one team-mate in particular is watching intently from the buyers' perspective.
Two months on, you're making your ODI debut alongside some of those team-mates, looking ahead to playing in a T20 World Cup and relishing how far you've come. That's Dani Gibson's world right now.
The highest-earning English player at the inaugural Hundred auction in March, Gibson played her first ODI last Sunday in Durham, her first match in an England shirt since October 2024, at the previous T20 World Cup in Dubai. Now she is looking to go full circle at this year's edition on home soil after a lengthy battle with injury.
"It was a special moment," Gibson said of her 50-over debut in a thrilling one-wicket win for England against New Zealand. "It's been a tough period with my injuries but great to be back out there. To have all the hard work that's been put in - from me and the science and medical team - to get me back out there on the pitch, as the allrounder that I want to be. It's been a long time coming, but it's really nice to get out there."
That innings yielded a run-a-ball 19 batting at No. 7 and 1 for 28 from six overs, helping her side to a 1-0 lead in the series. Wednesday's match at Northampton was a washout ahead of Saturday's final fixture in Cardiff.
Now injury-free, Gibson said she didn't feel any extra pressure after being picked up for £190,000 by Sunrisers Leeds for this year's Hundred. That was despite not having bowled competitively for a year due to a back stress fracture, while managing 33 runs in eight innings as a specialist batter for London Spirit in 2025.
Instead, she was focusing on her international duties ahead of a home World Cup, after recovering in time to be named in the squad to begin the tournament on June 12. England will polish off their preparation with three T20Is each against New Zealand and India starting next week.
"I guess with all the injuries that I've had, there was always a doubt that I might not be fit, but it was just trying to really take it step by step and celebrate each little milestone, however small it might be," Gibson said on Friday. "I'm just really happy to be able to be fully fit and be selected and just be with the team. It's going to be an exciting summer.
"We've got a fair way to the Hundred. We've got a lot going on between, so I'm just trying to focus on what's coming up and do a good job for the England team. I'm not really thinking too much about the Hundred right now."
Similarly Heather Knight, general manager for the London Spirit Women's team, is focused on England now. But, before the international summer began and after watching the Hundred auction unfold as an administrator rather than a player, she was able to offer different insights. And she wasn't surprised at Gibson's stellar rise, having played alongside her in 2024 when London Spirit won the title.
"She won that game for us ultimately," Knight said. "She's really valuable, but she's still young and still learning her craft. You expect young players to go through the slightly bumpier road before they get that real consistency and I'm sure she'll get there not too far away."
Knight, who faced a similar race to be fit for last year's 50-over World Cup after suffering a serious hamstring injury, was a mentor and coach with London Spirit during her recovery.
"I was around with the coaching staff when she was coming back from that injury when she wasn't bowling and was finding it quite tough to find that rhythm again," Knight said. "It's really hard to immediately go and have an impact and the pressure you put on yourself.
"I was the same in the World Cup, wanting to come back and straightaway show that you can do things. Dani was going through that with the Spirit. She probably didn't have the best season but she's certainly someone that adds in all facets in terms of her power. She's a really good finisher in T20 cricket in particular.
"She's one of the best, if not the best, fielder in the country for me. Then with the ball, she's still working out a little bit, but when she's at her best, she can bowl in all phases, has really good skills, someone that can contribute, particularly in T20 cricket when fielding's so huge as well, she's hugely valuable."
Knight said the challenge for Gibson now would be handling the pressure on her to show that value in real terms, as opposed to living up to the price-tag placed on her at auction, which can be "really skewed" depending on what teams need at any given point in proceedings.
But, she said, Gibson didn't need to look far for an example of how to manage expectations after England captain Nat Sciver-Brunt went through a similar experience in the first year of the WPL, bought by Mumbai Indians for £320,000 in 2023.
"For her now it's finding a way to deal with that added tag, that pressure, something Nat did brilliantly in the first WPL auction," Knight said. "She was a bit surprised, almost embarrassed that she went for so much, and she had to find a way to perform, and Nat did that really brilliantly.
"It was, not the making of Nat because it's Nat and she's a proven performer, but it gave her a huge amount of confidence that she could perform under that pressure. Dani's obviously got that tag and has to deal with that pressure.
"I'm sure she'd do that well and, the character that Dani is, she loves the big moments and she really wants to thrive in the big moments. She's not someone that shies away from that."