The Perth Test red-eye special | Final Word Weekly

Season 15, Episode 16: Back from Perth, the numbers are flying around as CA looks to ink in its schedule for the next five years. There’s a new 10-over IPL on the horizon, joy of joys, as the IPL and WPL player auctions roll out. India’s women demolish England in a Test and aim to do the same to Australia, while there are more brilliant performances in women’s cricket from Pakistan in New Zealand and from Bangladesh in South Africa. Exciting times. Also, SKY might just be the best in his format.

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0:00 – Intro
06:19 – Perth wash-up, crowd, income
12:30 – Perth pitch breaking up
14:20 – A new 10-over IPL?
20:28 – IPL auction
25:35 – India women beat England in Test
35:40 – Pakistan women beat NZ
40:30 – Bangladesh women beat SA
43:05 – Ireland beat Zimbabwe in ODI series
47:15 – India South Africa T20s
51:13 – Don Bradman’s honeymoon

It’s the final world cricket podcast season 15 episode 16 it’s the 19th of December a couple of days after the end of the first test match at Perth between Australia and the West Indies two days before the start of Australia’s women’s test match against India I’m in Tasmania

And look Jeff we’ve done many of these across continents and across oceans right now you are across the best trit you’ve flown on the red eye you’re at home you’re in Melbourne how you feeling um yeah this is going to be one of the more sleep deprived episodes that we’ve

Done of the final word um but I have a have a terrible confession to make to final word listeners which is that um I almost had a day off yesterday uh what would have been the fifth day of the Test match admittedly I woke up in the

Morning and wrote a piece for the paper about Nathan L and so on so which which would constitute work for um I suppose an ordinary understanding of work and then I went to the beach I went to South Beach in freem I sat on the sand I

Looked at the water uh went and sat in the beer Garden in the pub for a couple of hours with some of our local colleagues and then went back to the beach again and uh did the same thing again so an actual day almost kind of

Sort of off almost half off there was no podcast recorded on that day which seems um notable at this particular period of time L da look how had a day off I should really be doing more of that I’m meant to be having days off here in hobar but instead I’m recording this

With you today and then two more story times tomorrow because that’s the sort of stuff we do when we’re on our nominal break between test matches but that’s okay um it might be partly due to that productivity that we’ve been short listed for quite a prestigious award

Chef we’ve uh We’ve uh made the final four of the Australian Sports commission annual awards for the best sports podcast which I mean it’s probably worth providing some context here Jeff we do get invited to enter a lot of different competitions in Australia and England but we tend to shoulder arms because

There’s an element of like voting required and it ends up being a race to get your soal social media followers to vote for you on that and it doesn’t quite kind of have any and I’m not really into that nor are you but this one is industry voted it’s um I don’t

Know who exactly but colleagues generally speaking who work in the media who are who are filtering I suppose a lot of entries and we’re down to the last four with Mark Howard’s excellent howy game show the AFL daily and the ABC’s daily sporting digest so to be on

There with three uh Publications or three podcasts that are well supported um from I guess Triple M isn’t it with how he’s won and with the ABC and the AFL and being there as an independent operation that’s pretty cool and the nice little bit of crossover recently

That how he did the life story of Barrett Cinder which yes is quite quite a fun crossover there as well yeah we we do our own thing um we’re we’re independent that’s a thing that we’re proud of and so like you said there’s not much Point getting into popularity

Contests things that don’t actually look at the quality of the show they look at um who has the biggest audience really so yeah this is this is this is nice that that it’s a different way of doing things and um well well like we said we’re in the final four um the McIntyre

Final four as we sto to that on The Daily Show we’ll see who makes it through to the big dance hopefully it mighton be the is it the page system no um I forget what it’s called now the one that had the uh if you finished top of the ladder as

Collingwood neston and did a couple of times where they didn’t win the Grand Final you were entitled to a rematch um so um hopefully we don’t end up in that situation where we lose on points and have to relitigate a second final I doubt it’ll come to that uh yes that’s

That was a nice thing during the week the other nice thing that I can announce today is that we have a guest for our Sydney live show after the success of the corner sellout in melbour with Glenn Maxwell on the 7th of January uh at The

Comedy Store in Sydney so day five of the Pakistan Australia test match it will be on stage with us Michael Bavon made in heaven uh another one of our I guess childhood Heroes would that be a reasonable way of describing Bevo Jeff someone we both love the work of as a

Kid so we’ve never interviewed him before we thought what better way of telling his story than on stage with hopefully a big audience in Sydney and it matches up we had a contemporary one day international great in Glenn Maxwell in Melbourne and why not have one from the generation back someone that Maxi

Would have grown up watching as well in in Michael Bavon I’d say very strong argument for the most iconic Australian one day player ever obviously you’ve got Dean Jones at the start of that conversation um but maybe it’s it’s the real real peak of of one day Cricket

When Bon’s doing his thing through the 90s when When the Crowds Are in when it’s a huge television event and the the highs of his career are so famous and so sort of absolutely entrenched in in the memories and in in the very being of a

Lot of people who grew up through that period or watched Cricket through that period yeah I think that’s that’s it isn’t it it’s the high points with Michael bever the World Cup wins but other nights or you know when Monday cricket was was the king where he was

The most important player in that Australian side and and the fact that he didn’t sort of have a universally brilliant career because there were there were lows as well especially when it came to losing a spot in the test side never being able to really bet himself into there despite being a

Brilliant first class player stuff we’ve talked about on Story Time and him having deserved more opportunities in the baggy green um and yeah getting to go through all of that with him uh during a test playing uh week it it’s Sydney at the scg across the road from

The Comedy Store so all you need to do now is jump on and buy a ticket uh it’s uh there in the show notes on our link tree uh we sold out Melbourne I’m not sure whether it’s possible for us to sell out Sydney it’s a much bigger venue

Than the corner but we’ll give it a red hot go might maybe the Michael bevon star power will get an extra 100 people through the doors or something like that yeah we’ll come down like like we’ve said if you’ve got a big group coming or something get in touch and we’ll see

What we can work out there um and and that would be a great way to have that happen if people can get their Cricket clubs down down for a a summer holiday fling or whatever it is there’s always a reason why the crowds don’t show up isn’t there it happened before the

School holidays couldn’t come or happened during the school holidays everyone was away um there’s always a reason but don’t let that reason affect January 7th remember remember uh now we got a big show today there’s a lot going on external to the Australia Pakistan series that we’ve

Been doing dailies on um which we have to get through but there is some wash up as well so uh just in terms of the Aussie news Scott bolan’s been retained in the test Squad Lance Morris has been released so a squad of thir a Morris in

Order to play in the big bash league but I don’t expect Boland will play on boxing day but it’s it’s a nice nod that he has precedence that he in the pecking order he he still gets to be there at Melbourne having been such a massive

Part of the the last two years no one will ever forget the 6 for9 uh and then or the 6 for seven no one will ever forget the 6’9 I got the figures wrong the 6 for seven uh and um and then last year taking a wick I think it his

First over against South Africa so um Scott band will be there but Australia in all probability will be unchanged and then a really interesting piece related more to the Perth crowd and the Perth test today by Dan breik he’s got his hands on all of the projections for

Revenue for the next five test Summers for Melbourne Sydney Perth and Adelaide and yeah for Melbourne they’re projecting a 30 or projecting revenue of 32 million over the next five test matches there Sydney 27 million Adelaide 20 uh yeah 20 million and 11 million so

It really does drop off to Perth and um look I I know that Cricket Australia are looking to announce a long-term schedule with their test matches which might be why they’re doing these Revenue projections they’re ke to do what they do in England and tell us four or five

Years in advance where they’re all going to be played and get a bit of sense of The Blocking in for planning purposes and so on but um yeah that that’ll be another bit of frustrating news for those over West well it’s interesting isn’t it are they is this information

Coming out because they’re making the case for what they’re going to do what they already want to do um in terms of giving Australia the onfield advantage that Brisbane Adelaide danida into Perth you know that three that’s those are the three fixtures that are most difficult for visiting teams generally so that’s

Interesting there as well that the I mean they’ve they’ve stacked the deck in that way for years um leading up to this point but then there’ve been a couple of departures from it um with all of the switching around during Co and so on um and then the Adelaide game not being a

Day night of this year because they didn’t want to have another day night fixture they wanted to move that around that got moved to the middle of January and so on which means that the order hasn’t been the same um but they also haven’t had that order changed around in

Five match Series so they’ve changed the ordering with India um with four match series but now that India is going to a five-game series see are very keen to have it happen in that particular order to go Brisbane pink ball Adelaide Perth you know the three

Most testing sort of fixtures but uh you know again that leaves the the issue that we’ve talked about before where the the the Marque games the biggest crowds that draw in Melbourne and Sydney potentially a dead matches if Australia’s won the first three which has happened plenty of times or at least

You know gone two and a draw across the first couple then you know where does that lead them in terms of the I suppose they don’t need the competitiveness angle as much to get a crowd in for boxing day or for the new year match um

But yeah I don’t know there’s there has been some strange stuff about the crowd and and defending the the 9,000 Mark that came in and talking about the fact that Perth has a relatively lower population yeah sure it does but on a Sunday when you’ve got a a a career

Milestone of the like you might never see again you might never see another Australian bowler going past 500 wickets and the fact that you know it was a poor crowd um and I don’t think you can dress it up and and say that it was any better

Than it was and the Wacker themselves would be you know they were projecting they were hoping to get 20,000 plus across the first three days they didn’t crack that on any of those days oh me yeah that’s right per do get people out to other events but football

And this is exceeding their their um population percentage if you want um AFL games at Perth Stadium but before that subo oal big bash games we’ll have as one of the um people associated with the scorches said to me the other night they’ll get 30 to 35,000 people on

Wednesday for the scorches game there um and also the Perth wild cats under the radar a bit cuz we don’t talk about the NBL quite so much on the East Coast although I I might I gather it’s a lot bigger now than it was 5 years ago

Hasn’t kind of reached the heights that it did in the early 90s when the Mitsubishi challenge was huge but still um the Wildcats had 12 a half thousand people at the other night and they’re comfortably the the biggest drawing Club in the country so it’s not about crowds

Full stop it’s about this test match we’ve been down it maybe this just says that test Cricket isn’t that popular maybe it’s as simple as that it’s also a TV sport isn’t it like um uh the way that people consume test Cricket traditionally has been well over

The last 30 or 40 years there there is there is something about um plugging in for the day and watching it over the course of seven or eight hours so but yeah it’s a challenge for Perth it’s a challenge for Cricket Australia but the point you made before about the

Competitive Advantage Australia enjoy by starting the series at the gabber Perth want this slot Before Christmas Adelaide they’ve not lost a day night test match so you know the gabber they’ve lost once there since 1989 um and that was at the back of the series not that it means an awful lot

But by that point India had conditioned themselves to facing the Australian Quicks uh then Adelaide they’ve not lost a day night test match since they’ve gone to the pink ball I don’t believe I don’t think I think they won all them hav’t they um yeah I’m sure we’ know if

They they lost one yeah one the new per Stadium yeah the new Perth Stadium pitch as we saw through the course of days three for does just suit Australia it’s it’s it’s more volatile it’s the kind of Bounce That Australians are more conditioned to than touring sides and

Yeah if you can win two of the first three or all three of them it makes it very hard to get back into the series at Melbourne and Sydney and Sydney becomes a place where people say goodbye rather than where series are settled I think I worked out before the last ashes the

Most recent time the ashes test match has been live at Sydney was 1982 83 I think I’m right in saying so yeah that’s a that’s a really long time ago um and yeah the the the part of the Perth conversation over the last 24 hours got

Moved to is it pitch doctoring that it broke up and that there were cracks and it was bouncing a lot day and that is such a ridiculous it’s well well quite right yeah but it’s such a ridiculous stretch for those who are upset about Indian wickets being um being uh being

Identified as doctored um and geared towards spinning Square on day one and to deteriorate straight away and to ensure there’s no balance between bat and ball there is no comparison between that and a pitch by day three and four after two days of test Cricket um starting to misbehave like that’s that’s

A massive stretch I get why there’s um Pride at play and and why people like to draw false equivalencies but that’s all they are there is such uh emotional fragility to that it it it tickles me in a way but it’s kind of worrying in a way

That that some people are so fixated on um you know every time there’s a there’s a lively pitch somewhere outside AG oh look at this oh they don’t criticize that well yeah we we do criticize that all the time if you saw the coverage of that Brisbane that gabber pitch against

South Africa that went crazy from day one it got absolutely slammed everywhere and that’s that’s the issue right like test in test Cricket the pitch is supposed to become more difficult to betat on it as the game goes on that has traditionally been the way that it it

Has been um from the beginning is the pitches deteriorate and they’re not allowed to be updated and upgraded and so on through the C of the match that’s the thing that’s the entire parameter of the contest is the is that the nature of the contest changes as the surface

Changes so yes it is supposed to get more difficult about on day three and four that doesn’t mean it’s supposed to be um an absolute exploding situation on day one where it’s a lottery from the beginning yeah yeah that’s right speaking of India um the new IPL that’s

Coming um uh these reports came out on Friday night out of India they seem pretty well sourced to me just based on who um was commenting in the Yarns and um Jay sha reportedly involved in this as well this has been looming for ages the September October window which was

Used for the IPL I think in 2020 when they they couldn’t finish the tournament due to the pandemic understandably they they used that window then but this is where the Champions League used to sit historically which was also played in India and stopped about eight or nine

Years ago so um maybe a T10 tournament suggestions that it’ll be the the original IPL franchises or the existing IPL franchises in the first instance and then they might go to Tender again and have another round of clubs that come in that way which of course opens the door

To the Saudi Arabia money which has been mooded for the last six months and maybe that’s the way they they get into all of this so um I don’t know Jeff it’s the singularity isn’t it we’ve been banging on about this for ages um this just feels like another another important

Moment uh in the uh diminishing prospects of international cricket especially long form Cricket when it’s going to be harder and harder to find a way to keep as many people playing it as possible when these competitions are popping up in pretty much every month of the year who can

Contain their excitement about the prospect of the Kolkata Night Riders T10 outfit um taking on the rajastan Royals what three four months after the other IPL finishes you finish the 20 over version and then have a breather and start the 10 over version um what it means in

Terms of the international calendar is significant because that’s the window where they’ve been playing the major ICC events uh relatively recently they’ve generally been in that September October November sort of window for the World Cups T20 World Cups um some of the women’s competitions have been in in

That window as well the wbbl in that window two and has been starved of air the last couple of years because we’ve had men’s white ball ICC tournaments during that same period of time so the coverage that the wbbl might have got has been dimin

Too so look it’s pretty Grim I I would guess with absolutely no um nothing to base this on other than just assessing it logically I it looks to me like they’re making something to sell to Saudi Arabia because the Saudis want something and and maybe the BCCI don’t

Want to give up their original creation um I mean I I have found it particularly funny a bunch of people comment saying oh there’s no way the BCCI would would sell this to Saudi Arabia because they make too much money off it Saudi Arabia have millions of times more than the

Total broadcast deal like they could they could buy and sell the IPL hundreds of times over it doesn’t matter to them so that idea is is nonsense but if you’re the BCCI it might be a smart move to make a second version now so that you

Can go we’ve got two up and running we can handball one you know across to the gulf and they can have that one when they decide to bring a a big roll a big barrel of money in through the door um and do it that way yeah well they can

Fatten the pig can’t they they can show that there’s proof of concept if it does work and then it’s attractive for the Saudis to come in and you know the rest is history really and the objective of the Saudi Arabian government so we’ve read through the week anyway about

Wanting to make India their their best tourist clientele client base going forward this would this would all line up and we saw all the advertisements during the last IPL so um yeah I don’t know the only uh the only thing that I take some Solace from with this is the

Closer we get to the inevitability that we’re talking about here the more it might provide pause for those who want to see some continuation of the international game that goes beyond the big three and a couple of others especially test Cricket um this might be what gets them exercised um I know that

You know Richard Thompson who’s the chair of the ECB Mike be the chair of cricket Australia and their Chief Executives they they’re acutely aware of what’s going on at the moment um we heard from Todd Greenberg on our scn coverage the other day I interviewed him

Before play he and he was he said it it would cause Havoc for the international schedule having using that word Havoc remembering that a lot of his members will do well out of this but not all of his members you know not every cricketer benefits from the very creme d a Creme

Of T20 and short form Cricket becoming um millionaires a few more times over so um and I’m not begrudging the players uh ability to make as much money as they can in their limited careers I’m all for that absolutely but um there has to be at some stage a conversation at what

Cost um as you’ve said to me in the past Jeff about our own podcast there are lots and lots of ways of making money but all of them have a cost um well so it proves for everyone who works in cricket at the moment so uh and the

Players are part of that conversation so yeah I don’t know where this where this ends but it feels like you know remember last week we had Matt had Matt roller on to um do an episode with you and I when you were in England with me I think and

We had the same week it was announced that the South African comp was going to be run by the IPL and the il20 was going to be run by the IPL effectively you know the clubs and the owners and so on and we’re like this is a really

Significant week in cricket history and we were right um I feel like this might fall into a similar and you end up with um a lot of people not all of them but a lot of people who are in this not because they like Cricket or value Cricket they’re in this because they

Like money and they value money and they see this as a way to make the to to to maximize the amount of Revenue and there’s a degree of celebrity and attention there there are people who are drawn to that as well in that kind of highflying business and and celebrity

Culture world where they want to be involved in something that that has a lot of TV cameras pointed at it and a lot of advertising time a lot of screen time and and that that reflected glow of being around star players and all the rest of it but behind that there are a

Bunch of very very shrewd hard-headed business people who are just here to make as much cash out of the game as they can um this is not about the interest of cricket per say this is about maximizing its potential as an a source of Revenue speaking of those riches the IPL auction

Is later today in Dubai many Australians who are Keen to get in on the ACT this time around there are some ipls where Australian players don’t want to be quite so involved due to the international schedule but the next IPL is an absolute Beauty for them because

It’s right ahead of a T20 World Cup there’s no test Cricket after the 13th of March until the Australian home summer so you got Smith head English Abbott but then Hazelwood Stark cumins the big three test quicks and fair enough for Mitchell Stark especially right like he for went uh opportunities

To maximize his earning potential uh prioritizing test Cricket four years I think the last IPL he played in was in 2015 God knows how much money Stark would have made had he put himself up every year of course exposing himself to risks with his body and who knows what

His test career would have turned out to have been had he prioritized this but still um so Stark will be part of that the ECB have said that um they don’t they’re releasing their players Hollis ballis next year they mind how much of um how much of the domestic season they

Miss because I suppose they see that as the the best possible preparation for the T20 World Cup which rolls around in June there’s a little caveat there over a planned tour to Pakistan I believe that involves some T20 cricket um where they they might want to nip out players

For a short period of time there so um a couple rahan arm withdrew from that auction for instance I don’t know if that was related to being available for that side or not um but yeah so they’re not 100 100% available necessarily but then that depends on who gets picked and so

On and and you can make the argument with some legitimacy that if a if a player is say heading towards the finals of the IPL that’s more useful preparation than playing a bilateral series that might have bit less intensity and and less focus on it yeah

Yeah so we we’ll keep an eye on that auction overnight and report back next week the wpl auction was not long after we recorded this time last week Jeff Annabelle Southerland interesting one here she didn’t make runs or take wickets in the tournament this year in the first iteration but she was the

Highest paid player in in Australian money $364,000 to play for Delhi next march the most expensive equal most expensive player in the whole auction remembering that a whole bunch of guns like Superstars were retained from this year so it wasn’t like everyone was up for grabs but southernland was um so just 22

Years of age um I suppose Delhi see that as an investment in the future Phoebe Lichfield 18 $2,000 she’s getting um to play in the competition next year I know she’s on the way to becoming established as a full-time Australian player but she’s what 18 or something like that so

She’s going to set herself up for life with these contracts Lauren cheel 55 grand Georgia waram 70,000 Sophie mullu 55,000 so serious cashier all of those players already being paid by Australia of course but nipping out for a 3-we tournament and filling their boots says they should the men have been doing it

For years and yeah Lichfield will probably have a a test or or test another test cap in a couple of days when when she takes on India we’ll come to that in the the next segment but yeah that’s that’s going to be interesting as well to see um whether you know whether

Anybody can do anything in that match that that affects their standing um but yeah I suppose it’s about locking in a player who you know has a high ceiling so someone like southernland where she’s a ball striker in a very fluent natural sort of way and

Can bowl tough overs and has been doing that I mean she her wbbl debut was at 15 wasn’t it and she was bowling well in that first season for the stars as well um so she’s someone who’s performed under you know at at a high level under

A fair bit of pressure from a ridiculously young age so um it it’s been interesting following along so someone like Dan Weston who we’ve had on the show who’s a before who’s a cricket analyst talking about the auctions and how they work and how often you don’t

See the big you see big Nam Marquee players who don’t get picked up because they’re so much more expensive than a player who might be slightly less attractive um on ability but substantially more attractive on price um in terms of what what teams can fit into their caps and then players who

Have a skill set that’s in a high demand versus one that isn’t so you can have really really good players who might be say an overseas opening bat um and you and a lot of franchises don’t need an overseas opening bat because they’ve got local opening bats who can do a job

That’s almost as good even if it’s not quite as good and they can open up space to fill the gaps where they really need somebody and particularly all-rounders are generally prized because they can offer something more and that’s what Souther link can do sounds like you’re a list manager for

An AFL team with that language Jee I like it um yeah but yes I I agree with southernland by the way that you know she’s a world champion uh and um has an incredibly high ceiling I suppose it’s just interesting that um she having not blown the doors down this year get such

A huge price tag but yeah that reinforces that this competition is here to stay and she is as you say an investment funny you use that word final word Adam Collins Jeff lemon the women’s test one of two that are playing out uh in quick succession for the Indian women

And uh I suppose it made sense they tried to wrap it up in three days they did so in seven sessions seven sessions away uh because they uh because they could because they could they beted so quickly they made time for themselves they made 428 in 104 overs we’ve watched

A lot of women’s test cricket by now Jeff I’ve never seen a side bat uh with that much purpose straight away and take full advantage and put pressure on right away this wasn’t a you know bat the 100 overs on day one and get to 270 and see

What we are tomorrow they were really going for it they had four scores between 66 and 69 now I haven’t checked this but I’m declaring it that must be the only time in test Cricket four batters have been dismissed between uh a range of scores a range of numbers that

Low that high up you know what I mean like I can see it happening between 26 and 29 but I doubt it’s been that high would you agree with that or am I being yeah yeah I mean I think there’d be there’d be something somewhere that’d

Have to be a little anomaly somewhere um but I’d be very comfortable at a record in women’s cricket was this was this England’s 100th women’s test match did I I think may have read that I didn’t I didn’t spot that week it might have been

I’m not I’m not going to I’m not going to stake my statistical reputation on it but I think it was there and thereabouts anyway across 90 years that would be 89 years years 1934 was the first one um so yeah England have been involved in most of the women’s test Cricket that’s been

Played I believe but yeah yep whether whether whether it is or not someone can let me know well what I do know is the first time that indur have hosted a test match for like nine years right so you know this gives an opportunity to a different kind of player take Sati

Shabba who’s 24 years old right she’s not played an international game before this they picked her for the test match ahead of her one day and T20 International opportunity and she makes 69 there batting at the top of the list 13 boundaries in that actually B at

Number three She’s Come via RCB um and um and all domestic tournaments inside India um but still you know walking out in a test match that’s unusual in women’s Cricket um but he got this experienced engine room Jima rodriges made 68 from 99 balls at number four

Haron PR run out again this time for 49 she had she got the bat stuck again same as the South African yeah she turning for a second and got the toe of the bat lodged in the turf so I don’t know what it is about her bat sliding

Technique or she’s just been unlucky but you run out for 49 and and sa shabber also broke her finger during that game as well so it’s really frustrating for her because she’s you know she’s chipped away at domestic level and has got this opportunity through um just sheer bloody-minded determination at improving

Herself at domestic level plays the Test match contributes and and now she’s got a fracture in finger so she won’t be featuring in the the next test just to go back to those 60 odds yasica Bia who I’ve watched quite a bit last few years really graceful left-handed top order player Wicket

Keeper as well makes 66 but she’s only 23 she’s already played 40 times in white bull Cricket you know so they have got this next group coming through um Deep D shas’s at the peak of their powers right now we’ll talk about what what she did with the ball but made 67

So yeah a lot of experience in the middle um they just cleaned up England um um they they I mean England with the ball did okay on day two to fight back and take the remaining wickets Bell took three wickets Eon as well although eklon 3 for 91 from 26.3 they clearly wen’t

Daunted by her she was going yeah three and a half nearly four and over they played the extra Seer so cross took one for 64 taking the new ball Lauren fer bowled second change and conceded 84 runs in 15 overs so they probably didn’t need fer in hindsight but England went

Nowhere with the bat all out 136 Nat C brunt made 9 but um and has all that Indian experience including in the wpl this year um but yeah Deep D got him Jeff 5 for seven from 5.3 overs the collapse was 7 for 28 from 3 for 108 and

You know from there once they’ rolled England and had such a huge first Innings lead they didn’t really need to enforce the follow on because they had so much time so they didn’t they just made things worse before um pulling out on their terms and and I like the fact

That Harman pre declared she was 44 not out overnight going into that last day having been run out for 49 um there was no thought about getting a milestone for herself you know that that that rang nicely that had a nice tber that decision I thought so 186 for6 when they

Declared um I was watching that that first Innings I was following along with that live when you know because civa brunt’s out there batting quite nicely and she goes past 50 and you’re thinking well okay they they’ve got a a huge deficit here but she might um do

Something and and take a big bite out of it and then bloody hell I just abs absolutely raced through the tail like feed through a goose um the way that deep T sh took him apart um yeah 5 for seven is is going back to sort of Johnny

Briggs kind of style of bowling you know I mean I mean ashgard picked up a stack of wickets in Nottingham but at least went for a few more runs in in so doing and and took a little bit longer than five and a half overs to do so um yeah and

Then batting again the second time England were nowhere um after the Declaration Charlie Dean your fa took four wickets in that third Innings but um but yeah they were they were gone what was it 371 runs no 347 runs I think in the end so they would it was just about it was

Almost as big a margin as what Pakistan got belted by um in Perth and and it it is a huge huge defeat and um interesting for Australia as they eye off their same opponent and try to work out what they’re doing does that mean that they

Go in with just the one seamer like good chance that it does they’ve got four good Spinners at their disposal and um it seems well pretty logical at this point to just have every spin option you can well having been B having seen England get bowled out for 136 and 131

Principally to spin so deepy takes four for 32 in the second dig so match figures if you don’t mind 9 for 39 after making a half century to help set up the game um she’s in their heads clearly Dy shamer after what happened at Lords last year um and that’s a fascinating little

Subplot remember the the war of words with um deepy shammer arriving back in India after the man CAD saying they warned England and then he the night came out and gave deep to a clip across the ear about that saying no you didn’t you don’t make up so there’s

There’s history and there’s bad blood there but India made the absolute most of that so I’d assume it to be a ragger again um when they they start their test match on Thursday um Knight also spoke about just how different um the whole thing was for her lineup and look

England haven’t got a good test record you go back through I think hyper course did this it’s been ages since they’ve won a test match um a lot of draws in there but you know I think that you got to go back to maybe 2014 since their

Last win when they won at Perth against Australia during the women’s ashes there in fact I’m certain that’s the last time they won a test match nearly a decade right nine years um and the but the difference in conditions we hear it all the time with the men um not so much

With the women because typically they’re playing limited overs Cricket in India with pitches that are designed to have bulk run scored on them this is different this is all about trying to take 20 wickets and give um The Spinners the best chance to prosper so that will make it fascinating for Australia

Because they have got players that have spent loads of time in India but not on pitches like this so um yeah if they’re going to beat Australia in a test match um this is the week for it um and if they can do that it could do wonders for

The women’s test game more generally J sha on social media who’s the boss of world cricket um these days technically runs the BCCI but in effect he’s by far the most powerful person in the global game was tweeting about this about test cricket being uh what of the way I think

He said the purest form of the game and and it’s good that women are playing it well if India wi to in a hurry um it might increase the appetite so whilst IMM men’s Cricket we’re moving further and further towards domestic t20s being um the only thing that is cared about by

Those that control the pur strings maybe with women’s Cricket it has a a different growth stream here with test Cricket Susie Bates during the week was stridden in her commentary that she still remains desperate to play a test match who knows maybe she gets to play

One against India but it might all hinge on whether they beat Australia next week yeah maybe there’s enough room in the margins of the women’s game at the moment to actually allow some test matches to be scheduled um I mean I’ve banged on enough times now about New

Zealand cricket being uh not not being willing to literally put their money where their mouths are like not being willing to actually advocate for the equality of their women’s team despite talking up a good game with um with matching match fee payments and so on they refuse to schedule test Cricket

Because they don’t want to have to pay to put it on uh so I I think Susie bates’s chances are are pretty much nil and and they’ve shown that disregard for her over a long period of time and refusing to offer that opportunity but there are there are points where the

Power of Indian cricket uh is is positive and something like this is one where if if if they decide that they want to back their women in this form of the game then that means that others will be lifted with them because they’ll need opponents and it won’t just be

England Australia necessarily you know South Africa will play a test against Australia in February um and and there might be more opportunities for other teams against the Indian women’s team well the one thing that Bates might have G for is that David White’s left New Zealand Cricket he was the chief

Executive there for a really long time he’s now running the IL T20 and there’s far more to talk about on that not going to do it today um having got the time but um yeah there’s there’s quite a bit going on there so David White having

Moved over there there might be room for fresh eyes and fresh thinking um given the hopefully the the better more positive direction of travel for women’s test Cricket speaking of the New Zealand women um they’ve been defeated by Pakistan in a one in a thrilling one day international they they still won the

Series 2-1 so when we were talking this time last week Jeff it was in the middle of the first one day where New Zealand won it comfortably after a baites century the second one day at Christ Church um was a thriller pakist St made 220 bowled out from the final ball fat

Masana Captain’s knock I’m so happy to see Fatam masana I think she’s about 25 Now Memory sues me correctly got the captain’s armband had a captain’s knock at number seven made 90 KN out from 104 balls to keep keep things on on the tracks keept the TR on the tracks um New

Zealand got it nine down with seven balls to spare Matty green might at last be delivering on the investment she’s played so much international cricket for not much return um so she made 83 Bates made 74 but they still were reduced to 208 for9 when Fran Jonas joined Leah

Tooo but they got those last 13 runs together um they squeaked home to whoo 21 not out from 26 balls so heartbreaking for Pakistan to come that close and miss out especially having won a T20 against New Zealand a couple of weeks earlier however it gets better for

Pakistan in the third one day international also at haggle oal in Christ Church New Zealand do well with the bat they make 251 for eight um Milly Kerr makes 77 green who made runs in the previous one day and made 65 not out here so two important performances in a

Row for her um Pakistan have made a tough stuff though Jeff you know these experienced players who set it up cidra been around forever 24 bismar Maru been around forever former Captain 68 aiyah RZ Z rounder 44 F masana the captain 36 once that platform was laid in the chase

Over to the less established players this this is what’s really impressive here so Natalia PES you know fifth one Daya gets 26 down the list then uh najia then najia Alvi who just turned 21 last week her 61 day she’s the new Wicket keeper 23 KN out to get them to

Just about the Finish Line in a clutch finish eight needed from the last over one Wicket in hand out walks gulum fattima the the the the bowler not not coming out as an A or anything like that LE has the ball so you’d back Jeff New

Zealand like 95 times out of 100 with tahu bowling to a a sixth gamer and a number 11 you think tahuhu would just ice it however the penultimate ball of the game najia tried to ramp to hooo she missed it it went past the gloves of New Zealand’s teenage Wicket keeper Izzy

Gays no relation to Andrew and Lindsay runs away for four buys uh and then they they have two to get from the final ball I think they get confused used they take one they don’t come back for the second so it is a tie look a super over and in

The super over um uh safia ikbal you never bowl a spinner in a super over right like I don’t think I’ve seen it so the left arm spinner gets the super over gets both Kerr and divine out in it they bowl out air quotes New Zealand in five

Deliveries for eight because you only get two wickets in the in the super over then aiah riads and fat masana backs herself the captain good on for it um and AIA Raz hits a boundary off a milia curse first ball so new Zulan went with

A spinner in the in the super over with the ball as well and then there was another buy um in there from the New Zealand coer and they get the job done so I just think that’s huge for Pakistan like we’ve spoken a lot about the contracts they’ve given their women the

Investment they’re trying to make they’re playing catchup they only started playing international cricket in 1998 that was controversial to come a long time to be accepted but now they’re they’re winning not only just like sneaking over the line in the occasional T20 pushing a team like New Zealand at

Home this might be a series they look back on as something that they built from into the next World Cup cycle you know they might win games against other full members or other members in the top eight um so I was really I was really pumped up about this and the fact that

They’ve done it chasing which is OD isn’t it usually normally with the super over the team that has been batting bats first like the team that batted second in the match bats first in the super so I’m not sure if that was a match conditions thing varying for the women’s

Format but um it’s interesting that it panned out that way but but yeah to be able to to hold the nerve to in that chase with the bat at nine down you know that’s not something that you expect Pakistan it’s not something historically that Pakistan women’s team has been able

To do you know that they tend to be once you once you’re three or four out then the rest is falling away pretty quickly so that’s super impressive there um you occasionally get a a spinner gets the job in in the super over maybe more often domestically Amanda Wellington and

So on um but yeah it’s a true it’s a rem able achievement I think and and and you can slot that in there Adam with Bangladesh absolutely flogging South Africa in in their women’s 50 over game so and again Bangladesh have been batting similar story with with such

Confidence recently after being such a weak batting side historically uh mashida katun made 91 not out in their score of 250 in their 50 overs when do you see Bangladesh women bat first and Blaze 250 just um doesn’t happen only three wickets down um Everybody made double figure so only five players

Battered low a score of 27 couple in in the other three in the 30s so they end up with a a fat score which they defend comfortably in the end um they held South Africa to 131 all out um and Shar the wickets around as well so just a comprehensive

Team performance um what five different players took wickets three twofers a three for n to 3 for 33 pick of the figures I mean that’s a that’s an absolute domination which is very exciting for Bangladesh yeah I mean South Africa made a World Cup final this year I know it’s

A different format of the game but that that’s huge this just did not happen in women’s cricket and Pakistan got beaten by Bangladesh in the last World Cup and it felt like Pakistan were you know we’re on the downward slope with this group but they yeah they’ve got it

Together at the moment and uh I know the first segment we were pretty negative today uh and rightly so about what’s going on in the global game with men’s Cricket but there’s there’s stuff here to be um positive about um England’s men are in the West Indies still Jeff um I’m

Not sure how closely you follow this but um me not not not so much I I must admit I I saw one ball um of the highlights of the game that England won chasing down 200 plus in a in a T20 the other day I had one conversation in the lift about

It at Perth uh and and that’s it for me so instead of you and me talking about stuff we haven’t engaged with why don’t we get another postcard from Camp ponsonby who was joining us um from Grenada where C he’s had a very nice time I’ll back announce

That all right thanks cam they’ve been really good we’ll get one more of them from him next week I’m pretty sure as they play two more t20s and then cam will be um helping us when England play in India uh where they play five test match starting in

Janu where they play five test matches starting in January so great to have him as our Intrepid young roving reporter and experiencing all that life has to offer on tour as well in harar in Zimbabwe another series that we touched on last week but again like stories that

Make me feel good about the global game Ireland um who was so close Jeff so close to making the one day World Cup in an automatic qualification way this year so they needed to finish top eight in the World Cup Super League they were in

The top eight all the way through it was like Richmond in 99 s you know missing out by a kick on the final day losing the Bangladesh at at Chelmsford in their case um and then they played appallingly in the qualifier wi of Bangladesh I’ve always wondered

This well of Ireland in this case who you who’ be who be the rich show of Island it might just it might be bowo like bowo big muscular um has a lot of tricks I don’t know whether he breats his own players the way Rich used to do more um not so

Much for physical resemblance but just for being a bit a bit loose a bit brilliant um not always accurate but looks great when it works yeah yeah maybe maybe a bit of Harry tector as well good-looking young lad the calf as they used to call Richardson when he was coming through

Son of the bull of course but yeah Ireland uh you know having had that um Victory 2-1 over Zimbabwe in the t20s last week let’s go through the one day first one was rained out second one day they rolls inway for 166 at home again

At the har Sports Club Josh little 6 for 36 from his 10 overs so we know little is hardly sought after on the domestic circuit took a bag against England in the T20 World Cup at the G last year so he’s a genuine Superstar they win at six

Down big Curtis camper who I mentioned before made 66 and they win with um with nine overs to spare then the third one day they bowl out Zimbabwe for 197 camper with the ball on this occasion 4 for 37 Graham Hume 33-year-old who came via South Africa took four for 34 so

They’re still importing players but um they’re doing it a bit more strategically these days then they get the runs easily and appropriately final word favorite Andy Bal Bernie friend of the show 82 not out he brought up his 3,000th one day run in the process now the former Captain had support from

Camper and tecta two more who were keeping an eye on who made 40 and 33 respectively so I know last week Jeff we focused on uh the sorry state of cricket in Zimbabwe but the other side of it is that Ireland after that you know fairly chastening experience being smashed

Around in the World Cup qualifier have bounced out of that and they look at Goods again cheering for them I mean they must have been so deflated you remember when we we talked to Lord Tucker and we at at Lords and when he he prophetically said there’s no point

Going into the qualifiers and beating the top teams if we lose to Oman I’m just as an example and then they went on to lose to Oman amongst others in that qualifier so um yeah bit of bit of upward momentum for them the the the negatives for for Zimbabwe we have we

Did talk about extensively over the last couple of weeks um as they were being bounced out of the the African qualifiers for the T20 World Cup but that’s still there that you know that Zimbabwe have been comprehensively dismantled in the two games that actually got on bowled out for poultry

Scores both times so yeah there there’s there’s a fair bit to worry about with Zimbabwe at the moment as I guess I guess you could have said that sentence at most times in the last 20 years and it would have been relatively true but they they have had their their um higher

Points not least that T20 World Cup in Australia last year where they were very good some other men’s limited overs Cricket around the world Bangladesh are in New Zealand New Zealand were in Bangladesh last week their switch spots and um I won’t go through the yeah I

Won’t go through the the first one Darren dened all I’ll say is New Zealand won it comfortably Will Young made a 100 then he took one of the greatest Outfield catches you’ll ever see very talented cricketer well young um I sort of feel like if they give him an

Extended run in the test side it’s like this will be the point in his career where he kicks on and starts making big runs because he’s um he’s shown he’s got the ability to B for a long stretch of time I sry make a 100 at the overall

This year in county cricket so I was pleased to see him doing the rounds for a one-handed Specky on the rope and you know they seem like they’re happening every day at the moment when you’re watching short form Cricket but they’re all noteworthy nevertheless and South Africa hosting uh India the start of

Their three format Series so 3 t20s three one dayers then I think it’s three test matches at the end as part of the world test Championship but um yeah the the T20 series at the moment um the first one was washed out the second one India made 180 for7 Rinku Singh doing it

Again with 68 not out from 39 balls he’s the he’s the coming man in South Africa only well they got there actually they made 154 but it was a rain reduced DLS Target so South Africa went one up uh but then in the the next T20 um India

Responds uh the way they tend to do they made 2011 for seven suak Kum mayadev the captain at the moment of the T20 side made a century from 56 balls that’s his fourth T20 100 a Wild record he’s made four t20s into 60 matches an average of 46 a strike rate of

172 in T20 Internationals he joins Glenn Maxwell and roit Sharma with four tons in this format but Maxwell’s played 100 games and roow Sha’s played 148 I think increasingly there’s a case even though he’s only played only with the 60 games that that um Syria May might be the the

Best ever at at the T20 international format at least the most productive you could throw Chris Gale in there but I’m not sure how his International numbers break down versus his domestic numbers you know the absolute just incredible volume of runs what he hit over a,

Sixers didn’t he in in in T20 across all T20 domestic Cricket so made 6,000 runs Al in that alone he hit 22 he hit 2200s right yeah yeah so 2200s in all t20s but um yeah not not not the inter Nationals quite so much I know he had his days he

Made that 100 against England in the 2016 T20 World Cup but yeah four is now the the new Top Line with Maxwell joining Ro at a couple of weeks ago and and Sky now joining them so that was more than enough they rolled South Africa for 95 when they um responded

Called Deep 05 for 17 have that and the first one day they had another stinker um South Africa all out one 16 in 28 overs and and um they were 73 for8 at one stage and Ash Singh uh who haven’t spoken about in a while really um since

Last year’s T20 World Cup took 5 for 37 and India win easily so um they got two more one days but yeah um we’ll keep an eye on that we’ll probably pay more attention to their test matches that start if I recall correctly in early January to they to they squeeze all

Three of the Odis in before the end of the year they might um which which will be interesting if shman Gill plays given that he’s he still got that outside chance of trying to chase the tendulka record although he didn’t get the vulka runs during the World Cup that he

Probably he probably needs I’m not sure how far short he is but he probably needs three tons on the Trot to do it but you never know could happen uh Jeff as we finish the show today uh Lords tab still recruiting for the marathon I was

Keen to get our 50 Runners Locked In by December 31 I don’t think I’m going to quite get there I think we’re at 35 but heaps of room the fundraising page is now officially live I’ll have that in the show note so if you want to be um

One of the first to donate there as we try and Hunt our Target of 30,000 GBP please get in involved there um the tabs have got a Christmas campaign at the moment in relation to belonging in cricket um and I’m going to share that all across the final word platforms and

I’ll put it in the show notes as well um if you’re able to engage with what they’re the message they’re telling over Christmas um that would be appreciated there’s a a bitly link here as well which um I can I can send through uh and yes of course we’re going to be talking

A lot more about the tabs in 2024 in relation to the marathon and the cricket tour we made some progress on that during the week Jeff I’m not sure if you’re planning on being in in the UK through August but you know if you are

Um and you want to spend some time up in Scotland with the rest of us you’ll be very welcome the Olympics are in August in in Paris that’s that’s interesting that’s attractive um there are there’s some Australian white ball games in September this is between them this this

This this will be between the Olympics and the Australian white ball games this is partly why I picked the the time in the calendar so it’s on the table we’re going to try and play five games of cricket in seven days so we’ll see right like Don bradman’s

Honeyman I said that to re last night um we were we were um we were the things that come out in our in our marital um dialogue we were watching that ABC documentary Bradman and tendulka which I’m not sure if you’ve seen it Jeff but to repeat I didn’t know it had been

Played earlier in the year pretty much every one of our colleagues must have got an ABC appearance feere apart from you and me to say broadly speaking the same thing of course there was insight there but they just had the same quite over and over about the two of them um

About you know watching the same tape of Bradman from 1930 and watching how quick his hands are in in showing a coaching course and then um discussing what what a lovely cricketer sain tender is because sain tender is a brilliant he’s a brilliant player sain um and did you

Know that Don Bradman once said that um tender reminded him of when he played so yes you know one of those one of those buried facts of cricket history that nobody talks about what did John Bradman average no one talks about it they don’t mention it they don’t bring it up what

Did Steve Smith do before he became good at people don’t talk about that enough what did did Scott pendlebury ever play a different sport before football nobody talks about it these are the secrets these are the conversations we need to have to get these things out in the open

Where they belong anyway so um uh that that will be all next year and yeah as part of that Rach was I’ve got Winnie you you’ll probably appreciate this so well our listeners we were at a pub in oh you’ve been there with me Jeff the

Royal the Royal maale in bagara we we recorded a daily EP there last year I think da anyway you know on the wall Cricket um the cricket art they’ve got there the pictures of the Wier and the bow and the around the corner from that they’ve got

A picture of Don Bradman and I was taking Winnie to the toilet and she spotted this thing on the wall and wanted to learn about it and I told her all about so now she said she talks about W she really wants to know how Don

Died um she keeps asking me how did Don Die Why did Don die she’s very interested in death at the moment she’s interest yeah ever since um ever since Queen Elizabeth she’s been very interested in in people or things being dead um Queen you know how Elsa is dead

Elizabeth um she’s at the start of Frozen she was very keen to tell me about how the parents died in the Shipwreck they’re dead now CU it’s not really made clear there’s a montage of a storm and then some sad looking sort of Aryan super children or whatever in the

Ice castle um but yeah Winnie had to make sure that that I knew that they were dead and also she discovered that day at the museum that Wales could die so she’s like do you know that Wales died yeah I said yes yes I do know that you know who else is dead

Elizabeth yes so true not not broadly grouped together for many reasons but they did ultimately whether you’re a queen or a whale um we all we all end up in the same place if you’re interested about the uh the death of Wales look up there’s there’s a fabulous essay by

Rebecca Giggs one of my alltime favorite writers about what happens when Wales die um I’m sure if you type Rebecca Giggs and whale into Google you’ll find it I thought you were going to say it’s in my dad’s book about the Shipwreck at King Island in the bass straight but um

That would have been a lovely coming full circle from the start of our conversation yeah I don’t know there there’s a fair bit down the bottom of the best state the karak was the the ship that crashed on that that was wrecked on the coast of King Island in

18 Dicky 2 and um yes I believe I believe you can say it was Australia’s worst Maritime disaster or peace time Maritime disaster I think I think it still holds the record for because it was full of people full of um migrant settlers who all most of them

Ended up at the bottom of the Bass Street Grim um just to go back to that Don thing that’s how this conversation came up last night she’s like did he play cricket every day did he play every every day every day I’m like well yeah

He kind of did let me tell you about his let me tell you about his honeymoon let me tell you what he did for after he got married we took Jesse around and he played 200 days in a row in America and Canada made 40 odd 100s with Chuck Fleetwood Smith one of

The one on the on the waters anyway that’s that’s that’s what you learn when you do lots and lots of Story Time as we will Jeff one one more thing just on a personal note before we finish this episode um I was sort of tossing and

Turning whether I’d do this here but I’m I’m going to um so I know we talk a lot about our charitable causes with the tavs and and we have um other times that we’re asking for money for various things but uh Winnie her oldest pal from our NCT course our anti-al course uh

Ralph um uh Ralph’s very very sick rap needs um multiple organs to be replaced he’s got liver cancer and it’s spread and it’s dire it’s really bad um and despite waiting for six months for these transplants in the UK it’s just not happening and his parents have got no

Choice but to immediately moved to America to get a transplant there it’s an extraordinarily expensive process this is a horrendous situation um I’m sure anyone can understand that if your um child’s on the on the cusp of death you would do literally anything to save them and that’s what they’re doing

Pulling up all stops it’s going to cost a million quid to make this happen it’s crazy but that’s that’s that’s how that’s what’s happening that’s what’s happening it’s I mean it’s unspeakably sad um time’s running out they’re trying to get him over there right now so um the fundraiser has been going

Wonderfully they’ve raised 200,000 pounds so far it’s been all over the media in the UK um on BBC Sky there was some newspaper articles on the weekend but um KD and Graham his wonderful parents have been raising awareness to um to child uh organ donation which is incred incredibly difficult topic to

Talk about and think about um so that they’ve been doing all of this work for the NHS as spokespeople for it uh and now sadly they’ve realized the probability of getting an organ in time or organs multiple organs on time it’s not going to happen so um if you uh want

To uh contribute to a very important cause um this Christmas if this is something you’re inclined to do if you’ve got extra money if you’ve got wealthy friends perhaps um I’m going to put a link in the show notes to ra story um to the gofund me um and all all money

Is um appreciated and if for whatever reason they don’t need it so somehow um a miracle does arise over Christmas and there is an organ or organs plural in the UK all that money won’t be of course required and it’ll all be sent back to those who sent it to them um there’s

There’s a process in place for that but yeah um little Raph is a lovely little kid um as I say one of Winn’s best Pals they’re born a fortnite from each other uh and um and yeah I just thought given we’ve got a lot of listeners there might

Be someone out there who’s got the means or people out there who’ have got the means to contribute and if you can that’d be great yeah horrific story and and wishing them the best of luck with trying to to pull this together uh all right on that somber

Note that that that has been um the final word uh season 15 episode 16 thank you so much everybody who’s listening uh as we mentioned off the top Michael beavon is with us for the live show on the 7th of January jump in and buy a

Ticket for that and Jeff and I will be recording over the next couple of days for Story Time apps that with a bit of luck Jeff will be out on Friday and Saturday head of our Christmas interview on Sunday uh can’t stop won’t stop uh

Thanks for being part of it Jeff have I missed anything don’t think so that’s it let’s uh let’s call it let’s call it the red eyee special is done all right bye-bye bye