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Speaker 1: To Gold on the Front Foot with Brian Waddell and
Speaker 1: Jeremy Coney powered by News Talk, said B at iHeartRadio.
Speaker 4: Hello, welcome once again on the Front Foot. A reward
Speaker 4: for all round us Smith and Bartson gaining Black Cats
Speaker 4: contracts is Joe Root, England's best ever batsman and it
Speaker 4: comes at a time that the Messiah gets another role
Speaker 4: in England cricket. Brendon McCollum, England's white all coach boy.
Speaker 4: England have really found a star in terms of their
Speaker 4: haven't they. Jeremy gaddyloadds well, they certainly seemed to be
Speaker 4: happy with his performance.
Speaker 3: Don't they. I mean the Test side wasn't doing very
Speaker 3: well was it when he took over? Was it one
Speaker 3: from seventeen or something like that? They had one with
Speaker 3: Joe Ruters cap'n. So that wasn't too hard for Brendan
Speaker 3: to change. You'd have to say, but his you know,
Speaker 3: the results and his style. I think they won nineteen
Speaker 3: out of twenty eight. I think I read somewhere, So
Speaker 3: that's all improved. And it's actually been the white ball
Speaker 3: formats that have imploded, haven't they in England? You know,
Speaker 3: they had that awful ODI in India where everybody beat them,
Speaker 3: and then they had that average performance in the T twenty.
Speaker 3: So it's kind of when McCullum originally arrived, it was
Speaker 3: the other way around, wasn't It was the red bull
Speaker 3: struggling and the white ball was yards that won everything
Speaker 3: and so on. Now it's flipped on its head, so
Speaker 3: he may see that as a chance to make a
Speaker 3: bit of a more of an impact. And you know,
Speaker 3: the other point I would think about that he's got
Speaker 3: the job at a time when Morgan's team as being
Speaker 3: kind of dismantled, isn't it. It's being seven and renewed.
Speaker 3: So you know, Morgan's out and Maine Ali's out, and
Speaker 3: Bearstow and Jason Roy and that bowler, Liam Plunkett, they're
Speaker 3: all gone and in becoming all those new guys we
Speaker 3: talked about last week, you know, Bethel and Moseley and
Speaker 3: Jordan Cox and all that lot, so you know he
Speaker 3: may help Josh Butler as well. Josh Butler, I don't know,
Speaker 3: how how do you see him? I always see him
Speaker 3: as a wee bit burdened as a captain.
Speaker 4: Yeah, he doesn't look as though he's enjoying himself to
Speaker 4: a certain extent. He does when he's in and runs
Speaker 4: and being able to accelerate the team performance. But you know,
Speaker 4: there seemed to be just a sort of a mismatch
Speaker 4: between he and Mott, the previous coach, and he may
Speaker 4: well be able to fit in because I think he's
Speaker 4: the McCullum style, isn't he. He's a go get him,
Speaker 4: take every opportunity you can, don't be scared. And I
Speaker 4: think he's a McCullum type player, isn't he.
Speaker 3: I think by instinct he is, and that he's overburdened
Speaker 3: a little bit by all the all the figures and
Speaker 3: all the you know, suggestions and so on that might
Speaker 3: come his way. And I think Brendan will allow him
Speaker 3: just free him up a bit, don't you think. And
Speaker 3: the other thing. The other thing, I think that some
Speaker 3: of the players, you know, that they will now with
Speaker 3: him being white and red ball. They'll get a common message,
Speaker 3: you know, a constant kind of similar message over both
Speaker 3: the red ball and the white ball, and players quite
Speaker 3: like that. When you do get you know, say, the
Speaker 3: red ball are going really well on the white ball,
Speaker 3: aren't You're always kind of got players looking over the fence,
Speaker 3: you know, saying, gee, I wish I was in there,
Speaker 3: and what's wrong with our one? You know, comparing coaches.
Speaker 3: So that will stop all that. I think the only
Speaker 3: question is, of course the old one is a schedule
Speaker 3: too tough? Will it allow it? Will he is it
Speaker 3: too much? And will he need somebody else, you know
Speaker 3: to help him? At times?
Speaker 4: I think he's got fairly good back up. They seem
Speaker 4: to have a lot of people around well, I've got
Speaker 4: a lot of people around the Test team, and they
Speaker 4: seem to have a lot of coaching and support staff
Speaker 4: around their white ball team. Gee, we've done a good
Speaker 4: job for overseas coaches, haven't we. You know, we've we've
Speaker 4: shunted Brendan McCullum off. We didn't want him. We've got
Speaker 4: rid of Daniel Vittori. We didn't want him. Jeetan Patel, well,
Speaker 4: he was here and then shot back to England as
Speaker 4: quickly as he retired, Stephen Flemm making millions of the
Speaker 4: coach and we've got a great job for world cricket.
Speaker 3: Don't it, Shane Bond. Yeah exactly. So it's been spinners
Speaker 3: and fast bowlers and batsmen and hitters. It's been all sorts,
Speaker 3: hasn't it.
Speaker 4: And I hope they do.
Speaker 3: I've said that before. I hope they do in the
Speaker 3: end come back. And certainly, to be fair, I think
Speaker 3: Fleming and Bond have done a little bit at times,
Speaker 3: haven't and maybe for Tory but with particular tournaments. But yeah,
Speaker 3: you're right. It's part of the player sort of moving
Speaker 3: around and coaches move around too.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I censored under you know, the current structure of
Speaker 4: a World cricket that their skills and other skills. You know,
Speaker 4: we look overseas to bring people into contract for coaching
Speaker 4: jobs and so forth, so you know, it's the current way.
Speaker 4: We were warned of that and it was pretty obviously
Speaker 4: coming to the fore. So, you know, interesting to see
Speaker 4: McCollum putting his feet up on the stand. He sits
Speaker 4: in those nice comfortable chairs as he watches the game,
Speaker 4: doesn't look too worried about what's going on in the world,
Speaker 4: feed up and enjoying it chatting with these team players.
Speaker 4: Good luck to him. Contracts well, we've talked about contracts
Speaker 4: a bit recently. Nathan Smith and Josh Clarkson have received
Speaker 4: contracts now they are available after Conway and Allan opted
Speaker 4: out of central contracts. Smith and Clarkson all round US
Speaker 4: Conway and Alan batsman. Nathan Smith said his response to
Speaker 4: the offer from New Zealand cook Att took him no
Speaker 4: time at all to agree to after a tough season
Speaker 4: with Worcestershire. He had to come home early because of injury.
Speaker 5: Yeah.
Speaker 6: I think I played eight four day games and ten
Speaker 6: weeks or something like that, so on the back of
Speaker 6: a home summer, so it was Yeah, the workload was high.
Speaker 6: That such a valuable experience. I loved my time, loved
Speaker 6: my time there and be keen to go back.
Speaker 4: So you must have come home or come away from
Speaker 4: that pretty happy with what you achieved in terms of performances.
Speaker 6: Yeah, I think so. Yeah, I think just sort of
Speaker 6: the form just rolled on from the home summer. Really,
Speaker 6: you know, my body was in good shape. Just love
Speaker 6: playing for them as well. They a great bunch of
Speaker 6: guys and that sort of goes a long way as
Speaker 6: well when you go into a new environment and they're
Speaker 6: good people. So yeah, just just love the experience.
Speaker 4: Really, you talked about your body being in good shape.
Speaker 4: You've had problems in the last few years, haven't you.
Speaker 4: So you're really getting over a major injury break, didn't you.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 6: I suppose the last couple of years, barring the last
Speaker 6: six months, the eight en months before that were they
Speaker 6: were challenging. You know, a couple of back stress fractures.
Speaker 6: It's quite testing times, but I think through that you
Speaker 6: sort of learn a lot about yourself. It gives you
Speaker 6: a little bit of perspective as well, and it's a
Speaker 6: hell of a lot better playing than I spent a
Speaker 6: lot of time sitting on the couch watching a lot
Speaker 6: of guys play. So it's nice to you know, have
Speaker 6: a sort of a prolonged period of playing consistently, and
Speaker 6: you know, I think that's probably it's probably why the
Speaker 6: results are so good, you know, just playing all the time.
Speaker 4: Can you pinpoint any area of your game where you
Speaker 4: think you've improved or have tried to improve?
Speaker 6: I think probably just on the back of on the
Speaker 6: on the back of being fitter and stronger. I think
Speaker 6: I've probably gained a little bit of pace, and the
Speaker 6: consistency of the pace is there through sort of second
Speaker 6: and third spells. I think that's probably why I've started
Speaker 6: taking a few more wickets. Maybe it's just that consistent
Speaker 6: pace throughout the day has helped.
Speaker 3: For me.
Speaker 6: I think moving forward, I think it's probably probably the
Speaker 6: consistency in the batting that's gonna It's gonna take me
Speaker 6: to the next level. So that's been a big focus
Speaker 6: over the last twelve months.
Speaker 4: And the other thing is that's probably a tough question
Speaker 4: to answer. Do you have a preference for the format
Speaker 4: of the game or is it just all your preference
Speaker 4: in terms of every format.
Speaker 6: Oh yeah, I love I love crickets, so all formats
Speaker 6: are great. They have their own little niches. But for me,
Speaker 6: I'm a purist, so I love the long format of
Speaker 6: the game. It's probably a format that I've had the
Speaker 6: most success in so far. So that doesn't say I'm
Speaker 6: not I'm not trying to become an all three format player.
Speaker 6: I definitely think I can play all three formats. So yeah,
Speaker 6: for me, it's just about trying to stay on the park,
Speaker 6: stay fit and hopefully perform for whoever I'm playing for. Yeah,
Speaker 6: I think I think probably had a strong domestic summer
Speaker 6: last year and then continued continued again for Worcester over
Speaker 6: the over the winter. So probably just the form in
Speaker 6: the last twelve months. I'd say that's that's the goal anyway,
Speaker 6: to try try about seven and a Test team. I
Speaker 6: think what sets me apart from from other seamers potentially
Speaker 6: having that batting there that can add a little bit
Speaker 6: balance to a side. So I'm always going to try
Speaker 6: work on that and get as good as I can
Speaker 6: with my batting to try to help the team.
Speaker 4: You took the new ball for what do you do?
Speaker 4: For Wellington? You took the new ball for what's you do?
Speaker 4: You see yourself essentially as a new ball bowler or
Speaker 4: an all around who bats. You know, people put in categories,
Speaker 4: don't they.
Speaker 6: I suppose I try not to categorize it too much.
Speaker 6: I feel like I've got a little bit more skill
Speaker 6: with the ball then just bowling with a new ball.
Speaker 6: I like to take the new ball. I think it's
Speaker 6: a real strength of mine, but I think I can
Speaker 6: also add impact with the old ball as well, which
Speaker 6: I think is going to be important for me moving
Speaker 6: forward to intetional cricket.
Speaker 4: Former black Caps bowling coach Shane Jurgenson, who's now the
Speaker 4: Wellington coach of Smith's side as well placed to assess
Speaker 4: the pace bowlers a bit of he and he applauds
Speaker 4: the black Caps choice.
Speaker 7: It's amazing. It's a credit to create Wellington and the
Speaker 7: hard work that's gone on behind the scenes over a
Speaker 7: long period of time and you know, fantastic for Nathan
Speaker 7: and to have that opportunity for him. It's been a
Speaker 7: long road for Nathan. I played first class cricket for
Speaker 7: quite a while now with O Targo and what he's
Speaker 7: done when he's come to Wellington and the opportunity he's
Speaker 7: had a lot of support and for him personally to
Speaker 7: come back from a serious back injury, his stress fracture
Speaker 7: of the operation and to have the impact he had
Speaker 7: for us last year was you know, a nice reward
Speaker 7: for him.
Speaker 5: Oh.
Speaker 7: I think for him attention to detail. He's quite an
Speaker 7: open young man to learning, which is good. You know,
Speaker 7: tough boy from the South and he loves the opportunity
Speaker 7: to learn and develop his game. As you say, he's
Speaker 7: basically he isn't all round it and can provide an
Speaker 7: impact with the ball, with the bat and also in
Speaker 7: the field he's lightning across the turf trying to catching
Speaker 7: and fielding the ball retrieving it. So yeah, he can
Speaker 7: certainly have a player that can have an impact and
Speaker 7: create an opportunity for the team. That's to make a
Speaker 7: position of where the team might be in a difficult
Speaker 7: position and he can make make a difference in a match.
Speaker 7: So that's a type of exciting cricket he can bring
Speaker 7: to the game.
Speaker 4: It's a new era for fast ballers in New Zealand
Speaker 4: now the older group is starting to decline a little bit,
Speaker 4: We've got some new players. Nathan was talking about one
Speaker 4: of the things that being a watershowers being able to
Speaker 4: increase his pace. Have you noticed that? Is he quick enough?
Speaker 4: Can he get quicker?
Speaker 5: Oh?
Speaker 7: Yeah, it certainly increase that. I think it's something he's
Speaker 7: been working on the last twelve months, is attacking the
Speaker 7: crease almost like taking himself out of that the role
Speaker 7: of all being seen as maybe a swing bowler into
Speaker 7: potentially being able to bowl in all different types of
Speaker 7: the not just new ball. And I think that's certainly
Speaker 7: something in him and I have spoken about, and he
Speaker 7: has a strong desire to being able to bowl at
Speaker 7: all parts of the innings.
Speaker 5: And I think for us in the.
Speaker 7: Plunket chieerd last year, there are certainly times where he
Speaker 7: up the ante and bold short short deliveries, short ball
Speaker 7: plan to try and create a bit of doubt with
Speaker 7: the batter, and he certainly had an impact.
Speaker 4: You look around the world and the international teams that
Speaker 4: are looking for faster bottles and like Chicken really ball
Speaker 4: fast and New Zealand have got a couple on the
Speaker 4: new breed and he could join them with that ability.
Speaker 7: Yeah, I think for him, Yeah, he certainly worked on
Speaker 7: his fitness, attacking the wicket, getting stronger. He slides onto
Speaker 7: the bat a bit quicker than you think, and he's
Speaker 7: got some really good skills and I think with Nathan
Speaker 7: what you can have is someone that for us he
Speaker 7: was right up there with one of our best T
Speaker 7: twenty bowlers last year and that's the ability that he has. Hopefully,
Speaker 7: you know he will continue to grow and keep learning
Speaker 7: and he's always curious wants to get better, So there's
Speaker 7: no doubt he's going to be a strong contender for
Speaker 7: all formatsman's future.
Speaker 4: For of the seams that are developing now.
Speaker 7: I think, you know my role, there's some really good, exciting,
Speaker 7: exciting young fast bowlers. I think there's certainly going to
Speaker 7: be opportunities for these guys. And to see another one
Speaker 7: of our guys, Ben Sears with his opportunities and there's
Speaker 7: been a number of players over a long period of time,
Speaker 7: Jacob Duffy, and there's another one that comes to mind
Speaker 7: as Ben List. You know, there's going to be more
Speaker 7: opportunities for these guys and opportunity for them to step
Speaker 7: up into those roles. And look, I think it's sort
Speaker 7: of you know, no doubt you've also got Kyle Jamison.
Speaker 7: So there's still a number of quality, high quality fast bowlers,
Speaker 7: and you know that's the balance of the opportunities and
Speaker 7: the roles that are around for the guys is to
Speaker 7: step up for the team. And yeah, so's certainly going
Speaker 7: to be still competition for the spots for you know,
Speaker 7: the black Ops and years to come with him.
Speaker 4: So that response by Jergensen gives an indication of selector
Speaker 4: thinking to opening batsmen out middle order all around has
Speaker 4: included white ball thinking, I think for the future or
Speaker 4: is a test match thinking for some of these players.
Speaker 3: What do you think, Jerry Well, it certainly seems as o'
Speaker 3: clarkson has already played a few ODI's and te tweeties,
Speaker 3: hasn't he. It looks as though New Zealand liked to
Speaker 3: introduce their even their Test players through the white ball
Speaker 3: formats and get them used to international level. I yeah,
Speaker 3: I don't know Josh Clarkson quite so well. I don't
Speaker 3: know either of them quite as well as you do.
Speaker 3: I looked up their figures. Smith looks a more of
Speaker 3: a bowling prospect. He impressed me with the way he spoke.
Speaker 3: Was he's aware that, you know, he can use the
Speaker 3: ball at different times. In other words, he can use
Speaker 3: the open the bowling with the new ball. He's done
Speaker 3: that for Wellington and Worcestershire, hasn't he. He can bowl
Speaker 3: first change. Then he said in that interview that he
Speaker 3: was working on the old ball, which is a good thing.
Speaker 3: You know. He's thinking about what can I do to
Speaker 3: add to my game in order to prepare for the
Speaker 3: you know what's up in front of me. He knows
Speaker 3: that he's got to do more as a batsman at
Speaker 3: number seven, he said, So I like all that that
Speaker 3: that he's a thoughtful player making himself useful. And when
Speaker 3: I looked at his figures, a couple of things stood
Speaker 3: out for me. This is Nathan Smith. The first thing
Speaker 3: is he's got five wicket bags and first class cricket
Speaker 3: six times. Now that's that's a man who can you know,
Speaker 3: who can change a game. You know, when you take
Speaker 3: a five wicket bag, you know he's got that ability.
Speaker 3: He's got four wickets four times as well. He's getting
Speaker 3: a wicket ut just every just over nine overs, and
Speaker 3: so you know that's that's a good component. I think
Speaker 3: he's bowling. We need a middle order seema who can
Speaker 3: hold a bat. Now there's batting. He's had eighty two
Speaker 3: first class innings and he's got thirteen fifties. Now to me,
Speaker 3: he's good. So I've got one hundred, but thirteen fifties
Speaker 3: to me, that's a fifty every six innings and a bit.
Speaker 3: I can hold a bat, and I can get them
Speaker 3: in different situations. It says thirteen of them, and I
Speaker 3: can get them at different times in the game with
Speaker 3: different conditions you know, and different bowlers. Those are all
Speaker 3: things I think are quite positive about Nathan Smith. He's
Speaker 3: not there yet not the finished product. No one's saying
Speaker 3: he is, but those are good signs.
Speaker 4: Yeah, those stats to me, as you say, show a
Speaker 4: player who can latten different circumstances and you want somebody
Speaker 4: who can hit quick runs if required. He can do that.
Speaker 4: You want someone who can play a solid innings as
Speaker 4: a support. And to me, he fits into the bill
Speaker 4: of say something like Santner Embraceville, somebody who could bat
Speaker 4: at Test level. And the fact that he's talking about
Speaker 4: improving his batting to be a number seven batsman gives
Speaker 4: the indication that that's the way he's thinking. And you know, yeah,
Speaker 4: you're right, he's not the finished product. But he does
Speaker 4: hit the cricket headlines at times, doesn't he And you
Speaker 4: know he does change the course of a game and
Speaker 4: they are all important features.
Speaker 3: Yeah. Well, last game he played, you know, and in England,
Speaker 3: I think it was against Durham, I saw he got
Speaker 3: two lots of four wickets and I just quickly flipped
Speaker 3: open the paper to have a look at it. And
Speaker 3: he got Alex Lees twice. So there's an England opener.
Speaker 3: He got Beddington, that fellow who's from South Africa who
Speaker 3: came out here just last year and he got Ben
Speaker 3: Stokes who was playing. So he gets good players out
Speaker 3: obviously with the new ball, getting those top orders, so
Speaker 3: that's all good. And he got a fifty one not
Speaker 3: out against naturally. How many New Zealanders are playing once?
Speaker 3: I mean he was playing I think against nottingham at
Speaker 3: trent Bridge. This was a T twenty, his last T
Speaker 3: twenty match. He came in. Worcestershire who he plays for,
Speaker 3: were fifty eight for six and he got fifty one
Speaker 3: not out and got them through to one hundred and
Speaker 3: fifty four and then they won the match. And he
Speaker 3: was playing against Ben Lester for Nottinghamshire who got two
Speaker 3: for twenty and Will Young also both those guys from
Speaker 3: New Zealand and Will Young got the top score for
Speaker 3: Nots twenty five. They are good signs different formats responding
Speaker 3: at the first class level.
Speaker 4: I've been through a list of the county teams and
Speaker 4: I haven't got all the players we've played throughout the year,
Speaker 4: but so far I've got a list of twenty seven
Speaker 4: New Zealand players in England this year playing for counties,
Speaker 4: and that doesn't really minor county yep. I mean there's
Speaker 4: a young bowler from christ Church. Kendry player Fraser Sheet
Speaker 4: who has had a game for Glamorgan. I think he
Speaker 4: played in the last round for Glamorgan. Not one of
Speaker 4: the top counties, but they're getting experience and that level.
Speaker 4: And you know the names that are there. You will
Speaker 4: know Wagner's playing, Tom Bruce, Jimmy Neisham's had a game,
Speaker 4: Phillips has been over there, Ravendra has been there playing
Speaker 4: a form of the game for sides over there. But
Speaker 4: names you might not hear. James Hartshorn who played for
Speaker 4: Wellington and the Plunket Shield. Logan van Beek has just
Speaker 4: taken up a contractor Worcestershire and place at. Nathan Smith
Speaker 4: and some of these young players Zach Fuchs. Michael Ray,
Speaker 4: bowling from down in the South Island, has also been
Speaker 4: playing at Warwickshire. So this is a good off season
Speaker 4: play for these players and hopefully they're still available to play.
Speaker 4: Forty twenty seven names. Boy, that's a lot.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, so Wads Clarkson more of a white ball
Speaker 3: player at the moment, you'd think, Yeah, the average is
Speaker 3: about the same. Average is about the same as Nathan
Speaker 3: Smith with the bat hasn't played as many games and
Speaker 3: not quite the bowler twenty three first class games, thirty
Speaker 3: two wickets, so he's getting just over one wicket a game,
Speaker 3: whereas Nathan Smith's getting kind of, you know, nearly three.
Speaker 4: And he's I think, you know, he's an explosive batsman.
Speaker 4: That's what they like at at the domestic level. But
Speaker 4: of course he's got to make that step up and
Speaker 4: he'll get a chance this year because this white ball
Speaker 4: cricket coming up later in the year. It may get
Speaker 4: a chance. There are nine Test matches that New Zealand
Speaker 4: are down to play for. There are injury possibilities, that's
Speaker 4: always a likelihood, and one or two of those outside
Speaker 4: the squad who have got Black Cap contracts could be
Speaker 4: playing Test match cricket before the end of the year.
Speaker 4: It's a tough cycle for these We don't realize, you know,
Speaker 4: nine Test matches in three different countries, India, Sri Lanka
Speaker 4: and then they come back home to New Zealand. They'll
Speaker 4: have to get used to bating and bowling in New
Speaker 4: Zealand before the end of the year.
Speaker 3: Yeah. Well it's a good thing though. We can't have
Speaker 3: it both ways, can we knock in the players. They're
Speaker 3: obviously freeing up January to do the white ball formats,
Speaker 3: so you know, but it's good they're playing tests. Brian.
Speaker 3: We can't we can't complain and have it both ways,
Speaker 3: you know. I was just thinking over the week, I wonder,
Speaker 3: you know, we were talking about, oh we have been
Speaker 3: the big issues you know in cricket, and I was
Speaker 3: thinking about the way that the ICC spread their money around,
Speaker 3: you know, how they give a whole lot to India
Speaker 3: and to Australia and to England. I just wondered if
Speaker 3: they would just change that a little bit and say, look,
Speaker 3: New Zealand, we'll give you twelve percent of the money
Speaker 3: instead of the six you currently get, and for that
Speaker 3: you must play twelve thirteen tests, fifteen ODIs, eighteen t
Speaker 3: twenties internationals in your year. If you can do that,
Speaker 3: you'll get the twelve percent they and I just wonder
Speaker 3: whether that could actually be one way they could sort
Speaker 3: some of the problems out. I mean, people will be
Speaker 3: shouting at their radios, they'll be shouting, yes you are.
Speaker 3: You're wanting to shout straight away too. But then I
Speaker 3: just finished the just my last thought, my last thought look,
Speaker 3: doesn't matter what you think of these simple idea, but
Speaker 3: I would I would argue that it is important that
Speaker 3: we have those kind of discussions while you know there's
Speaker 3: still test cricket around. Don't let it fall away and
Speaker 3: become irrelevant without having these discussions. You know, whether strong
Speaker 3: sides keep getting stronger and the weak teams more fragile.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I look, I agree with you in terms of that.
Speaker 4: But were you thinking, were you're dreaming or drinking heavily
Speaker 4: that the ICC might actually make a change and really
Speaker 4: incorporate the love of test cricket for the rest of
Speaker 4: the world, Because to me it seems about the ICC.
Speaker 4: It's all about the ICC and how much money they
Speaker 4: can rake in. Yeah, they hand out money to all
Speaker 4: the major countries. But the last lot of figure, as
Speaker 4: you and I saw Indy, you got most of it,
Speaker 4: didn't it?
Speaker 3: Well? Nearly eighty wasn't it nearly eighty percent? They say,
Speaker 3: of course they make that too. But you see, let's
Speaker 3: move away from that model that's not working. You've only
Speaker 3: got to look at the performances of West Indies and
Speaker 3: Sri Lanka and England where they're getting through to sometimes
Speaker 3: to day three, sometimes to day four, early on day
Speaker 3: four whatever, and well look at the crowds. The crowds
Speaker 3: aren't going to the game the last day in that
Speaker 3: Sri Lanka last Test, only eight thousand there on the
Speaker 3: last day. Now at Law we just gone on that situation. No,
Speaker 3: course not. The punters aren't stupid. The quality when you've
Speaker 3: got to pay eighty five pounds which was the cheapest ticket, yeah,
Speaker 3: you expect, and then you perhaps have add and travel,
Speaker 3: add in food, add and drink. You might want to
Speaker 3: take your son or daughter along. Think how expensive that
Speaker 3: day is and quality, the quality of the product isn't
Speaker 3: good enough. You would expect a damn good competitive quality
Speaker 3: for that amount of money.
Speaker 4: Some people were paying over one hundred and twenty quid
Speaker 4: for those seats at Lord. One hundred and twenty. That's
Speaker 4: nearly two hundred and fifty New Zealand dollars, isn't it.
Speaker 3: Yeah, Yeah for a seat. And yeah, look, I just
Speaker 3: think what test cricket is. And I know our listeners
Speaker 3: will know. You know, I'm an older fella now, and
Speaker 3: maybe it is for older people, the test format, but
Speaker 3: I think it's worth saving because it happens to be
Speaker 3: the best format for me, it's only my view. The
Speaker 3: other point I would make, just to finish it, is,
Speaker 3: do you agree, yes, jere me, that's good.
Speaker 4: That's the older people.
Speaker 3: Look quickly, yeah, go and get clear to tap you
Speaker 3: on the back of give you another pill now.
Speaker 4: Look.
Speaker 3: But I just value into I just value international cricket. Actually,
Speaker 3: I like international stuff. I don't care really, I watch
Speaker 3: all the World Cups. I don't care what format it is.
Speaker 3: I suppose it's because I've known about those things and
Speaker 3: it means more to me. I don't really care quite
Speaker 3: so much about franchise A versus franchise B and insert
Speaker 3: some silly names there, and clubs made up and comprised
Speaker 3: of cricketing itinerants, you know, thrown together by money owned
Speaker 3: by someone wearing an expensive suit and loads of plastic surgery.
Speaker 3: I don't want to I really, during the midwinter in
Speaker 3: the Middle East or on the Canadian border, I don't
Speaker 3: care about that as much. So ultimately it's about money,
Speaker 3: isn't it. Franchise cricket. It's about laborers who pick up
Speaker 3: their year at the end of five weeks and move
Speaker 3: on somewhere else, and.
Speaker 4: That plastic surgery, I presume that includes a couple of
Speaker 4: new hips or yee joints replaced to them.
Speaker 3: Well, what about my hip exactly.
Speaker 4: Exactly, point will made Jarian. I'm sure we can discuss
Speaker 4: that on a future occasion as well. Let's look ahead
Speaker 4: to Afghanistan a Test match. They've arrived in Greater Noider,
Speaker 4: which is somewhere near Delhi in India and it's an
Speaker 4: area that has been little known for Test cricket. They've
Speaker 4: played very little in that part of the world. Darryl
Speaker 4: Mitchell is one of the key members of the New
Speaker 4: Zealand side. He's had a fair time to practice at home.
Speaker 4: He's acknowledged that and I think he understands right from
Speaker 4: the outset the challenge they face.
Speaker 5: Yeah, look, I guess it's the unknown of not really
Speaker 5: knowing what the surface will do. So for us, it's
Speaker 5: the next three days trainings will be really important to
Speaker 5: try and work out firstly how the surface will play
Speaker 5: and how we want to go about on that surface,
Speaker 5: and you will just adapt as quick as we can.
Speaker 5: The surfaces can be so different from ground to ground,
Speaker 5: in city to city, so it's working out what is
Speaker 5: the challenge on that wicket and trying to find ways
Speaker 5: put pressure back on the bowlers. For me, that's sticking
Speaker 5: with them my own strengths. And at the same time,
Speaker 5: you know, I've spent the last sort of two months
Speaker 5: now at home to prepare for this Test series and
Speaker 5: come up with some plans which hopefully fingers cross will work.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 5: Look, it's been cool. We've had a couple of camps
Speaker 5: up and Lincoln and at the Mountain and try and
Speaker 5: replicate I guess the surfaces that we will get over here,
Speaker 5: so you can never quite create Indian wickets. But yeah,
Speaker 5: I'm really happy with the way the prep's gone and
Speaker 5: just looking forward again, stuck in. Yeah, look for us,
Speaker 5: Test cricket's really important to us as a group and
Speaker 5: another chance played Testcreavy country is pretty special. So to
Speaker 5: take on Afghanistan, which is something we haven't done before,
Speaker 5: and yeah, we know they've got a number of world
Speaker 5: class players, especially in these conditions, it'll be a cool challenge.
Speaker 4: You might not have realized that just before that car
Speaker 4: started at the end of the piece with Mitchell on it,
Speaker 4: he was almost run down outside the front of the
Speaker 4: hotel by an another white car that seemed to be
Speaker 4: uncontrolled and you had to step aside to save himself
Speaker 4: from being run down. But that's the agility that Test
Speaker 4: match players have and are going to have to have.
Speaker 4: Mitchell acknowledges that the players are up against a tough
Speaker 4: three months with nine Test matches to play.
Speaker 5: There's definitely something I guess looking at the calendar for
Speaker 5: a period of time now, you can sort of keep
Speaker 5: you on and excited by the challenge to come over
Speaker 5: here to play Afghanistan, Sri Lanka and India and in
Speaker 5: these subconserent conditions. And that's why you play test crickets.
Speaker 5: You want to take on the best in their own
Speaker 5: and their own conditions.
Speaker 4: And yeah, cool, I think it's pretty simple Jerry, isn't it.
Speaker 4: He recognizes that they're going to have to work hard
Speaker 4: for three days just to get to grips with the
Speaker 4: conditions over there, because they're planning a lot of cricket
Speaker 4: in India over the next six to eight weeks. And
Speaker 4: this is not for the World Test Championship against Afghanistan,
Speaker 4: but it's an important test match for them, isn't it.
Speaker 3: Well, it's a serious warm up, isn't it. And it's
Speaker 3: not one of those thirteen fourteen players and we'll let
Speaker 3: you have a few of ours into your team and
Speaker 3: we'll play against each other.
Speaker 4: You know.
Speaker 3: It's not one of those warm up before one your
Speaker 3: first test. It's the tail end of the monsoon. So
Speaker 3: rain is a possibility, but not as much in July
Speaker 3: as August and August. It's the home ground, you know,
Speaker 3: adopted one for Afghanistan. They used to be charged, didn't they,
Speaker 3: And the cricket ground there and it's a sports complex
Speaker 3: so there is you know, Olympic swimming pool and a
Speaker 3: running track and all that sort of stuff around the
Speaker 3: cricket ground. I think I saw a picture was where
Speaker 3: it seats about eight thousand at the moment. I don't
Speaker 3: think they'll get those sort of crowds, but who knows.
Speaker 3: Concurence setting, Yeah, yeah, that maybe I can. I can
Speaker 3: hear the planes starting up and get the flying into Utta, Pradesh,
Speaker 3: but with the shade on the top tier only. They've
Speaker 3: got a pavilion that'll be handy. The boys don't have
Speaker 3: to change outside the boundary. So quite a smallest ground.
Speaker 3: It says boundary side sixty four meters straight, sixty six
Speaker 3: meters square. And I looked at a couple of games
Speaker 3: that they've held there wads. They haven't had many ODIs.
Speaker 3: They've had two af Gone two ninety two, Ireland two
Speaker 3: sixty two in forty six overs. Second game af Gone
Speaker 3: three thirty eight and Ireland three h four. Not bad
Speaker 3: totals for an ODI, but maybe that's the size of
Speaker 3: the ground. Who knows. And the last one I've looked
Speaker 3: up was a Rangy Trophy, which I was more interested
Speaker 3: in because it's more like a test match. Four dayers,
Speaker 3: the local team Utter Pradesh played Baroda Baroda three twenty one.
Speaker 3: Uda Pradesh used seven bowlders. Now it took a h
Speaker 3: and thirteen overs, but that included cool Deep Yadav and
Speaker 3: Pierce Choler who's a leg spinner who played for India,
Speaker 3: so decent bowlers, decent spinners. And then Uda Pradesh got
Speaker 3: five hundred and twenty four one hundred and fifty two overs.
Speaker 3: Baroda used seven bowlers again Indian bowlers, wads Erfun Patan,
Speaker 3: Munaf Patel, Hardik Pandia and then Baroda finished off two
Speaker 3: fifty eight for three. Now, if the block is the
Speaker 3: same as that game was played, and that was about
Speaker 3: four or so years ago, and they've been using local
Speaker 3: teams and corporates since then. But it sounds as though
Speaker 3: bowlers are going to have to work hard, doesn't it.
Speaker 3: It seems as though not much seen because that Irfund
Speaker 3: Patan and Muna Patel lot. Maybe you need real pace
Speaker 3: to take the wicked out of the equation a bit
Speaker 3: more so to me, That brings Seers and O'Rourke into
Speaker 3: the game more still want I think Henry there just
Speaker 3: in case, and it looks for spinners that you want
Speaker 3: to get the ball flighty more flighty up above the
Speaker 3: batsman's head and drop it. That brings Bracewol and age
Speaker 3: as Patel slightly ahead of Santner. I think in terms
Speaker 3: of the team composition, you.
Speaker 4: Can also add Ravendra in if he gets a batting
Speaker 4: slot in the Test team, to add the extra bowling option,
Speaker 4: but he would be third in that choice quite clearly.
Speaker 4: It's been a busy month for the New Zealand side
Speaker 4: because they've also been able to or had to watch
Speaker 4: England play Sri Lanka. They've played the West and East,
Speaker 4: now they're playing Sri Lanka. What would they've taken out
Speaker 4: of that last Test England's win over Sri Lanka. There's
Speaker 4: areas where can be exploited. Sri Lanka. They're a good
Speaker 4: side and will be at home, but they have a
Speaker 4: few weaknesses that can be exploited.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think Sri Lanka. I think the bowling look
Speaker 3: weaker than potentially the batting. I don't know. I mean
Speaker 3: they've been beaten, you know, pretty comfortably by England at home.
Speaker 3: But the impressive bowler is with the quicks A setter Fernando,
Speaker 3: he looks their best quick Kumara came in in the
Speaker 3: second Test and looked, you know better, I thought. And
Speaker 3: from the batting point of view, they didn't. I mean,
Speaker 3: they didn't look to have a really interesting spinner, did
Speaker 3: they really? Jayasuria? Jayasuria didn't really make a huge difference.
Speaker 3: Bowled a few overs and then the batting obviously that commandremendous.
Speaker 3: But he's batting at about number seven, isn't he He
Speaker 3: got the hundred and he's had a seventy seventy at Lord's.
Speaker 3: He looks a good player. And then chunder Mar's got
Speaker 3: a few and Baruna Ratna will be okay, I think
Speaker 3: when we play. Yeah, Matthews is there, so I think,
Speaker 3: and they one of the features I think they've shown
Speaker 3: is that cook They're quite They fight quite hard, don't they?
Speaker 3: And so I think they are going to be difficult
Speaker 3: at home most definitely.
Speaker 4: And they've got another Test match which is about to begin,
Speaker 4: and they'll be playing against a guy called Joe Root,
Speaker 4: who Michael Vaughan says is England's best ever batsman.
Speaker 3: I think you could, yeah, well that's a bold play.
Speaker 4: Yeah, you could. You could take exception because you could
Speaker 4: look at a number of players over different eras and
Speaker 4: it's the issue of looking at players and statistically you
Speaker 4: could probably find very little argument. But players play in
Speaker 4: different eras, different conditions, and it's very hard to mark
Speaker 4: one against the other. Joe Root against Don Bradman. You
Speaker 4: can't pick a one of there, can you, because they've
Speaker 4: played in different eras.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and so as you say, uncovered pictures, too many variables.
Speaker 3: Who are you playing? What is the strength of the bowl?
Speaker 4: Is?
Speaker 3: How strong is your side? In other words, if you're
Speaker 3: a number four like Joe Root, are you going in
Speaker 3: at two for fifteen? All the time, the laws have changed, drs,
Speaker 3: the equipment's changed, the size of the grounds changed, look,
Speaker 3: so many things. Was the game we keep saying all
Speaker 3: the game's changing so quickly. I would think of Joe Root,
Speaker 3: and you tend to as a kid think of you know,
Speaker 3: the players that you saw and they made an impact
Speaker 3: on you and so on. But certainly for me the
Speaker 3: period I played, Buchen Gower stood out as outstanding English players.
Speaker 3: And since I've stopped, I think Peterson and Root were
Speaker 3: the two that, again very different players who stood out
Speaker 3: for me. So those four in terms of batsmen ones
Speaker 3: and Oakner ones are three and two of them are
Speaker 3: four basically your middle order. So I would have to
Speaker 3: say Root is probably the best of the modern English
Speaker 3: batsman that I've seen. I don't know what he's so consistent.
Speaker 4: Oh and there's no doubt. I mean, I'm not arguing
Speaker 4: that a fact that tallom and he's and he's a
Speaker 4: good batsman to watch. I like players who are good
Speaker 4: to watch. David Gower for me, was probably one of
Speaker 4: the most elegant batsmen I ever saw. You know, we've
Speaker 4: talked about Bert suckerf how elegant was he as a player,
Speaker 4: Very very eligant left hander and goer in his time,
Speaker 4: you know, average forty four and tests eight thousand runs,
Speaker 4: but he can go back before that. You can look
Speaker 4: at the stats of Walter Hammond. We don't know how
Speaker 4: good he was. We have to look at the stats.
Speaker 4: We have to listen to what people say. Glenn Hutton
Speaker 4: was another one, average fifty six and test matches. You know,
Speaker 4: we don't think about that, do we when we look
Speaker 4: at Joe Route, who averages fifty So you know, it's
Speaker 4: it's the era, it's the time more so than the stats.
Speaker 4: The stats talk for themselves, don't they They do.
Speaker 3: And I think when you're asked to name the best
Speaker 3: test side, say from England, that people generally look at
Speaker 3: the more modern players then they do the older players.
Speaker 3: But Dennis Compton, I don't know whether you mentioned him.
Speaker 3: I remember talking to John Woodstock at once, you know
Speaker 3: that that writer who was who's not what was any longer? Yeah,
Speaker 3: John Woodcock, sorry, not Woodstock, and he said Dennis Compton
Speaker 3: was above everybody, peerless. Tom Graveney is another name that
Speaker 3: comes to my head. Peter May, a very strong player,
Speaker 3: Colin Cowdreyke and you know there are lots of them,
Speaker 3: so you know, I think that's what That's why I
Speaker 3: said sort of yeah, best ever not sure about that,
Speaker 3: but certainly I think of the modern era. Router's right
Speaker 3: up there.
Speaker 4: Yep. Well, Jeremy Kney is the best ever as far
Speaker 4: as I'm concerned, and I will remain that way as
Speaker 4: long as we can. Our old friends.
Speaker 3: Well, it's where it's being stretched. It's been stretched today.
Speaker 4: Never mind, we've got there. We've got a test manage
Speaker 4: to look forward to starting Monday. Yeah, great, and what
Speaker 4: time as it was, It'll be about five afternoon starting yeah,
Speaker 4: starting through about midnight.
Speaker 3: Okay, and it starts Monday, doesn't it nine?
Speaker 4: That's right.
Speaker 3: That's okay, So Monday to Friday test and we'll thank
Speaker 3: god you and I haven't got jobs.
Speaker 4: Except go get you then get a few nights sleep
Speaker 4: because we're going to have to.
Speaker 3: I better go and get a sky what is it
Speaker 3: called a sky now or something like that. I have
Speaker 3: a little package.
Speaker 4: Go and get something.
Speaker 8: Se yes, by all the world, A qualities of someting
Speaker 8: do do
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