Speaker 1: The Unplayable Podcast is proudly presented by quantas the official
Speaker 1: podcast partner and the official airline partner of Cricket Australia.
Speaker 1: Once again, this season, Quantus is pradsbyby flying Australia's cricketers
Speaker 1: as they take on the world. Everyone and welcome back
Speaker 1: to The Unplayable Podcast. Josh Onafinger here to check in
Speaker 1: ahead of the T twenty World Cup which is being
Speaker 1: held in India and Sri Lanka. Ben McDermott is the
Speaker 1: special guest on today's episode. He was part of the
Speaker 1: Hurricane side that just fell short against the Sixers in
Speaker 1: the most recent Big Bash. The Sixers of course lost
Speaker 1: the final to the Perth Scorches who claimed their sixth title.
Speaker 1: Incredible stuff from the side from the West. They just
Speaker 1: do it again and Ben McDermott is going to give
Speaker 1: us a few insights on that tournament and also tell
Speaker 1: us what it's like to play in Pakistan, where the
Speaker 1: Aussie men are heading next. Ben was part of that
Speaker 1: most recent tour to Pakistan in twenty twenty two. He
Speaker 1: did pretty well on it as well as you'll hear
Speaker 1: in the chat. But he joins us in just a
Speaker 1: few moments to give us the loadown on what they
Speaker 1: should expect and what's coming up. There's also that T
Speaker 1: twenty World Cup which follows these three matches. Now, Australia
Speaker 1: play those three matches against Pakistan in four days January
Speaker 1: twenty nine, January thirty first, and February first, before their
Speaker 1: T twenty World Cup campaign begins on February eleven. They're
Speaker 1: taking on Island in Colombo to kick things off in
Speaker 1: that tournament. They've also got Zimbabwe, Oman and Sri Lanka
Speaker 1: in their group, so hopefully no hiccups there. They'll get
Speaker 1: some time to find their feet. A few champions joining
Speaker 1: the squad as well, Mitch Marsh, Cooper Conley, Josh English
Speaker 1: just to name a few from that winning per Scorches side.
Speaker 1: So lots of players in great form after another fantastic
Speaker 1: big Bash campaign. Let's not waste more time. We'll bring
Speaker 1: in Ben McDermott, who's here to join the Unplayabolek podcast.
Speaker 1: So yeah, as mentioned off the top, Pakistan again a
Speaker 1: host Australia for a couple of T twenties ahead of
Speaker 1: that T twenty World Cup next month. So who better
Speaker 1: to give us an insight than somebody who's done very
Speaker 1: well over there in the past. Ben mcdermoty joined us. Now,
Speaker 1: how's it going Ben?
Speaker 2: Good? Thanks mate, Thanks having me.
Speaker 1: No worries it all. Let's start with a big bash
Speaker 1: because the Hurricanes, of course we're reigning champions, just fell
Speaker 1: short this year, losing to the Sixers in the Challenger Final.
Speaker 1: How did you feel like the season went as a
Speaker 1: whole there, mate?
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 3: I think you know, when you set out to start
Speaker 3: any tournament year, you aim to get that squad into it,
Speaker 3: into a final and give them a chance to go
Speaker 3: go all the way, and we were lucky enough to
Speaker 3: do that. We've lost we lost a few of our
Speaker 3: probably best players in CJ. Naith and Timmy David, So yeah,
Speaker 3: it probably hurt us a little bit when you lose
Speaker 3: quality players like that.
Speaker 2: But nice.
Speaker 3: Nice to get us into the finals and give our
Speaker 3: bench a little bit of a chance to get us
Speaker 3: all the way, but we weren't able to do.
Speaker 1: And you took the rains as well. With Nathan Allis
Speaker 1: out of the side, how did you feel that went,
Speaker 1: taking the captaincy unband for those matches?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I did it for three.
Speaker 3: Two of those were rain affected we've played a seven
Speaker 3: other game in a five over game, so that's that's
Speaker 3: that helps, and then yeah, I really enjoyed the captain
Speaker 3: inside of it. I definitely lean on, you know, our
Speaker 3: other senior players. We've got some quality out there and
Speaker 3: Bo Webster. Obviously Maddy Wade. I lean on him a
Speaker 3: lot throughout, you know everything, really my budding and especially
Speaker 3: when we're on the field and I'm skippering, always sort
Speaker 3: of lean on him.
Speaker 2: And yeah, loved it really good.
Speaker 1: And whenever Maddy Wade's in purple, he takes the gloves.
Speaker 1: Is there any competition from your side to take that
Speaker 1: honor as well?
Speaker 3: Yeah, obviously I love keeping lumber keeping. I'll you know,
Speaker 3: certainly be I hope, hopefully be stepping into that role
Speaker 3: whenever Maddy feels like he's ready and finished. But as
Speaker 3: soon as he you know, as far as we're all concerned,
Speaker 3: he's a better glove than than I am. And yeah,
Speaker 3: so whenever he's you know, he's finished and ready, I'll
Speaker 3: step into those shoes.
Speaker 2: I think I'm doing it for for Tazzy.
Speaker 3: The old boys backs not great for fifty hours, so
Speaker 3: I'll step into that. And yeah, looking forward to to
Speaker 3: doing that in our last sort of three games for
Speaker 3: Tazzy as well hopefully. Well, I think we've flocked in
Speaker 3: the home final, which is which is awesome.
Speaker 1: Yeah. I was going to ask, because yeah, obviously you're
Speaker 1: back down there with the Tigers this season and you've
Speaker 1: played some played some one day games I think before
Speaker 1: Christmas first class Crickets Sheffield hiew. Is that still on
Speaker 1: the agenda or was that sort of you're done with
Speaker 1: that for the minute.
Speaker 3: I never say never, man, I think if I'm here
Speaker 3: and available, yeah, happy to happy to have the conversation
Speaker 3: and get ready for a first class fix. But yeah,
Speaker 3: at this stage, really just trying to focus on my
Speaker 3: white ball game and see where that can take me.
Speaker 3: I guess I'm supposed to be leading for Malaysia tomorrow
Speaker 3: for a T ten competition, so you know, just things
Speaker 3: like that that pop up, and I'm really enjoying the
Speaker 3: freedom to go and be able to do so. Yeah,
Speaker 3: get over there, play some T ten which should be
Speaker 3: a lot of fun, and then get back to play
Speaker 3: some one day and finish off the season strong with Taszy.
Speaker 2: That's great.
Speaker 1: Who are you representing in the Malaysian League?
Speaker 2: The Royals.
Speaker 3: I actually don't know what the team's called, but where
Speaker 3: the Royals. So we're coming to play some fun cricket.
Speaker 2: That'll be good.
Speaker 1: Nice And have you played much ten before? And like,
Speaker 1: how much does it change to T twenty because obviously
Speaker 1: it's just a lot shorter.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean it's obviously. Yeah, it takes the two
Speaker 3: of our play. We played one over search or sort
Speaker 3: of simil thing. I don't think they called it the Surge,
Speaker 3: but yeah, I played that in Abadhabi played it played
Speaker 3: Zimbabwe one as well, So yeah, they're a lot of fun. Obviously,
Speaker 3: you know you're feeling under the pump as soon as
Speaker 3: you face a couple of dop balls. It's a little
Speaker 3: bit different at T twenty that way, but yeah, it's
Speaker 3: just a it's a it's a one. It's actually sort
Speaker 3: of It was funny I came from the Hong Kong
Speaker 3: sixes to straight to Abadabe T ten and I was like,
Speaker 3: I felt, this feels like a T twenty.
Speaker 2: So yeah, it's just it's all guns blazing.
Speaker 3: It's it's take a couple to get yourself certain and
Speaker 3: then join asmon as you can.
Speaker 1: The Hong Kong sixes looks like so much fun. From
Speaker 1: what I've seen on TV, you're playing on synthos and stuff,
Speaker 1: aren't you in small grounds and just lots of sixes?
Speaker 2: No, we played on a turf WI could Actually it
Speaker 2: was absolute belter, right, it was.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it was awesome. It was such good fun. We
Speaker 3: got a lot of stick for it. It did look
Speaker 3: a little bit different to what you know some of
Speaker 3: the guys see in TV, so but that was what
Speaker 3: made it really cool. Actually, like it was an SG
Speaker 3: ball or something like that, and it was pinging around
Speaker 3: like it was coming off a goal like a golf ball,
Speaker 3: and the ground was so tiny and the wicket was
Speaker 3: like a road. It was so much fun and we
Speaker 3: had a really good crew there as well.
Speaker 1: Do you reckon there's any scope for that sort of
Speaker 1: stuff in Australia? Six over matches, ten over matches or
Speaker 1: is twenty over perfect for what we've got down under here?
Speaker 2: I think you'd never say never.
Speaker 3: I think the games evolving so much it would be
Speaker 3: critical to see you people want to play more cricket,
Speaker 3: and especially sort of where I'm leaning towards, and I
Speaker 3: think the games heading a little bit towards some guys
Speaker 3: is the shorter format. So maybe there was a scope
Speaker 3: for it, but you know, it is a lot of fun.
Speaker 3: I think Rossie, our captain over there, was talking about
Speaker 3: us getting together and trying to take on you know,
Speaker 3: like go around Australia and take on some teams whoever
Speaker 3: wants to sort of play us, and I thought that
Speaker 3: was a pretty cool idea as well.
Speaker 1: So it goes Harlem globe trotter's style.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, that's it.
Speaker 3: We got knocked off over there by Pakistan in the
Speaker 3: semi final, but they had some nice player as well.
Speaker 3: They had a couple of internationals as well playing, so yeah,
Speaker 3: it was good fun.
Speaker 1: And on a personal note, mate, you finished the tournament
Speaker 1: pretty well for the Hurricanes, fifty nine off thirty one
Speaker 1: against the Heat and forty off twenty six against the Sixers.
Speaker 1: But you guys came up against Steve Smith, I guess
Speaker 1: in that challenger. So that was always going to be
Speaker 1: pretty tough considering the four meeting at the minute.
Speaker 2: Yeah, always always a tough one.
Speaker 3: We're had a good strategy meeting the day before with
Speaker 3: Naith and our sort of our staff working out sort
Speaker 3: of where we wanted to bowl, and as you do,
Speaker 3: just dragged on for about twenty minutes about how we
Speaker 3: bbviously reckon but no, it was it was, it was.
Speaker 2: It was a challenge we fellow.
Speaker 3: We got a couple close there a couple of times,
Speaker 3: but he got away again and he's showing his class
Speaker 3: and he's unbelievable tough to get out.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and speaking of class, the Scorches one out again
Speaker 1: for the sixth time. A lot of people had written
Speaker 1: them off, but they've just done it again. Why do
Speaker 1: you think they've been able to come back and win
Speaker 1: it again.
Speaker 3: I think they've managed to keep their squad pretty similar
Speaker 3: for a long period of time. They've obviously got some
Speaker 3: gun players. They've got the Australian opening Bata and the
Speaker 3: other opening batter finale and had an unbelievable season. And
Speaker 3: it's always the way when you get guys, guys firing
Speaker 3: at the right time.
Speaker 2: I think Finn didn't miss seem like you missed at all.
Speaker 3: But yeah, he had an unblievible tourment and you know,
Speaker 3: those those sort of things they sort of get you
Speaker 3: all the way in. We sort of had that last
Speaker 3: year with Mitchell when he had an absolute belter And yeah,
Speaker 3: just guys coming off at the right time.
Speaker 2: And like I said, yeah, they've got a.
Speaker 3: Squad that are really familiar with each other and played
Speaker 3: a lot of cretek together.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and yeah, a lot of international players in that
Speaker 1: squad who you mentioned. A lot of those guys will
Speaker 1: be heading to Pakistan either today or they've already headed
Speaker 1: over there. You were there in twenty twenty two when
Speaker 1: Australia returned for the first time in twenty four years.
Speaker 1: What was that experience like and what are your memories
Speaker 1: of that tour as well?
Speaker 3: Yeah, obviously it was it was COVID time, so we
Speaker 3: were in a hotel, locked into a floor with lots
Speaker 3: of security. So yeah, a little bit of a tense time,
Speaker 3: but it sort of brought us pretty close together. We
Speaker 3: spent a lot of time and yeah, in the coffee
Speaker 3: rooms and around each other, getting around each other. So
Speaker 3: it was a nice little bubble that we had there.
Speaker 3: And it was a short tour, like we pumped out
Speaker 3: the games, but the wickets, yeah, quite good for batting
Speaker 3: and high scoring, so it was nice to go over
Speaker 3: there as a top water batter and try and spend
Speaker 3: some time in the middle, which I was lucky enough
Speaker 3: to do a couple of games with I think a
Speaker 3: sixty or something and my first idea one hundred. So
Speaker 3: I was, yeah, something to look back on and really enjoyable.
Speaker 3: And yeah, probably one of my fondest creaking memories personally.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean there that's one hundred came that second ode.
Speaker 1: I just had a look at the score card. You
Speaker 1: were batting three, a big partnership with Travis Head as well,
Speaker 1: so that would have helped. Suppose can you take us
Speaker 1: into the middle. How are you feeling at that time
Speaker 1: and as you're getting close to that milestone? Were they
Speaker 1: nerves or were you just in the zone?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think I was.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I was betting with Trav which was which was
Speaker 3: helpful throughout that power play and the middle overs.
Speaker 2: You know, yeah, it was.
Speaker 3: It was swinging around a little bit early, but then
Speaker 3: you know, you know, once you sort of get through that,
Speaker 3: the wicket's going to be good. And we sort of
Speaker 3: knew that we needed we needed a big score. They
Speaker 3: were chasing down pretty much anything under two sixty three hundred,
Speaker 3: racking or around that mark, so we knew that runn
Speaker 3: a ball wasn't going to quite cut it.
Speaker 2: So I think I started to fall behind a little bit. Yeah,
Speaker 2: I thought it. I had no choice.
Speaker 3: I was like, I gotta keep going here, and I
Speaker 3: think I brought it up with a six and brought
Speaker 3: my strip right back up to one hundred or something
Speaker 3: like that. So it was nice but got out shortly after.
Speaker 3: It didn't quite go on with it, but yeah, really nice,
Speaker 3: nice wicket to battle the hall.
Speaker 1: Yeah, well, four sixer's and ten fours, so you obviously
Speaker 1: clear there over a couple of times there, mate, and
Speaker 1: the tough bowling to take us off. Shaheen and Harris
Speaker 1: Ralph were both there, so they were pretty much at
Speaker 1: full strength. I reckoned from that tour as well, weren't they.
Speaker 2: Yeah. I remember standing on our outside.
Speaker 3: Leg to Shahin because I knew he was coming to
Speaker 3: try and blow my pad off, and they get him
Speaker 3: down the ground once over his head and then I
Speaker 3: just knew he was going to come short for some reason.
Speaker 3: And then, oh, I say, for some reasons, obviously going
Speaker 3: to come at my head, I reckon and imagine to
Speaker 3: hit him over oversquare Lea for six. So I was
Speaker 3: nice feeling to get away like that against the quality
Speaker 3: ball like him as always sets up with a bit
Speaker 3: of confidence.
Speaker 1: So what should the Aussies expect when they head out
Speaker 1: in these three t t is good batting conditions, I guess,
Speaker 1: and plenty of tough, hot conditions, I suppose.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think.
Speaker 3: At Law that I think there's yeah, there's the three
Speaker 3: games there at the hall, So it's going to be
Speaker 3: a good batting track. I want to take a little
Speaker 3: bit of spin, it's going to it's going to stay low,
Speaker 3: going to feel like everything's going to hit the toe
Speaker 3: of the bat compared to what we've what we've felt like,
Speaker 3: especially those guys that would have played in Perth. But yeah,
Speaker 3: I mean a lot, a lot of a lot less bounce,
Speaker 3: a lot more hitting the hitting at the toe of
Speaker 3: the bat. Yeah.
Speaker 1: And so when you're not at the ground and you're
Speaker 1: not at training you just said you were guys were
Speaker 1: in the hotel rooms. How did you sort of pass
Speaker 1: the time where they're mini golf games or players playing music,
Speaker 1: or did you do cards, Monopoly deal or anything like that.
Speaker 3: I think there was a well, you know, there was
Speaker 3: a golf simulator. So there's a lot of time spent
Speaker 3: on that. A lot of crap being spoken in one
Speaker 3: person's room just to.
Speaker 2: Pass the time, A lot of coffee.
Speaker 3: We had that Lama Soka machine that seems to go
Speaker 3: around the the the Aussie change rooms or team rooms,
Speaker 3: i should say, And yeah, lots of lots of working
Speaker 3: on your putting.
Speaker 2: I don't think I've.
Speaker 3: Brought my golf clubs, but there was there was obviously
Speaker 3: some golf clubs floating around with that golf shimale we had.
Speaker 3: And yeah, lots of Netflix, lots of PlayStation all that's
Speaker 3: all that sort of stuff that we were used to
Speaker 3: by that stage of COVID.
Speaker 1: Nice and how do you reckon The Aussis will fare
Speaker 1: at this year's Tea twenty World Cup, which Marsh captaining.
Speaker 1: And yeah, obviously a strong bowling attack.
Speaker 2: As usual, yeah always, I mean, yeah, very strong team.
Speaker 3: And we're coming from some really good t twenty crickets
Speaker 3: and some quality obviously one of the best competitions in
Speaker 3: or Tea twenty competitions in the world as far as
Speaker 3: I'm concerned. So I think they're gonna they're gonna be
Speaker 3: ready to go and they're playing. It's gonna build on
Speaker 3: that momentum that they all have. They've all been selected
Speaker 3: obviously because they've had good tournaments and or they've been
Speaker 3: there for a long time, so they're going to go well,
Speaker 3: they're a quality side. Yeah, it's just going to be
Speaker 3: interesting to see, you know, how they adapt to those
Speaker 3: conditions as obviously, like I said earlier, it's going to
Speaker 3: be a lot different to Australia.
Speaker 2: So really keen to watch it.
Speaker 1: And the other tournament's going on at the minute is
Speaker 1: the Under nineteen World Cup. I had to look through
Speaker 1: and you actually featured an Under nineteen World Cup back
Speaker 1: in twenty fourteen. How's your memory going on that one?
Speaker 1: And have you been keeping across the scores of this
Speaker 1: current under nineteen cap.
Speaker 2: He's taken me back. I haven't been keeping up with.
Speaker 3: The scores exactly, but I've seen a lot of highlights.
Speaker 3: I've been as you do when you get on the
Speaker 3: doom scroll, they passed for you your reels and stuff
Speaker 3: like that. So I think I saw some heavy send
Speaker 3: offs by the shril Ankins and I think our boys
Speaker 3: are giving it back there.
Speaker 2: So I thought the boys will fired up.
Speaker 3: So no, that looks like it's it's going well, so
Speaker 3: hopefully they can they can bring up some silverware.
Speaker 1: Any memories from your particular tournament back in twenty fourteen,
Speaker 1: I think you guys maybe finished third or fourth in
Speaker 1: that particular tournament.
Speaker 3: Yes, we lost to Africa and A semi I think
Speaker 3: they had I think they had Adam Markram and Kickisa
Speaker 3: Robarda absolutely ran through US. I remember that pretty vividly.
Speaker 3: I don't think we I don't reckon. We got about
Speaker 3: rock and roll for about ninety one hundred chasing plenty, So.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think I just absolutely ran through US. So
Speaker 2: I can got six or.
Speaker 3: Seven far, but yeah, that was that was the main memory,
Speaker 3: and lots of lots of good fun with we had.
Speaker 3: We had some some some guns there. We had Maddy Shorts,
Speaker 3: Billy stan Lake, Tommy Andrews really testing me, Jaron Morgan.
Speaker 2: Yeah, we had it. We had a really good fun side.
Speaker 3: So I enjoyed that over there is obviously in Dubai
Speaker 3: and other w so that they're fun, fun places definitely.
Speaker 1: And so just finally, Ben, you've got the Malaysian League
Speaker 1: coming up. You've also in your career played in Pakistan
Speaker 1: and Sri Lanka, South Africa, England basically everywhere in fact
Speaker 1: the CPL last year as well. Anything else in the
Speaker 1: pipeline for you this year that we should look forward.
Speaker 3: To Yeah, just trying to tick them all off, mate,
Speaker 3: love to love to do MLC. You haven't done that
Speaker 3: one yet, but yeah, like just sort of yeah, focusing
Speaker 3: on the the T twenty stuff for the moment. So
Speaker 3: so keen to do, love to do, Love to do
Speaker 3: APO one day, That's that's the goal. As well as
Speaker 3: playing for Australia. I think that's sort of the pinnacle
Speaker 3: of T twenty cricket. Pakistan Super League again would be awesome.
Speaker 3: So yeah, just sort of see what comes up. I've
Speaker 3: got sort of got the freedom to do do whatever
Speaker 3: I want off contract now, so if someone goes down
Speaker 3: or gets injured, I'm available and ready to go when
Speaker 3: I'm required. So yeah, I mean the winter for us,
Speaker 3: there's a lot coming up obviously. Yeah, We've got the IPL,
Speaker 3: the PSL, MLC, some vitality blasts, some hundred all that stuff.
Speaker 3: So it's going to be a lot of cricket you know,
Speaker 3: available and hopefully can pick up a replacement gig or
Speaker 3: go in the PSOL draft or something like that and
Speaker 3: thought out some signings in the near future. But the
Speaker 3: way that this sort of T twenty gig works for
Speaker 3: me has generally been in the past. I sort of
Speaker 3: come in as a replacement player and from a play role.
Speaker 1: But are you enjoying having that freedom and just not
Speaker 1: knowing what next week might hold for you, because I
Speaker 1: guess yeah, as you said, you're not sort of tied
Speaker 1: to a state at the minute.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm really enjoying the freedom.
Speaker 3: That's sort of the path that I sort of went
Speaker 3: down after sort of handing back my contract with Queensland, and.
Speaker 2: Yeah, really enjoying it.
Speaker 3: I'm really enjoying the sort of personalized training as well,
Speaker 3: and going in there and getting what you need and
Speaker 3: then coming back and spending some quality time with my family.
Speaker 3: The tea twenty games, so it takes your way for
Speaker 3: a long period, longer periods of time than perhaps a
Speaker 3: shield game would. And yeah, so I really enjoying that
Speaker 3: and the personalized training. Like I said, you can sort
Speaker 3: of get in and work on the things that you
Speaker 3: need to. Our staff down here and Tazzi have been
Speaker 3: awesome and accepting of that, and yeah, I can't thank
Speaker 3: you enough.
Speaker 2: That was sort of the the gist of the move.
Speaker 3: With the Heart being signed with the Hurricanes for another
Speaker 3: two years, that sort of got that coaching and the
Speaker 3: facility down here to use, so loving it at the moment,
Speaker 3: really really enjoy my cricket at this stage.
Speaker 1: That's great. Well, there's plenty of connections at the MLC mate,
Speaker 1: so you'll have to get on your phone and send
Speaker 1: out some messages and get that ball rolling because it
Speaker 1: looks like a fun time to be a part of.
Speaker 3: Yeah, one d per that'd be great. Albeit some Sydney
Speaker 3: and New Melbourne connections, but I'll try and sneak in there.
Speaker 2: That'd be great.
Speaker 1: Great stuff, Mane. Appreciate your time and all the best
Speaker 1: for the coming months.
Speaker 2: Thank you, I appreciate it. Thanks for having me on
Speaker 2: FA