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Speaker 1: The Unplayable Podcast. Big Day of Ashes Cricket to kick
Speaker 1: off the new summer, and wow, what a way to
Speaker 1: bring it in. Nineteen wickets. We're here at First Stadium
Speaker 1: and there was no shortage of action. My name is Joshunafinger.
Speaker 1: Louie Cameron, you were sitting next to me all day
Speaker 1: and there was plenty of action to take in.
Speaker 2: So where do we begin rewriting? Furiously all day I
Speaker 2: think was the flavor of things. I think everyone's head
Speaker 2: spinning really like Ben Stokes took five wickets in thirty
Speaker 2: balls at the end of the day. That feels like
Speaker 2: maybe the third or fourth mostly interesting thing that happened
Speaker 2: today was mcgawaja was a really puzzling you know, had
Speaker 2: a really puzzling impact on the game by not being
Speaker 2: able to open the batting with Jake weather Ord. Australia
Speaker 2: had two debutants and that's probably not even in the
Speaker 2: in the podium of talking points, so I don't know
Speaker 2: where do you want to start, Josh.
Speaker 3: Well, let's run through the scores.
Speaker 1: Because England won the tossachos to bat, which is an
Speaker 1: unusual thing for them, though especially under Ben Stokes's tenure.
Speaker 1: They preferred the ball first, but England got one hundred
Speaker 1: and seventy two. They were all that after thirty three overs.
Speaker 1: Stark took your career best seven for fifty eight. He
Speaker 1: was outstanding with both the new ball and then cleaning
Speaker 1: up the tail, and Brenda Doggert got a couple of
Speaker 1: wickets in there as well. Then Australia had a chance
Speaker 1: to bat and things were tough because England turned up
Speaker 1: the heath. They had Archer and Would both buying. Both
Speaker 1: had deliveries over one fifty. Atkinson and Cass were in
Speaker 1: the high one forties, so there's no relenting from the
Speaker 1: English side of things, and Australia finished the day on
Speaker 1: nine for one hundred and twenty three, still forty nine
Speaker 1: runs behind and with a bit of a work to do.
Speaker 2: I think the big story of the day is England's
Speaker 2: bowling attack, and these guys were much vaunted coming into
Speaker 2: this years we heard a lot about how you bas
Speaker 2: ball is about you know, hitting sixes, scoring quickly, but
Speaker 2: also about bowling fast and McCullum and Stokes from a
Speaker 2: long way out, probably when Stokes took over his captain
Speaker 2: in twenty twenty two, this is what they wanted. They
Speaker 2: wanted guys, you know, four or five six guys who
Speaker 2: could bowl over one hundred and forty k an hour.
Speaker 2: They played four guys who bowled over one hundred and
Speaker 2: forty two of them hit one fifty. I mean, we
Speaker 2: were watching Mitchell Stark today and just the way he
Speaker 2: was able to hit, you know, constantly bit one forties
Speaker 2: and maintain his pace through it. We were sitting up
Speaker 2: there going, gee, this is how good is this from
Speaker 2: a thirty five year old guy. He's now taken his
Speaker 2: best test figures three times in his last eleven tests.
Speaker 2: So that as that was the first part of the day.
Speaker 2: But then you know, England had two guys who bowled
Speaker 2: much faster. There Archer, we haven't seen him since the
Speaker 2: twenty nineteen ashes.
Speaker 4: He was fantastic.
Speaker 2: He just bowled so beautifully and to watch him bowl
Speaker 2: was a privilege because he just ambles into decrease, beautiful
Speaker 2: action and it's just effortless, and he made the Australians
Speaker 2: look silly in some regards. Castpot really well, but Wood
Speaker 2: was the other one who really cranked it up. And
Speaker 2: not only did they decimate the Australians and have them
Speaker 2: nine down with you still thirty forty odd behind, but
Speaker 2: they roughed them up. Smith got hit on the point
Speaker 2: of the elbow twice, he got hit on the fingers.
Speaker 2: We had the medicos running in and out. Yeah, almost
Speaker 2: you know, every over. It seemed they sent a message
Speaker 2: to Australia. They made a real statement today, Yeah they did.
Speaker 1: Archer at one point had seven overs two for seven.
Speaker 1: He was not only was he accurate with his short balls,
Speaker 1: but when he pitched up the players were playing and
Speaker 1: missing as well. Australia i think after twenty overs had
Speaker 1: nineteen players and misses, so they were averaging one per over.
Speaker 1: That sort of shows how difficult batting was, and I
Speaker 1: think Trent Copland, also in Channel seven, did a really
Speaker 1: good analysis of Archer showing how he was firing in
Speaker 1: that short ball and really upsetting the footwork of the
Speaker 1: Aussie batters. Smith and Marnus, who have faced a lot
Speaker 1: of high quality bowling in their time, both really labored
Speaker 1: and their strike rates.
Speaker 3: I mean, I think you've got it there in front
Speaker 3: of you.
Speaker 1: But Manus was seven off about fifty balls and Smith
Speaker 1: not much better.
Speaker 2: It was a bizarre batting innings for Australia for starting
Speaker 2: with the second part of that's still back to France. Yeah, well,
Speaker 2: I mean that was probably the most interesting stuff. So
Speaker 2: we saw England come out and back the way England
Speaker 2: bat and Australia came out and battered the way Australia
Speaker 2: bat it. But after so weather it comes in somehow
Speaker 2: Archer swings Wong Band back down the line to the
Speaker 2: left hander, which I haven't really seen him do before.
Speaker 2: I'm not sure if I haven't been watching close enough,
Speaker 2: but he's always been for me. A guy goes away
Speaker 2: from left handed batters. That's how he normally gets the
Speaker 2: lefty as he has a fantastic record against them. But
Speaker 2: you know whether, I'm sure all his preparation was thinking
Speaker 2: about not edging that ball that goes away from him.
Speaker 2: The whole one spears back into his pads and face
Speaker 2: plants on the wicket like that. That really took him
Speaker 2: by surprise, but Marnas and Steve Smith were then able
Speaker 2: to rebuild for a little bit.
Speaker 4: They went scoring very quickly. I think that won.
Speaker 2: Fifteen after ten overs at ONMP there were yeah, but
Speaker 2: they were having to do this because it was mcquijor
Speaker 2: was off the field, so we I know that there
Speaker 2: was some back troubles for Kawajo. He had back stiffness
Speaker 2: through the day. He had a back spasm the second
Speaker 2: time he left the field and he was on and
Speaker 2: off the ground a bit. He's doing a lot of
Speaker 2: stretching apparently to overcome the spasm, and it really just
Speaker 2: screwed over Australia because they took England's last five wickets
Speaker 2: fell in the space of three overs I think it was,
Speaker 2: and Smith at one point was hurribly gesturing to Kuwada
Speaker 2: to get back on the ground.
Speaker 4: They couldn't get him.
Speaker 2: He did get back on at the fall of the
Speaker 2: eighth ticket, but they didn't get him on with enough
Speaker 2: time for them then him be able to open the batting.
Speaker 2: So all of a sudden you got weather or gone
Speaker 2: on debut, you got your best batter. Steve Smith coming
Speaker 2: to the crease in the first over the game, third
Speaker 2: ball of the game, third ball of the inning, sorry,
Speaker 2: which is probably the nightmare scenario really for Australia definitely.
Speaker 1: I think you even dug up a stat that Jake
Speaker 1: Weatherwold rarely faced the first ball in first class crecket
Speaker 1: for Tasmania, So to ask him to do that on
Speaker 1: Test debut against one of the quickest bowlers in the world, that's.
Speaker 3: A huge if you ask.
Speaker 4: Yeah, it must have been unsettling for him because he's
Speaker 4: He's spent a lot of time.
Speaker 2: You know, There's been some good banter between him and
Speaker 2: in Quadra about you know, Quadra not knowing whether it's name,
Speaker 2: and they probably had made some early decisions about who's
Speaker 2: going to face sales ball, what are we going to
Speaker 2: do calling between the wicket. All of a sudden he's
Speaker 2: walking out with Marnus Laboshane, who is even more unfamiliar
Speaker 2: with So that must have been unsettling, But I don't
Speaker 2: think any of that would have really made a difference
Speaker 2: to the to the.
Speaker 4: Ball he got.
Speaker 2: So those two, you know, Smith and Marnas don't advance
Speaker 2: a scoreboard and when they both go in pretty quick succession.
Speaker 2: I think that was the first collapse of three for
Speaker 2: three for the day for the innings.
Speaker 4: Remarkably, you know, it's all all hell breaks loose.
Speaker 2: Quadra can finally come out to bat at number four,
Speaker 2: broaden cast gets one to lift off a length. You know,
Speaker 2: that was a very very good ball and he did
Speaker 2: well to nicket and all of a sudden, the Australia's
Speaker 2: innings is going exactly the same way as England's. Only
Speaker 2: England scored a lot more boundaries kind of along the way,
Speaker 2: so you kind of go, I mean, when England were
Speaker 2: getting caught on the vents and you know we're kind of.
Speaker 4: Questioning, is this, you know, just reckless batting. In hindsight,
Speaker 4: it might have been good badding. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Maybe Harry Brook read the conditions really well and he
Speaker 1: played some outrageous shots.
Speaker 3: He was coming down the wicket to Mitchell Stark.
Speaker 1: He was giving himself room outside leg and hitting over cover, yeah,
Speaker 1: and just doing some things that had everybody in the
Speaker 1: press box and probably in the crowd just baffled. But
Speaker 1: in hindsight he got fifty at almost the run of ball,
Speaker 1: and that's valuable runs because that's the difference between the
Speaker 1: two sides.
Speaker 3: And yeah, he was great to watch.
Speaker 2: The only part to that that doesn't work is the
Speaker 2: fact Ben Stokes won the toss and bad it this
Speaker 2: morning so last year. I mean, everyone's comparing rightly, comparing
Speaker 2: this first day to last season's first Test of the
Speaker 2: at at per Stadium, very similar. Seventeen wickets fell on
Speaker 2: that day. Australia won the toss, inserted, India bowled him
Speaker 2: out cheaply, and then Boomer took a bunch of wickets
Speaker 2: against Astralia at the end of the day as well.
Speaker 4: India ended up winning that Test.
Speaker 2: But the fact that you know, the curator has said
Speaker 2: that he didn't want this wicket to be his juicy
Speaker 2: on day one as what it was last year.
Speaker 4: I think it succeeded.
Speaker 2: I don't think it was a nineteen wicket Day one
Speaker 2: kind kind of pitch. Yeah, there was scene movement, but
Speaker 2: it did get easier as that ball softened. I mean
Speaker 2: the other factor here is the outfield was incredibly slow.
Speaker 4: Yeah, really slow.
Speaker 2: So England's one seven two, maybe that's worth more like
Speaker 2: to twenty. They hit a lot of twos and threes.
Speaker 2: I'm not sure what's going on with the outfield, Like
Speaker 2: we can see over the I think that's the western
Speaker 2: side of the ground. A lot of the turf has
Speaker 2: kind of been dug up, and there was a Metallica
Speaker 2: concert here which might have affected things. We saw a
Speaker 2: couple of the Aussies trying to dive and just like
Speaker 2: their knees just didn't go anywhere on the surface. So
Speaker 2: I'd be surprised if we saw anyone diving for the
Speaker 2: rest of the Test.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's interesting because Bradon car said at his pressure
Speaker 1: conference that he thought here a bit under par with
Speaker 1: this score, and some of the commentators were saying that
Speaker 1: as well. So it's funny that we get to this
Speaker 1: stage and there's been nineteen wickets on the first day
Speaker 1: in England, have a sizeable lead relatively and they're still saying, oh,
Speaker 1: we should have got more runs. So probably bats up
Speaker 1: your point that maybe the batting wasn't the best bit
Speaker 1: of pressure. Maybe getting to the batters and good plans
Speaker 1: as well, because Cars, you asked me about that wicked
Speaker 1: of Steve Smith and the press conference he went wider
Speaker 1: of the crease.
Speaker 3: He said, yes, that was a plan.
Speaker 1: Ben Stokes later in the Inning's got Cameron Green out
Speaker 1: with a plan as well. He was pointing to David
Speaker 1: Saca on the sideline saying that was the one outside
Speaker 1: off attempted him into that sneaking court behind. So England's
Speaker 1: plans came together. I'm sure Australia had similar plans that
Speaker 1: worked for them as well. With Mitchell Stark a lot
Speaker 1: of his wicket to a high quality at the top
Speaker 1: of the innings. So maybe we just have to give
Speaker 1: more credit to the bowlers and less on Ernest on
Speaker 1: the pitch.
Speaker 4: Yeah, and I think that was what Mitchell Stark was
Speaker 4: saying at the end of the day.
Speaker 2: Look is that a bit of a cop out. I
Speaker 2: think both teams batted poorly today. I think England bowled
Speaker 2: much better. I really do you know, with the exception
Speaker 2: of Mitchell Stark was fantastic and he really carried the
Speaker 2: Australian attack. This could have been all out under an
Speaker 2: undred if comings the Stark were playing in this game.
Speaker 2: Scott Boland was uncharacteristically a full today. You've got driven
Speaker 2: a lot back down the ground. His rhythm didn't quite
Speaker 2: look there. Brenda Doggett started beautifully like he should have
Speaker 2: almost had a wicket first ball with a one that
Speaker 2: jagged back against Olipope, but then he was a little
Speaker 2: bit two sides of the wicked at times. I think
Speaker 2: he's got better stuff in him at the best level,
Speaker 2: and I think he's going to be a really good bowler.
Speaker 4: And you know, look, no one else really bold frustrated,
Speaker 4: but like.
Speaker 2: It's hard to overstay just how good and how electric
Speaker 2: England's fast bowlers were today.
Speaker 1: They were relentless, so no issues about their selection. Well,
Speaker 1: leaving at Shelby, she wasn't in a mistake.
Speaker 2: No, Well, like I'm fully prepared to admit, I thought
Speaker 2: at the toss when they named the team, and I
Speaker 2: think we all thought that were going to go five
Speaker 2: right arm quicks. I just thought the fact that they
Speaker 2: are all right arm made me think that. I thought
Speaker 2: at the outset, I thought that she should have played
Speaker 2: Overcas just because Stokes he's bong so well.
Speaker 4: I mean he came on and nibbled it around.
Speaker 2: He's an excellent bowler, took five for twenty three and
Speaker 2: absolutely no time.
Speaker 4: I kind of thought, well he's the fourth, right quick?
Speaker 4: Do you need a fifth?
Speaker 2: Do you need a fifth one in in cast when
Speaker 2: you've got Archer, Atkinson and Wood. Well turns out you
Speaker 2: do because maybe I underestimate him, but he was fantastic.
Speaker 2: He came on bold second change. But and he came
Speaker 2: on to bowl when Manus and Steve had just kind
Speaker 2: of overcome that initial thing and bowl just as good
Speaker 2: as stuff as as the opening bowlers.
Speaker 4: So fully prepared to admit I was wrong on that one.
Speaker 1: Maybe just a quick word on Ben Stokes and as
Speaker 1: we touched on five for twenty three, maybe got a
Speaker 1: little lucky with the wickets of Travis Head and even
Speaker 1: Mitchell Stark. They both chipped the ball a very short
Speaker 1: mid on because there was no one else on that
Speaker 1: leg side.
Speaker 3: But otherwise, I mean, he puts the ball in the
Speaker 3: right spot.
Speaker 1: And I think we both said in that preview podcast
Speaker 1: that he is probably still their best bowler at his best,
Speaker 1: and he showed it to that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think Archer is their best bowler. I think
Speaker 2: I think Woods a better bowler.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think at their best, but maybe maybe consistency wise.
Speaker 2: Yeah, well, I mean just when he comes on to
Speaker 2: like he just changes games all the time and he's
Speaker 2: just got another gear in him. Stokes, he's in a
Speaker 2: incredible cricketer. Yeah, you got lucky, But like I look
Speaker 2: at all the overs. You know, Bob thirty nine overs.
Speaker 2: How he drives in Australia, you get you know, Cameron
Speaker 2: Green got a couple off, he got one off Atkinson,
Speaker 2: you got another one later on at Carton Berville.
Speaker 4: For a few and star between the exactly right.
Speaker 2: Green Green looked amazing by the way, and it took
Speaker 2: some really good bowling from him from Stokes to get
Speaker 2: him out. But I just think back to the Australian innings.
Speaker 2: You know, Bowland gave him quite a lot of drives.
Speaker 2: You know, maybe Dog at the odd one as well.
Speaker 2: That was a real difference that you know, the England
Speaker 2: were unrelenting with their length.
Speaker 1: So on a day where nineteen wickets fell, first time
Speaker 1: that that's happened on the first day of an Australian
Speaker 1: Test match since nineteen fifty two. So Australia ashes Test
Speaker 1: that was kept in Australia. So that was Australia's West
Speaker 1: Indies in Sydney in fifty two. So yeah, seventy years
Speaker 1: in the making this day and who knows, I mean
Speaker 1: tomorrow could even be more crazy because we did say
Speaker 1: two days Tests a couple of years ago in pert
Speaker 1: in Bricebane, are we going to see a repeat here?
Speaker 2: Well, I mean the fact that I think this is
Speaker 2: a better pitch than last year. I still think that
Speaker 2: I'm interested, So like I could be completely wrong.
Speaker 4: I've already been wrong a.
Speaker 2: Few times today, as I'm sure all of us you know,
Speaker 2: suppose they're experts, but I think, you know, if it
Speaker 2: follows last year script it flattens out, becomes a better
Speaker 2: batting wicked and you know, we see some second innings runs,
Speaker 2: like you know, Australia are going to do well on.
Speaker 4: Line and dog It.
Speaker 2: That was a really big wicket of Kerry late in
Speaker 2: the day as well, thought he was doing pretty well
Speaker 2: and then a bit of a limp dismissal off Stokes.
Speaker 2: Australia's still fifty runs behind. That's, as we said, with
Speaker 2: the outfield, maybe that's worth seventy eighty runs that deficit,
Speaker 2: and it's hard to see how Line and dog It
Speaker 2: get a whole lot closer to England. So they're going
Speaker 2: to have to do their damage chasing in the final
Speaker 2: innings and you know, maybe that might be a good
Speaker 2: time to bat because they're probably gonna be batting tomorrow
Speaker 2: on day two or Day three, So you know, Day
Speaker 2: three wicket is often best on the bat, So we're
Speaker 2: just having to reframe everything we think about Test cricket
Speaker 2: because the way it's not just England with their bass
Speaker 2: ball stuff. I think every Test team is now rapidly
Speaker 2: reconsidering how they play cricket and when they need to
Speaker 2: press and attack and change their tactics, and they're much
Speaker 2: quicker to just go, well, we need to.
Speaker 4: Hit out or get out here because the conditions are
Speaker 4: against us. Whereas you know.
Speaker 2: Ten years time, ten years ago, you know, I don't
Speaker 2: think pitchers were doing as much and I don't think
Speaker 2: the tactics were as advanced as they are now. So
Speaker 2: we're going to we might be in for a fascinating
Speaker 2: but short actual series, Josh, if this is anything to
Speaker 2: go by, all right, before I finish, Lou, let's just
Speaker 2: finish with the two debutites for Australia, earning Baker Green
Speaker 2: number four seven two and four seven three. Brendan Dogget
Speaker 2: and Jake weather Old both have amazing stories and we've
Speaker 2: both covered them comprehensively on Cricket dot Com Dot at
Speaker 2: you this week, but great to see them get their
Speaker 2: caps out there in the middle of today and mixed
Speaker 2: results on day one. But you know Test cricket, it's
Speaker 2: a long match, so plenty of time to still influence it.
Speaker 4: That's right.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm going to duck in his first innings, Jake
Speaker 2: Weather or he'll will want to improve on but he
Speaker 2: gets another go.
Speaker 4: You definitely get another go, whether it's day two or
Speaker 4: day three. Yeah, nice moment.
Speaker 2: Dave Warner is a great choice as another you know,
Speaker 2: maybe outspoken, aggressive, left left handed opening better and then
Speaker 2: Brenda Dogget as well. He's got a you know, we
Speaker 2: spoke on the podcast earlier this week about his great
Speaker 2: story from being a carpenter when he was in his
Speaker 2: early twenties to now being a Test cricketer. Both were
Speaker 2: guys who were bit off the pathway, you know, they
Speaker 2: didn't come through the traditional kind of kind of route.
Speaker 2: Jake from Darwin, which is in a typical breeding ground
Speaker 2: for elite Australian cricketers, moved to South Australia and had
Speaker 2: to really work at it in his late teens early
Speaker 2: twenties to get a South Australia contract.
Speaker 4: And then had to move to Tasmania and he was
Speaker 4: out of the team.
Speaker 2: You know, forty eight twenty four, forty eight months ago,
Speaker 2: so you know, really great stories and probably worth acknowledging,
Speaker 2: given a hell of a lot has happened since they
Speaker 2: got their caps this morning definitely.
Speaker 1: Well that's our app on day one here at Perth Stadium.
Speaker 1: Spend the Unplayable Podcast, brought to you by Quantus. Tune
Speaker 1: in tomorrow where we recap Day two and hopefully not
Speaker 1: quite as many wickets