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Speaker 1: Australia's cricketers as they take on the world. Hello everybody,
Speaker 1: Welcome to The Unplayable Podcast. We're catching our breath after
Speaker 1: a manic day of Test cricket. Twenty wickets feil. Both
Speaker 1: teams had a good bat, well, a short bat, and
Speaker 1: then they were all out. It's the fourth Test, Australia
Speaker 1: hold a forty six run lead and they're starting their
Speaker 1: second innings on the start of day two. My name
Speaker 1: is Joshnathinker. Louis Cameron's with me. All a bit of
Speaker 1: a rush at the end of the day today given
Speaker 1: how many wickets fell. So where do we begin dissecting
Speaker 1: this one?
Speaker 2: Yeah, well almost it feels like we're back to the
Speaker 2: first day of the series right where we had a
Speaker 2: similarly kind of frantic moment where you're trying to process,
Speaker 2: you know, what you think after so many wickets fell
Speaker 2: in a day. We had nineteen on day one of
Speaker 2: this series in Perth. We had twenty today it would
Speaker 2: have been twenty one if Jacob Bethel had hung on
Speaker 2: to a low one hander in the last over the day.
Speaker 2: It was weird. Someone came over to us, Josh and
Speaker 2: asked the question, you know, is the crowd happy with
Speaker 2: what they've seen today? And I think they are, like,
Speaker 2: you know, they saw entertaining cricket. No point was it dull,
Speaker 2: but it did kind of feel like we were robbed
Speaker 2: of the opportunity to watch some good batting as well
Speaker 2: as some good bowling.
Speaker 1: Definitely, And well, I guess that's because the pitch was
Speaker 1: doing plenty, wasn't it. We heard that the curator had
Speaker 1: left ten millimeters of grass on this pitch, which wasn't
Speaker 1: unusual for this sort of wicket. But there was plenty
Speaker 1: of movement earlier, and Michael Nsa said, especially with that
Speaker 1: new ball if you got it in the right spot.
Speaker 1: So it was going to do plenty. So tough work
Speaker 1: for the bat is only a couple of guys got
Speaker 1: out of double figures. In fact, there were eleven players
Speaker 1: who were dismissed in single figures across the two innings.
Speaker 1: Harry Brook was the top scorer for the whole day
Speaker 1: with forty one and Michael Nsa with thirty five for Australia,
Speaker 1: so not much to look at on the batting card.
Speaker 2: It was crazy, yeah, I mean it felt a bit
Speaker 2: like a Sheffield Chield pitch in all and see like
Speaker 2: these are the kind of wickets that you get a
Speaker 2: lot in domestic cricket where teams pushed for results and
Speaker 2: teams have to bat aggressively to score runs and it
Speaker 2: can flatten out after you know, you have to get
Speaker 2: through a tough first day. One of the interesting bits
Speaker 2: I heard from Alissa Heely she said she was out
Speaker 2: in the middle before play. She said she kind of
Speaker 2: ran her hand over the pitch and she could feel
Speaker 2: the grass kind of lifting up with her hand, which
Speaker 2: I thought, was you know, really telling because from Afar
Speaker 2: you looked at it and it had a nice kind
Speaker 2: of brownish color from you know, obviously tinges of green,
Speaker 2: but it wasn't like a green mat that you kind
Speaker 2: of saw for the Gabba Test a couple of years
Speaker 2: ago against South Africa, you know that just looked green
Speaker 2: and grassy the whole way through. This one kind of
Speaker 2: gave the appearance of, you know, potentially you know, just
Speaker 2: being a good fair wicket do a bit day one,
Speaker 2: flatten out by the end of day one and you're
Speaker 2: on for some good cricket. Remember the last Test we
Speaker 2: had here against India went to the fifth day and
Speaker 2: was pretty balanced. A bit early Sam Con was ramping Boomera.
Speaker 2: But you know it did again feel a bit like
Speaker 2: that when Harry Brook was now playing like a man possessed.
Speaker 2: But I mean I think England have you know, well
Speaker 2: some of England's batters have basically looked at this Australian
Speaker 2: bowling attack and gone, well, these guys are not missing
Speaker 2: their lengths and they probably thought, well, we've played on
Speaker 2: three flatter wickets and them and we couldn't really you know,
Speaker 2: what their high score of the series was in the
Speaker 2: in the low three hundreds. We had to we just
Speaker 2: have to try something differently, and I think Brooke kind
Speaker 2: of embodied that today.
Speaker 1: Question without notice. So we're heading for another two day
Speaker 1: finished here. Do you think or will we get into
Speaker 1: a third for this one? Because it's shaping up a
Speaker 1: very similar situation to Perth. Yeah.
Speaker 2: Well, Michael Nissa, who was sitting right where we're sitting
Speaker 2: a few minutes and a few moments ago, we're again
Speaker 2: in the in the in the press conference room, which
Speaker 2: is an interesting spot at the MCG because ye're between
Speaker 2: the two dressing rooms. So we're hearing a bit of
Speaker 2: applause from the England dressing room. So I'm not sure
Speaker 2: what all that's about, given they probably don't ever holdleave.
Speaker 1: To it, maybe to a FINALES meeting or something like that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, possible. Possibly. What was the question again, two
Speaker 2: days tests? Two day tests? Yeah, yeah, Michael Nice was
Speaker 2: sitting here and got asked a good question about whether
Speaker 2: there were divots in the pitch, right like, because this
Speaker 2: can be the danger you leave too much juice. And
Speaker 2: at day one you kind of get little indentations on
Speaker 2: the wicket. When that pitch kind of hardens up under
Speaker 2: under a baking sun, you know, good luck because it
Speaker 2: gets even harder to back because the pitch gets quicker.
Speaker 2: And then there it's not a not an even surface.
Speaker 2: It didn't seem to think, so I don't think it
Speaker 2: was a juicy wicket. I think it was just a
Speaker 2: grassy wicket. And then you know, just some of the
Speaker 2: balls that we saw were just jagging, jagging a mile.
Speaker 2: We can go into some detail on that, but two
Speaker 2: days I mean, look, look it could, especially if it
Speaker 2: does quicken up and Australia kind of get off to
Speaker 2: a you know, if England takes some early wickets tomorrow,
Speaker 2: then you know it's game on. Definitely England chasing a
Speaker 2: you know, a small total in the last innings. Who
Speaker 2: knows what could happen? Yeah, absolutely could. If I was
Speaker 2: holding tickets for day three of this tea, it's let
Speaker 2: alone day four, I'd be pretty nervous.
Speaker 1: The apologies to my parents who got in late with
Speaker 1: their requests for this Test match and I could only
Speaker 1: get them day four, So not looking great for their
Speaker 1: hopes of seeing.
Speaker 2: So I've got family members in the exact same boat.
Speaker 1: So good luck to them. I want to let's go
Speaker 1: back to five forty eight this afternoon.
Speaker 2: Lewis too much team. There are many days where you
Speaker 2: could say let's go back to five to forty out
Speaker 2: or who either team?
Speaker 1: Well, I was actually talking about the clock five forty
Speaker 1: eight ps. Yes, yes, So England have taken the last
Speaker 1: so I have lost their last wicket, which means we've
Speaker 1: only got two minutes left of batting to come. And
Speaker 1: this is my liquor. Land choose to that moment in fact,
Speaker 1: because we didn't know which Ossie Opener would come out
Speaker 1: for that one over to face. We were thinking, or
Speaker 1: do they keep Travis Head in the sheds or do
Speaker 1: they go with a night watchman. As it turned out,
Speaker 1: we saw Scott Bowland walk up the race and there
Speaker 1: probably were still seventy thousand fans in the g at
Speaker 1: that time, to raucous applause. He had to face all
Speaker 1: six balls, only caught it slip and then he got
Speaker 1: a four away of the final ball. It was a
Speaker 1: great theater at the end of the day, not that
Speaker 1: we needed anymore, but it was a great way to.
Speaker 2: Finish Steve boy your heart out the final day or
Speaker 2: a final over sorry final ball boundary from Scott Bland.
Speaker 2: This wasn't quite quite as elegant as stroke as what
Speaker 2: would managed off Richard Dawson.
Speaker 1: I think that's good.
Speaker 2: Well those years ago, that was two three ashes, I think,
Speaker 2: but yeah, he'd been given a life, you know, having
Speaker 2: edged that one, and he was just hanging on for
Speaker 2: dear life Scotty. But that was I felt like the
Speaker 2: loudest roar of the day was, you know, of all
Speaker 2: things a guy he nearly faced out of Maiden. It
Speaker 2: wasn't for that for that, Nick, and yeah, just a
Speaker 2: really nice moment. It's an interesting one from the night
Speaker 2: watchman's perspective because you made the good observation that when
Speaker 2: England went to seventy and I think that was a
Speaker 2: wicket of Ben Stokes or Will Jackson, potentially we saw
Speaker 2: Jake weatherilld on the on the pitch. He you know,
Speaker 2: Australia celebrated the wicket and was shadow about him, so
Speaker 2: he was clearly expecting to. But then they've got back
Speaker 2: to the change rooms after Green gets that final wicket,
Speaker 2: and you know, obviously someone you know, Jake's probably asked
Speaker 2: for a night watchman. You know, I guess Travis has
Speaker 2: probably said, oh, I'll go out, But you know, I'm
Speaker 2: just doubted that the non striker's end. It would have been interesting.
Speaker 2: It'll be interesting to find out exactly how that little
Speaker 2: that little bit played out.
Speaker 1: Yeah, definitely, And I guess from Head's point of view,
Speaker 1: he can come out because with only one over a manning,
Speaker 1: if a wicket falls, that stumps that's right. So he's
Speaker 1: not going to take a single left ball and hits
Speaker 1: it into the gap. He's gonna say no, and just
Speaker 1: that the non striker's end so low risk. Thereforehead and
Speaker 1: I guess that explains to some of the fancy would
Speaker 1: have been watching why he was the one and not
Speaker 1: necessarily risked because he was at the non striker's end.
Speaker 2: I'm my own thinking. We've now had five different Australian
Speaker 2: openers in this series. We had Weather, old Head, Kauwadi
Speaker 2: did it one innings in Perth, Laboushine did at one
Speaker 2: innings in Perth.
Speaker 1: I don't think we had Quadri in Perth.
Speaker 2: Yeah, oh no, you're right he didn't. So of all
Speaker 2: the you know, because he is remarkable. That whole thing
Speaker 2: about who's going to partner? Was he in Perth in
Speaker 2: the first Test? And then they've had four or five
Speaker 2: different openers and so we've had Head, Weather, alled Lavishane
Speaker 2: for one innings and now bowling, so it's only four
Speaker 2: and none of them have known it was been quite.
Speaker 1: That's pretty remarkable stuff. So let's go back to the
Speaker 1: start of play. Ben Stokes won the toss, chose to bowl.
Speaker 1: England had three wickets in the first hour. We were
Speaker 1: saying in the press box we didn't think they'd bowled
Speaker 1: super well. But they certainly got their lines and lengths
Speaker 1: right in the second session, especially Josh Tungue magnificent. We
Speaker 1: get to get rid of Steve Smith with a full
Speaker 1: ball that did a lot. In fact, he was the
Speaker 1: pick of their bowlers today with five fur and finished
Speaker 1: off the innings with two in two as well, so
Speaker 1: when he hit his stride he was close to one
Speaker 1: playable on this bitch.
Speaker 2: Yeah. I thought England's opening bowlers, especially the first four
Speaker 2: or five hops, were awful broaden cast in particular, lots
Speaker 2: of balls on the thigh pad, lots of balls down
Speaker 2: leg side, questionable tactics in terms of cast, trying to
Speaker 2: bowl beautiful in swingers back into the left and on
Speaker 2: a pitch that you know is going to be doing everything,
Speaker 2: just stand the same up Webb'll seehim. Whatever you can
Speaker 2: do to just you know, bash a length and eventually
Speaker 2: they got there. Atkinson warmed into it in the back
Speaker 2: half of that first spell and then Tongue really came
Speaker 2: on and showed him how to bowl. So he gets
Speaker 2: said earlier bit of luck with strangling Jake Weather all
Speaker 2: down the leg side, but then the lengths he hit
Speaker 2: to get Martus Labushane and Steve Smith out perfect full
Speaker 2: length deliveries, probably both around the four or five meter
Speaker 2: mark away from the batter. He gets one that just
Speaker 2: nips away from Marnus Labushane. He pushed too hard, he's
Speaker 2: caught behind, and then to Steve Smith, the jags the
Speaker 2: other way comes back in off the scene, bowls him
Speaker 2: for nine off thirty one. Interesting stat that was on
Speaker 2: the Fox broadcast at the time that ball nipped back.
Speaker 2: I think eleven centimeters by the time from a four
Speaker 2: meter length. That's that's a lot of same movement, So
Speaker 2: it was eleven centimeters by the time it passed Smith's
Speaker 2: bat by Tommy hit the stumps, hit middle something just
Speaker 2: about halfway up in a deva fourteen centimeters away from
Speaker 2: where it would have gone without deviation. I always kind
Speaker 2: of look at that as a pretty good indication because
Speaker 2: when you watch the you watch those replays, and they
Speaker 2: showed them without deviation, it's always the purple line and
Speaker 2: it's always going through the middle of the bat of
Speaker 2: whoever was whoever was swinging the bat. So yeah, that's
Speaker 2: impossible to play.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Tongue didn't play the first two tests of this series,
Speaker 1: but he's come in and made an instant impact and
Speaker 1: now he's probably also going to be seeing the ben Stones.
Speaker 1: Look give me the new ball as well, because bride
Speaker 1: Cast was very ineffective with it today and tongue Can
Speaker 1: has shown that he could pitch it up, get it
Speaker 1: in the right spots and even move the ball around.
Speaker 1: So there's definitely going to be that conversation as well.
Speaker 1: We will give Cass a little bit of credit though,
Speaker 1: because he did execute an excellent run out today of
Speaker 1: Cameron Green that sort of sparked him and he collapsed Frustralia.
Speaker 1: They lost their last four wickets for nine runs after that,
Speaker 1: and there was a good piece of athleticism from the
Speaker 1: big fil.
Speaker 2: Another puzzling decision for Cameron Green in while brighton Cass
Speaker 2: is bowling right. So we had the one at the
Speaker 2: Gabba when he was on forty off just about as
Speaker 2: many balls backs away tries to him through the off
Speaker 2: side gets bold. Well hear he'd done really well with
Speaker 2: Michael Nissa to kind of get get Australia back to
Speaker 2: on track and it looked like they were probably going
Speaker 2: for you know something at least with the two in
Speaker 2: front of it, you know, a two hundred score and
Speaker 2: he's on the back foot, so he's camp right back
Speaker 2: and then he kind of looks to Nissa for a
Speaker 2: bit of guidance on you know, is this a run
Speaker 2: quick single that we can take. I wouldn't blame Nisa
Speaker 2: in that situation, like you know, Nissa, he's looking at
Speaker 2: Nisa to think, well, can you make it at your end?
Speaker 2: It's on Green to think whether he can make it
Speaker 2: from his end, and he would have had to set
Speaker 2: off absolutely straight away given the weight was all all
Speaker 2: the way on his back shoe. But yeah, credit to cast.
Speaker 2: You pick up and throw and hit the non strikers
Speaker 2: and stumps. You know, you can see why they like
Speaker 2: brighton cars like he's an athletic bowler who bowls wicket
Speaker 2: taking deliveries, who's a good batter and a good fielder.
Speaker 2: But you just feel like they haven't quite read the
Speaker 2: conditions right. And then the scheme of things in Australia
Speaker 2: only made one, five two. He's gone for forty two
Speaker 2: off his twelve os. It doesn't look terrible, but just
Speaker 2: the way Australia Bold was just absolutely relentless. None of
Speaker 2: those guys gave him an inch. And I think like
Speaker 2: that selection could really come back to haunt them. A
Speaker 2: guy like you know, I'm not saying that he's a
Speaker 2: world beater and he would have changed a series for him,
Speaker 2: but a guy like Matthew Potts, it really surprises me
Speaker 2: that we haven't seen him before in this series, let
Speaker 2: alone on this pitch that's Taylor made for a guy
Speaker 2: who from what I've seen in test cricket, he hits
Speaker 2: nibbles the ball around at about one hundred and thirty
Speaker 2: low one thirty Columbus per hour. That's what this pitch
Speaker 2: is perfect for. That's why Michael Nisa was the best
Speaker 2: bowler today on it. Scott Bowland probably and Josh Tungue,
Speaker 2: you know, not far behind him, but they needed those
Speaker 2: kind of guys. Atkinson's also that guy, you know, slightly
Speaker 2: quicker but just hits a good length. He got into
Speaker 2: his work and you know he wasn't perfect, but yeah,
Speaker 2: you just feel like even though they've rolled Australia for
Speaker 2: one hundred and fifty two, like the amount of seed
Speaker 2: movement that the balls were getting that might have been
Speaker 2: slide overs.
Speaker 1: Well, as you said, Australia got one fifty two and
Speaker 1: when Mitch Stark was out there it looked like he
Speaker 1: didn't want to be batting out at any time at all.
Speaker 1: He wanted to be bowling, and for good reason, because
Speaker 1: after he was out for one of six, Australia got
Speaker 1: the new ball in their hands and had England in
Speaker 1: all sorts very early. They were four for sixteen after
Speaker 1: eight overs. The wickets went stark nissa, stark nissa to
Speaker 1: get things underway, and either side of the tea break.
Speaker 1: So at the end of the Austrain innings and the
Speaker 1: start of the England innings, both sides lost eight for
Speaker 1: twenty five in sixty seven balls total carnage. We were
Speaker 1: on the live blog trying to collectively that've lost eight
Speaker 1: for sixty that's right, collectively, so the combined scores. We
Speaker 1: were trying to keep up with the updates on the
Speaker 1: live blog and trying to describe all these wickets and
Speaker 1: adding the videos and all those sorts of things. It
Speaker 1: was pretty tough work. Not going to lie, but yeah,
Speaker 1: it was just you can understand why Australia so Kender
Speaker 1: get out there and bolted absolute carnage.
Speaker 2: And you saw kind of both ways of attacking from
Speaker 2: a batting perspective, both methods not working. I mean, Joe
Speaker 2: Route a painful fifteen ball. Duck barely plays a shot.
Speaker 2: He's just thinking, get through, get through, get through slightly
Speaker 2: older ball, I'll be able to score. Then he kind
Speaker 2: of plays a half hearted defense and he's out again.
Speaker 2: You know, since that hundred and Brisbane, it's gone downhill
Speaker 2: for him in this series. And then Brooke complete opposite approach.
Speaker 2: You know, they were batting together for a bit and
Speaker 2: it was just chalk and cheese. You know, you had
Speaker 2: when Brooke was on strike, you had a deep point
Speaker 2: and a deep long off and a fine leg and
Speaker 2: a deep square leg. And then when Route was coming
Speaker 2: on strike, it was, you know, three slips of galley,
Speaker 2: normal kind kind of cricket. You know, Brook, apart from
Speaker 2: the absolutely wild shot that he's played off Stark first up,
Speaker 2: after that, I felt like he kind of got his
Speaker 2: rhythm a bit and I reckon honestly, that was probably
Speaker 2: not a bad way to the bat on that pitch.
Speaker 2: He had a couple of six as he got an
Speaker 2: enormous one over long off off Bowland I think was
Speaker 2: and you know, really hit his straps. He hit the
Speaker 2: high score for the days. So who are we to
Speaker 2: question how he battered, and you know, people will criticize
Speaker 2: how aggressively he batted today, but at the end of it,
Speaker 2: he got out playing a defensive shot off Bowlin, so
Speaker 2: maybe there was some merit in how he was approaching it. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Absolutely, Stark and Niss obviously did well off the top,
Speaker 1: but then Scott Bolin came in in front of that
Speaker 1: home crowd and didn't disappoint. Nine overs on the bounce
Speaker 1: from him today, three for thirty and some really good delivery.
Speaker 1: It's tough to play, including a crack to get rid
Speaker 1: of Brook that jagged in a long way. It's probably
Speaker 1: maybe didn't them and bounced as much as Brook was expecting,
Speaker 1: and normally you would see that one of the top
Speaker 1: batters from the opposition review that decision. Even out of
Speaker 1: a bit of hope, Brooke thought that's got to be
Speaker 1: out and just walked off.
Speaker 2: And he was right. I was thinking, like, surely, yeah,
Speaker 2: like he looked like the most dangerous batter. They were
Speaker 2: already that would have been their fourth or fifth winking down,
Speaker 2: So surely you just use your three reviews because you're
Speaker 2: going to get the chance to use them. But he
Speaker 2: knew that that was hitting the stumps half way up.
Speaker 2: And yeah, if it wasn't for Atkinson again, you know
Speaker 2: he whacked twenty eight of thirty five balls, they wouldn't
Speaker 2: have even got into into triple digits. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Well it's England's lowest score in Test cricket since they
Speaker 1: were here last year. That's a stat you uncovered Loo
Speaker 1: sixty eight they were bowled out for that day when
Speaker 1: Scott Bowling got six for seven last ashes series. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and today I saw last ash of series and today
Speaker 1: one hundred and ten wicket fell today every twenty two
Speaker 1: point nine balls, so less than four overs total carnage
Speaker 1: across all facets today. And yeah, Australia batting again.
Speaker 2: And you think back to when the last time England
Speaker 2: fans would have been able to come to this to
Speaker 2: the MCG on Mass twenty seventeen eighteen, I reckon, you know,
Speaker 2: a wicket every twenty two point nine overs that would
Speaker 2: have been twenty three point three overs, twenty two point
Speaker 2: nine balls got into twenty three points. Yeah, got yeah, yeah,
Speaker 2: terrible overs maths there, you know, like it was just
Speaker 2: the flattest weekend ever, right, so it's complete turned around
Speaker 2: for the MCG I know which one i'd prefer to watch,
Speaker 2: but I can also see the flip side. If you've
Speaker 2: got tickets to day three and four, you'd be very nervous.
Speaker 1: Just before we wrap up, Ji Richardson made his return
Speaker 1: two Test cricket. In fact, it's his first Test match
Speaker 1: in four hundred and sixty seven days Louis four years
Speaker 1: almost to the day, but since that Adelaide Test he
Speaker 1: played against England. What did you make of his return?
Speaker 1: And yeah, hopefully we might get to see a bit
Speaker 1: more of him tomorrow with the ball.
Speaker 2: That's right, Yeah, well only four overs so you can
Speaker 2: see what they've risked him here, Like they might have
Speaker 2: gone this wicked is really green. We don't think it's
Speaker 2: going to go the journey. We're going to get more
Speaker 2: use out of an impact kind of bowler like him
Speaker 2: as opposed Todd Murphy. So it's hard to argue with
Speaker 2: that decision either way. And the other side, I can't
Speaker 2: remember if we brought it up on this podcast, but
Speaker 2: he's throwing His remains an issue, like he still just
Speaker 2: can't throw properly after three shoulder surgery, so I know
Speaker 2: it's something he's worked hard on to try and get
Speaker 2: back that strop of strength, but what Bowling's find his
Speaker 2: shoulders really no good in the field, so they've obviously
Speaker 2: made a decisions. They can kind of carry him in
Speaker 2: the field and they're just gonna if he gets a
Speaker 2: couple of wickets, you know what could be a two
Speaker 2: to two and a half day Test that'll probably justify
Speaker 2: the selection. So early, soigns are good. You know, pace
Speaker 2: was a little slower to kind of get up to start,
Speaker 2: but looked like he was touching that one forty mark
Speaker 2: by the end of a four over spell. So yeah,
Speaker 2: I can't really judge him just yet.
Speaker 1: And I know it's probably hard to judge as well
Speaker 1: on such a short innings England only about it for
Speaker 1: twenty nine overs. But I can't remember him fielding a
Speaker 1: ball either, So maybe that's the way to go. Just
Speaker 1: buy out the opposition quickly and you don't have to
Speaker 1: worry about him fielding.
Speaker 2: I can't remember anyone fielding, to be honest.
Speaker 1: That'll do us from day one here at the MCG.
Speaker 1: You can catch us again after day two when the
Speaker 1: match might be over or may not find out tomorrow.
Speaker 2: Sat and S