Speaker 1: The Unplayable Podcast is probably 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 proudsby flying Australia's cricketers
Speaker 1: as they take on the world. Hey, everybody, welcome to
Speaker 1: the Unflavable Podcast, Day five here at the SCG and
Speaker 1: Australia have sealed the Ashes win for one with a
Speaker 1: five wicket victory here and we're now sitting in the
Speaker 1: Bradman stand that to the left of the members here
Speaker 1: at the SCG. We've just been through the press conferences
Speaker 1: Steve Smith, Mitchell Stark, Ben Stokes, they've all wrapped up
Speaker 1: the series and now we're gonna try and do the same.
Speaker 1: Josh Anafinker here joined by Lewis Cameron. And it was
Speaker 1: a bit of a tricky chase for Australia. They only
Speaker 1: needed one hundred and sixty, but it was a bit
Speaker 1: tough for substages today, wasn't that.
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 3: Super tough, very nervy, kind of forty run partnership there
Speaker 3: between Green and Carry finally got him home.
Speaker 4: There was a runout of Manus Labushane.
Speaker 3: There was some DRS drama earlier with Jake the World
Speaker 3: that really set Ben's Stokes off, but overall a really
Speaker 3: nice it was a nice day. I mean it was
Speaker 3: quired gets the guard of honor from from Stokes who
Speaker 3: had been enraged not that not that long before, and
Speaker 3: and looked like who's you know they're going to come
Speaker 3: to blows with weather or who's seen to be infuriating.
Speaker 3: But all in all, the asher spirit was there and
Speaker 3: we believe that the two teams might have a beer.
Speaker 3: It might even be happening as we as we kind
Speaker 3: of speak. But yeah, as you mentioned, we've just got
Speaker 3: a beautiful view out over the seg turf. You've got families,
Speaker 3: you've got kids using little chairs as stumps, and it's
Speaker 3: a very nice scene.
Speaker 1: Yes, Steve Smith said that yours have invited England in
Speaker 1: for a drink. I think that was the case last
Speaker 1: time as well, wasn't it.
Speaker 3: But well no, the last time it was the invitation
Speaker 3: never never ever arrived, I think, or the door to
Speaker 3: the England change room never was unlocked, I believe is
Speaker 3: the Australian version of events.
Speaker 4: But hopefully they can let bygones be go by gones, all.
Speaker 2: Right, so it was flour one victory overall.
Speaker 1: Let's talk about the chase, because Jacob Bethel was out.
Speaker 2: Forty three minutes into the day.
Speaker 1: He didn't add too many runs to his overnight total
Speaker 1: of one hundred and forty two, but he did finish
Speaker 1: with one hundred and fifty four, an amazing knock. We
Speaker 1: gave him lots of credit yesterday and yeah, he's certainly
Speaker 1: a player for the future. But in the chase, yeah,
Speaker 1: there were certainly some talking points. So let's start with
Speaker 1: a Jake Weatherold DRS decision, because there were a few.
Speaker 1: England had a few chances very early on Brighton cast
Speaker 1: with a couple of LB shouts and then this one
Speaker 1: around the wicket, a slashing shot from Weatherold seems to
Speaker 1: have missed it. But England go upstairs and there's a
Speaker 1: little murmur on snickoloo.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and you know, prior to that, like it wasn't
Speaker 3: it was pretty low quality cricket really, like it felt
Speaker 3: like maybe two teams were pretty tired, and I think
Speaker 3: Travis Heads dismissed them not long after that probably reflected that.
Speaker 3: But yeah, the stuff broaden Cast was buying, I don't
Speaker 3: want to say too loud because they're within his shots.
Speaker 3: I'm just going to lean into the microphone here, but
Speaker 3: you know that was that was some real played five
Speaker 3: tests in this series and not one hundred sent or
Speaker 3: where they're going at this stage. But yeah, he bowls
Speaker 3: and that ball to weather Orld was an example of that.
Speaker 3: It's a wild ball, it's a cut shot. It looks
Speaker 3: let's be honest, it looks like Jake Weatherold has towed
Speaker 3: that and the sneako shows that faint little murmur what
Speaker 3: Stoke said in his press conference just now, and which
Speaker 3: people who are listening to this podcast, they probably the
Speaker 3: type of people who have listened to social media. Sorry,
Speaker 3: go on social media and read articles about this kind
Speaker 3: of thing, and they'll see what Stoke says about it,
Speaker 3: Like I kind of agree with right, like he has
Speaker 3: basically said, we can all tell that it's out. The issue,
Speaker 3: as far as we understand, is well two issues. A
Speaker 3: the audio recording device. The technology isn't that good that
Speaker 3: there's a superior version. I'm not completely across the details
Speaker 3: of it, but this isn't the best technology. It's cheap technology,
Speaker 3: and the ICC won't pay for the more expensive technology,
Speaker 3: and the other thing is like, it's not that bad, right,
Speaker 3: Like you can there is a the ball goes past
Speaker 3: the toe of the bat and you can see a
Speaker 3: murmur and you think, well, that's it. Can't be anything else.
Speaker 3: He's not shuffling his feet at the time. But Kumar
Speaker 3: Damassin that even if you wanted to, he can't give
Speaker 3: it out because the rules and regulations state unless you're
Speaker 3: you know, you've got the thing marrying up completely and
Speaker 3: there's a spike above a certain amount of wavelength or
Speaker 3: whatever it is that you know, only in those circumstances
Speaker 3: can you overturn decision to give it out. So that
Speaker 3: would have been really frustrating for England because they were
Speaker 3: on the verge of cracking this game open and maybe
Speaker 3: you know, wrestling the score line back to three too,
Speaker 3: and the scheme of things like maybe that's not that
Speaker 3: big a deal, like they'd already lost a series.
Speaker 4: But I'll tell you what, three to two.
Speaker 3: Looks a whole lot different to four one, And you
Speaker 3: can understand why Stokes was so enraged. Do you want
Speaker 3: to go into some of the post antics.
Speaker 2: Of that, Well, yeah, I guess we should.
Speaker 1: Because Stokes had a long discussion with the standing umpire
Speaker 1: rasa after that was given not out. They could all
Speaker 1: see it on the big screen and they and that's
Speaker 1: probably heightened their confusion because the Bambi army was cheering
Speaker 1: every time the frame with.
Speaker 2: The murmur came on to screen.
Speaker 1: Murmur because it's not a spy because but it is
Speaker 1: definitely more than a flat lion, so there's something there.
Speaker 4: It was a deviation in the wavelength.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I guess you could say that. Yeah, picking of the.
Speaker 4: Wavelength was flatch and then it wasn't.
Speaker 2: Yes, that's right.
Speaker 1: And so after a long discussion, we get to the
Speaker 1: next ball. It's basically a carbon copy cast is again wide,
Speaker 1: whether it again throws his hands at it again misses
Speaker 1: it this time definitely misses it.
Speaker 3: And then only because it was wider than the previous delivery.
Speaker 3: He couldn't he couldn't reach his bat that fast.
Speaker 1: And then whether all and Cars really come face to face.
Speaker 1: I think Cars is approaching whether or he has a
Speaker 1: few words to say, and Jake's not wanting to back down,
Speaker 1: so he sends a few words back in the other direction.
Speaker 1: Then Harry Brooke comes in for a look as well,
Speaker 1: before Ben Stokes and Travis Head also come in for
Speaker 1: a look. We also noticed that the non striker's end,
Speaker 1: when that ball flew through to the keeper, Travis Head
Speaker 1: threw his hands up as if he was appealing, so
Speaker 1: stirring up a bit as well from the non strikers,
Speaker 1: and Travis said, he loves it.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and you know, Cars, Cars was filthy and he
Speaker 3: was just looking looking for someone to be angry at. Really, Like,
Speaker 3: first of all, he kind of turns on Raza, and
Speaker 3: poor old Rasa is like, mate, it's not my decision. Well,
Speaker 3: I mean it was his decision in the first place.
Speaker 3: But you could understand why he couldn't have heard. I
Speaker 3: mean that that would have been a really tough one
Speaker 3: to hear it. You either hear it or he didn't.
Speaker 3: It was a tiny murmur. If Snicker was only just
Speaker 3: picking that up, you can understand why Rasa didn't. But
Speaker 3: Cars didn't see it that way. Stokes had to drag
Speaker 3: him away from Raza, and then Stokes kind of went
Speaker 3: back at him and tried to, you know, tried to
Speaker 3: pick up the threat of the argument.
Speaker 4: But yeah, Cars is just looking for someone to be
Speaker 4: angry with. And he gets in whether it's face, you know.
Speaker 3: Whether or just he's loving it right because he knows
Speaker 3: he's gotten away with one and he's just got this big, big,
Speaker 3: you know big I was going to say something eating
Speaker 3: grin on his face and you know that really annoyed
Speaker 3: him and it kind of set things off. Then next
Speaker 3: ball gets a ball on his hip, tucked it down
Speaker 3: the fine leg and I think there's some more words
Speaker 3: exchanged it all. It was all pretty head in the
Speaker 3: moment there.
Speaker 1: Thankfully drinks were called at that point and I think
Speaker 1: the umpires were pretty happy that they were because the
Speaker 1: teams were then separated and everyone could take a deep
Speaker 1: breath and move on. But I mean, as you sort
Speaker 1: of touched on, Travis Head got off to a bit
Speaker 1: of a fly with Jake Weatherall. But then Australia lost
Speaker 1: five to sixty. We could go through a few of
Speaker 1: those wickets if we want this. Travis Head one was
Speaker 1: a bit of a slog. I mean, he's had a
Speaker 1: bit of a slog. He's had a great series and
Speaker 1: he was trying to obviously finish it pretty quickly. Skyed
Speaker 1: at good catch from cars who ran around and then
Speaker 1: Jake Weatherill he was out a court by Matthew Potts.
Speaker 2: A strange one.
Speaker 1: He looked like he was maybe trying to leave it
Speaker 1: caught in two minds, a short ball that sort of
Speaker 1: ballooned off the periscope almost and then Potts came running
Speaker 1: in from what was it a fine leg in the
Speaker 1: air to take a good diving catch. I watch.
Speaker 3: I had to watch the replay back too, because I
Speaker 3: was like, I was riding it in my metropolt. I'm like, hang,
Speaker 3: where did he come from? Because the ball was outside
Speaker 3: his eye line just and he somehow kind of got
Speaker 3: it back above his kind of over his left or
Speaker 3: right should want to be shoulders back over to fine legs.
Speaker 4: So it was a stranger one, wasn't it.
Speaker 1: That was a bit bizarre and it means whether it'll
Speaker 1: finishes the series with two hundred and one runs. There's
Speaker 1: one not out there in the chase in Brisbane for comparison,
Speaker 1: Ben Duck at two hundred and two runs, so those
Speaker 1: two basically side by side. Steve Smith has continually said
Speaker 1: opening is the hardest placed about, especially in Australia at
Speaker 1: the moment, so it will be interesting to see if
Speaker 1: the selectors persist with whether or all beyond this series.
Speaker 3: You really hope, because I think I'm not sure if
Speaker 3: it's the first Test of that next year is against
Speaker 3: Bangladesh or the second, but it's there's a Test in Darwen,
Speaker 3: and that would be pretty special for Jake to play
Speaker 3: that one. Yeah, he hasn't quite nailed he's spot down,
Speaker 3: but I think he's just showed a lot and I'd
Speaker 3: be surprised if they deviated away from him, given it
Speaker 3: looks that like Head is all but kind of locked
Speaker 3: into stay as an opener, which is just a remarkable.
Speaker 3: If we sat in these chairs, you know, two months
Speaker 3: ago and said Travis is Australia's long term opener after
Speaker 3: hitting six hundred and twenty nine runs from that position,
Speaker 3: you know we would have laughed here. And also, I
Speaker 3: should say made six hundred runs and not won the
Speaker 3: Compton Miller Medal. So it kind of showed just what
Speaker 3: an incredible series Mitchell Stark had.
Speaker 2: But do you think he had deserved the Player of
Speaker 2: the Series.
Speaker 3: I reckon they made the right call only only because
Speaker 3: of Stark's runs. Not only because of Stark's runs, but
Speaker 3: the runs in addition to the wickets playing all five Tests,
Speaker 3: you know the context of stepping up in the absence
Speaker 3: of Josh Hazerwood. Pat Cummins only played one Test, Nathan
Speaker 3: Lyone only played one Test. That was just a phenomenal
Speaker 3: performance from Mitchell Stark. I think it's the highest wicket
Speaker 3: tally by an Australian international series since Johnson in twenty
Speaker 3: thirteen to fourteen. And in terms of all round series,
Speaker 3: you're up there with ye Johnson in thirteen to fourteen
Speaker 3: where he made about one hundred and fifty runs warning
Speaker 3: in five with that, with that amazing.
Speaker 4: Series, so absolutely a deserved winner.
Speaker 3: Yeah, going back to that kind of passage you played,
Speaker 3: what was that early afternoon, I thought England's lack of
Speaker 3: a frontline spinner really came back to bite them. You know,
Speaker 3: you might have said the same thing about Australia at
Speaker 3: times as Bethel, you know, romped to one hundred and
Speaker 3: fifty odd, like there was a lot of really poor
Speaker 3: spin bowling bold in this match. Bo Webster was probably
Speaker 3: the best spinner in this in this match. And look
Speaker 3: that says a lot because the guy I don't think
Speaker 3: I've seen maybe saw him practicing at once in the
Speaker 3: nets this series, but he basically said yesterday the less
Speaker 3: you practice them, the better you get at it. Like
Speaker 3: that's and that's fine for him, like he's not a
Speaker 3: frontline spinner Norse travers head. But I think it's a
Speaker 3: bit of an indictment on both teams, you know, they
Speaker 3: just misread this pitch. Like Smith later said that he
Speaker 3: thought the cracks would open up and earlier and come
Speaker 3: into play earlier. Well, that didn't quite happen. And yeah,
Speaker 3: I think hedging it would have been a safer pick honestly,
Speaker 3: to pick pick Todd Murphy, I think, instead of bow
Speaker 3: Webster of Cameron Green, but it's hard to argue with
Speaker 3: it given what Webster is on in this yeraries.
Speaker 4: I said, I'd get back to the wickets. How's that
Speaker 4: going for me?
Speaker 1: Well, Webs's contribution can't big night, of course, But I
Speaker 1: mean it was traditional Test cricket because the longer the
Speaker 1: game went on, the more prevalent spin was becoming, wasn't it.
Speaker 1: And I think a great example of that was Will
Speaker 1: Jackson's dismissal of Steve Smith. He's just bowled one of
Speaker 1: the greatest players of spin, bowling through the gate with
Speaker 1: an absolute peach and Steve Smith couldn't believe it.
Speaker 2: I don't think Will Jacks could believe what he's pulled
Speaker 2: off as well.
Speaker 1: I hit the foot marks, spun an absolute mile and
Speaker 1: it's clipped a middle and leg stump. I mean he's
Speaker 1: not going to bowl a better ball than his entire career.
Speaker 3: No, And I mean he didn't bowl many balls that
Speaker 3: landed in those footmarks at all. And the one he did,
Speaker 3: you imagine if he had Nathan Lyon bowling on that wicket.
Speaker 3: You imagine even if you know Todd Murphy. Yeah, he's
Speaker 3: probably not as good as Lyne yet you know, he
Speaker 3: wouldn't be as accurate, but he would have been a
Speaker 3: real handful shold bit like this would have been if
Speaker 3: we're kind of looking at to the future for England.
Speaker 3: Doesn't mean they're punting on this Test, but you know,
Speaker 3: this would have been the one where should be Sheer
Speaker 3: could have played. You know what did Will Jacks give
Speaker 3: you with with the with the bat? You know, it
Speaker 3: was pretty pathetic really, and how he performed in the
Speaker 3: field was poor as well, So a really poor Test
Speaker 3: match for him overall. And yeah, it kind of opened
Speaker 3: the door, didn't it, Because that was when usmon Kawaja
Speaker 3: came out to bat.
Speaker 2: What a beautiful moment.
Speaker 1: Kawada got his one final bat here at the SCG,
Speaker 1: walking down those members' stairs and then over the sign
Speaker 1: painted on the outfield. Thanks was he number four nineteen
Speaker 1: standing ovation from the crowd and then yeah, as you
Speaker 1: touched on a guard of honor, which he said after
Speaker 1: play he didn't quite expect England would give to him.
Speaker 1: So that was a nice touch from Ben Stokes and
Speaker 1: the team. And although his innings didn't last long, there
Speaker 1: is a nice aspect that he got to walk off
Speaker 1: and then soak it in himself because if he hit
Speaker 1: the winning runs, I mean, it all gets lost in
Speaker 1: the end of the match, doesn't that.
Speaker 4: I suppose, and it would have been pretty nice.
Speaker 2: But he also got his moment there.
Speaker 1: He waved to his wife in the crowd, Rachel, who
Speaker 1: was crying, so he said he knew where she was sitting,
Speaker 1: and then he went down and said a prayer in
Speaker 1: front of that sign that was painted there for him.
Speaker 1: So a really nice moment and a really nice way
Speaker 1: to sign off an eighty eight test career.
Speaker 4: You are right though, because the moment only belonged towards it. Yeah,
Speaker 4: like it was all for him. I think that's that's
Speaker 4: actually a really good point.
Speaker 3: I really liked how Marnus, who was at the other
Speaker 3: end and beautifully I should say, you know, went over to.
Speaker 4: Him and hugged him.
Speaker 3: Like Marnus is almost like the he's almost like the
Speaker 3: uncle who just gets you know, a bit teary at
Speaker 3: every Christmas.
Speaker 4: Like he and I really mean that in a.
Speaker 3: Nice way, like he really feels the emotions of these things.
Speaker 3: I think back to a couple of it, like when
Speaker 3: Travis Head was walking off after playing that unbelievable innings
Speaker 3: in a Metabad, Marnas ran after him and kind of
Speaker 3: had that he wanted that moment with him, like he
Speaker 3: wanted Trapp to be not out so they could celebrate
Speaker 3: the winning runs together. But he just created that moment
Speaker 3: for himself and the team anyway, And it's important every
Speaker 3: team needs a manus Lavishet I think.
Speaker 4: And yeah it was. His innings was shortly. He could
Speaker 4: have been out twice.
Speaker 3: Really, like the if Ben Stokes hadn't been moved by
Speaker 3: will I mean another Paul will Jack's decision to move
Speaker 3: Stokes from slip to a bit of a wider first
Speaker 3: slip and then the ball woozy edge one exactly where
Speaker 3: Stokes would have been. But yeah, then Uzzi gets this
Speaker 3: ball from Josh Tungue that that kind of comes back
Speaker 3: a superb spell from Josh Toungue today, I thought, you know,
Speaker 3: it really reinforces what a talent they've gotten. You know,
Speaker 3: maybe that they should have played him earlier in the series,
Speaker 3: as we've been going on about. But you know, when
Speaker 3: manas Labershain then runs himself out, I mean I heard
Speaker 3: Alex carry on the broadcast kind of took responsibility for it,
Speaker 3: and that he said that the o's manus a couple
Speaker 3: of beers. I thought that was pretty kind from Alex's end,
Speaker 3: maybe a bit of shared responsibility, But I don't think
Speaker 3: there was ever a run there.
Speaker 4: And he was a badding beautifully like.
Speaker 3: He looked like the one who was playing the spin
Speaker 3: the occasional turnout of the rough almost better than anyone
Speaker 3: who was hitting through the off side. Beautifully, wasn't allowing
Speaker 3: Jacks or Joe Route to settle the way he was
Speaker 3: reversed sweeping, and I really on go to kind of
Speaker 3: depart when he did.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and I think minus a Labashane always looks disappointed
Speaker 1: when he gets out. But there was an especially disappointed
Speaker 1: feel about today. After he was run out and the
Speaker 1: battles were taken off and the check was happening, he
Speaker 1: just stayed in position on his knees on the pop increase,
Speaker 1: and I mean didn't go back to chat to his partner,
Speaker 1: Alex carry So maybe Lavashane did blame Carry a bit
Speaker 1: for that one. But eventually the decision came up on
Speaker 1: the screen and everybody knew before it said out that
Speaker 1: he was going to be walking off there.
Speaker 3: It was like a man waiting for the guillotine, wasn't
Speaker 3: like on his knees, And yeah, it set up this
Speaker 3: really kind of hairy last last little period where all
Speaker 3: of a sudden, you know, Carrie and Green, you know
Speaker 3: the remember Andrew McDonald spoke earlier this year, is about
Speaker 3: promoting Alex Carey above or up in the order when
Speaker 3: Green was at five, so that they could keep him
Speaker 3: together because he likes They like the combination of those
Speaker 3: two batting together. I mean they could have run each
Speaker 3: other out, you know, four or five times, including twice
Speaker 3: on the same ball when there were there was a
Speaker 3: hairy single bit of a mix up.
Speaker 4: They finally went for it.
Speaker 3: Green's kept running way past the stumps and there's some
Speaker 3: overthrows and carry's all the way down the halfway down
Speaker 3: the wicket thinking not only can I get back for
Speaker 3: a second run, but ken Cameron Green basically run two
Speaker 3: and a half runs from how far back he was coming,
Speaker 3: and then he hesitated. It was kind of crazy stuff
Speaker 3: and it just felt like every single was really nervous.
Speaker 3: You go back to the weather or thing. If they've
Speaker 3: been able to make that breakthrough a bit earlier, and
Speaker 3: you know, if their new ball bowlers a bowl a
Speaker 3: little bit better, you know, things could have been really different,
Speaker 3: like this was a this was a knife sench Chase.
Speaker 3: I know it. It will end up saying that Australia
Speaker 3: won by five wickets and they had some decent batters
Speaker 3: in the sheds.
Speaker 4: But I'll tell you what if you got your bowler's niece.
Speaker 3: A stark bowl and coming out to bat needing to
Speaker 3: hit five ten runs, you know, all bets are off.
Speaker 1: And of course Ben Stokes wasn't there. He couldn't bowl
Speaker 1: either with that a ductor issue, and then Matthew Potts,
Speaker 1: ben Stokes didn't have the conviction to go to Potts
Speaker 1: who was hammered in the first inning, so he went
Speaker 1: mostly the spin and then Josh Tungue, as you touched,
Speaker 1: on three wickets takes him to eighteen for the series,
Speaker 1: an amazing return from only three Tests.
Speaker 3: It was basically last man's standing stuff for England. I
Speaker 3: mean there's been Stokes, you know, valiantly trying to play
Speaker 3: through this injury. He's lost three of his fast bowlers,
Speaker 3: you know, Carson Tungue were really the only frontline bowlers
Speaker 3: he had left.
Speaker 4: I mean, Jackson and Bethel and Route, we're just not
Speaker 4: up to it.
Speaker 3: Like that was just, you know, collectively, what do they
Speaker 3: They've kind of conceded sixty odd from round about twelve
Speaker 3: overs on a wicket that's turning a lot, you know,
Speaker 3: and they still Australia still were five downs, So yeah, they.
Speaker 4: Just ran out of troops at the end of Yeah.
Speaker 1: And if we can reflect a bit on the squad,
Speaker 1: I mean we were a bit surprised when they picked
Speaker 1: six frontline fast bowlers for this series. But I think
Speaker 1: if you go back and listen, Kane Richardson was saying
Speaker 1: that there will be one or two who break down.
Speaker 1: I don't think even he would have expected that their
Speaker 1: main three were going to break down. You've got to
Speaker 1: have experience bowling in these conditions. Mitch Stark has spoken
Speaker 1: about that a lot. He flagged it before the series
Speaker 1: as well, didn't Hey, So that has certainly let them
Speaker 1: down and left them, Yeah, very shorthanded when it came
Speaker 1: to the back end of this series, because I mean, yeah,
Speaker 1: with a few more troops able to contribute on the
Speaker 1: final couple of days.
Speaker 2: Yeah, who knew here?
Speaker 3: Yeah, Well, it feeds into this narrative about England being
Speaker 3: potentially underprepared and not really knowing who they were as
Speaker 3: a team.
Speaker 4: Interesting.
Speaker 3: You know what Ben Stokes said in the press conference
Speaker 3: just now. He said they were in an initiating place
Speaker 3: as a team and they're basically what we've achieved in
Speaker 3: the first two two and a half years as a team.
Speaker 4: You know, it was excellent.
Speaker 3: They wanted to build on that and they want to
Speaker 3: grow and if anything, they've done the opposite. I'm paraphrasing
Speaker 3: him there, but I think that's a that's a direct quote.
Speaker 3: So they basically regress from probably over the last eighteen months.
Speaker 3: I think they've won five of their last seventeen tests abroad,
Speaker 3: I think there's ten defeats in their last eighteen test
Speaker 3: matches home and away. You imagine if Australia lost ten
Speaker 3: out of eating test matches full stop. You know, Andr
Speaker 3: mcdi Ronald is out.
Speaker 4: Of a job.
Speaker 2: There'd been ourgust review, wouldn't that.
Speaker 4: That would be? Yeah, honestly would be.
Speaker 3: And I reckon it's worth highlighting we have very high
Speaker 3: standards of our cricket team in this country and you
Speaker 3: know England for whatever reason, don't you know, and they've
Speaker 3: been allowed to know. I'm not saying that Ben Stokes
Speaker 3: is happy or Rob Key or anyone is happy without
Speaker 3: that gone, but the standard is a lot lower. And
Speaker 3: you know it's not for a want of trying with
Speaker 3: Ben Stokes like he's clearly I think everyone agrees he's
Speaker 3: the man to take him forward. You know, whether McCullum
Speaker 3: goes with him on that journey is an interesting one.
Speaker 3: You know, Stokes said that he has his full support
Speaker 3: if he gets asked by the ECV like he will
Speaker 3: one hundredercent back him and said he's a great coach,
Speaker 3: but ultimately the decision doesn't rest with him.
Speaker 4: So it's a been open that one.
Speaker 1: So England's next Test series is against New Zealand at
Speaker 1: home in June. Australia's next Test series is against Bangladesh,
Speaker 1: also at home.
Speaker 2: That's in August.
Speaker 1: And we had some great crowds here this week, didn't
Speaker 1: We Twenty five thousand here today which meant two hundred
Speaker 1: and eleven thousand for the match, which is an SCG record,
Speaker 1: and over eight hundred and fifty thousand spectators for the series.
Speaker 2: Great turnout from Yossie fans.
Speaker 1: The pink Test seats almost got to that mark of
Speaker 1: four hundred and eighty virtual sorry, four hundred and eighty
Speaker 1: thousand virtual pink seats sold. But there is still plenty
Speaker 1: of time to buy your pink seed if you haven't
Speaker 1: done that already, lou, pink test dot com is the
Speaker 1: place to go and buy that.
Speaker 3: My mum's already done it. She's got four for my
Speaker 3: little one, her, my partner and mum. So nice perhaps
Speaker 3: since you've got my sister as well if you haven't,
Speaker 3: mum get made as well.
Speaker 1: Please Yeah, so pink test dot com, dota you get
Speaker 1: your virtual pink seat and help out a really good cause.
Speaker 3: Lou.
Speaker 1: Let's look ahead now to Australia's next assignments. There's a
Speaker 1: Teachiny World Cup on the horizon. There's those tests in August,
Speaker 1: so a bit of a gap there, six or seven
Speaker 1: months until the next test assignment.
Speaker 2: And also they'll have the IPL. I guess they're playing
Speaker 2: as well, a few of them.
Speaker 4: Yeah, that's right.
Speaker 3: I mean, while Ben Stokes is talking about having tough
Speaker 3: conversations with some of his under fault with some of
Speaker 3: his underperforming teammates as through, these conversations aren't so tough.
Speaker 3: I mean, the only tough element is, you know, probably
Speaker 3: McDonald and cummins saying Mitch Stark, hey, we're really like
Speaker 3: you to get to twenty twenty seven. Hey, Steve Smith,
Speaker 3: we'd really like you to get the twenty twenty seven.
Speaker 3: That'd help us a lot. It's basically how long can
Speaker 3: the careers of these veterans go on for because we're
Speaker 3: not seeing a whole lot of drop off, you know.
Speaker 3: I mean Quadra was probably the one over the last
Speaker 3: eighteen months that we saw some regression. There were probably
Speaker 3: those question marks over Nathan Lyne. Well, he bought beautifully
Speaker 3: in Adelaide. Yes he's done his hamstring and it's probably
Speaker 3: more of a for all of them. It's a physical concern.
Speaker 3: Can Hazelwood, can Stark? Can these guys keep backing up
Speaker 3: series after series into their late thirties. For Steve Smith,
Speaker 3: I guess it's a case of wanting to do it,
Speaker 3: like he basically said in his press conference just now,
Speaker 3: like if I'll wake up, I might wake up one
Speaker 3: day and just want to stop. You know, it's hard
Speaker 3: to see that for someone who is so invested in
Speaker 3: the game and who seems to have cricketers at the
Speaker 3: at the center of his life, how they manage him
Speaker 3: will be an interesting Like he lives in a different
Speaker 3: country now essentially, and you know, I think it's a
Speaker 3: good move to get the most out of a guy
Speaker 3: in the in the twilight of his career. So that's
Speaker 3: where things stand for Australia, I suppose. From you know,
Speaker 3: it's an interesting one. How they're bowling attack functions with
Speaker 3: you know, come and Stark, Caserwood, like if you can
Speaker 3: even if you can keep them going on, like you're
Speaker 3: going to need your nieces, your bowlins, your dogget's, rich
Speaker 3: Juie Richardson's, You're going to need them a lot more.
Speaker 3: And yeah, have have Nissa and Bowlin shown a new
Speaker 3: way forward for you know, your likes of Fergus O'Neil,
Speaker 3: your Xavier Bartlets, these kind of guys, because.
Speaker 4: You know, they those show.
Speaker 3: Those guys showed that if you can really accurate one
Speaker 3: twenty five one hundred and thirty, they're probably not as
Speaker 3: slow as one twenty five, but you know, around that
Speaker 3: one thirty mark accurate stuff and never missed, you can
Speaker 3: be a handful in Test cricket. And I'd expect some
Speaker 3: of those bowlers to maybe push for spots in the
Speaker 3: next few years. If we can't get guys like Bidmund Fidler,
Speaker 3: Joy Richardson, you know, if there's going to be a
Speaker 3: question mark over there, Duril durability, Yeah, we might start
Speaker 3: looking at some different type bowlers.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: And it's probably a good wrap for the domestic scene
Speaker 1: as well, because even though Boland was into his thirties
Speaker 1: when he debuted Niece as well into his thirties, and
Speaker 1: so they're not necessarily webs Webster as well, they're not
Speaker 1: necessarily looking to the next generation. They're looking for the
Speaker 1: best players to win the next Test match, which leads
Speaker 1: me to my next point about potentially when these greats
Speaker 1: of the game do you want to retire? Do they
Speaker 1: look to maybe make sure that it's staggered these retirements
Speaker 1: so that there's not a big gap like we saw
Speaker 1: at the end of the two thousand and six seven
Speaker 1: Extra Series, which left Australia, you know, reeling for a
Speaker 1: few years in the aftermath.
Speaker 3: Yeah, but it's entirely depend You can't keep, you can't
Speaker 3: carry these guys if they're not performing.
Speaker 4: Yeah, at the moment they are, and they have been
Speaker 4: for the last four or five six years.
Speaker 3: I've kind of been thinking the last couple of years,
Speaker 3: it's like, and I'm one hundred percent sure you know,
Speaker 3: Andrew McDonald will be feeling the same. They'd be looking
Speaker 3: at these guys and going like, not many fast bowlers
Speaker 3: are any good basically past thirty four, thirty five, thirty six.
Speaker 3: Well they basically three in this Test match, Nissa, Bowl
Speaker 3: and Stark. I think they're all over thirty five. That's
Speaker 3: that's incredible really, So you know, long mate last for
Speaker 3: Australia and let's see, let's see what they can do
Speaker 3: in the next few years.
Speaker 1: A great series as well for Alex Carey twenty eight
Speaker 1: dismissals one short of the all time Test record in
Speaker 1: a series. That was Brad Hadden who took twenty nine
Speaker 1: in the twenty thirteen that's just series. But I don't
Speaker 1: think I hadn't had to stand up to the stumps
Speaker 1: as much so the fast ballers as carried in this series.
Speaker 2: It was just unbelievable.
Speaker 1: And Steve Smith called his performance this series incredibly and
Speaker 1: the best keeping display that he's seen.
Speaker 3: Yeah, one hundred percent agree was Brad Hadden's in twenty
Speaker 3: thirteen or twenty thirteen forty Now it was the one
Speaker 3: England won in England.
Speaker 4: Yeah, so what that would have been?
Speaker 3: Johnson and your bollingers and probably the house might have
Speaker 3: made that one.
Speaker 2: Yeah, we'll have to double check that.
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's right. So incredible performance. Yeah, maybe the making
Speaker 3: of his career. And it's been a slow build for him.
Speaker 3: It looked a period there where Josh Ingviss was nipping
Speaker 3: at his heels, but his performances over the last twenty
Speaker 3: four months have been superb.
Speaker 1: All right, Lou, that's a wrap from the SCG Day five.
Speaker 1: Here Australia win by five wickets and they win the
Speaker 1: series four to one. Comprehensive victory across the board from Australia.
Speaker 1: It's been great fun bringing you the Unplayable podcast after
Speaker 1: every day of the Ashes series so far. Thank you
Speaker 1: to Quantas for sponsoring the podcast, and we'll catch up
Speaker 1: with you next time. We'll catch up with you. Not
Speaker 1: quite sure when it will be, but we'll have coverage
Speaker 1: of the T twenty World Cup of course, and whatever
Speaker 1: else next
Speaker 3: We'll st