Speaker 1: The Unplayable Podcast is proudly presented by Quantus, the official
Speaker 1: podcast partner and the official airline partner of Cricket Australia.
Speaker 1: Once again, this season, Quantas is proud to be flying
Speaker 1: Australia's cricketers as they take on the world. Hello everyone,
Speaker 1: welcome back to the Unplayable Podcast. Really big episode today
Speaker 1: as we look ahead to the Men's Tea twenty World
Speaker 1: Cup that's happening in India and Shrilanka josh Onafinger's my name,
Speaker 1: joined once again by Kane Richardson, who's back after the
Speaker 1: Big Bash break.
Speaker 2: Welcome back to the show mate, how are you?
Speaker 3: I'm good, We're back. Is it season two or is it?
Speaker 3: Are we Is it the same season? We're just back
Speaker 3: after the Big Dash break.
Speaker 2: It's whatever you wanted to do, mate, that's whatever you
Speaker 2: want it to be.
Speaker 3: I'm going to say season two. I want to keep
Speaker 3: ticking them, I want to tick them off. I'm going
Speaker 3: to say season two. Welcome back to season two The Unplayable.
Speaker 2: Podcast sounds good. Now.
Speaker 1: Of course you don't love to talk about yourself, but
Speaker 1: since we last spoke to you've retired from cricket. So
Speaker 1: we just want to say congratulations on behalf of the
Speaker 1: whole team. And was it a tough decision to make
Speaker 1: or was it a no brain A few.
Speaker 3: No, it was a no brainer, especially after boxing day
Speaker 3: after that went so pair shape. So the game I
Speaker 3: remember hearing when I was younger that the game often
Speaker 3: tells you when it's time, and it definitely told me
Speaker 3: that night. So it was an enjoyable experience. As I said,
Speaker 3: I was keen to experience something different, but yeah, it
Speaker 3: was one and done for me in Sydney, so yeah,
Speaker 3: I enjoyed it. But now looking forward to retirement life,
Speaker 3: which to be honest, doesn't look too different to what
Speaker 3: it looked like before Big Bash, just the less bowling
Speaker 3: on the indoor nets and local club grounds. So it's
Speaker 3: probably good for everyone.
Speaker 1: Three hundred and thirty three professional matches in your career,
Speaker 1: any highlights right off the top that just instantly come to.
Speaker 3: Mind, Well, the highlight would probably be not playing, and
Speaker 3: then that would be from not playing at that World Cup.
Speaker 3: But when we won, I think that will always be
Speaker 3: the thing I'll look back on and cherish, having a
Speaker 3: medal and being a part of that group that kind
Speaker 3: of built up and won you know the T twenty
Speaker 3: World Cup, which is topical at the moment, isn't it,
Speaker 3: because we're about to get into another another one. But yeah,
Speaker 3: looking back, I think that's the one thing that will
Speaker 3: stick with me.
Speaker 1: I saw a clip from your great mate Adam Zampa
Speaker 1: just a couple of days ago talking about how he
Speaker 1: ordered those ski goggles and they came right at the
Speaker 1: last minute. Were you involved in that delivery or.
Speaker 2: Or was that a surprise to you as well.
Speaker 3: I want to put this on the record. He didn't
Speaker 3: organize them. I organized them, and I've paid for them.
Speaker 3: I've got the Amazon receipt. So it was funny after
Speaker 3: that World Cup win. You know, Adam could arguably been
Speaker 3: player of the competition, so I was going to let
Speaker 3: him have his moment. But now you know, four years on,
Speaker 3: I'm going to say, hang on a sec. I actually
Speaker 3: that was all me. So it is your job as
Speaker 3: a bench guy, your almost back room stuff, right, So,
Speaker 3: and I didn't want the players that day focusing on
Speaker 3: things like that, so I just floated it, is it
Speaker 3: a good idea, It's going to look bad if we lose,
Speaker 3: but you're not thinking that pre game. So yeah, I
Speaker 3: actually organized that and I paid for it. I've still
Speaker 3: got the receipt so as they say, keep the receipts.
Speaker 1: Well, it's funny you say that because even in the
Speaker 1: video I saw Zampa gave credit to Mitchell Swepson for
Speaker 1: picking out the goggles, like you didn't even get a mention.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think again. I'm I'm happy to just fly
Speaker 3: under the radar until now. You know, I'm retired. I'm
Speaker 3: a past player, and as pass players, we've got to
Speaker 3: be opinionated. So I've had enough, you know. I just
Speaker 3: wanted to be on the record that it was I
Speaker 3: organized it and I paid for it, and I don't
Speaker 3: think i've I don't think I ever got any money
Speaker 3: back from anyone. So that's why I'm saying that it
Speaker 3: must be known that I that I orchestrated that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, well done.
Speaker 1: All those videos and photos that are last a lifetime,
Speaker 1: so that's priceless.
Speaker 2: Yes, mate.
Speaker 1: On this show, we've got an interview with Tim David.
Speaker 1: We've got Jack Painter over there in Sri Lanka from
Speaker 1: the Unplayable podcast he caught up with the Big Hitter
Speaker 1: just a couple of days ago. And then we also
Speaker 1: are chatting to Italian all round. The Grant Stewart, who
Speaker 1: we've mentioned a couple of times on this pot. I reckon, Richard,
Speaker 1: especially as that you're talent are going through the qualification stage.
Speaker 1: So why don't we hear a quick word from our
Speaker 1: sponsors and then we'll come back with our weekly winness.
Speaker 1: It's been a long time since we've done a weekly winner,
Speaker 1: rich Oh, so let's make this a winner of twenty
Speaker 1: twenty six to date. We've brought in the parameters a
Speaker 1: little bit here. Who have you got to who do
Speaker 1: you want to kick it off with season two?
Speaker 3: Well, now you've said that my weekly winner will be
Speaker 3: anyone who's in the Australian camp that bowls medium pace
Speaker 3: and is ready to play. They are my weekly winner.
Speaker 3: But I'll also give it to someone who's actually performed
Speaker 3: in the last few days. Romerio Shepherd. I think it
Speaker 3: was two nights ago, three nights ago. He's exploits first
Speaker 3: game five for twenty a hat trick, four wickets and
Speaker 3: five balls. What a starts for a World Cup. So
Speaker 3: big man Weekly Winter.
Speaker 1: He is a big man and that's a big performance.
Speaker 1: They'll need a lot more of that from him. The
Speaker 1: West Indians I've gone with Sophie Mullinu, another all rounder
Speaker 1: named Australian captain. Once Alyssa Hilly takes over finishes up,
Speaker 1: she'll be taking over full time. I think that's a
Speaker 1: huge honor and a bit of a surprise to many,
Speaker 1: including myself, that they went with Sophie and Mulnu, but
Speaker 1: well deserved and she's got a great track record obviously
Speaker 1: led the Renegades to that win last season in the WBBL.
Speaker 1: Have you would have crossed paths with Sophie a little
Speaker 1: bit over your time at the Renegades.
Speaker 3: Yep, I have. She's a terrific person. I think, as
Speaker 3: you said, her track record, building that Renegade team up
Speaker 3: from a team that had struggled to then also you know,
Speaker 3: winning last year's title and then being competitive again this year,
Speaker 3: her work with Simon Helmet, but also her performance never
Speaker 3: dipped as captain and that's always a good sign. So
Speaker 3: I'm not sure how old she's but I dare say
Speaker 3: she's got quite a long period in the job. And
Speaker 3: that's when you say a surprising selection in some parts
Speaker 3: would be I think that would have come into it
Speaker 3: that you know it's not just going to be a
Speaker 3: short a short term thing for her. She's going to
Speaker 3: be in the job for quite a while, which is nice,
Speaker 3: so yeah, congress her.
Speaker 1: All right, let's look at the head to that TEA
Speaker 1: twenty World Cup. As you said, pace bowling, Frustralia seems
Speaker 1: to be a bit of a hole at the minute,
Speaker 1: with no Commans, no Hazewood and of course the retired
Speaker 1: Mitchell Stark not there at all. There is plenty of
Speaker 1: quality with the likes of Nathan Allison, Ben Dorsias and
Speaker 1: even Short Abbott coming into that squad now, but it
Speaker 1: does seem to be an aspect that is going to
Speaker 1: challenge the Aussies because there's just so much an experience
Speaker 1: when it comes to these big tournaments. You want players
Speaker 1: with lots of experience in those big moments, don't you.
Speaker 3: Yeah, you do, absolutely, And I think the one thing
Speaker 3: I'd be concerned about is if it was a different
Speaker 3: time of the year, not coming out of the Big Bash.
Speaker 3: But I think the positive, as you said, you've got
Speaker 3: dorcious Abbott, ellis all coming off big Bush cricket, so
Speaker 3: they know the format, they're up to speed and really
Speaker 3: like how many of those guys are going to take
Speaker 3: to the eleven. It's going to be a spin heavy squad,
Speaker 3: spin heavy eleven, but also with your all round us
Speaker 3: in stolliness, So I'm not sure how much we'll actually
Speaker 3: need from those frontline quicks. Obviously Ellis is a front
Speaker 3: runner and he'll be one of the first picks, but
Speaker 3: kind of who can fill the edges around that and
Speaker 3: support throughout the World Cup is going to be the
Speaker 3: biggest question mark, So we'll find out come game one.
Speaker 3: But also with the World Cup scenario the way it
Speaker 3: is this year, can almost warm into it a little
Speaker 3: bit with you know, you just basically have to do
Speaker 3: enough to qualify for the next round. And we've seen
Speaker 3: already that the associate teams are up and about and
Speaker 3: they're going to challenge no matter who they're playing to win.
Speaker 3: So it's not as if it's going to be easy.
Speaker 3: But I think Australia can kind of find their best
Speaker 3: formation by the time the hopefully the later rounds come
Speaker 3: in as z.
Speaker 1: Avi, butlet there of course as well in case potentially
Speaker 1: there might be a bit of swing on off where
Speaker 1: they can look to Xavier. Australia's first game is on
Speaker 1: Wednesday night. Australian time. That's against Ireland, as you said,
Speaker 1: in that group to start, they've also got Oman, the hosts,
Speaker 1: Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe. What do you think of this
Speaker 1: format with twenty teams and this strange sort of feeling
Speaker 1: out phase before we get to the super eights.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I actually don't mind it. I remember World Cups
Speaker 3: when I was a kid, they would always have kind
Speaker 3: of associate nations and it felt like it would go
Speaker 3: for months, which obviously you would love when you're a kid.
Speaker 3: You just wanted as much cricket as possible to watch.
Speaker 3: But it gives associate countries an opportunity to play in
Speaker 3: a World Cup. But it also, yeah, gives more content
Speaker 3: for viewers and players to play in. I remember the
Speaker 3: one or the last couple that I played in. They
Speaker 3: felt like they were just gone in the blink of
Speaker 3: an eye, and almost if you had one or two
Speaker 3: bad nights, which can happen in T twenty, you're out
Speaker 3: of the competition. And I remember that year in twenty
Speaker 3: two here in Australia where we didn't even make the
Speaker 3: semi and it was basically offer a really bad game
Speaker 3: to start against New Zealand and then we had to
Speaker 3: wash out later on and then all of a sudden,
Speaker 3: you know it's season over or tournament over. So I
Speaker 3: do like that now you get a bit of an
Speaker 3: opportunity to play some more games, you can try some
Speaker 3: more plays, and then you build up to try and
Speaker 3: win it at the end.
Speaker 1: And with the Dutch coming so close against Pakistan a
Speaker 1: couple of days ago, and then Nepal getting to within
Speaker 1: four runs of England on Sunday night, do you feel
Speaker 1: like the gap is closing between the associates and the
Speaker 1: big teams or is that just T twenty cricket as
Speaker 1: a whole where and you know you can have a
Speaker 1: bad day.
Speaker 3: Yeah. Well, to be honest, I don't know, Like I haven't.
Speaker 3: I've been following, you know, every team's progress that closely
Speaker 3: leading in and we even saw it with the US
Speaker 3: a Verse in you're in Mumbai, the in your in
Speaker 3: precarious position batting first earlier on and it took Siria
Speaker 3: Kumar to pull them out of kind of a bit
Speaker 3: of trouble. But I think it's just any time you
Speaker 3: get an opportunity to play a World Cup and I
Speaker 3: remember it almost for me, it was almost like every
Speaker 3: time I used to represent the NT in under fifteen's
Speaker 3: cricket versus New South Wales. You could doesn't matter how
Speaker 3: everyone's going, like that would almost be the one game
Speaker 3: you've been building your whole lives for. And I'm sure
Speaker 3: it's the same, you know for these USA guys or
Speaker 3: you know, Nepal as he said against England, so oman
Speaker 3: against Australia, Like they're going to be so up and
Speaker 3: about for it, and there's going to be no opportunity
Speaker 3: for you know, the big countries to kind of ease
Speaker 3: into things. So yeah, I think it's just great for
Speaker 3: the game. It's great for everyone involved to have as
Speaker 3: many teams and players as possible playing now.
Speaker 1: We've seen already in those early Sri Lankan games plenty
Speaker 1: of spin on offer. Seems like every World Cup that
Speaker 1: we've been to over the last five or six or
Speaker 1: seven years, Adam Zamper has been one of Australia's best players.
Speaker 1: Are we locking him in for most wickets again in
Speaker 1: this tournament? Where do you see him sort of performing?
Speaker 3: Oh, it's probably a good there's probably a good chance
Speaker 3: conditions will suit. He never misses a game. He's his
Speaker 3: big bash form. He didn't he missed kind of some
Speaker 3: games in the middle, but still think he was bowling,
Speaker 3: you know, well, so, yeah, it's a very good chance
Speaker 3: you pick any I think any of those spinners that
Speaker 3: are play, especially the ones that get to play a
Speaker 3: fair amount of games in Sri Lanka, because it does
Speaker 3: tend to spin a lot more there, and if you
Speaker 3: play some day games, it's going to spin for the
Speaker 3: whole forty overs. So yeah, pretty sure odds for Zams
Speaker 3: to be up there in the wickets.
Speaker 4: I think.
Speaker 1: Now Australia's leading to this tournament wasn't ideal. They played
Speaker 1: Pakistan in three matches and lost all three and it
Speaker 1: was a pretty one sided series all things considered, but
Speaker 1: they were missing a few of their top players in
Speaker 1: Pakistan obviously knew the home conditions. Well, we did see
Speaker 1: a little moment in that third match, I believe Cameron
Speaker 1: Green and Wusmond Tarique had a little byplay. Did you
Speaker 1: see what happened there and do you have any comment
Speaker 1: on what played out?
Speaker 3: He's not the first and not saying this with these
Speaker 3: two people, but I've seen this before. I remember, I
Speaker 3: remember guys in the hundred have when you get out right,
Speaker 3: there's the competitive nature, the adrenalines flowing. You want to
Speaker 3: blame anything, and basically that's what Greene did. Now, all
Speaker 3: we can go on is is what been reported and
Speaker 3: he's passed his tests, So I mean you can say,
Speaker 3: to the eye, what does it look like. But I think, yeah,
Speaker 3: if Greene had his time again, he probably wouldn't do that.
Speaker 3: I'm not sure. I'm not sure it's for us as
Speaker 3: players in the moment to be pointing out things like that.
Speaker 3: I think you let the people who make those decisions
Speaker 3: make those decisions and we play. But as I said,
Speaker 3: there's been plenty of people in the past that have
Speaker 3: called an opposition bowler a chucker or mimic, that kind
Speaker 3: of that notion. It's been gone on for you know.
Speaker 3: I merely dealt with it his whole career, didn't he
Speaker 3: And as Australians we always because he always did well
Speaker 3: against us, we would pick on that. So it's almost
Speaker 3: a it's almost a tip to the cap to the
Speaker 3: bowler if if there is something unusual that we will
Speaker 3: go to that. So yeah, I'm sure Greenie though, if
Speaker 3: he had his time again, probably wouldn't do that.
Speaker 1: I'm not saying that you should have copped it. But
Speaker 1: was there any point in your career that opposition better
Speaker 1: accused you of bending the.
Speaker 3: Old Nah, that's probably the one thing I've never been called.
Speaker 3: I think maybe I should have tried it, especially later
Speaker 3: on in my career, to try and get a couple
Speaker 3: of kilometers out a bit faster. But now I was
Speaker 3: always pretty clean with the trucks.
Speaker 1: And the other one I want to touch on because
Speaker 1: I know this is right up here. Ally, the UFC
Speaker 1: was on last week and we had former restraint test
Speaker 1: Captain Steve Moore in attendance. Quite an unusual little crossover there,
Speaker 1: but yeah, he gave the thumbs up. He was singing
Speaker 1: along to Great Southern Land. I think, just some bizarre scenes.
Speaker 1: But you know you'd love to see that from your
Speaker 1: former captains, don't you.
Speaker 3: Yeah, he's doing some side quests, isn't he? After the ashes,
Speaker 3: It reminded me of that's kind of what I think
Speaker 3: I'm going to look like in twenty years when I go.
Speaker 3: If I go with my two sons to like a concert,
Speaker 3: that'll be me like just making sure they're staying out
Speaker 3: of trouble. But he's he's a weird one, Steve like
Speaker 3: he you kind of see him a bit and then
Speaker 3: you don't see him for a few years, and then
Speaker 3: all of a sudden he's back doing. As I said,
Speaker 3: these side quests after the Ashes. So always good to
Speaker 3: see our former greats out and about and enjoying life.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I love it, Tim David. We've spoken a lot
Speaker 1: about associate team so far on this episode, and as
Speaker 1: I mentioned off the top, we'll have Grant Stuart from Italy.
Speaker 1: He's going to be playing with the Minanti brothers and
Speaker 1: the rest of Italy in this tournament. But Tim David
Speaker 1: in twenty nineteen and twenty twenty, he played for Singapore
Speaker 1: for a year, did very well in fact, after he'd
Speaker 1: lost his WA contract, and he got up with Jack
Speaker 1: Painter in Sri Lanka to talk about that year and
Speaker 1: also his recovery from that hamstring injury that ended his
Speaker 1: Big Bash campaign.
Speaker 5: Give us an update on Honey has that good?
Speaker 4: Yeah?
Speaker 6: Good, just having had any cricket to play for a while.
Speaker 6: So I we'll see how it goes coming back for this.
Speaker 6: I think there's some management thoughts going around with the
Speaker 6: physical guys, but yeah, it's pretty strong and looking forward
Speaker 6: to the back end this tournament.
Speaker 5: Is running, batting, fielding. Last night I think left to
Speaker 5: tick off.
Speaker 6: I want a bowl, but they're not letting me look
Speaker 6: in the state of these pictures, and I wanted to
Speaker 6: bat a bit longer, but they're just hold your horses
Speaker 6: for a bit. It's only the first day, so plenty
Speaker 6: of time left.
Speaker 5: Was there any initial fears for the World couple of
Speaker 5: year confident to win it?
Speaker 6: Only when I first did it, I was just annoyed
Speaker 6: because obviously the Big Bash is so condensed now, and
Speaker 6: just annoying timing because I thought we were a pretty
Speaker 6: good chance of winning again and I wanted to.
Speaker 5: Be a part of that.
Speaker 6: So when I first did it, But when once I
Speaker 6: got the scan back, no concerns.
Speaker 5: I think I saw. Was it Mitch who was out
Speaker 5: there at the time. He sort of talked to you
Speaker 5: and convinced you sort of go off, And at that
Speaker 5: point in.
Speaker 6: The game, it's just an interesting dynamic, I suppose, because
Speaker 6: Mitch was fielding it cover and we're playing against them,
Speaker 6: and it was pretty I've had decent crowds, so maybe
Speaker 6: like somewhere near forty and kind of game was The
Speaker 6: game was on, so I said, I've done Mihammi, and
Speaker 6: he was like, and then physio came out and which
Speaker 6: actually said I'd try the test. I said, well, I've
Speaker 6: done it, so it's not much point testing it here
Speaker 6: because and then I the options were obviously to stay
Speaker 6: and try and bat hit a couple of boundaries, then
Speaker 6: get out. But I was at the non strikers and
Speaker 6: I was like, I can't even get to the strikers.
Speaker 6: And so I said to Mitchell, who obviously playing for
Speaker 6: the other team, but is our captain here, And I said, done, Myhammi,
Speaker 6: and he said, well go off, and so I said yeap, okay,
Speaker 6: you know, and then obviously the one eyed Perth crowd
Speaker 6: were pretty happy. Yeah, so that was funny.
Speaker 5: That's a pretty weird dynamic because.
Speaker 6: Yeah, in a sense because it's kind of he just
Speaker 6: want to win this game or but thankfully a lot
Speaker 6: of trust there with Mitchie, so we made the right call.
Speaker 5: With so many associates teams in this tournament, I guess
Speaker 5: I can reflect on that year you had with with
Speaker 5: Singapore and what that that was like.
Speaker 6: Yeah, so we got to a global qualifier where we
Speaker 6: played against the bigger associate nations, your Dutch team, the
Speaker 6: Scottish guys whose Papua New Guinea were good and Namibia.
Speaker 6: So most of my time was spent playing qualifiers and
Speaker 6: we play obviously in Asia and on a lot of
Speaker 6: spinning pitches, which was which was a good experience for me.
Speaker 6: And then yeah, we had a global qualifier in Dubai
Speaker 6: and it was good fun because a lot of those
Speaker 6: boys are still playing now and it's it. I'm obviously
Speaker 6: very lucky I played for Australia now and slightly different
Speaker 6: expectations coming to a World Cup.
Speaker 5: How did it come about that opportunity?
Speaker 6: So my dad played for Singapore when he was working there,
Speaker 6: played with a couple of friends, so he still had
Speaker 6: friends that were at the Singapore creet Association and I'd come.
Speaker 6: I got released by w A and I had a
Speaker 6: broken foot as.
Speaker 7: Well, so.
Speaker 6: I had the chance in that off season instead of
Speaker 6: doing pre season with w A on the academy, I
Speaker 6: was like, I'm going to play cricket. So I went
Speaker 6: and played Singapore. I was probably probably over two years.
Speaker 6: I spent three months a year up there and we
Speaker 6: played qualifiers and different series, one one day series, so
Speaker 6: that's how it came about. They kind of knew that
Speaker 6: through dad still speaking to them that I was playing
Speaker 6: and I played already played in the Big Bash at
Speaker 6: that point, so yeah, I kind of changed my focus
Speaker 6: to go over and play there and just enjoy playing
Speaker 6: cricket and outside of the demands of being on a
Speaker 6: state contract which I didn't have, and figure out my
Speaker 6: game a bit more, which obviously lent you know, coming
Speaker 6: back to Asian conditions and understanding how they how things
Speaker 6: work over here.
Speaker 5: So on there. Your dad was working there. How long
Speaker 5: did you live there?
Speaker 6: Only two years? Yeah, so my parents are there for
Speaker 6: ten years, but they moved back. They moved to Perth
Speaker 6: with myself and my sister, so we were a little
Speaker 6: but very lucky to grow up in Perth. It's a
Speaker 6: pretty great spot.
Speaker 5: You still feel connected to the Singapore team. So they
Speaker 5: came across the results at all. Any any players that
Speaker 5: you played was still in that that's.
Speaker 6: There's a few guys that still play. Yeah, it's tough
Speaker 6: because they through COVID was when I stopped playing, because
Speaker 6: they didn't play a game for about two years. And
Speaker 6: then my own cricket back in Australia and in other
Speaker 6: T twenty stuff I've been on the road ever since,
Speaker 6: So yeah, I haven't had time to get back there,
Speaker 6: but you know it'd be funny if they were playing here.
Speaker 5: You still got the shit.
Speaker 6: Yeah, I've definitely still got some couple had Tim seventy
Speaker 6: seven on the back.
Speaker 5: What's the life of an associate Cree? I really like, Yeah, it's.
Speaker 6: Probably it's like one of those things you unless you're
Speaker 6: getting playing in the leagues, there is not the money,
Speaker 6: so it's not it's not it's probably you described as
Speaker 6: semi professional guys would still have jobs. They come into
Speaker 6: these tournaments. Is awesome because you get to brush shoulders
Speaker 6: with the big international teams and if you put in
Speaker 6: a performance against them, I suppose that's the carrot right
Speaker 6: to try and get. Now there's T twenty domestic leagues
Speaker 6: to get picked up. I suppose my perspective was always
Speaker 6: that I still was playing in Australia, so you know,
Speaker 6: I was trying to I was still trying to make
Speaker 6: it as a cricketer. I don't know how that perspective
Speaker 6: might be different if you couldn't if you couldn't play,
Speaker 6: But there's definitely more like more T twenty comps now
Speaker 6: and associate positions in those leagues, and so I think
Speaker 6: that's the carrot for the guys is to try and
Speaker 6: make a living playing cricket.
Speaker 5: Yeah, ninety two or thirty two against Laysia Bangkok, your
Speaker 5: highest te twenty score until last year. What do you
Speaker 5: remember of that knock?
Speaker 6: That's one of the best I've ever had it honestly,
Speaker 6: like guys, the guys laugh and I'm like, I bang
Speaker 6: them that day, Like it was. There wasn't a scoreboard
Speaker 6: at the ground, so I thought there was another over,
Speaker 6: so I thought I had a chance of getting a hundred,
Speaker 6: but and then they said, I think I took a single.
Speaker 6: I might not have got a single off the last ball,
Speaker 6: but yeah, like that's it. And I was I was
Speaker 6: hoping to keep going. I was singing them pretty good.
Speaker 5: Did you know what you're on at all?
Speaker 4: Doing that?
Speaker 5: In so it's just like that's like awesome greed and
Speaker 5: he's sweet.
Speaker 6: Yeah, I was smacking it. It was, Yeah, that was
Speaker 6: aboutten pretty good.
Speaker 1: So, yeah, that's Tim David one of the best knocks
Speaker 1: he's ever played. In fact, you can actually find footage
Speaker 1: of that in things against Malaysia on YouTube if you
Speaker 1: are so inclined. Ninety odd off thirty balls, rich Ore,
Speaker 1: some very clean hitting from a very young Tim David there,
Speaker 1: so definitely worth a look if you've got any time
Speaker 1: a very strong associate fla to this T twenty World Cup.
Speaker 1: Did you ever other than T twenty World Cups, Richal,
Speaker 1: I mean, did you get to play against or deal
Speaker 1: with associate teams or players much throughout your career? Yeah.
Speaker 3: I was trying to think about this for a while
Speaker 3: and it's not something that happened commonly, but I reckon
Speaker 3: there was a few years where we would teams would
Speaker 3: go up to Darwin, kind of like they do now
Speaker 3: with the T twenty comps, but we would do it
Speaker 3: as like a preseason trip. I think the UAE would
Speaker 3: come over quite often, trying to think of us popping
Speaker 3: New Guinea for a while, would come out and play
Speaker 3: against South Australia. I don't think they're involved in this
Speaker 3: World Cup. Are they popping New Guinea? They didn't make
Speaker 3: the Cup for this one, but they were for a
Speaker 3: while around the Mark and then Nepal recently they were
Speaker 3: playing up and down in that that T twenty series
Speaker 3: basically had home support every game because you know, Darwin's
Speaker 3: kind of the I think it's geographically just as close
Speaker 3: as Nepal as it is to Melbourne. But yeah, that's
Speaker 3: probably the extent of my might do it. But also
Speaker 3: Tom Cooper previous teammate of Southtralia for a long time
Speaker 3: playing for the Netherlands, so we also always took an
Speaker 3: interest in them because again throughout T twenty World Cups
Speaker 3: they were very prevalent as they are again this year,
Speaker 3: so have always had our eyes on the associate nations.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and I think it wasn't Cooper involved in a
Speaker 1: match where the Netherlands beat England in one of those
Speaker 1: T twenty World Cups one of those years, a pretty
Speaker 1: famous victory.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think he was, I reckon he was quite
Speaker 3: young in his Holland experience at that time. But I think,
Speaker 3: you know, Dirk Nanners is also a famous one that played.
Speaker 3: That was the Lord's I think that game where they've
Speaker 3: been and that was quite a famous one if they've
Speaker 3: not done it since. But Tom's brother Ben also played
Speaker 3: and I know that family pretty well and I see
Speaker 3: them quite a bit around kind of where I live now,
Speaker 3: so it's always a good reminder of Yeah, they've got
Speaker 3: odii's and T twenty World Cup games to their name,
Speaker 3: and you know Ben's now playing suburban cricket out in
Speaker 3: Northern Rivers, so you never know where you're going to
Speaker 3: find a World coupler.
Speaker 2: That's fantastic.
Speaker 1: So I wanted to introduce a new segment for this episode.
Speaker 1: They are still pending. I'm thinking the Big Four is
Speaker 1: what we're going to call this sign and feel free
Speaker 1: to chime in with your own suggestions, but this is
Speaker 1: where I'll get did a list the top four of
Speaker 1: any given category, and on this week's category, we're going
Speaker 1: to go for associate players. So who are the Big
Speaker 1: four associate players of all time? I mean you've already
Speaker 1: mentioned a couple there. Do they find a way onto
Speaker 1: your list?
Speaker 3: Yeah? They do? But also what's the parameters here? Because
Speaker 3: you know there's guys from Ireland who I think will qualify,
Speaker 3: but they're a test playing nation now aren't they? So
Speaker 3: do they still? You know, I'm thinking like a Paul Sterling,
Speaker 3: he's had such a long story career with Ireland, but
Speaker 3: he also now they're a test playing nation. Does he qualify?
Speaker 3: So there's a bit of gray area here that as
Speaker 3: Judge master, if you're not going to be involved in
Speaker 3: the conversation and you're just going to make me do
Speaker 3: the work.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna say, Paul's okay because he played for Ireland
Speaker 1: before they were a Test name. Yes, so he gets
Speaker 1: a tick from me.
Speaker 3: But then with that, does Own Morgan then qualify as well?
Speaker 2: Because yeah, absolutely though, yeah he played for Ireland.
Speaker 3: Yeah, Well, I'm not gonna I'm not going to pay
Speaker 3: that one will I will say Ryan ten Discardo's he's
Speaker 3: like the pin Up Boys and of the Associate Cricketing Nations.
Speaker 2: Absolutely, he did this.
Speaker 3: What ten fifteen years ago he averaged sixty seven and
Speaker 3: I think ODII cricket. He played Big Bash. I remember
Speaker 3: playing Big Bash early Big Bash with him at the Strikers.
Speaker 3: That's terrific, fella. He also was he was playing ipl
Speaker 3: and stuff, so it's not as if he was you know,
Speaker 3: you're getting picked up just because you know, selling tickets
Speaker 3: or getting people to view in from from Amsterdam. Like
Speaker 3: he was a genuine player and his numbers speak for himself.
Speaker 3: So I'm going to say he's the goat, he's the
Speaker 3: he's the top tier. And then underneath I'll give Coops
Speaker 3: his flowers just Tom just because he's been such a
Speaker 3: long teammate of mine, but also his career that he
Speaker 3: had in Australia. Also whilst he played for the Netherlands.
Speaker 3: I'm going to give Paul Sterling yep ye the third nod.
Speaker 3: I played Under ninety World Cup against him and even
Speaker 3: then you could tell that he was a level above
Speaker 3: all right, kind of everyone that was there just played
Speaker 3: the same way that he does now. As an eighteen
Speaker 3: year old just walked out there and tried to club them.
Speaker 3: And then I mean there's a list of names. There's
Speaker 3: you actually throw Dirk Nanas at me last night, didn't you?
Speaker 2: But I did.
Speaker 1: Yeah, But there's a strong Dutch flavor already to your list,
Speaker 1: so you might there is.
Speaker 3: And also if I mean, if we're looking at Koreas,
Speaker 3: he would easily you could easily say he's going to
Speaker 3: be one boyd Rankin another who played for Ireland, went
Speaker 3: to England, played Test creet then came back and finished
Speaker 3: his career at Ireland. I actually don't know who to
Speaker 3: go with for the fourth. George Munsey's kind of a
Speaker 3: current day name from Scotland who's getting He's getting franchise
Speaker 3: gigs all over the world. As a you know, an
Speaker 3: opener who's smacks some conne in that sterling mold. So
Speaker 3: I'm going to throw it to you. You deliberate for
Speaker 3: me and pick the fourth.
Speaker 2: Oh okay, wow.
Speaker 1: I did write down a few names because I thought
Speaker 1: you might ask for my opinion. Pavel Floren is one
Speaker 1: who comes to my end from Romania. Probably not on
Speaker 1: the same level as your Ryan tender Scarters, but certainly
Speaker 1: made waves a few years ago, didn't he with his
Speaker 1: unusual bowling action.
Speaker 2: He's not going to be the one though.
Speaker 1: Steve Tickolo was another who came to mind from Kenya.
Speaker 1: Y did great at that two thousand and three World Cup,
Speaker 1: but then Kenyan cricket has sort of declined, so we've
Speaker 1: sort of forgotten about the Steve Tickolos. But what about
Speaker 1: someone like Eric Durson Zemana.
Speaker 2: Have you heard of Eric?
Speaker 3: I haven't.
Speaker 1: So he used to captain Rwanda and he holds the
Speaker 1: Guinness World record for the longest net session fifty one hours.
Speaker 1: He batted four in a single man to raise money
Speaker 1: for cricket. Now he hasn't played at a World Cup,
Speaker 1: so maybe we can't go for Eric, but I thought
Speaker 1: he did deserve a shout out. I'm going to go
Speaker 1: for Dirk nanas I love Dirk Fast but left armor,
Speaker 1: cross country skier, you name it, he's.
Speaker 3: Going he does. It's a pretty good resume on and
Speaker 3: off field, so again, as you said, pretty heavy Dutch flavor.
Speaker 3: But there's a connection there with all of them. You know,
Speaker 3: Australia Italy's coming now for our Love Affair as our
Speaker 3: second team. They with their Australian connection. But I think
Speaker 3: there are a pretty good set of four names that
Speaker 3: wouldn't look out of place in any competition in the
Speaker 3: world when they're at their best.
Speaker 1: No chances of you pulling on some lineage or some roots,
Speaker 1: family roots to qualify for any of these teams as there.
Speaker 3: I wish I had that opportunity or that option. Daniel
Speaker 3: Frankie Warrel's got an Irish connection, which I'm wondering why
Speaker 3: he's never chose, because the man is just so Irish
Speaker 3: off field like that would be and since moving over there,
Speaker 3: I'm sure it's crossed his mind. But yeah, Unfortunately for me,
Speaker 3: I haven't got any anything that I can pursue. I'm
Speaker 3: just just a boring old Aussie.
Speaker 2: Well, well, you touched on the Italians.
Speaker 1: They've got the men Anti brothers, they've got the Mosca
Speaker 1: Brothers from Sydney, they've got Grant Stewart and there's a
Speaker 1: lot of Australian connection at this year's tournament. Got Scotland
Speaker 1: on Monday in their first match, and they've also got
Speaker 1: matches against the West Indies and England coming up in
Speaker 1: their group. Lots of exciting stuff to look forward to.
Speaker 1: I chatted to grand a couple of days ago. We've
Speaker 1: spoken about him on the pod before.
Speaker 3: Rich.
Speaker 1: Oh, he's done a lot of great work in county
Speaker 1: cricket for the best part of ten years, hasn't it.
Speaker 1: I think you said you've even played against it or
Speaker 1: maybe with him.
Speaker 3: Oh, yeah, I've played with him at Kent actually, and
Speaker 3: to be honest, before that, i'd heard of him. But
Speaker 3: then I was watching a game I was like, who
Speaker 3: is this guy? Obviously knew the Australian accent. They're like, oh,
Speaker 3: he plays for Italy's Mun's Italian. But I always thought,
Speaker 3: in the back of my mind could he play big
Speaker 3: Bash because he was clubbing him at number eight and
Speaker 3: bowling really handy kind of seam ups with good slaballs
Speaker 3: and terrific fellow athlete. So for all the big Bush
Speaker 3: recruiters out there, Grant Stuart, keep an eye on him.
Speaker 2: Absolutely.
Speaker 1: Unfortunately, know Joe Burns for Italy at this tournament. He
Speaker 1: captained them through their qualifying stage. But then a statement
Speaker 1: was released that's saying that there was some sort of
Speaker 1: disagreement or the two parties came to a mutual decision
Speaker 1: not to come to the table. I saw Ben Manenti
Speaker 1: on the Grade Cricket of podcast say it may have
Speaker 1: been financial disputes. Richard, Do you have any information you
Speaker 1: can give us on the Joe Burns Italy saga.
Speaker 3: It hasn't come across my on my desk where I
Speaker 3: live down here. I haven't heard about it at the
Speaker 3: local coffee shops or anything, so unfortunately I haven't. I
Speaker 3: haven't got anything to add, but it is disappointing. I mean,
Speaker 3: he was obviously invested in that that lead up to
Speaker 3: the World Cup and terrific player in his day, Joe,
Speaker 3: So yeah, disappointing he's not going to be there, but
Speaker 3: I'm sure the reasons were come out. Maybe he'll do
Speaker 3: a tell all book one day, or a memoir maybe
Speaker 3: something like that story of your life kind of segment
Speaker 3: and we'll get find out a bit more.
Speaker 1: That'd be fantastic best selling book in the works. So
Speaker 1: let's get to that chat with grand Stewart ahead of
Speaker 1: Italy's Tea twenty World Cup campaign. It's always great to
Speaker 1: chat to someone who's going to be participating at the
Speaker 1: World Cup, and on this occasion we've got Grant Stuart
Speaker 1: who's going to be an all rounder for Italy. He's
Speaker 1: currently in Chennai and he joins us. Now, welcome to
Speaker 1: the Unplayable Podcast.
Speaker 2: Grant, how are you going good?
Speaker 7: Thanks to you, Joshna. Great for you joining you, Thanks
Speaker 7: for having me up.
Speaker 1: Well, I want to talk about obviously this World Cup
Speaker 1: coming up, but a lot of people will be interested
Speaker 1: about your backstory and how you came to play for
Speaker 1: Italy and you've played for them for quite a few
Speaker 1: years now as well. Cook Info says you're born in Calgooli,
Speaker 1: but I've seen that you've played a lot in New
Speaker 1: South Wales. Can you give us a bit of the
Speaker 1: backstory first and how you sort of came to this position.
Speaker 7: Yeah, sure, So I was born in Calgooley.
Speaker 8: Like you said that, I'll be moved back to New
Speaker 8: South Wales before I was even one, so I didn't
Speaker 8: spend much time over that side of Australia. But yeah,
Speaker 8: basically grew up a little bit in Sydney until I.
Speaker 7: Was about eight or nine. And they're mainly in a.
Speaker 8: Town called lawn Or It's just near Maitland and Newcastle
Speaker 8: in New South Wales.
Speaker 7: For parents still live there now.
Speaker 8: So yeah, that was where most of upbringing was, playing
Speaker 8: all my junior cricket.
Speaker 7: And stuff through there.
Speaker 8: And yeah, before I guess moved over to England just
Speaker 8: to play club cricket originally, like most a lot of
Speaker 8: Ossie cricketers do. Yeah, in twenty sixteen and I've been
Speaker 8: there nearly ten years now, so yeah, funny how things
Speaker 8: work out.
Speaker 1: Wow, And were you ever in like the New South
Speaker 1: Wales pathway system? Was state cricket ever on the radar?
Speaker 2: Few in Australia, No I played.
Speaker 7: Yeah, I played a bit of a rep cricket growing up,
Speaker 7: but not at that sort of level.
Speaker 8: I kind of the sort of pathway was they've been
Speaker 8: in the country cricket system. I was played Maitland, Hannah Valley,
Speaker 8: Central North that sort of stuff never quite got much
Speaker 8: higher than that in a junior level. I think I
Speaker 8: played the New South Falest country stuff when I was
Speaker 8: twenty one, maybe in the men's team, but as a junior, and.
Speaker 7: I was probably fair to say I was a bit
Speaker 7: of a late bloomer.
Speaker 8: I mixed around a bit. I was always always battered,
Speaker 8: I guess, which is funny because my predominant role to
Speaker 8: get in the professional contracts through my bowling.
Speaker 7: But yeah, I dabbled.
Speaker 8: It's a wiki keeper to start with bold a bit
Speaker 8: of leg spin for a couple of years, and then
Speaker 8: finally went to seem up at about sixteen years old
Speaker 8: and went.
Speaker 7: On from there.
Speaker 2: That's hilarious.
Speaker 1: And so yeah, you moved over to England to play
Speaker 1: a bit of club cricket, but before long you're playing
Speaker 1: for Ken, So something must have gone right over there
Speaker 1: and you obviously found the group pretty quickly.
Speaker 7: Yeah, I guess I was sort of progressing a little bit.
Speaker 8: As I said, I was a bit of a probably
Speaker 8: a late Lake bloomer with my cricket started to progress
Speaker 8: a little bit in Australia before I went over, like
Speaker 8: I said, made the New South Walest countryside it was
Speaker 8: pretty cool, and then basically went over and sort of
Speaker 8: gave myself a couple of years. I planned to come
Speaker 8: back and move to a capital city in Australia and
Speaker 8: try and have it cracket.
Speaker 7: It's a premier cricket there.
Speaker 8: And first went over to England and then played club
Speaker 8: cricket and met a bloke called Andy Delman who played
Speaker 8: played a bit for South Australia back in a little
Speaker 8: while ago, and then he got me down to Adelaide
Speaker 8: and played a few seasons down there. But I guess, yeah,
Speaker 8: my opportunity came came in England first, and I sort of, yeah,
Speaker 8: I jumped at the opportunity.
Speaker 7: So yeah, that was where that sort of came around.
Speaker 1: Right, Okay, And well I had to look at some
Speaker 1: of your earlier matches when you did end up getting
Speaker 1: that contract for Kent, and I found quite a random
Speaker 1: sort of tour to the Caribbean that you did. You
Speaker 1: end up getting Shivner and Chanda pull out in your
Speaker 1: first match. Do you remember that and what happened there?
Speaker 4: Ah?
Speaker 7: Yeah, that was unbelievable.
Speaker 5: I was.
Speaker 7: I thought, this is the best thing in the world.
Speaker 7: I've basically gone.
Speaker 8: My first first year as a professional, and our preseason
Speaker 8: tour was to the Caribbean.
Speaker 7: I thought, how can I get any better than this?
Speaker 8: So yeah, I was lucky to get on that tour
Speaker 8: as a first year on contract, but yeah, I didn't
Speaker 8: play the first few games, wasn't getting picked and then
Speaker 8: finally got the Knight against Guyana and yeah I managed
Speaker 8: to pick up She was my first professional, our first
Speaker 8: List day wicket. Yeah, that was pretty cool.
Speaker 2: Definitely, that's fantastic.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's certainly one to tell the grandchildren about. And
Speaker 1: then the Italian team mate, So what's the connection there?
Speaker 1: How do you qualify for them? And yeah, how have
Speaker 1: you enjoyed being part of the Assouri?
Speaker 7: Yeah, so my mum's Italian.
Speaker 8: I mightn't sound the most Italian, but yeah, obviously being
Speaker 8: brought up in Australia got a very Australian data, as
Speaker 8: you could probably imagine. Yeah, my mum's side of the
Speaker 8: family's Italian, very close to them there, A lot of
Speaker 8: them are based in Newcastle around where I live, so
Speaker 8: the big Italian community there and very close growing up.
Speaker 8: So a lot of the Italian traditions were very present
Speaker 8: in my upbringing, that's for sure. But yeah, I guess
Speaker 8: that was something I was kind of keen on for
Speaker 8: a while, but never really knew the rut or sort
Speaker 8: of knew anything around it. I'd heard about Italian cricket,
Speaker 8: but yeah, I guess my first entry point was playing
Speaker 8: against the Italian coach at the time.
Speaker 7: He was playing county cricket for Hampshire.
Speaker 8: And he sort of got a bit of a bit
Speaker 8: of a sniff that I had Italian heritage and sort
Speaker 8: of sounded me out a little bit, and I was
Speaker 8: obviously very keen to jump at the opportunity. So yeah,
Speaker 8: I sort of all went on from there. I think
Speaker 8: been playing for five five years or so now for Italy,
Speaker 8: so it's been Yeah, it's been awesome to see how
Speaker 8: things have unfolded.
Speaker 1: Who was the coach at the time that sort of
Speaker 1: scattered you out.
Speaker 8: It was Gareth Berg, So he's pre seasoned county cricket.
Speaker 8: He's a good man, he's he's done a lot for
Speaker 8: Italian cricket. But yeah, he's he's not playing anymore, but yeah,
Speaker 8: no's he was very instrumental to I sort of getting
Speaker 8: the squad together that we've got now, that's for sure.
Speaker 2: Now.
Speaker 1: When we spoke to Ben Mininti on the podcast last season,
Speaker 1: he said he's a alien is pretty rubbish. I'm guessing
Speaker 1: yours might be a little bit better than his.
Speaker 3: I don't know.
Speaker 7: I'm trying to learn.
Speaker 8: I never unfortunately, like you said, yeah, mine's pretty average
Speaker 8: as well. I've been taking a few lessons for a
Speaker 8: little while now, trying to get a little bit better.
Speaker 8: But yeah, I definitely we didn't speak much Italian at
Speaker 8: home in our house, but obviously when we would go
Speaker 8: to family family gatherings, it would be a lot of
Speaker 8: Italian spoke.
Speaker 7: But unfortunately I didn't pick up too.
Speaker 4: Much of that.
Speaker 8: And trying to do it the hard way now and
Speaker 8: learn as I'm a bit older.
Speaker 1: And what's it like inside the Italian team, because yeah,
Speaker 1: it's a national team. It's not just a club or
Speaker 1: a county side. This is actually an international side that
Speaker 1: you're playing for. What's the vibe like inside the inside
Speaker 1: the room? And I guess, yeah, what's it like to
Speaker 1: know that you're stepping into an international match and now
Speaker 1: an international tournament?
Speaker 8: Yeah, it's huge. Obviously, it's nothing that Italy's ever done.
Speaker 8: Like said, the last twelve months has been it's been
Speaker 8: big stepping stones for Italy. Like we've played the qualifiers,
Speaker 8: a few times and not quite got through. And we've
Speaker 8: managed to sort of get our nose into the World
Speaker 8: Cup by qualifying and getting over in those big, biggest
Speaker 8: sort of games for us, which is probably where we
Speaker 8: sort of lacked it under those pressure games previously. But
Speaker 8: our squad's really good. It's a great bunch of lads
Speaker 8: and sort of all brought together by slightly different ways,
Speaker 8: but there were our family sort of histories and stuff
Speaker 8: like that are all very very similar, and yeah, it
Speaker 8: was pretty united squad and that's suddenly all get around
Speaker 8: each other about and yeah, it's a good team to
Speaker 8: be a part of, that's for sure.
Speaker 1: Those qualifiers last year looked incredible. Had to defeat Scotland
Speaker 1: to make it through and you guys pulled that off
Speaker 1: and the Scots have ended up in the tournament anyway
Speaker 1: the way it's panned out. But can you take us
Speaker 1: back to those men reason what the celebrations were, like
Speaker 1: I suppose when you finally qualified.
Speaker 7: Yeah, it was amazing.
Speaker 8: It's probably, yeah, probably one of the better feelings have
Speaker 8: had on a cricket field.
Speaker 7: Yeah, Like I said, a lot of fair few years
Speaker 7: went into trying to qualify for a World carp and
Speaker 7: that was definitely an ambition for the team for a while.
Speaker 8: So to finally get over the line against Scotland, I
Speaker 8: think there's a few nervy moments in there, but yeah,
Speaker 8: luckily held our nerve on that day, and yeah, that
Speaker 8: sort of rolled into some pretty hefty celebrations after that. Yeah,
Speaker 8: a few weary bodies on the plane going back to
Speaker 8: going back to England and wherever. The rest of it, well,
Speaker 8: there's few to Rome, few back to odds. So yeah,
Speaker 8: it was a good few days, that's for sure.
Speaker 1: Is there a team song or are there are the
Speaker 1: traditions inside this Italian team that is unique to it?
Speaker 7: Yeah, there is.
Speaker 8: We've obviously got a bit of a team more cry
Speaker 8: after a win, but I guess yeah, this sort of
Speaker 8: team song that sort of gets floated around a fair
Speaker 8: bit after a win is it's a bit of a
Speaker 8: collaboration between Ed Sheeran and Andre Bacelli Perfect Symphony. So
Speaker 8: that's sort of on the on the bus after a
Speaker 8: game after a win that usually gets straight on the speakers.
Speaker 8: So yeah, it's always a good one for the boys
Speaker 8: to get around too far.
Speaker 2: I love that.
Speaker 1: And then just last week on January twenty six, the
Speaker 1: Italians defeated Ireland. You're there, You're a big part of
Speaker 1: that three six is to win that match the first
Speaker 1: time Italy have beaten the full member nation as well.
Speaker 1: Talk us through the finish to that match, because yeah,
Speaker 1: you had a big role to play.
Speaker 7: Yeah, another great day for early cricket.
Speaker 8: Really, like I said, we've sort of been trying to
Speaker 8: progress and to be able to play a series against
Speaker 8: Ireland and really see where we sort of sit leading
Speaker 8: into the World Cup is Yeah, obviously went down in
Speaker 8: the series, but that gave us a lot of conference
Speaker 8: that last game. But yeah, I was We sort of
Speaker 8: had a couple of close ish games. The first two
Speaker 8: games were in a sniff that sort of dropped the
Speaker 8: ball in a couple of little phases of the game.
Speaker 8: But yeah, luckily managed to get over the line in
Speaker 8: the last one. Yeah, it's probably could have won it
Speaker 8: a little bit easier than we did in the end.
Speaker 8: I sort of stunk it up a little bit when
Speaker 8: I first went to the crease, but thankfully managed to
Speaker 8: catch up at the end. So it was good to
Speaker 8: get the boys boys over the line.
Speaker 2: Well done, well done.
Speaker 1: As I said, you're in Chennai at the minute. Your
Speaker 1: games are in Kolkatta and Mumbai. You've got Scotland, Nepaul,
Speaker 1: England West Indies in your group. Any matches in particular
Speaker 1: that you're really looking forward to, any players coming that
Speaker 1: you're really looking forward to coming up against.
Speaker 7: Yeah, that's a good question. I guess.
Speaker 8: Yeah, I'm looking forward to all the games. Just to
Speaker 8: be playing in World Cups. It's going to be amazing,
Speaker 8: I guess.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 8: The two big, bigger sort of nations in England and
Speaker 8: the West Indies will be awesome to play against and
Speaker 8: really test yourself against some of the better, best players
Speaker 8: in the world. So yeah, I've played against a lot
Speaker 8: of the England boys, so I know a little bit
Speaker 8: about them. But yeah, it's obviously it's going to be
Speaker 8: very tough. Yeah, tough day at the office potentially, but yeah,
Speaker 8: we'll be We're building a bit of momentum at the moment.
Speaker 8: We've won a couple of couple of games in the
Speaker 8: last two weeks, so yeah, hopefully you can put our
Speaker 8: best foot forward and you never know, potentially creating upset
Speaker 8: along the way in those four games.
Speaker 1: Well, England do have a bit of a history of
Speaker 1: losing to lower ranked sides at World Cups, so you
Speaker 1: never know. You've got to be in it obviously to
Speaker 1: win it. Jj Smutz he's going to be one of
Speaker 1: your teammates as well. He's played for South Africa in
Speaker 1: the past. I've read an article that said he hadn't
Speaker 1: actually been to Italy, but he's going to pull on
Speaker 1: the blue shirt for this tournament. Have you been over
Speaker 1: there to Italy? I'm sure living in England you get
Speaker 1: a good chance to see over the Italian peninsula or
Speaker 1: something like that.
Speaker 8: Yeah, and I've ducked over there a fair few times,
Speaker 8: so it's always always a nice driph any excuse to
Speaker 8: get over there a good one for me.
Speaker 7: So yeah, I didn't actually know that about JJB.
Speaker 8: Yeah, his wife's Italian, so he's sort of qualifies through
Speaker 8: that that sort of direction. But he's going to be
Speaker 8: massive for us, seriously experienced campaigner, and he would be
Speaker 8: a levelhead for us going into those big games. Haven't
Speaker 8: played on that sort of stage before, So yeah, he's
Speaker 8: a great addition for us definitely.
Speaker 1: And for fans who don't know a lot about your teammates,
Speaker 1: we know them an anti brothers of course. Joe Burns,
Speaker 1: miss selection. Who else should we be looking out for?
Speaker 1: And who are you expecting is going to have a
Speaker 1: big tournament for the Italians?
Speaker 8: I guess our captain Wayne Madson be he'll be pretty
Speaker 8: crucial for us. He's another experienced campaigner batting through the
Speaker 8: middle overs against spin will probably be a big part.
Speaker 8: So he's another one, another young sort of up and coming.
Speaker 8: Seemer's Tommy Dracer. He's also got born and grew up
Speaker 8: in Australia as well, so he's on his day you
Speaker 8: can get it through, So look out for him and
Speaker 8: our leg spinner Krishan. He's he's someone's probably no one's
Speaker 8: seen before and I think he could surprise a few
Speaker 8: people for sure, definitely. So yeah, they'll probably be outside
Speaker 8: obviously the men empty boys, which probably a lot of
Speaker 8: the Aussies already know.
Speaker 2: Yeah, amazing. And so Krishan, where's he come from? How come?
Speaker 4: Oh?
Speaker 2: Yeah, do you know he's backstory at or?
Speaker 8: Yeah, he's of Sri Lankan heritage, but he's lived and
Speaker 8: resided in Italy for I'm going to say fifteen twenty
Speaker 8: years now, so that's how he's he's qualifies, but he's
Speaker 8: all him and I think six or seven of the
Speaker 8: other other local Italian boys went over to Srilanka pre
Speaker 8: pre this tour.
Speaker 7: And they've been training really hard, so.
Speaker 8: Yeah, I think they've They've put in some really good preparation.
Speaker 8: I think, yeah, a few potential names there might surprise
Speaker 8: a few people, and I think they could. They could really,
Speaker 8: I don't know, create a few a few little upsets
Speaker 8: a long way.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's that's fantastic.
Speaker 1: And with so many I guess players with us heritage
Speaker 1: in the in the squad, I mean, a good performance
Speaker 1: here could get them on the radar for a Big
Speaker 1: Bash contract or something in the future. Is that something
Speaker 1: that's on your bucket list? Ground would you see your
Speaker 1: like to see yourself playing in the Big Bash in
Speaker 1: future seasons?
Speaker 8: Ah, you know say never. Bet obviously plays a local
Speaker 8: player in England, so that's a bit of a tough
Speaker 8: ass to playing playing the Big Bash. Yeah, I'd be
Speaker 8: competing with some pretty good overseas players for a gig.
Speaker 7: But yeah, I've always sort.
Speaker 8: Of I've grown up watching the Big Bash and watch it.
Speaker 8: My old man obviously loves watching the Big Bash. So
Speaker 8: whenever he ever I go home, he's always got on
Speaker 8: the Telly as well. So, yeah, it's a great competition
Speaker 8: and it'd be unbelievable playing it one day.
Speaker 7: But yeah, whether that happens or not, who knows.
Speaker 1: Do you find yourself coming back to Australia in those
Speaker 1: UK winters or are you pretty much over in the
Speaker 1: UK year round these days?
Speaker 7: Now, I'm pretty lucky.
Speaker 8: I don't think i've I've spent a whole winter in
Speaker 8: the UK. Yeah, so I've managed to get back even
Speaker 8: during COVID. I had to do the two week quarantine
Speaker 8: in the hotel even to get back for a little while.
Speaker 7: So yeah, I'm pretty lucky. I get to come back
Speaker 7: and see my family and yeah, joy enjoy the summer over.
Speaker 8: Here as opposed to the cold winter in the indoor
Speaker 8: school in England.
Speaker 2: That's amazing, endless summers. That's the perfect situation, isn't it.
Speaker 1: And then you just said to me before we started
Speaker 1: recording that your family is going to be coming over
Speaker 1: as well to see the T twenty World Cup.
Speaker 2: That's fantastic.
Speaker 1: Have you sorted out some blue kits for them to
Speaker 1: wear in the stands.
Speaker 8: Yeah, I've got some old plane kit that sort of
Speaker 8: passed on Dad. Were pretty pretty keen on that they
Speaker 8: kept hounding me about it before I left, I was
Speaker 8: to come over here. So nah, they're all decked out
Speaker 8: and I think my dad was saying he was going
Speaker 8: to wear it everywhere he went.
Speaker 7: So that that could be interesting.
Speaker 8: But anyway, Nah, it's great around getting around the team,
Speaker 8: and they've always supported me, so it's awesome having them
Speaker 8: over to be part of it as well.
Speaker 1: And have you done the official ICC headshots and all
Speaker 1: those sorts of things. Is really starting to feel real
Speaker 1: now that you're part of this tournament.
Speaker 8: Yeah, we had our media day two days ago, so yeah,
Speaker 8: I was a lot of probably new to a lot
Speaker 8: of the boys, and obviously a bit different to some
Speaker 8: of the stuff I've done previously as well.
Speaker 7: But yeah, no, it's starting to ramp up now.
Speaker 8: Say it's getting close to crunch time, so I think
Speaker 8: everyone's really excited. I think it's probably we're pretty primed
Speaker 8: ready to go. I think to put our best foot forward.
Speaker 8: So I think the sooner it rolls around, the better
Speaker 8: for us.
Speaker 2: Fantastic.
Speaker 1: Well, thanks your time, good luck in this tournament, and yeah,
Speaker 1: make sure you knock off the English.
Speaker 4: Great Thanks mate up