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Speaker 1: Australia's cricketers as they take on the world. Hello everybody,
Speaker 1: welcome to The Unplayable Podcast. It's the final Test of
Speaker 1: the Ashes. Someone, We've made it to Sydney and now
Speaker 1: we're sitting in the trip Land box ahead of the
Speaker 1: final Test. Louis, it's a big episode coming up. Was
Speaker 1: mcquijor has retired? Todd Murphy's on the show curator chat
Speaker 1: all the fun stuff.
Speaker 2: So where do we begin?
Speaker 3: Yeah, a lot of build up to a dead rubber
Speaker 3: Test match. Yes, there are World Test Championship points on
Speaker 3: the line, but the Ashes have have well and truly
Speaker 3: been one. But yeah, there's a there's a big going
Speaker 3: on leading to this one. It was McGuire's press conference
Speaker 3: this morning, I mean nearly an hour long. He fired
Speaker 3: a few shots, he made you know, it was heartfelt,
Speaker 3: a lot of it wasn't it, And made some beautiful
Speaker 3: points around you know how he suffered racism as as
Speaker 3: a young kid and how that has kind of shaped
Speaker 3: his career and still does and still does. Yeah, so
Speaker 3: I mean that's going to be the one that creates
Speaker 3: a lot of headlines over not just today but kind
Speaker 3: of going forward. But yeah, we're farewell in one of
Speaker 3: the great beautiful symmetry that he noticed. I mean, he
Speaker 3: must be spending a bit of time in statsgu I
Speaker 3: reckon because eighty eight tests he will end up playing
Speaker 3: at the SCG. It was forty four before he when
Speaker 3: he got dropped during twenty nineteen ashes, he had about
Speaker 3: eighteen months to twenty four months out of the team
Speaker 3: and since his recall at this ground, the SEG during
Speaker 3: the twenty one twenty two ashes, he will have played
Speaker 3: forty four tests. So as really nice symmetry for all
Speaker 3: the cricket stats nerds, and there's a.
Speaker 1: Few a few, there's some great coverage across all of
Speaker 1: cricket dot com, dot Au and the SA Live app
Speaker 1: of course, honoring Kawaja dropped seven times in eight years
Speaker 1: before he got that run. After those twin times as
Speaker 1: you spoke about, and yeah, very long preference. You can
Speaker 1: watch it all as well on our channels loo for
Speaker 1: those who don't have fifty minutes to spare.
Speaker 2: What sort of were the main talking points out of it.
Speaker 3: Yeah, well, he kind of started off by saying, so
Speaker 3: his family initially lived, he said, a stone throw away
Speaker 3: from the SCG in a really small two bedroom flat
Speaker 3: when they moved from from Pakistan when he was a
Speaker 3: young little tucker and he saw Michael Slater roll up
Speaker 3: to the s CG in a red Ferrari and that
Speaker 3: was one of his enduring memories. And you know, he
Speaker 3: subsequently moved to the family moved to Western Sydney, and
Speaker 3: he called them hard streets and you know, experienced, you know,
Speaker 3: a lot of a lot of things, heard a lot
Speaker 3: of things he said he couldn't repeat in the press conference.
Speaker 3: This is all stuff he's spoken about a lot before.
Speaker 3: But I think it was it was nice and it
Speaker 3: was important that he repeated it because I think, you know,
Speaker 3: he made the point and I think we would all
Speaker 3: agree Cricket's got a long way to go to to
Speaker 3: atone for some of the issues that he's that he's
Speaker 3: encountered in which a lot of people still do encounter.
Speaker 3: And then yeah, just I mean, what you know, the
Speaker 3: gap that is gonna it's gonna be left by him
Speaker 3: when he when he calls time. It's a funny one,
Speaker 3: isn't it, Because we've talked a lot about the opening
Speaker 3: hole that he filled, and David Warren had all these
Speaker 3: partners and finally he got one in Usmond Kwaja, who
Speaker 3: was a reliable, steady presence. Yes, we know Kuaja's results
Speaker 3: of the last eighteen months just about have diminished in
Speaker 3: that time, and they've kind of neatly found a decent
Speaker 3: kind of replacement in Travis ed and Jake Weatherley.
Speaker 4: So it kind of feels out of all times.
Speaker 3: He could about out, well, he's actually bowing out with
Speaker 3: you know, having given away to his replacements. So yeah,
Speaker 3: he spoke a little bit about that, and yeah, just
Speaker 3: the ups and downs of a turbulent career. It's kind
Speaker 3: of hard to have to summarize in less than fifty minutes.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I found interesting how he said that he had considered,
Speaker 1: you know, have retired at any point in the last
Speaker 1: two years, but then had sort of found this point
Speaker 1: of the cycle.
Speaker 2: I suppose to call it.
Speaker 1: Given that the next big series India and England until
Speaker 1: twenty twenty seven, and there are some less scrutinized series
Speaker 1: for Australia.
Speaker 4: Coming out term that he used.
Speaker 1: This Bangladesh, South Africa and the New Zealand and the
Speaker 1: next ones is going to be hard to replace because openers,
Speaker 1: as he also mentioned, they have lower averages the middle
Speaker 1: order batters. Even though he played his whole first half
Speaker 1: of his careers the number three specialist, number three really
Speaker 1: came in and did an amazing job as opener. And
Speaker 1: now with Warner and him gone in the space of
Speaker 1: a couple of years, Yeah, it's going to be a
Speaker 1: very new looking side.
Speaker 3: Yeah, your point about the timing is a good one,
Speaker 3: because he mentioned how he had a conversation with Andrew
Speaker 3: McDonald during or around the last year's Boxing Day Test
Speaker 3: against India where he eventually offered to retire, as he
Speaker 3: kind of recalled it, and McDonald was really stronger wanting
Speaker 3: him for that sriugh Anchor series. And what a master
Speaker 3: stroke that was because we got to witness one of
Speaker 3: his best test innings, the two hundred and thirty two
Speaker 3: he made in Gaul right up there with well maybe
Speaker 3: just a notch below say edge percent twenty three and
Speaker 3: Dubai twenty eighteen. I think I'd have edge percent twenty
Speaker 3: three is his absolute top performance in a Test match.
Speaker 3: I think it's one hundred and forty and sixty five.
Speaker 3: But he batted for more than thirteen hours in that
Speaker 3: game in yeah, sorry, he batted for more than thirteen
Speaker 3: hours in twenty twenty three the innings in Dubai. I
Speaker 3: think the second innings was more than eight hours. We
Speaker 3: need to double check the stats. So that was the
Speaker 3: one he played for the draw. The one in Edgerson
Speaker 3: was for a win, so I'd probably have that a
Speaker 3: bit higher. But yeah, that were the ones was he
Speaker 3: kind of spoke about. I'm interested you wrote. You wrote
Speaker 3: a nice piece, Joshure summing up the amount of times
Speaker 3: and he's been dropped, and you put the number at seven.
Speaker 3: I wonder if that in Sorry, I don't wonder, but
Speaker 3: and that doesn't include this is just a summarize what
Speaker 3: a crazy up and down career he had and maybe
Speaker 3: mistreated along the way in some respects. But the twenty
Speaker 3: thirteen trip to India, the homework Gate series where he
Speaker 3: was one of the four players who were a naughty
Speaker 3: boy and wasn't allowed to play in the Mahali Test,
Speaker 3: he would have played in that game, I think, So
Speaker 3: that's virtually a dropping and then he was virtually dropped
Speaker 3: during this series, right when Steve Smith at the last
Speaker 3: minute had to pull out with vertigo symptoms. So just
Speaker 3: so many what ifs along the way. I kind of
Speaker 3: like that to panned out that the.
Speaker 4: Way it has.
Speaker 1: Yeah, well we had these number of droppings at seven.
Speaker 1: I was hoping I could get up to nine for
Speaker 1: sort of a nine lives a cat analogy, and he's
Speaker 1: a cool cat. But I did quite managed to get
Speaker 1: him to that cat status.
Speaker 3: Well, if we talked about it, I mean, if it
Speaker 3: added those two in, it could have been nine.
Speaker 2: We could have got to know, we could have got
Speaker 2: to known.
Speaker 1: And yeah, it was the fact that he was left
Speaker 1: out of that Adelaide test before Steve Smith obviously had
Speaker 1: to pull out. That sort of all so gave him
Speaker 1: the nudge to say, well, maybe it is my time
Speaker 1: to call it.
Speaker 2: So yeah, it's the end.
Speaker 1: Was in QUADJA one final walkdown or maybe two final
Speaker 1: walks down those famous stairs from the members Paillion here
Speaker 1: and what an amazing record. He's got three centuries against
Speaker 1: England at this ground, including one back in twenty seventeen eighteen,
Speaker 1: So who's to say you can't do it again.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and the way he was able to conquer some
Speaker 3: spin issues in the subcontinent. You know, he's very such
Speaker 3: a contrarian and he's so confidence is what makes him
Speaker 3: such a good player. But he's so confident in his
Speaker 3: own ability. The way he speaks about it is if
Speaker 3: you know, everyone was riding me off against spin, but
Speaker 3: you know there was a legitimate issues there, Like he
Speaker 3: went to sril Anka in twenty eleven, first first st
Speaker 3: up and you know, you know it was early in
Speaker 3: his career. Probably struggled there understandably, But I think it
Speaker 3: really came to the four in twenty sixteen when that
Speaker 3: Rang and a Harath series and he got everyone else everyone.
Speaker 3: I mean, he made even I think even Steve Smith
Speaker 3: struggled in that series or didn't quite have the same
Speaker 3: output as what he'd normally have. And that's when you
Speaker 3: kind of sa already got dropped again in Bangladesh in
Speaker 3: twenty seventeen, And yeah, I think there were issues against spin.
Speaker 3: But to his credit and to Justin Langer's credit, I
Speaker 3: think it was one of the people he kind of
Speaker 3: thanked for kind of giving him the belief that he
Speaker 3: could succeed like he developed the reverse suite. He just
Speaker 3: become a much better He played a lot more off
Speaker 3: the back foot. That was really noticeable when he went
Speaker 3: to Pakistan in twenty twenty two and just had had
Speaker 3: a game that succeeded.
Speaker 4: So a guy who had failed several.
Speaker 3: Times then was given the opportunity and succeeded in the
Speaker 3: toughest conditions, probably in Test cricket. So that's a great
Speaker 3: lesson for any Test bat.
Speaker 1: Up definitely finishes with sixteen Test centuries, maybe more if
Speaker 1: he gets another one in his final including overseas in
Speaker 1: England and in India and in Pakistan and in Sri
Speaker 1: Lanka and in the UAA and in New Zealand. So
Speaker 1: pretty much all conditions around the world is conquered.
Speaker 3: So what are we missing? Bangladesh, Zimbabwe? He only played
Speaker 3: one Test in Bangladesh. I know that from having a
Speaker 3: last night.
Speaker 1: I think the West Indies he didn't quite get there, yes,
Speaker 1: but they were pretty tough.
Speaker 4: I think if anyone managed to.
Speaker 3: If anyone opening the batting, and that's huge, cumulatively made
Speaker 3: one hundred runs over at sixty innings, that was a
Speaker 3: win that should be counted a Test century. Given some
Speaker 3: of the wickets I were playing on.
Speaker 1: He opened today's press conference with a bit of a speech.
Speaker 1: Let's just play that now in case you missed it earlier.
Speaker 5: Just bear with me. I've just ridden something. Funnily enough,
Speaker 5: I did. I lived just up the road from the
Speaker 5: SCG on Cook Road, to be exact, and I'll never forget.
Speaker 5: When I was younger, I saw Michael Slader drive and
Speaker 5: his red Ferrari. I couldn't believe in my luck. I
Speaker 5: just saw a Test cricketer, and as a boy whose
Speaker 5: parents were barely scraping through and trying to provide for
Speaker 5: their kids in a little two bedroom apartment, I thought,
Speaker 5: one day I'm going to be a Test cricketer. One
Speaker 5: day I can drive whatever I want. Never do I
Speaker 5: think that God would grant me such a wish. I'm
Speaker 5: here now today that I'll retiring from all international cricket
Speaker 5: after the seg Test match. God do, Cricket has given
Speaker 5: me far more than I ever imagined.
Speaker 2: Sorry, this this whatever's writing, this is really frustrating.
Speaker 5: He's given me memories I'll carry forever, friendships that go
Speaker 5: well beyond the game, and lessons that shape me who
Speaker 5: I am off the field. But no career belongs to
Speaker 5: one person. Obviously had a lot of help. To my
Speaker 5: parents who are over there, thank you for your sacrifices
Speaker 5: that never made the highlight drill. That's you, Mum and Dad,
Speaker 5: Tarik and Fuzzier. The early mornings, the long drives, the
Speaker 5: beliefs and when the results weren't there. Mom, you knew
Speaker 5: plenty of those, and I used to come disappointed sad.
Speaker 5: You always consulted me, and I'll never forget that. Dad,
Speaker 5: you all said that I would play for Australia one day,
Speaker 5: even though sometimes I didn't believe in myself. You taught
Speaker 5: me values before ambition. You taught me to be humble,
Speaker 5: always respectful, and treat everyone as equals no matter what,
Speaker 5: and that grounded me through everything that followed. I hope
Speaker 5: I repaid your sacrifice and leaving everything behind in Pakistan
Speaker 5: to come to Australia to give us kids a better life.
Speaker 5: Eighty eight test matches, Dad, that isn't that enough? Okay.
Speaker 5: To my brothers Aslan and Norman, I want to thank
Speaker 5: you for the countless hours you spend, the nets at backyards,
Speaker 5: everything you did, even down the road here in Centennial
Speaker 5: Park where you give me that token five minutes bat
Speaker 5: at the end of the day. Without your time and effort,
Speaker 5: I wouldn't be here, nor would I have my pulll shot,
Speaker 5: because all you did was bump me. But you always
Speaker 5: instilled in me that my journey would be tougher than
Speaker 5: the other kids, and if I wanted to make it
Speaker 5: that I had to work harder than everyone else, score
Speaker 5: more runs than the rest, and make sure that I
Speaker 5: don't give them any not to pick me. I'll never
Speaker 5: forget those words, and you were one hundred percent right. Rachie,
Speaker 5: my beloved wife. This journey has asked more of you
Speaker 5: than has ever asked of me, particularly since you read
Speaker 5: everything that goes on in the press, the miss moments,
Speaker 5: the long stretches apart the pressures that come with this
Speaker 5: life and taking care of the kids on your own.
Speaker 5: You carried our family so I could chase my dream,
Speaker 5: and I'll always be grateful for that. And don't worry,
Speaker 5: I know how you always remind me that all my
Speaker 5: international centuries came after I met you. You truly are
Speaker 5: one of my greatest blessings in life. You change the
Speaker 5: path of my life, and you definitely change the path
Speaker 5: of my career, and I think I every day that
Speaker 5: I got to share this journey with you. I love
Speaker 5: you so much. To my kids, Aisha and Eiler, you
Speaker 5: gave me perspective and remind me of what really matters,
Speaker 5: win or lose everything I did out there. I hope
Speaker 5: one day that you'd be powered of what I achieved,
Speaker 5: but also what I was like as a human. I'll
Speaker 5: continue to buy you chippies and give you lots of
Speaker 5: lollies when Mum isn't looking. Don't worry, because you know
Speaker 5: I'm a sucker for hugs and kisses. To Rachel's family,
Speaker 5: including John and Michelle, Rachel's parents, thank you for all
Speaker 5: your support and time spent over the last ten years.
Speaker 5: I'm truly blessed out such a great extended family. The
Speaker 5: fact that Rachel's brother and dad both love playing golf
Speaker 5: is just a bonus and probably half the reason why
Speaker 5: I married you, Rachie. But I tell you what, next
Speaker 5: year is going to be a bad year to be
Speaker 5: a prideless privy one because I'm want to be playing
Speaker 5: lots of golf and there's nothing you guys can say
Speaker 5: about it. To Bill Anderson, my friend and mentor, thank
Speaker 5: you for being Thank you for believing in me before
Speaker 5: the numbers did, for your honesty, for your patience and
Speaker 5: your guidance, and your path when things weren't clear. You
Speaker 5: help shape my career but also my character. To my teammates, coaches,
Speaker 5: support staff, has been a privilege.
Speaker 4: Sharing reressing room with you.
Speaker 5: You make the hard days manageable and the good days unforgettable.
Speaker 5: Cricket is a team game, but more than that, it's
Speaker 5: a people game, and I've been incredibly lucky with the
Speaker 5: people I've gotten to be around along the way. I've
Speaker 5: learned that not everything in life is in our control.
Speaker 5: I train my best, but then it's all up to
Speaker 5: Allah and all as the best of planners. If he wasn't,
Speaker 5: I wouldn't be here right now. This game humbles you.
Speaker 5: It tests your patience, your resilience, and your character, and
Speaker 5: if you're lucky, it teaches you gratitude even on days
Speaker 5: that doesn't go your way. A'l humbrella always. I hope
Speaker 5: I've inspired many children along the way, particularly those who
Speaker 5: feel that they are different, those who feel that they
Speaker 5: don't belong, or those others tell that they will never
Speaker 5: make it. I felt all these things growing up and
Speaker 5: trying to be an Australian cricketer. But seeing is believing
Speaker 5: and I'm here to tell you that you can do
Speaker 5: whatever you want. You've just got to keep trying. Never
Speaker 5: let anyone convince you that you can't, because if they
Speaker 5: do convince you, then you never will. I'm a proud
Speaker 5: Muslim colored board for Pakistan who was told that he
Speaker 5: would never play for the Australian cricket team. Look at
Speaker 5: me now and you can do the same. As I
Speaker 5: walk off for the last time, I do so with
Speaker 5: gratitude and peace. Where as we say it's Salaam, grateful
Speaker 5: for the journey, the people, the lessons. Thank you for
Speaker 5: letting me live my dream and for sharing it with me.
Speaker 3: And so those words from Uzi Quadra. You can watch
Speaker 3: the full press conference on on cricket dot com dot
Speaker 3: if you're so inclined, because it is a really engaging
Speaker 3: It was an engaging fifty to fifty minutes or so.
Speaker 3: But before he kind of made that speech, his family
Speaker 3: or you know, we're all kind of waiting for him
Speaker 3: to come in and I think not everyone one hundred
Speaker 3: percent sure if he was going to retire or not,
Speaker 3: or if he's going to declare that he's going on.
Speaker 3: But I think when we saw mum dad, he's two orders,
Speaker 3: his pregnant wife, his brother. I think there was a
Speaker 3: close friend in there as well. When they all came
Speaker 3: in with it, he's probably not going to play on
Speaker 3: and it's just invited them for the ride. But that
Speaker 3: was really sweet. And then those two girls, they must
Speaker 3: be three or four and maybe five and six. I
Speaker 3: want to say they were the most well behaved young children.
Speaker 3: They sat there the whole fifty minutes without making a peep.
Speaker 3: I thought, you know, absolute for a grade behavior from
Speaker 3: two youngsters. And then we got to see them kind
Speaker 3: of all embrace after it, and the two little girls
Speaker 3: got to sit up on the stage with it.
Speaker 1: Was he in.
Speaker 4: It was a really nice moment to kind of see that.
Speaker 2: I thought, definitely.
Speaker 1: And then afterwards the whole family went out onto the
Speaker 1: surface here of their CG. Got some nice photos in
Speaker 1: front of those famous stands sitting down on turf, and
Speaker 1: it had Adam Lewis, the curator looking over. He was
Speaker 1: busy at work in the middle of the SCG and
Speaker 1: he also can get off my lawn and he was
Speaker 1: also asked some questions today, Lou. Obviously there's a lot
Speaker 1: of interest in what's going to happen out in the middle.
Speaker 1: We had a look today at the surface. It looks
Speaker 1: very green, but of course we are two days out.
Speaker 1: And yeah, he said six mills is going to be
Speaker 1: the ideal amount that he's going to leave on. He's
Speaker 1: not going to be influenced by the results around the country.
Speaker 1: This has been the plan for a couple of months,
Speaker 1: so he's going to stick to it. And yeah, well
Speaker 1: we're all waiting with baited breath if that's the right move.
Speaker 6: That's right.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and as you'll hear from Todd Murphy, I think
Speaker 3: we all kind of want him to, you know, can
Speaker 3: we get that six down to five or four, or
Speaker 3: you know, can we can we give it a completely
Speaker 3: new nut shade. But no, it's and it's admirable that
Speaker 3: he's taking that approach, like he you know, what happened
Speaker 3: in Melbourne, you know, shouldn't really have a bearing on
Speaker 3: what happens here. And yeah, it's a really tough one.
Speaker 3: It's a tough one to kind of follow up. I mean,
Speaker 3: they've had challenges a little bit here, like it hasn't
Speaker 3: I wouldn't say it's been a great Test week. At
Speaker 3: the last couple of years. It was the lowest rated
Speaker 3: of the pictures for of the five for last year's
Speaker 3: brought to Gavasco it got a satisfactory rating. All the
Speaker 3: other ones got very good. It was a three day
Speaker 3: test here. You'll remember that was the one where Steve Smith.
Speaker 3: I think we all thought he was gonna get to
Speaker 3: ten thousand runs. He was only about nine away. And
Speaker 3: I think Rashi Kristen had got him out for in
Speaker 3: the nervous nine and ninety nineties the right amount of there. So, yeah,
Speaker 3: it has been seen friendly here and yeah, I think
Speaker 3: ideally everyone you know, cricket Australia would like it to
Speaker 3: go the journey. But yeah, there's not much that Lewis
Speaker 3: can kind of do at short notice, so you can't
Speaker 3: just all of a sudden prepare a new wicket. And yeah,
Speaker 3: you don't want it to be a reaction. I think,
Speaker 3: like I kind of think, tell me if you agree
Speaker 3: with this, Josh, but I reckon, like, you know, Curros
Speaker 3: might already be doing this. But I feel like the
Speaker 3: magic number is like can you get it to fourth,
Speaker 3: like late to day four, like if that's kind of
Speaker 3: what you aim for, and then you're building in some
Speaker 3: some leeway the way like if it's a really if
Speaker 3: it ends up being more seen friendly and the teams
Speaker 3: play more aggressively, maybe it only goes three days. If
Speaker 3: you get some rain or whatever, you push it maybe
Speaker 3: into a too a fifth day. I think that's kind
Speaker 3: of the magic number.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think you're right, because if you're aiming always
Speaker 1: and of course everyone wants it to end in the
Speaker 1: final session of day five. But if you're aiming for
Speaker 1: that and you get it slightly wrong and it's going
Speaker 1: to be a drawer and then if there's rain again,
Speaker 1: so yeah, probably best to pull it back a little bit.
Speaker 1: But of course I've got no idea what I'm talking about.
Speaker 1: I don't know how to roll the wicket, let alone
Speaker 1: prepare or whole block of pitches. So yeah, it's an
Speaker 1: amazing work.
Speaker 2: What they really do they do?
Speaker 3: Yeah, and it's I think a lot of the English
Speaker 3: journos come over here and they think it's very funny
Speaker 3: that we speak to the curators before every test and
Speaker 3: ask them how many meals of grass? And I think
Speaker 3: it's a respect for the profession that you know, we
Speaker 3: we value so highly what they're able to do, and
Speaker 3: we value Test cricket so highly, and it's it's such
Speaker 3: a big deal for each of these venues, each of
Speaker 3: the each of the grounds to kind of have a
Speaker 3: Test match and they want to be you know, put
Speaker 3: the put them cells on show. So yeah, fingers cross
Speaker 3: Adam Lewis can do that this week.
Speaker 1: With everything else going on this week, Louis feels like
Speaker 1: we haven't given any thoughts to the selection of both sides,
Speaker 1: but we've had a good look at training over the
Speaker 1: last couple of days. The entire asy side was out
Speaker 1: there today going through their paces. All the quicks had
Speaker 1: a bowl, all the batters for in the nets. Where
Speaker 1: are we thinking they might go with selection for the
Speaker 1: final Test.
Speaker 4: Always an interesting one.
Speaker 3: We're keeping a bit of an eye on Kevin Green
Speaker 3: earlier on he has been hasn't had a great series
Speaker 3: by any measure with the bat you know, would would
Speaker 3: you know? And McDonald Andrew McDonald in the aftermath of
Speaker 3: the Melbourne Test suggests that maybe that he didn't suggest,
Speaker 3: but he didn't absolutely guarantee spot. They weren't the words
Speaker 3: of someone who's nailed nailed in I would have thought
Speaker 3: his position would have been discussed, especially when you got
Speaker 3: a guy like bow Webs who's been riding the drinks
Speaker 3: all summer, sorry, riding the bench all summer and taking
Speaker 3: out the drinks that maybe you look at him for
Speaker 3: the SCG Test. He did hit the winning runs at
Speaker 3: this ground last year, and a fresh bowler in the
Speaker 3: I know we haven't had heaps and heaps of cricket.
Speaker 3: We've had two two day tests, and you know the
Speaker 3: bowlers are all kind of tracking well from what we
Speaker 3: hear is. But you know, maybe just having a fresh
Speaker 3: bowler and a fresh player down the order could help.
Speaker 3: You Know, it's a funny one, like is a bow
Speaker 3: websterit at seven actually more suited to seven than Cameron Green?
Speaker 3: And is Cameron Green's actual long term spot? Maybe it's
Speaker 3: that number five spot that that we know Quadras has
Speaker 3: got at the moment and has only got for one
Speaker 3: more tests. So maybe you could frame a twim in
Speaker 3: that that way. I hope Todd Murphy gets a run,
Speaker 3: Like if they and it will be pitched dependent, right,
Speaker 3: like if they play four quick, it's like all right,
Speaker 3: you know, strap your seat belts in, We're going for
Speaker 3: three days maximum, and then it's it's probably a Nissa
Speaker 3: verse Jy Richardson consideration for that third quick spot. Anything
Speaker 3: on the Aussie side, I haven't mentioned there.
Speaker 2: I don't think so.
Speaker 1: I think there was a little concern maybe about how
Speaker 1: Richardson would pull up, but he only bold nine overs
Speaker 1: in the Melmon Test, which is hard to believe. But yeah,
Speaker 1: he bowled off his full round today, sent down a
Speaker 1: few off spinners. Yes, I saw that. Yeah, so that
Speaker 1: was a bit different. But he looks good to go,
Speaker 1: and I'm sure he can back up after a two
Speaker 1: day test. Brendan Doggat Again, he's around the group, so
Speaker 1: he'll be there and thereabouts. But yeah, I wonder if
Speaker 1: there's also the opportunity for let's say it is it
Speaker 1: looking like a Sam friendly pitch. Could they play Webster
Speaker 1: as the fourth quick and about him an eight or
Speaker 1: something like that.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and these are all the things they'll be talking about,
Speaker 3: because I think if it is a Webster at seven
Speaker 3: over green, then you know, you look at Michael NIE's spot.
Speaker 3: It would feel harsh on him, but maybe you can go, well,
Speaker 3: Webster can kind of give us seventy percent of what
Speaker 3: Nissa does with the ball, he's obviously the better batter,
Speaker 3: and then you go, well we can get a quicker
Speaker 3: bowler in there. Maybe that opens the door for dogg
Speaker 3: it because I think, you know, McDonald said after that
Speaker 3: Melbourne Test that Richardson he was really picked because it
Speaker 3: was a four man paid attack like in the three
Speaker 3: men attack with his his injury issues with his inability
Speaker 3: to throw as well over a longer Test match, could
Speaker 3: you know it could kind of be exploited a bit
Speaker 3: by England. Yeah, that's a that's a different conversation. So
Speaker 3: dog it's a hybrid of the two where he's yeah,
Speaker 3: he's got that pitched up, can swing it kind of
Speaker 3: option and then but then can also bowl, you know,
Speaker 3: one forty clicks and bowl the bumper stuff. So the
Speaker 3: more I'm talking about it, the more it makes sense
Speaker 3: that it's what dogged in for Venissa Murphy and for Richardson,
Speaker 3: Webster in for Green. I don't know that kind of
Speaker 3: all has a nice ring to it. It seems weird that
Speaker 3: they would I mean, they did lose this last Test,
Speaker 3: but it seemed weird that they make three changes to
Speaker 3: numbers between number seven and eleven and none to the
Speaker 3: top six right, because you know if you yeah, they
Speaker 3: got bowled out twice under two hundred, that's probably where
Speaker 3: the problems lie in that particular test. But it'd be
Speaker 3: hard to come down too hard given it's been a
Speaker 3: pretty successful series, albeit with some batting limitations.
Speaker 1: Yeah, we know that they've made lots of changes between
Speaker 1: every Test match this series, which has been a bit
Speaker 1: unusual considering they've been winning. And George Bailey is a
Speaker 1: big fan of this show, so he will take your advice.
Speaker 1: I'm sure England have lost another fast ball, of course,
Speaker 1: Gus Adkinson. He's out of the series. Archer so's Mark
Speaker 1: Wood probably opens the door for Matthew Potts and that
Speaker 1: might be the only change for England. Jacob Bethel what
Speaker 1: a revelation at number three. Maybe they'll be wishing they
Speaker 1: picked him in a little bit earlier in place of Olipope.
Speaker 1: But otherwise they don't have a lot of other options
Speaker 1: as we've touched on to go to so it might
Speaker 1: be pretty stable side for the tourists.
Speaker 4: Was that another choice?
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean Olipope is the backup batter now, so
Speaker 3: can't really make any changes there. Matthew Fisher is the
Speaker 3: only other one not in the original squad, but he
Speaker 3: was brought in after I.
Speaker 2: Think after the word.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's interesting that that three fast bowlers have gone down.
Speaker 3: Three they're they're probably they're three leading bowlers coming into
Speaker 3: the series. You'd argue Josh tungu Wan leap frog all
Speaker 3: of them subsequently. But yeah, the three guys that they
Speaker 3: were probably highest on, you know, Cast might have been
Speaker 3: that fourth, that fourth kind of guy. He's ended up
Speaker 3: as their most certainly their leading We could take a yes,
Speaker 3: questions about his economy and everything, but he was brilliant
Speaker 3: and that second innings in Melbourne, and if you kind
Speaker 3: of look at all I think, if you look at
Speaker 3: all the numbers with Cass except for the runs conceded
Speaker 3: and the runs per over column, he's had an excellent
Speaker 3: series as far as visiting quicks goes. So yeah, so
Speaker 3: he's done pretty well. But yeah, the three others gone down,
Speaker 3: but they've only replaced Yeah, only brought in one quick
Speaker 3: to replace three injured fast bowlers. So you know, it's
Speaker 3: got to be Cast again. It's got to be Tongue
Speaker 3: who had an next Player of the match in Melbourne,
Speaker 3: And then it's got to be one of Potts and
Speaker 3: Fihote and Pots Yeah, like I'll be interested to see
Speaker 3: how he goes out here. Rob Key, their director of cricket,
Speaker 3: has been on the record about not wanting to pick
Speaker 3: kind of dibbley doubler bowlers who succeed in county cricket.
Speaker 3: There's lots you know who average in the low twenties
Speaker 3: high teens in county cricket every year that they could
Speaker 3: pick and you know, no a good first class bowlers
Speaker 3: and they haven't for the purposely going we need one
Speaker 3: hundred and forty kilometer an hour guys, and pots is
Speaker 3: you know, Pots I think is more in the Nie
Speaker 3: of Bowland kind of speed range, and I think that's
Speaker 3: where it's important to have this distinction around the conversations
Speaker 3: and kind of point out and maybe a floor in
Speaker 3: England thinking like the conversation isn't one forty k or nothing, like,
Speaker 3: you can still do a lot of damage in the
Speaker 3: high one twenties, early one thirties, you just have to
Speaker 3: be really accurate. And Australia have you know two of
Speaker 3: their most success Yes, Stark is Starks a freak show,
Speaker 3: so like you're just not going to find out exactly
Speaker 3: so England can't find they don't have a Stark. They
Speaker 3: haven't had left arm fast bowler in years, let alone
Speaker 3: one who is as durable and as quick as as
Speaker 3: Mitchell Stark. So so you take him out and then
Speaker 3: the other successful bowlers have been your nieces and your bowlers.
Speaker 3: Matthew Potts seems like their best equivalent to those guys.
Speaker 3: So yeah, a bit of a mystery potentially by not
Speaker 3: playing him if they think he's their best that style
Speaker 3: of bowler long way round of saying, look, I think
Speaker 3: Matthew pots will probably play in Sydney.
Speaker 1: We know England have got their style and they've been
Speaker 1: keen to stick to it, so that's maybe why we
Speaker 1: haven't seen any deviation from that as.
Speaker 2: The series has evolved.
Speaker 1: But on just on the Brighton Cars stuff, across the
Speaker 1: whole series, the strike rate is at an all time
Speaker 1: low for an Ashes. Wicket's been taking every forty balls
Speaker 1: for the series, lou and the series with the next
Speaker 1: best in terms of bowlers is forty seven back in
Speaker 1: nineteen oh two. So this is mixed bess Ashes series
Speaker 1: and experts Ashes series. So this is an unprecedented series
Speaker 1: for the bowlers. Let's see if they can continue things
Speaker 1: here at the SAG. Day three will be of course
Speaker 1: the Pink Test Day or the Jane McGrady. You can
Speaker 1: buy your virtual seats at pinktest dot com. You definitely
Speaker 1: recommend you get on there and support a great cause.
Speaker 1: No longer just putting breast cancer nurses either, all cancer
Speaker 1: now so covering that off for getting to rural and
Speaker 1: remote areas another great cause.
Speaker 2: And this is the eighteenth year. Can you believe that?
Speaker 1: Eighteen years it's been running now and it's getting stronger
Speaker 1: every year.
Speaker 3: And you know, I can only repeat the words from
Speaker 3: the highest office in this country. Anthony Albanezi begged the
Speaker 3: two teams at Kurribilly House to get this get this
Speaker 3: game into day.
Speaker 4: Three, so brilliant.
Speaker 3: Cause love seeing this place lit up in pink on
Speaker 3: day three. So yep, we're getting there. Josh, have you
Speaker 3: got your pink shirt ready?
Speaker 1: Not yet, but I've got something in the works hopefully,
Speaker 1: so yeah, okay, what do.
Speaker 3: You mean in the works showing it?
Speaker 1: Okay, yeah, no, nothing pink yet, but hopefully we get
Speaker 1: to day three and we get to both wear something pink.
Speaker 4: Look forward to it.
Speaker 3: Mine will be getting onned maybe pretest.
Speaker 2: I like it.
Speaker 4: I like it.
Speaker 1: Another man who will be hoping this test goes into
Speaker 1: day three and beyond is Todd Murphy. We caught up
Speaker 1: with him a little earlier today and this is our
Speaker 1: chat with the Victorian spinner. All right, we are sitting
Speaker 1: in the members pavilion at the SCG, two days out
Speaker 1: from the fifth and final Ashes test of the summer,
Speaker 1: joined by Todd Murphy. Happy New Year mate, What did
Speaker 1: you do for New Year's Eve?
Speaker 5: Yeah?
Speaker 7: Thank you, happen to you to you guys. Well, we
Speaker 7: travel up from Melbourne News Eve and then they put
Speaker 7: on a nice little function up on the rooftop of
Speaker 7: the Intercontinental where we're staying. Made it to the nine
Speaker 7: o'clock fireworks, didn't quite get through to midnight, but that
Speaker 7: was a nice view across the harbor and lots of
Speaker 7: kids running around and how all the family are there.
Speaker 6: That was a nice night.
Speaker 1: And then we get to this special arena, the SCG.
Speaker 2: Have you played a lot here?
Speaker 1: What are your memories of this place and what do
Speaker 1: you think about when you think about Ashes cricket here
Speaker 1: at the SCG.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I've played a few shoel games here, not heaps.
Speaker 7: I think I played two or three and then obviously
Speaker 7: been a part of the Sydney Sixers for the last
Speaker 7: four or five years, so he played a lot of
Speaker 7: TEA twenty cricket out here. It's always been yeah, great
Speaker 7: fun and because theres always a nice atmosphere around the
Speaker 7: around the ground. Yeah, ashes cricket at the SCG. It's
Speaker 7: a good question. What do I think of there when the.
Speaker 6: Old boys all retired here?
Speaker 7: Yeah, there was a couple of them in the one
Speaker 7: game one there that was good memories. And then yeah
Speaker 7: there's been I suppose some yeah, some big scores made here,
Speaker 7: not ashes cricket, but pups three hundred.
Speaker 6: Yeah, some good memories there.
Speaker 1: And then another retirement as well this week. We've just
Speaker 1: heard this morning usmun Kuai is going to call it
Speaker 1: quits after this Test match. What's he been like as
Speaker 1: a teammate to play with.
Speaker 7: Yeah, he's obviously been a phenomenal career. He's sort of
Speaker 7: been in another side for the first part of his
Speaker 7: career and then come back in and had a great
Speaker 7: finish to his career. So yeah, since I've come in,
Speaker 7: he's been great. It's obviously a really calming influence and
Speaker 7: happy to yeah, give some feedback, but in a really
Speaker 7: constructive way. So yeah, he's been really good to bowl
Speaker 7: to learn off. And yeah, it's nicest to be around
Speaker 7: a guy who's quite calm and doesn't let the occasion
Speaker 7: get to him. So yeah, it been a great career
Speaker 7: and obviously an awesome way for him to go out
Speaker 7: of here.
Speaker 3: We know you grew up on the New Chaffals Victorian
Speaker 3: border and I'm going to ask you in a second
Speaker 3: whether you know whether you're a Victorian or in New
Speaker 3: South Welsh And I noticed you got asked that yesterday
Speaker 3: in the press conference, but can you before that, could
Speaker 3: you just kind of tell us about test cricket memories
Speaker 3: growing up, Like we you we go to the s
Speaker 3: CG for games.
Speaker 4: Did you go to the MCG? What was or did
Speaker 4: you just watch it on TV?
Speaker 6: Yeah?
Speaker 7: A lot more on TV, but if we ever went
Speaker 7: down the MCG, obviously a lot closer. It was only
Speaker 7: about three hours to Melbourne and about eight hours to Sydney,
Speaker 7: so I never come to a creer game at the
Speaker 7: SCG as a kid. But yeah, memories of cricket growing
Speaker 7: up back home was just summer of cricket, Like grew
Speaker 7: up in a house full of cricket. Dad was heavily
Speaker 7: involved in the local career club. Have an older brother
Speaker 7: who I sort of just followed his footsteps the whole
Speaker 7: way and was everywhere he was around cricket during the
Speaker 7: So yeah, mad cricket house and always loved it.
Speaker 3: Okay, New South Wales or Victoria, what's the push and
Speaker 3: Paul being like over the journey.
Speaker 7: No, I'm definitely a Victorian, but yeah, I do have
Speaker 7: a little tied to New South Wales and my family
Speaker 7: is still all back there now.
Speaker 6: But yeah, definitely a Victorian right And.
Speaker 3: For the like the pathway stuff when you're out in
Speaker 3: the bush, I've always been interested, like would you be
Speaker 3: able to go to you know, if you missed out
Speaker 3: on the Vicks because you go to the border and.
Speaker 7: Try it with the blue Yeah. I did all the
Speaker 7: way up until under fifteens. I did the New South
Speaker 7: Wales and Victorian Pathway. So played Riverina for the News
Speaker 7: of Whales stuff and we'd come to Newcastle for the
Speaker 7: Bradman Cup and all that sort of stuff. So played
Speaker 7: I reckon three of them and then played all my
Speaker 7: junior rep stuff for Northern Rivers and same thing it
Speaker 7: sort of got to the point where it was just
Speaker 7: it's going to be too hard from school level to
Speaker 7: try and get down to Sydney for state trials.
Speaker 6: So it was always a lot easier.
Speaker 7: To get to Melbourne and was a part of the
Speaker 7: the Victorian country under under seventeens under nineteen.
Speaker 6: So yeah, from I think.
Speaker 7: Fifteen, sort of Parke New So Wales be school is
Speaker 7: gonna be too hard and yeah, went down the Victorian
Speaker 7: path and.
Speaker 3: Surely the fact year old man played for St Kilda
Speaker 3: like that was you know, you couldn't go anywhere else.
Speaker 6: Right, and that was yeah.
Speaker 7: Like I think growing up I sort of always had
Speaker 7: aspirations of well, that's what I want to do is
Speaker 7: go place in Kilden. I thought that was sort of yeah,
Speaker 7: that was going to be the best thing I could
Speaker 7: possibly do. So I was, yeah, chips in on trying
Speaker 7: to get down to Melbourne. And yet you mentioned Dad
Speaker 7: was there, so it was nice sort of following his
Speaker 7: footsteps and go down there and yeah, try and play
Speaker 7: some first leven cricket and then push on from there.
Speaker 1: In terms of straddling that side of the Victoria New
Speaker 1: South Wales board, I know Aubreyl Dongo has a bit
Speaker 1: of a rivalry.
Speaker 4: Is there the same thing as Chuko Miami heavy rivalry?
Speaker 6: There?
Speaker 7: Definitely the forty teams don't play against the other, but
Speaker 7: the cricket definitely do. When Yeah, that's always the highlight
Speaker 7: of the year you can beat a Chuka. So yeah,
Speaker 7: always good memories there.
Speaker 3: Let's fast forward to this series Todd, where I mean
Speaker 3: you spoke about in twenty twenty three, you're part of
Speaker 3: the Ashes squad and you saw Nathan Lyon go down
Speaker 3: at Lords and you knew that you were probably the
Speaker 3: man in right, How did it transpire this time when
Speaker 3: nath went down?
Speaker 7: Yeah, I suppose sort of the same thing, like when
Speaker 7: he goes down here, you obviously gutted for him, but
Speaker 7: then your head goes to, well, what can that potentially
Speaker 7: look like for me? And yeah, I didn't really know
Speaker 7: exactly where I sat in terms of the pecking order
Speaker 7: for spin bowling and.
Speaker 6: What they were thinking for the last couple of games.
Speaker 6: But yeah, I.
Speaker 7: Suppose you're aware of I played the last Aussie A game,
Speaker 7: so I thought i'd be around the mark And yeah,
Speaker 7: it's nice when you get a call and I sort
Speaker 7: of say we want you to come and come down
Speaker 7: to Melbourne and be a part of the group again
Speaker 7: and get back around it.
Speaker 1: So yeah, pleasing you were straight back into that squad
Speaker 1: for the Boxing Day Test, which, as a Victorian and representative,
Speaker 1: is your home test match. Was that a bit gutting
Speaker 1: to miss out on selection there?
Speaker 6: Yeah?
Speaker 7: I think when you got when I got the call
Speaker 7: and my head sort of went to MCG Boxing Day Test,
Speaker 7: like how amazing that would be. But I think when
Speaker 7: I got to the MCG, walked out and had a look,
Speaker 7: I was pretty quick to realize that maybe not. So
Speaker 7: it wasn't like it come as a slap in the
Speaker 7: face or anything. When Dodd has told me that I
Speaker 7: wasn't playing, I was sort of yeah, I was able
Speaker 7: to read the room a little bit and yeah, awhere
Speaker 7: if what was going on out in the middle and
Speaker 7: what it might have looked like. So I would have
Speaker 7: obviously been an amazing game to be a part of.
Speaker 7: Growing up A Boxing Day Tests, I think the pinnacle
Speaker 7: for all Australian cricketers and especially being an ASHES, so
Speaker 7: that would have been incredible to be a part of.
Speaker 2: But yeah, no qualms and then what's your gut feel
Speaker 2: ahead of this one.
Speaker 1: We're two days out here, there's already a very much
Speaker 1: a grand tinge to it.
Speaker 6: Yeah, it's a good question.
Speaker 7: I actually like sitting here now, I don't really know,
Speaker 7: to be honest, the conversations have been sort of around
Speaker 7: that and they're not really exactly sure what we're going
Speaker 7: to get and how it's going to play. But yeah,
Speaker 7: my job is just prepare to play and make sure
Speaker 7: I give myself the best chance if I do get selected,
Speaker 7: to go out there and do well. So yeah, my
Speaker 7: head's in that frame at the moment, and then wait
Speaker 7: to see what decision they come to and yeah, if not,
Speaker 7: then support the boys the best I can. And if
Speaker 7: I do, then yeah, awesome.
Speaker 3: Can you talk to us a little bit about the
Speaker 3: journey from twenty twenty three where you know you've played
Speaker 3: in the series against India, had done really well, got
Speaker 3: vir out out a bunch of times, and then really
Speaker 3: held your own in that Ashes series too, the journey
Speaker 3: with your.
Speaker 4: Bowling from then to now.
Speaker 7: Yeah, I think I was I said it, Yes, I
Speaker 7: think I was aware that obviously had those opportunities and
Speaker 7: understand the fact that like back in these conditions and
Speaker 7: a lot of places around the world that you're only
Speaker 7: going to need one spinner to be a part of it,
Speaker 7: and Nith obviously wasn't going anywhere and all that, so
Speaker 7: I understood that I was back to Shieldgriget and I
Speaker 7: had to try and work away, which was I think
Speaker 7: the best thing for me as well, to go back
Speaker 7: and sort of be able to work away in the
Speaker 7: background a little.
Speaker 6: Bit, and yeah, try and keep evolving.
Speaker 7: I was only twenty three the last Ashes series, so
Speaker 7: I felt like I still had a lot to learn
Speaker 7: and develop. And yes, it's been a couple of years
Speaker 7: of just trying to learn my craft and help contribute
Speaker 7: to Victoria and try and win games for them as well.
Speaker 7: So yeah, it's sort of been just along that journey,
Speaker 7: and then there's been some nice opportunities along the way
Speaker 7: with some Ousia akrig It a little bit accounting cricket
Speaker 7: as well, Just to try and get experiences in different
Speaker 7: conditions and try and just keep evolving my game in
Speaker 7: different parts of the world.
Speaker 3: And kind of going, yeah, thinking of those different conditions.
Speaker 3: I heard you played in that or you speaking about
Speaker 3: that Ace series in India at the start of this
Speaker 3: summer talking about your sweating so much you couldn't grab
Speaker 3: the ball.
Speaker 7: Can you talk to us about that. I'd never experienced
Speaker 7: that before at all, but obviously that's the time of
Speaker 7: the year. It was in India, super humid, and even
Speaker 7: the Indian boys were struggling, so I knew it wasn't
Speaker 7: just me. But yeah, just with the amount of sweat
Speaker 7: that was coming off you, you couldn't get your hands dry out,
Speaker 7: your pants or wet. Your shirt was wet. The towel
Speaker 7: you have on was wet within a couple of minutes
Speaker 7: as well. So yeah, it was a learning experience, a
Speaker 7: challenge to try and find ways to keep your hands
Speaker 7: as dry as you're good. So yeah, gave yourself the
Speaker 7: best chance of got a good grip on the ball.
Speaker 7: But yeah, it wasn't easy. It's definitely the first time
Speaker 7: I've encountered that. And yeah, just trying to find subtle
Speaker 7: different ways to hold the seam, and yeah, still be
Speaker 7: able to try and put as much for it as
Speaker 7: you can on not without that feeling of you've got
Speaker 7: a great control over it.
Speaker 1: How is it bowling with Corey rocket Charlie in those matches,
Speaker 1: because you know, you sort of both know that you've
Speaker 1: it's a dress rehearsal, wasn't it for the next to
Speaker 1: Nathan Lyons? So how do you go about maintaining your
Speaker 1: composure and that relationship with your teammates spin bowler.
Speaker 6: I think a cricket's been super for that.
Speaker 7: Like it's sort of you go away with different guys
Speaker 7: and you can bounce things off each other, and I
Speaker 7: think when you look at it, like you separate that
Speaker 7: sort of stuff and you sort of try and work
Speaker 7: together and hope that one day you're back in India
Speaker 7: playing test with it together and try and build that
Speaker 7: relationship early and throw different.
Speaker 6: Ideas at each other.
Speaker 7: We've obviously got different strengths and different weaknesses, so just
Speaker 7: try and bounce that off each other, and yeah, have
Speaker 7: open conversations around what he's trying to do, what I'm
Speaker 7: trying to do, what we see the.
Speaker 6: Batter is trying to do.
Speaker 7: And yeah, I think we compliment other quite well in
Speaker 7: a different sense as well, so you can pose different
Speaker 7: challenges to batter. So yeah, it's definitely like in those
Speaker 7: A series you're not over there and worry about the
Speaker 7: doing well and all that sort of stuff. You're trying
Speaker 7: to work together and Yeah, work out what's best works
Speaker 7: for you and how you can help each other.
Speaker 1: And I suppose we spoke about yesterday your flexibility and
Speaker 1: how you want to get more versatile in different conditions
Speaker 1: to somebody who hasn't seen you play a lot, and
Speaker 1: it will be if you do play your first Test
Speaker 1: in Australia. What would you say are your strongest attributes
Speaker 1: has spinner?
Speaker 7: Yeah, I'd like to think I've got a good game
Speaker 7: sence and understand sort of the tempos of the game.
Speaker 7: And I think that's quite important as a spin bowler,
Speaker 7: trying to read sort of the situation of the game
Speaker 7: and what a batter is trying to do. And yeah,
Speaker 7: I think I've just got enough subtle variations there without
Speaker 7: changing too much that I can sort of pose different
Speaker 7: questions to batters. And yeah, it won't always look the
Speaker 7: same as what I suppose Nathan is with just his
Speaker 7: best ball the whole time. I might be slightly different
Speaker 7: and try a few different things, and yeah, just try
Speaker 7: and get a read on the game and try and yeah,
Speaker 7: just throw different things at the better.
Speaker 3: Can you tell us about the shoulder problems you've had
Speaker 3: told and what Yeah, when did they kind of first
Speaker 3: come up, How did they affect your bowling and how
Speaker 3: have you kind of been able to overcome them if
Speaker 3: you have.
Speaker 7: Yeah, it was sort of just at the back end
Speaker 7: of that Ashes series when I had a massive, sort
Speaker 7: of twelve months, and I think going into that Indian series,
Speaker 7: I've only played four or five first class games, so
Speaker 7: I sort of I probably wasn't physically ready to have
Speaker 7: a big amount of Test cricket. Obviously it was awesome
Speaker 7: to get the opportunity, but it just, yeah, it's sort
Speaker 7: of come to the point where it was just workload
Speaker 7: and I just bowled a lot across that twelve months and.
Speaker 6: It sort of just caught up with me a little bit.
Speaker 7: And yeah, I had some tendon damage and some instability
Speaker 7: in my shoulder which was just sort of affecting the
Speaker 7: power I could get out of it. And obviously being
Speaker 7: a spinner, you've relied pretty heavily on your shoulder. So yeah,
Speaker 7: it was a challenge, and especially like twenty two twenty three,
Speaker 7: I probably had never been through anything like that before,
Speaker 7: and you want it just to be a quick fix,
Speaker 7: and you want to feel good again, and you don't
Speaker 7: understand why it's happening, and why it feels like that. So, yeah,
Speaker 7: it's just about I suppose, yeah, letting it take its toll,
Speaker 7: and I understand it might take a little bit of time,
Speaker 7: but invest now and hopefully I can put it behind
Speaker 7: me moving forward and be able to cope with the
Speaker 7: difficulties of playing a lot of four day cricket in
Speaker 7: five day creat because that's what I've always wanted to do.
Speaker 7: So yeah, put in some really good strength work and
Speaker 7: a lot of different rehab stuff to try and get
Speaker 7: it to the position where it can cope with long
Speaker 7: format cricket. And it's still Yeah. Now I'm still working
Speaker 7: through it. Still do a lot of rehab for it
Speaker 7: and get a lot of treatment through it, just to
Speaker 7: try and give it.
Speaker 6: The best chance of getting through games.
Speaker 3: Is it the biggest challenge you've had, Todd, Because we
Speaker 3: looked at it. You mentioned you made your Test dabu
Speaker 3: off not a whole lot of first class cricket and
Speaker 3: have gone from strength to strength otherwise. Yeah, how has
Speaker 3: it been your biggest challenge?
Speaker 7: I think so, And I think it's just when you've
Speaker 7: had a taste of playing Test Creek, you desperately just
Speaker 7: want to get back there as well. And then back
Speaker 7: through shield cricket, trying to navigate through a little shoulder
Speaker 7: issue and wondering why it wasn't feeling good, why the
Speaker 7: ball didn't feel like it was coming out of my
Speaker 7: hand how I wanted to, and probably getting a little
Speaker 7: bit frustrated with myself in that sense. So it was, Yeah,
Speaker 7: it was difficult, but I think a really important learning
Speaker 7: as well. And I was lucky that Victorious spored me
Speaker 7: really well. Bucky Rogers, Dave Passi were awesome through that
Speaker 7: period and just said we want to give you a
Speaker 7: chance to step away and get it right. Don't try
Speaker 7: and chase through the pain, and go and get it right.
Speaker 7: And we know we can get you back and try
Speaker 7: and get your back bowling the best you can again.
Speaker 7: And it feels like over the last sort of twelve
Speaker 7: months it's been that way.
Speaker 1: So you played six Tests in twenty twenty three. One
Speaker 1: of mine during memories of that actual series was you
Speaker 1: with the bat hitting Mark Wood for a couple or
Speaker 1: three sixers maybe at Leeds. Can you talk us through
Speaker 1: that particular moment of play because he was bowling gas
Speaker 1: in that match.
Speaker 6: Yeah, that was the last Test at the Oval.
Speaker 7: Ye I don't think I would have employment Leeds that
Speaker 7: was absolutely rapid, but I always enjoy batting, so yeah,
Speaker 7: I think we're a little bit behind the game there
Speaker 7: as well. So it was nice to put on a
Speaker 7: good partnership with Paddy. I think it gave us a
Speaker 7: little bit of a first things lead as well. So
Speaker 7: I think it's Yeah, as a bowler, I know how
Speaker 7: frustrating is when tail enders can make runs always trying Yeah,
Speaker 7: put price in my wicket and yeah, try and contribute
Speaker 7: as much as I can.
Speaker 2: Calling yourself a tailor and there are you.
Speaker 7: Oh definitely, Yeah, no doubt about that. Come foot number
Speaker 7: ten or eleven. So no, that's my role.
Speaker 1: And is it true you were a medium pacer yourself
Speaker 1: before you started a bowling spin.
Speaker 7: Yeah, well back to that last question, like I was
Speaker 7: sort of a medium pacer that always thought I'd be
Speaker 7: a left handed batter for autralia've ever played, Yeah, never
Speaker 7: thought I'd be playing as a bowler. So it's funny
Speaker 7: how things do evolve. But I think like a lot
Speaker 7: of kids just sort of you grew up you want
Speaker 7: to be a fast bowler, and then you work out
Speaker 7: at a certain point that maybe that's not your best
Speaker 7: best go, So yeah, I reckon that was sort of
Speaker 7: fifteen or fifteen sixteen sort of, yeah, put that to
Speaker 7: the side, and he was never going to take me anywhere.
Speaker 3: I've heard Craig out you spin mental tell this story
Speaker 3: that he was watching you bowl at a at a
Speaker 3: Pathway trial. He was there with his son Bendigo, and
Speaker 3: saw your mucking around bowling offspin and goes, there's your
Speaker 3: best off spin to the coach.
Speaker 4: Do you kind of recall that that.
Speaker 6: Happening, Yeah, briefly, I do.
Speaker 7: I remember that that session, and I sort of always
Speaker 7: tinker with bold spin and the nets sort of from
Speaker 7: fourteen I reckon where I was like, I couldn't be
Speaker 7: bothered bolo medium pace all the time on those hot
Speaker 7: summer nights, So yeah, always tinker with it. And then
Speaker 7: I do remember that that was sort of yeah, first
Speaker 7: sort of brief introduction actually working away a little bit
Speaker 7: at it, and I didn't really know who how he
Speaker 7: was at that stage, but yeah, got the feedback that, yeah,
Speaker 7: Craig thought there was something there, and I was like, oh,
Speaker 7: that's quite interesting. Sort of went away and kept tinking
Speaker 7: with it a little bit, but still kept bowl medium pace.
Speaker 7: Sort of in games and that sort of stuff, and
Speaker 7: then I reckon It was the next year after that
Speaker 7: that I moved down to Bendigo to play cricket where
Speaker 7: Craig was captain the Sands Criet club and got a
Speaker 7: full year with him before I went down to Saint Kilda,
Speaker 7: just being able to Yeah, I was only training down
Speaker 7: in Bendigo sort of once a week, maybe twice a
Speaker 7: week every now and then with school and all that,
Speaker 7: but just getting that constant I suppose work with him
Speaker 7: and just sort of yeah, learning off him and what
Speaker 7: he was seeing and thinking, and yeah, that's sort of
Speaker 7: where my I've spin sort of started.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean, can you count your lucky stars a bit?
Speaker 3: Going, Like, you grow up in a reasonably remote part
Speaker 3: of the world, not just Australia, and you know in
Speaker 3: your backyard is this world class spin coach.
Speaker 7: Yeah, it is pretty cool and I guess that's yeah,
Speaker 7: one of the beauties of the country is like Craig
Speaker 7: saw someone there that I thought was worth working with,
Speaker 7: and yeah, he was so giving with his time as
Speaker 7: well at that stage and just had a real passion
Speaker 7: for spin bowling and wanted to see everyone that could
Speaker 7: do it. Give it a good crack. So yeah, one
Speaker 7: hundred percent like to have someone like that only an
Speaker 7: hour away from me was super lucky. And then it
Speaker 7: sort of was funny how it worked, like ever since
Speaker 7: I started working with Craig then he was sort of
Speaker 7: the spin consultant for the pathway stuff for Cricket Australia,
Speaker 7: so throughout those national carnivals was still going to chat
Speaker 7: to him, and then under nine M World Cup he
Speaker 7: was around. We had a lot of little different trips
Speaker 7: to the MRF camp in India where he was there
Speaker 7: as well as a spin consultant. So yeah, it was
Speaker 7: sort of just one of those ones that seemed to
Speaker 7: just align really well and build a really good relationship
Speaker 7: over the last ten or so years to Yeah, we
Speaker 7: was help so much.
Speaker 3: Can I specifically about this year that the work he
Speaker 3: did with him in August? Can you talk us through
Speaker 3: what was going wrong and what you did to fix it.
Speaker 7: There was probably just a couple of things that was
Speaker 7: creeping in when I was over in County Cricket wasn't
Speaker 7: loving how I was bowling, and it just sort of
Speaker 7: felt that I lacked a little bit of energy on
Speaker 7: the ball and I didn't know why, because I felt
Speaker 7: like my energy within myself was really good, and it
Speaker 7: just felt like sort of the end product wasn't exactly
Speaker 7: where I wanted it, and sort of was chatting to
Speaker 7: Craig the whole time I was over there, and he
Speaker 7: was just throwing a couple of things at me, and
Speaker 7: I was looking through it, and it's a.
Speaker 6: Bit different over there. I didn't have access to.
Speaker 7: Review my footage, so I was sort of trying to
Speaker 7: go back and watch YouTube live streams and that, but
Speaker 7: it was quite hard to sort of get the right
Speaker 7: angles of what we're trying to work through and understand that.
Speaker 7: So yeah, when I got home, it sort of just
Speaker 7: worked out that he'd finished up with Sri Lanka as well,
Speaker 7: so he was back in Bendigo, and yeah, we just
Speaker 7: chatted and worked out Sunday that was going to work,
Speaker 7: and I just got got in the car and drove
Speaker 7: to Bendigo, which was only two hours from home, so
Speaker 7: that wasn't too bad. Went down the Sunday morning and
Speaker 7: it was literally only an hour an hour and a
Speaker 7: half of work that we just tinker with a few
Speaker 7: different things, some alignment stuff and just trying to get
Speaker 7: all my energy directed the right way and just get
Speaker 7: my arm path coming back through where we wanted it to.
Speaker 7: And yeah, it was sort of an hour of hour
Speaker 7: and a half of work and just some vision stuff
Speaker 7: and then it was sort of back onto me to
Speaker 7: go back to Melbourne, back to big training and sort
Speaker 7: of be able to drill the stuff that we worked
Speaker 7: on there. And yeah, it felt like from that point onwards,
Speaker 7: I sort of was back to what I was doing.
Speaker 7: I felt like I was in good positions again, and
Speaker 7: I felt like I had the energy back on the
Speaker 7: ball that I sort of was looking for over the
Speaker 7: last sort of yeah, year and year and a bit.
Speaker 7: So I think back to what you said before around
Speaker 7: my shoulder, It felt like I was maybe just over
Speaker 7: compensating for the lack of power at a time where
Speaker 7: I was trying to create it in different ways, but
Speaker 7: that got me into bad position. So now that I
Speaker 7: trust that, I've done a lot of the work to
Speaker 7: get myself back to a position where I feel like
Speaker 7: I'm physically strong and can do all the stuff with
Speaker 7: my shoulders. Okay, what have you sort of gone away
Speaker 7: from here and how can you just get back into
Speaker 7: better positions and trust that, Yeah, you're sort of you're
Speaker 7: going to have the power in the right spots.
Speaker 3: That's really brilliant. And what was all this done? Like
Speaker 3: in a synthoet?
Speaker 7: Yeah, just at Santas Creer Club back where where we
Speaker 7: both played. And yes, one syntho net with a Craigate
Speaker 7: his iPad out and a bag of balls and just
Speaker 7: yea bawl into an empty net and yeah, just sort
Speaker 7: of back to real basics, but sort of just rediscovering, yeah,
Speaker 7: what it was. And that's probably the biggest thing that
Speaker 7: I sort of get from Craig is he's sort of
Speaker 7: known me from when I started to where I am now,
Speaker 7: so he can see those small little things that have
Speaker 7: changed that maybe I don't even feel, so yeah, that's
Speaker 7: been the best part of it.
Speaker 1: Who else, Obviously Craig has been a massive influence on
Speaker 1: your career. Are there other spin bowlers who or particular
Speaker 1: coaches who have had a big flint on youll career?
Speaker 6: Yeah?
Speaker 7: I've been really lucky sort of everywhere I've went, I
Speaker 7: felt like I've been around a really good spin bowl
Speaker 7: in the senior spin bowler as well. So when I
Speaker 7: first stepped into the Victorian set up, had Johnny Holln
Speaker 7: there to work with, who obviously played a bit of
Speaker 7: test create but a hell of a lot of first
Speaker 7: guys forgetten. He was really good for me as well,
Speaker 7: and probably more learned off him the tactical side of
Speaker 7: the game and how that looks and what he'd sort
Speaker 7: of do approaching games and approaching different batters. So yeah,
Speaker 7: it was really lucky to work with him. And then
Speaker 7: the last couple of years he's been doing some coaching
Speaker 7: at Victoria as well, so I've been able to keep
Speaker 7: that relationship which has been awesome. Yeah, my first taste
Speaker 7: the Sixers, I had Steve O'Keefe here as well, so
Speaker 7: from white ball point of view, was awesome to be
Speaker 7: around him and learn off him. And then ever since
Speaker 7: I've been around the Australian set up, I've had Dan
Speaker 7: v Toori there as well, who's one of the best
Speaker 7: spin bowls to play, so and obviously Nathan Lyon. So
Speaker 7: been super lucky in the environments that I've been into
Speaker 7: that I've had those sort of guys around, So yeah,
Speaker 7: it's always great to bounce ideas off those guys who
Speaker 7: have had the experiences and seen a lot around the world.
Speaker 6: And yeah, just learned off them.
Speaker 1: And I can't say I've ever seen Craig bowl in
Speaker 1: his days for Victoria, but according to his online profile
Speaker 1: he's a leg spinner. Did he ever try and convince
Speaker 1: you to bow leg spin in your early day? Now?
Speaker 7: So when I was playing with Craig, he was an
Speaker 7: ospiner right at the end of his career. So he
Speaker 7: started as a young leggie and from all reports, a
Speaker 7: beautiful leg break, and then I think he had similar
Speaker 7: sort of he had really bad shoulder of stuff where
Speaker 7: he went through some surgeries and now I don't think
Speaker 7: he ever rediscovered his best with legspin, so then he
Speaker 7: reverted to ospin. I think he was quite close of
Speaker 7: playing for Victoria as well as an ospiner. So yeah,
Speaker 7: he's obviously I think that's what makes me a really
Speaker 7: good coach as well. He's got sort of both aspects
Speaker 7: covered really well, and yeah, can sort of. Yeah, he's
Speaker 7: really really coachbought to different guys, So yeah, he was
Speaker 7: a really nice off here when I was playing with
Speaker 7: him as well. He made some country career that to
Speaker 7: looked quite silly.
Speaker 1: Apparently the emergence of a young leg spinner named Shane
Speaker 1: Warren didn't help his So yeah.
Speaker 6: To take a back seat.
Speaker 3: What about off spinners around the world Todd like, who
Speaker 3: do you or who have you looked at in the past,
Speaker 3: and who do you kind of other bits of their
Speaker 3: game that that you try and take.
Speaker 7: I think it's you don't have to look too much
Speaker 7: further than Eith And I think sort of the thing
Speaker 7: that you look at him and what makes him so
Speaker 7: good is just his adaptability around the world and it's
Speaker 7: not changing much. It's sort of he's just found a
Speaker 7: recipe that works for him and he can go to
Speaker 7: any conditions. It can be day one on a green
Speaker 7: wicket or day five on a spinning wicket in the
Speaker 7: subcontinent and he'll be ultracompetitive. So you don't have to
Speaker 7: look much further than him, But yeah, you're always looking
Speaker 7: at a different spinners, like love to watch an Ashman
Speaker 7: bowl and all his sort of saddle variations, and then
Speaker 7: even as close back as Simon Harmer in the last
Speaker 7: Test series over in India, Like just watching a guy
Speaker 7: like that who's he sort of hasn't played a hell
Speaker 7: of all international cricket but been dominating first class cricket
Speaker 7: for a long time, and to watch him go over
Speaker 7: there and do.
Speaker 6: That sort of stuff.
Speaker 7: It's it's always great to watch and just try and
Speaker 7: I suppose understand different trends of the and what Ospin's
Speaker 7: trying to do at different different stages in different parts
Speaker 7: of the world's really important as well in my learning.
Speaker 4: I think it.
Speaker 3: Felt like we went through like a thing with off spin,
Speaker 3: like maybe ten years ago, like everyone wanted to buy
Speaker 3: like ademail, right, and you had to get that flex
Speaker 3: in your elbow and push the push the limits, and
Speaker 3: you need to learn how to bubble boozer. But yeah,
Speaker 3: you're almost saying that lines Naith is just kind of
Speaker 3: simplified things for emerging offices.
Speaker 6: I think so.
Speaker 7: And I think you look at a lot of the
Speaker 7: best bowls in the world, like even the quicks that
Speaker 7: we've got now, like Paddy and Half and that, like
Speaker 7: they don't change overly a lot, and they're just so
Speaker 7: good at repeating the same thing and just asking the
Speaker 7: batters to make decisions off their best ball. So that's
Speaker 7: sort of been I think the biggest strength has just
Speaker 7: been he's always challenging the batsman's defense and it's always
Speaker 7: in the game. And when you're doing that over a
Speaker 7: long period of time, You're always going to get your rewards.
Speaker 1: If we just bake up again to the start of
Speaker 1: the year the Sri Lanka two. Are you headed over there?
Speaker 1: But then you finish the tool with only one test?
Speaker 1: How did you sort of how do you sort of
Speaker 1: reflect on that, knowing that you would have been hoping
Speaker 1: to obviously play both.
Speaker 6: Yeah, for sure, you're going over there and you want
Speaker 6: to be able to play a role.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 7: I think it was no different to anything I've sort
Speaker 7: of said before, Like it was obviously awesome to play
Speaker 7: the first Test and be back in the group again
Speaker 7: after a sort of a year and a half out,
Speaker 7: so it was great back around it. And then yeah,
Speaker 7: you get left out in the second Test, but that's
Speaker 7: part of it, and I don't think my mindset sort
Speaker 7: of shifted from that at all. It was just, yeah,
Speaker 7: I still want to keep developing my game, and I
Speaker 7: know I'm nowhere near sort of the finished bowl that
Speaker 7: I can get to, So it was just, yeah, I
Speaker 7: suppose once year get left out of sight, it's like, Okay,
Speaker 7: I've got still plenty of stuff to work on. So
Speaker 7: back to Shield cricket, back to finish in that season,
Speaker 7: in Shield cricket, and then off season you keep working
Speaker 7: away and you're trying, yeah, give yourself the best chance
Speaker 7: of the next opportunity you get. Hopefully you're in a
Speaker 7: better place of with your bowling than where you were
Speaker 7: when you played your last game. So that's sort of
Speaker 7: how I approached it. And yeah, there was no issues
Speaker 7: there at all. It was, Yeah, another good opportunity to
Speaker 7: go to a different country and learn and yeah go
Speaker 7: from there.
Speaker 1: And when you head over there to beat India or Schlanko,
Speaker 1: maybe a grand in Australia that spins a lot. Do
Speaker 1: you get excited by that opportunity or is there that
Speaker 1: extra expectation that people think, oh, well the spin is
Speaker 1: going to dominate here. How do you sort of balance
Speaker 1: that expectation.
Speaker 7: Yeah, it's a good question. I think that's definitely a
Speaker 7: challenge at different times. But yeah, obviously you're super excited.
Speaker 7: It's always nice when you see the ball spin and
Speaker 7: you know you're in the game. But then there's, yeah,
Speaker 7: there is that added responsibility where it's like, okay, all
Speaker 7: these are your conditions. Now it's your chance to go
Speaker 7: and win the game. And you don't get that overly
Speaker 7: A lot in Australia. So it's when you do get
Speaker 7: those opportunities around the world, you want to make the
Speaker 7: most of it because you know that the next one
Speaker 7: might not be too soon. So yeah, there's that added
Speaker 7: responsibility and pressure. But I think the excitement overweghs that
Speaker 7: and you go, oh this is awesome. I want to
Speaker 7: get in the contest and try and see what I
Speaker 7: can do.
Speaker 4: Todd.
Speaker 3: We're hoping Adam Lewis gets on his lawn mower over the.
Speaker 4: Next day or two. I don't know a word to him.
Speaker 3: Yeah you not get on the mower yourself, and yeah,
Speaker 3: shave a bit of grass on it so we can.
Speaker 4: So you play this week of the s A J
Speaker 4: talk all the best if.
Speaker 6: You, Thank you boys. Cheers m
Speaker 1: H.