Latest / The Follow-On / Can Steve Smith and Virat Kohli wind back the clock? Is Jason Gillespie the man to save Pakistan cricket?

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Can Steve Smith and Virat Kohli wind back the clock? Is Jason Gillespie the man to save Pakistan cricket? · The Follow-On

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Speaker 1: Hello and welcome to another episode of Fox Cricket podcast
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Speaker 1: The follow on. My name is Courtney Walsh and today
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Speaker 1: we will be joined by two of Australia's leading cricket
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Speaker 1: writers and analysts in Robert Cratick from The Courier Mail
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Speaker 1: and Daniel Cherney from Code Sports. You can read their
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Speaker 1: fine words across the Code Sports network over the summer.
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Speaker 1: The Summer of cricket is officially upon us, with Australia
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Speaker 1: A hosting India AA in Mackay. As we speak, Pakistan
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Speaker 1: will host will play Australia in white ball cricket over
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Speaker 1: the next fortnight, beginning with a one day clash at
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Speaker 1: the MCGM Melbourne Cup Eve Monday night, while the first
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Speaker 1: Test between India and Australia is now just three weeks away. Meanwhile,
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Speaker 1: the nation's leading female cricketers are honing their form in
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Speaker 1: domestic cricket ahead of a series against India next month,
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Speaker 1: with the women's ashes just two months away. As always,
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Speaker 1: you can watch every ball from the first to the
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Speaker 1: last live on Fox Cricket and KO Sports through the summer.
0:53
Speaker 2: Remember we are the home of cricket.
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Speaker 1: Thanks for joining me, Robin Dan lots to discuss really
1:01
Speaker 1: is an exciting time for cricket, just around the corner
1:04
Speaker 1: of the one days beginning on Monday night at the MCG.
1:07
Speaker 1: But firstly match underway already Australia a versus Indy Ra
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Speaker 1: in Mackay. It's been so much discussion already over the
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Speaker 1: last month about the opening battle the bat off. Not
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Speaker 1: that Andrew McDonald, the Australian coacher, likes us that phrase
1:24
Speaker 1: as so who will partner usmand Kwaja in Perth on
1:28
Speaker 1: November twenty two crash?
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Speaker 2: Is too much discussion about cricket too much?
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Speaker 1: Or are we happy with where we are at with
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Speaker 1: Australia A the four batsman in contention, Sam Constace, Nathan
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Speaker 1: McSweeney and obviously the former Test openers Cam Bancroft and
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Speaker 1: Marcus Harris.
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Speaker 2: What have you made of the discussion so far?
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Speaker 3: Button, You've got to say I've loved it because the
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Speaker 3: cricket season sort of sneaks up upon us like a
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Speaker 3: rising tide. I mean, rugby league goes to Last Vegas
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Speaker 3: and goes compal So we need talking points, we need
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Speaker 3: a bit of emotion and I'm loving the debate here personally.
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Speaker 3: A snapshot of it I so hope they go young
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Speaker 3: with either Sam Constance or even Nathan McSweeney. That would
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Speaker 3: be fine, but I just need to go back to
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Speaker 3: Harrishaw Bankdroft. That would mean every member of the team
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Speaker 3: would be older than thirty for per. I mean, I'm sorry,
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Speaker 3: we're an aging team, but we don't need to be
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Speaker 3: like that. So I just hope they go yp.
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Speaker 4: And Dan.
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Speaker 1: Look, I was at the MCG this morning the extension
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Speaker 1: of Andrew McDonald's coach through to the twenty twenty seven season,
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Speaker 1: and he's been very big and George Bailey's been very
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Speaker 1: big on picking the team for the now. But he
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Speaker 1: is mindful, of course, and there's going to be some
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Speaker 1: challenging discussions in the next three to four years with
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Speaker 1: some of those batsmen over thirty, and of course we've
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Speaker 1: got some of bowlers over thirty as well.
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Speaker 2: So I suppose a case of who do we look for?
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Speaker 1: Are you in Crash's corner, are you someone who thinks
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Speaker 1: that we should be looking to the future, or as
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Speaker 1: Andrew McDonald said, he's a Victorian of course, but outside
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Speaker 1: the MCG, he said, it's not that long ago that
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Speaker 1: Marcus Harris knocked up a really important seventy against England
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Speaker 1: at the MCG.
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Speaker 2: There's some different conditions.
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Speaker 1: We know how lively the gabber could be under lights
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Speaker 1: with the pink ball test. We know that the Opta
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Speaker 1: Stadium whacker used to be the bounce's pitch in Australia
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Speaker 1: up the stadium still got some teeth, as we saw
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Speaker 1: last summer against Pakistan. Is it too much to throw
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Speaker 1: a young man to the wolves or do we think
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Speaker 1: that we're looking for the future with a couple of
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Speaker 1: younger guys.
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Speaker 5: I'm not necessarily a believer that it's too soon to
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Speaker 5: be throwing someone like a Sam Constace or a Nathan
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Speaker 5: McSweeney into tenth cricket, but I'm probably not quite as
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Speaker 5: strong as Crash on the need to blood youth for
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Speaker 5: the sake of blooding youth. Ultimately, every test is important,
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Speaker 5: particularly in a World Test Championship era, and it's India
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Speaker 5: in any case, so I think they've just got to
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Speaker 5: pick the best team that they have now that may
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Speaker 5: well be with Sam Constance or Nathan McSweeney ahead of
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Speaker 5: Marcus Harris.
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Speaker 6: I think Avin Bancroft would.
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Speaker 5: Be the rank outsider of those four, but by the
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Speaker 5: same token, you look at guys like Usmond Kowaja and
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Speaker 5: Scott Boland who have come into.
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Speaker 6: The team or back into the team.
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Speaker 5: In Kawaja's case, I think it was thirty five when
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Speaker 5: he was recalled. Bowlin made his Test debut not long
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Speaker 5: before his thirty third birthday and it was a revelation.
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Speaker 5: I think there are other avenues where they are able
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Speaker 5: to blood players through white ball cricket, and we'll see
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Speaker 5: that in these Pakistan matches coming up. We've seen that
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Speaker 5: in series over the past twelve months, both in Odie
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Speaker 5: Eyes and in T twenty. So I think there are
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Speaker 5: other ways to ensure that there is a natural regeneration
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Speaker 5: of the Australian side without throwing guys to the worl Wolves,
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Speaker 5: without having too much turnover any given time. So yeah,
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Speaker 5: I think, you know, if maybe, if absolutely all other
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Speaker 5: things are equal, you.
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Speaker 6: Know, I would go, maybe are on the side of youth,
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Speaker 6: just because.
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Speaker 5: You know, it would be nice to get some younger
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Speaker 5: guys in there and that all other things being equal,
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Speaker 5: But I wouldn't be prioritizing it per se.
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Speaker 1: And before we get to the I suppose the longer
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Speaker 1: discussion about Australia versus India, the Border Gatherscar Trophy, the
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Speaker 1: main meal for the Australian summer.
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Speaker 2: You know, there's a lot to look forward.
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Speaker 1: To over the next couple of weeks, both from the
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Speaker 1: white ball front with Australia versus Pakistan, but also in
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Speaker 1: the women's domestic cricket with the WBBL underway as we speak,
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Speaker 1: just on the white ball white ball games to come
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Speaker 1: beginning at the mcg next Monday. Andrew McDonald again this morning,
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Speaker 1: it was pretty firm in the view that this is
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Speaker 1: definitely a part where we can blood younger talent. But
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Speaker 1: we see Marcus Steynis, for example, coming back into the
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Speaker 1: fold for those one days over the next week and
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Speaker 1: a half.
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Speaker 2: Dan, what are you looking forward to? Is it?
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Speaker 1: Jake Fraser McGirk, is it? Is it seen if someone
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Speaker 1: like a Stearns can re establish themselves with a view
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Speaker 1: towards the Champions Trophy next February.
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Speaker 5: It is funny, I mean the Champions Trophy, that the
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Speaker 5: nature of that tournament is such that you know, it's
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Speaker 5: sort of it's getting excited for sort of a somewhat
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Speaker 5: second to your event. Anyway, the building, I don't think
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Speaker 5: there's too many in Australia that live and die by
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Speaker 5: what happens in the Champions Trophy, but it isn't in
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Speaker 5: ic quasi major events so to speak, hasn't been held
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Speaker 5: about eight years. But so I think over the last
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Speaker 5: twelve months they've probably been willing to give more guys
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Speaker 5: go in one day cricket and now they are shaftening
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Speaker 5: their attention.
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Speaker 6: A bit more to this particular series.
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Speaker 5: In terms of what I'm looking forward to in these
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Speaker 5: Pakistan match is I think because you don't have Travis
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Speaker 5: Head and Mitch marsh for these matches, both with parental
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Speaker 5: responsibilities coming up.
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Speaker 6: And I'm not sure where that since we both.
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Speaker 5: Obviously all the tests to both of those guys expecting kids.
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Speaker 5: But I think that chance for Jake Fraser McGurk to
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Speaker 5: establish himself at the top of the order to fight
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Speaker 5: for a spot in that touring party for the Champions Trophy.
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Speaker 5: Matt Short has probably edged ahead of him in the race,
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Speaker 5: and I suppose he's probably not quite as flashy a
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Speaker 5: player as Fraser McGurk, but his performances have been very
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Speaker 5: very good over several years now in domestic cricket and
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Speaker 5: particularly in the Big Bash League for the Adelaide strikers.
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Speaker 5: The Marcus Dunis return is an interesting one. I mean,
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Speaker 5: he hasn't played let alone at one day internationally. He
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Speaker 5: hasn't played a list D a game, a fifty of
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Speaker 5: a match at any level since being being dropped for
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Speaker 5: the World Cup semi final last year. But I suppose
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Speaker 5: with marsh Absenter and with Cameron Green of course out
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Speaker 5: for an extended period through injury, I suppose there is
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Speaker 5: that vacancy there for an all rounder and Mark Stillness,
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Speaker 5: this coaching panel and selection panel does have a lot
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Speaker 5: of faith in him, even though his one day performance
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Speaker 5: has probably left a lot to be desired over the
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Speaker 5: past four or five years. And I should say in
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Speaker 5: contrast to his twenty twenty four which has been very
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Speaker 5: very good for Australia and he was probably pick even
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Speaker 5: of the Australian players at the recent T twenty World
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Speaker 5: Cup in the Caribbean.
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Speaker 1: Rob, I'm very much in your bracket in terms of
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Speaker 1: looking to the next generation in Parcas. I love hearing
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Speaker 1: about newcomers coming through. I love reading the stories learning
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Speaker 1: more about players. It's san constaus over the last month,
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Speaker 1: but it was Jake Fraser McGirk throughout last summer, and
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Speaker 1: obviously with the lead in to what we could see
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Speaker 1: from him should he be playing, where does the best fit?
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Speaker 1: Is he a red ball player? What can we expect
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Speaker 1: from him after that sort of summer of hyper or
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Speaker 1: the season of hype last summer? What are you looking
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Speaker 1: forward to in terms of his I suppose development is
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Speaker 1: a play.
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Speaker 4: Look, he's so interesting, isn't he?
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Speaker 3: And I sort of like the fact he's not perfect
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Speaker 3: that I think there's one little stat where of his
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Speaker 3: last ten innings, I think he's made one score above eighteen,
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Speaker 3: and that says to me he's having his pavelover before
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Speaker 3: he has meat and potatoes. Now that's the way he plays.
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Speaker 3: He's a smasher. He goes from ball one Jake Fraser
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Speaker 3: McGirk and I love that about him. But can you
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Speaker 3: survive in freak it just being a blaster like you'd say, Oh, David.
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Speaker 4: Warner did it? Actually he didn't? You know?
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Speaker 3: There was a lovely second year, a hidden second gear
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Speaker 3: in Warner's batting, And that's what I reckon. Phraser McGirk
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Speaker 3: needs just soak it up a little bit, even in
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Speaker 3: a T twenty game. So I'm still not sure what
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Speaker 3: to make of him.
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Speaker 4: I'm really not.
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Speaker 3: I love the fact they're giving him free reign and
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Speaker 3: he's got this beautiful bad arc. He's lovely when he's
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Speaker 3: going and a sweet timing and beautiful balance. But as
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Speaker 3: I said, at some stage in life, cricket history tells
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Speaker 3: us you've got to have your meat and potatoes, even
10:07
Speaker 3: if you're a pabolo the specialist, which is what he is.
10:10
Speaker 3: And I've got an eye on Cooper Coronnolly to the
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Speaker 3: young Western Australia all rounder. The one type of cricketer
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Speaker 3: Australia has never produced in its lengthy Test history is
10:21
Speaker 3: a left arm spinner who's been a major successive Test
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Speaker 3: level for a long period. Now he's an all rounder,
10:27
Speaker 3: he's a hitter and he's a left arm spinner. But
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Speaker 3: right here, right now, he's my smoky for India at
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Speaker 3: the end of next season. He started the season very nicely.
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Speaker 3: Former Australia Under nine end captain seems to like the pressure.
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Speaker 3: So there's two to watch in the short game against Pakistan.
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Speaker 1: Yeah, let's to look forward to there now. Etiquette in
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Speaker 1: sports an important thing, and we know even in the
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Speaker 1: press box it's important to not cheer when we're watching matches,
10:56
Speaker 1: you want.
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Speaker 2: To clean up afterwards.
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Speaker 1: We saw Jason Lespie footage, a little clip of Jason
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Speaker 1: Gillespie picking up all the water bottles after training when
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Speaker 1: Pakistan was training recently ahead of that series or during
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Speaker 1: that series against England. What do you make of Jason
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Speaker 1: in terms of his coaching coach indeeds so far in Pakistan,
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Speaker 1: the example that he's set in and the challenge ahead
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Speaker 1: of him. It's been a pretty dynamic or fascinating sort
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Speaker 1: of month leading into their One day series here in
11:27
Speaker 1: the T twenty series here that series against England was
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Speaker 1: phenomenal to watch, but amazing to watch Pakistan cricket and
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Speaker 1: things can change by the hour, let alone by the over.
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Speaker 4: What a challenge it is.
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Speaker 3: I mean, like he had one thing I love about
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Speaker 3: Gillie Gillespie, He's got no big ego. When he started
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Speaker 3: his career, he went to Zimbabwe and coached a little team.
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Speaker 3: It was based in Little Town, which was named after
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Speaker 3: a tree frog and the sound it made.
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Speaker 4: So East coach from right the ground upwards.
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Speaker 3: But Pakistan is in a shambalic state, even by their
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Speaker 3: own shambalic standards.
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Speaker 4: Twenty six selectors.
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Speaker 3: In two years, Gillespie removed as a selector from the
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Speaker 3: Test team, but still asked to coach Gary Kirsten, resigning
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Speaker 3: as T twenty as whiteball coach even before he coached
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Speaker 3: him after an alleged disagreement with Barba Azam. And this
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Speaker 3: is landed in Dizzy's lap now, Jason Gillespie has a
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Speaker 3: natural niceness about him which helps builds teams. He's fundamentally
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Speaker 3: a good guy and he can try his best to
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Speaker 3: build team harmony. But man, oh man, this is a
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Speaker 3: Mount Everest climb. I mean, I think over the last
12:45
Speaker 3: twenty years, Pakistan have played sixteen fifty over games in
12:51
Speaker 3: Australia one two, So even when they've been reasonably well organized,
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Speaker 3: they've still struggled.
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Speaker 4: Here.
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Speaker 3: I just sence an implosion somewhere on this tour from Pakistan.
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Speaker 3: Did There's so many forces taking this way and that,
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Speaker 3: And Jason Gillespie is a.
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Speaker 4: Patient, considered kind man and it was.
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Speaker 3: Just about my favorite figure to cover and to interview
13:14
Speaker 3: because of his basic decency.
13:17
Speaker 4: This is his greatest test.
13:21
Speaker 2: Dan.
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Speaker 1: I can see Paul Rifle as a selector, and we
13:24
Speaker 1: saw him making some very very accurate decisions in the
13:29
Speaker 1: tests last week when he was at the other end
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Speaker 1: of the starts. But can you imagine an umpire or
13:34
Speaker 1: a former empire being called on to select a team
13:38
Speaker 1: when you've got someone like a Gillespie sidelined as coach.
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Speaker 5: Yes, m d the form of test umpires only recently
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Speaker 5: retired from that.
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Speaker 6: That field now selecting one of the many electors in
13:52
Speaker 6: Pakistan and has been quite the moving feast.
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Speaker 5: In fact, I think so extreme as it been that
13:57
Speaker 5: they're actually mixed re pauses, whether it's twenties sicks or
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Speaker 5: twenty seven they lost. Counter to certain point is that
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Speaker 5: how many selectors they've had there? So no, look, the
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Speaker 5: goalposts changed very quickly on Jason Gillespie there and Tim
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Speaker 5: Nielsen also the former Australian coach and South Australian wiki
14:12
Speaker 5: keepers there is his offsider and they're both going to
14:15
Speaker 5: be running the show here for these white ball matches.
14:19
Speaker 5: So I suppose look from a selfish and then Australian
14:23
Speaker 5: centric position, it's a nice side story and probably adds
14:28
Speaker 5: a bit of relevance an interesting narrative to these matches,
14:32
Speaker 5: which you know otherwise would be quite reasonably and understandably
14:36
Speaker 5: classes you know, just more somewhat meaningless white ball cricket.
14:40
Speaker 5: But yeah, to have Jason Gillespie coaching Pakistan, which as
14:44
Speaker 5: of three or four days ago he's going to be
14:46
Speaker 5: doing in these matches you're clearly creates another very familiar
14:50
Speaker 5: faith and yeah, it'll be interesting to see how they
14:54
Speaker 5: go out there. I mean, the champions trophy of course
14:57
Speaker 5: is on Pakistani soil, or at least most of it
15:00
Speaker 5: will be, or it's supposed to be. That's a little
15:02
Speaker 5: bit of a watching brief as well. So it would
15:06
Speaker 5: be great to see a competitive Pakistan at a global
15:09
Speaker 5: tournament back in Pakistan for the first time in what
15:11
Speaker 5: would be almost thirty years since the ninety six World Cup,
15:15
Speaker 5: which I think is the last time that a major
15:17
Speaker 5: D event was held there.
15:22
Speaker 1: Now, quickly, just touch on the WBBL Australia coming back
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Speaker 1: from surprise I suppose in the World Cup the first
15:30
Speaker 1: time they were going for a four peet beaten. We've
15:33
Speaker 1: got a couple of big, big nations to come, England
15:36
Speaker 1: and India to come next month and then in January
15:39
Speaker 1: obviously with the women's ashes, anything caught. You're right, there's
15:42
Speaker 1: been some thrills and spills, so far in the WBBL
15:45
Speaker 1: which is underway and mean streamed as live on Foxtricket
15:49
Speaker 1: and also on KO Sports through the next month.
15:52
Speaker 5: Anything you've seen, Dan, yeah, I think the youngstersticular have
16:00
Speaker 5: been a real standout just to start the competition. Kieva
16:04
Speaker 5: Bray hard to not to get swept away in that
16:07
Speaker 5: story hitting the winning runs for the Sydney Sixers after
16:10
Speaker 5: also impressing with the ball at just fifteen and the
16:13
Speaker 5: parallels with the least Perry a click given she's also
16:15
Speaker 5: a very good soccer player all bet a goalkeeper, which
16:18
Speaker 5: is not obviously Perry's position that she played, but exceptional
16:22
Speaker 5: story there. Innes McKeon youngster from Melbourne Stars showed a
16:27
Speaker 5: bit so too. I think it's Chloe Ainsworth, the young
16:30
Speaker 5: quick with the per scorches. So it's funny With Australia,
16:33
Speaker 5: I mean, it was such a shock defeat in that
16:36
Speaker 5: World Cup semi final and maybe there've been some warning
16:38
Speaker 5: signs and some of the tactical moves were questionable. I'm
16:41
Speaker 5: not sure about the batting order and those sorts of things.
16:43
Speaker 5: But any suggestion that Australia is just going to fade
16:47
Speaker 5: away on the women's game, I think, you know, that
16:50
Speaker 5: would be fool hardy to suggest when you see that
16:52
Speaker 5: it's such a.
16:53
Speaker 6: Great talent pipeline.
16:54
Speaker 5: And clearly India and England have invested more in their
16:57
Speaker 5: youngsters coming through and we see that with some of
16:59
Speaker 5: the talent from those two nations that play in the WBL.
17:03
Speaker 5: And one of the noteworthy things about this WBL season
17:06
Speaker 5: is that there's overlapping series with international cricket at either
17:11
Speaker 5: end of the calendar, so we're seeing Indian players and
17:13
Speaker 5: New Zealand players rocking up to this tournament late and
17:15
Speaker 5: then the South Africans and.
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Speaker 6: English women will have to leave early.
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Speaker 5: So you know, these are the challenges and women's crickets
17:22
Speaker 5: that are developing, much like you get in the men's
17:24
Speaker 5: where guys leave early because of international commitments or franchise
17:27
Speaker 5: league commitments elsewhere. The women's calendar is getting increasingly packed,
17:32
Speaker 5: which is great in terms of the opportunities it presents
17:35
Speaker 5: for female cricketers and the leading female cricketers and the
17:38
Speaker 5: money they can make, but it sort of does force
17:41
Speaker 5: the WBL a decade into its existence to sort of
17:44
Speaker 5: try to continually keep up and manage these challenges because
17:47
Speaker 5: that sort.
17:48
Speaker 6: Of global number one spot that.
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Speaker 5: It had a decade ago and it was clearly the
17:51
Speaker 5: standard bearer. And then the trend setup that's not going to
17:54
Speaker 5: be nearly as easy to maintain.
17:59
Speaker 2: And rob.
17:59
Speaker 1: For all the highlights we've got to come through the
18:02
Speaker 1: summer of cricket, the Australia England Tests at the MCG,
18:06
Speaker 1: the Day Night Test at the end of January. It
18:09
Speaker 1: really is I think a chance to showcase women's cricket
18:13
Speaker 1: and just how exciting it can be and what an
18:17
Speaker 1: amazing opportunity is for some of the young female athletes
18:20
Speaker 1: who are who are growing and have choices in terms
18:22
Speaker 1: of sports. It's really one to look forward to at
18:25
Speaker 1: the tail end of this summer.
18:27
Speaker 4: Well yeah, particularly with the men's team will be away
18:29
Speaker 4: into Sri Lanka and they don't play many tests the women,
18:33
Speaker 4: so it's a huge opportunity. But like Jen I was
18:36
Speaker 4: completely swept away by Kieva Bray.
18:39
Speaker 3: I mean her winning shot for the sixers was his
18:42
Speaker 3: glorious cut driver, the extra cover and the power of it.
18:46
Speaker 3: For a fifteen year old in grade nine, think of
18:50
Speaker 3: that at school, Like a young star inspires so many children,
18:55
Speaker 3: you know, like around Australia because they feel they could
18:58
Speaker 3: reach out and is that all saying? That is the
19:00
Speaker 3: women's creed. You know, you can't be what you can't see.
19:03
Speaker 3: Guess what, there's a fifteen year old starring in the
19:07
Speaker 3: WBBL and I recently I saw a twenty year old
19:12
Speaker 3: clip of the Australian women's team and I tell you something.
19:16
Speaker 3: The thing that I noticed straight away was the difference
19:18
Speaker 3: in power. I mean, Kieva's power to me was equal
19:23
Speaker 3: to anyone in that women's team twenty years ago. I mean,
19:27
Speaker 3: the power in the women's game is just incredible.
19:30
Speaker 4: Now it's everything.
19:31
Speaker 3: It's a little bit of jim work, it's better bats,
19:34
Speaker 3: but it's such a good spectacle. And as you say,
19:37
Speaker 3: that Test against England will be really something one that
19:40
Speaker 3: the gap is just seems to be starting to close
19:43
Speaker 3: a bit between Australia and the rest of the world.
19:50
Speaker 1: And now just three weeks away, jings the first balls
19:55
Speaker 1: to be bold for the I suppose see border Gavisca
19:57
Speaker 1: Trophy at Opta Stadium in per I'm hoping we get
20:00
Speaker 1: a really big crowd and we know we've tinkend with
20:02
Speaker 1: the dates over in Perth brought it forward a couple
20:05
Speaker 1: of weeks hopefully this is settled, but a couple of
20:08
Speaker 1: really intriguing battles, I think spotlight on a couple of
20:12
Speaker 1: legionds the of the game. I think you wrote recently,
20:16
Speaker 1: Crash about Veric coleyan and where he's sitting, and also
20:19
Speaker 1: Steve Smith and where he's sitting, and just having to
20:22
Speaker 1: look at their stats their breakdown recently, I've lasted three years.
20:26
Speaker 1: Veruck Coley's made eleven hundred and eighty one runs in
20:31
Speaker 1: thirty eight thirty eight, sorry at thirty eight in thirty
20:35
Speaker 1: three innings, two centuries, and Steve Smith almost identical, really
20:39
Speaker 1: thirty four innings over the last couple of seasons, averaging
20:44
Speaker 1: thirty nine, eleven hundred and forty two runs and three centuries.
20:48
Speaker 1: They have been legends of the game. They will be
20:50
Speaker 1: clearly legends of the sport, recognized for their deeds. But
20:54
Speaker 1: in the dotage of their careers, what sort of summer
20:58
Speaker 1: can we expect from those two? How much how much
21:00
Speaker 1: relies on those two turning back the clock a little
21:03
Speaker 1: it and finding their best What do you see in
21:05
Speaker 1: that sort of domain, Crash.
21:09
Speaker 3: Not tear, something I watched for that Coley got out
21:13
Speaker 3: the first innings the other day of the last Test,
21:16
Speaker 3: he missed a full toss from Mitchell Sandner. I mean
21:21
Speaker 3: you could just see as he walked off he was
21:23
Speaker 3: thinking in his head what I've just said. I've just
21:26
Speaker 3: missed a full toss for Mitchell Sander? How am I going?
21:31
Speaker 4: It was just And he's not.
21:34
Speaker 3: The coalie we remember, I reckon, He's just he's played
21:37
Speaker 3: so much frigger all forms of the game. Yes he's
21:40
Speaker 3: still got that fundamentally gorgeous technique, but up here he's exhausted.
21:44
Speaker 3: Much like Smith, they've just been ground down. They're so
21:47
Speaker 3: similar in a way. But I will say this, I
21:51
Speaker 3: just feel as a part of Coally deep in his
21:54
Speaker 3: heart here that gets right up when he comes to Australia.
21:58
Speaker 3: It just even last time when he had to leave
22:00
Speaker 3: the tour, he was looking gorgeous in Adelaide before he
22:03
Speaker 3: got run out, and you know that was he could
22:06
Speaker 3: have done anything that eating. I just think Australia spurs
22:10
Speaker 3: him and steals him and whatever he's got, he'll slap
22:13
Speaker 3: it on the table here. But bowlers no longer fear
22:16
Speaker 3: him and that is beyond question. Like he used to be,
22:19
Speaker 3: you know, you know the absolute talisman. He's no longer that.
22:22
Speaker 3: And Smith he averaged thirty in tests this year, forty
22:26
Speaker 3: two last year and is the same. His retreat down
22:31
Speaker 3: the order says a lot about his state of mind.
22:33
Speaker 3: He wanted to open the batting and now he wanted
22:36
Speaker 3: to go back down to four the first time in
22:39
Speaker 3: a long time. He's uncertain about himself and he's just
22:42
Speaker 3: feeling his age. I remember Kerry O'Keefe on the back
22:46
Speaker 3: page of Fox Sports.
22:49
Speaker 4: Six or so years.
22:50
Speaker 3: Ago, when Smith was his absolute prime. He said, I
22:54
Speaker 3: love him as a player, but he's an eyeplayer and
22:56
Speaker 3: when I appliers to climb, they go quickly. So he said,
22:59
Speaker 3: that'll be the watch on Steve Blake's career. When his
23:01
Speaker 3: eye starts to go, he will go with me. So yep,
23:04
Speaker 3: there's a watch on him this summer.
23:08
Speaker 1: And Dan, we were at the MCG a week or
23:11
Speaker 1: so ago for Victoria versus New South Wales. It featured
23:14
Speaker 1: top liners, you know, several incumbents in the Test team
23:17
Speaker 1: and obviously those who had played one day and also t.
23:21
Speaker 2: Twenty for the nation.
23:21
Speaker 1: But there was that curious press conference on the second
23:25
Speaker 1: day when Smith he'd lost his wicket, he'd been okay
23:29
Speaker 1: but only made three runs from twenty nine balls. It
23:32
Speaker 1: was a case of who said what and when was
23:35
Speaker 1: what said? You know, he was very clean clearly to
23:38
Speaker 1: put his foot forward in terms of what had happened
23:41
Speaker 1: in that discussion as to whether he would return to
23:44
Speaker 1: number four. It's a really curious time for these champions,
23:49
Speaker 1: isn't it.
23:51
Speaker 6: Yeah, it is.
23:52
Speaker 5: And look, I mean Coley's ark has been remarkable of itself,
23:57
Speaker 5: but really he went through that long, long stretch, didn't
24:00
Speaker 5: make an international century, certainly not a Test century, which
24:04
Speaker 5: I think ended in Amedabad last year.
24:07
Speaker 6: But the numbers are quite clear.
24:09
Speaker 5: He's not the player he was and the sat Nat
24:12
Speaker 5: moment really exemplifies that.
24:14
Speaker 6: And look, this is a very conventional arc for a
24:17
Speaker 6: lot of greats.
24:18
Speaker 5: I mean they have his Crashot has often said, and
24:21
Speaker 5: they have these three or four outstanding seasons where they
24:24
Speaker 5: they're up there with the gods, and then from there
24:26
Speaker 5: it's you know that you go back to being a
24:28
Speaker 5: mere immortal. The Smith storyline though that this probably fascinates
24:32
Speaker 5: me just about more than any other because it is
24:36
Speaker 5: the Smith, because he is quite arguably the best Australian
24:40
Speaker 5: player batter we've seen since the dawn, and this whole
24:44
Speaker 5: situation where he moved up to the opener seemingly engineered
24:49
Speaker 5: significantly by himself.
24:51
Speaker 6: He planted the seed, the selectors.
24:54
Speaker 5: And the coaches were happy enough to go along with
24:57
Speaker 5: his his preference.
25:00
Speaker 6: And then the move back down and that sort of
25:03
Speaker 6: very gradual sort of softening of his position. Initially it
25:06
Speaker 6: was I'm not bays were about and.
25:08
Speaker 5: Then he saw some of the other guys coming out
25:11
Speaker 5: and saying that they hoped he moved back down.
25:13
Speaker 4: Itself.
25:13
Speaker 6: Was interesting was when Kawaja been very strong on that front,
25:17
Speaker 6: and yeah, that that press conference that he.
25:19
Speaker 5: Did, he was very very keen clearly that he touched
25:22
Speaker 5: on Courtney to get that position across. That he didn't
25:26
Speaker 5: in his words, he didn't ask, he didn't demand to
25:30
Speaker 5: move back down.
25:31
Speaker 6: He was given.
25:33
Speaker 5: He was asked what his preference was, and he said
25:35
Speaker 5: his preference was no longer to open the bating it
25:36
Speaker 5: was about at four, but that ultimately it would be,
25:39
Speaker 5: you know, whatever the team wanted, whatever was in the
25:41
Speaker 5: best interest of the team. Now, clearly it seems he's
25:44
Speaker 5: going to return to number four, But you know, reading
25:47
Speaker 5: between the lines, you got the sense that he was
25:50
Speaker 5: not overly thrilled with the way George Bailey that the
25:54
Speaker 5: selection chair unilaterally came out at that press conference the
25:59
Speaker 5: previous week when announcing with the Australia A Squad and
26:05
Speaker 5: relay that Smith's desire had been to bat down the
26:09
Speaker 5: order because he didn't have to do that, George, he
26:12
Speaker 5: wasn't if he asked directly about that to start with.
26:16
Speaker 6: And the whole politics.
26:19
Speaker 5: And secrecy around who might have opened the batting if
26:24
Speaker 5: not for the Cameron Green injury and how that all
26:27
Speaker 5: would have panned out has been a very interesting byproduct
26:31
Speaker 5: or side.
26:33
Speaker 6: Story in the lead up to this Test Theories, and really.
26:37
Speaker 5: To go back to the very start of our chat,
26:39
Speaker 5: you know that is really it has added a lot
26:41
Speaker 5: of color and flavor to the build up to this
26:44
Speaker 5: Theories because there has been a genuinely interesting and compelling
26:47
Speaker 5: and live storyline, as opposed to some of the pantomime
26:50
Speaker 5: stories which sometimes become topical in the lead up to
26:54
Speaker 5: Big Test series.
26:58
Speaker 1: Look, speaking of goats, Nathan Lyon clearly a champion off
27:04
Speaker 1: spinner and he's signaled all the way through last summer
27:07
Speaker 1: that he's keen to continue on through to twenty twenty
27:09
Speaker 1: seven basically through the through to almost forty which with
27:13
Speaker 1: Andrew McDonald lixed in in his contract and some certainty
27:16
Speaker 1: instability around the leadership. There's clearly a lot of faith
27:19
Speaker 1: in the Australian team as to who they've got out
27:22
Speaker 1: there in terms of the guys in their thirties. But
27:25
Speaker 1: the Lion versus the battery of Indian spin bowlers, it
27:29
Speaker 1: fascinates me as well. Now we know that there's gonna
27:31
Speaker 1: be a lot of reliance obviously on the Australian pace
27:33
Speaker 1: trio whether they can get through the entire summer. Cummens, Hazel,
27:37
Speaker 1: Wooden Stark in there in the early thirties to mid thirties.
27:40
Speaker 1: Now Chammy being out is clearly an issue for India.
27:43
Speaker 1: Andrew McDonald made that clear today thinking that BMRA was
27:48
Speaker 1: it works so much better with jammy partner. But when
27:51
Speaker 1: we look at the spinners, Lion, I think going back
27:54
Speaker 1: to the twenty eighteen twenty nineteen series, he almost had
27:57
Speaker 1: the better. I think he took twenty one wickets at
28:00
Speaker 1: twenty seven versus the eighteen wickets at twenty five for
28:04
Speaker 1: Jed Asia, Ashwan and Caldet. But then in the most
28:07
Speaker 1: recent tour. Clearly the Indians had the better the twenty
28:11
Speaker 1: three wickets at twenty seven. Ashwan are the star but
28:14
Speaker 1: very well supported by Jadasia and Sunda. Where's Nathan only
28:18
Speaker 1: what nine wickets at at fifty five played the four Tests?
28:22
Speaker 1: It was a tricky one last summer around for Nathan.
28:25
Speaker 1: That battle will be intriguing and I'm sure it will
28:27
Speaker 1: go a long way to deciding whether or not Australia
28:29
Speaker 1: can win.
28:30
Speaker 3: I often think with Nathan Lyon that infinitive quote came
28:34
Speaker 3: from Stuart Broad where he said every Ashes tour it's
28:38
Speaker 3: the same with Lyon. We barely mentioned him at team meetings.
28:41
Speaker 3: We go and of course Lyon and he said, I'm
28:43
Speaker 3: sick and tired of doing that, and then he ends
28:46
Speaker 3: up with twenty five wickets at twenty eight. He said,
28:49
Speaker 3: we always underestimated now India did for a while, but
28:52
Speaker 3: last time they turned up with a plan and it
28:55
Speaker 3: worked very well. It looked to me as if they
28:57
Speaker 3: were doing bish and battizole. Line with line, as in
29:01
Speaker 3: with the pitch of the ball. You either get as
29:03
Speaker 3: absolutely close to it as you can or as far
29:06
Speaker 3: away from as you can. They use their feet really
29:08
Speaker 3: well and he struggled, He struggled to break through and
29:12
Speaker 3: by the end of it you could tell he was
29:14
Speaker 3: quietly exasperated against the Indians. So what have they got
29:18
Speaker 3: this time? It'll be fascinating to see, because you know,
29:22
Speaker 3: Barrats and Eurasian, who's as good a judge of Indian
29:25
Speaker 3: creed as there is, said he said, look at what
29:28
Speaker 3: Mitchell Santna did to him. Yes it was a turning deck,
29:31
Speaker 3: but he said, Indian against spin, they're not that great.
29:36
Speaker 4: They're not as great as people think they are.
29:39
Speaker 3: And I think maybe the sant naway he's a good
29:42
Speaker 3: white ball ball of Mitchell Sander. He hasn't done much
29:44
Speaker 3: in tests, but evolved very straight to them and plug
29:48
Speaker 3: their strengths. And I think we'll see a little bit
29:51
Speaker 3: of that from Nathan Lyon. He'll make them play a
29:53
Speaker 3: lot and say you miss, I'm going to hit. But
29:57
Speaker 3: it's a huge series for him. There's no question Australia
29:59
Speaker 3: has got an aging attack. It's a tight series. They
30:03
Speaker 3: will change the attack and he's got to be the
30:06
Speaker 3: achorman all the way through.
30:10
Speaker 1: Look, gentlemen, so much look forward to I could talk
30:13
Speaker 1: to you both for.
30:14
Speaker 2: Hours and hours.
30:15
Speaker 1: Luckily, I'm going to have that chance through the Australian
30:17
Speaker 1: summer and I'm looking forward to seeing you both in
30:19
Speaker 1: Perth for that opening Test of the summer.
30:22
Speaker 2: Really appreciate you joining us.
30:24
Speaker 1: You can read their fine work at the Courier Mail
30:26
Speaker 1: and also on Code Sports throughout the summer. As always,
30:31
Speaker 1: thanks so much for joining us. You can watch every ball,
30:34
Speaker 1: remember every ball live on KO Sports and also Fox
30:38
Speaker 1: Cricket through the summer. We've got so much cricket to come.
30:42
Speaker 1: Absolute pleasure and thanks for listening to the follow on
30:44
Speaker 1: podcast