Latest / The Follow-On / Cummins & Renshaw fightback after Maddinson's 'DISASTER' return! - RSA vs Australia 1st Test, Day 1 Review

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Cummins & Renshaw fightback after Maddinson's 'DISASTER' return! - RSA vs Australia 1st Test, Day 1 Review · The Follow-On

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Hello and welcome to our review of the opening day's
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: play of the test between South Africa and Australia in Durban.
• 0:08
  Speaker 2: At Kingsbury Stadium.
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: My name's Courtney Walsh, I'm a senior reporter for Fox Sports,
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: also a host of the podcast The Follow-On. I'm joined
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: by Daniel Cherney, senior reporter for Code Sports and the
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: cricket correspondent who brought us the news today. that Nick
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: Maddison would be playing before the actual team came out.
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: Tell us about your observations there, Dan.
• 0:28
  Speaker 2: How did that happen?
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: And what unfolded from the moment that Nick was chosen
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: to play?
• 0:33
  Speaker 3: Well, it was all downhill from there, Courtney. Look, there
• 0:37
  Speaker 3: were signs before play. Obviously, a lot of discussion around
• 0:40
  Speaker 3: the composition of the Australian XI. Ever since Cameron Green
• 0:42
  Speaker 3: was ruled out of this match, there was discussion as
• 0:44
  Speaker 3: to how.
• 0:45
  Speaker 4: They would line up.
• 0:47
  Speaker 3: The sense, the overwhelming sense in recent days has been
• 0:49
  Speaker 3: it was going to be between Cooper Connolly and Nick Maddison. Now,
• 0:52
  Speaker 3: in hindsight, I'm actually not sure it was that black
• 0:54
  Speaker 3: and white.
• 0:55
  Speaker 4: I think there's a fetch.
• 0:56
  Speaker 3: I suspect Bo Webster was also in discussions as to
• 0:59
  Speaker 3: whether he may miss out for Cooper Connolly because they
• 1:01
  Speaker 3: wanted a left-arm spin option. Anyway, in the end, Maddison
• 1:05
  Speaker 3: got the nod. Now, Maddison playing in and of itself
• 1:07
  Speaker 3: was not, per se, an enormous shock because there was
• 1:10
  Speaker 3: proper discussion that he would play.
• 1:12
  Speaker 4: What was a genuine shock to me?
• 1:14
  Speaker 3: Maybe not, you know, not absolutely a socks-off, but it
• 1:18
  Speaker 3: was a fairly big surprise.
• 1:20
  Speaker 4: Was that he was going to open the batting. And
• 1:22
  Speaker 4: I think in hindsight, that has proven to.
• 1:24
  Speaker 3: Be one day in, and not even a full day,
• 1:27
  Speaker 3: because we've got to finish with bad light, which we
• 1:30
  Speaker 3: can get to later, but somewhat of an unmitigated disaster. Unfortunately,
• 1:35
  Speaker 3: Nick Maddison, he has made, in what should otherwise be
• 1:39
  Speaker 3: an amazing story of a guy who's come through cancer,
• 1:41
  Speaker 3: played his first test match in a decade, almost a decade,
• 1:45
  Speaker 3: and he made the longest duck for an Australian opener
• 1:50
  Speaker 3: in test history, a record. 33 balls. He should have
• 1:53
  Speaker 3: been out in the 15th ball of those when he
• 1:58
  Speaker 3: should have been LBW to be un-nulled.
• 2:00
  Speaker 4: That didn't happen. It was overturned on.
• 2:05
  Speaker 3: Sorry, it should have been overturned on review, but the
• 2:07
  Speaker 3: South Africans didn't review.
• 2:08
  Speaker 4: They didn't send it upstairs.
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: Three red lights.
• 2:10
  Speaker 3: We think Tamabubu, my captain, might have thought it was
• 2:12
  Speaker 3: inside edge, but perhaps he thought it was pitching outside.
• 2:15
  Speaker 4: Anyway, in any case, he should have been out then.
• 2:18
  Speaker 4: It was a very, very scratchy innings.
• 2:20
  Speaker 3: And eventually he was gone, conducting 33 balls, chopping on
• 2:25
  Speaker 3: to Marco Jansen. Now, Courtney, I mean, this was already
• 2:27
  Speaker 3: an incredibly contentious selection. The fact that he was called
• 2:30
  Speaker 3: up at all, even into the squad, because this is
• 2:32
  Speaker 3: a guy who had not played first-class cricket since early 2025.
• 2:34
  Speaker 3: He was already polarised massively. We saw Matthew Hayden come out,
• 2:39
  Speaker 3: condemn this selection very dramatically in a podcast a few
• 2:43
  Speaker 3: days ago. It's another commentator from the state system. There's
• 2:46
  Speaker 3: been some significant angst around there. So then to actually
• 2:50
  Speaker 3: go and pick him ahead of Cooper Connolly, who'd been
• 2:52
  Speaker 3: notionally the spare batter in the squad, I suppose, I
• 2:55
  Speaker 3: think it was probably more on the spare or round
• 2:56
  Speaker 3: on the spare batter, or a four-out option. And then
• 3:01
  Speaker 3: to open him ahead of Matt Renshaw, who was the
• 3:03
  Speaker 3: standout opener in Shield cricket last year, and.
• 3:06
  Speaker 4: Then for it to happen as it did, I mean,
• 3:09
  Speaker 4: it does strike.
• 3:10
  Speaker 3: To, it does appear again, he's going to most likely
• 3:13
  Speaker 3: bat again, but sort of an all-time selection howler, and
• 3:16
  Speaker 3: one where they've I've overthought it.
• 3:18
  Speaker 4: It's got some.
• 3:20
  Speaker 3: You look back to Nagpur 2023 when they dropped Travis
• 3:23
  Speaker 3: Head to pick Renshaw or Peter Hounskim in India. This
• 3:28
  Speaker 3: selection panel has made several bold calls, but this one just, yeah,
• 3:33
  Speaker 3: day in, did not pay off.
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: You're basically listening to the former greats, Mark Waugh for
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: Fox Cricket, KO Sports, Simon Kadic, who is over here.
• 3:42
  Speaker 2: He made a century here in 2009. They were saying,
• 3:45
  Speaker 2: how can you possibly justify this selection? It obviously looks
• 3:51
  Speaker 2: a lot worse in hindsight. He does have the opportunity
• 3:53
  Speaker 2: to bat again.
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: We do know that in a couple of days, and
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: we've just come from a press conference with Matt Renshaw,
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: who is the man who was selected to open to
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: replace Jake Weatherall in Mackay, all of two tests ago
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: and just a month and a half ago. And yesterday
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: he's told he's batting at number five. Now, it didn't
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: seem to worry Matt at all. And of course, when
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: you're batting at five, the conditions got easier later on.
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: When we saw what was going on with the ball
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: this morning, it was bouncing a lot. There was a
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: bit of seam.
• 4:17
  Speaker 2: It was moving.
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: Hansen was just frightening to watch at times and moulded
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: the ball very accurately. But the point from Katic Amore
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: is right. How can it be justified based on what
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: we've seen? And then it does open the door to
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: the next segment. Chopping and changing the batting order. Are
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: you setting up the Australian... batsmen to fail. We know
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: that this is a team that is unorthodox in their
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: approach in terms of there is no such thing as
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: a batting order. It's the top six and the best
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: six batsmen in the country play and there is a
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: school of thought that they think that they can bat anywhere.
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: Listening to Katic today, he's saying hang on. No, you're
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: a specialist batsman for a reason. There are reasons why
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: we have openers. There's a reason why some of them
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: will come in at 5, 6 and 7.
• 5:03
  Speaker 3: War.
• 5:03
  Speaker 2: He's making the same point. Kerry O'Keefe couldn't believe it.
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: He said what's the point of him being there nick
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: and what's the point of wrench or betting the five
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: now i'm interested in your thoughts on that but it
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: does seem that it's a you know we saw cameron
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: green bounce all over the batting order last summer and
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: then he could not get settled he did get settled
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: finally at number five makes a century in darwin out
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: with injury and maybe all of this may not have
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: happened had tamron been fit uh you know to play
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: but you know this chopping and changing must make it
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: very hard for the batsman to feel.
• 5:34
  Speaker 3: At home i think i'll think about that manager is
• 5:36
  Speaker 3: that it's selective which is why it frustrates me because
• 5:39
  Speaker 3: they're so they'll sort of say oh well we can't
• 5:41
  Speaker 3: move Steve Smith anymore because Steve you know strong argument
• 5:44
  Speaker 3: about moving him to number three or there was leading
• 5:47
  Speaker 3: into this tour.
• 5:48
  Speaker 4: Around Marnus it's a position I call it the back
• 5:49
  Speaker 4: Marnus over the time being you know.
• 5:52
  Speaker 3: Move Travis Head back down to five argument for it
• 5:56
  Speaker 3: because he's had great success at number five but it
• 5:59
  Speaker 3: just feels as though it's the and I suppose that's
• 6:02
  Speaker 3: the nature of life to a degree it's the stars
• 6:03
  Speaker 3: that get the most power or at.
• 6:05
  Speaker 4: Least that they are the ones that are sort of,
• 6:06
  Speaker 4: you know, allowed to have first choice, first dibs.
• 6:10
  Speaker 3: But it's the fact that it's these fringe guys that
• 6:12
  Speaker 3: get shuffled up and down, moved around to, you know,
• 6:15
  Speaker 3: on the whims of, you know, any given day, any
• 6:18
  Speaker 3: given situation. I understand there's a need to be versatile,
• 6:21
  Speaker 3: and Renshaw has throughout his career batted in a lot
• 6:23
  Speaker 3: of different positions at first-class.
• 6:24
  Speaker 4: Cricket and in one-day cricket as well.
• 6:26
  Speaker 3: But to me, it just seems, it seemed unnecessary and
• 6:30
  Speaker 3: it was overthinking. I mean, again, a lot of the
• 6:32
  Speaker 3: rationale behind picking Maddison ahead of Connolly, although the discussion
• 6:36
  Speaker 3: around the camp and the nets we were watching was
• 6:39
  Speaker 3: that Maddison's a better player of spin than Connolly.
• 6:43
  Speaker 4: But he wasn't going to face spin.
• 6:45
  Speaker 2: Facing a new ball on a, you know, pretty aggressive wing.
• 6:50
  Speaker 3: It's probably a bit tougher than they necessarily anticipated. So
• 6:55
  Speaker 3: we've had some data from Crickfield suggesting that it was
• 6:58
  Speaker 3: pretty tough to bat on.
• 6:59
  Speaker 4: It just doesn't feel necessary.
• 7:03
  Speaker 3: You look at, and just, well, scratch the numbers earlier too,
• 7:07
  Speaker 3: from a number five perspective. In the last, since David
• 7:10
  Speaker 3: Water retired in early 2024, the following guys have made
• 7:12
  Speaker 3: centuries for Australia at number five. Alex Carey, Josh Inglis,
• 7:15
  Speaker 3: Steve Smith, or Midland when they had a night watchman
• 7:17
  Speaker 3: and he was batting down a position, Travis Head and
• 7:21
  Speaker 3: Cameron Green. Matt Renshaw, he could go on himself. I mean,
• 7:23
  Speaker 3: he's not in 50 yet, but he looks well set.
• 7:25
  Speaker 2: And it could be very vital for Australia.
• 7:27
  Speaker 4: And it could. And that would be great. And I
• 7:29
  Speaker 4: suppose in that respect, I would say, oh, justified. But no.
• 7:32
  Speaker 4: They're looking to try to find an open ad. You
• 7:33
  Speaker 4: just get this revolving door.
• 7:35
  Speaker 3: And if you're going to pick Jake Weatherall, give him
• 7:37
  Speaker 3: a central contract worth upwards of $ 350, 000 a year, and
• 7:42
  Speaker 3: then drop him off to one test, and format Renshaw,
• 7:46
  Speaker 3: and then move Renshaw the very next test down the.
• 7:49
  Speaker 4: Order, it just smacks of a, as I said, an overthinking.
• 7:53
  Speaker 3: And look, I know they go into this with a
• 7:55
  Speaker 3: lot of data, but I just sometimes sense that they,
• 7:58
  Speaker 3: you know, there's, two clubber by half and, you know,
• 8:02
  Speaker 3: they're going to cop it. And Maddison, as I said,
• 8:03
  Speaker 3: was a very contentious call even before the opening decision.
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: And look, it's not something that the coach, that the
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: selectors are not aware of. They know that when a
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: bad result happens, they will cop criticism. Australia has won, what,
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: 14 of the last 17 tests. But Andrew McDonald, and
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: there it is, my other factor of play here, it
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: is the first time in history Australia has sent out
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: a cricket team where every player is older than 30.
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: It's the seventh oldest Australian team in all time. The
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: average age, 34.6 or 34.7, it's this, you know, clearly
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: there are, you know, not allegations, clearly the description, Dad's Army,
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: I know they hate it, but my word, it's impossible
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: to say that when you're putting out the oldest team
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: in some regard, the shoe fits.
• 8:49
  Speaker 3: It occurred to me today watching, and this itself has
• 8:53
  Speaker 3: been a little funny sidebar throughout the last few days,
• 8:55
  Speaker 3: I was watching Noah Anderson, the Gold Coast Suns captain,
• 8:59
  Speaker 3: Out there, he's been spending the week with this Australian team,
• 9:02
  Speaker 3: sort of on the leadership development program. The Aussies have
• 9:04
  Speaker 3: had all identities, others put in them. He's come through
• 9:06
  Speaker 3: the team at various times in the last few years.
• 9:09
  Speaker 3: You know, leave that to one side. He's the captain
• 9:11
  Speaker 3: of an AFL team.
• 9:12
  Speaker 4: He'd be, what, 25? Yeah. He would be comfortably the
• 9:15
  Speaker 4: youngest player in this XI by five years. He's the
• 9:17
  Speaker 4: captain of an AFL team. That underscores... He's a youngish captain.
• 9:21
  Speaker 4: But that underscores how... And I just think, even the Connolly...
• 9:24
  Speaker 4: I just... feel like, I mean, again, it's easier.
• 9:28
  Speaker 3: In hindsight because Maddison has failed, but it was such
• 9:30
  Speaker 3: an abject failure, and unfortunately, you still mess with Maddison,
• 9:33
  Speaker 3: because it would have been much better had he made
• 9:34
  Speaker 3: a first ball guy.
• 9:36
  Speaker 4: Yes. But the 33, and then you think, oh, well, look,
• 9:37
  Speaker 4: you get up to one early, or you just.
• 9:39
  Speaker 3: The fact that he was in it for so long,
• 9:42
  Speaker 3: and he was allowed, and his timing was just off,
• 9:45
  Speaker 3: and there were a couple of times where he thought
• 9:46
  Speaker 3: he was off the mark, but there were leg-bys, and
• 9:48
  Speaker 3: it was just cool.
• 9:49
  Speaker 4: It just felt cool, and it was a really... It
• 9:53
  Speaker 4: just underscored a sense of.
• 9:56
  Speaker 4: You know, really, this time I jumped the shark a
• 9:58
  Speaker 4: bit as a paddle.
• 9:59
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and look, Rachel did say, it is a weird game,
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: and it has come from the nets, and we know
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: the Aussies, you know, the Aussies were in what were
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: spicy nets.
• 10:08
  Speaker 2: You know, your first time out in the middle, it's
• 10:09
  Speaker 2: a different pitch. It was lively. It was moving around,
• 10:13
  Speaker 2: so significant challenge.
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: But, you know, when he bats again, let's hope he
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: can make some runs. If they can somehow find their
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: way out of trouble, that's one thing. The other thing
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: I wanted to talk to you about, just from the
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: batting perspective, Pat Cummins has implored the Australians at different
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: stages in Darwin to grind, to dig, to put a
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: price on the wicket. Again, just before the test on Thursday,
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: when he was speaking, he said, we've got to find
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: a way to grind. You look at the numbers, none
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: from 33, a duck from 33 balls. Head was, you know,
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: fairly cautious. Effectively, if you look at the ratio in
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: terms of the, the runs to balls, I think Renshaw
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: was something like 40-odd off 100 or so. They were
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: trying to put a price on the wicket from mine,
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: but what got away from them was the ability to
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: build the partnerships.
• 11:00
  Speaker 2: Marnus goes to the last ball before lunch.
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: Steve Smith, the first over after lunch, and he'd been
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: softened up by a ripper the delivery before and then
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: was out. But wickets fell in clubs. Only two wickets
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: at a time. You basically had The two openers, Head
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: and Maddison, go at the same time. Effectively, Marnus and
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: then Smith at the same time.
• 11:21
  Speaker 2: And then we had.
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: Later on, you had Webster and Carey effectively go within
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: the space of... So, you know, you could see they
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: were trying to stick in, but they were unable to
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: sort of put it together until this last partnership between Cummins, who,
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: by the way, had only averaged 10 against South Africa,
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: let him in. It's been a very handy sort of
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: lower order dig for him. But Renshaw, 63 in the partnership,
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: stands at the moment. It's something they have to try
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: and do. To win this series, they're going to.
• 11:47
  Speaker 2: Have to knuckle down and make sure that they build
• 11:50
  Speaker 2: these partnerships.
• 11:51
  Speaker 4: For sure. The game's still not over. It's not a
• 11:56
  Speaker 4: situation where they're out of it.
• 11:57
  Speaker 3: And we do know Australia has managed to win tests
• 12:00
  Speaker 3: with some of the patchy first-inning scores in recent times.
• 12:03
  Speaker 3: They did lose this fashion in the World First Championship
• 12:06
  Speaker 3: final against South Africa.
• 12:07
  Speaker 4: They actually had a poor first innings there. South Africa
• 12:11
  Speaker 4: had a poor first innings. They really lost it in
• 12:12
  Speaker 4: the third innings there.
• 12:13
  Speaker 3: Australia and then Aidan Markham helped chase down a modest
• 12:17
  Speaker 3: total on day.
• 12:18
  Speaker 4: Three or four.
• 12:19
  Speaker 2: Actually, I said four.
• 12:20
  Speaker 4: In any case, though, you're right. They did grind. Again,
• 12:25
  Speaker 4: the stats show they've been playing a lot more on
• 12:27
  Speaker 4: the back foot, Australia.
• 12:28
  Speaker 3: I wonder if that's in part a sense that they
• 12:31
  Speaker 3: are literally, both proverbially and literally playing on the back foot.
• 12:34
  Speaker 3: They are trying to absorb pressure. But again, they don't
• 12:36
  Speaker 3: have the players to strike the tempo.
• 12:40
  Speaker 4: Look, it is tough.
• 12:41
  Speaker 3: I think from a technical perspective, Hull of Glavishanes, beautifully
• 12:45
  Speaker 3: set up by Mulder with some of.
• 12:47
  Speaker 4: The wobble sink. I think when you're looking at head,
• 12:53
  Speaker 4: you know, got one down the leg side.
• 12:55
  Speaker 2: I like it.
• 12:56
  Speaker 3: Yeah, that does happen. Frustrating way to get out. Painty
• 12:59
  Speaker 3: sort of edge. Webster's one was a bit of a worry. Like,
• 13:03
  Speaker 3: he's just looking at a poking at a body, a
• 13:05
  Speaker 3: second ball, first ball four, and then second ball, sort
• 13:08
  Speaker 3: of poking outside off stump.
• 13:10
  Speaker 4: He didn't really need to defend.
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: Herschel Gims on social media, I noticed, made that point.
• 13:15
  Speaker 2: Why are you defending outside of Stum?
• 13:17
  Speaker 4: I did see that twerking there. Sure, it was done very...
• 13:20
  Speaker 4: He does tend to do that a bit, Webster. He's now...
• 13:23
  Speaker 4: He's a little bit vulnerable. I mean, I think... I
• 13:26
  Speaker 4: think there's a fair chance.
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: Four innings since he was made at 71. Those four
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: innings since that 71 haven't been convincing.
• 13:33
  Speaker 3: No, and I think the thing with Webster is there's
• 13:36
  Speaker 3: always a sense that He was always warming his seat
• 13:39
  Speaker 3: for Cameron Green. It was only going to take, and
• 13:40
  Speaker 3: now that Green has established himself on the back of
• 13:43
  Speaker 3: the couple of innings against Bangladesh, it's not going to
• 13:46
  Speaker 3: take a lot. And now he plays here, he's in
• 13:48
  Speaker 3: the fourth seamer, but as soon as Green's back, and
• 13:50
  Speaker 3: Green's probably not going to be able to bowl this
• 13:52
  Speaker 3: series anyway, but gee, I think even the Webster v.
• 13:54
  Speaker 4: Connolly discussion, I mean, there's a lot of considerations.
• 13:58
  Speaker 3: Whether they eventually go a four-pronged seam attack and then
• 14:00
  Speaker 3: maybe Connolly comes in for Webster.
• 14:02
  Speaker 4: Depending on what happens, you know, how line goes, what
• 14:04
  Speaker 4: the conditions are like. There's a lot of different moving paths.
• 14:06
  Speaker 4: We're one day, well, we're a day into the series.
• 14:08
  Speaker 4: I say a day.
• 14:10
  Speaker 3: Now, we're a day into the series with only 60
• 14:11
  Speaker 3: overs down because we went off the light very, very early, Courtney.
• 14:14
  Speaker 4: It was another big tournament. What did you make of this?
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: Well, I was outside at the time they flicked the
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: lights on. That was about 2.25 p.m. I'd gone for
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: a wander around. I'd seen Noah Anderson doing his run-throughs,
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: thinking this guy might be batting for us next week
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: in town formerly known as Port Elizabeth. And it still
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: seemed quite bright. And the other factor there was the
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: Australians were actually batting well at that stage. Cummins and
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: Renshaw looked very much in control. And my mind immediately
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: flicked back when the lights went on to Lords last year,
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: the World Test Championship final.
• 14:45
  Speaker 2: When the lights went on, the Australians went off.
• 14:48
  Speaker 4: They struggled.
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: And the first couple of overs after that, they looked
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: a bit more skittish, a bit more jittery.
• 14:55
  Speaker 2: But it did surprise me. I don't blame them for
• 14:58
  Speaker 2: taking the line.
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: And what it does do, I spoke to Dean Elgar,
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: the former captain, last month.
• 15:05
  Speaker 2: He just retired.
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: And he was saying, the timing of the series, you
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: were going to get bad light. And he said, if
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: it works, it could well be a really sad thing.
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: This great series between the world's top two ranked teams.
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: The man of the match might be bad light at stages. Now,
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: we know tomorrow they're extending the first and the middle
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: session by 15 minutes.
• 15:26
  Speaker 4: That doesn't matter, though.
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: Well, it doesn't solve us. You get more play in
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: terms of when they're... Before the break. But it also
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: suggests to me that they know that... If there's weather about,
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: I think there's going to be a little bit of
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: weather about tomorrow.
• 15:38
  Speaker 2: But if the clouds are here, we're going to be
• 15:40
  Speaker 2: finishing early.
• 15:40
  Speaker 3: The problem is, intuitively, you would actually start early tomorrow.
• 15:43
  Speaker 3: But the thing is, this match is already starting at
• 15:45
  Speaker 3: 9.30 and play starts at 9.30, which is, I must say,
• 15:47
  Speaker 3: is pretty early. When you're covering a test match and,
• 15:50
  Speaker 3: you know, the teams are getting here, right?
• 15:52
  Speaker 4: And you've got to be able to, anyway.
• 15:53
  Speaker 1: Well, the other thing there is, when we were walking
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: this morning, it was steamy, it was sweaty. You'd almost
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: see you had the dew. Like, it felt really, really sweaty.
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: So you wonder, and the Australians are going after batting
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: that opening at a time where it was like, ooh,
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: this is uncomfortable.
• 16:07
  Speaker 3: I was talking with one of the Pressbox colleagues earlier
• 16:10
  Speaker 3: around the scheduling of the series. Not just the time,
• 16:12
  Speaker 3: but also geographically with the series being in Durban, where
• 16:18
  Speaker 3: it does tend to get lighter, sorry, darker earlier this
• 16:22
  Speaker 3: time of year compared to, say, up north.
• 16:24
  Speaker 4: It's Joe Burgess and Shurian.
• 16:26
  Speaker 3: Yeah, they do have enormous margins here, but particularly for
• 16:29
  Speaker 3: a country where there is only one time zone, that
• 16:31
  Speaker 3: can be a factor.
• 16:33
  Speaker 4: So you do wonder if perhaps, you know, that that
• 16:37
  Speaker 4: was a misstep.
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: Look, We're one day in, but it could be a concern,
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: and it was a concern that was flagged with me
• 16:45
  Speaker 1: last month, and I'm sure they were aware of it.
• 16:47
  Speaker 3: I suppose the other thing was, you know, tests tend
• 16:50
  Speaker 3: to go pretty quickly. Maybe they've cracked the code.
• 16:53
  Speaker 4: Maybe this is the way you get a lot. They
• 16:56
  Speaker 4: test on day five, you only have 50 overs a
• 16:58
  Speaker 4: day every test. Maybe they're geniuses.
• 17:01
  Speaker 3: Test cricket's now starting at 9.30 to 3 p.m.
• 17:03
  Speaker 4: Thing, you know, like school hours or something. Anyway.
• 17:08
  Speaker 1: And then there is another factor of play here as well,
• 17:11
  Speaker 1: and it was glaring at times. A highly anticipated series,
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: we know how valuable it is. If you were looking,
• 17:20
  Speaker 1: the stands look sparse. I think they were predicting about
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: 7,000 people here today. I went wandering around. Now, there's
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: one thing, as I said, it was quite uncomfortable. It
• 17:27
  Speaker 1: was very warm, so what may not have been evident
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: was there was a lot of people sort of in
• 17:31
  Speaker 1: the shade, you know, in the stands in the shade.
• 17:34
  Speaker 2: Maybe 2,000 to 3,000, I would have thought.
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: They're hoping for more tomorrow, like I think they said,
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: sort of 8,000, 9,000.
• 17:41
  Speaker 2: But it's a concern for Durban. It's been flagged before
• 17:43
  Speaker 2: that this.
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: Is a ground that they struggle to get the big crowds.
• 17:49
  Speaker 2: So it'll be fascinating to see.
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: But we also know that outside the Big Three, where
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: you get big crowds in Australia, big crowds in England,
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: for the quality of the cricketers out there, the struggles
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: of the cobbled in Australia, but these are.
• 18:02
  Speaker 2: The best two teams. And they're a compelling rivalry.
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: So let's hope let's hope that the stands start to fill.
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: Brendan Julian had said it was the most hostile place
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: to come and tour. You'd be feeling a fine leg
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: and you'd be getting all manner of taunts. When Steve
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: Smith walked out for his first Test match since the
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: Sandbate Brigade Series in South Africa, I went and positioned myself.
• 18:24
  Speaker 2: Over underneath the castle corner. I wasn't grabbing a beer.
• 18:27
  Speaker 2: I just wanted to see if there might be a
• 18:28
  Speaker 2: bit of flavour.
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: Now, of course, he was in about 10 o'clock, so
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: I'm pretty sure the fans and attendants hadn't had time
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: to get too many... beers under the belt, but it
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: was barely a murmur. A couple of white-shelling out, you know,
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: did you bring the sandpaper? But it was the least
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: hostile reception you can imagine.
• 18:45
  Speaker 4: Pretty tame.
• 18:46
  Speaker 3: I mean, yeah, when I was looking around earlier during,
• 18:49
  Speaker 3: once I went off there, I wanted to have a
• 18:51
  Speaker 3: bit of a look, and there was still a lot
• 18:53
  Speaker 3: of the Australian tour groups that hang around.
• 18:56
  Speaker 4: It was a real reminder.
• 18:57
  Speaker 3: You had a sense of what it was like in
• 18:59
  Speaker 3: Sri Lanka last year and the West Indies last year,
• 19:01
  Speaker 3: like you've got both of those tours. And again, it
• 19:04
  Speaker 3: feels like a lot of these tours, it's throughout, Cats
• 19:07
  Speaker 3: cricket is, crowds are Australia and English tour groups, you know,
• 19:11
  Speaker 3: filling up around, there's a national test cricket, it's just
• 19:14
  Speaker 3: sort of, I don't want to say, because they're only
• 19:17
  Speaker 3: world test champions, they're a very good team, but from
• 19:20
  Speaker 3: a psyche perspective, where an investment is, where the eyeballs go,
• 19:25
  Speaker 3: even the building of the summer, I mean, you know,
• 19:27
  Speaker 3: South Africa summer, the SH1 is, is a kind of
• 19:30
  Speaker 3: summer in January, when they're being, they're coming, it's, It
• 19:33
  Speaker 3: was underwhelming, particularly for a much-anticipated Series Day one.
• 19:36
  Speaker 4: Hopefully, hopefully, things pick up tomorrow.
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: Looking forward to reading your fine work tomorrow.
• 19:41
  Speaker 2: Codesports will be online.
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: Very early in the next few hours and also in
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: the tabloids, and you can also pick up some of
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: the fine work from my colleagues.
• 19:51
  Speaker 2: At Fox Sports as well at foxsports.com.au.
• 19:54
  Speaker 4: Yourself too, Courtney. We'll see you tomorrow. Thanks for joining us.
• 19:59
  Speaker 2: Absolute pleasure, guys.