Latest / Let's Kick It Off! / Ep 47: SPECIAL: Ashes Down Under - Cricket's Greatest Rivalry Returns!

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Ep 47: SPECIAL: Ashes Down Under - Cricket's Greatest Rivalry Returns! · Let's Kick It Off!

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  Sports. Download now from your App
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  Store. Let's cricket off I'm Steve and
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  I'm joined by Ash, AJ and George.
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  We welcome George to the podcast for the first time.
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  So this is a cricket special from Let's Kick It Off and that
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  is because it's the Ashes Down Under this Friday, starting in
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  the early hours. And I was actually a little bit
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  under the weather earlier this week, but I've realised it must
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  have been Ashes fever, right? So sorry, I had to.
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  I had to get that in there. Are you laying the groundwork in
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  for a sick day on Friday? Yeah, exactly.
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  George, I'm going to come to you first because you are the person
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  that's actually going to be flying out to Australia.
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  I did hear earlier today that there's 40,000 Brits travelling
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  out. So you and your posse are making
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  up part of that 40,000. So I know you're you're heading
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  up for the the Melbourne Test, but you must be absolutely
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  buzzing with this series starting.
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  Yeah, I I cannot wait. Like it's, it's going to be the
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  bucket list thing for me to do for years and years.
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  And I think we were actually both in Australia 2 years ago at
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  the same time kind of doing similar things.
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  I went and did a tour of the MCG, saw the scale of it and
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  thought I have to be here in two years time for the Down under,
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  Boxing Day test for the Ashes. It just kind of kind of has to
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  be done and yes kinda I guess to to link to Man United a little
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  bit. Couple of months ago I did have
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  the option of going to Bilbao and it was I could go to Bilbao
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  or I could go down under for a similar price.
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  Yeah, on reflection, I think I've I've chosen well.
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  I. Think you certainly have
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  considered the result out in Bilbao, so yeah.
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  The worry is that by the time I get out there, we're three nil
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  down. But yeah, that's true.
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  Some of the injuries and some of what's what's gone on more
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  recently, I'm a bit more confident that we, you know,
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  we'll be a lot more competitive than we have been the last few
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  times. Yeah, nice.
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  Well, Ash, I'm going to come to you next.
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  In terms of kind of your early memories of the Ashes, like
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  what's the first Ashes series you can remember?
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  Not to expose your age here, but yeah, what what is the I?
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  Think you're going to do a good job?
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  Yeah, Unfortunately I was too young for the Shane Warne ball
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  in 93 at Old Trafford. So my first memories of the
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  Ashes was 1997 and England winning at Edgbaston.
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  Actually, Graham Thorpen, Nasser is saying getting hundreds to
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  win the game and that was the start of the summer.
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  And yeah, super excited because I thought we'd obviously go on
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  to win the Ashes, but I didn't realise just how good the
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  Australians were. They won 32 in the end.
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  So yeah, that was my first memory.
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  But obviously Steve want to know about your first memory as well.
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  Well, I think it's the same for the three of us possibly.
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  I know George, your first memory is 05.
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  AJ is at 05 for you as well. 05 yeah, definitely.
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  Yeah, yeah. I mean, we have to talk about
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  05:00 because I was exposed to my age here, but I was 13 at the
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  time. And I remember actually, because
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  obviously it's starting the summer race, English summer.
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  We would have been on school holidays back then.
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  And I remember I'd like told myself, oh, I'm going to, I'm
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  going to use the exercise bike this summer and try and shed a
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  bit of weight. So I remember sitting on the
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  exercise bike when Matthew Hoggaard was, you know, bowling
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  that first spell at Lourdes, right?
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  It would have been and I think he took quite an early wicket,
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  can't remember exactly, but I'm sure he took an early wicket
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  because I just remember watching that whole series.
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  Obviously it was on Channel 4 terrestrial TV, so made it
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  really accessible. So yeah, we'll, we'll talk
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  plenty about 05:00. But that was it for me.
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  AJ. Like, would you were you into
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  cricket before that or is that what hooked you in?
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  Yeah, no, I was definitely into cricket before that.
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  I mean I remember Rob Rob Key getting a double Ash correct me
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  if I'm wrong, Gay getting a double 100 year before on
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  Channel 4. Oh, OK.
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  Didn't get. Dropped after that.
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  Against the Wendy's. That's it, Yeah. first Test was
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  some and that was probably my earliest cricket in memory.
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  And then the old five. Yeah, I remember it.
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  You know, we were me and my brother, we'd play cricket in
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  the garden with the volume turned up basically to full
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  blast so we can hit, so we can, you know, hear it as we were
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  playing. But it went, it went far away
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  from where we were. And then my mum coming in,
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  putting it down and then those going back into put it back up
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  and we'd sort of go in and watch it for half an hour, play for 20
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  minutes and that try and pretend to be Shane 1.
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  So yeah, I know it was 05. I remember it vividly.
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  I remember a lot of it, yeah. What about for you, George?
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  Were you, was that what hooked you into cricket or were you
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  into it before that? No.
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  I was into it a bit before I played.
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  It played quite a bit of school from from the age of about 7:00.
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  So I think my first cricket memory, I think it was maybe 03
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  when South Africa were touring and Graham Smith was just
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  stacking centuries. I really, yeah, I that was my
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  kind of first, yeah, my first kind of exposure to proper Test
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  cricket and being aware of it. But then, yeah, tell us first
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  Ashes. Yeah, it's, it's so 5 and kind
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  of opposite to you, Steve, where you wanted to have an active
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  summer. I actually broke my foot in the
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  last week of term. So I spent six weeks on the sofa
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  with my foot ups time to perfection for the 05 Ashes and
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  being able to watch every ball on Channel 4 with those Nandos
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  adverts in the N Power sponsorship and the, you know,
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  fours and sixes cards. And yeah, I remember second
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  ball, Steve Armisen pings Langer on the elbow.
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  And that was when we were like, OK, this is it's a series.
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  We're we're in for a good series because these are meant to be,
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  you know, the big, bad, scary world beating Aussies.
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  And then we bowled them out for 190 and we thought, yeah,
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  wouldn't be the chance here. And then I've seen didn't,
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  didn't end so well. But at the end, that's good.
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  Memory or good that's good memory or good research, George,
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  I have to say like maybe that's. I did have to check how how
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  early the the Langer ball was. I couldn't remember which came
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  first, that or Ponting. But yeah, it wasn't far.
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  It wasn't much later than Langer getting hit.
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  The Ricky Ponting got hit in the grill and he's still got that
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  was a little scar. Right.
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  Yeah, it got the. Part yeah.
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  And then obviously that was KP's debut as well.
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  Yeah, he'd he'd just opposed Graham Thorpe.
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  And it was that was the big decision that had to be made
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  that series. And I was thinking, you know,
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  would there be parallels this year?
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  You know, would Olly Pope get a drop for Bethel?
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  Would this be kind of will there be any parallels with that?
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  But then I think, yeah, Pope has definitely kept his, kept his
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  place for now. Yeah, that's when KP in the
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  first Test. Did he have the yellow streak?
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  Was it at Lord's? Yellow streak in the batter.
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  Yeah, the blonde. Yeah, it was the look, though in
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  2005 it was like. Jimmy and the.
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  Oldest streak and like, you know, the hair down hair kind of
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  thing. Hoggard had the old mullet.
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  Yeah. Yeah, so that is the good old
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  days. Yeah, unfortunately I can't grow
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  one of those haircuts anymore, so I've.
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  Got it was the Arctic Monkeys era, but that was it.
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  Yeah, yeah. I'm sure you boys would have
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  been listening to a little bit of that on CD or Minidisc.
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  Do you remember? Those.
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  Days. Yeah, yeah.
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  But McGraw up the hill when it, that's when he just caused
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  devastation in that test and absolutely battered us.
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  But obviously the edge piston test is the one, right?
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  Like obviously the day 4 was it when Shane Warne, God rest his
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  soul, obviously great knock. Well, it looked like England
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  were going to win it easily, right?
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  I think it was the two wickets required and Warne warmers in
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  Ash. I remember we were down the Nets
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  in Windsor or Slough I'm going to say, and we were playing, you
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  know, so it would have been the, the Saturday afternoon session
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  is when England took a lot of wickets, right?
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  And I think we were, we were at the Nets playing cricket.
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  So we didn't watch it. But basically we knew that, you
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  know, we were set up for a win. Obviously Sunday morning we
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  watched. But I remember actually we were
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  down the Nets playing while that was going on.
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  And who was it that took some slower ball?
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  Harmerson, wasn't it? Last, last ball of the day, I
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  want to say. Michael.
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  Clarke, that was it. Michael Clarke, Big wicket as
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  well. Yeah, and just said set it up so
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  that I think Australia needed 100 or so with two wickets left.
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  It looked like it was going to be a knockover job.
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  And then, yeah, Warren picked up runs and obviously think. 90 or
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  something. He was at 90.
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  Close. To it, yeah, I think he might
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  never have got a century. Did he trod?
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  Did he trod on his stumps? He kicked his stumps, Yeah.
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  He walked across and, yeah, hit his stumps.
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  He can't forget. I can't remember.
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  Maybe. Maybe.
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  Yeah, Stevie, you're right. Maybe because we're at the Nets.
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  The over from Freddie at Edgbaston.
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  Yeah, Phenomenal. Oh, that's the way you see the
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  replays of that now and you think if we had DRS now you
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  would have had four wickets in that over.
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  Yes. Ridiculous how some of the
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  Susanston go. Wasn't it?
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  Yeah, it's incredible. And then, yeah, Bret Lee.
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  Bret Lee got a few runs, didn't they as well.
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  Yeah, he got a few, few handy runs.
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  I think it was Kasparovich who got out, yeah.
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  Was it was it even a wicket? Was it a wicket?
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  Time at the time I was not sure, but I think even the the more
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  you watch it now, you think if you had Snicko, you probably
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  would see it. But I guess the the kind of the
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  trajectory of the ball, the way it went down come he, he must
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  have hit it. The big thing was the, the hand
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  was off the the bat. That was the big one.
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  So yeah, theoretically no, but we don't care because we
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  suffered for 16 years and I, I actually had a lot of that
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  torment in the 90s with Warner McGraw.
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  So yeah, the mid 90s Australia dominated and then 2003 Michael
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  Vaughan actually took on Australia and scored like 600
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  runs down under. That was a good series in terms
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  of like we felt like we're a little bit competitive.
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  But yeah, 2005 was when it all opened up.
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  And yeah, thankfully it's been a bit more even over the last like
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  20 years. But yeah, before that, I think
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  the 2005 victory was the first one in 16 years.
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  So, yeah, I had listen to many of those defeats on Radio Down
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  Under as well. I remember Darren Goff getting a
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  hat trick once and like, the country went crazy the good old
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  days. And then, yeah, as you mentioned
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  before, Steve, Channel 4 had terrestrial coverage in 2005,
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  but before that it was the BBCI. Don't know whatever happened to
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  that corporation, but you know, yeah.
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  Save that for another pod, won't we?
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  Is that with the the legendary theme tune?
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  The BBC theme cricket theme tune?
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  Exactly. Yeah.
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  Do they still? Use the one they still use for
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  TMS, yeah. TMS, yeah, yeah.
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  But yeah, obviously with going back to 05 Ashes quickly, just
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  obviously that moment, right, that's when it really caught
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  fire across the nation because it made it one all.
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  And then I think next test was Old Trafford, right?
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  AJ in that series, Yeah, yeah, yeah.
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  Talk to me about that Old Trafford test.
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  Yeah, I mean, I mean it. Was it was skiving school?
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  No, I don't. I don't.
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  I don't have. To.
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  I don't really remember. Watching it live, I remember, I
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  remember the bot like watching the box set off it afterwards
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  that came out. But from what what I can sort of
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  piece together, England should have won that and Brett Lee sort
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  of held on for the final wicket. And the Aussies, the Aussies
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  celebrated like a win. And I remember Michael Vaughan,
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  you know, subsequently talking about that moment going look at
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  them, they're celebrating like the one we've got on here.
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  And then obviously what happened at Trent Bridge with Ashley
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  Giles, the king of Spain, no scoring the winning runs.
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  You know, again, we've talked about 11.
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  Nearly spun him to victory. No, that was a note that I
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  remember, what I remember where I was watching, that I was at a
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  family member's house. I think I.
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  Can't remember where it was, and yeah, I remember that was quite
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  nervy and Warren nearly doing it.
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  I mean, he took 40 wickets. Yeah, incredible to be on the
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  losing side taking 40 wickets. And I think he was like 35 or
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  36. I was towards the end of his
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  career as well. That's what was so superb about
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  it. And he's regarded as the best
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  spinner ever and and one of the greats in a in a JS top five
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  sporting sporting list right as well.
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  Yeah, yeah. I mean, again, that'll be
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  another part, but he's definitely my top five sportsman
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  of all time. I actually started bowling leg
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  spin as a result of the O5 Ashes, so I don't know if you
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  remember. It was like a on on BBC Sport.
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  There was like a Master Class series where they had a few
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  little videos and Shane Warne was talking through the leg
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  break, the googly, the flipper, the slider.
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  And as I said, I had a broken foot at the time.
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  So I was kind of there, one leg resting on a chair, the other
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  leg standing up, playing with my little brothers, just trying to
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  flip the ball out of the back of my hand.
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  And then when I went back to school after the summer, I'd,
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  yeah, turned into a leg spinner and never looked back.
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  Wow, that's where it came. From it was very inspiring, I
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  think just the way that there was no one else really doing
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  that in cricket. And I don't think there's ever
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  been anyone that has really done it since as well as being a
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  maverick on, on and off the pitch as well.
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  And just the, you know, the personality and the charisma him
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  in the Commons box as well. I think.
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  Yeah, he's he's all time great. Yeah, Legend.
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  Yeah. And then she said, George, we
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  were out in Australia 2 years ago and when you visit the MCG,
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  you've got the worn statue outside, right?
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  And yeah, just the MCG, which is unbelievable place.
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  The size of it is just incredible.
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  So yeah. I've been to big stadiums
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  before, but this is, yeah, bigger than Old Trafford, bigger
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  than Wembley and yeah, I just can't even imagine what it's
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  going to be like on Boxing Day with, yeah, possibly one or two,
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  one, Either way it's going. To say we're going to be
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  freelance, aren't we? We'll come on.
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  We'll see. But yeah, So, yeah, Fast forward
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  in Fast forward in 20 years from that 05 series, we're now in
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  2025 and yeah, gearing up to this Ashes series Down Under.
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  George, obviously you're buzzing.
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  You're going for it. I think, you know, it's very
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  much going to be front and centre of your mind.
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  I'm interested to hear like from Ash and AJ.
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  AJ will come to you first. Like what have you made of the
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  build up to this Ashley series? Yeah.
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  I mean, I think it's always, always quite sort of intense,
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  especially when it's over in Australia.
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  I mean, seeing some of the headlines today and over the
• 15:57
  last few weeks, I'm sure George will sort of see the newspapers
• 16:01
  a bit more when he's over there. But it they're quite I mean,
• 16:05
  they basically swear at the England players.
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  Yeah, you won't be allowed to say that in the UKI reckon.
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  So. I feel like it's quite intense
• 16:13
  over here. I.
• 16:15
  Think you know history right? Yeah, no, no, of course.
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  Of course. But come on, you can.
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  I think one of them called him a Dick.
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  Can we swear on this? Yeah, I think one one of the
• 16:26
  newspapers called Ben Stokes a Dick head and it's like, it's a
• 16:31
  bit much, come on, you don't need that, but.
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  You think I'm a condom? Mate.
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  Yeah, that sort of stuff is fine.
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  But you know, the Aussies, I think the pocket a bit bit too
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  far. But but anyway, I think over
• 16:42
  here, I think within the sort of cricket community, does it does,
• 16:47
  you know, sort of catch fire within the wider community?
• 16:49
  Probably not. And that's that's probably
• 16:51
  mainly due to the time difference.
• 16:53
  You know, not many people are going to be watching it from say
• 16:56
  2:00 onwards, So they'll catch a bit of it.
• 16:59
  I feel like when the Ashes is over here in the UK, you know,
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  the whole country does get behind it.
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  I think it's just a time difference and you know, if you
• 17:09
  if you're a hardcore fan, I'd say all of us are and quite a
• 17:13
  few people we know, you know, we'd be catching as much as we
• 17:16
  can if it, especially on the weekends and Friday nights.
• 17:20
  But yeah, no, I think, I think, I think also the fact it's on
• 17:24
  TNT, which is, you know, something that not everyone has
• 17:28
  access to. And I know Sky Sports is an
• 17:30
  issue. I'm sure we'll cover that lack
• 17:34
  of sort of terrestrial TV live coverage of Test match cricket.
• 17:38
  So obviously been an issue for 20 years now.
• 17:41
  But yeah, I mean, it's good the BBC have got a highlights
• 17:44
  package. But yeah, that's that's my sort
• 17:47
  of thoughts on on the build up really over here in the UK.
• 17:51
  Ash, what do you reckon? Yeah, I think for the cricketing
• 17:56
  world, it's being massive and being talked intensely probably
• 18:01
  for months. You know, even in the summer
• 18:03
  with that fantastic series against India, everyone still
• 18:07
  had half an eye on the Ashes because really this is like the
• 18:11
  final frontier for the baseball Ben Stokes era.
• 18:14
  I think McCullum has come out and said like, it's like the
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  series of their lives. So that's how much importance
• 18:21
  he's put on it. But I think fix say like the
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  general sporting environment, yeah, I think it's gone a little
• 18:29
  bit under the radar. Funnily enough, I did see Sky
• 18:32
  Sports Sunday supplement cover it a little bit on Sunday.
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  So yeah, I think across like, you know, the general population
• 18:41
  in this country, they won't have a clue what we're talking about.
• 18:46
  You know, they're probably more familiar with like home and away
• 18:48
  and neighbours, anything from down Andrew Kylie Minogue.
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  So yeah, for me, I've been like, you know, listening to, you
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  know, the the previews and and so forth.
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  So yeah, obviously I'm massively looking forward to it.
• 19:03
  What what's been your take, Steve, in terms of the coverage
• 19:07
  just generally outside of like the cricketing world?
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  Yeah. So I'll be honest with you,
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  like, if I wasn't kind of like, you know, tapped into the
• 19:15
  cricket network, I wouldn't even know this Ashes series is
• 19:18
  happening in all honesty. And look, there's a lot of shit
• 19:21
  in our newspapers at the moment in this country.
• 19:24
  You know, again, As for another podcast.
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  But like, I've not seen any, like, coverage on, you know,
• 19:29
  mainstream TV, Not that I watch a lot of mainstream TV.
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  I've got to be honest. My algorithms obviously are all
• 19:35
  more geared up for football, so I've just like, yeah, if I
• 19:39
  didn't know it was happening, I'd struggle to see like much
• 19:43
  publicity around. And I think it does kind of stem
• 19:47
  slightly from what AJ was talking about in terms of, you
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  know, it's on TNT Sport. Obviously the time difference, I
• 19:52
  think that does play a factor. But I just think, yeah, you
• 19:55
  know, given that 40,000 people are heading over over for it as
• 19:59
  well, like, you know, a lot of people look back at the days
• 20:01
  when. 2030 thousand went to support Ricky Hatton in Las
• 20:05
  Vegas, right? And the way that's talked about,
• 20:07
  I've not, you know, if I didn't listen to the podcast earlier,
• 20:10
  wouldn't have even known 40,000 have flown over.
• 20:12
  So I, I do think cricket are missing a trick a little bit.
• 20:16
  I don't know what the solution is.
• 20:17
  It's a very complex problem. George, any thoughts there?
• 20:21
  I'm inclined to disagree slightly with some of the
• 20:24
  points. I think the payable point is
• 20:27
  important, but also it's quite big at the moment in the news
• 20:30
  about how people are watching football.
• 20:33
  The people who know how to watch a 3:00 PM football game will
• 20:37
  also. Know how to watch?
• 20:40
  Of course not, but the people who you know, know how to do
• 20:43
  that would know how to do it for cricket as well.
• 20:46
  However, I think the time zone probably is the more pertinent
• 20:50
  issue here is that you're not going to get many casual, you
• 20:53
  know, casual floating voters getting up at 2:30 on Friday
• 20:57
  morning to watch the first ball of the Ashes on a work day if
• 21:01
  they're not really die hard cricket fans.
• 21:04
  And I do also think that possibly the build up has been
• 21:08
  an issue, you know, in the O 5 Ashes, using that as an example,
• 21:14
  we had a whole summer of ODIs before that with I think a three
• 21:17
  match series, just us in Australia.
• 21:19
  Because I remember again, I was sat with my foot in a cast where
• 21:23
  I think we're playing the first, first match of that three match
• 21:27
  series. And it was the 77 bombings and
• 21:30
  it was. And then before that we had I
• 21:32
  think A10 match. See it was with Bangladesh and
• 21:35
  Australia US as well. Didn't Peterson have a big
• 21:39
  performance in one of those one day games?
• 21:41
  That's. When he really cemented his
• 21:44
  spot, I think in, you know, the Ashes reckoning.
• 21:48
  But yeah, we had a big build up in the home summer.
• 21:50
  Whereas now we've we've finished our home summer amazing 5 Test
• 21:53
  series against India and then kind of nothing and then we've
• 21:58
  had a couple of white ball games against New Zealand.
• 22:01
  You don't think the public followed the New Zealand ADI
• 22:03
  series? Well, I mean, not, not
• 22:07
  massively. No one's really getting up at
• 22:09
  silly o'clock for that. You might have, you know, caught
• 22:12
  a, you know, slight BBC headline in the morning on your way to
• 22:15
  work, but you know, no one's getting out of bed for that.
• 22:19
  I don't really know how you, how you remedy that because you
• 22:21
  obviously want them to be on the right time zone.
• 22:23
  You want them to get acclimatised, but it's hard.
• 22:26
  It's hard to try and gear people up for it.
• 22:30
  But, you know, like the the football World Cup next year,
• 22:32
  they're going to have games that are starting after midnight.
• 22:35
  And there's been a lot of chat about, you know, pub licencing
• 22:40
  hours are going to be extended. You know, could they be doing
• 22:43
  the same thing for cricket, you know, extending the licence a
• 22:47
  bit So, you know, a pub can put on at least the first session
• 22:50
  from, you know, 12 till 2:30 or 3:00 in the morning.
• 22:54
  At least try and you know, boost the economy a bit and give
• 22:57
  people something to enjoy at Christmas.
• 23:00
  I think, you know, if Keir Starmer maybe was a cricket fan
• 23:03
  rather than a football fan, you mean Arsenal might be getting
• 23:07
  it. Maybe Rishi would have done it.
• 23:11
  He would have extended the opening hours for for letting
• 23:14
  people watch a bit of the Ashes in the pubs.
• 23:17
  Yeah, no, that's fair. And maybe, you know, it will
• 23:20
  capture the front pages a bit more when the actual series gets
• 23:23
  going, right. So, you know, it's not started
• 23:26
  yet. So yeah, it'll be interesting to
• 23:27
  see once it starts how much coverage it gets, I think.
• 23:30
  Yeah, absolutely. The time difference is massive.
• 23:33
  So yeah, I guess let's let's get into it then in terms of this
• 23:36
  series. So, Ash, how are England shaping
• 23:40
  up heading into this series? That's a good question.
• 23:44
  There's been a lot of talk about the warm up in preparation for
• 23:49
  the series because effectively England played against
• 23:52
  themselves last week and that's the only prep game that they've
• 23:56
  had. Not sure if you've heard Ben
• 23:58
  Stakes quotes about former pundits also a pundits the next
• 24:02
  players has been. Has been, yeah.
• 24:04
  Because the cricketing schedule, as George touched upon, is far,
• 24:10
  far more busier these days. You know, if you're going from a
• 24:13
  Test series, you know, straight into ODIs to T20 franchise
• 24:17
  cricket. So the calendar is packed.
• 24:21
  Interestingly, I don't know what the boys thought So or Steve,
• 24:25
  your thoughts on it. You know, funnily enough,
• 24:27
  Australia, they've been playing white ball cricket as well
• 24:30
  against India. And I've heard absolutely
• 24:33
  nothing about the Australians like being undercooked.
• 24:38
  I know quite a few of the Australian players are playing,
• 24:42
  you know, Shield cricket, which is their former county cricket.
• 24:45
  But yeah, I do think there's a a lot of talk whether it's a good
• 24:50
  thing or not. I mean, you actually listen to
• 24:53
  the has beens. There's some of them who've
• 24:55
  played like 7-8 matches like the, you know, these are like
• 24:58
  warm up matches. It's made no difference and we
• 25:00
  get fun 4 nil. I think a lot of the reason why
• 25:04
  it's talked about is because the last time we won down under in
• 25:08
  2010, eleven, I think they had like free games.
• 25:12
  The likes of Kirk Trot, Peterson all probably got runs under
• 25:16
  their belt, but that's probably just more coincidence.
• 25:20
  So if you look at the way you know, this team plays cricket,
• 25:26
  I'm reticent to use bass ball as a term because I know Brenda
• 25:29
  McCallum and Ben States hates it.
• 25:31
  I think it was actually NASA who's saying he coined the
• 25:34
  phrase. I think it was COVID year or
• 25:37
  maybe 21. But let's just use it because it
• 25:40
  just kind of like summarises the philosophy of which, you know,
• 25:45
  this team likes to play cricket. I don't think they need like,
• 25:49
  you know, 4-5 games because the philosophy is about clear effort
• 25:54
  to play the cricket they want to.
• 25:55
  So that's, you know, whether batting freely, you know, not
• 25:59
  leaving a ball like Ben Duckett tends to or, you know, bowling
• 26:03
  bounces, you know, that's what this team does.
• 26:06
  You know, they play with utter conviction.
• 26:08
  So in terms of the summer, we had a great series against India
• 26:13
  and that was 22. And that's the thing.
• 26:17
  This is an entertaining team. This is the critical thing for
• 26:21
  me. Like I've watched many are
• 26:23
  England team, even, you know, successful ones like the 2005
• 26:26
  team and that ten team. But in terms of entertainment,
• 26:31
  you, you cannot complain. Yeah, I think it's going to be a
• 26:37
  little bit like United. We're going to, we're going to
• 26:39
  see some highs and we're going to see some absolute lows, and
• 26:43
  the critical part will be what's in between all that.
• 26:48
  George, like to the casual cricket fans out there, do you
• 26:51
  want to explain what Baz Ball is?
• 26:52
  And yeah, what you make of that approach going into this series?
• 26:56
  So I guess it probably makes sense to, I guess explain what
• 27:00
  Test cricket was before Baz Ball.
• 27:05
  You know, if you were, you know, happy to bat for two days and,
• 27:09
  you know, finished on 450 runs, 500 runs, you'd call that a good
• 27:14
  day's cricket, even if you go in at three runs and over.
• 27:17
  Whereas with kind of Brendan McCullum and Ben Stokes it was
• 27:21
  we don't need 6 sessions to get this.
• 27:24
  We've got players that are good enough.
• 27:26
  We know that we can back ourselves if we give the players
• 27:28
  the freedom to go out there and try and do it in half the time,
• 27:32
  go at six and over. Yeah, I think that was Ashley
• 27:36
  mentioned India was in or post COVID, we had the rearranged
• 27:42
  India game and that I think was the first Basil Test and Johnny
• 27:44
  Bairstow and Joe Root were just. Like.
• 27:48
  Yeah, I think, I think, you know, previously 1/4 innings
• 27:50
  chase of 250 was seen as, you know, almost insurmountable,
• 27:55
  whereas they go, you know what, we're going to do this in 40
• 27:57
  overs. And it's kind of about giving
• 28:00
  those players the beliefs to go out and do it.
• 28:02
  So someone like Zach Crawley, he was listening to something
• 28:04
  earlier and said, you know, he's only got 5 Test entries, the
• 28:07
  average is like 30 or something. But they know that he's got the
• 28:11
  skill set that can, you know, get under their skin but also
• 28:14
  dominate bowlers in certain conditions.
• 28:16
  It helps that he's a massive tool batsman.
• 28:18
  Probably some we've not really seen since KP in terms of
• 28:21
  stature. But in previous regimes, they'd
• 28:24
  have gone, you're averaging 30, you haven't scored a century.
• 28:26
  And however long you're out, we're going to get someone from,
• 28:29
  you know, the county circuit who's got loads of hundreds, B
• 28:31
  scores at 2 1/2 and over. Whereas with basketball, it's
• 28:34
  about, yeah, instilling that confidence and knowing that if
• 28:37
  you go out and try and go with the game plan, your place is
• 28:41
  safe. You don't have to worry about
• 28:42
  playing for your average or playing for your place.
• 28:44
  And I think AJ, you mentioned Rob Key earlier with his double
• 28:47
  century. I think I'm pretty sure he got
• 28:48
  dropped not long after that because he was just playing for
• 28:51
  himself, He wasn't playing for the team.
• 28:53
  So I think that, yeah, that mentality that they've
• 28:56
  instilled, like, so, yeah. So winning mentality is a +1.
• 29:00
  Not sure I fully subscribe to, you know, moral victories.
• 29:03
  I think that's maybe taken a bit too far or saying that, you
• 29:06
  know, other teams are copying us now.
• 29:07
  When you've had players like, say, WAG, who, you know, was
• 29:11
  doing basketball before, you know, basketball was a thing, I
• 29:14
  think, yeah, people have done this before, but maybe not.
• 29:19
  For a. 2-3 year extended period. And yeah, I don't know if I've
• 29:25
  maybe put off the floating voters with the slightly
• 29:29
  rambling answer to your question, but yeah, I think in
• 29:32
  short, it's, yeah, it's more about kind of the mindset and
• 29:35
  the attitudes being positive rather than being, you know, I'm
• 29:39
  happy to, you know, take 6 dots because I want to protect my
• 29:42
  wicket. It's actually I'm going to try
• 29:44
  and see how many times I can attack them and how many runs I
• 29:46
  can get in these 6 balls. Yeah.
• 29:48
  And I think this actually speaks to what we were talking about
• 29:51
  earlier as well. Like, is there an element, AJ,
• 29:53
  do you think, where they've tried to make cricket more
• 29:56
  entertaining for the masses? Is that part of the philosophy?
• 29:59
  Which is 100%. I think Brendan Mcclellan's on
• 30:02
  record saying that, you know, he wants the crowd to be
• 30:07
  entertained and that's the big thing.
• 30:08
  You know, cricket is competing against football in the UK, is
• 30:12
  competing against rugby just in a sporting sense.
• 30:16
  But in an entertainment and a wider sense, it's compete
• 30:18
  against theatre, the cinema, you know, staying in, watching
• 30:22
  Netflix, all that sort of stuff. AJ Anthony Joshua versus Jake
• 30:26
  Paul is competing competing against.
• 30:28
  That's that's the, that's the composition that crickets
• 30:31
  within. So just touching on that and I
• 30:33
  know that the financial, the financial two aspects of
• 30:36
  cricket, I know like funding for cricket is, you know, it's not
• 30:39
  as big as other sports. Like just touching on that fight
• 30:42
  there, Anthony Joshua versus Jake Paul, right?
• 30:44
  That's going to generate like 100 million plus dollars for one
• 30:48
  night of boxing. Crickets missing that type of
• 30:53
  proper money, wouldn't you say? I know the IPL has got, you
• 30:56
  know, a lot of funding and but yeah, this cricket.
• 30:59
  Yeah, they're trying to bring it in and they've got investors
• 31:01
  into the 100. And that's, it's such a
• 31:04
  convoluted and difficult discussion because you can't
• 31:07
  have investors without giving them something.
• 31:10
  And we've essentially sold them a month's worth of cricket.
• 31:13
  We've sold them an England, you know, part of the English
• 31:16
  summer. So you can't, you know, get 100
• 31:19
  million for the. I don't even know the team's
• 31:22
  names, Manchester Originals or whoever it is.
• 31:25
  You know, you can't get that without giving them something in
• 31:28
  return. And unfortunately, it's going to
• 31:30
  be 3 1/2, four weeks worth of the English summer that, you
• 31:34
  know, that these investors are going to have.
• 31:36
  So you can you're going to have, you know, that's, you know, back
• 31:42
  to the point of, you know, entertainment.
• 31:44
  It's all going to come down to the razzmatazz of the IPL and
• 31:47
  the other leagues around the world.
• 31:49
  That's going to be the big sort of ticket, big selling ticket,
• 31:53
  you know, come and watch sixes and wickets and stumps flying
• 31:57
  everywhere. And that's that's where baseball
• 32:00
  comes into its own, not just in a a test arena, but you can see
• 32:05
  it, you know, translate into the hopefully translate into the one
• 32:08
  day side and the T20 side. Now Brendan Mccollum's can be in
• 32:12
  charge of the white ball stuff as well.
• 32:15
  Yeah, so let's let's get into the kind of like the the line up
• 32:18
  we're expecting then for England.
• 32:19
  So Ash, top order for England then I know the 12 man squad has
• 32:24
  been released. So talk to me about the top
• 32:27
  three, top four that make up the England batting line up.
• 32:31
  Yeah, so in terms of the openers, I don't think there's
• 32:33
  any surprises there. Ben Duckett, who had a good
• 32:36
  summer, you know, he'll obviously open up with Zach
• 32:39
  Crawley. As George touched upon.
• 32:42
  Zach Crawley's probably a bit of a debate in terms of if you
• 32:46
  looked at just his form alone, you know, does he warrant a
• 32:50
  place in the team? He's a little bit like Ollie
• 32:54
  Pope who's in that #3 where he tends to get runs when he needs
• 32:58
  it, like when, you know, he, he needs to score.
• 33:02
  So I think the, the talk obviously before, especially the
• 33:06
  warm up game that England had, was Ollie Pope's position and
• 33:10
  was he going to get him? But because he's got like 190 on
• 33:13
  the board, he's, you know, going to be in Joe Rue, the best
• 33:18
  batsman in the world, period. You know, this Australian
• 33:22
  recording. No, yeah, that's a pod in
• 33:27
  itself. Definitely not for me.
• 33:29
  I mean, I grew up in the 90s, so I'd put Tendulkar and Lara head
• 33:34
  of him. But certainly this era of like
• 33:37
  Joe Ru Kohli, Steve Smith, Kane Williamson, I think he's
• 33:44
  certainly Test cricket, which I regard as the, yeah, the Fab 4
• 33:48
  Test cricket. What was that for you, George?
• 33:50
  Is he, Is he? That sounded like a leading
• 33:52
  question. Is he, is he the GOAT for you?
• 33:54
  I think he's, he's currently #2 if he was to retire now, he'd be
• 33:58
  #2 behind Tendulkar. But I think a few more years, I
• 34:05
  think Joe J Tendulkar. Lara, where's Intermammal Huck?
• 34:09
  Yeah, no, he's he's nowhere near that conversation, I'm afraid.
• 34:12
  Top 20? Maybe not, definitely not GOAT,
• 34:15
  but for me it's got to be Lara. Top 20.
• 34:17
  No, no, you're talking no. No, no, no, no, no, no.
• 34:22
  Jesus, I'm not my marbles yet. But no.
• 34:24
  Back to your boys, man. Yeah, yeah, they're not.
• 34:27
  They're sorry, mate. No, but yeah, no.
• 34:30
  Lara was. Lara's the one for me, I'm
• 34:32
  afraid. He's, he's probably the best
• 34:34
  batsman I've ever seen. And obviously I've caught him
• 34:37
  towards the back end of his career, but he'll, he'll, he'll,
• 34:42
  you know he is buzz ball, you know he will kill the game if he
• 34:45
  wanted to within his session and 1/2.
• 34:49
  I do want to talk about Joe Reed's record though in
• 34:51
  Australia because obviously that's probably been discussed
• 34:54
  for the last two years, so like since we've.
• 34:57
  Never scored a century, right? Yeah.
• 34:59
  Average Joe in the Aussie papers.
• 35:01
  Today, yeah, so is average. Fine.
• 35:04
  For the Aussie papers. I mean, it is interesting
• 35:08
  though, because I remember the days when, you know, like for
• 35:12
  example, example, Sachin can get 100 at Lords.
• 35:15
  I think Lara don't think he ever got 100 at Lords.
• 35:19
  And I remember like the Sky pundits back in the day always
• 35:22
  used to talk about the likes of Kumar Sangakkara's record in
• 35:26
  England and Joe Wardner. So I do find it funny how
• 35:30
  particularly like Sky Sports pundits are now kind of like
• 35:33
  watering down. You know why this is not a big
• 35:36
  thing. It probably isn't because if Joe
• 35:40
  Reed scores runs, irrelevant of 100 or not, England are going to
• 35:43
  win Test matches it down under. I think he will break the the
• 35:48
  duck, so to speak. I think he will get the the
• 35:51
  tonne because he's just in such superb form since since COVID,
• 35:57
  you know, he's he's tweaked his technique and you know, he's
• 36:01
  obviously scored a bucket load of runs in all formats as well.
• 36:05
  So I do actually think, you know, we're good there.
• 36:09
  And then a JS mate, Harry Brooke.
• 36:13
  He's you know, he is the bright light and like he is the
• 36:16
  sensation, you know, and Jamie Smith, obviously wicket keeper.
• 36:22
  He's shown now in the summer that he can score on.
• 36:25
  So it batting wise, Steve, the runs are there.
• 36:29
  I think George has touched upon it with the way he's explained
• 36:32
  Baz Ball as well, that we'll get the runs quickly.
• 36:37
  And I think a lot of probably how this series is going to boil
• 36:41
  down is fitness, fitness of the fast bowlers because, you know,
• 36:46
  Woody, Mark Wood, you know, he's not played cricket I think since
• 36:51
  February since his like knee surgery that he had Joff Archer,
• 36:57
  you know, as I only played like, I think 15 Test matches since
• 37:02
  winning the World Cup in 2019. So that is kind of like the area
• 37:06
  we're going to have to see how England do because like without
• 37:10
  the express pace, then we're, you know, relying on the likes
• 37:13
  of Gus Atkinson. And IJ is a big fan of his cast
• 37:17
  that, you know, these types of players.
• 37:19
  And obviously you look at the Australian side in terms of
• 37:22
  bowlers, they're missing that two of their best because of
• 37:25
  fitness. So I think fitness is going to
• 37:27
  be crucial over the five Test match here, especially for Ben
• 37:31
  Stakes. You know he because he does tend
• 37:34
  to pick up injuries as well. I don't know what the other lads
• 37:36
  think. Just on, sorry, I was just going
• 37:39
  to say just on Gus Atkinson, he's not played a lot of Test
• 37:42
  cricket as well recently in the last sort of year or so, and in
• 37:47
  his opening few Tests, it was noticeable in the second
• 37:51
  innings. He dropped from an average of
• 37:54
  87808687 miles an hour average speeds from the first innings to
• 38:02
  the high 70s, early 80s and the second innings, which is a
• 38:05
  massive drop at that level of cricket.
• 38:07
  That's a concern of mine if he can keep those speeds consistent
• 38:13
  because I think Gus Atkinson is fantastic.
• 38:16
  He's got, I think he's super. I think he's got a big career
• 38:19
  ahead of him. I think in this series it will
• 38:22
  be massive for us if he can keep his speeds consistent.
• 38:25
  He'll hit the deck hard. He'll he'll nip it back away
• 38:31
  from the left handers. I think he'll be, I think he'll
• 38:33
  be great for England if he stays injury free and keep his speeds
• 38:38
  consistent, yeah. Yeah, I think with kind of the
• 38:42
  injuries and and fitness concerns, I think we've got 7
• 38:47
  genuinely good, quick fast bowlers that we will kind of
• 38:52
  almost have like a rotating cast because Arch is not playing 5,
• 38:55
  Woods not playing five. I'd also be hesitant to say
• 38:59
  that, you know, Stokes will bowl in all 5 Tests.
• 39:03
  We will pick and choose, rest and rotate, manage injuries
• 39:07
  hopefully as best as we can to ensure that we have 3 or 4 or
• 39:11
  possibly 5 as we might open in the first Test with really good
• 39:15
  genuinely fast bowlers that are fit, that can come in, run in,
• 39:20
  do 4-5 over spells, rest, 4-5 over spells, rest and hopefully
• 39:26
  blow away this kind of shaky Australian top order with with
• 39:34
  these bowlers. But they are quite a few of them
• 39:36
  are untested in Australia, which is possibly the concern.
• 39:41
  But then at the same time some of their batsmen are untested at
• 39:44
  top level so. From their bowlers as well,
• 39:47
  yeah, yeah, I mean, they don't a lot of them have not played
• 39:51
  much, much Test level cricket and definitely not a lot of
• 39:54
  Ash's cricket, just I mentioned. The spin lads.
• 39:59
  I don't think Ashley plays the first one.
• 40:01
  Agreed I think with the. 3rd, 4th and 5th Test, I think
• 40:06
  they're in the space about 2 1/2 weeks.
• 40:07
  There's like 3 or 4 days in between those Tests.
• 40:10
  That is when we'll probably and also the Melbourne and Sydney
• 40:13
  are kind of more conducive for for spin than the earlier
• 40:17
  grounds are. That's where we'll see maybe
• 40:19
  three or three fast bowlers and Ben Stokes plus a spinner.
• 40:24
  So yeah, I think he'll he'll come into his own at some point,
• 40:28
  but I don't think definitely not the first, first Test.
• 40:32
  Yeah, I'm just looking at some of the stats in terms of
• 40:35
  experience that you touched on it.
• 40:36
  They're like, yeah, I don't. Mark Woods got 37 Tests.
• 40:39
  He's the most experienced bowler.
• 40:41
  The rest of them, less, less than 15, Surprising, less than
• 40:45
  20, less than 20 Tests. So yeah, a lot.
• 40:48
  Of concerns there, I think did he break a record for like most
• 40:51
  Tests in his day, most wickets in his debut year and then he
• 40:55
  had a quiet second year because of injury.
• 40:59
  So yeah, I would I think he'll play 3 or 4 and hopefully can,
• 41:03
  you know, rattle off quite a few wickets.
• 41:05
  But I also think what's good about our bowling attack is
• 41:09
  apart from Bashir, they can all bat like Atkinson's got a Test
• 41:12
  century. I'm pretty sure cast showed that
• 41:15
  he can he can bat a bit against India.
• 41:19
  Joffre has finally started to show that kind of, you know, he
• 41:22
  was talented as an all rounder when he first joined the Test
• 41:25
  set up. He never really delivered
• 41:27
  initially, but in the in the last kind of, you know, couple
• 41:29
  of months, he's started to show that he actually can bat a bit.
• 41:32
  So we can bat really deep to 10 or 11.
• 41:34
  And I think that will be important, especially if our top
• 41:37
  order, our middle order are going with this bass ball
• 41:39
  approach. They're going to try and score
• 41:40
  quickly, take it to the Australian quick bowlers if
• 41:44
  they're fit. But the fact that we can bat
• 41:47
  deep is good. I think I heard earlier on TMS
• 41:50
  podcast that Mitchell Stark, let's slip that he's going to be
• 41:55
  batting 8 in this first Test, which is a long tail.
• 41:59
  If you think he's a, he's a number 9 #10 if he's batting 8
• 42:04
  and you've got a field behind him.
• 42:07
  And bearing in mind that that Australian top order is a bit
• 42:09
  shaky and they don't have Hazelwood and Cummins to
• 42:15
  potentially bail them out, it could be very interesting if we
• 42:19
  can rack up a big score to their against their depleted bowling
• 42:23
  attack. And then their batsmen have
• 42:25
  nothing really in response and we've got four or five fast
• 42:28
  bowlers that are fit and rotating raring to go.
• 42:33
  Yeah, there's reason to be optimistic.
• 42:35
  The bowling sectors like on paper like concern me a little
• 42:38
  bit because I know you, you know, you're saying that the
• 42:40
  Australian batting lineup isn't too strong, but still, you know
• 42:44
  the old adage in cricket you need to take 20 wickets to win a
• 42:47
  Test match, right? And the Ashes down under for an
• 42:50
  England player is as hard as it gets, right That you know, the
• 42:54
  media coverage over there, crowds will be intent.
• 42:57
  So looking on paper that lack of experience, like thinking back
• 43:00
  to 2010 eleven, we have to touch on it, right, Winning three one
• 43:05
  down under I think is, you know, the best England performance
• 43:07
  we've seen very, very strong in the bowling attack and I know
• 43:12
  the Australian back back batting lineup was strong.
• 43:15
  AJ, would you not? Say, I think I'll jump in there
• 43:18
  just because I want to make the exact same point earlier.
• 43:21
  Broad was when injured early in that series and there was a
• 43:26
  rotating cast of Finn, who was maybe early 20s at the time,
• 43:32
  president, who was relatively untested in a way conditioned,
• 43:36
  and Chris Trembler. So it's sort of.
• 43:39
  Similar point. Have you seen Chris Tremlett
• 43:41
  these days? Oh yeah, he like he looks like
• 43:45
  the Mountain from Game of Thrones.
• 43:47
  He is absolutely enormous. Yeah, yeah, he he before that
• 43:53
  series that went out to Germany for a training camp and Chris
• 43:57
  Tremlett broke one of Jimmy Anderson's ribs in a boxing,
• 44:03
  like a boxing sparring fight. I don't know who put 6 foot 7,
• 44:08
  maybe Chris Trembler and Jimmy Anderson together, but I suppose
• 44:11
  not many people. Sounds like the Anthony Joshua
• 44:13
  Jake Paul match. Jimmy's a taller so he would
• 44:16
  have not had that many options. He's not 6 foot 7.
• 44:20
  No, he's like he's 6 foot plus. Yeah, I'd I'd have given him KP.
• 44:25
  Not because of the high similarity, you know.
• 44:29
  But but he was was that the was that the bowling lineup that,
• 44:33
  you know, played the majority of that 2010, 2011 series?
• 44:36
  Yeah, there was Swan. It would have been Swan,
• 44:38
  Anderson, Broad, I think injured in the second test, I'm going to
• 44:42
  say. And then Trembler, Finn and
• 44:46
  Bresnan were rotated and I think got dropped for the third Test
• 44:51
  at the MCGI think. And then I think Bresnan came
• 44:55
  in. But I mean it, it gives me sort
• 44:58
  of similar vibes to what we've got at the minute.
• 45:00
  There'll be a bit of a rotating cast with, with the England
• 45:04
  bowlers. And I think all of them, you
• 45:08
  know, they can come in and do a job.
• 45:09
  You know, we've not really touched on Josh, Josh Tong and I
• 45:13
  think, I think he, I think he's really good.
• 45:15
  I think he had a He looked. Very good.
• 45:17
  Some of the Indian matches, yeah, very good.
• 45:21
  Yeah, I think, I think we've got a really good attack and I think
• 45:25
  as George says, if Stoke stays fit, that's that's massive.
• 45:29
  I thought he broke, bowled brilliantly in the India series.
• 45:32
  I know, I know. Steve was a big fan of Ben, Ben
• 45:35
  Stokes bowling when we saw. Too much though.
• 45:40
  Steve wanted to ball into the ground till his hamstrings and
• 45:43
  knees gave up on him. Old Trafford I.
• 45:46
  Think he was doing like 1011 over spells and and then he can
• 45:49
  and then he can bowl in the last one and folks did his, you know,
• 45:53
  dissipate his shoulder. So we were kind of two bowlers
• 45:56
  down some fortune. So I hope with, you know, this
• 45:59
  new approach, potentially having 5 fast bowlers, including Ben
• 46:02
  Stokes, it means that he can do 4 overs and then just go rest
• 46:06
  because the last thing we want is to lose him as an all rounder
• 46:09
  because Australia don't have that.
• 46:11
  They don't have someone that can take 5 wickets and score a
• 46:13
  century. So yeah, we've.
• 46:16
  Stats from. Ten level.
• 46:19
  Series. Yeah.
• 46:22
  Jimmy got 24 wickets and I do remember him getting the ball to
• 46:27
  reverse and you know, because. That's like that's my memory
• 46:30
  like and Swan as well. He did how many days he was.
• 46:33
  Class. That's what I mean.
• 46:34
  Like these? 15 yeah, yeah, third highest.
• 46:38
  With expensive was Finnish is Finnish, he's been up there.
• 46:43
  Finney got 14 in three matches, Trembler That was the 117
• 46:50
  wickets in three matches, so the.
• 46:54
  Last three, wasn't it? Yeah, I definitely remember him
• 46:56
  playing in in Melbourne and Sydney.
• 46:59
  But yeah, like as AJ touched upon, like the wickets were
• 47:05
  spread across like, you know, I guess like that that little army
• 47:09
  of of bowlers and. It feels like you've got, you've
• 47:13
  got both there, you've got the experience like class mixed in
• 47:16
  with the youth. Do we do we have that kind of
• 47:19
  like experience and you know, class to go with the the
• 47:23
  freshness, Would you say, George?
• 47:25
  I would prefer to have a more experienced spinner.
• 47:29
  Like if we could have prime Graham Swan in this team, it'd
• 47:32
  be a joke because he can hold down an end.
• 47:34
  Actually, I don't think can hold down an end.
• 47:36
  Of interest, George, who would be your spinner if you could
• 47:40
  pick anyone currently? From what I've seen from Bethel,
• 47:44
  I'm not convinced. I think will Jax possibly, but
• 47:50
  it's tough because they've got to do in this modern day.
• 47:54
  You have to do more than just be a spin bowler.
• 47:56
  You have to be able to, you know, Bethel, you know, he could
• 47:59
  he could open in another in another, you know, couple of
• 48:03
  years time. He could very well be doing that
• 48:05
  kind of role. So yeah, it's it's tough.
• 48:08
  Could Joe Root do a job? What about poor Jack?
• 48:12
  He's just doing podcasts now. Like not, not a shout just
• 48:15
  because I think, you know, you can hold their hands.
• 48:17
  Up They made a decision a few years ago.
• 48:19
  I think it was a way series in India when we had bosses.
• 48:25
  Oh yeah, we had Bashir, we had Tom.
• 48:27
  Was it Tom something? Tom Hartley.
• 48:29
  Tom Hartley, yeah, Hartley, yeah, he basically came out of
• 48:32
  nowhere and they were like, yeah, you're going to you're
• 48:33
  going to come to India. He was working at his parents
• 48:35
  garden centre or something the previous summer and it's like he
• 48:38
  comes out and then he gets he gets smashed around, but he gets
• 48:40
  a Pfeiffer. Haven't really heard much from
• 48:43
  him since. We haven't really.
• 48:46
  I think they've they've put their, you know, hat on Bashir.
• 48:50
  So I think it probably is just it is going to be Bashir because
• 48:53
  if they were to go with anyone else, it would kind of make the
• 48:56
  last two years seem a little bit pointless.
• 48:58
  So I think they're going to have to stick to their guns.
• 49:01
  And I think as I mentioned earlier, if the first Test isn't
• 49:04
  for him later on in the series, he I think will have a role to
• 49:09
  play, especially when you've got the quicker turn around time
• 49:12
  between the 3rd, 4th and 5th Tests.
• 49:14
  You'll need someone that can try and hold down an end.
• 49:17
  You'll need someone that can give the the quicks a break.
• 49:20
  Especially if say Stokes can't bowl or we only have three
• 49:23
  frontline fast bowlers plus Bashir, then yeah, hopefully you
• 49:28
  can. He can have a job to do.
• 49:30
  Yeah, just just picking back up on the point about Ben Stokes,
• 49:33
  Obviously this guy is just a match winner.
• 49:35
  He's he's got The X Factor. He I think he's type of player
• 49:39
  that can pull in that casual market.
• 49:41
  You see the stuff he's done in in all formats of the game
• 49:44
  really. Just to clarify, I think AJ was
• 49:47
  saying that making the point about the the Test this summer
• 49:52
  at Old Trafford when England played India, they were two nil
• 49:54
  up going into that match. Ash rocked up to Manchester,
• 49:57
  says I've got a spare ticket for Old Trafford.
• 50:00
  Do you want to come? I'm like, yeah, OK, head down
• 50:04
  England, you know, they were, they were poised quite nicely
• 50:06
  and they couldn't just they couldn't to make that
• 50:08
  breakthrough, right, to get into the winning position.
• 50:10
  And purely from a selfish perspective, I wanted Ben Stokes
• 50:13
  to risk his life, put his body on the line and take take the
• 50:17
  crucial wicked. So it's purely a selfish
• 50:19
  perspective. Wasn't thinking about the Ashes.
• 50:23
  So yeah, AJ, talk to me, Australia, talk to me about
• 50:27
  their batting order. Yeah, I think Australia are in
• 50:31
  trouble with their batting and their bowling, unfortunately.
• 50:34
  It's not much. You're talking about AJ?
• 50:38
  Yeah, sorry, I'm trying to appeal to The Australian.
• 50:41
  Wicket keeper, Decent wicket keeper or.
• 50:43
  Yeah, Kerry's, yeah, Kerry's really good.
• 50:46
  But I think, I think you've got trouble at the top.
• 50:50
  I know Quadras got a double century earlier this year that
• 50:53
  sort of skewed his starts, but apart from that he's not done
• 50:55
  much for sort of 18 months really.
• 50:58
  Sri Lanka as well. Earlier about Khawaja had what
• 51:06
  off the first Test? He'll have had six different
• 51:07
  partners in 16 tests. Yeah, I mean, so.
• 51:11
  Since David Warner retired. Partners or I?
• 51:14
  Don't know. I don't know what goes on off
• 51:16
  the field. Yeah, in terms of opening
• 51:19
  partners since Warner retired, they struggled to find that
• 51:23
  balance at the top. Whereas we have a settled
• 51:25
  opening partnership. I think we've they've broken
• 51:28
  records for how quickly or how many times we've got to 100 for
• 51:32
  for nothing and we will need a couple of those, yeah.
• 51:35
  Exactly. And I think they've got they've
• 51:37
  got an O minus lab of Shane's come into form.
• 51:39
  So possibly he'll drop in at free and Cam Green will drop
• 51:43
  down just to strengthen that sort of lower order as you
• 51:48
  mentioned, George with a long tail with start at Cummins and
• 51:53
  Hazel or especially Cummins being out.
• 51:55
  Yeah, sounds like they won't play Webster either.
• 51:58
  So he's there all rounder and he might not be playing.
• 52:01
  Yeah, I quite like Bo Webster. He's not he's probably not a
• 52:05
  match winner, but I think he's it's right for him to go with
• 52:09
  minus is going to come in at 3:00 and then you sort of look
• 52:12
  at it and go Lab. A shame in format three if in
• 52:16
  decent enough format four. And yeah, Travis Head at 5
• 52:23
  doesn't sound too bad. But that opening partnership is
• 52:25
  a worry in the long tails, a bit of a worry.
• 52:30
  And then with the bowling starts going to have to carry the
• 52:34
  attack. Lion doesn't doesn't get as many
• 52:38
  wickets as he does in Australia as he does abroad, but he'll
• 52:42
  have to go through quite a few opens and Scott, Scott Bolen's
• 52:45
  got a great record. Well, got a really good record.
• 52:49
  Yes, actually. Lions got a good record in
• 52:51
  Perth. Was he OK?
• 52:53
  That's the highest wicket taker there in the last couple of
• 52:56
  years or something. I mean for the casuals.
• 52:59
  Or, you know, the fast bowlers. Yeah, just just for just to let
• 53:03
  the listeners know, like the venue, so traditionally it's
• 53:08
  been the Wacker, but yeah, now it's a new stadium which is
• 53:13
  actually an AFL stadium. So I think they played five test
• 53:18
  matches there. So yeah, it's it's it's
• 53:22
  different from that perspective. But yeah, I just heard like that
• 53:27
  record of his on that, on that particular stadium has been
• 53:32
  good. But yeah, I can't say I've been
• 53:35
  watching obviously all these Test matches that Australia
• 53:38
  being involved in. Guys, what's your thoughts on
• 53:40
  Cameron Green? Because I hear so much about
• 53:44
  him, especially from the Australian side.
• 53:46
  Like the talent is obviously there, but you know, it's a bit
• 53:50
  like United. It's like we need to see more
• 53:53
  evidence and results. Just wanted to get your thoughts
• 53:56
  because I hear so much about it and I'm just a bit like, yeah,
• 54:00
  you're OK, but are you as good as everyone, particularly on the
• 54:04
  Aussie side, say is? Yeah, I think, sorry, I was just
• 54:08
  going to say George, I think it's a push.
• 54:11
  I mean, this is just my opinion, but I think it's a push to call
• 54:13
  him an all rounder. I don't think he's a great ball.
• 54:17
  I don't think he's good enough to be considered an all rounder
• 54:21
  with his bowling. I think his battings, his
• 54:24
  battings good. But again, it's not sort of
• 54:29
  world class, you know, you're not putting it.
• 54:32
  He's not a #3 I don't see that he's a, he's a six, to be
• 54:36
  honest. That's, that's my opinion.
• 54:38
  But you know, maybe we'll see him sort of rise to the
• 54:41
  occasion. I think he's relatively young.
• 54:43
  Is he or am I getting that wrong?
• 54:45
  I think he's. Their only player that's under
• 54:47
  31 in in their squad. So he's a baby then?
• 54:51
  Compared to everyone else, I suppose, yeah.
• 54:54
  But yeah, I think he he'd have stress fracture in his back or
• 54:57
  something because he's missing for most of the last year.
• 55:01
  And he was kind of touted as, oh, this guy could be our all
• 55:04
  rounder, he could be our Ben Stokes.
• 55:05
  He can bat, he can bowl, be still too young to kind of be
• 55:09
  one or the other or be particularly excellent at one or
• 55:12
  the other. But with regards to their quite
• 55:16
  long tail, if you can have someone like Cameron Green that
• 55:19
  can bat and can bowl, it then gives you a bit more flexibility
• 55:22
  in the line up, you know, to have some more specialists in
• 55:26
  there. You're basically freeing up an
• 55:27
  extra spot for a specialist if he's 26.
• 55:31
  I just checked. Can I can I just pick back up on
• 55:34
  the top order because, you know, I think we're talking here like,
• 55:38
  you know, there's frailties in the Australian top order.
• 55:41
  Just looking at the stats. I know like some of these guys
• 55:43
  aren't in the best of form. Osman 84 tests average of 43.
• 55:48
  Pretty solid but. Nearly his age, isn't it?
• 55:52
  Yeah, experience. How much does experience play?
• 55:56
  But Labishin 58 Tests average of 46.
• 56:00
  It's pretty decent. Steve Smith.
• 56:02
  Brought down a lot over the last few years as well.
• 56:06
  Very well. On the form side, I understand
• 56:08
  that obviously, Steve, Steve Smith, we all know about his
• 56:11
  brilliant 119 Tests. It'll be his 120th Test on
• 56:14
  Friday when the series starts. Average of 56 driver's head
• 56:19
  tests 60, tests average of 41. So I'm seeing a lot of
• 56:25
  experience on paper and again, I know like these guys aren't in
• 56:28
  the best of form necessarily, but this is where the top
• 56:31
  sporting occasions are different to your everyday series.
• 56:35
  We see it in different sports, right?
• 56:37
  So then there's an element of form, yes, but it's like those
• 56:41
  big rivalries in football, right?
• 56:42
  It's sometimes it's a one off game or this is a one off
• 56:44
  series. So if these guys with the Aussie
• 56:47
  crowd behind them, you know, really tap into that, can you
• 56:52
  not see them pulling out the runs?
• 56:54
  Oh, no, absolutely I can. I can see Travis Head and Smith
• 56:58
  going on scoring runs. But I think form does come into
• 57:01
  it. You know, England generally
• 57:03
  better batters are in better Test form.
• 57:08
  I think that's that's fairly, fairly easy to say.
• 57:12
  And I think the England batting orders settled, I don't think
• 57:16
  there's any real debate about the openers, 34567 all picks
• 57:23
  itself and then the bowlers that can all hold the bat apart.
• 57:26
  As George said earlier, apart from Bashir, that can all hold
• 57:29
  the bat. Can't say that about Boland
• 57:32
  Lyon, you know, whoever comes in for Cummins and Hazelwood.
• 57:37
  I mean, Stark's not amazing with the bat.
• 57:41
  I mean, he can hold a bat, but you're not.
• 57:43
  He's one. He's at least one place too high
• 57:47
  without coming. Cummins is the one who can bat a
• 57:49
  bit. Yeah, I think they're going to
• 57:51
  miss him, not just for his bowling.
• 57:53
  Yeah, he won him I think the edge bust and test in the last
• 57:57
  Ashes series basically. And and you know, it's an issue,
• 58:02
  you know, I think England have got the advantage with the
• 58:04
  settled team to be honest. Yeah, the other, the other point
• 58:09
  I've I've heard mentioned as well is like, and I think as she
• 58:11
  touched on it earlier is like the lack of preparation slash
• 58:15
  climatisation. So I understand the England
• 58:18
  boys, they're only doing a bit of Nets in Perth.
• 58:23
  They've not played any. Have they played any practise
• 58:26
  games out in Australia? Just the one against an England.
• 58:29
  Another England team, right? Yeah, the Lions.
• 58:32
  And whereabouts was that test? Park or like a, you know, very
• 58:39
  local stadium, right? It wasn't of anything of
• 58:43
  magnitude like I think I've heard some journalists say,
• 58:47
  like, you know, it wasn't even that like warm up match pace.
• 58:50
  It was more kind of like like that, whatever that is, yeah.
• 58:57
  So I've heard that as like a, you know, a bit of a question
• 59:00
  mark essentially like, you know, how much, how much climatization
• 59:03
  they've done, George, you see that coming into it.
• 59:07
  I think when you've got players that are injury concerns or
• 59:12
  fitness concerns you don't, the last thing we would want is to
• 59:15
  injure them in a kind of high pace, high octane wall up game.
• 59:20
  You think if? You're like me with Ben Stokes
• 59:22
  at Old Trapper but that was a proper Test worth winning.
• 59:24
  It's not a warm up game, but. Yeah, you're still injured, but
• 59:27
  we'll we'll carry. On risk, anything and if the
• 59:30
  players are in, you know, good condition and you think that,
• 59:33
  you know, you can step up. I think players these days know
• 59:38
  what the ideal preparation is for themselves.
• 59:42
  And if the players or the coaching staff had any doubts
• 59:46
  about this being ideal preparation, they would have
• 59:49
  done it differently. I think they've chosen this, you
• 59:52
  know, deliberately. It's going to be a quite intense
• 59:55
  Test series, especially after the first two are out of the
• 59:59
  way. It's going to be, yeah, very
• 1:00:00
  intense. So I think trying to keep people
• 1:00:02
  as fresh as possible, knowing that they can do it when called
• 1:00:05
  upon, I think is not terrible preparation.
• 1:00:11
  So we'll have to have to wait and see, you know?
• 1:00:14
  Fruits in the pudding. We'll see at the end of the
• 1:00:15
  series. It'll be like they should play
• 1:00:16
  more warmer games. But I think actually.
• 1:00:19
  They were fresh enough and you know, we've gotten exactly how
• 1:00:22
  we wanted them in terms condition and in preparation and
• 1:00:26
  whatnot. I think that's where the
• 1:00:27
  philosophy is key though. You know, if it was like a team
• 1:00:31
  that was still coached by like Andy Flower, 100% there'll be
• 1:00:36
  warm up games. Duncan Fletcher, there's going
• 1:00:38
  to be warm up games. I do think it depends probably a
• 1:00:42
  little bit like on the team E Force and the coach, you know,
• 1:00:47
  obviously with Baz McCullum, to be fair, he coaches how he how
• 1:00:52
  he played his cricket, particularly the back end of his
• 1:00:54
  career when he was a batsman, he used to open for New Zealand,
• 1:00:59
  particularly in ODIs and that's how we play just like how the
• 1:01:04
  England play team now. So do you think the philosophy
• 1:01:08
  has a big part in it? And there's been some great
• 1:01:11
  documentaries about Ben Stakes in terms of his leadership
• 1:01:14
  qualities and what he wants to give the players in terms of
• 1:01:19
  like that environment, that clarity of thought to be able to
• 1:01:23
  do what they want. Because it's not always about
• 1:01:26
  just trying to whack the ball, which is made out a lot.
• 1:01:29
  You know, even in the India series in the summer, some of
• 1:01:33
  the boys, they dug in for the summer, their runs.
• 1:01:35
  So it's just more about clarity of four.
• 1:01:37
  So I think George talked about it like in the past, you've had
• 1:01:42
  England players, they can score hundreds and still be dumped.
• 1:01:46
  The point of this team is that if you score runs, as long as
• 1:01:50
  you try to get the runs in the way you want to get them, that's
• 1:01:54
  absolutely fine. So if you need to take a few
• 1:01:56
  more balls, that's no problem. You know it will.
• 1:02:00
  But to be fair to, you know, McCallum and Stokes, AJ said it,
• 1:02:07
  even though they some of these batsmen sometimes don't get the
• 1:02:11
  runs they, you know, they probably need.
• 1:02:13
  It's a settled 7. Like, apart from Molly Pope,
• 1:02:17
  they all know what they're going to be doing.
• 1:02:20
  We know ball one Zach Crawley is going to absolutely try and
• 1:02:23
  cream it through the covers. Exactly.
• 1:02:28
  What? You want.
• 1:02:29
  Yeah, his favourite Ashes moment.
• 1:02:31
  He was he. He kind of meant that.
• 1:02:34
  Just on preparation, just quickly, I know George and Ash
• 1:02:39
  sort of mentioned sort of previous regimes for the 1011
• 1:02:44
  Ashes that we won three one over there.
• 1:02:46
  There was I think 3 warm up games that quite competitive
• 1:02:49
  State Games, the sort of reserve junior ish side.
• 1:02:55
  So you know, 3 quite competitive games for the guys to play
• 1:03:00
  before the series. They did the exact same
• 1:03:03
  preparation for the Mitchell Johnson Series A year later.
• 1:03:07
  So it's not always in the preparation and I can't imagine
• 1:03:11
  the Botham team of 86 was taking warm up games massively serious.
• 1:03:17
  So I know Botham's been on the news and interviews recently
• 1:03:21
  talking about preparation, but I'm not, I'm not.
• 1:03:25
  I just can't imagine Ian Botham, his his, his mob taking, taking
• 1:03:32
  the warm up games too seriously. So you can, you can look at it
• 1:03:35
  anyway, you know, it's just the way you, you've cut it really.
• 1:03:39
  And I think what I says about the ethos of the team really
• 1:03:43
  comes from that really. Steve, I think there's a big
• 1:03:47
  point as well when you think about preparation, right?
• 1:03:51
  And let's say we do lose 3-1 and I can already see it, the likes
• 1:03:56
  of Atherton and Hussein talking about the warm up games.
• 1:04:00
  But there's one missing thing that's probably not spoken about
• 1:04:03
  enough. Even with the series going back
• 1:04:06
  to like 1011. The Australians have bloody good
• 1:04:09
  fast bowlers. So whether it's Mitchell
• 1:04:12
  Johnson, we're lucky that, you know, Pat Cummings is out for
• 1:04:17
  the first Test and Josh Hazelwood, but you know, going
• 1:04:20
  back to the likes of Warner, McGraw.
• 1:04:23
  So there's a lot to do with the opposition is my point.
• 1:04:27
  It's not, it's not just the fact that you know, you got 5 warm up
• 1:04:31
  games and everyone scores, runs and therefore it should all like
• 1:04:34
  work out it the the opposition's, as you said, it's
• 1:04:38
  Australia down under, it can't get any harder in Test cricket.
• 1:04:42
  Yeah. And I guess the other thing is
• 1:04:44
  the schedule, right? The schedule is more condensed
• 1:04:47
  these days with, you know, franchise cricket.
• 1:04:50
  There's less space in the calendar.
• 1:04:52
  So I guess that's the other point.
• 1:04:53
  So, yeah, like George said, proof is in the pudding.
• 1:04:56
  If, if, if we lose this series, oh, there wasn't enough prep.
• 1:04:59
  If we win. Oh, perfect, perfect.
• 1:05:02
  Yeah, there'll be a lot of. Confirmation bias as always, as
• 1:05:05
  always happens. Yeah, exactly right.
• 1:05:09
  Let's get into a few kind of like quick fires then.
• 1:05:11
  So George will come to you. What's the key jewel that you
• 1:05:15
  see for this first Test match? What's going to dictate who wins
• 1:05:20
  the game? Yeah, I think Root and Smith,
• 1:05:29
  whoever can put that statement of intent, get some big runs on
• 1:05:33
  the board, dominate the bowlers, make the opposition, grind it
• 1:05:38
  out in the field in the sun for two sessions, a whole day.
• 1:05:43
  I think that's where the first tests will be. 1 It'll be big
• 1:05:47
  runs from one of the big boys. Yeah, for Ash.
• 1:05:50
  Agree with that. Oh yeah, you can't.
• 1:05:53
  You can't disagree with that. But I'm going with big Joff.
• 1:05:57
  I think if he can start, start well, if you know, if we had the
• 1:06:03
  ball 1st and he can knock a couple of wickets over, I think
• 1:06:07
  that will set the tone for the rest of the Test match.
• 1:06:12
  AJ anything, anything different? Yeah, no agree with both those
• 1:06:15
  points. I was going to mix it up and go
• 1:06:18
  would assume any plays against left handers.
• 1:06:21
  So particularly head Khawaja. I think he's got a really good
• 1:06:26
  record against left handers, as does Archer, to be fair.
• 1:06:29
  But yeah, no, let's yeah, let's, let's, let's see who can who,
• 1:06:34
  who even plays because I'm not I don't know if they'll risk would
• 1:06:39
  for the first Test just knowing how fragile he is.
• 1:06:42
  If he does, what? About you, Steve.
• 1:06:45
  Yeah, I think yeah, the batsman, Steve Smith, Steve Smith and Joe
• 1:06:49
  Root, they're they're big players, aren't they just they
• 1:06:52
  get runs on the board. But yeah, I do think it's the
• 1:06:56
  taking the wickets. Like, you know, we talked, we
• 1:06:58
  talked about back in the day, like a lot of batsmen batting
• 1:07:02
  out, you know, more, more draws possibly, you know, pre
• 1:07:06
  baseball. So I do think the wickets and
• 1:07:10
  yeah, I'm sure England will take wickets, but I'm just thinking
• 1:07:14
  back to my predictions in the Let's kick it off.
• 1:07:16
  Pre season we did an extended X-rated version which included
• 1:07:20
  some Ashes predictions and I picked Joffre Archer as top
• 1:07:24
  wicket taker. So I'm going to say, yeah, I
• 1:07:27
  think that's quite bold. But yeah, I'd say maybe like,
• 1:07:30
  yeah, Archer possibly against Smith, that could be a good
• 1:07:33
  battle. How many tests do you think
• 1:07:35
  Archer's going to play out? The Five. 3 So yeah, that's.
• 1:07:40
  Still top, still top wicket taker.
• 1:07:41
  Yeah, that's that's a fair point.
• 1:07:43
  I wasn't thinking about that deeply because the X-rated
• 1:07:45
  predictions had about 25 questions in it.
• 1:07:48
  So I think I probably rushed that one.
• 1:07:51
  So AJ Pitcher, this scenario, you are the lovely Ginger
• 1:07:57
  Barnett, Ben Stokes, you win the toss.
• 1:08:00
  What are you doing? He always, I've got to get this
• 1:08:04
  right. He always bowled first, doesn't
• 1:08:06
  he? Is that right?
• 1:08:09
  Yeah, yeah. Yeah.
• 1:08:10
  So he always bowled first. But I was reading today funnily
• 1:08:13
  enough, that I think his story the last seven or eight years
• 1:08:17
  since his new grounds been operation in operation, the team
• 1:08:23
  that bats first basically wins every time.
• 1:08:25
  So the toss is really, really important.
• 1:08:27
  So does he go against it, his instinct or his natural instinct
• 1:08:31
  to bowl first? I know there was a bit of debate
• 1:08:34
  in the India series how he always bowls first.
• 1:08:37
  I think with the second Test he ended up batting first or might
• 1:08:41
  have been the third Test, I can't remember.
• 1:08:43
  He ended up batting first and when it winning the game, if I
• 1:08:48
  if my memory serves me right. So he has.
• 1:08:50
  He does every now and again go against his instinct, but he'll
• 1:08:54
  be interesting if he does does do that this time.
• 1:08:58
  If you can't see us, I think all things will chase.
• 1:09:02
  And you're playing Bashir, you. Think you'll bowl?
• 1:09:06
  I think first. You can't bowl 1st and have
• 1:09:08
  Bashir, you need him for the 4th innings.
• 1:09:11
  So I guess I don't know if there'll be any mind games
• 1:09:14
  involved or I don't know how late you can submit your team
• 1:09:16
  sheet. I'm sure it's before the toss,
• 1:09:19
  but I think that would would come into it.
• 1:09:21
  If he's got Bashir playing, he'll want to bowl second.
• 1:09:23
  I think if Bashir is not playing then bat in second.
• 1:09:27
  Yeah, fair enough. So if Australia win the toss,
• 1:09:30
  they're clearly going to bat 1st and.
• 1:09:32
  I think they'll bat 1st and they can have Lion in the 4th
• 1:09:35
  innings. Australia will definitely bat
• 1:09:38
  first, that's their philosophy anyway.
• 1:09:41
  Going back to Steve Warricky, Ponton, Captain Days, Mark
• 1:09:44
  Taylor. That's what they do.
• 1:09:45
  They bat first, get big runs on the board and then put all the
• 1:09:48
  pressure on with the boulders. I do think Ben stakes especially
• 1:09:53
  with his captaincy as well. He will do something out the
• 1:09:57
  ordinary and I think if he if he wins the task declare exactly so
• 1:10:04
  IDC he will go against all the records or against all the stats
• 1:10:09
  and he'll he'll go and chase as long as the wicket is looking
• 1:10:15
  pretty even across the five days, I can actually see him
• 1:10:20
  still trying to chase because that's.
• 1:10:22
  What's the? England line up do.
• 1:10:24
  Yeah, you're saying go against the blueprint in Perth, but
• 1:10:28
  stick to his normal blueprint of bowl first, essentially, right?
• 1:10:32
  That's what it would be if he's chasing.
• 1:10:34
  So yeah, yeah, fair play. Yeah, I saw a stat earlier,
• 1:10:41
  England since the 19th, I want to say 1970.
• 1:10:46
  I think they've only won one Test up until 2017, so I think
• 1:10:50
  it was like 10 defeats and three draws.
• 1:10:53
  I don't think they've got a great record in Perth, right?
• 1:10:58
  They got a pretty shocking record in Australia.
• 1:11:00
  I think it's 9 Test wins since the in 1980 I think.
• 1:11:06
  Yeah and three of them came in one series.
• 1:11:08
  I. Don't think we've we've won down
• 1:11:10
  under since 10/11 have we? Think that might be right?
• 1:11:15
  I think it's been 5 nil, 4 nil, 5 nil, yeah, which is shocking.
• 1:11:21
  Yeah, so 31201011201314, obviously 5 nil, yeah, then four
• 1:11:28
  nil, then four nil. So the last three series out
• 1:11:32
  there we've not won a Test match.
• 1:11:34
  So yeah, the the omens based on that are looking great, but
• 1:11:39
  obviously this is completely different side.
• 1:11:42
  OK, who's going to win this Test match, Ash?
• 1:11:46
  I'm going to go England, you have to especially with Pat
• 1:11:50
  Cummings and Josh Hazelwood out as well.
• 1:11:53
  And I think the batting line up has got enough runs in it.
• 1:11:57
  The my question mark would be bowling, but I think Joffre
• 1:12:01
  Archer will will start and yeah, I've got a lot of faith in cast
• 1:12:06
  as well. And yeah, I think the boys can
• 1:12:11
  get the series off to a good start.
• 1:12:13
  They they tend to actually start series well as well, like they I
• 1:12:17
  think they tend to win the opening Test match.
• 1:12:20
  So yeah, I fancy England. AJ.
• 1:12:24
  Yeah, I've got agree fancy England, as I've said, you've
• 1:12:26
  got to take advantage of no Hazelwood and Cummins got to get
• 1:12:29
  off to a good start. I think that's that's quite
• 1:12:32
  important. Yeah, I've got to go England for
• 1:12:36
  for the opening Test, George. Yeah, I think for the reasons
• 1:12:41
  that we said, yeah, you couldn't really have asked for a better
• 1:12:47
  kind of backdrop to the first Test with their captain out and
• 1:12:52
  a shaky lineup. We've got all our players fit
• 1:12:54
  just about. We've got, you know, a settled
• 1:12:57
  team. I think we have to go out and
• 1:12:59
  try and win it. I would rather we lose this Test
• 1:13:02
  trying to win it then being conservative.
• 1:13:05
  And I think, you know, you win this first Test, we win the
• 1:13:07
  series. Yeah, fair play.
• 1:13:11
  You know, you know me guys, I'd like to go against the grain.
• 1:13:14
  So I think Australia are going to win this one.
• 1:13:17
  Just I know, I know the line UPS.
• 1:13:19
  Look, look it on paper, England should win.
• 1:13:22
  But again, I go back to it. Big sporting occasions,
• 1:13:26
  Australia crowd behind them. I think they might pull some out
• 1:13:29
  of the bag and England might get off to a bit of a shaky start in
• 1:13:32
  the series. Can obviously still get back
• 1:13:35
  into it. But yeah, lack of preparation,
• 1:13:37
  guys. They got out there too.
• 1:13:39
  Sound like the Roy King of cricket, mate.
• 1:13:43
  On a On a slightly serious note, do you think the England players
• 1:13:47
  have got a tendency to be? The pressure, the pressure come
• 1:13:51
  will come into it of. Course, sort of look at India
• 1:13:55
  away a few years back when they won the first Test and I think
• 1:13:59
  Pope might have got a double century or high, high one 80s or
• 1:14:04
  one 90s and they went one nil ahead.
• 1:14:08
  And I think the lost series for one maybe or maybe 3-1.
• 1:14:13
  A look at the Ashes. Yeah, and look at the Ashes few
• 1:14:17
  years ago in 2023, two nil down, you know, tight games.
• 1:14:24
  But you'd say Australia deserved the first two and brought it
• 1:14:27
  back to two all and could have again for the Manchester rain
• 1:14:31
  could have won the series. India in the English summer
• 1:14:36
  recently. Should have won that on the last
• 1:14:38
  day and just completely didn't, you know?
• 1:14:41
  Yeah, I was. Harry Brooke threw that one
• 1:14:43
  away, I think. I think he's about a little too
• 1:14:45
  hard. I think James and Jamie Smith
• 1:14:48
  was shot to pieces. That's my only concern.
• 1:14:52
  There's not that follow through from either a good start or you
• 1:14:57
  know, with the 2023 series where you could have won the Ashes.
• 1:15:02
  You know, we've started well, big in big series before, but
• 1:15:07
  not followed through. And that's my only sort of
• 1:15:09
  concern really with this, with this group.
• 1:15:13
  If Cummins and Hazelwood come back for the second Test, I
• 1:15:18
  would tend to agree with you even more so.
• 1:15:20
  But that's what I mean. I think a lot of it depends on
• 1:15:24
  who is on the pitch for all of these Test matches.
• 1:15:29
  Yeah, it is. It's it's hard to call, you
• 1:15:32
  know, you could say a sandpaper call, right?
• 1:15:37
  But yeah, we will find out. But I'm confident in terms of
• 1:15:42
  the philosophy of this team, they know what they want to do
• 1:15:46
  on a cricket pitch. I'm not sure about the Aussies.
• 1:15:49
  Like, I respect obviously the record and the career experience
• 1:15:56
  that Steve's talked about, particularly with, you know,
• 1:15:59
  Australia's like middle order. But yeah, Pat Cummings, everyone
• 1:16:04
  talks about the bowling. I think he's been massively
• 1:16:07
  underrated as a bowler, captain as well.
• 1:16:10
  He's been superb since he took the role.
• 1:16:12
  Like I never thought he'd be as good as he has been as a
• 1:16:16
  skipper. So even going back to Steve
• 1:16:19
  Smith, yeah, it will be interesting to see how he will
• 1:16:22
  be able to balance between his own batting, which he has
• 1:16:26
  struggled over the last few years compared to his, you know,
• 1:16:30
  hot streak spell, I think, you know, by 19. 2019.
• 1:16:36
  Exactly else. So I mean, they've spoken about
• 1:16:39
  how he's been less obsessed with cricket essentially over the
• 1:16:44
  last few years and that's helped him kind of like get some of his
• 1:16:47
  form back. But with the captaincy as well,
• 1:16:50
  he's got a couple of things to juggle with.
• 1:16:53
  So you know it it's difficult to obviously back against Australia
• 1:16:58
  down under because like the history and everything is with
• 1:17:02
  them. But if if there was a series
• 1:17:05
  where England could do it, I think it's this England team
• 1:17:08
  with this management and this philosophy that would be able to
• 1:17:12
  get the series victory. Can I just say on the point of
• 1:17:16
  Steve Smith being captain, does anyone else not think it's a
• 1:17:19
  travesty that he's, you know, allowed to do that?
• 1:17:23
  He had the captaincy stripped for a terrible cheating scandal,
• 1:17:28
  and they've kind of just forgotten it about it because
• 1:17:30
  he's so good. I think if you're banned from a
• 1:17:33
  captain, that probably should be for the rest of his career.
• 1:17:37
  I think it sets a bad example to people.
• 1:17:41
  I think it's, yeah, obviously he can let his batting do the
• 1:17:43
  talking, but he's kind of rehabilitation.
• 1:17:46
  I won't be letting him forget that in in the MCG and the SCG.
• 1:17:50
  What do you think? I just think we see it across
• 1:17:54
  multiple sports, right? What people get up to, what they
• 1:17:57
  do, and it soon gets swept under the carpet and they carry on
• 1:18:02
  playing. So yeah, I mean, so maybe maybe
• 1:18:06
  he is actually the reason why Australia are the favourites to
• 1:18:10
  win that first Test, which will probably surprise the three of
• 1:18:13
  you with the bookies. No, I reckon the bookies would
• 1:18:16
  do that, you know. Yeah, it's the way you talk, the
• 1:18:21
  way you voice is talking. It's, you know, we're the
• 1:18:24
  favourites and obviously there's the English bias, but you know
• 1:18:26
  what I've said there, the bookies are backing out.
• 1:18:29
  And is it just the Australia factor like it being in in
• 1:18:32
  Australia? Yeah.
• 1:18:34
  It's all. Those stuff conditions.
• 1:18:37
  Yeah, OK, so I'm not as stupid as I as I thought I'd look then.
• 1:18:43
  So right predictions on the series.
• 1:18:46
  George, let you go first here. You're going to be out there for
• 1:18:49
  the last two. So what?
• 1:18:51
  What's the score going to be? I don't think there'll be a
• 1:18:53
  draw, I don't think many of them will go to a day five.
• 1:18:57
  I think we'll get results quite conclusively.
• 1:19:00
  I think it'll be 3-2 to England, Nice.
• 1:19:04
  Hopefully going down. If we're 21 down by the time we
• 1:19:07
  get out there. We win at the MCG, win at the
• 1:19:09
  SCG. That's why I'm that's why I'm
• 1:19:10
  giving you a defeat at the moment.
• 1:19:13
  So now. We win the first one, lose the
• 1:19:15
  day night, lose the third, win the 4th and 5th.
• 1:19:18
  Is there is there a day night? Then in second test is a day
• 1:19:20
  night, yeah. Brisbane, it's 4:30 in the
• 1:19:24
  morning start. Interesting.
• 1:19:26
  So that's going to be better for the UK, for the UK hours then,
• 1:19:29
  right? Yes, you'll be able to watch
• 1:19:32
  off. You wake up and you'll be
• 1:19:33
  watching lunch. Yeah, after lunch and even a
• 1:19:36
  session, basically. If you can get past TNT, Steve.
• 1:19:40
  Yeah. Well, we have to find a way to
• 1:19:41
  do that. But is is that the first time
• 1:19:43
  they can share a log? In with you.
• 1:19:46
  No, I think they've done it. I think they did it last time
• 1:19:48
  because that is when they used to pink balls.
• 1:19:50
  Yeah, yeah, it was a day night last series Down Under.
• 1:19:55
  That's that's good. Yeah.
• 1:19:58
  Even better if that's even if it was a one off game, could be on
• 1:20:02
  terrestrial TV. Like these are the things that
• 1:20:05
  could, you know, widen the audience, right.
• 1:20:07
  But I know like TV rights and stuff aren't going to allow for
• 1:20:10
  that. But yeah, I think these are the
• 1:20:12
  types of initiatives that would help.
• 1:20:14
  OK, SO32 George Ash, what do you reckon?
• 1:20:19
  I'm going to go 21 England very bold 2.
• 1:20:25
  Drawers with baseball. Weather I'm going to, I'm going
• 1:20:28
  to predict some weather in there.
• 1:20:31
  You wish, you wishing some rain, but George?
• 1:20:33
  George looks mortified. No, his sounds great.
• 1:20:37
  I mean, I'm hoping it's that. I mean, going into Sydney TT,
• 1:20:42
  that would be incredible. Where'd you see the bad weather?
• 1:20:47
  Brisbane tends to have bad weather, but yeah, I just, I'm
• 1:20:51
  going on a bit of my own history as well, watching Ashes Cricket
• 1:20:54
  Down Under where there has been weather involved in it.
• 1:20:58
  So yeah, I've obviously switched Steve from my original
• 1:21:02
  prediction and that maybe that's another reason because like Pat
• 1:21:06
  Cummings, Josh Hazelwood, not in the team, 600 wickets out of the
• 1:21:12
  Australian, you know, bowling lineup.
• 1:21:15
  So I do think it changes. But yeah, definitely a punt
• 1:21:18
  saying Australia are only going to win one out of five Down
• 1:21:21
  Under. But yeah, let's give it a go.
• 1:21:23
  Like Baz? AJ.
• 1:21:28
  Three, one, that was my prediction when we did the
• 1:21:30
  initial ones and I'm going to stick with it.
• 1:21:33
  I don't, I'm not confident in terms to.
• 1:21:39
  Clarify 31 England. Right.
• 1:21:40
  Oh yeah, yeah, 31 England, yeah, I'm not, I'm not 100% sure on
• 1:21:45
  where there'll be bad weather. I think Ash, you guys are much
• 1:21:49
  more up to date with that, but possibly a couple of draws in
• 1:21:53
  there somewhere, maybe a bit of few overs lost to rain,
• 1:21:55
  possibly. Yeah, I'm confident for England
• 1:22:00
  to win the series, to be honest, everyone would be beyond my
• 1:22:05
  wildest dreams I suppose because we we don't have a great record.
• 1:22:09
  We're not one that as you mentioned before, we've not won
• 1:22:12
  there since 2011. So which?
• 1:22:14
  Was our. That was our wildest dreams.
• 1:22:16
  Three. One.
• 1:22:17
  Yeah, he's under. Yeah, exactly.
• 1:22:19
  Sort of wake up in the morning and look at the score and
• 1:22:22
  Jonathan Trott was still batting and KP got 100.
• 1:22:27
  It's amazing. Yeah, it's incredible.
• 1:22:31
  Nice. OK.
• 1:22:32
  I'll stick with my initial prediction, which was 22.
• 1:22:35
  So yeah, that's a good one draw. So final, final question.
• 1:22:40
  You boys going to be up 2:30 AM? Is it 2:30 AM the first ball?
• 1:22:45
  Yeah, I think I'll be setting an.
• 1:22:46
  Alarm Early night an alarm Set an alarm Think out you're.
• 1:22:51
  Going to be out. We're night owls.
• 1:22:52
  I was going to say, I don't think it's going to be a case of
• 1:22:55
  an alarm because that would just be too painful.
• 1:22:58
  So yeah, I'll be staying up, see the tasks, probably catch about
• 1:23:02
  half an hour and then fall asleep probably.
• 1:23:06
  AJ I'll do the same, but I'll. Set an alarm for the first half
• 1:23:10
  an hour from the toss in the first half an hour.
• 1:23:12
  I can't, I can't stay up. I'm I'm the opposite.
• 1:23:15
  I'm not a night owl asshole, I'm afraid.
• 1:23:18
  I'm sorry to get a bit sleepy now to be honest.
• 1:23:21
  Right, on that note, just very, very final point, George, you're
• 1:23:24
  going to be out there with the Barmy Army.
• 1:23:26
  Just tell us how how buzzing you are to get out there now.
• 1:23:31
  I can't wait is as I said earlier, it's been a bucket list
• 1:23:34
  thing for me. Yeah.
• 1:23:36
  I just hope that the the cricket can meet my expectations and my
• 1:23:41
  excitement for it as well. And I've already spoken to my
• 1:23:45
  brother about going to show, I think it's Bunnings Warehouse,
• 1:23:48
  you know, the the place in Australia to go and buy as much
• 1:23:52
  sandpaper as possible and try and stitch together a little
• 1:23:56
  sandpaper jacket and swear to the MCG on Boxing Day and
• 1:24:00
  hopefully I'll make it through unscathed, unlike that ball
• 1:24:03
  against South Africa. We'll, we'll, we'll look out for
• 1:24:07
  you there. I think there is other members
• 1:24:09
  of the Let's Kick It Off community.
• 1:24:11
  Shout out to Jay who lives Down Under.
• 1:24:13
  Think he's got tickets to all five.
• 1:24:15
  I'm not sure if he's going to all 5.
• 1:24:17
  And yeah, Ash, you might make an appearance as well.
• 1:24:21
  The rumour mill is stating. Yeah, it's going to be like this
• 1:24:24
  ongoing thing, but if I am to go, it will be for MCG and SCG.
• 1:24:30
  So George, you might have to save me one of those jackets.
• 1:24:34
  And yeah. I might have a spare ticket, but
• 1:24:37
  let me know when you know what your plans are.
• 1:24:40
  Yeah, nice. Well, let's kick it off down
• 1:24:42
  under. So on that note, thanks for
• 1:24:45
  joining us on this episode, and we'll catch you on the next one.