Latest / The Follow-On / Former Australian Test star and Fox Cricket commentator Mel Jones previews a big summer for Australia’s women cricketers and a dream date with Ash Barty among other topics!

Transcript

Former Australian Test star and Fox Cricket commentator Mel Jones previews a big summer for Australia’s women cricketers and a dream date with Ash Barty among other topics! · The Follow-On

0:00
Speaker 1: Hello and welcome to Fox Crickets Podcast the follow on.
0:03
Speaker 1: My name is Courtney Walsham, a reporter with Fox Sports Australia.
0:08
Speaker 1: Recently had the pleasure of being joined by Mel Jones,
0:11
Speaker 1: a former Australian Test cricketer and Fox Sport analyst, to
0:15
Speaker 1: discuss the upcoming series between Australia and India, but also
0:19
Speaker 1: the Ashes series Australia versus India that will unfold next month.
0:24
Speaker 1: We start a chat by having a chat about something
0:29
Speaker 1: a cause very close to Mel's heart. She's been heavily
0:33
Speaker 1: involved in getting a group of Afghanistani women who now
0:36
Speaker 1: live in Melbourne having fled their country a couple of
0:38
Speaker 1: years ago back in twenty twenty one involved in cricket again.
0:42
Speaker 1: Delighted to say that they're going to be able to
0:44
Speaker 1: play a match on the eve of the Ashes Tests
0:47
Speaker 1: in Melbourne between Australia's women and England's women in late
0:51
Speaker 1: January Afghanistan against a team of cricketers without borders at
0:56
Speaker 1: the Junction Oval. Here's Mel talking into that as we
0:59
Speaker 1: talk about all things Australian cricket.
1:02
Speaker 2: They get to train as an elite group, which is
1:05
Speaker 2: what they were doing before the takeover. They get to
1:10
Speaker 2: feel as if they're united in one again and we
1:13
Speaker 2: all know how important, you know, connection is to anything
1:16
Speaker 2: these days. And they're playing wonderful organization in Cricket without Borders,
1:21
Speaker 2: who a fantastic group and themselves doing great stuff. And
1:24
Speaker 2: so to be on the first day of the Ashes Test,
1:28
Speaker 2: you know, you look at we're celebrating ninety ninety years
1:30
Speaker 2: of Test match cricket, which albeit there's not a Test
1:33
Speaker 2: match cricket over that time, but you know, Australia has
1:36
Speaker 2: been in a very fortunate position of celebrating that. This
1:39
Speaker 2: year we're celebrating ten years of WBBL domestic tournaments. We've
1:43
Speaker 2: got all these wonderful things that you know, we can
1:46
Speaker 2: hang our hat on and with pride and everything, and
1:48
Speaker 2: I think this is another way that we can show
1:50
Speaker 2: that it's not just about Australian cricket, it's the bigger
1:53
Speaker 2: picture and how can we be sort of global citizens
1:56
Speaker 2: and be part of the solution. So yes, it's been
1:59
Speaker 2: a long build and a lot of that has been
2:00
Speaker 2: for you know, for protection and security of the women,
2:04
Speaker 2: making sure that they got to a place that they
2:06
Speaker 2: were happy with as well. So you know, some people
2:07
Speaker 2: have been maybe a little bit too critical of the
2:10
Speaker 2: slowness of things. But sometimes, yeah, sometimes things need to
2:14
Speaker 2: take a little fraction of time just to make sure
2:16
Speaker 2: you get things right.
2:18
Speaker 1: It would be a moment of triumph. There's one I've
2:20
Speaker 1: been I think wanted to ask you for a couple
2:23
Speaker 1: of years, and this is a question without notice, and
2:24
Speaker 1: it is about another moment of triumph, but in another
2:28
Speaker 1: role that I do. I had the fortune of spending
2:31
Speaker 1: a bit of time with Ashbarty, helping them with some
2:34
Speaker 1: of her columns, and I do remember commentating that famous
2:38
Speaker 1: Wimbledon triumph and her leaving the court and pointing to
2:41
Speaker 1: you in the stands Now on that moment, I haven't
2:44
Speaker 1: had the chance to ask you. It's three years ago
2:46
Speaker 1: since she won that amazing moment IV one of fifty
2:51
Speaker 1: years earlier. Were you a tennis fan or was it
2:54
Speaker 1: Ash that brought you to tennis? And I suppose you're
2:56
Speaker 1: dealing with her having known that we saw her playing
2:59
Speaker 1: cricket and on one where she could have got to
3:00
Speaker 1: as a cricular as well.
3:02
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, I just got goosebumps again thinking about it.
3:04
Speaker 2: It was it was just a huge day. I've grown up,
3:08
Speaker 2: just loving sports, so I can. I think my earliest
3:11
Speaker 2: sporting memory was an old black and white sort of
3:14
Speaker 2: TV you know, dial clicklick click for you know, and
3:18
Speaker 2: hiding from mum under and doing that sort of watching
3:20
Speaker 2: the Moscow Olympics in nineteen eighty sort of thing. So
3:24
Speaker 2: I've always and I always got up and I always
3:25
Speaker 2: watched this for some reason. Wimbledon always it was an
3:29
Speaker 2: interest to me for some reason, so you know, I
3:31
Speaker 2: think it was getting used to getting up watching the
3:33
Speaker 2: guys play the ashes well then England, so always got
3:37
Speaker 2: up and watched the wimbleden well, the whole tournament wasn't
3:40
Speaker 2: just the finals as a kid, so it was always
3:43
Speaker 2: quite quite connected to that tournament specifically. Always loved tennis.
3:48
Speaker 2: Did tennis listen as a kid, thought it was a
3:49
Speaker 2: great sport. It was probably more drawn two team sports
3:53
Speaker 2: kind of thing. So yeah, So had been had been
3:56
Speaker 2: a tennis fan. Had met Ash through the WBBL when
3:59
Speaker 2: she was playing with the Brisbane Hate and she is.
4:03
Speaker 2: She's a cricket tragic like you stand. I've stood next
4:05
Speaker 2: to her at the Gaber and watched a Test match
4:07
Speaker 2: session and she's one of those people you can chat, chat,
4:11
Speaker 2: chat but then she knows when the ball's coming in,
4:12
Speaker 2: she'll turn and just keep an eye on it and
4:14
Speaker 2: keep talking. She's that kind of you know, she knows
4:17
Speaker 2: the game, so she and she's just a ripping individual.
4:20
Speaker 2: So it was fortunate enough through Craig Tilett Tennis Australia
4:25
Speaker 2: got me tickets for the final, and because I was
4:27
Speaker 2: over there and I thought that'd be great to go.
4:28
Speaker 3: And I never thought of even asking. It was last.
4:31
Speaker 2: Minute, and I thought I'd be way up in the
4:34
Speaker 2: middle of nowhere sort of thing, and just happened to
4:36
Speaker 2: be in seats as the as the players walk out
4:39
Speaker 2: onto center court, and I can remember Vily sort of
4:43
Speaker 2: tossing up whether or not to where my or wenszballs
4:46
Speaker 2: always will be t shirt And glad I did because
4:53
Speaker 2: I sat there and Ash when she was serving the
4:57
Speaker 2: end at Easha and I was sitting never glanced in
4:59
Speaker 2: out direction at all, and so I just thought, Oh,
5:02
Speaker 2: she has no idea we're here, but we're quite vocal.
5:04
Speaker 2: I was, is the mattress going on? But at the
5:07
Speaker 2: other end, when she was serving the first time she
5:09
Speaker 2: went down to serve that end, she looked up to
5:11
Speaker 2: serve and I was basically in her eye lines, so
5:13
Speaker 2: she didn't notice me, but.
5:14
Speaker 3: She noticed the T shirt.
5:16
Speaker 2: And I've spoken to her after it and she said
5:18
Speaker 2: it was just a bit of it was like a
5:20
Speaker 2: comfort factor almost for her that she knew, and then
5:22
Speaker 2: she spotted that it was me wearing it that I
5:24
Speaker 2: don't think I helped it all, but it was just that,
5:26
Speaker 2: you know, there was so much normality about the indigenous
5:29
Speaker 2: connection with Yvonne and things like the dress that she
5:32
Speaker 2: was wearing as well, and all those sorts of things.
5:35
Speaker 3: So super special day.
5:36
Speaker 2: And I as she was leaving with the trophy again,
5:39
Speaker 2: I had no idea that she even knew that I
5:41
Speaker 2: was there. So yeah, when she turned and pointed, I
5:45
Speaker 2: just lost my bundle either.
5:46
Speaker 3: It was just the most amazing.
5:49
Speaker 2: Of course, my phone goes off there because everyone's like
5:51
Speaker 2: she pointing to it and all that sort of stuff.
5:53
Speaker 3: So yeah, it was. It was a magical day, that's
5:56
Speaker 3: for sure.
5:58
Speaker 1: Thank you for retelling that. It's it's one that sticks
6:00
Speaker 1: in my mind as well. From Afar another moment of
6:04
Speaker 1: triumph that innings on debut the leading to it. So
6:09
Speaker 1: we talk about a century nineteen ninety eight, you know,
6:13
Speaker 1: Australian We hope to play more tests, clearly in women's cricket,
6:16
Speaker 1: but Australia doesn't have that many opportunities. So the moment
6:19
Speaker 1: comes along and you step out and you're English born
6:22
Speaker 1: and you step out and come up against the old
6:27
Speaker 1: art or the old rival in an Ashes and you
6:29
Speaker 1: make a century. Can you talk through that experience a
6:33
Speaker 1: little bit?
6:34
Speaker 3: Just for background. Mum's Zossie. Dad's from Trinidad.
6:38
Speaker 2: Mum was traveling in the UK and couldn't quite get
6:40
Speaker 2: back to Australia in time to have me there, so it.
6:43
Speaker 3: Was just Australia. So yeah, So I was born in Barnstable.
6:49
Speaker 2: I was the three months old when mum was well
6:51
Speaker 2: enough to sort of travel and come back.
6:53
Speaker 3: So handy for the passport. But that's that's it. Yeah,
6:58
Speaker 3: grew up letely Aussie, so I'll look at it. It was phenomenal.
7:02
Speaker 2: We played the World Cup in ninety seven and we
7:06
Speaker 2: won that World Cup and it was there was a
7:09
Speaker 2: journalist with the England side that traveled during that World
7:11
Speaker 2: Cup and wrote a book called Mad Dogs and English Women,
7:15
Speaker 2: and the book came out just before that ninety eight
7:17
Speaker 2: Ashes tour, so most of us read it on the
7:19
Speaker 2: plane going over and there's a few things in the
7:21
Speaker 2: book that we didn't pack too kindly too, So we
7:23
Speaker 2: were like right, not that we needed any sort of
7:26
Speaker 2: external motivation to come up and play England. And I'll look,
7:31
Speaker 2: you know, when I think about that Ashes tour, one
7:34
Speaker 2: is that we were still playing in clots. That was
7:36
Speaker 2: the last series tour that we ever played in those feral, horrendous,
7:40
Speaker 2: hideous not even a fashion piece sporting that's fire. But
7:45
Speaker 2: you know, the fact of like, like I said, grew
7:48
Speaker 2: up watching Ashes series, Middle of the Night and things
7:51
Speaker 2: like that, So the chance to pull on a baggy green,
7:53
Speaker 2: to pull on the vest with the end of those
7:55
Speaker 2: sorts of things was just so so special. And to
7:59
Speaker 2: play in a test match. And you know, we played
8:01
Speaker 2: two day cricket back then, so we had the better
8:04
Speaker 2: understanding of RedBull cricket than what the players do do now,
8:08
Speaker 2: but we sort of had. The rivalry was built off. Yes,
8:11
Speaker 2: we've got a super history within the women's game, but
8:14
Speaker 2: it was also built in a weird kind of way
8:15
Speaker 2: off the men's as well. And I'd love to say
8:20
Speaker 2: it was a green seema and it was doing all sorts,
8:23
Speaker 2: but it was it was a road. It was a
8:26
Speaker 2: high scoring brigand match and I do remember we're in
8:30
Speaker 2: bits draft, so top order had departed, so Bark Lisa Kartly,
8:37
Speaker 2: Blinda Clark and Karen Rowland, which is sort of unusual
8:40
Speaker 2: for that Australian team that was sort of banked on
8:42
Speaker 2: the runs. And you know, one of the things I
8:45
Speaker 2: was sort of saying to myself every night is you
8:47
Speaker 2: only get one chance to make a good first impression,
8:49
Speaker 2: so this is your this is your lot here. And
8:52
Speaker 2: ridiculously I'd never hit one hundred at club cricket or
8:55
Speaker 2: state cricket coming into this, so it was my first
8:57
Speaker 2: ever hundred, not just izsie hundred. So it was I
9:01
Speaker 2: do remember getting into the nineties.
9:02
Speaker 3: And it wasn't it. I don't think I was nervous
9:05
Speaker 3: to keep hitting the field and.
9:06
Speaker 2: A best mate Joort your price run out of film
9:08
Speaker 2: because there was no digital cameras back then and all,
9:10
Speaker 2: like I remember hearing it saying, is I've run out
9:13
Speaker 2: of run out of shots? You know when you got
9:15
Speaker 2: to thirty six ex pros and should I think so?
9:17
Speaker 2: I think I was annoying my teammates more than anything else.
9:20
Speaker 2: It took me a little while to get past the
9:22
Speaker 2: three figures, but yeah, very very special.
9:25
Speaker 1: We'll talk about putting in your best foot forward that
9:27
Speaker 1: obviously went to a couple of World Cups, and your
9:30
Speaker 1: appearances in World Cup winning teams and I had a
9:33
Speaker 1: distinguished career on the pitch. But now you're behind the
9:37
Speaker 1: microphone as part of your roles. And we have got
9:40
Speaker 1: quite an intrigue in summer of cricket coming up historical
9:44
Speaker 1: leg as we talked about the ninety year, the ninetieth
9:47
Speaker 1: anniversary test at the end at the MCG at day
9:49
Speaker 1: Night a fair in late January early February, which I
9:53
Speaker 1: think some massive moment for cricket in the country. But
9:57
Speaker 1: we'll start firstly just with the series coming up against India.
10:01
Speaker 1: I think we played a couple of months ago the
10:03
Speaker 1: last game to qualify for the for the semi finals,
10:06
Speaker 1: the ODI World Cup semi Finals or the T twenty
10:09
Speaker 1: World Cup semi finals, and it felt like well in
10:13
Speaker 1: some parts of Australi versus harm and Preet, which is
10:16
Speaker 1: probably not the first time that that's happened and may
10:18
Speaker 1: not be the last time. What are we expecting from
10:22
Speaker 1: Australia and India in this three match series.
10:25
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's this one's actually a little bit of an
10:27
Speaker 2: unknown in a few ways. There's been selections, so no
10:31
Speaker 2: Shefali Verma selected for the Indian side, which is race
10:35
Speaker 2: a few eyebrows. There's a lot of chats around the
10:38
Speaker 2: captaincy and the leadership of India having been underneath the
10:42
Speaker 2: leadship of Harm and Petkor for so long and having
10:45
Speaker 2: not won major tournaments and so there's you know, there's
10:49
Speaker 2: all that that discussion. There's the fact that Australia toured
10:54
Speaker 2: India December of between three and that was sort of
10:57
Speaker 2: that was three zip to Australia and searingly hot conditions,
11:00
Speaker 2: but that was sort of the the sort of launching
11:03
Speaker 2: pad of a young Phoebe Lichfield over there. So you've
11:05
Speaker 2: sort of got the young guns coming through and wanting
11:08
Speaker 2: to establish themselves. You've got some senior players on both
11:11
Speaker 2: sides sort of transitioning that sort of not end of career,
11:15
Speaker 2: but just sort of trying to manage, you know, people
11:18
Speaker 2: saying well, is that it for them or is it not?
11:20
Speaker 2: And whether they think it or not, it's that white
11:22
Speaker 2: noise kind of piece around both teams. And then you've
11:27
Speaker 2: got a world Cup in India in September of next
11:30
Speaker 2: year as well, so that's really close and that's that's
11:32
Speaker 2: India's big piece. So for India there's probably a little
11:36
Speaker 2: bit more on it than for Australia at the moment,
11:38
Speaker 2: both most likely qualify with the points system coming into it,
11:43
Speaker 2: so there's no concerns about that. But you want to
11:46
Speaker 2: be coming into a World Cup having beaten the big
11:49
Speaker 2: teams going into a tournament, and particularly when it's a
11:52
Speaker 2: home World Cup. The Indian men have won the T
11:55
Speaker 2: twenty World Cup recent and we saw marine parade in
11:58
Speaker 2: Mumbai with millions com millions of people jam packing that bus.
12:03
Speaker 2: And you know, if Indian win the Women's World Cup
12:06
Speaker 2: at home, there will be scenes like that the Women's
12:08
Speaker 2: Premier League with RCB winning in Delhi and the women
12:12
Speaker 2: winning there with at least Perry and Schmidimandona and Bangalore.
12:17
Speaker 2: Bengaluru was in milkdown. So it's it's huge for the
12:21
Speaker 2: Indian side. So I think they're that they just they
12:25
Speaker 2: need to hit the ground running and do it very well,
12:28
Speaker 2: very quickly, so that they can get a few wins
12:30
Speaker 2: on the board.
12:33
Speaker 1: You touched a little bit about the young and the
12:35
Speaker 1: old and I was wondering where is the Australian team
12:38
Speaker 1: at you know that that run came to an end,
12:40
Speaker 1: the glorious running and clearly you can have a one
12:43
Speaker 1: off and it was an amazing moment from New Zealand.
12:45
Speaker 1: We've had all a Lissa Healy with a grumbling knee,
12:48
Speaker 1: I suppose through the the WBBL and it's injury concerns
12:53
Speaker 1: through that World Cup itself.
12:55
Speaker 3: MiG Landon's obviously.
12:56
Speaker 1: Very fondly remembered, but we moved on. We've had a
13:00
Speaker 1: couple of you talked about Phoebe Litchfield. You wonder whether
13:04
Speaker 1: Annabel Sutherland as you move up the order, where are
13:06
Speaker 1: we add in terms of austrain cricket. Is it Is
13:09
Speaker 1: it a period of transition ahead of what is a
13:12
Speaker 1: significant summer.
13:13
Speaker 3: Yeah, hugely so.
13:15
Speaker 2: And I think it's a period of transition which they
13:18
Speaker 2: would have seen coming for a number of years now.
13:21
Speaker 2: Hence why and I think you know, you see Annabel
13:25
Speaker 2: Sutherland captaining the Melbourne Stars this year, Phoebe Lichfield captaining
13:29
Speaker 2: the Sydney Thunder, so there's definitely and Sophier Melanie's captain
13:32
Speaker 2: Melbourne Renegades for a number of years now, so I
13:35
Speaker 2: think when you sort of look through the transition piece
13:37
Speaker 2: with leadership, I think they'll be very very happy with
13:41
Speaker 2: where things sit that they've got, you know, three astute,
13:47
Speaker 2: you know, strong leaders and still developing, yes, but wonderful
13:50
Speaker 2: cricketers to start with, great cricket brains and very good
13:53
Speaker 2: leaders in those three that could easily sort of step
13:57
Speaker 2: up when you know, whether that's a planned one or
14:01
Speaker 2: just you know, through injury or something along those lines.
14:03
Speaker 2: So I think they've done certainly well there. There's probably
14:06
Speaker 2: been a little bit of concern in around the Quicks
14:09
Speaker 2: with the Limit now out again with a shoulder injury.
14:15
Speaker 2: Darcy Brown had the hip problems through the WBBL and
14:18
Speaker 2: was sort of being managed there, so sort of being
14:21
Speaker 2: around that Quicks you sort of go. But then you
14:23
Speaker 2: got Chloe Ainsworth coming through and Lucy Hamilton, so there's
14:27
Speaker 2: some young guns coming through the system which potentially might
14:31
Speaker 2: be in a game earlier than what they're expecting. But
14:34
Speaker 2: again that's the beautiful sport, isn't it. And you get
14:37
Speaker 2: an opportunity and you run with it. Spinners, we're looking
14:41
Speaker 2: pretty good. We've got leggies throughout the country. Left arm
14:43
Speaker 2: orthodox ash Gardener's world class with right arm orthodox and
14:47
Speaker 2: that is coming through George re vol has shown in
14:49
Speaker 2: the WBBL nothing sort of phases her walking out on
14:52
Speaker 2: the MCG hitting ninety seven, not out in a.
14:54
Speaker 3: Run chase kind of thing. So yes, we probably are
14:57
Speaker 3: in a transition phase.
14:58
Speaker 2: But I think when you look at the of sort
15:00
Speaker 2: of domestic cricketers, I think Shelley Nchki and the team
15:03
Speaker 2: will be recently confident that they can manage it.
15:07
Speaker 1: And all these matches will be live on Fox throughout
15:10
Speaker 1: throughout December and obviously into January. And that brings me
15:13
Speaker 1: to my next question. We talk about the Bordy Gavisco
15:18
Speaker 1: Trophy now being on a parallel with with the Ashes
15:21
Speaker 1: in the men's cricket. Are we at that stage in
15:24
Speaker 1: women's cricket or is it still the Ashes that is
15:26
Speaker 1: the ultimate prize And can you see that Australia India
15:29
Speaker 1: rivalry getting there in women's cricket.
15:33
Speaker 3: Yeah, I don't know. Is it a parallel the men's
15:34
Speaker 3: I'm not too sure yet.
15:36
Speaker 2: Like I love it, I love India Australia in men's
15:39
Speaker 2: Test match crickets. It's phenomenal. Maybe I went to a
15:42
Speaker 2: bit old school. Yeah, I know exactly where you're at, though.
15:47
Speaker 2: I think they're both two fantastic matchups, but for slightly
15:51
Speaker 2: different different reasons in a way. For the for the
15:54
Speaker 2: women's side of things, it's probably still you know, the
15:59
Speaker 2: the foe.
16:01
Speaker 3: That's his history, isn't it.
16:02
Speaker 2: And so when you look at Shelley Nichke coaching the
16:05
Speaker 2: Australian women's cricket team, she's played in multiple ashes and
16:09
Speaker 2: has been brought up on that, so she brings that
16:13
Speaker 2: story intensity to it. And I know Shelley I to
16:17
Speaker 2: in India back in two thousand and four together and
16:19
Speaker 2: that was her debut series, and so we'd have fleeting
16:23
Speaker 2: matches against India, but it just didn't have the history
16:25
Speaker 2: and all those sorts of things. But we're creating it
16:28
Speaker 2: now through these wonderful match ups between individuals in a
16:30
Speaker 2: heally versus core and the like, and the fact that
16:34
Speaker 2: you've got the Women's Premier League. It's the richest tournament
16:37
Speaker 2: in the world and alsi's want to be playing in it.
16:39
Speaker 2: So I think they feel as if, you know, they
16:41
Speaker 2: can score runs, take wickets, do well against India, it
16:45
Speaker 2: sort of puts their name forward for those kinds of
16:47
Speaker 2: opportunities as well. So yeah, it's if an ed crowds
16:52
Speaker 2: like you go to India, you could be playing in
16:54
Speaker 2: pac stadiums these days as well, which is the recent
16:57
Speaker 2: series in a d why Pattel Stadium completely choppers for
17:02
Speaker 2: the games and you know, we know the passion of
17:04
Speaker 2: Indian cricketers and that's that's something very special to play
17:07
Speaker 2: in front of. So it's building every year, which is
17:09
Speaker 2: which is wonderful.
17:12
Speaker 1: Onto the main fair then the English coming out.
17:16
Speaker 3: It's January.
17:17
Speaker 1: It's three T twenties, three ODIs and the fabulous four
17:22
Speaker 1: day Test match to finish, and we know that England
17:26
Speaker 1: are preparing really well for this. They've got similar I
17:29
Speaker 1: think a similar program against South Africa. I think the
17:32
Speaker 1: same program basically the three T twenties to three ODIs
17:35
Speaker 1: and the four day Test match. How strong are the
17:39
Speaker 1: English team? We saw them probably exit a bit of
17:42
Speaker 1: a shock leading into that they didn't make it through
17:45
Speaker 1: to the semi finals of the World Cup. It was
17:47
Speaker 1: a little bit of interesting comments I guess from Alex
17:50
Speaker 1: Hartley afterwards. She of course a little stir with the
17:54
Speaker 1: maybe question in the fitness of a couple of players
17:56
Speaker 1: and there's been a strong defense back from Heaven Night,
17:59
Speaker 1: just be prior to the South Africa tour. Now, I'm
18:03
Speaker 1: all for the English being in disarray before they come
18:05
Speaker 1: to Australia form but I'm suspecting they're not quite in disarray.
18:11
Speaker 1: I suspect they're probably going to provide an exceptionally strong challenge.
18:14
Speaker 1: I'll get your take on that day, because you're the
18:16
Speaker 1: expert in this field.
18:17
Speaker 3: Yeah, no, definitely.
18:19
Speaker 2: If I can rewind a little bit to the last
18:20
Speaker 2: Ashes series in England and Australia prepared that their focus
18:24
Speaker 2: really wasn't the Test match the first Test match at
18:26
Speaker 2: Trent Bridge, which they won, and it was one of
18:29
Speaker 2: the best Test matches I've seen or played in or
18:31
Speaker 2: in the women's game. It was a great pitch to
18:33
Speaker 2: begin with and that's so so critical. And then England
18:39
Speaker 2: fought back and so it was a drawn series in
18:41
Speaker 2: terms of points. Australia win it because they retained it.
18:44
Speaker 2: They had had the trophy to begin with, but England
18:47
Speaker 2: won the od I and the T twenty series, so there,
18:51
Speaker 2: I think they're exceptionally confident in all three formats that
18:53
Speaker 2: they can they can go toe to toe with Australia
18:57
Speaker 2: right throughout throughout the competition. They've got the the best
19:01
Speaker 2: bowler in the world and Sophie Egleston. They've got Natsiba
19:04
Speaker 2: Brunt who's phenomenally skillful and with both bat and ball.
19:07
Speaker 2: They've got you know, the cricket leader in Heather Knight,
19:10
Speaker 2: who knows the game, team so well and the game
19:13
Speaker 2: so well. So there's that They're got bowlers all the
19:17
Speaker 2: way throughout that I think can keep pressure on Australia
19:20
Speaker 2: and they've got batters to set or chase runs. So
19:23
Speaker 2: I would say it's going to be as tight as
19:26
Speaker 2: if not, you know, the last series still with a
19:29
Speaker 2: trade winning, but I think it will be.
19:32
Speaker 3: I think it will be one of.
19:33
Speaker 2: Those series where people go remember that one, remember that series,
19:37
Speaker 2: and not just the Test match. I think that'll be
19:39
Speaker 2: you know, I think that will put a lot of
19:40
Speaker 2: bums on seats, which is which is absolutely fantastic of
19:43
Speaker 2: the g But I think by the time we get
19:45
Speaker 2: down to the Test match, you would hope that cricket
19:47
Speaker 2: lovers will be going, this is one that you don't
19:50
Speaker 2: want to miss.
19:51
Speaker 1: I will finish off perhaps on that Test match. The
19:54
Speaker 1: initiative heavily promoted in Victoria's certainly, and you would hope
19:58
Speaker 1: that there's a lot of travelers al end of the
20:00
Speaker 1: Australian Open Tennis will be a lot of people in
20:03
Speaker 1: town for that. It's the ninetieth anniversary, firstly your thoughts
20:08
Speaker 1: on that, but then also just thrown forward to the
20:11
Speaker 1: one hundredth anniversary in ten years. Are we hoping to
20:13
Speaker 1: see women playing more tests by that and we hoping
20:16
Speaker 1: it might be a two to three test series for
20:18
Speaker 1: example by that stage and a broader thing. What is
20:22
Speaker 1: your hopes for January and then for his time in
20:25
Speaker 1: that regard?
20:26
Speaker 2: Yeah, Look, the naysayers or not even naysays. I think
20:30
Speaker 2: some people just get a bit nervous when all of
20:32
Speaker 2: a sudden you put it at a big stadium. You
20:34
Speaker 2: think the MCG one hundred thousand, don't do it. What's
20:36
Speaker 2: the point it's going to look empty. But if that's
20:39
Speaker 2: what people said around the T twenty World Cup Final
20:42
Speaker 2: in twenty twenty, we had eighty six thousand there and
20:45
Speaker 2: you sort of go give people their dues and give
20:48
Speaker 2: the players they do. They're elite athletes playing phenomenally good cricket.
20:52
Speaker 2: Put them on the big stage and find out what
20:56
Speaker 2: the response is and then all of a sudden, you know,
20:58
Speaker 2: maybe we need to market different maybe we need to
21:00
Speaker 2: do things differently to get the word out there. And
21:03
Speaker 2: so that's the challenge. I'd say curtos to Nikokley under
21:06
Speaker 2: his leadership at Career in Australia to go, no, we're
21:09
Speaker 2: not just going to put it at a boutique ground
21:11
Speaker 2: and make it look pretty. We're going to really lean
21:14
Speaker 2: into it and give the players what they want and
21:18
Speaker 2: say to the cricket loving fraternity, you know how to
21:21
Speaker 2: get to the g this is your place and it's
21:23
Speaker 2: the value it's putting it on a certain standard. So
21:26
Speaker 2: I love that side of things and to more cricket
21:29
Speaker 2: test cricket. I actually think that the multi format series
21:33
Speaker 2: is one that countries can get their heads around and
21:37
Speaker 2: put into their program and navigate at the moment. I do, however,
21:42
Speaker 2: think in maybe ten years time, the ASHES might broaden
21:46
Speaker 2: out into more than just a one month test competition,
21:50
Speaker 2: which I think would be absolutely fantastic as well.
21:54
Speaker 1: Look, I really appreciate you joining the follow on podcast.
21:58
Speaker 1: It's an absolute pleasure. I know we've got great cricket
22:00
Speaker 1: to come. As always on KO Sports and Fox Cricket
22:03
Speaker 1: five oh one. Lot's to look forward to with India
22:07
Speaker 1: and then with England next month. Thank you so much
22:09
Speaker 1: for your time well and absolutely pleasure to have you on.
22:12
Speaker 2: Thank you so much, and I'm hoping that Alisa Healy
22:14
Speaker 2: can enforce the follow on against England at the g
22:16
Speaker 2: That would be a little moment Nash's history as well.