May 7, 2025 • 47 mins
This week, Wisden editor Lawrence Booth explains his strong views on the current top level administration for the game and high performance coach Paul Wiseman details what is wanted from the NZA tour of Bangladesh.
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Speaker 3 (00:47):
Hello, We're back on the front foot and a top
order batting lesson for the New Zealand eighteen and they're
epening two matches of the One Day Series in Bangladesh.
Top start. What should we expect from this tour? England
will trial some new players for the one off Test
match with Zimbabwe and Wisdom delivers a telling view of
(01:09):
the past year. All that coming up will be joined
by Wisdom editor Lawrence Boo a little later on on
the front foot, but we are joined as always by
Jeremy Katie, who like me, is having a little look
at the New Zealand as it's nice to be able
to pick it up on the internet. Tough start, They've
got a few lessons to learn, but that's the whole
(01:30):
point of being in Bangladesh, isn't it learning those lessons?
Speaker 4 (01:34):
Yeah?
Speaker 5 (01:34):
They I look, they didn't have a lot of time
to get used to some of the things that I
think you have to when you go to a place
like Bangladesh, heat and pictures and so on. So it
wasn't easy easy going at a to play, of course,
and then be to watch. I mean, the batting in
(01:59):
both games really wasn't what you need to win that
level of game. They're playing against a Bangladesh side which
most of them have played international cricket before, and certainly
in test matches, but you know, in one or other
of the other fourmats as well. I thought last night
there was only oh, dear, perhaps Rajah was the only
(02:20):
one in that side that hadn't played international cricket for Bangladesh.
Speaker 1 (02:27):
And yeah, and.
Speaker 5 (02:29):
Then just inconsistencies and learning about and let's hope that's
what's happening for the players, learning about how to play
in those conditions. So yeah, look, let's wait and see,
let's hope we see some improvement throughout the tour.
Speaker 3 (02:45):
Right, Yeah, there's some good players there and more reflect
on that when the tour comes to an end, they've
got the three one days, the two of them have
been completed so far, and then there's a two four
day games, so we will look more closely at that
when it is completed. It's an important experience though for
a players. Two overseas tours in the off season this
(03:08):
way to Bangladesh and then South Africa in June or July.
It's rare for the A's to have two overseas tours offseason.
High performance coach with the side, Paul Wiseman told us
before they left. He realizes how important these tours are
for the future development of the players.
Speaker 2 (03:25):
The goal is to be able to to be able
to get to a tours were their home or away
in a calendar year. So we had a Nassy tour
not long ago in India just before that. Obviously Bangladesh
was supposed to be last year as well, but for
security reasons that was called we'll postponed until now. So yeah,
(03:47):
we got two now and we're looking to have two
each year, one preferably in a subcontinent environment. Obviously we
have to receive teams back as well, so it may
be that there we have an A series at the
start or the end of a domestic season back here
and then we also try and get over to Australia.
(04:08):
I need to get over to Australia as much as
we can because you know, the subcontinent was one of
the last frontiers and obviously the black Caps clopped that
in the way last year were those three Test victories,
and obviously we would love to get a similar sort
of thing in Australia. So they hasn't even a chieaved before.
So by getting these guys over there as well, you
(04:29):
know that just when their time comes with the black Caps,
they've had those experiences.
Speaker 3 (04:35):
Yes, well, you can recall the Australian tour last year
when New Zealand performed outstandingly, particularly in the first class games,
and you've got the same on this occasion. And this
is a This is a real challenge for these players,
isn't it. Because they've proven themselves domestically here another step
(04:56):
up for many of them.
Speaker 2 (04:57):
Yeah, for sure. These tours for me, they're really exciting
ones because not every run on every tour, not even
run succeeds or for forms to the standard they want to,
but a guarantee by the end of the tour, everyone
that's been on that tour, come back a better player,
and the experiences that they gain on a tool like
(05:20):
this will hold them in great stead for future subcontinent
tours with either as or or a little bit of like
black Caps. A number of these guys have been to
the subcontinent, not too many to Banglades, so just a
hell of an experience for them.
Speaker 3 (05:37):
How important is that specific experience of going to Bangladesh
and say rather going to Australia or England or something
like that. Is it an extra special, extra challenging to it.
Speaker 2 (05:49):
Yeah, it's for a number of reasons. It's the conditions
are just so foreign to us in New Zealand. For start,
the weather, you know, it's obviously it's a hell of
a lot harder. It's going to be early mid thirties
plus high humidity. It's coming into mon Sceon season. So
we've got fingers crossed that that holds off and lets
us get on with the tour. So they're going to
(06:11):
have to deal with heat, with humidity, and then with
very different pictures that we produce here. We kind of
simulate a little bit in our marquees. In a couple
of games last year we played on pictures that have
been used and or been scarified and things like that.
But this is this is entirely, entirely new. Obviously, there's
(06:32):
different foods, you know, there's different protocols around what you
can and can't eat and drink, and and obviously then touring,
getting getting to and from the grounds will be heavy
security and buses and you know, not being able to
go out of hotels and all those sorts of things,
having to entertain yourselves. And I think tours like that
(06:52):
also bring teams closer together because you're not no one's
really scattering off into different places looking at different tourists
attractions or mauls or whatever it is. You're going to
have to stay close and the type groups. So that's
why they tours are usually pretty special.
Speaker 3 (07:10):
Yeah, well that's always been the case for sides going overseas,
even top level sides, isn't it in terms of the
development and being able to assimilate into the local culture.
I look at the side that is going and you know,
it must have been a hard side to pick because
there are players that we could all put forward who
would have had an opportunity. And to finish up with
(07:33):
the fifteen, you've got well performed players, a lot of
experience there and you know a real opportunity for these
guys to show what they're worth.
Speaker 4 (07:43):
At the top level.
Speaker 1 (07:44):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (07:45):
Look, I think the A tours Ondes are the hardest
ones to pick out of all because you're not just
picking on if you're picking a Black Ops team, primarily
nine times out of ten, you're picking a team that
you think is going to going to perform the best
and get the results that you want. With an A team,
there's a real balancing act. There's so many good players
(08:06):
that aren't on the side that you can easily make
it caseful. And there was a lot of debate around
that We've gone for a team that has youth in it,
but it's also got some experience which we think will
be valuable on that and that experience we believe has
still got the capability of playing Black Caps and for
(08:27):
a number of years. Players these days are going on,
they're a lot fitter, nutrition andcency and all that sort
of things, and obviously a drive too. You know, you
can earn good money, so players attending to play look
after themselves better and play for longer. So you know,
you might be thirty one thirty two, but you could
have another six years playing international level and you can
(08:49):
pay a lot of cricket in that time. So we
wanted to reflect obviously performance and domestic cricket and also
look at and eye to the future of what we
think is our best talent coming through. So it's a
real combination of those two things.
Speaker 3 (09:08):
Of the areas of your expertise. Been bowling has always
been a challenge for New Zealand side. Addie Ashop is
there and Jadon Lennox. What other spinners have you got
within that side because they're relatively inexperienced those two, aren't they?
Speaker 2 (09:24):
Yeah, they are. Look and he's been on a on
an nineteen tours is South Africa and he's also played
played a couple of games for the black Caps, which
is which is awesome. He's obviously hit a couple of
a season of injury and or a year off basically
was back injury and he's he's his way back in
(09:46):
this year. But a real talent. Jaden Lennox has just
been one of these great stories. He's sort of battling
away in Clavin and Hawke Cup cricket and probably a
little bit overweight if you ask them. He went away
and got super fit. He's one of the fittest guys
on that side. Now he's an absolute enough of your
(10:07):
you know, he's a real student of the game. He
studies opposition like no one else. He's very very accurate spinner.
He's tall left armor and we think that's the sort
of spinner that does well in the subcontinent. You don't
have to turn in a lot, you've just got a
half a bat with accuracy and change the pace and
(10:28):
what we think will he will do well over there
and has a big future. And then Dean fox Crofts
come in. He's sady unfortunately has has an injury which
has precluded him from going on this tour. So Dean
Foxcroft off spinner from Otaga, has been given him opportunities
and all around her which will give us some real
depth in our batting. But he's your sort of more
(10:51):
traditional up and over type off spinner, so it'll be
good to see how he fares over there. And then
we've got a couple of guys that are pushing to
become more than part time spinners, the Lakes of the
Dale Phillips Bowlzes Off. He's a bit like his brother
and he's come a long way and a period of time.
And Matt Boyle, who bowls sort of quicker leg spinners,
(11:14):
who I think more in the white ball game at
the moment, but it is developing really nicely and could
be could be a real string to his bow. Going
for going forward, you talked.
Speaker 3 (11:27):
About the excitement of these tours and the development of players.
It's important for you and the coaching team as well,
isn't it. Because New Zealand Cricket are talking about coaching
opportunities and this involvement perhaps with the MLC in the
United States. You play an important part in these because
(11:47):
you have to make sure that these players take their
opportunities when they get them.
Speaker 2 (11:53):
Yeah, exactly. Look, it's an amazing opportunity for these guys
firstly to be able to well not firstly one, to
be able to impress and to be able to impress
up to the Black Caps with franchise cricket, you know,
sort of growing and growing and obviously now we have
a vested interested in franchise cricket with the recent outpose
(12:18):
investment into the MLC. A lot of these players are
not always available for the black Caps, and I think
It's whilst in a perfect world would love to see
that not happening as much well I would anyway, what
it has done is it's created It's created opportunity in
(12:39):
space where players like your Marius and your basses and
your kellies and so forth. It just recently had opportunities
that they may not have had if those IPL players
weren't away. So it's almost like we've got an a
orter bangle of this. We've got an A order to
South Africa later in the year, but I've also had
(13:00):
an A plus experience for those guys that have had
those chances to play Pakistan recently and also last year
against Pakistan, and I think the previous year against Bangladesh
where that same window of IPL happened and the number
of our players get give an upgraded experience. So but
I've got this opportunity. There's going to be opportunities coming
(13:21):
up in the future, you know, the tour of Zimbabwe
with tests who knows to who's going to be available
for that, and some T twenty opportunities. So guys that
take their chances here obviously putting their putting their hands up,
which is brilliant, but the main goal of any of
these tours is to develop players. We can't there's not
always that space that I've just spoken about. When you
(13:44):
get the full black Caps quota back and playing in
our full strength, then those opportunities aren't available. So we've
just got to keep developing these players, growing them so
that when they do get their chance, when.
Speaker 5 (13:58):
Players do.
Speaker 2 (14:00):
Are away or do retire or whatever, they get their chance,
they're ready. And I think that's been a real strength
music and cricket over the last eight years or so
is that most players when they've come and to the
Black Cats for the first time, performed straight away and
have performed consistently after that, which hasn't always been the case.
(14:21):
So so tours like this are just, you know, they're
exactly what we need. And we can't compete with the
likes of England and Australia and India that have huge
A programs Financially, We just we just can't do it.
So I'm really really going to make the most of
every chance we do get.
Speaker 3 (14:40):
Interesting to hear from Wiseman and we'll reflect with him
after the two but he makes some pretty important points
that you know, have to be covered by the side
in terms of learning and developing for the future.
Speaker 5 (14:52):
He does what you can't disagree with a lot of
what he says. The only thing that I do think
is that for the A side or a development side,
this is a bit of boat, isn't it. This team? Yeah,
some times there's this kind of a line of thinking
that goes, look, let's have some experience in the team
(15:16):
and let's have some newcomers as well, or people with
a parent potential and we'll assess them while they're there,
you know. And I think that's what they do with
the coaching as well, that there's a developmental component not
just for the players who are going there, but also
for the coaches that are going there. And if you
(15:39):
look at those coaches, Bob Carter, who's not that he's
not developmental. He's been around the New Zealand cricket for
a very long time now. He was at Northampton, he
was at Canterbury, is at Wellington, he was at the
women's side, he was at World Cups and you'd have
to say with mixed success in terms of results. The
(15:59):
Paul Wiseman, we've just been speaking to a spin coach
and a talent id man works with underage sides, and
then there's the new coach, the devel mental part.
Speaker 2 (16:09):
If you like.
Speaker 5 (16:10):
Ben mccaord from tim Ru. He played five matches for
Canterbury Medium Fast. He was the main coach at Saint
Bede's College in Christich. He was with the Canterbury under
seventeen and nineteen and he's now been appointed with the
Vaults down in Otago as their assistant coach as well.
He's a bowling coach, so he's that component this time.
(16:33):
And my question would be who's handling the batting? We
know to spind coach, we know there's a bowling coach
with Ben mccaud who's handling the batting? I guess you'd
have to say Bob Carter in that way, or who's
or someone else? You know, Game one didn't go so
quite so well with the batting and they were chasing
a big total in game two. You know, should an
(16:55):
a or development side? Should we take our most experienced
coaches wads because our high quality coaches, you know, because
they're the most important play aren't they for the future
likely to need when you go to a place like
Bangladesh technical and tactical guidance. I would suspect many of
(17:18):
the players, for example, wouldn't see in our team the
ball turning in the air as it comes down to them,
because in New Zealand our pitchers don't turn too much,
and so you don't need to watch the ball closely
enough to see which way it's turning, and you don't
pick up the length quite so much. Should you play forward?
(17:42):
Should you play back? A lot of the guys I
watched to play in a bit of a mix between
going forward and back, particularly in the second innings where
the ball's keeping a bit lower and a lot got bold,
didn't they a lot were hurried and it's skiddered through
inside edge and so on. So those are things, you know,
(18:04):
I think that they need to be coached and if
they can come back even knowing something about that, if
in doubt push out. Remember those famous old maxims. You know,
if you don't get a man in close on the
batpad or pad bat in a one day game, so
you're not going to be worried about that. So I
just think there are things they can learn. They're a
(18:26):
bit inconsistent changes of pace for the bowlers and a
range of athleticism. I think I saw so things to
be learned, and that's what you would expect.
Speaker 1 (18:36):
To see Brian Waddell, Jeremy Cooney on the front foot.
Speaker 3 (18:42):
England are making some changes to their Test match side.
They're going to bring in a fellow from Essex called
Sam Cook, whose name I'd never heard of, but he's
been pretty successful. He's twenty seven years of age and
he's in the squad for the Test against Zimbabwe being
played at trent Bridge. They've got the likes of Chris Wolkes,
Mark Wood, Brydon cass Olie Stone all absence Joffra Archer
(19:04):
is playing in the IPL, so it's a chance to
just have a look at the depth of their side.
And you know, England have got a lot of Test
match cricket coming up over the next twelve to eighty months.
They've got an access series coming and there's plenty for
them to prepare for, so they get a chance to
look at other players at trent Bridge.
Speaker 5 (19:24):
Jerry, they do a predictable side, as you say, other
than the name Sam Cook, he's a right arm medium
fast wadds Essex. Exceptional figures over a period of time
since he's played there. You know, he's probably four or
five runs better than the nearest in terms of average
(19:46):
taking wickets. He takes a wicket about every seven or
eight overs. He's a guy that knows what he's doing.
But the main point about his selection to me is
that it runs against the mantra that this selection panel
have been using pace pace, you know, eighty five plus.
(20:07):
But we've heard time and time again and I'm not
sure whether there we're any other eighty five plus pace
candidates for this team or is it actually a little
bit more of a softening, a flexibility and approach from
mcculor metal and just recognizing this player's new ball skills.
(20:27):
He's steady and reliable and he's slightly metronomic. So it's
but for me it's a difference if I was a captain,
it's a difference. They're not all eighty five plus. He's
got some point of difference about him because he hasn't
quite got the pace, So I think that's a handy
thing to have. Josh Tungu is there as well. He's
(20:48):
played for England. He's had a good start to the season,
probably the quickest in county cricket at the moment. Atkinson.
We know we've had a good year. They've picked four seamers,
they'll probably play three. The interesting name for me too,
Wads Bashier. Now England have a problem with that, that's
(21:09):
a fact. It's becoming a problem. And he is too.
He plays for Somerset, that's where his county is and
that's where his contractor is. But currently playing for Glamorgan
at the moment in the county he's got two wickets
for at one hundred and fifty three this season. Somerset
don't even seem to want him. If you look at
the New Zealand tour he got, and then at the
(21:31):
Lions tour that he went on in Aussie and then
the start for the year at the county he's playing
at Glamorgan. He's got sixteen wickets at seventy one, so
it's an interesting one, isn't And he goes for nearly
four runs and over, so he leaks runs as a
spinner and you cannot do that. You talked about Australia boy,
(21:54):
they are going to enjoy playing against Shah Bashir. I
think if you leak that many runs, you've got to
get wickets and he's not doing that quite at the moment.
So he's had more tests than all the other bowlers
in that side, so you know, it's an interesting one
(22:17):
because they've really only got Rayan Armott who's really learning
his trade. He won't probably go on those major tours now.
Jack Leach who got hit in Australia last time, and
Liam Dawson is another name plays at Hampshire left armor
and that needs to be sorted out. That hole is
(22:37):
about who are they going to take. They're even talking
about not playing a spinner.
Speaker 1 (22:43):
On the front foot with Waddle and Cony on.
Speaker 3 (22:47):
The front foot was Brian Model and Jeremy Cony. It's
that time of the year when the while it's always
been known as the Cricketer's Bible to some extent, but
the Wisdom Annual, the Wisdom Almanac comes on the bookshelves,
and of course it covers a lot of the game
(23:08):
of cricket. I don't know how much time has spent
just checking the stats. Who does the proofreading, but a
man who can probably help with that as the editor,
Lawrence Booth, who joins us on the front foot. And
I mean it's a it's a mess of document, doesn't it.
There's a hell of a lot there to go on
and it's not just you, is.
Speaker 4 (23:29):
It, Hi, Brian, No, I'd love to claim all the credit.
I can't. There are one five hundred and eighty four
pages in this year's Wisden, and I'd be I'd be
a madman to attempt all that by myself. I have
a small but very dedicated team who check the stats.
We have a couple of statisticians on the go, so
our record section is accurate and up to date. And
(23:52):
I mean I proofread every other page apart from the
statistical stuff at the back, So I'm you know, me
and the team proofread probably about thirteen hundred pages across
the course of the year. So it's a huge enterprise.
But it's it's a lot of fun.
Speaker 3 (24:05):
I mean, it would be easy to miss an important
statistic to some extent, wouldn't it, because there are so
many changing and there are so many things that now
people want as a statistic, because it is a game
of statistics apart from anything else, isn't it.
Speaker 4 (24:21):
Yeah, I mean we did. Look, I'd love to say
wisdom doesn't make any mistakes. We you know, as soon
as we're published, the letters and emails start to dribble
in saying excellent, congratulations on another edition of Wisdom, and
then the next paragraph always begins. However, commer I noticed
on page seven hundred and forty three that and they've
spotted some tiny little mistake. You think, how did that
(24:42):
get through? But you know, human error is part of it.
But no, it's some you know, the record section kind
of just needs updating each year effectively. You know, if
you pick up Wisdom, you expect to be able to
see that Brian Lara has the highest test score or
you know, the best bowling figures in test history of
Jim Laker, and in nineteen fifty six. Even in the
age of the Internet, where those numbers get updated by
the second, you still expect an annual to have the
(25:04):
big numbers. So it's a kind of balancing act.
Speaker 3 (25:07):
Yeah, I suppose it's probably easier now because you do
have computers by which these steps can be kept on
and just maintained as the magazine or the book does.
Speaker 4 (25:17):
Yeah, it's not. You know, we're not using carrier pigeons
or fax machines anymore. I mean, I take my hat off.
I take my hat off. The editors it used to
have to make changes by facts. I mean, you basically
had to limit the number of changes you made because
it became impossible. Now we have proofreading meetings on Skype.
You know, everything's filed by email. It goes slot straight
(25:37):
into a content management system. We have a type setter,
so you know, that side of it is much easier.
On the other hand, there's a lot more cricket to
cover than there was even twenty years ago. You know,
the onset of T twenty has changed the game completely.
So we're always trying to see what we need to
cut from wisdom to fit everything in to keep the
book within about fifteen hundred and sixteen hundred pages.
Speaker 3 (25:58):
Oh yeah, and that's got to be a hard task. Well,
it's in the public eye and has made a bit
of a hit with the public for or against a
because the editor's note, and that's how your comments are
written down in crick Info. The editor's note has created
(26:19):
a little bit of controversy. You've had a crack at
the World Tiest Championship, calling it a shambles masquerading as
a show piece. You've also been critical of the ICC.
I must say I don't disagree with you in much
of what you say, but I'm sure there has been
some disagreement and some reaction to your comments in terms
(26:42):
of both events.
Speaker 4 (26:44):
Yes, i'd I'd be surprising if you came up with
strong statements that everyone agrees with. I mean, I've done
this job for this is my fourteenth edition now, and
the role that India play in kind of controlling world
cricket has been quite a regular theme. It hasn't always
gone down well. I think this year really the what
happened at the Champions Trophy in Pakistan slash Dubai, I
(27:06):
think resonated a bit more with the cricket wider creat
getting public than previous examples of Indian power had done.
That the fact that India got to play all their
games in Dubai and other teams are flying in and out.
In some cases South Africa had to fly across the
Dubai just in case they were playing that semi final
with the possibility of them having to fly back to Pakistan.
(27:26):
So I accept that the political situation is now even
more difficult than it was, and I wrote these notes
because of the situation in Kashmir. But I think over
the last few years the India have got away with
more than other countries would I mean, let's say of
New Zealand had said, sorry, we can't play in Pakistan.
We insist on playing in Dubai for political reasons. My
(27:47):
guess is the rest of the world would have said, well, sorry,
we're holding the tournament without you, because they can't say
that to India because India controlled the purse strings. And
that is the problem that world cricket faces. And with
Jay shar the former Indian Board honorary secretary now Chairman
of the ICC, Indian now hold every single position of power.
Really they controy all the game, not just financially but administratively.
(28:11):
My question really, is a monopoly good for cricket? And
why don't any of the bigger nations, the so called
bigger nations England and Australia principally, why don't they push
back a bit what India are doing. So, yes, that
doesn't always go down well in India, as you can imagine,
people take it as an anti Indian rant. It's not.
It's simply that I want the best for cricket. And
(28:32):
my question is are India exercising their power with the
responsibility to.
Speaker 3 (28:35):
A certain extent. You are raising a point that has
been talked about around the world over a long period
of time. Some people see it as inevitable that the
control will stay in India, that the game won't make
the advances and retain the tiss Cricket the Worldish Championship
(28:56):
as we've come to know it, because of the dominance
they have. Do you see it as an inevitability?
Speaker 4 (29:03):
Well at the moment, probably because there's no sign that
the BCCI want to share a bit more of the wealth.
I mean. The other point I've made, and I made
it a couple of years back, or maybe perhaps it
was last year, was that the ICC redistributed their funds
so that India's share of the annual part of about
six hundred million dollars of sort the ICIC get from
their broadcasting rights grew from about a quarter to nearly
(29:26):
two fifths. So that's about two hundred and thirty million
US now, just to give some context for listeners, New
Zealand's share is something like four point seventy three percent.
That's twenty eight million. Now that now, if India just
shared a bit of the two hundred and thirty million
with nations like New Zealand or West Indies or Sri
(29:47):
Lanka or South Africa. We might I might feel a
bit more confident about the future of Test cricket. What's
happening at the moment is that all these other nations
are Test cricket is a loss for them. They make
a financial loss when they host tests, and the game
will simply die out. We're already seeing plenty of two
match series. You know, New Zealand play two match series
a lot of the time. I know in England came
it's a three match here, is that great? But two
(30:09):
match here is a annoying, aren't they. You often want
a third it's sometimes one, or you want to decide
a two match series are things you hurry through to
get to the money spinning white ball games. If we
could find a way of funding test cricket, accept that
it makes a loss, but that we love it and
we need it for the richness of cricket's ecosystem. If
we could find a way of doing that, then I'd
feel a bit more confident about cricket's future. As it is,
(30:31):
I think we're heading for a kind of white ball
dominated calendar. We're already getting there. To be honest, with England,
India and Australia playing five match tests series against each other,
which is already they already do it to excess. It's
already getting a bit dull. It could get even duller
and that's not good for cricket. It won't be good
for Indian cricket because Indian cricket needs a diverse world game.
(30:53):
I think for it to have people to play against
and for players to populate its own ipl so in
a way you have to appeal to their self interest.
But that's not going on at the moment. It's all
about we generate all the money, therefore we should get
most of it.
Speaker 3 (31:06):
There's a feeling outside that there's almost a payback for
the years that ICC lived in London and the NCC
head control of the game as such, and it's our
turn now, which I think people understand, but I'm not
sure that that helps the game develop as it should develop.
Speaker 4 (31:26):
Oh, I totally get the emotional kind of impulse there.
You know, England and Australia had the veto at the
ICC till nineteen ninety three and it's an outrageous situation really,
And I dare say that within and editors in the
fifties and sixties, weren't calling that situation out because that
was simply the way the way the world worked as
far as they were concerned. But if you if you
take the view that you bullied us, then now it's
(31:49):
our turn to bully you, then we will never get anywhere.
We need a collaborative approach really in world cricket, and
to take to sort of say well it's our turn
now to rule the roost will simply lead us more
quickly to a situation where test cricket dies out in
a lot of a lot of the world.
Speaker 3 (32:07):
Yes, and seeing the resurgence or the emergence of so
much white ball cricket now in terms of the franchise
cricket around the world. In New Zealand is getting involved
in the American competition, so you know that is going
to be the future rather than some other forms of
the game. One of the things that we always loved
(32:28):
about Wisdom was the five Cricketers of the Year and
it was almost what we looked for when the Wisdom
came out if a New Zealand name happened to be there,
and we've had a number of New Zealanders, but I
think this time we're delighted that the Wisdom Trophy has
been awarded to a New Zealander. The year's outstanding performance
(32:52):
went to Mitchell Santner thirteen wickets in the Test match
at Puna. We loved that Test match. We won at
three nil. But that obviously features highly with you because
you would in a year have many, he evinced, many
moments that you consider for the Worstern Trophy.
Speaker 4 (33:15):
Absolutely, so, I mean this trophy came in, it's in
its third year now. The Wisdom Trophy used to be
awarded to the winners of the England West Indies Test Series.
Then that the boards of those nations changed that trophy
to the Richards Botham Trophy. So we thought we'd repurpose
the Wisdom Trophy. Will support Test cricket, will award it
to the best individual performance by a manor or woman
in the calendarar at Test level and therefore, you know,
(33:36):
so you're looking at I think they're over fifty Test
matches last year, so you've got a lot to choose from.
It's a great one to win and I just looking
at Mitchell Santa's performance at poone. So no team had
won a Test series in India since England in twenty
twelve thirteen. Not only that no team had drawn a
Test series, so India had won every single Test series
(33:56):
since then. New Zealand didn't really arrive with much hope.
I think it's fair to say I think we assumed
it would just be another home win for India. Then
the New Zealand won the first Test, which thought, okay,
they've got their lucky winner. The way, it's going to
be two one to India now, and then at poone
in Santna comes in in spinning conditions. You know, these
are tailor made for India spinners. That's how they've won
(34:17):
so many series down the years, and he out bowls
India spinners in spinning conditions. He takes thirteen for I
think it was one hundred and fifty seven. Andrew Alderson,
who wrote the interviewed Mitchell four Wisdom and wrote up
is the Piece, says it's probably the second best before well,
the sort of almost the most resonant performance by a
New Zealand bowler, after Richard Hadley at Brisbane in eighty
(34:40):
five eighty six when he took fifteen for. You know,
it's on that kind of a pedestal and don't forget
that Satna had he'd never taken more than three wickets
in a Test innings and suddenly he takes six and seven.
I mean, it's absolutely ludicrous, really, But I tell you
the performance that came closest to knocking him off that
perch was Shama Joseph for West Indies at the Gabba
(35:01):
right at the start of the year when West Indies
beat Australia by think it was about eight runs and
he bowled with a broken foot on the last day
knock them over. A brilliant kind of performance and in
a way, that was the That would have been the
emotional pick, but I felt that Santa was the intellectual pick.
If you like it. It was the brain's ruling the heart.
It was saying that no, teams don't win in India,
(35:22):
New Zealand spinners don't out bowl Indian spinners in India,
and Mitchell Santana has taken thirteen when he's never taken
more than three. He scored an unbeaten thirty three as well,
which helped. So to me it was it was almost
impossible to ignore and delighted to give it.
Speaker 3 (35:35):
To Yeah, I must admit that I was one of
those who after the build up to that series wasn't
prepared to give New Zealand a chance of winning one
little three, So that something I'd take ownership four. And
it's nice to be able to celebrate it because it's
been celebrated by Wisdom and that is a significant moment
(35:56):
that we can all share. The Players of the Year,
now this is an interesting one, of course, because you
can never win the five Players of the Year more
than once, can you?
Speaker 4 (36:06):
No, that's right, So the five Cricketers of the I
mean some people say it should be called the five
cricketers of the English Summer because that is the emphasis.
And as you say, you can't win it more than once,
so you know you are slightly limited. It makes the
award slightly quirky. It's not simply the best the leading
run score of the leading wi could takers. There are
plenty of awards that do that, so Wisdom, the Wisdom
(36:27):
Award has always had this slight charm that you've get
a couple of names that you know, perhaps the outside
world might not have been that aware of a county
cricket or so, so that's how it works, right.
Speaker 3 (36:39):
And the other award of significance of course, was the
leading cricketers of the world. Jesperate Boomra. We probably can't
find too much argument with that, bearing in mind his
impact on the international game and what he was able
to achieve, the strength he was for the Indian side
and the women's side of the games. Really, Mandana was
(37:02):
the player. What was her performance above a number of
very well performed women's players, particularly in Australia and even
some of the England players over the last twelve month period.
Speaker 4 (37:17):
Yeah, a good question. I think to win that award,
if you're not Australian, you have to do something pretty special.
I mean, Australia so far ahead of the pack. I
know that New Zealand won the World cut, but I
think over the course of the year you'd probably say
Australia are the leading women's side. She scored nearly seventeen
hundred runs in all international cricket. That was a record
(37:38):
for a woman in a calendar year. And she scored
four centuries alone in ODI cricket and that was a
record too. So I think for her to stand out
among a crowded field of talented players was quite an achievement.
Speaker 3 (37:51):
Yes, And I guess the women's game now is getting
extended quite significantly, and it was nice to see that
an english woman got one of your five Cricketers of
the Year. Sophie Hilston, who's a lovely exponent of lift
arm spin. She probably spoilt the last twelve months, I
(38:11):
suppose because of her reaction to a media interview that
probably had a lot of coverage in England. But she's
a wonderful spin borers and she really does practice the
art to almost perfection, doesn't she.
Speaker 4 (38:27):
Yeah, she's beautiful to watch. She doesn't miss a line
of length, does she? I mean she she forces the
batters to play at everything. Yes, as you say, it
was a bad end to the year for England's women
getting thrashed in Australia. Of course, the award is based,
as I mentioned earlier, based on the English summer, and
in the English summer, England won every match they played
and Eckleston took twenty six wickets an average of nine.
(38:49):
So it was you know, it's kind of hard to
overlook what she did. She because she's so accurate and
she's quite tall. She came to the Wisdom Dinner to
collect her award and it was just standing next to her.
I'm not a tall man, but standing next to her
it was kind of reminded me of what a physical
presence she is. And she comes down from a great
height and she gets bounced, natural bounce. She turns it
(39:11):
a bit and she doesn't miss a trick. So it's
sort of Chinese water torture in a way. Drip drip,
and you have to have to have your wits about
you to survive. You know, even Australians haven't done that
well against her. So she'd been knocking on the door
for the Wisdom five for a couple of years. She'd
been unlucky to miss out, probably for the previous two
or three years, so it's nice to be able to
give it to her.
Speaker 3 (39:32):
Finally, how do you feel when it gets to the
printer and it comes out. Is there a sense of
relief where you're already starting to think about what's going
to happen next year?
Speaker 4 (39:43):
Oh?
Speaker 3 (39:43):
No.
Speaker 4 (39:44):
The nice moment is when you kind of pack up
your bags at the end of the production cycle and
you say, right, I don't have to think about this
now for another few weeks until that it's published, and
I do the rounds of interviews and we have the
annual launch at Lord's. That's a nice moment. But yes,
you are already. We have already proof read pages for
Wisdom twenty twenty six. I did a session yesterday where
(40:05):
we as a team, we proofread the Champions Trophy together.
Of course, there's anything that starts from January the first
onwards goes in the following year's Wisdom, if you see
what I mean. So even while we're putting to bed
Wisdom twenty twenty five, I'm commissioning reports and series for
Wisdom twenty twenty six. So it's NonStop. I mean, there
are quieter times of year, but it never quite. The
(40:27):
voice never stops chattering in your head.
Speaker 3 (40:30):
Yeah, you're going to be at your sharpest, don't you.
It's interesting that he's been so harsh Lawrence Booth in
terms of his criticism of some aspects of the game.
But you know, when you're going to make those sorts
of comments, you're going to have to expect that there'll
be opposition, and there's been opposition to what he said.
He understands that. But I think Jerry, the most important
(40:53):
thing is he has highlighted issues that the game needs
to talk about and needs to address. Next week he's
going to join us again to talk about the World
Test Championship and his views on that, but the the
running of it at the moment and the distribution of
funds was another area, as he mentioned, that is in question.
Speaker 5 (41:16):
Yeah, Lawrence Boose has been the editor now for what
nearly fifteen years of Wisdom, which is regarded in cricket
as the Bible or if you like, the conscience of cricket,
and that's where some of the comments you've just made
sort of fit in. And they hold power particularly to
(41:39):
account and I have a bit of a sympathy for
Lawrence's point of view. Maybe that's convenient. I don't know.
I don't know the small details about what goes on
in the corridors of power and the ICC. That doesn't
really interest me, to be honest, Wads. I regard the
(42:00):
ICC as a bit more no more than a well,
no more than a men's club. They seem to make
some decisions about things that don't concern me.
Speaker 1 (42:11):
Are you know?
Speaker 5 (42:12):
When the private equity came along into this game of ours,
they sat on their hands the ICC, and so the
space they left and created has been swallowed up, you know,
and allowed now there are to have fifty three men's
and women's franchised tournaments around the world, and so we
(42:38):
get to a point now, in fact, where the nzid
C are buying part of a franchised team and one
of those that isn't even really a team yet. So look,
no one is in charge of test cricket. That's the
first point, isn't it the ICC, isn't the ECB, isn't
(42:59):
the BCCI or Australia isn't They're not earning as much
money as test cricket should. There are tests all round
the year, played at different places, but you can't watch
you can't watch them without delving into VPNs and watching
this and balling people and so on, and the tests
(43:21):
that you want to because you know, there's no one
there's nowhere where you can watch on a streaming platform
that should be organized TV executives. I speak to them
when I go overseas, and they are really they say
to me, they're stealing money from cricket boards. You've got
thirty hours of broadcasts and people come back to watch
(43:45):
the game day after day and the story of the
game continually changes. You know, if you're watching golf. You
know it's only out of two or three, don't you
three or three of the players, So you turn on
later on in the afternoon because they're the ones who
are last on the fourth round, and you watch them
play cricket. You've got to watch cricket from ball one
(44:08):
in the day because you know, a key wicket falls
and changes the story suddenly. And you know when I
ask people who who runs Test cricket, they say to me, oh,
that top guy at the ICC. Well, no, they don't.
(44:29):
Test cricket is bilateral arrangements all around the world between
cricket boards. So countries talk to countries and arrange for
themselves and quite often wads. If you're Australia, no we
don't want to have New Zealand over the time, we're
getting India. India are coming and we'll make more money there.
Or we don't want to play Bangladesh. No, that's not
(44:51):
going to get people along to watch the game, or
whatever the reasons are. But that's how they arrange bilateral
test matches. So no one's in charge of the schedule,
no one's doing the planning, no one's trying to sell
the overall rights of it. Then they've got this you know,
(45:14):
Test Championship on top, which is pretty badly flawed. And
so you know, if no one's running something was, how
can it be any good.
Speaker 3 (45:23):
Yeah, well there's no plan and we're talking about the
World Test Championship and we will have a closer look
at that next week. But yeah, you're right. I mean
the fact that we can watch the New Zealand a
playing Bangladesh free of charge. You have to put up
with some commercials every now and again. You can live
with that if it doesn't cost you anything, and and
(45:46):
see that you can see Australian cricket live. But in
New Zealand you can't see anything live apart from international matches.
And you know that spreads right throughout the cricket world,
as you were saying, pretty.
Speaker 5 (45:59):
Much and put behind a paywall, so that cuts out
a lot of people who may be interested in the game.
The game should be accessible to everybody everywhere, and the
sooner it starts to do that, the stronger the game
will become and it'll grow.
Speaker 3 (46:17):
Well, I think you're going to have to brush up
your views on the World Test Championship because we had
to talk about World in the next edition and come
up with a few ideas because there are people out
there who still want to see the World Test Championship
on the Cricket Program and see it with some meaning
rather than as it is at the moment. We're going
(46:38):
to see a final between South Africa and Australia, and
South Africa won't have any home test matches after that
later the year, so it's a crazy old ship.
Speaker 5 (46:47):
Put your feet up, extraordinary, take it easy, JC, Yeah,
I shall watch. I'll keep the leg up.
Speaker 3 (46:55):
I keep up and sit and hone in on cricket important.
Speaker 5 (47:03):
All right, good man, take care, be good there, all the.
Speaker 2 (47:09):
Wonder bodies summsening do
Speaker 1 (47:18):
For more from News Talks at b listen live on
air or online, and keep our shows with you wherever
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You're listening to a podcast from News Talk set B.
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Speaker 2 (00:21):
Take another.
Speaker 3 (00:23):
Trick. It is out, the test is over.
Speaker 1 (00:28):
Couldn't smoke?
Speaker 3 (00:29):
Wows a beauty? It is out and here he goes.
This delivery has.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
In the users to goold.
Speaker 1 (00:37):
On the front foot with Brian Waddell and Jeremy Cody,
powered by News Talks sad B at iHeart Radio.
Speaker 3 (00:47):
Hello, We're back on the front foot and a top
order batting lesson for the New Zealand eighteen and they're
epening two matches of the One Day Series in Bangladesh.
Top start. What should we expect from this tour? England
will trial some new players for the one off Test
match with Zimbabwe and Wisdom delivers a telling view of
(01:09):
the past year. All that coming up will be joined
by Wisdom editor Lawrence Boo a little later on on
the front foot, but we are joined as always by
Jeremy Katie, who like me, is having a little look
at the New Zealand as it's nice to be able
to pick it up on the internet. Tough start, They've
got a few lessons to learn, but that's the whole
(01:30):
point of being in Bangladesh, isn't it learning those lessons?
Speaker 4 (01:34):
Yeah?
Speaker 5 (01:34):
They I look, they didn't have a lot of time
to get used to some of the things that I
think you have to when you go to a place
like Bangladesh, heat and pictures and so on. So it
wasn't easy easy going at a to play, of course,
and then be to watch. I mean, the batting in
(01:59):
both games really wasn't what you need to win that
level of game. They're playing against a Bangladesh side which
most of them have played international cricket before, and certainly
in test matches, but you know, in one or other
of the other fourmats as well. I thought last night
there was only oh, dear, perhaps Rajah was the only
(02:20):
one in that side that hadn't played international cricket for Bangladesh.
Speaker 1 (02:27):
And yeah, and.
Speaker 5 (02:29):
Then just inconsistencies and learning about and let's hope that's
what's happening for the players, learning about how to play
in those conditions. So yeah, look, let's wait and see,
let's hope we see some improvement throughout the tour.
Speaker 3 (02:45):
Right, Yeah, there's some good players there and more reflect
on that when the tour comes to an end, they've
got the three one days, the two of them have
been completed so far, and then there's a two four
day games, so we will look more closely at that
when it is completed. It's an important experience though for
a players. Two overseas tours in the off season this
(03:08):
way to Bangladesh and then South Africa in June or July.
It's rare for the A's to have two overseas tours offseason.
High performance coach with the side, Paul Wiseman told us
before they left. He realizes how important these tours are
for the future development of the players.
Speaker 2 (03:25):
The goal is to be able to to be able
to get to a tours were their home or away
in a calendar year. So we had a Nassy tour
not long ago in India just before that. Obviously Bangladesh
was supposed to be last year as well, but for
security reasons that was called we'll postponed until now. So yeah,
(03:47):
we got two now and we're looking to have two
each year, one preferably in a subcontinent environment. Obviously we
have to receive teams back as well, so it may
be that there we have an A series at the
start or the end of a domestic season back here
and then we also try and get over to Australia.
(04:08):
I need to get over to Australia as much as
we can because you know, the subcontinent was one of
the last frontiers and obviously the black Caps clopped that
in the way last year were those three Test victories,
and obviously we would love to get a similar sort
of thing in Australia. So they hasn't even a chieaved before.
So by getting these guys over there as well, you
(04:29):
know that just when their time comes with the black Caps,
they've had those experiences.
Speaker 3 (04:35):
Yes, well, you can recall the Australian tour last year
when New Zealand performed outstandingly, particularly in the first class games,
and you've got the same on this occasion. And this
is a This is a real challenge for these players,
isn't it. Because they've proven themselves domestically here another step
(04:56):
up for many of them.
Speaker 2 (04:57):
Yeah, for sure. These tours for me, they're really exciting
ones because not every run on every tour, not even
run succeeds or for forms to the standard they want to,
but a guarantee by the end of the tour, everyone
that's been on that tour, come back a better player,
and the experiences that they gain on a tool like
(05:20):
this will hold them in great stead for future subcontinent
tours with either as or or a little bit of like
black Caps. A number of these guys have been to
the subcontinent, not too many to Banglades, so just a
hell of an experience for them.
Speaker 3 (05:37):
How important is that specific experience of going to Bangladesh
and say rather going to Australia or England or something
like that. Is it an extra special, extra challenging to it.
Speaker 2 (05:49):
Yeah, it's for a number of reasons. It's the conditions
are just so foreign to us in New Zealand. For start,
the weather, you know, it's obviously it's a hell of
a lot harder. It's going to be early mid thirties
plus high humidity. It's coming into mon Sceon season. So
we've got fingers crossed that that holds off and lets
us get on with the tour. So they're going to
(06:11):
have to deal with heat, with humidity, and then with
very different pictures that we produce here. We kind of
simulate a little bit in our marquees. In a couple
of games last year we played on pictures that have
been used and or been scarified and things like that.
But this is this is entirely, entirely new. Obviously, there's
(06:32):
different foods, you know, there's different protocols around what you
can and can't eat and drink, and and obviously then touring,
getting getting to and from the grounds will be heavy
security and buses and you know, not being able to
go out of hotels and all those sorts of things,
having to entertain yourselves. And I think tours like that
(06:52):
also bring teams closer together because you're not no one's
really scattering off into different places looking at different tourists
attractions or mauls or whatever it is. You're going to
have to stay close and the type groups. So that's
why they tours are usually pretty special.
Speaker 3 (07:10):
Yeah, well that's always been the case for sides going overseas,
even top level sides, isn't it in terms of the
development and being able to assimilate into the local culture.
I look at the side that is going and you know,
it must have been a hard side to pick because
there are players that we could all put forward who
would have had an opportunity. And to finish up with
(07:33):
the fifteen, you've got well performed players, a lot of
experience there and you know a real opportunity for these
guys to show what they're worth.
Speaker 4 (07:43):
At the top level.
Speaker 1 (07:44):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (07:45):
Look, I think the A tours Ondes are the hardest
ones to pick out of all because you're not just
picking on if you're picking a Black Ops team, primarily
nine times out of ten, you're picking a team that
you think is going to going to perform the best
and get the results that you want. With an A team,
there's a real balancing act. There's so many good players
(08:06):
that aren't on the side that you can easily make
it caseful. And there was a lot of debate around
that We've gone for a team that has youth in it,
but it's also got some experience which we think will
be valuable on that and that experience we believe has
still got the capability of playing Black Caps and for
(08:27):
a number of years. Players these days are going on,
they're a lot fitter, nutrition andcency and all that sort
of things, and obviously a drive too. You know, you
can earn good money, so players attending to play look
after themselves better and play for longer. So you know,
you might be thirty one thirty two, but you could
have another six years playing international level and you can
(08:49):
pay a lot of cricket in that time. So we
wanted to reflect obviously performance and domestic cricket and also
look at and eye to the future of what we
think is our best talent coming through. So it's a
real combination of those two things.
Speaker 3 (09:08):
Of the areas of your expertise. Been bowling has always
been a challenge for New Zealand side. Addie Ashop is
there and Jadon Lennox. What other spinners have you got
within that side because they're relatively inexperienced those two, aren't they?
Speaker 2 (09:24):
Yeah, they are. Look and he's been on a on
an nineteen tours is South Africa and he's also played
played a couple of games for the black Caps, which
is which is awesome. He's obviously hit a couple of
a season of injury and or a year off basically
was back injury and he's he's his way back in
(09:46):
this year. But a real talent. Jaden Lennox has just
been one of these great stories. He's sort of battling
away in Clavin and Hawke Cup cricket and probably a
little bit overweight if you ask them. He went away
and got super fit. He's one of the fittest guys
on that side. Now he's an absolute enough of your
(10:07):
you know, he's a real student of the game. He
studies opposition like no one else. He's very very accurate spinner.
He's tall left armor and we think that's the sort
of spinner that does well in the subcontinent. You don't
have to turn in a lot, you've just got a
half a bat with accuracy and change the pace and
(10:28):
what we think will he will do well over there
and has a big future. And then Dean fox Crofts
come in. He's sady unfortunately has has an injury which
has precluded him from going on this tour. So Dean
Foxcroft off spinner from Otaga, has been given him opportunities
and all around her which will give us some real
depth in our batting. But he's your sort of more
(10:51):
traditional up and over type off spinner, so it'll be
good to see how he fares over there. And then
we've got a couple of guys that are pushing to
become more than part time spinners, the Lakes of the
Dale Phillips Bowlzes Off. He's a bit like his brother
and he's come a long way and a period of time.
And Matt Boyle, who bowls sort of quicker leg spinners,
(11:14):
who I think more in the white ball game at
the moment, but it is developing really nicely and could
be could be a real string to his bow. Going
for going forward, you talked.
Speaker 3 (11:27):
About the excitement of these tours and the development of players.
It's important for you and the coaching team as well,
isn't it. Because New Zealand Cricket are talking about coaching
opportunities and this involvement perhaps with the MLC in the
United States. You play an important part in these because
(11:47):
you have to make sure that these players take their
opportunities when they get them.
Speaker 2 (11:53):
Yeah, exactly. Look, it's an amazing opportunity for these guys
firstly to be able to well not firstly one, to
be able to impress and to be able to impress
up to the Black Caps with franchise cricket, you know,
sort of growing and growing and obviously now we have
a vested interested in franchise cricket with the recent outpose
(12:18):
investment into the MLC. A lot of these players are
not always available for the black Caps, and I think
It's whilst in a perfect world would love to see
that not happening as much well I would anyway, what
it has done is it's created It's created opportunity in
(12:39):
space where players like your Marius and your basses and
your kellies and so forth. It just recently had opportunities
that they may not have had if those IPL players
weren't away. So it's almost like we've got an a
orter bangle of this. We've got an A order to
South Africa later in the year, but I've also had
(13:00):
an A plus experience for those guys that have had
those chances to play Pakistan recently and also last year
against Pakistan, and I think the previous year against Bangladesh
where that same window of IPL happened and the number
of our players get give an upgraded experience. So but
I've got this opportunity. There's going to be opportunities coming
(13:21):
up in the future, you know, the tour of Zimbabwe
with tests who knows to who's going to be available
for that, and some T twenty opportunities. So guys that
take their chances here obviously putting their putting their hands up,
which is brilliant, but the main goal of any of
these tours is to develop players. We can't there's not
always that space that I've just spoken about. When you
(13:44):
get the full black Caps quota back and playing in
our full strength, then those opportunities aren't available. So we've
just got to keep developing these players, growing them so
that when they do get their chance, when.
Speaker 5 (13:58):
Players do.
Speaker 2 (14:00):
Are away or do retire or whatever, they get their chance,
they're ready. And I think that's been a real strength
music and cricket over the last eight years or so
is that most players when they've come and to the
Black Cats for the first time, performed straight away and
have performed consistently after that, which hasn't always been the case.
(14:21):
So so tours like this are just, you know, they're
exactly what we need. And we can't compete with the
likes of England and Australia and India that have huge
A programs Financially, We just we just can't do it.
So I'm really really going to make the most of
every chance we do get.
Speaker 3 (14:40):
Interesting to hear from Wiseman and we'll reflect with him
after the two but he makes some pretty important points
that you know, have to be covered by the side
in terms of learning and developing for the future.
Speaker 5 (14:52):
He does what you can't disagree with a lot of
what he says. The only thing that I do think
is that for the A side or a development side,
this is a bit of boat, isn't it. This team? Yeah,
some times there's this kind of a line of thinking
that goes, look, let's have some experience in the team
(15:16):
and let's have some newcomers as well, or people with
a parent potential and we'll assess them while they're there,
you know. And I think that's what they do with
the coaching as well, that there's a developmental component not
just for the players who are going there, but also
for the coaches that are going there. And if you
(15:39):
look at those coaches, Bob Carter, who's not that he's
not developmental. He's been around the New Zealand cricket for
a very long time now. He was at Northampton, he
was at Canterbury, is at Wellington, he was at the
women's side, he was at World Cups and you'd have
to say with mixed success in terms of results. The
(15:59):
Paul Wiseman, we've just been speaking to a spin coach
and a talent id man works with underage sides, and
then there's the new coach, the devel mental part.
Speaker 2 (16:09):
If you like.
Speaker 5 (16:10):
Ben mccaord from tim Ru. He played five matches for
Canterbury Medium Fast. He was the main coach at Saint
Bede's College in Christich. He was with the Canterbury under
seventeen and nineteen and he's now been appointed with the
Vaults down in Otago as their assistant coach as well.
He's a bowling coach, so he's that component this time.
(16:33):
And my question would be who's handling the batting? We
know to spind coach, we know there's a bowling coach
with Ben mccaud who's handling the batting? I guess you'd
have to say Bob Carter in that way, or who's
or someone else? You know, Game one didn't go so
quite so well with the batting and they were chasing
a big total in game two. You know, should an
(16:55):
a or development side? Should we take our most experienced
coaches wads because our high quality coaches, you know, because
they're the most important play aren't they for the future
likely to need when you go to a place like
Bangladesh technical and tactical guidance. I would suspect many of
(17:18):
the players, for example, wouldn't see in our team the
ball turning in the air as it comes down to them,
because in New Zealand our pitchers don't turn too much,
and so you don't need to watch the ball closely
enough to see which way it's turning, and you don't
pick up the length quite so much. Should you play forward?
(17:42):
Should you play back? A lot of the guys I
watched to play in a bit of a mix between
going forward and back, particularly in the second innings where
the ball's keeping a bit lower and a lot got bold,
didn't they a lot were hurried and it's skiddered through
inside edge and so on. So those are things, you know,
(18:04):
I think that they need to be coached and if
they can come back even knowing something about that, if
in doubt push out. Remember those famous old maxims. You know,
if you don't get a man in close on the
batpad or pad bat in a one day game, so
you're not going to be worried about that. So I
just think there are things they can learn. They're a
(18:26):
bit inconsistent changes of pace for the bowlers and a
range of athleticism. I think I saw so things to
be learned, and that's what you would expect.
Speaker 1 (18:36):
To see Brian Waddell, Jeremy Cooney on the front foot.
Speaker 3 (18:42):
England are making some changes to their Test match side.
They're going to bring in a fellow from Essex called
Sam Cook, whose name I'd never heard of, but he's
been pretty successful. He's twenty seven years of age and
he's in the squad for the Test against Zimbabwe being
played at trent Bridge. They've got the likes of Chris Wolkes,
Mark Wood, Brydon cass Olie Stone all absence Joffra Archer
(19:04):
is playing in the IPL, so it's a chance to
just have a look at the depth of their side.
And you know, England have got a lot of Test
match cricket coming up over the next twelve to eighty months.
They've got an access series coming and there's plenty for
them to prepare for, so they get a chance to
look at other players at trent Bridge.
Speaker 5 (19:24):
Jerry, they do a predictable side, as you say, other
than the name Sam Cook, he's a right arm medium
fast wadds Essex. Exceptional figures over a period of time
since he's played there. You know, he's probably four or
five runs better than the nearest in terms of average
(19:46):
taking wickets. He takes a wicket about every seven or
eight overs. He's a guy that knows what he's doing.
But the main point about his selection to me is
that it runs against the mantra that this selection panel
have been using pace pace, you know, eighty five plus.
(20:07):
But we've heard time and time again and I'm not
sure whether there we're any other eighty five plus pace
candidates for this team or is it actually a little
bit more of a softening, a flexibility and approach from
mcculor metal and just recognizing this player's new ball skills.
(20:27):
He's steady and reliable and he's slightly metronomic. So it's
but for me it's a difference if I was a captain,
it's a difference. They're not all eighty five plus. He's
got some point of difference about him because he hasn't
quite got the pace, So I think that's a handy
thing to have. Josh Tungu is there as well. He's
(20:48):
played for England. He's had a good start to the season,
probably the quickest in county cricket at the moment. Atkinson.
We know we've had a good year. They've picked four seamers,
they'll probably play three. The interesting name for me too,
Wads Bashier. Now England have a problem with that, that's
(21:09):
a fact. It's becoming a problem. And he is too.
He plays for Somerset, that's where his county is and
that's where his contractor is. But currently playing for Glamorgan
at the moment in the county he's got two wickets
for at one hundred and fifty three this season. Somerset
don't even seem to want him. If you look at
the New Zealand tour he got, and then at the
(21:31):
Lions tour that he went on in Aussie and then
the start for the year at the county he's playing
at Glamorgan. He's got sixteen wickets at seventy one, so
it's an interesting one, isn't And he goes for nearly
four runs and over, so he leaks runs as a
spinner and you cannot do that. You talked about Australia boy,
(21:54):
they are going to enjoy playing against Shah Bashir. I
think if you leak that many runs, you've got to
get wickets and he's not doing that quite at the moment.
So he's had more tests than all the other bowlers
in that side, so you know, it's an interesting one
(22:17):
because they've really only got Rayan Armott who's really learning
his trade. He won't probably go on those major tours now.
Jack Leach who got hit in Australia last time, and
Liam Dawson is another name plays at Hampshire left armor
and that needs to be sorted out. That hole is
(22:37):
about who are they going to take. They're even talking
about not playing a spinner.
Speaker 1 (22:43):
On the front foot with Waddle and Cony on.
Speaker 3 (22:47):
The front foot was Brian Model and Jeremy Cony. It's
that time of the year when the while it's always
been known as the Cricketer's Bible to some extent, but
the Wisdom Annual, the Wisdom Almanac comes on the bookshelves,
and of course it covers a lot of the game
(23:08):
of cricket. I don't know how much time has spent
just checking the stats. Who does the proofreading, but a
man who can probably help with that as the editor,
Lawrence Booth, who joins us on the front foot. And
I mean it's a it's a mess of document, doesn't it.
There's a hell of a lot there to go on
and it's not just you, is.
Speaker 4 (23:29):
It, Hi, Brian, No, I'd love to claim all the credit.
I can't. There are one five hundred and eighty four
pages in this year's Wisden, and I'd be I'd be
a madman to attempt all that by myself. I have
a small but very dedicated team who check the stats.
We have a couple of statisticians on the go, so
our record section is accurate and up to date. And
(23:52):
I mean I proofread every other page apart from the
statistical stuff at the back, So I'm you know, me
and the team proofread probably about thirteen hundred pages across
the course of the year. So it's a huge enterprise.
But it's it's a lot of fun.
Speaker 3 (24:05):
I mean, it would be easy to miss an important
statistic to some extent, wouldn't it, because there are so
many changing and there are so many things that now
people want as a statistic, because it is a game
of statistics apart from anything else, isn't it.
Speaker 4 (24:21):
Yeah, I mean we did. Look, I'd love to say
wisdom doesn't make any mistakes. We you know, as soon
as we're published, the letters and emails start to dribble
in saying excellent, congratulations on another edition of Wisdom, and
then the next paragraph always begins. However, commer I noticed
on page seven hundred and forty three that and they've
spotted some tiny little mistake. You think, how did that
(24:42):
get through? But you know, human error is part of it.
But no, it's some you know, the record section kind
of just needs updating each year effectively. You know, if
you pick up Wisdom, you expect to be able to
see that Brian Lara has the highest test score or
you know, the best bowling figures in test history of
Jim Laker, and in nineteen fifty six. Even in the
age of the Internet, where those numbers get updated by
the second, you still expect an annual to have the
(25:04):
big numbers. So it's a kind of balancing act.
Speaker 3 (25:07):
Yeah, I suppose it's probably easier now because you do
have computers by which these steps can be kept on
and just maintained as the magazine or the book does.
Speaker 4 (25:17):
Yeah, it's not. You know, we're not using carrier pigeons
or fax machines anymore. I mean, I take my hat off.
I take my hat off. The editors it used to
have to make changes by facts. I mean, you basically
had to limit the number of changes you made because
it became impossible. Now we have proofreading meetings on Skype.
You know, everything's filed by email. It goes slot straight
(25:37):
into a content management system. We have a type setter,
so you know, that side of it is much easier.
On the other hand, there's a lot more cricket to
cover than there was even twenty years ago. You know,
the onset of T twenty has changed the game completely.
So we're always trying to see what we need to
cut from wisdom to fit everything in to keep the
book within about fifteen hundred and sixteen hundred pages.
Speaker 3 (25:58):
Oh yeah, and that's got to be a hard task. Well,
it's in the public eye and has made a bit
of a hit with the public for or against a
because the editor's note, and that's how your comments are
written down in crick Info. The editor's note has created
(26:19):
a little bit of controversy. You've had a crack at
the World Tiest Championship, calling it a shambles masquerading as
a show piece. You've also been critical of the ICC.
I must say I don't disagree with you in much
of what you say, but I'm sure there has been
some disagreement and some reaction to your comments in terms
(26:42):
of both events.
Speaker 4 (26:44):
Yes, i'd I'd be surprising if you came up with
strong statements that everyone agrees with. I mean, I've done
this job for this is my fourteenth edition now, and
the role that India play in kind of controlling world
cricket has been quite a regular theme. It hasn't always
gone down well. I think this year really the what
happened at the Champions Trophy in Pakistan slash Dubai, I
(27:06):
think resonated a bit more with the cricket wider creat
getting public than previous examples of Indian power had done.
That the fact that India got to play all their
games in Dubai and other teams are flying in and out.
In some cases South Africa had to fly across the
Dubai just in case they were playing that semi final
with the possibility of them having to fly back to Pakistan.
(27:26):
So I accept that the political situation is now even
more difficult than it was, and I wrote these notes
because of the situation in Kashmir. But I think over
the last few years the India have got away with
more than other countries would I mean, let's say of
New Zealand had said, sorry, we can't play in Pakistan.
We insist on playing in Dubai for political reasons. My
(27:47):
guess is the rest of the world would have said, well, sorry,
we're holding the tournament without you, because they can't say
that to India because India controlled the purse strings. And
that is the problem that world cricket faces. And with
Jay shar the former Indian Board honorary secretary now Chairman
of the ICC, Indian now hold every single position of power.
Really they controy all the game, not just financially but administratively.
(28:11):
My question really, is a monopoly good for cricket? And
why don't any of the bigger nations, the so called
bigger nations England and Australia principally, why don't they push
back a bit what India are doing. So, yes, that
doesn't always go down well in India, as you can imagine,
people take it as an anti Indian rant. It's not.
It's simply that I want the best for cricket. And
(28:32):
my question is are India exercising their power with the
responsibility to.
Speaker 3 (28:35):
A certain extent. You are raising a point that has
been talked about around the world over a long period
of time. Some people see it as inevitable that the
control will stay in India, that the game won't make
the advances and retain the tiss Cricket the Worldish Championship
(28:56):
as we've come to know it, because of the dominance
they have. Do you see it as an inevitability?
Speaker 4 (29:03):
Well at the moment, probably because there's no sign that
the BCCI want to share a bit more of the wealth.
I mean. The other point I've made, and I made
it a couple of years back, or maybe perhaps it
was last year, was that the ICC redistributed their funds
so that India's share of the annual part of about
six hundred million dollars of sort the ICIC get from
their broadcasting rights grew from about a quarter to nearly
(29:26):
two fifths. So that's about two hundred and thirty million
US now, just to give some context for listeners, New
Zealand's share is something like four point seventy three percent.
That's twenty eight million. Now that now, if India just
shared a bit of the two hundred and thirty million
with nations like New Zealand or West Indies or Sri
(29:47):
Lanka or South Africa. We might I might feel a
bit more confident about the future of Test cricket. What's
happening at the moment is that all these other nations
are Test cricket is a loss for them. They make
a financial loss when they host tests, and the game
will simply die out. We're already seeing plenty of two
match series. You know, New Zealand play two match series
a lot of the time. I know in England came
it's a three match here, is that great? But two
(30:09):
match here is a annoying, aren't they. You often want
a third it's sometimes one, or you want to decide
a two match series are things you hurry through to
get to the money spinning white ball games. If we
could find a way of funding test cricket, accept that
it makes a loss, but that we love it and
we need it for the richness of cricket's ecosystem. If
we could find a way of doing that, then I'd
feel a bit more confident about cricket's future. As it is,
(30:31):
I think we're heading for a kind of white ball
dominated calendar. We're already getting there. To be honest, with England,
India and Australia playing five match tests series against each other,
which is already they already do it to excess. It's
already getting a bit dull. It could get even duller
and that's not good for cricket. It won't be good
for Indian cricket because Indian cricket needs a diverse world game.
(30:53):
I think for it to have people to play against
and for players to populate its own ipl so in
a way you have to appeal to their self interest.
But that's not going on at the moment. It's all
about we generate all the money, therefore we should get
most of it.
Speaker 3 (31:06):
There's a feeling outside that there's almost a payback for
the years that ICC lived in London and the NCC
head control of the game as such, and it's our
turn now, which I think people understand, but I'm not
sure that that helps the game develop as it should develop.
Speaker 4 (31:26):
Oh, I totally get the emotional kind of impulse there.
You know, England and Australia had the veto at the
ICC till nineteen ninety three and it's an outrageous situation really,
And I dare say that within and editors in the
fifties and sixties, weren't calling that situation out because that
was simply the way the way the world worked as
far as they were concerned. But if you if you
take the view that you bullied us, then now it's
(31:49):
our turn to bully you, then we will never get anywhere.
We need a collaborative approach really in world cricket, and
to take to sort of say well it's our turn
now to rule the roost will simply lead us more
quickly to a situation where test cricket dies out in
a lot of a lot of the world.
Speaker 3 (32:07):
Yes, and seeing the resurgence or the emergence of so
much white ball cricket now in terms of the franchise
cricket around the world. In New Zealand is getting involved
in the American competition, so you know that is going
to be the future rather than some other forms of
the game. One of the things that we always loved
(32:28):
about Wisdom was the five Cricketers of the Year and
it was almost what we looked for when the Wisdom
came out if a New Zealand name happened to be there,
and we've had a number of New Zealanders, but I
think this time we're delighted that the Wisdom Trophy has
been awarded to a New Zealander. The year's outstanding performance
(32:52):
went to Mitchell Santner thirteen wickets in the Test match
at Puna. We loved that Test match. We won at
three nil. But that obviously features highly with you because
you would in a year have many, he evinced, many
moments that you consider for the Worstern Trophy.
Speaker 4 (33:15):
Absolutely, so, I mean this trophy came in, it's in
its third year now. The Wisdom Trophy used to be
awarded to the winners of the England West Indies Test Series.
Then that the boards of those nations changed that trophy
to the Richards Botham Trophy. So we thought we'd repurpose
the Wisdom Trophy. Will support Test cricket, will award it
to the best individual performance by a manor or woman
in the calendarar at Test level and therefore, you know,
(33:36):
so you're looking at I think they're over fifty Test
matches last year, so you've got a lot to choose from.
It's a great one to win and I just looking
at Mitchell Santa's performance at poone. So no team had
won a Test series in India since England in twenty
twelve thirteen. Not only that no team had drawn a
Test series, so India had won every single Test series
(33:56):
since then. New Zealand didn't really arrive with much hope.
I think it's fair to say I think we assumed
it would just be another home win for India. Then
the New Zealand won the first Test, which thought, okay,
they've got their lucky winner. The way, it's going to
be two one to India now, and then at poone
in Santna comes in in spinning conditions. You know, these
are tailor made for India spinners. That's how they've won
(34:17):
so many series down the years, and he out bowls
India spinners in spinning conditions. He takes thirteen for I
think it was one hundred and fifty seven. Andrew Alderson,
who wrote the interviewed Mitchell four Wisdom and wrote up
is the Piece, says it's probably the second best before well,
the sort of almost the most resonant performance by a
New Zealand bowler, after Richard Hadley at Brisbane in eighty
(34:40):
five eighty six when he took fifteen for. You know,
it's on that kind of a pedestal and don't forget
that Satna had he'd never taken more than three wickets
in a Test innings and suddenly he takes six and seven.
I mean, it's absolutely ludicrous, really, But I tell you
the performance that came closest to knocking him off that
perch was Shama Joseph for West Indies at the Gabba
(35:01):
right at the start of the year when West Indies
beat Australia by think it was about eight runs and
he bowled with a broken foot on the last day
knock them over. A brilliant kind of performance and in
a way, that was the That would have been the
emotional pick, but I felt that Santa was the intellectual pick.
If you like it. It was the brain's ruling the heart.
It was saying that no, teams don't win in India,
(35:22):
New Zealand spinners don't out bowl Indian spinners in India,
and Mitchell Santana has taken thirteen when he's never taken
more than three. He scored an unbeaten thirty three as well,
which helped. So to me it was it was almost
impossible to ignore and delighted to give it.
Speaker 3 (35:35):
To Yeah, I must admit that I was one of
those who after the build up to that series wasn't
prepared to give New Zealand a chance of winning one
little three, So that something I'd take ownership four. And
it's nice to be able to celebrate it because it's
been celebrated by Wisdom and that is a significant moment
(35:56):
that we can all share. The Players of the Year,
now this is an interesting one, of course, because you
can never win the five Players of the Year more
than once, can you?
Speaker 4 (36:06):
No, that's right, So the five Cricketers of the I
mean some people say it should be called the five
cricketers of the English Summer because that is the emphasis.
And as you say, you can't win it more than once,
so you know you are slightly limited. It makes the
award slightly quirky. It's not simply the best the leading
run score of the leading wi could takers. There are
plenty of awards that do that, so Wisdom, the Wisdom
(36:27):
Award has always had this slight charm that you've get
a couple of names that you know, perhaps the outside
world might not have been that aware of a county
cricket or so, so that's how it works, right.
Speaker 3 (36:39):
And the other award of significance of course, was the
leading cricketers of the world. Jesperate Boomra. We probably can't
find too much argument with that, bearing in mind his
impact on the international game and what he was able
to achieve, the strength he was for the Indian side
and the women's side of the games. Really, Mandana was
(37:02):
the player. What was her performance above a number of
very well performed women's players, particularly in Australia and even
some of the England players over the last twelve month period.
Speaker 4 (37:17):
Yeah, a good question. I think to win that award,
if you're not Australian, you have to do something pretty special.
I mean, Australia so far ahead of the pack. I
know that New Zealand won the World cut, but I
think over the course of the year you'd probably say
Australia are the leading women's side. She scored nearly seventeen
hundred runs in all international cricket. That was a record
(37:38):
for a woman in a calendar year. And she scored
four centuries alone in ODI cricket and that was a
record too. So I think for her to stand out
among a crowded field of talented players was quite an achievement.
Speaker 3 (37:51):
Yes, And I guess the women's game now is getting
extended quite significantly, and it was nice to see that
an english woman got one of your five Cricketers of
the Year. Sophie Hilston, who's a lovely exponent of lift
arm spin. She probably spoilt the last twelve months, I
(38:11):
suppose because of her reaction to a media interview that
probably had a lot of coverage in England. But she's
a wonderful spin borers and she really does practice the
art to almost perfection, doesn't she.
Speaker 4 (38:27):
Yeah, she's beautiful to watch. She doesn't miss a line
of length, does she? I mean she she forces the
batters to play at everything. Yes, as you say, it
was a bad end to the year for England's women
getting thrashed in Australia. Of course, the award is based,
as I mentioned earlier, based on the English summer, and
in the English summer, England won every match they played
and Eckleston took twenty six wickets an average of nine.
(38:49):
So it was you know, it's kind of hard to
overlook what she did. She because she's so accurate and
she's quite tall. She came to the Wisdom Dinner to
collect her award and it was just standing next to her.
I'm not a tall man, but standing next to her
it was kind of reminded me of what a physical
presence she is. And she comes down from a great
height and she gets bounced, natural bounce. She turns it
(39:11):
a bit and she doesn't miss a trick. So it's
sort of Chinese water torture in a way. Drip drip,
and you have to have to have your wits about
you to survive. You know, even Australians haven't done that
well against her. So she'd been knocking on the door
for the Wisdom five for a couple of years. She'd
been unlucky to miss out, probably for the previous two
or three years, so it's nice to be able to
give it to her.
Speaker 3 (39:32):
Finally, how do you feel when it gets to the
printer and it comes out. Is there a sense of
relief where you're already starting to think about what's going
to happen next year?
Speaker 4 (39:43):
Oh?
Speaker 3 (39:43):
No.
Speaker 4 (39:44):
The nice moment is when you kind of pack up
your bags at the end of the production cycle and
you say, right, I don't have to think about this
now for another few weeks until that it's published, and
I do the rounds of interviews and we have the
annual launch at Lord's. That's a nice moment. But yes,
you are already. We have already proof read pages for
Wisdom twenty twenty six. I did a session yesterday where
(40:05):
we as a team, we proofread the Champions Trophy together.
Of course, there's anything that starts from January the first
onwards goes in the following year's Wisdom, if you see
what I mean. So even while we're putting to bed
Wisdom twenty twenty five, I'm commissioning reports and series for
Wisdom twenty twenty six. So it's NonStop. I mean, there
are quieter times of year, but it never quite. The
(40:27):
voice never stops chattering in your head.
Speaker 3 (40:30):
Yeah, you're going to be at your sharpest, don't you.
It's interesting that he's been so harsh Lawrence Booth in
terms of his criticism of some aspects of the game.
But you know, when you're going to make those sorts
of comments, you're going to have to expect that there'll
be opposition, and there's been opposition to what he said.
He understands that. But I think Jerry, the most important
(40:53):
thing is he has highlighted issues that the game needs
to talk about and needs to address. Next week he's
going to join us again to talk about the World
Test Championship and his views on that, but the the
running of it at the moment and the distribution of
funds was another area, as he mentioned, that is in question.
Speaker 5 (41:16):
Yeah, Lawrence Boose has been the editor now for what
nearly fifteen years of Wisdom, which is regarded in cricket
as the Bible or if you like, the conscience of cricket,
and that's where some of the comments you've just made
sort of fit in. And they hold power particularly to
(41:39):
account and I have a bit of a sympathy for
Lawrence's point of view. Maybe that's convenient. I don't know.
I don't know the small details about what goes on
in the corridors of power and the ICC. That doesn't
really interest me, to be honest, Wads. I regard the
(42:00):
ICC as a bit more no more than a well,
no more than a men's club. They seem to make
some decisions about things that don't concern me.
Speaker 1 (42:11):
Are you know?
Speaker 5 (42:12):
When the private equity came along into this game of ours,
they sat on their hands the ICC, and so the
space they left and created has been swallowed up, you know,
and allowed now there are to have fifty three men's
and women's franchised tournaments around the world, and so we
(42:38):
get to a point now, in fact, where the nzid
C are buying part of a franchised team and one
of those that isn't even really a team yet. So look,
no one is in charge of test cricket. That's the
first point, isn't it the ICC, isn't the ECB, isn't
(42:59):
the BCCI or Australia isn't They're not earning as much
money as test cricket should. There are tests all round
the year, played at different places, but you can't watch
you can't watch them without delving into VPNs and watching
this and balling people and so on, and the tests
(43:21):
that you want to because you know, there's no one
there's nowhere where you can watch on a streaming platform
that should be organized TV executives. I speak to them
when I go overseas, and they are really they say
to me, they're stealing money from cricket boards. You've got
thirty hours of broadcasts and people come back to watch
(43:45):
the game day after day and the story of the
game continually changes. You know, if you're watching golf. You
know it's only out of two or three, don't you
three or three of the players, So you turn on
later on in the afternoon because they're the ones who
are last on the fourth round, and you watch them
play cricket. You've got to watch cricket from ball one
(44:08):
in the day because you know, a key wicket falls
and changes the story suddenly. And you know when I
ask people who who runs Test cricket, they say to me, oh,
that top guy at the ICC. Well, no, they don't.
(44:29):
Test cricket is bilateral arrangements all around the world between
cricket boards. So countries talk to countries and arrange for
themselves and quite often wads. If you're Australia, no we
don't want to have New Zealand over the time, we're
getting India. India are coming and we'll make more money there.
Or we don't want to play Bangladesh. No, that's not
(44:51):
going to get people along to watch the game, or
whatever the reasons are. But that's how they arrange bilateral
test matches. So no one's in charge of the schedule,
no one's doing the planning, no one's trying to sell
the overall rights of it. Then they've got this you know,
(45:14):
Test Championship on top, which is pretty badly flawed. And
so you know, if no one's running something was, how
can it be any good.
Speaker 3 (45:23):
Yeah, well there's no plan and we're talking about the
World Test Championship and we will have a closer look
at that next week. But yeah, you're right. I mean
the fact that we can watch the New Zealand a
playing Bangladesh free of charge. You have to put up
with some commercials every now and again. You can live
with that if it doesn't cost you anything, and and
(45:46):
see that you can see Australian cricket live. But in
New Zealand you can't see anything live apart from international matches.
And you know that spreads right throughout the cricket world,
as you were saying, pretty.
Speaker 5 (45:59):
Much and put behind a paywall, so that cuts out
a lot of people who may be interested in the game.
The game should be accessible to everybody everywhere, and the
sooner it starts to do that, the stronger the game
will become and it'll grow.
Speaker 3 (46:17):
Well, I think you're going to have to brush up
your views on the World Test Championship because we had
to talk about World in the next edition and come
up with a few ideas because there are people out
there who still want to see the World Test Championship
on the Cricket Program and see it with some meaning
rather than as it is at the moment. We're going
(46:38):
to see a final between South Africa and Australia, and
South Africa won't have any home test matches after that
later the year, so it's a crazy old ship.
Speaker 5 (46:47):
Put your feet up, extraordinary, take it easy, JC, Yeah,
I shall watch. I'll keep the leg up.
Speaker 3 (46:55):
I keep up and sit and hone in on cricket important.
Speaker 5 (47:03):
All right, good man, take care, be good there, all the.
Speaker 2 (47:09):
Wonder bodies summsening do
Speaker 1 (47:18):
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