June 26, 2025 • 43 mins
This week on On The Front Foot, Bryan Waddle and Jeremy Coney are joined by Tim Wigmore to delve into the history of test cricket – detailed in Wigmore’s new book.
They discuss the difference between the teams in the first test between England and India at Headingley, and dig into what the upcoming season holds for cricket fans.
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Speaker 1 (00:09):
You're listening to a podcast from news Talk, said B.
Follow this and a wide range of podcasts now on
iHeart Radio. Take an.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
It's ard, it is out, the test is over.
Speaker 3 (00:28):
I couldn't just smoke beauty.
Speaker 4 (00:30):
It is out and.
Speaker 3 (00:32):
Here he goes.
Speaker 5 (00:33):
This delivery has in uny uses to go.
Speaker 1 (00:37):
On the front foot with Brian Waddell and Jeremy Cody,
powered by News Talk, said B and iHeart Radio.
Speaker 5 (00:47):
Hello on the front foot. Nice to have you with
us once again. A World Test Championship has been decided.
Another one who's started two games, completed two in progress
already and has England's imposing betting already sealed the upcome
of a Test series with India. There's too much being
demanded of Jaspert Boomerang and the old cliche must be true.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
Catches were matches this week.
Speaker 5 (01:10):
Also, we're going to be joined by a prominent English
cricket writer very shortly who's written an unrivaled history of
the Test game, Tim Wigmore Coming up shortly, but coming
up right now, Jeremy Cody. Before we hear from a
Test match of real quality. That's what we want from
Test cricket, isn't it? The full five days down to
(01:33):
the wire, battle hardened teams and won a little better
than the art.
Speaker 6 (01:39):
Yeah, gooday, was what a match it was? How often
do we get to a five day Test? Was it?
Speaker 3 (01:45):
And it goes to six thirty on the last day.
Speaker 6 (01:48):
We've been talking about the shrinking of Test matches to
three days and a bit that this one certainly went
the distance. Although you felt on the last day the
way England were playing, that they had taken control of
the match, didn't you seven seven centuries in the game
and in ninety nine losing.
Speaker 3 (02:08):
Side got five of them. Extraordinary?
Speaker 6 (02:11):
Isn't it that you get five hundreds from your batsmen
and you lose the match over seventeen hundred Well about
seventeen hundred runs I reckon in the game, and that's
over three sixty a day. So you can see, you
can see a the pitch was pretty good. Was the
bowling good enough? Probably not one stood out of course,
(02:35):
But in the end I thought that when we started
the game, I thought that the Indian bowlers would be stronger.
But it didn't prove out proved to be that way,
and that was the England bowlers who were They looked.
Speaker 4 (02:51):
A little bit like.
Speaker 6 (02:54):
Stokes and the replacements or the understudies. Sounds like a
pop group, doesn't it. In the sixties Stokes in the
understudies and it really they came through in the end
and claimed wickets like Tongue did and cast did, and
so they overall were the better bowling attack.
Speaker 2 (03:16):
Yes, indeed, and that was proven.
Speaker 5 (03:18):
Will assess that Test match and look at the finer
points of it in just a moment. But we're just
going to be joined by English journalist who writes for
the Daily Telegraph, Tim.
Speaker 1 (03:27):
Wigmore, Brian Waddell, Jeremy Coney on the front foot.
Speaker 5 (03:31):
There are a number of people in the cricket world
who you feel like standing to attention and saluting for
service above and beyond. One of those is cricket journalist
Tim Wigmore, who writes for The Telegraph, and it's released
what could almost be called the ultimate cricket book, Test
Cricket Are History, nearly six hundred pages, Goodness Me described
(03:54):
by Mike Atherton as a vibrant global history of the
oldest form of the game. We have the pleasure of
Tim Wigmore joining on the front foot this week, and Tim,
thanks very much for your time. I just wonder in
terms of motivation for the book, what was this as
someone to approach such a mess of task because it
just doesn't happen overnight, does it.
Speaker 4 (04:16):
Thanks so much, Brian, thank you for having me. Yeah,
so the idea came. I remember it started. So it
was March twenty twenty intri lnchor for what turned up
to be in the evening before that tour was called
off because of COVID, and I was having dinner with
Simon Wilde from the Times through wrote a very good
history of England test cicket a few years before, and
I was saying, you know, have you thought about doing
(04:38):
like this book? But for yeah, all of class took it.
And he said you have to be mad to do that.
I thought, maybe I am mad. And then five years later,
here we are.
Speaker 5 (04:47):
Well it's a huge achievement, it is there a real
feeling of satisfaction for you.
Speaker 4 (04:52):
Yeah, it's been nice. It feels a bit bit surreal,
like you sort of working on it for so so
long and you know, you it was a great, great
fun to do. But also there were obviously times when
you're like, how do you get for it from eady
to do here? And I think Yeah, over three hundred
books in you know, with fifty to fifty people. So
to have that all come out is yeah, it's a
(05:14):
nice feeling. It's little strange, but very nice.
Speaker 5 (05:17):
It's not the first book you've written, of course, but
I mean this is a This is a real mess
of exercise, isn't it.
Speaker 4 (05:22):
Yeah, first I've done by myself though, so yeah, it
was a real endeavor. So yeah, five years, a lot
of late nights, early mornings and stuff and yeah real yeah,
so interesting and yeah I learned a huge amount of
doing it, so it was a lot of fun as well.
Speaker 5 (05:38):
You start off the introduction is to a seegment called
the Cruelest Game, and you hit between the eyes immediately
test cricket is the most brutal game. Where did that
first line come from? Because that's where you grab people
from start off, isn't it.
Speaker 4 (05:56):
Yeah, of the first sign, as you know, is the
most important.
Speaker 5 (05:59):
Now.
Speaker 4 (05:59):
I think you try and explain to people what you
know who maybe aren't in the game, what it is
about to cricket, and I think it is that the
relentances of it, the mental, the physical strain, and also
like for an underdog, it is so so hard to
win a Test match. You think of of football and actually, yeah,
(06:19):
you can win a game one nil with a lucky
deflection and off side and whatever. But test rickey, you
need to be there better for you know, for five days,
for four innings. It's so so much. So it's sort
of the sense that yeah, you can, you can do
fie gravity for so long and so yeah, I think
in lots of sports you can have a lucky victory.
I don't think you can have a lucky Test match
win because there's so so much that goes into it
(06:40):
and you kind of thet any wings that can be exposed.
So in that sense, it's very cruel, and you look
at the history actually in I mean you see actually
is a good example of this, many many great great
players who actually lose most Tests they play because either
if you're Richard Hadley or whatever, there's only so much
you can do, to be honest, and that's the things
that you need. You need so many parts to come
(07:00):
together to actually win a Test match. And the aqlely
you might be a great batsman, if you haven't got
the caverge to take twenty wickets, you're just not going
to win any Test matches.
Speaker 5 (07:10):
Yeah, you're right. Some of our greatest players either won
only one Test match or never one Test matches, and.
Speaker 4 (07:18):
Of course who are celebrated in rightly. So that was
for a nil Neil draw in England.
Speaker 5 (07:22):
And the amount of cricket that they played. They were
three day games, weren't they? And so the overs bold
you were talking about one hundred and thirty overs a day.
I mean, they're just the sort of things that I
guess come out of looking into a book like this.
The World Test Championship final was Test Match number two thousand,
five hundred and eighty five. There's been a couple more
(07:43):
since then, now that the new World Test Championship is
up and running.
Speaker 2 (07:48):
There must be a lot of stories that you hear.
You do a lot of reading.
Speaker 5 (07:53):
Discipline then becomes a very important part about what you're going.
How do you decide what goes in and what doesn't.
Speaker 4 (08:00):
Yeah, so this is very much This is a book
of stories really, So it's a book about the players,
matches and politics that have have shaped the game. So
matches are really important. I go deep on and there's
hundreds and hundreds of matches that I don't cover. So
this is this is designed to be. There's been stats
post test that hasn't really been a narrative history, which
is what this tries to be. So it is a
(08:20):
but hopefully you can It'll take you a little bit,
but hopefully you can read it from A to Z.
So yeah, I was thinking about the turning points, the
key moments that shape the game, and he has so
many assorts of that, I mean one of them with
New Zealand and other countries. Actually it's amazing looking back,
how rare it is actually, especially antis cricket for a
Test team to actually have the genuinely strongest team that
(08:41):
was available from that country. You know, you look at
the history of New Zealand, Earl Zeine, you look at you know,
Stuey Dnster, Martin Donnald, these great great players and they
barely play for you in because at that point you
basically need to leave New Zealand to become a professional.
So you'll almost have a situation where lots of New
Zealand tours to England. It is almost like if you
do well or your prize will be to get a
contract in countercricket or leagu cricket in England and then
(09:03):
your you'll stop playing for New Zealand. So it's there's
this is actually quite sad back to our New Zealand cricket.
And that's in other countries as well. You know, West
Cindy's have a lot of tools in nineteen thirty swing
when they're the best players are playing in lancashirele cricket
not playing for West Indies. So it's funny when people say, oh,
there's new cluby country thing, it's such a new problem.
It's like, well, it's no, it's not a new problem
that it's a new aspects of the problem. But this
(09:25):
problem has always really existed in task cricket history.
Speaker 5 (09:29):
Yeah. Jerry Dempster is an interesting one because I never
saw him play, but he coached me long after he'd retired,
and there are a number around about my era that
he coached. He had a net at the basein reserve
where he had people. I was invited because he was
a friend of my father's. I wasn't any good, but
it was nice to have somebody like that coach me.
(09:50):
And you know, those are the people who have developed
New Zealand cricket. And you give New Zealand cricket, it's
fear deal in one of the thirty five chapters that
you've had to write, and of course there are things
you have to include, and the one I haven't been
able to read yet, I've I've got to chapter four.
Speaker 2 (10:10):
That's not a bad effort in the short space of time.
Speaker 5 (10:14):
Yeah, Breadman, bodyline and the Invincibles. There there must be
plenty of stories about breadmen. Are there any new ones
that or do you have to sort through them to
make a judgment on them, because I've been in Chris
Boxers in Australia where breadman stories are rife. You know,
everybody's got a Breadman story.
Speaker 4 (10:34):
No, no, absolutely, So to look at him from a
kind of fresh perspective was a change, but it was
really interesting. One of the i mean one of the
amazing things really is just the way he bats, which
he basically has his bat he he brings his bat
up facing to gully really and that's seen as not
the right way to bat, as if he's doing something wrong.
(10:56):
And this is the guy, the best ever by a mile,
and yet incredibly no one really replicates it. And in fact,
if you look at it the way he bats very closely,
you know, I think Steve Smith is one of the
close ever to batting Bradman and help. Yeah, Steve Smith
is also absolutely incredible. So there's something about where the
(11:17):
history of cricket often is quite conservative in terms of
there's a way to bat and bowl and actually often
see with England, England tends to reject these kind of
new methods, so the new methods often come from from
other countries. So actually that the google actually did develop
in England, then it was popularized in South Africa. Oddly,
for example, you have the Bradman method and s on
reverse swing comes from elsewhere, so that's quite interesting as well.
(11:40):
But that the idea of this kind of right way
to bat, you know, I think the history of test
ticket it shows you there is no right way to
bat and actually individuality doing what feels natural. There's a
lot to be said for that, and sometimes we can
be too die didactically telling people this is how you
bat with your elbow and everything, and everyone's a little
bit different because your bound to a different your height
(12:01):
is different, everything.
Speaker 5 (12:02):
Yeah, and that probably sort of highlights where the game
is at the moment, the changes that have come through
the game over the period of time. There are players
doing things now that they would never have thought of
doing fifty one hundred years ago. And the shots that
they are playing, the changes are just adding to the
fascination of the game of cricket. Because you say the
(12:23):
game is about stats. Here it's a game about stories,
and it's a game about people and you know, human
approaches to things, and some people are stars, yet they
don't do things the right way that we think.
Speaker 4 (12:38):
They ye'll be doing them. But actually looking at the history,
actually it's amazing. Some innovations that I thought were much
more recent happened a long time earlier. You know. The
first story of the ramp I could find was Leary Constant,
the greatest sinnis around in the nineteen thirties, so that
there's clear records of him playing basically a ramp shop
at Lord's. But obviously, you know, it's not ben't become
(13:00):
popularized until you know, the twenty twenties. But yeah, there
are things there are reverse weeep really starts backs on
nineteen fifties. Actually we think of that as much more,
but no, so in some cases, actually the history people
were doing these things, but they're not kind of replicated,
And there's all these mysteries like reverse swing as well,
where we think of this as kind of yes, it
is a Pakistan is Pakistan who popularized it in really
(13:22):
the nineteen eighties nineteen nineties with Wazi Waka and Nimraan
and so on. But it actually it is happening. You know,
it's happening in Australia the nineteen sixties for example. But
they might call it, in fact, they call it. They
said the bulls going Irish is what they said when
it was reversing on the MCG on those sort of
abrasive pictures. So a lot of these things and I
think one of the reasons what you get these innovations
(13:44):
that start and then they kind of die is because
you don't without video footage and that are gaining that
well documented, these things can sort of die. And actually
that's one of the challenges right in the book, that
actually there's a lot of stuff that's not documented all
that well. And yeah, New Zealanders, well, you know there's
some great you know, lots of great stuff on New Zealand,
but there's also sort of probably with some gaps there
(14:05):
as well, and even yeah, with the mon stuff. Actually
it's great through some interviews, So you're talking to people
like Kwim's and Ross Taylor and some on was. Yeah,
that helped to bring that story to life.
Speaker 5 (14:16):
Yeah, but you also there are some people who couldn't talk,
of course because they're long gone. But you've you've obviously
read a lot of material. I see you quote certain people. Yeah,
just little clips that you've taken from books, which means
you have to read a lot of stuff too. You
just don't have that fall out of the sky.
Speaker 4 (14:35):
Do you No. I've read over three hundred books as
part of this, so it was a lot of reading.
I would say the old cricket books are a lot
shorter though, so it's not like I think the longest
book is Steve Wards, which weighs at one point eight kilograms.
I did not read all of that, but but some
of the old books you can rifle through them in
an hour or two and get some great nuggets to
(14:55):
kind of to feed in.
Speaker 5 (14:59):
What have you got a coffee table edition of your book?
A great big one where you can shouldn't have coffee
and open or is that going to be a little
but too heavy?
Speaker 4 (15:09):
Ah?
Speaker 5 (15:09):
That child?
Speaker 4 (15:11):
Well, I'd say the book in itself is a coffee table.
But hopefully you know, it is definitely a book that,
you know, if you love cricket, you'll be able to
read from from start to finish. And actually, I think
Cricket it does show the cricket's wider importance. Obviously it's
a very silly game with a bat and a ball,
but it does have a much broader importance for you know,
(15:31):
for building nations, you know, class, race, and so actually
to sort of tease out those aspects was really really interesting.
Cricket is a mirror to society, and sometimes that even
helps shape broader things. You know, talk of West Indies.
When Frank Warre becomes the first permanent black captain in
nineteen sixty, you know, that actually has a resonance far,
far beyond cricket. For example, obviously So Africa's banned for
(15:52):
a part, you know, during apartheid from nineteen seventy that
is so so significant, and you get all this funny
you know, these incredible stories sort of about Badla. Actually
when so when Nelson Mandela is released from robmin Isle
in prisoner, one of his first things he asked is
Don Bradman still alive?
Speaker 5 (16:09):
Goodness mee and dealing with dead of course that you
have to deal with the professional game, money which is
the overriding factor, and tiss cricket these days, and politics.
All those sorts of things have to be incorporated. Not
easy to do when it's a cricket book, but that
part of the game, aren't they.
Speaker 4 (16:29):
Yeah, that absolutely, they're part of the stories. So in
England for example, yeah to nineteen fifty two, they have
amateur captains and you basically have this device. You have
professionals who are paid to play, and you have amateurs
who are unpaid to play. And often the amateurs so
the amatters are kind of from very posh background, sort
of often called aristocrats. They're often they're not very good
(16:52):
at cricket. So I was. I looked actually in the
first ten in the Ashes tours to Australia at the
mcc run when they captain by an amateur, so fifty
test matches and the total average buying and captains was
twenty two. So basically on average their captain wasn't even
worth place in the side because they were so obsessed
with picking the right sort of person in common and
(17:14):
they ended up, you know, weakning their side as a result.
And actually New Zealand have this thing where New Zealand
has this kind of up to thing as well, where
they they frown upon players who are professionals in England basically,
and they're quite stubborn about not picking their guys, these
guys who then play test cricket even when they're only
(17:36):
available for a few Test matches a year. So actually
New Zealand for the first probably thirty thirty forty years
of Test cricket often don't pick their strongest possible side
because a lot of the guys who go and play
in county cricket they decide we're not going to pick
you at all, rather than just say pick you in
the home someone and you can return. And actually West
Indies have a similar dynamic in terms of their players
(17:57):
go to things very professional, but they're actually much more
flexible in picking these guys when they are available and
if it's not the whole time. And that's actually a
reason why we Cindy's start a lot better in test
cricket than New Zealand do because they basically get test
the same time and so you know, it takes un
twenty six years for their first their first victory and
it's quite a long, a long road to get there,
(18:19):
and he's in and not always helping them themselves.
Speaker 5 (18:21):
Actually no, and you ask the players if they're any
around from from those days. They basically got two and
six meal money. They didn't get anything else. They didn't
get paid much to play for the game. They used
to get their gear from you know, a garage down
in christ Hitch where the game was basically administered from,
(18:43):
and that was the that was the clothing that they
got just on the.
Speaker 4 (18:48):
Even with the storry with with Glenn Turner in nineteen seventies,
he's often not playing for New Zealand because he's only
molways a professional. So it's a perennial problem that I
have had. And then really you have from for about
two thousand and two you get players who are genuine
pro and that's a huge fact in New Zealand's rights
because actually is incredible you look at he's in West
Indy's that test because actually they're almost the mirror opposite.
(19:10):
So West Cindy's far better is in until two thousands
and he's e have been far better since. And actually
one of the stories of the book actually New Zealand
has you know, actually gone from being very low key
test side and kind of under the radar and actually
not often not that effective. Apart from the nineteen eighties
team which Hade and Martin Crow actually you know, since
(19:30):
two thousand, especially since twenty thirteen, they've been a really
a strong, really strong Test testination and that is a
great story.
Speaker 5 (19:38):
Yeah, and that was hardlight of course by the series
win over India, which everybody here is proud of. The
future of Test cricket is something that we talk about.
I've been reading articles over a long period of time.
Everybody says it's no longer viable, but the game still survives,
and I'm sure it will survive if there's a will
for it to survive. How do you see the future
(20:00):
of the game. Tradition is important and the tradition has
been retained in Test cricket, and to me that is
part of the significance. But it's all about year gear,
wasn't it.
Speaker 4 (20:10):
Yeah, So I say a few things on that. Firstly,
the history of Test cricket is the history of worrying
about the future of Test cricket, right, So, you know,
looking back from researching this, the first reference I could
find to players they just pay. They just play for
the money now, not the badge on the shirt. The
first reference I could find to that was eighteen eighty four.
So there's a certain strand where things have always been
(20:32):
getting worse in Test cricket and people have had these
worries and they haven't always come true. So have to
remember that. Secondly, actually test cricket is a bit of
a myth, like it's not the conservative sport that we
think it is. Actually Test cricket has evolved so so much.
Remember used to have three a combination of three day
tests and timeless tests. We've had overs four or five
six bars and eight balls, we have day night tests. Now,
(20:55):
we've had helmets, come a huge change, Uncovered pictures now
now now covered pitches now, we have the World Test Championship.
The number of Test Nations have gone from two to twelve.
So the game actually has evolved and that it's been
actually a part of why it's said around it it's
a brilliant game, but it's also it has it has
evolved with the times and in terms of the future.
For me, actually, the World Test Championship, which obviously New
(21:18):
zeal Than one and the very first edition of had
to have talked to Ross Tail about that lovely story.
He he woke up the next day and he was
still in his white which sort of showed how much
that that meant him. That was a great, a great story.
But I think for me the worldis champishp is so
so important because you need to you know, often in
in the very Anglo centric in terms of everything's fine,
but actually you need to give all countries the chance
(21:40):
to roots the pinnacle and the fact the Waters Championship.
Well we've had three additions, you know. One we've had
Kin Williams and the lift the trophy. One we've had
ten the boomerlifts in the trophy. So we've had three
two of the kind of non big three economic powers
I Australian and in the till two of those country
two country outside that of won the Worlter Championship, which
is brilliant. So for me, that's a really big part
of the solution. The other thing I would look at is,
(22:02):
you know, actually five day tests were not I think
before World War Two there's only been ten to five
day tests. Ever, so this idea that's always been five
days is complete nonsense. It is not true at all,
and I would now look at the pacer of play
and the Test cricket is on. The picture is probably
more exciting than it ever has been. But I would
look now and say, okay, I think we can have
(22:22):
four day tests. And one of the reasons I think
we can do that is it it saves money, and
it saves money and time which we can then use
to actually have more Test matches. So New Zealand is
a great example. New Zealand have a diet really of
two match Test series and two matches. Test series are
pretty unsatisfying. Obviously with the multi champs they're a bit
more narrative, but they are pretty chromic. So for me,
(22:43):
like when New Zealan plays in Africa, that should having
three tests times four days each would be so much
better than having two tests times five days each. So
for me, I'd like to have a system where we
have the World Test Championship. I'd like to have you
currently have everyone play six series and that three at home,
three away, which is okay, but the series are of
different lengths, which means a point stable is horribly confusing.
So I would like to see every series of the
(23:05):
old Test Championship is three tests or four days each
and you put yet three points for a win and
one point for a draw, and that's a very simple table.
You can pay extra tests like the Africans will be
five tests, but just the first three tests would count
towards that, and suddenly the table is very clear to
understand and you need windows, but you don't need that many.
You need you need about two and a half months
(23:26):
a year that blocked off a Test cricket. So maybe
you know if you have six series each over two years,
so that's just three series a year, so you need
three winners a year of three weeks each. During that time.
There is no other cricket in Test Nations apart from
Test matches, so you know Kan Williamson is going to
be playing in the Test match because there's no other
cricket for him to play. And that way you know
(23:46):
when you're seeing New Zealand, you're going to get the
strongest possible sign and you actually avoid a Trent Bolt
situation where you know Trent Bolt, as far as I know,
he absolutely loved playing Test cricket, but understandably he was
getting thirties and it's a short career he didn't players
also not paid anything like what say Indian players or
Incand players are paid and he wanted to know Portes future,
which is completely understandable. But ideally there's enough money again
(24:11):
that he shouldn't be put in that position. It should
be there's a window here where there's just Test cricket.
You can play that, and you know when that will
be from a long long way out, and then the
franchise cricket fits alongside that, and actually you end up
having two and a half maybe three months. You have
Test cricket, it's high quality, you know the best players
will be playing, and you have plenty of room for
white ball cricket, and every thinking cox is together because
actually I love the other fourmats as well, and I
(24:33):
think three four months is a strength for cricket. But
you need things to be run better. And I guess
the frustration at riting his history is the administration of
Test cricket has been so so bad for so long.
This goes back to before World War One and the
USA Argentina were very strong. Could have been testinations and
they didn't. They didn't get the green light because it
wants it to be a kind of Empire Club and
(24:53):
so that's a frustration. And look at the history again
and again.
Speaker 5 (24:57):
Yeah, I think you've find a lot of people that
would support you there. Unfortunately the ICC don't seem to
see it as the way that we do. The ICC
I actually call the Indian Cricket Council rather than the
Indonestal Group Councils or whatever it is known as these days.
Have you got have you got a favorite story out
of all of the work you did to to track
down or a favorite interview you did.
Speaker 4 (25:20):
So I've got one. You talked about India there. It
just reminds me and the kind of wealth of India.
But you know, you look at the history and it
really was not always this way and as you're a keyword,
you might enjoy it. So India in the nineteen sixties
then they're not a great side, and they they have
a rare victory against New Zealand and you know, the
(25:41):
players are chaffing and so on, and they think, you know,
maybe we'll get a bonus. You know, you know, if
we don't win many matches, this is a big deal.
And their match feet is two hundred and fifty rupees
of test, which is really pitted in like a few
bucks of tests and so what happens after the players,
you know that they get there their little you know,
their their payment in a envelope and there's only two
(26:03):
hundred rupees there. They say what's going on and the
board says, well, you won in four days and you
were paid on a per rafter basis, so that actually
lost money from winning a test match earlier and it
wasn't a lot of money to begin with. So that
that was That was quite a young interviews I did.
I mean, yeah, I was kind of blown away. I've got,
(26:24):
you know, so so many to give a few hours,
but yeah, kay Williamson, Sagintandorca, Michael Holding, Pat Pat Cummins,
Merely Dale Stain. So I was very lucky to talk
to so so many. Yeah, I mean, talking to Tendorka
about his approach to facing Shane warn was was pretty cool.
(26:46):
That would be one of the best ones. Talking to yeah,
Michael Holding about that great westernis side was really special.
And yeah, talking to Ian Chappell's industry because he was
one of the few players to face top fast bowling
both without a helmet and with a helmet and getting
a sense of that change, and you do realize that
(27:08):
the physical threat in the so the mid seventies is
when you have a lot of very fast bowlers and
you still don't have helmets, and just the physical threat.
And he talks about his because obviously he then played
World Series cricket and he has this spat with Kerry Packer.
I mean, have two very strong personalities, and I'm sure
you can imagine, and Packer basically says you have to
(27:31):
wear a helmet, and Chapel says, I don't want to
wear a helmet, and Packer says, you know you get hit, mate,
I really could not care less. I couldn't care less
if you're hit on the head. I just couldn't care less.
But what I will not have is be paying you
for three months to be stuck on the hospital bed
because you couldn't wear a helmet. So they're getting a
shouting match, and eventually Chapeler crease to wear a helmet.
Speaker 5 (27:54):
Thanks very much, Tim, Interesting and it got some great stories.
It's going to take a while to read, Jerry. I
think you've got a copy of the book, and it
won't be read in a hurry. But some wonderful stories
and boy, the man's got a fund of knowledge, isn't he.
Speaker 3 (28:08):
Well he has now what what a task?
Speaker 6 (28:13):
Yes, he came and tapped me on the shoulder. Actually,
while we're at headingly and nearly six hundred pages. That
shouldn't put you off because you can sort of dip
into it and read, read each each chapter and have
a break and that sort of thing. And you know,
lots of lots of stories, whether it's about captains, or
(28:36):
whether it's about Shane Warn, or whether it's about the
ages of ten Dolka and those kinds of things that
he's looked into. I'm really looking forward. I've got to
confess I've only looked at the at the index at
the stage and got a bit tired. But but I
(28:57):
shall have given a crack because it's a it's against
you an effort from him actually, and and good luck
to the to the young man.
Speaker 3 (29:06):
He's he's very you know what a task it has
been for him.
Speaker 2 (29:11):
Yeah, major project.
Speaker 5 (29:12):
And having spoken to him, thanks Tim for your time, and.
Speaker 4 (29:16):
We'll get him back.
Speaker 5 (29:16):
I think be nice to talk to him about some
of the other things once we've had a chance to
read and see some of the stories. Because I'm fascinated.
I've got a PDF copy and my book is on
the way. But you know what the posters like, and
flights across the Middle East at the moment aren't that secure.
So we'll just have to wait and see what happens.
But back to the Test match. You talk about the
(29:39):
quality of the game, the quality of the pitch, and
my first thing I suppose was there'll be a few
people eating their words, won't they, because they all criticized
Stokes for bowling first.
Speaker 3 (29:53):
Yeah, I wonder how he felt. You know why he
did it? Of course for two reasons.
Speaker 6 (29:59):
Basically, if there was going to be anything in the
headingly service, it would be on the first day. It
was a kind of a it wasn't a really virulent green.
It was a little bit green, but not much. But
if there was going to be anything in the game,
it would be in the first day. So if his
bowlers were good enough in the first morning, in the
(30:21):
two sessions, he might get a little breakthrough into the opposition,
and then if it didn't happen. His main reason is
they love to chase, they back their batting, and they
want to bat last. So that's basically what his reasoning
(30:41):
was I wonder how he would have felt when India
were four hundred and thirty for three, whether he felt that,
my word, we are going to have to do some
batting to get back into this game. So there must
have been little concerns. He kept the field upwards. He
just kind of doesn't seem to worry about the rate
(31:05):
of scoring against him. So there were all always kind
of three slips gully leg slip in that first day
and giving and supporting his bowlers and so on, whether
they needed that or not. So the run certainly came.
But as soon as Gil made a little error and
(31:25):
he was on about one hundred and forty and picked
out the deep backwards square off Basher, suddenly the game changed.
And as you know, the reason that India lost this
game was that they had two collapses.
Speaker 3 (31:43):
Seven for forty and six for thirty something like that.
Speaker 6 (31:47):
The tail basically from number eight, nine, ten, eleven didn't
supply anything and that put a lot of pressure on
the top order. It meant that Jadasia was reduced as
a batsman. He was he's either had to slog, you know,
or he had to sort of bat with number eleven
to decide which ball to take a runoff the second
(32:08):
innings and then of course they dropped catchers and that's
that's that's criminal when you've got you know, bowlers like
Boomera who can't bowl too many overs.
Speaker 3 (32:19):
So those two things together wad's cost them the match?
Speaker 2 (32:23):
Yep, that's the way it seemed.
Speaker 5 (32:24):
Here.
Speaker 2 (32:25):
We're not allowed to watch it on television here a
Jerry's guy.
Speaker 5 (32:28):
I've decided we don't need the series between two of
the greatest sides currently going around, so we have to
wait for really the Yeah, it's not being sharp, but
we are going to see Australia against the West Indies,
so I suppose that's something and that'll be interesting.
Speaker 2 (32:44):
Jasper Boomera is the man.
Speaker 5 (32:46):
A lot has been spoken about him. Steve Finn, former
English international bowler, has made a case that is the
most complete fast bowler of all time. Well the stats
say something that supports that. But it's very hard to
again talk about bowlers between various eras. But it's too
(33:07):
much being asked of Boomera in their attack and do
they have anybody to support him.
Speaker 6 (33:14):
I was hopeful that the Indian side weren't just a
one bowling outfit, but I'm afraid as the Test continued
through its course that it looked very much that way.
He tended to bowl five over spells. Obviously, in the
(33:37):
first innings he was more effective than the second, and
as things progressed in the second innings he changed. I
felt he changed his length and was trying to get
wickets for his side in other words, and pitching up.
And Duckett was having quite a good innings at that point,
(33:58):
and so he was getting driven and so on. So
he was just a little bit full, I felt in
the second innings. But yeah, he's a great bowler. That
doesn't mean to say that he's the greatest of all time.
I think that's very hard to die. I mean, there
are so many reasons for me. What about the pictures
that Fred Truman played on. Yes, you know, what about
(34:21):
the outfields and the drainage that they have nowadays.
Speaker 3 (34:25):
So you have some rain.
Speaker 6 (34:27):
In the past, you'd go off and you'd stay off
and you didn't get the overs. Nowadays you're back on
in twenty minutes. You know how much grass are on
all those wickets that all those players played on, all
those lovely bowlers. So and the ground preparations have changed,
haven't they. What about the quality of the sides that
they were up against, all these different bowlers, so many
(34:49):
good ones, aren't there. What about umpires, neutral umpires versus
decision review system, the balls that they used, They've changed
them just recently, so the dukes and the kooker bar
are now different, two piece, four piece, quality of the
fielding and the cordon.
Speaker 4 (35:07):
I mean you could go on.
Speaker 6 (35:08):
I think in the coaching and the science, biomechanics, all
those things, and loadings, the amount of cricket that the
players play, the different formats. I find it very hard
to compare a bowler from the past with ones today
and say he is way better. How do you compare
(35:30):
Marshall Holding, you know, Garner, roberts Croft and all that lot.
I mean, they're not just up against the batsmen that
they're playing, they're up against each other because everybody else.
Speaker 3 (35:42):
Has taken the wickets. You've got to get in first.
Speaker 5 (35:45):
And you know, and there's the statistics around Richard Hadley
as well, who mixes with all those names that we've
seen in terms of who's.
Speaker 6 (35:54):
Got the most wadds, who's got the most bags of
five wickets and ten wickets, Hadley absolutely absolutely.
Speaker 5 (36:03):
Thirty six five fers, nine ten fers. The only one
who surpasses it is Mororley. But of the pace Bowl,
as Hadley leads the way, I just wonder with the
scores you talk about the scores that were made at Headingley,
was it a road because we know that Edgebiston is
(36:24):
producing a lot of runs. Tom Latham is playing for
Warwicks are there and has battered pretty well and got
some runs yep there this year Edgebiston seems to be
producing a lot of runs.
Speaker 2 (36:34):
Are they preparing pitchers to b roads to Negate Boomra.
Speaker 3 (36:37):
Well, that might be one of the reasons.
Speaker 6 (36:41):
He's only at the moment they're saying still three Test
matches of the five. Whether they get to the last
Test and they are India are one behind. Who knows
whether they'll slide him in for a forth I don't know,
or if they're even at that stage they might do
the same thing.
Speaker 3 (37:00):
I don't know.
Speaker 6 (37:01):
I think they're preparing roads. They're not just roads, they're motorways.
Speaker 3 (37:06):
They are roads.
Speaker 6 (37:08):
They're not b roads which you get in England, you know,
are a bit more rough, a bit more that. There's
a bit more nibble, there's a bit more up and
down in variety in bounce and so on. They're doing
that for their batsmen because they can chase hard and
they can hit through the length of the ball. They
don't need to worry about that it's not going to
it's not going to deviate, you know. That's the reason
(37:30):
I think that they play. Otherwise they tend to get
out and make mistakes and we've seen a lot of
collapses from this England side as well as lots of
fast runs scored at a decent clip. Yeah, I think
that's the reason. But it also does effect Boomra, although
he's sometimes good enough to get them out anyway. But
(37:52):
you've got to hold the catchers. Now, they dropped about
six or seven catches there. India really created more than
twenty chances in the match, so but they didn't claim
them all. So that was really the key for the
part as well. So they have got more concerns India.
(38:13):
I think they will sit down and have to have
some very serious discussions about their team. I don't know
what you thought from from far away if you did
manage to catch anything.
Speaker 3 (38:24):
But they've got a.
Speaker 6 (38:25):
Guy called Sai Sodashan who's becoming in at number three.
A left hander, he's obviously they've regarded as the future, along.
Speaker 3 (38:33):
With you know, Gil and so on and Jase Wall.
Speaker 6 (38:37):
He falls over to the off side with a heavy
head and was caught leg side both games lifting the ball.
Speaker 3 (38:43):
He'll probably play in the next Test match.
Speaker 6 (38:45):
I would think four and five are very secure Punt
and Gil, and then you get to six.
Speaker 3 (38:52):
Who's going to bat six? Karen NYA, No, I don't.
Speaker 6 (38:55):
I don't think that's a that's a serious discussion because
Judaeisa at the moment is not getting into the game enough,
either as a bowler or as a batsman, and so
does he push up there or do you ring someone
like Drove Jurrell as a name that maybe a lot
of our listeners won't know. But he's a wicket keeper
(39:15):
who's a very good batsman, and they might play him
at six and then keep Jadasia at seven. They can't
afford to play Chardle Takour again, not really in my opinion.
I think they've got to play at Edgeburston got to
play cool deep Yadav so they've got to play two
spinners in my estimation, and then they have to look
(39:38):
at the seamers. And I don't know whether Bomra will
play in that Test match because as you say, it's
quite flat.
Speaker 3 (39:43):
I'm not sure. Might be better for him to play
at Lord's with the slope.
Speaker 5 (39:47):
Yeah, interesting stuff then, so longer and stronger in the
batting lineup and taking the chances. We'll be watching with
a lot of interest that Test match at Edgberston and
will take the chance to review that just before we
go this week. Jerry, you'll be looking forward to the
home summer. I'm sure when you return home. We're only
going to have sixteen T twenty matches for the black
(40:09):
Caps this year, six odish and they're going to sneak
three Test matches as well. Sounds exciting.
Speaker 3 (40:16):
Hey are they doing what they've planned? Last year was
and after Christmas?
Speaker 6 (40:21):
Is all basically white ball cricket, which is a shame
because to me that's our better part of the summer. Well,
it's therefore slightly better pitchers and good for Test matches, but.
Speaker 2 (40:33):
It's not at home.
Speaker 5 (40:34):
The last day of play in the Test match against
the West Indies is the twenty second of December, right,
and the next home game is the fifteenth of March,
so it's domestic cricket through the months of January, February
and early March, and then a South African side comes
here for more T twenty games as well as the
(40:56):
sixteen that are there. They're going to be playing five
in India as the build up to the World T
twenty and then there's a twenty team competition with more
T twenty. So we've got an epidemic of white ball cricket.
We're trying to match South Africa, aren't we.
Speaker 6 (41:10):
Well, so we've got basically three test matches for the summer,
is that right?
Speaker 3 (41:15):
Against the West Indies? That's it. Yeah, and they're all
in what November, December.
Speaker 2 (41:22):
The end of November and December.
Speaker 3 (41:24):
Yeah, that's a shame. That's a shame.
Speaker 6 (41:27):
And I think the cricket follower love their tests and
we've got good followers around New Zealand who do support
that format. And it's a shame that we're not playing
at least a couple after after Christmas.
Speaker 5 (41:45):
But I suppose that's the reality that we face with
international competitions and teams not necessarily wanted to come to
this part of the world.
Speaker 2 (41:52):
I hope we can get more than.
Speaker 5 (41:54):
A twenty minute highlight package each day from any website
that seems to have it. Didn't get a chance to
have a look at the Test and you know me,
I'll sit up in the middle of the night and
watch Test cricket forever in the day. So it's it's
a bit disappointing, but I hope we do get a
chance to see some more. Otherwise we're going to have
to rely.
Speaker 2 (42:13):
On you again, Jerry.
Speaker 5 (42:14):
Next week review of the Edge Weston Test match. Go
and warm yourself. I suppose it's quite warm.
Speaker 3 (42:22):
No, it's not bad odds.
Speaker 2 (42:23):
Yeah, yeah, we relax, then relax and get ready for
the next Test match. We're we're going to need you.
Speaker 3 (42:31):
That's nice.
Speaker 6 (42:33):
Oh well, look I'm sorry you aren't able to view
it live because it was it was a special match. Actually,
whether they can, whether they can repeat that at Edgeveston,
will wait and see. I think we'll see some a
couple of changes in the Indian side. I think probably
England will feel well satisfied with the way that the
(42:55):
game actually finished in the end, obviously, so.
Speaker 3 (43:00):
Yeah, it's all to be done for India. They will
see how they respond.
Speaker 2 (43:04):
Yes, indeed, well we look forward to the next Test
match and we'll look forward to.
Speaker 5 (43:07):
Hearing from your injury happter the interesting testments, go into yourself.
Speaker 6 (43:12):
Thanks, watch take care of everybody and uh yep, I'll
try and bring it to you under
Speaker 1 (43:19):
Summarting For more from News Talks at b Listen live
on air or online, and keep our shows with you
wherever you go with our podcasts on iHeartRadio.
You're listening to a podcast from news Talk, said B.
Follow this and a wide range of podcasts now on
iHeart Radio. Take an.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
It's ard, it is out, the test is over.
Speaker 3 (00:28):
I couldn't just smoke beauty.
Speaker 4 (00:30):
It is out and.
Speaker 3 (00:32):
Here he goes.
Speaker 5 (00:33):
This delivery has in uny uses to go.
Speaker 1 (00:37):
On the front foot with Brian Waddell and Jeremy Cody,
powered by News Talk, said B and iHeart Radio.
Speaker 5 (00:47):
Hello on the front foot. Nice to have you with
us once again. A World Test Championship has been decided.
Another one who's started two games, completed two in progress
already and has England's imposing betting already sealed the upcome
of a Test series with India. There's too much being
demanded of Jaspert Boomerang and the old cliche must be true.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
Catches were matches this week.
Speaker 5 (01:10):
Also, we're going to be joined by a prominent English
cricket writer very shortly who's written an unrivaled history of
the Test game, Tim Wigmore Coming up shortly, but coming
up right now, Jeremy Cody. Before we hear from a
Test match of real quality. That's what we want from
Test cricket, isn't it? The full five days down to
(01:33):
the wire, battle hardened teams and won a little better
than the art.
Speaker 6 (01:39):
Yeah, gooday, was what a match it was? How often
do we get to a five day Test? Was it?
Speaker 3 (01:45):
And it goes to six thirty on the last day.
Speaker 6 (01:48):
We've been talking about the shrinking of Test matches to
three days and a bit that this one certainly went
the distance. Although you felt on the last day the
way England were playing, that they had taken control of
the match, didn't you seven seven centuries in the game
and in ninety nine losing.
Speaker 3 (02:08):
Side got five of them. Extraordinary?
Speaker 6 (02:11):
Isn't it that you get five hundreds from your batsmen
and you lose the match over seventeen hundred Well about
seventeen hundred runs I reckon in the game, and that's
over three sixty a day. So you can see, you
can see a the pitch was pretty good. Was the
bowling good enough? Probably not one stood out of course,
(02:35):
But in the end I thought that when we started
the game, I thought that the Indian bowlers would be stronger.
But it didn't prove out proved to be that way,
and that was the England bowlers who were They looked.
Speaker 4 (02:51):
A little bit like.
Speaker 6 (02:54):
Stokes and the replacements or the understudies. Sounds like a
pop group, doesn't it. In the sixties Stokes in the
understudies and it really they came through in the end
and claimed wickets like Tongue did and cast did, and
so they overall were the better bowling attack.
Speaker 2 (03:16):
Yes, indeed, and that was proven.
Speaker 5 (03:18):
Will assess that Test match and look at the finer
points of it in just a moment. But we're just
going to be joined by English journalist who writes for
the Daily Telegraph, Tim.
Speaker 1 (03:27):
Wigmore, Brian Waddell, Jeremy Coney on the front foot.
Speaker 5 (03:31):
There are a number of people in the cricket world
who you feel like standing to attention and saluting for
service above and beyond. One of those is cricket journalist
Tim Wigmore, who writes for The Telegraph, and it's released
what could almost be called the ultimate cricket book, Test
Cricket Are History, nearly six hundred pages, Goodness Me described
(03:54):
by Mike Atherton as a vibrant global history of the
oldest form of the game. We have the pleasure of
Tim Wigmore joining on the front foot this week, and Tim,
thanks very much for your time. I just wonder in
terms of motivation for the book, what was this as
someone to approach such a mess of task because it
just doesn't happen overnight, does it.
Speaker 4 (04:16):
Thanks so much, Brian, thank you for having me. Yeah,
so the idea came. I remember it started. So it
was March twenty twenty intri lnchor for what turned up
to be in the evening before that tour was called
off because of COVID, and I was having dinner with
Simon Wilde from the Times through wrote a very good
history of England test cicket a few years before, and
I was saying, you know, have you thought about doing
(04:38):
like this book? But for yeah, all of class took it.
And he said you have to be mad to do that.
I thought, maybe I am mad. And then five years later,
here we are.
Speaker 5 (04:47):
Well it's a huge achievement, it is there a real
feeling of satisfaction for you.
Speaker 4 (04:52):
Yeah, it's been nice. It feels a bit bit surreal,
like you sort of working on it for so so
long and you know, you it was a great, great
fun to do. But also there were obviously times when
you're like, how do you get for it from eady
to do here? And I think Yeah, over three hundred
books in you know, with fifty to fifty people. So
to have that all come out is yeah, it's a
(05:14):
nice feeling. It's little strange, but very nice.
Speaker 5 (05:17):
It's not the first book you've written, of course, but
I mean this is a This is a real mess
of exercise, isn't it.
Speaker 4 (05:22):
Yeah, first I've done by myself though, so yeah, it
was a real endeavor. So yeah, five years, a lot
of late nights, early mornings and stuff and yeah real yeah,
so interesting and yeah I learned a huge amount of
doing it, so it was a lot of fun as well.
Speaker 5 (05:38):
You start off the introduction is to a seegment called
the Cruelest Game, and you hit between the eyes immediately
test cricket is the most brutal game. Where did that
first line come from? Because that's where you grab people
from start off, isn't it.
Speaker 4 (05:56):
Yeah, of the first sign, as you know, is the
most important.
Speaker 5 (05:59):
Now.
Speaker 4 (05:59):
I think you try and explain to people what you
know who maybe aren't in the game, what it is
about to cricket, and I think it is that the
relentances of it, the mental, the physical strain, and also
like for an underdog, it is so so hard to
win a Test match. You think of of football and actually, yeah,
(06:19):
you can win a game one nil with a lucky
deflection and off side and whatever. But test rickey, you
need to be there better for you know, for five days,
for four innings. It's so so much. So it's sort
of the sense that yeah, you can, you can do
fie gravity for so long and so yeah, I think
in lots of sports you can have a lucky victory.
I don't think you can have a lucky Test match
win because there's so so much that goes into it
(06:40):
and you kind of thet any wings that can be exposed.
So in that sense, it's very cruel, and you look
at the history actually in I mean you see actually
is a good example of this, many many great great
players who actually lose most Tests they play because either
if you're Richard Hadley or whatever, there's only so much
you can do, to be honest, and that's the things
that you need. You need so many parts to come
(07:00):
together to actually win a Test match. And the aqlely
you might be a great batsman, if you haven't got
the caverge to take twenty wickets, you're just not going
to win any Test matches.
Speaker 5 (07:10):
Yeah, you're right. Some of our greatest players either won
only one Test match or never one Test matches, and.
Speaker 4 (07:18):
Of course who are celebrated in rightly. So that was
for a nil Neil draw in England.
Speaker 5 (07:22):
And the amount of cricket that they played. They were
three day games, weren't they? And so the overs bold
you were talking about one hundred and thirty overs a day.
I mean, they're just the sort of things that I
guess come out of looking into a book like this.
The World Test Championship final was Test Match number two thousand,
five hundred and eighty five. There's been a couple more
(07:43):
since then, now that the new World Test Championship is
up and running.
Speaker 2 (07:48):
There must be a lot of stories that you hear.
You do a lot of reading.
Speaker 5 (07:53):
Discipline then becomes a very important part about what you're going.
How do you decide what goes in and what doesn't.
Speaker 4 (08:00):
Yeah, so this is very much This is a book
of stories really, So it's a book about the players,
matches and politics that have have shaped the game. So
matches are really important. I go deep on and there's
hundreds and hundreds of matches that I don't cover. So
this is this is designed to be. There's been stats
post test that hasn't really been a narrative history, which
is what this tries to be. So it is a
(08:20):
but hopefully you can It'll take you a little bit,
but hopefully you can read it from A to Z.
So yeah, I was thinking about the turning points, the
key moments that shape the game, and he has so
many assorts of that, I mean one of them with
New Zealand and other countries. Actually it's amazing looking back,
how rare it is actually, especially antis cricket for a
Test team to actually have the genuinely strongest team that
(08:41):
was available from that country. You know, you look at
the history of New Zealand, Earl Zeine, you look at you know,
Stuey Dnster, Martin Donnald, these great great players and they
barely play for you in because at that point you
basically need to leave New Zealand to become a professional.
So you'll almost have a situation where lots of New
Zealand tours to England. It is almost like if you
do well or your prize will be to get a
contract in countercricket or leagu cricket in England and then
(09:03):
your you'll stop playing for New Zealand. So it's there's
this is actually quite sad back to our New Zealand cricket.
And that's in other countries as well. You know, West
Cindy's have a lot of tools in nineteen thirty swing
when they're the best players are playing in lancashirele cricket
not playing for West Indies. So it's funny when people say, oh,
there's new cluby country thing, it's such a new problem.
It's like, well, it's no, it's not a new problem
that it's a new aspects of the problem. But this
(09:25):
problem has always really existed in task cricket history.
Speaker 5 (09:29):
Yeah. Jerry Dempster is an interesting one because I never
saw him play, but he coached me long after he'd retired,
and there are a number around about my era that
he coached. He had a net at the basein reserve
where he had people. I was invited because he was
a friend of my father's. I wasn't any good, but
it was nice to have somebody like that coach me.
(09:50):
And you know, those are the people who have developed
New Zealand cricket. And you give New Zealand cricket, it's
fear deal in one of the thirty five chapters that
you've had to write, and of course there are things
you have to include, and the one I haven't been
able to read yet, I've I've got to chapter four.
Speaker 2 (10:10):
That's not a bad effort in the short space of time.
Speaker 5 (10:14):
Yeah, Breadman, bodyline and the Invincibles. There there must be
plenty of stories about breadmen. Are there any new ones
that or do you have to sort through them to
make a judgment on them, because I've been in Chris
Boxers in Australia where breadman stories are rife. You know,
everybody's got a Breadman story.
Speaker 4 (10:34):
No, no, absolutely, So to look at him from a
kind of fresh perspective was a change, but it was
really interesting. One of the i mean one of the
amazing things really is just the way he bats, which
he basically has his bat he he brings his bat
up facing to gully really and that's seen as not
the right way to bat, as if he's doing something wrong.
(10:56):
And this is the guy, the best ever by a mile,
and yet incredibly no one really replicates it. And in fact,
if you look at it the way he bats very closely,
you know, I think Steve Smith is one of the
close ever to batting Bradman and help. Yeah, Steve Smith
is also absolutely incredible. So there's something about where the
(11:17):
history of cricket often is quite conservative in terms of
there's a way to bat and bowl and actually often
see with England, England tends to reject these kind of
new methods, so the new methods often come from from
other countries. So actually that the google actually did develop
in England, then it was popularized in South Africa. Oddly,
for example, you have the Bradman method and s on
reverse swing comes from elsewhere, so that's quite interesting as well.
(11:40):
But that the idea of this kind of right way
to bat, you know, I think the history of test
ticket it shows you there is no right way to
bat and actually individuality doing what feels natural. There's a
lot to be said for that, and sometimes we can
be too die didactically telling people this is how you
bat with your elbow and everything, and everyone's a little
bit different because your bound to a different your height
(12:01):
is different, everything.
Speaker 5 (12:02):
Yeah, and that probably sort of highlights where the game
is at the moment, the changes that have come through
the game over the period of time. There are players
doing things now that they would never have thought of
doing fifty one hundred years ago. And the shots that
they are playing, the changes are just adding to the
fascination of the game of cricket. Because you say the
(12:23):
game is about stats. Here it's a game about stories,
and it's a game about people and you know, human
approaches to things, and some people are stars, yet they
don't do things the right way that we think.
Speaker 4 (12:38):
They ye'll be doing them. But actually looking at the history,
actually it's amazing. Some innovations that I thought were much
more recent happened a long time earlier. You know. The
first story of the ramp I could find was Leary Constant,
the greatest sinnis around in the nineteen thirties, so that
there's clear records of him playing basically a ramp shop
at Lord's. But obviously, you know, it's not ben't become
(13:00):
popularized until you know, the twenty twenties. But yeah, there
are things there are reverse weeep really starts backs on
nineteen fifties. Actually we think of that as much more,
but no, so in some cases, actually the history people
were doing these things, but they're not kind of replicated,
And there's all these mysteries like reverse swing as well,
where we think of this as kind of yes, it
is a Pakistan is Pakistan who popularized it in really
(13:22):
the nineteen eighties nineteen nineties with Wazi Waka and Nimraan
and so on. But it actually it is happening. You know,
it's happening in Australia the nineteen sixties for example. But
they might call it, in fact, they call it. They
said the bulls going Irish is what they said when
it was reversing on the MCG on those sort of
abrasive pictures. So a lot of these things and I
think one of the reasons what you get these innovations
(13:44):
that start and then they kind of die is because
you don't without video footage and that are gaining that
well documented, these things can sort of die. And actually
that's one of the challenges right in the book, that
actually there's a lot of stuff that's not documented all
that well. And yeah, New Zealanders, well, you know there's
some great you know, lots of great stuff on New Zealand,
but there's also sort of probably with some gaps there
(14:05):
as well, and even yeah, with the mon stuff. Actually
it's great through some interviews, So you're talking to people
like Kwim's and Ross Taylor and some on was. Yeah,
that helped to bring that story to life.
Speaker 5 (14:16):
Yeah, but you also there are some people who couldn't talk,
of course because they're long gone. But you've you've obviously
read a lot of material. I see you quote certain people. Yeah,
just little clips that you've taken from books, which means
you have to read a lot of stuff too. You
just don't have that fall out of the sky.
Speaker 4 (14:35):
Do you No. I've read over three hundred books as
part of this, so it was a lot of reading.
I would say the old cricket books are a lot
shorter though, so it's not like I think the longest
book is Steve Wards, which weighs at one point eight kilograms.
I did not read all of that, but but some
of the old books you can rifle through them in
an hour or two and get some great nuggets to
(14:55):
kind of to feed in.
Speaker 5 (14:59):
What have you got a coffee table edition of your book?
A great big one where you can shouldn't have coffee
and open or is that going to be a little
but too heavy?
Speaker 4 (15:09):
Ah?
Speaker 5 (15:09):
That child?
Speaker 4 (15:11):
Well, I'd say the book in itself is a coffee table.
But hopefully you know, it is definitely a book that,
you know, if you love cricket, you'll be able to
read from from start to finish. And actually, I think
Cricket it does show the cricket's wider importance. Obviously it's
a very silly game with a bat and a ball,
but it does have a much broader importance for you know,
(15:31):
for building nations, you know, class, race, and so actually
to sort of tease out those aspects was really really interesting.
Cricket is a mirror to society, and sometimes that even
helps shape broader things. You know, talk of West Indies.
When Frank Warre becomes the first permanent black captain in
nineteen sixty, you know, that actually has a resonance far,
far beyond cricket. For example, obviously So Africa's banned for
(15:52):
a part, you know, during apartheid from nineteen seventy that
is so so significant, and you get all this funny
you know, these incredible stories sort of about Badla. Actually
when so when Nelson Mandela is released from robmin Isle
in prisoner, one of his first things he asked is
Don Bradman still alive?
Speaker 5 (16:09):
Goodness mee and dealing with dead of course that you
have to deal with the professional game, money which is
the overriding factor, and tiss cricket these days, and politics.
All those sorts of things have to be incorporated. Not
easy to do when it's a cricket book, but that
part of the game, aren't they.
Speaker 4 (16:29):
Yeah, that absolutely, they're part of the stories. So in
England for example, yeah to nineteen fifty two, they have
amateur captains and you basically have this device. You have
professionals who are paid to play, and you have amateurs
who are unpaid to play. And often the amateurs so
the amatters are kind of from very posh background, sort
of often called aristocrats. They're often they're not very good
(16:52):
at cricket. So I was. I looked actually in the
first ten in the Ashes tours to Australia at the
mcc run when they captain by an amateur, so fifty
test matches and the total average buying and captains was
twenty two. So basically on average their captain wasn't even
worth place in the side because they were so obsessed
with picking the right sort of person in common and
(17:14):
they ended up, you know, weakning their side as a result.
And actually New Zealand have this thing where New Zealand
has this kind of up to thing as well, where
they they frown upon players who are professionals in England basically,
and they're quite stubborn about not picking their guys, these
guys who then play test cricket even when they're only
(17:36):
available for a few Test matches a year. So actually
New Zealand for the first probably thirty thirty forty years
of Test cricket often don't pick their strongest possible side
because a lot of the guys who go and play
in county cricket they decide we're not going to pick
you at all, rather than just say pick you in
the home someone and you can return. And actually West
Indies have a similar dynamic in terms of their players
(17:57):
go to things very professional, but they're actually much more
flexible in picking these guys when they are available and
if it's not the whole time. And that's actually a
reason why we Cindy's start a lot better in test
cricket than New Zealand do because they basically get test
the same time and so you know, it takes un
twenty six years for their first their first victory and
it's quite a long, a long road to get there,
(18:19):
and he's in and not always helping them themselves.
Speaker 5 (18:21):
Actually no, and you ask the players if they're any
around from from those days. They basically got two and
six meal money. They didn't get anything else. They didn't
get paid much to play for the game. They used
to get their gear from you know, a garage down
in christ Hitch where the game was basically administered from,
(18:43):
and that was the that was the clothing that they
got just on the.
Speaker 4 (18:48):
Even with the storry with with Glenn Turner in nineteen seventies,
he's often not playing for New Zealand because he's only
molways a professional. So it's a perennial problem that I
have had. And then really you have from for about
two thousand and two you get players who are genuine
pro and that's a huge fact in New Zealand's rights
because actually is incredible you look at he's in West
Indy's that test because actually they're almost the mirror opposite.
(19:10):
So West Cindy's far better is in until two thousands
and he's e have been far better since. And actually
one of the stories of the book actually New Zealand
has you know, actually gone from being very low key
test side and kind of under the radar and actually
not often not that effective. Apart from the nineteen eighties
team which Hade and Martin Crow actually you know, since
(19:30):
two thousand, especially since twenty thirteen, they've been a really
a strong, really strong Test testination and that is a
great story.
Speaker 5 (19:38):
Yeah, and that was hardlight of course by the series
win over India, which everybody here is proud of. The
future of Test cricket is something that we talk about.
I've been reading articles over a long period of time.
Everybody says it's no longer viable, but the game still survives,
and I'm sure it will survive if there's a will
for it to survive. How do you see the future
(20:00):
of the game. Tradition is important and the tradition has
been retained in Test cricket, and to me that is
part of the significance. But it's all about year gear,
wasn't it.
Speaker 4 (20:10):
Yeah, So I say a few things on that. Firstly,
the history of Test cricket is the history of worrying
about the future of Test cricket, right, So, you know,
looking back from researching this, the first reference I could
find to players they just pay. They just play for
the money now, not the badge on the shirt. The
first reference I could find to that was eighteen eighty four.
So there's a certain strand where things have always been
(20:32):
getting worse in Test cricket and people have had these
worries and they haven't always come true. So have to
remember that. Secondly, actually test cricket is a bit of
a myth, like it's not the conservative sport that we
think it is. Actually Test cricket has evolved so so much.
Remember used to have three a combination of three day
tests and timeless tests. We've had overs four or five
six bars and eight balls, we have day night tests. Now,
(20:55):
we've had helmets, come a huge change, Uncovered pictures now
now now covered pitches now, we have the World Test Championship.
The number of Test Nations have gone from two to twelve.
So the game actually has evolved and that it's been
actually a part of why it's said around it it's
a brilliant game, but it's also it has it has
evolved with the times and in terms of the future.
For me, actually, the World Test Championship, which obviously New
(21:18):
zeal Than one and the very first edition of had
to have talked to Ross Tail about that lovely story.
He he woke up the next day and he was
still in his white which sort of showed how much
that that meant him. That was a great, a great story.
But I think for me the worldis champishp is so
so important because you need to you know, often in
in the very Anglo centric in terms of everything's fine,
but actually you need to give all countries the chance
(21:40):
to roots the pinnacle and the fact the Waters Championship.
Well we've had three additions, you know. One we've had
Kin Williams and the lift the trophy. One we've had
ten the boomerlifts in the trophy. So we've had three
two of the kind of non big three economic powers
I Australian and in the till two of those country
two country outside that of won the Worlter Championship, which
is brilliant. So for me, that's a really big part
of the solution. The other thing I would look at is,
(22:02):
you know, actually five day tests were not I think
before World War Two there's only been ten to five
day tests. Ever, so this idea that's always been five
days is complete nonsense. It is not true at all,
and I would now look at the pacer of play
and the Test cricket is on. The picture is probably
more exciting than it ever has been. But I would
look now and say, okay, I think we can have
(22:22):
four day tests. And one of the reasons I think
we can do that is it it saves money, and
it saves money and time which we can then use
to actually have more Test matches. So New Zealand is
a great example. New Zealand have a diet really of
two match Test series and two matches. Test series are
pretty unsatisfying. Obviously with the multi champs they're a bit
more narrative, but they are pretty chromic. So for me,
(22:43):
like when New Zealan plays in Africa, that should having
three tests times four days each would be so much
better than having two tests times five days each. So
for me, I'd like to have a system where we
have the World Test Championship. I'd like to have you
currently have everyone play six series and that three at home,
three away, which is okay, but the series are of
different lengths, which means a point stable is horribly confusing.
So I would like to see every series of the
(23:05):
old Test Championship is three tests or four days each
and you put yet three points for a win and
one point for a draw, and that's a very simple table.
You can pay extra tests like the Africans will be
five tests, but just the first three tests would count
towards that, and suddenly the table is very clear to
understand and you need windows, but you don't need that many.
You need you need about two and a half months
(23:26):
a year that blocked off a Test cricket. So maybe
you know if you have six series each over two years,
so that's just three series a year, so you need
three winners a year of three weeks each. During that time.
There is no other cricket in Test Nations apart from
Test matches, so you know Kan Williamson is going to
be playing in the Test match because there's no other
cricket for him to play. And that way you know
(23:46):
when you're seeing New Zealand, you're going to get the
strongest possible sign and you actually avoid a Trent Bolt
situation where you know Trent Bolt, as far as I know,
he absolutely loved playing Test cricket, but understandably he was
getting thirties and it's a short career he didn't players
also not paid anything like what say Indian players or
Incand players are paid and he wanted to know Portes future,
which is completely understandable. But ideally there's enough money again
(24:11):
that he shouldn't be put in that position. It should
be there's a window here where there's just Test cricket.
You can play that, and you know when that will
be from a long long way out, and then the
franchise cricket fits alongside that, and actually you end up
having two and a half maybe three months. You have
Test cricket, it's high quality, you know the best players
will be playing, and you have plenty of room for
white ball cricket, and every thinking cox is together because
actually I love the other fourmats as well, and I
(24:33):
think three four months is a strength for cricket. But
you need things to be run better. And I guess
the frustration at riting his history is the administration of
Test cricket has been so so bad for so long.
This goes back to before World War One and the
USA Argentina were very strong. Could have been testinations and
they didn't. They didn't get the green light because it
wants it to be a kind of Empire Club and
(24:53):
so that's a frustration. And look at the history again
and again.
Speaker 5 (24:57):
Yeah, I think you've find a lot of people that
would support you there. Unfortunately the ICC don't seem to
see it as the way that we do. The ICC
I actually call the Indian Cricket Council rather than the
Indonestal Group Councils or whatever it is known as these days.
Have you got have you got a favorite story out
of all of the work you did to to track
down or a favorite interview you did.
Speaker 4 (25:20):
So I've got one. You talked about India there. It
just reminds me and the kind of wealth of India.
But you know, you look at the history and it
really was not always this way and as you're a keyword,
you might enjoy it. So India in the nineteen sixties
then they're not a great side, and they they have
a rare victory against New Zealand and you know, the
(25:41):
players are chaffing and so on, and they think, you know,
maybe we'll get a bonus. You know, you know, if
we don't win many matches, this is a big deal.
And their match feet is two hundred and fifty rupees
of test, which is really pitted in like a few
bucks of tests and so what happens after the players,
you know that they get there their little you know,
their their payment in a envelope and there's only two
(26:03):
hundred rupees there. They say what's going on and the
board says, well, you won in four days and you
were paid on a per rafter basis, so that actually
lost money from winning a test match earlier and it
wasn't a lot of money to begin with. So that
that was That was quite a young interviews I did.
I mean, yeah, I was kind of blown away. I've got,
(26:24):
you know, so so many to give a few hours,
but yeah, kay Williamson, Sagintandorca, Michael Holding, Pat Pat Cummins,
Merely Dale Stain. So I was very lucky to talk
to so so many. Yeah, I mean, talking to Tendorka
about his approach to facing Shane warn was was pretty cool.
(26:46):
That would be one of the best ones. Talking to yeah,
Michael Holding about that great westernis side was really special.
And yeah, talking to Ian Chappell's industry because he was
one of the few players to face top fast bowling
both without a helmet and with a helmet and getting
a sense of that change, and you do realize that
(27:08):
the physical threat in the so the mid seventies is
when you have a lot of very fast bowlers and
you still don't have helmets, and just the physical threat.
And he talks about his because obviously he then played
World Series cricket and he has this spat with Kerry Packer.
I mean, have two very strong personalities, and I'm sure
you can imagine, and Packer basically says you have to
(27:31):
wear a helmet, and Chapel says, I don't want to
wear a helmet, and Packer says, you know you get hit, mate,
I really could not care less. I couldn't care less
if you're hit on the head. I just couldn't care less.
But what I will not have is be paying you
for three months to be stuck on the hospital bed
because you couldn't wear a helmet. So they're getting a
shouting match, and eventually Chapeler crease to wear a helmet.
Speaker 5 (27:54):
Thanks very much, Tim, Interesting and it got some great stories.
It's going to take a while to read, Jerry. I
think you've got a copy of the book, and it
won't be read in a hurry. But some wonderful stories
and boy, the man's got a fund of knowledge, isn't he.
Speaker 3 (28:08):
Well he has now what what a task?
Speaker 6 (28:13):
Yes, he came and tapped me on the shoulder. Actually,
while we're at headingly and nearly six hundred pages. That
shouldn't put you off because you can sort of dip
into it and read, read each each chapter and have
a break and that sort of thing. And you know,
lots of lots of stories, whether it's about captains, or
(28:36):
whether it's about Shane Warn, or whether it's about the
ages of ten Dolka and those kinds of things that
he's looked into. I'm really looking forward. I've got to
confess I've only looked at the at the index at
the stage and got a bit tired. But but I
(28:57):
shall have given a crack because it's a it's against
you an effort from him actually, and and good luck
to the to the young man.
Speaker 3 (29:06):
He's he's very you know what a task it has
been for him.
Speaker 2 (29:11):
Yeah, major project.
Speaker 5 (29:12):
And having spoken to him, thanks Tim for your time, and.
Speaker 4 (29:16):
We'll get him back.
Speaker 5 (29:16):
I think be nice to talk to him about some
of the other things once we've had a chance to
read and see some of the stories. Because I'm fascinated.
I've got a PDF copy and my book is on
the way. But you know what the posters like, and
flights across the Middle East at the moment aren't that secure.
So we'll just have to wait and see what happens.
But back to the Test match. You talk about the
(29:39):
quality of the game, the quality of the pitch, and
my first thing I suppose was there'll be a few
people eating their words, won't they, because they all criticized
Stokes for bowling first.
Speaker 3 (29:53):
Yeah, I wonder how he felt. You know why he
did it? Of course for two reasons.
Speaker 6 (29:59):
Basically, if there was going to be anything in the
headingly service, it would be on the first day. It
was a kind of a it wasn't a really virulent green.
It was a little bit green, but not much. But
if there was going to be anything in the game,
it would be in the first day. So if his
bowlers were good enough in the first morning, in the
(30:21):
two sessions, he might get a little breakthrough into the opposition,
and then if it didn't happen. His main reason is
they love to chase, they back their batting, and they
want to bat last. So that's basically what his reasoning
(30:41):
was I wonder how he would have felt when India
were four hundred and thirty for three, whether he felt that,
my word, we are going to have to do some
batting to get back into this game. So there must
have been little concerns. He kept the field upwards. He
just kind of doesn't seem to worry about the rate
(31:05):
of scoring against him. So there were all always kind
of three slips gully leg slip in that first day
and giving and supporting his bowlers and so on, whether
they needed that or not. So the run certainly came.
But as soon as Gil made a little error and
(31:25):
he was on about one hundred and forty and picked
out the deep backwards square off Basher, suddenly the game changed.
And as you know, the reason that India lost this
game was that they had two collapses.
Speaker 3 (31:43):
Seven for forty and six for thirty something like that.
Speaker 6 (31:47):
The tail basically from number eight, nine, ten, eleven didn't
supply anything and that put a lot of pressure on
the top order. It meant that Jadasia was reduced as
a batsman. He was he's either had to slog, you know,
or he had to sort of bat with number eleven
to decide which ball to take a runoff the second
(32:08):
innings and then of course they dropped catchers and that's
that's that's criminal when you've got you know, bowlers like
Boomera who can't bowl too many overs.
Speaker 3 (32:19):
So those two things together wad's cost them the match?
Speaker 2 (32:23):
Yep, that's the way it seemed.
Speaker 5 (32:24):
Here.
Speaker 2 (32:25):
We're not allowed to watch it on television here a
Jerry's guy.
Speaker 5 (32:28):
I've decided we don't need the series between two of
the greatest sides currently going around, so we have to
wait for really the Yeah, it's not being sharp, but
we are going to see Australia against the West Indies,
so I suppose that's something and that'll be interesting.
Speaker 2 (32:44):
Jasper Boomera is the man.
Speaker 5 (32:46):
A lot has been spoken about him. Steve Finn, former
English international bowler, has made a case that is the
most complete fast bowler of all time. Well the stats
say something that supports that. But it's very hard to
again talk about bowlers between various eras. But it's too
(33:07):
much being asked of Boomera in their attack and do
they have anybody to support him.
Speaker 6 (33:14):
I was hopeful that the Indian side weren't just a
one bowling outfit, but I'm afraid as the Test continued
through its course that it looked very much that way.
He tended to bowl five over spells. Obviously, in the
(33:37):
first innings he was more effective than the second, and
as things progressed in the second innings he changed. I
felt he changed his length and was trying to get
wickets for his side in other words, and pitching up.
And Duckett was having quite a good innings at that point,
(33:58):
and so he was getting driven and so on. So
he was just a little bit full, I felt in
the second innings. But yeah, he's a great bowler. That
doesn't mean to say that he's the greatest of all time.
I think that's very hard to die. I mean, there
are so many reasons for me. What about the pictures
that Fred Truman played on. Yes, you know, what about
(34:21):
the outfields and the drainage that they have nowadays.
Speaker 3 (34:25):
So you have some rain.
Speaker 6 (34:27):
In the past, you'd go off and you'd stay off
and you didn't get the overs. Nowadays you're back on
in twenty minutes. You know how much grass are on
all those wickets that all those players played on, all
those lovely bowlers. So and the ground preparations have changed,
haven't they. What about the quality of the sides that
they were up against, all these different bowlers, so many
(34:49):
good ones, aren't there. What about umpires, neutral umpires versus
decision review system, the balls that they used, They've changed
them just recently, so the dukes and the kooker bar
are now different, two piece, four piece, quality of the
fielding and the cordon.
Speaker 4 (35:07):
I mean you could go on.
Speaker 6 (35:08):
I think in the coaching and the science, biomechanics, all
those things, and loadings, the amount of cricket that the
players play, the different formats. I find it very hard
to compare a bowler from the past with ones today
and say he is way better. How do you compare
(35:30):
Marshall Holding, you know, Garner, roberts Croft and all that lot.
I mean, they're not just up against the batsmen that
they're playing, they're up against each other because everybody else.
Speaker 3 (35:42):
Has taken the wickets. You've got to get in first.
Speaker 5 (35:45):
And you know, and there's the statistics around Richard Hadley
as well, who mixes with all those names that we've
seen in terms of who's.
Speaker 6 (35:54):
Got the most wadds, who's got the most bags of
five wickets and ten wickets, Hadley absolutely absolutely.
Speaker 5 (36:03):
Thirty six five fers, nine ten fers. The only one
who surpasses it is Mororley. But of the pace Bowl,
as Hadley leads the way, I just wonder with the
scores you talk about the scores that were made at Headingley,
was it a road because we know that Edgebiston is
(36:24):
producing a lot of runs. Tom Latham is playing for
Warwicks are there and has battered pretty well and got
some runs yep there this year Edgebiston seems to be
producing a lot of runs.
Speaker 2 (36:34):
Are they preparing pitchers to b roads to Negate Boomra.
Speaker 3 (36:37):
Well, that might be one of the reasons.
Speaker 6 (36:41):
He's only at the moment they're saying still three Test
matches of the five. Whether they get to the last
Test and they are India are one behind. Who knows
whether they'll slide him in for a forth I don't know,
or if they're even at that stage they might do
the same thing.
Speaker 3 (37:00):
I don't know.
Speaker 6 (37:01):
I think they're preparing roads. They're not just roads, they're motorways.
Speaker 3 (37:06):
They are roads.
Speaker 6 (37:08):
They're not b roads which you get in England, you know,
are a bit more rough, a bit more that. There's
a bit more nibble, there's a bit more up and
down in variety in bounce and so on. They're doing
that for their batsmen because they can chase hard and
they can hit through the length of the ball. They
don't need to worry about that it's not going to
it's not going to deviate, you know. That's the reason
(37:30):
I think that they play. Otherwise they tend to get
out and make mistakes and we've seen a lot of
collapses from this England side as well as lots of
fast runs scored at a decent clip. Yeah, I think
that's the reason. But it also does effect Boomra, although
he's sometimes good enough to get them out anyway. But
(37:52):
you've got to hold the catchers. Now, they dropped about
six or seven catches there. India really created more than
twenty chances in the match, so but they didn't claim
them all. So that was really the key for the
part as well. So they have got more concerns India.
(38:13):
I think they will sit down and have to have
some very serious discussions about their team. I don't know
what you thought from from far away if you did
manage to catch anything.
Speaker 3 (38:24):
But they've got a.
Speaker 6 (38:25):
Guy called Sai Sodashan who's becoming in at number three.
A left hander, he's obviously they've regarded as the future, along.
Speaker 3 (38:33):
With you know, Gil and so on and Jase Wall.
Speaker 6 (38:37):
He falls over to the off side with a heavy
head and was caught leg side both games lifting the ball.
Speaker 3 (38:43):
He'll probably play in the next Test match.
Speaker 6 (38:45):
I would think four and five are very secure Punt
and Gil, and then you get to six.
Speaker 3 (38:52):
Who's going to bat six? Karen NYA, No, I don't.
Speaker 6 (38:55):
I don't think that's a that's a serious discussion because
Judaeisa at the moment is not getting into the game enough,
either as a bowler or as a batsman, and so
does he push up there or do you ring someone
like Drove Jurrell as a name that maybe a lot
of our listeners won't know. But he's a wicket keeper
(39:15):
who's a very good batsman, and they might play him
at six and then keep Jadasia at seven. They can't
afford to play Chardle Takour again, not really in my opinion.
I think they've got to play at Edgeburston got to
play cool deep Yadav so they've got to play two
spinners in my estimation, and then they have to look
(39:38):
at the seamers. And I don't know whether Bomra will
play in that Test match because as you say, it's
quite flat.
Speaker 3 (39:43):
I'm not sure. Might be better for him to play
at Lord's with the slope.
Speaker 5 (39:47):
Yeah, interesting stuff then, so longer and stronger in the
batting lineup and taking the chances. We'll be watching with
a lot of interest that Test match at Edgberston and
will take the chance to review that just before we
go this week. Jerry, you'll be looking forward to the
home summer. I'm sure when you return home. We're only
going to have sixteen T twenty matches for the black
(40:09):
Caps this year, six odish and they're going to sneak
three Test matches as well. Sounds exciting.
Speaker 3 (40:16):
Hey are they doing what they've planned? Last year was
and after Christmas?
Speaker 6 (40:21):
Is all basically white ball cricket, which is a shame
because to me that's our better part of the summer. Well,
it's therefore slightly better pitchers and good for Test matches, but.
Speaker 2 (40:33):
It's not at home.
Speaker 5 (40:34):
The last day of play in the Test match against
the West Indies is the twenty second of December, right,
and the next home game is the fifteenth of March,
so it's domestic cricket through the months of January, February
and early March, and then a South African side comes
here for more T twenty games as well as the
(40:56):
sixteen that are there. They're going to be playing five
in India as the build up to the World T
twenty and then there's a twenty team competition with more
T twenty. So we've got an epidemic of white ball cricket.
We're trying to match South Africa, aren't we.
Speaker 6 (41:10):
Well, so we've got basically three test matches for the summer,
is that right?
Speaker 3 (41:15):
Against the West Indies? That's it. Yeah, and they're all
in what November, December.
Speaker 2 (41:22):
The end of November and December.
Speaker 3 (41:24):
Yeah, that's a shame. That's a shame.
Speaker 6 (41:27):
And I think the cricket follower love their tests and
we've got good followers around New Zealand who do support
that format. And it's a shame that we're not playing
at least a couple after after Christmas.
Speaker 5 (41:45):
But I suppose that's the reality that we face with
international competitions and teams not necessarily wanted to come to
this part of the world.
Speaker 2 (41:52):
I hope we can get more than.
Speaker 5 (41:54):
A twenty minute highlight package each day from any website
that seems to have it. Didn't get a chance to
have a look at the Test and you know me,
I'll sit up in the middle of the night and
watch Test cricket forever in the day. So it's it's
a bit disappointing, but I hope we do get a
chance to see some more. Otherwise we're going to have
to rely.
Speaker 2 (42:13):
On you again, Jerry.
Speaker 5 (42:14):
Next week review of the Edge Weston Test match. Go
and warm yourself. I suppose it's quite warm.
Speaker 3 (42:22):
No, it's not bad odds.
Speaker 2 (42:23):
Yeah, yeah, we relax, then relax and get ready for
the next Test match. We're we're going to need you.
Speaker 3 (42:31):
That's nice.
Speaker 6 (42:33):
Oh well, look I'm sorry you aren't able to view
it live because it was it was a special match. Actually,
whether they can, whether they can repeat that at Edgeveston,
will wait and see. I think we'll see some a
couple of changes in the Indian side. I think probably
England will feel well satisfied with the way that the
(42:55):
game actually finished in the end, obviously, so.
Speaker 3 (43:00):
Yeah, it's all to be done for India. They will
see how they respond.
Speaker 2 (43:04):
Yes, indeed, well we look forward to the next Test
match and we'll look forward to.
Speaker 5 (43:07):
Hearing from your injury happter the interesting testments, go into yourself.
Speaker 6 (43:12):
Thanks, watch take care of everybody and uh yep, I'll
try and bring it to you under
Speaker 1 (43:19):
Summarting For more from News Talks at b Listen live
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