April 11, 2025 • 13 mins
Gary Stead will step down as coach of the Black Caps’ white-ball teams, but will spend the next few weeks to decide if he will stay to lead the test team.
New Zealand cricket’s Bryan Stronach has said the organisation hasn’t got a strong preference for either a split-coaching model or a sole appointment at the current moment.
Ali Martin, cricket writer for The Guardian, joined Jason Pine to discuss the pros and cons of a split-coaching model, and whether it might be the right thing for the Black Caps.
“I can see why they’re mulling this over,” Martin said.
“In theory it should be possible having a single coach over the whole thing.”
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Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Weekend Sport podcast with Jason Vine
from Newstalk zed B.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
And so to Cricket. As mentioned for the first time
in eight years, New Zealand Cricket is seeking a new
black Caps coach, but just which teams the newcomer will
take control of is yet to be determined. Incumbent Gary
Stead has stepped down from his white ball duties. His
contract expires in June, but he is still contemplating whether
(00:33):
he wants to put his name forward to remain as
Test coach. Now whether or not that's even an option
remains to be seen. New Zealand Cricket haven't yet committed
to staying with an all format coach or splitting the
roles between red and white ball for the first time ever.
New Zealand Cricket's head of High Performance, Brian Stronach said
this week the ultimate goal was to get the best
(00:55):
coach or coaches for New Zealand's players. England had split
coaches between twenty twelve and twenty fourteen. Andy Flower looked
after the Test side and as Giles the white ball side.
Speaker 1 (01:07):
They did it.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
Again between twenty twenty two and twenty twenty four with
of course our own Brendan McCullum looking after the tear
side and Matthew Mott the white ball teams, and from
the start of this year Brendan McCullum took charge across
all formats. Pakistan and South Africa also make use of
split coaches for their different setups. So what are the
(01:29):
pros and cons? Is it the right thing for the
black Caps to do? Let's bring in leading English cricket
writer from The Guardian, Alie Martin. Ellie, thanks for joining us.
Let's start with some generic pros and cons, shall we.
So let's start with the pros the benefits. What are
the benefits of splitting the coaches between red and white ball.
Speaker 3 (01:49):
Yeah, sure, hi, Jason, thanks for having me.
Speaker 4 (01:52):
I think in England's experience what they found, but particularly
in the most recent era that you'd spoke about with
mottin McCullum, was that just this sheer fixture overload meant
that splitting the coaches allowed those coaches to manage their
workloads much better. They weren't complete strung out, They could
hit each series with fresh energy. You'd have to say,
I think in other advantages you can bring in specialism
(02:14):
by way of format. It might be that a particular
coach has their strengths in one format and that that
actually lends itself to having a specialist for one of
the others or for the other two if it's Olyyes
and T twenty and I think a big thing at
the moment we're finding in the modern era, particularly with
the rise of franchise T twenty cricket, is that coaches can
(02:34):
pick up really lucrative gigs for pretty much an annual
salary for about two months work. And that being the case,
is that by splitting the coaches you can actually bring in.
Speaker 3 (02:45):
More of the talent pool around the world and be
a slightly more.
Speaker 4 (02:48):
Attractive proposition, so that that particular coach may be able
to marry up working with the national team and still
having the opportunities in franchise cricket as well. So that
was certainly England's thinking when they split it with McCullum
and Mott. But as you mentioned, we've gone back to
the single coach now in England.
Speaker 2 (03:07):
All right, So those are the pros. Let's talk about
the cons conversely, what are the downsides Ellie of split coaches?
Speaker 3 (03:15):
Well, the cons are that well.
Speaker 4 (03:17):
Yeah, with split coaches is that you can have you
can get into a situation where the two teams, or
maybe that the test team and the white ball team
are at very different stages of their development and the
one medicine for one team is not necessarily the medicine
that the other team requires. So in that instance, you
can find that with two coaches that sometimes the messaging
can become a bit mixed and for it to work well,
(03:40):
I believe you have to have a real alignment in
terms of the overall vision between the two coaches.
Speaker 3 (03:45):
And extremely good communication.
Speaker 4 (03:48):
Another pitfall what we saw and a good example was
during that Flower Gild split that England had ten ten
twelve years ago, was that one team can feel like
it's getting the others getting priority in terms of resource.
I mean the way England and their schedule is mapped
out is it's there have been times when you know,
the selectors have had to decide who is going into
(04:10):
what format and who's being rested, and quite often one
format and one coach will feel like they are the
sort of the second class citizen in that instance. So
that that is an issue and that does require good
communication and a good alignment of the overall goal for
all teams at to work, I believe.
Speaker 2 (04:28):
So England have gone to split coaches twice and come
back twice. So is that an admission of sorts that
it doesn't work, or or as the current scenario where
I've broader all back under Brendan McCallum just based around
Brandon McCallum.
Speaker 4 (04:45):
Yeah, I mean, particularly in that instance of the Mott
McCullum one. I mean there was a huge lag in
terms of fixtures after the pandemic and actually England found themselves.
Speaker 3 (04:54):
You know, a Test match would finish on day five.
Speaker 4 (04:56):
And quite literally the following day a white ball series
would start in another part of the world, so that
coach cannot be in two places at one time. So
it really was a kind of pragmatic view that was
taken in that instance. And you know, England did enjoy
some early success in when they had the split coaching there.
England did win that T twenty World Cup at the
end of twenty two, and at the same time the
(05:17):
Test team enjoyed a really strong revival under McCullum and Stokes.
So we saw in that instance that you know, it
did work initially I think what's happened subsequently is that the.
Speaker 3 (05:30):
Fixture congestion has eased a little bit.
Speaker 4 (05:32):
We're actually seeing it might only be a week or
two weeks, but there are gaps actually starting to develop
in the schedule between series, so a coach can visibly
get from one to the next. And I think with
England not going that well under Modern and Butler in
the end they gave up both their world titles at
a very poor Champions Trophy, which was McCullum's first assignment
and led to Josh Butler being being sacked as captain
(05:53):
or stepping down as captain, but it was kind of inevitable.
Speaker 3 (05:56):
I think looking at that is that McCullum has seen it.
Speaker 4 (06:00):
I think he's he believes he can make it work,
and England are quite fortunate they have a coach of
his caliber and kind of state who believes he can
commit to a year round, single job with the national
team when as I mentioned earlier, there is a huge
appeal there to surely pick up a couple of gigs
on the side in T twenty, which, as I say,
a pretty lucrative.
Speaker 2 (06:20):
Just for reference, Ellie, how much crossover is there currently
between England's red and white ball sides in terms of
players who play just read ball just white ball, in
players who play both.
Speaker 3 (06:31):
Yeah, good question.
Speaker 4 (06:32):
It's certainly during that sort of post pandemic era they
really did split off into two separate groups because of
the logistics I mentioned, and what you had in that
instance was guys like Ben Stokes and Joe would kind
of come back just for the major tournaments and that
does create issues. You know, you kind of build one
team in bilateral cricket, but then some big stars come
(06:52):
back for the main event that can knock people out
of position, that can change the strategy, so that can
create an issue. What we're finding with McCullum now with
the fixtures having eased a bit for England, and this
probably reflects his background with New Zealand as well, is
that he is looking to foster probably a more tight
knit group and I think he's trying to bring the
two sets of players into one and have a smaller
(07:15):
pool so that he can get consistent messaging into a
smaller pool of players who can carry it across formats.
One of the big sort of takeaways England had from
their very poor champions trophies. They really believe now that
that Test and ODI cricket are the two formats that
really marry up closest, and that T.
Speaker 3 (07:31):
Twenty is now the outliers.
Speaker 4 (07:33):
So it might be that, you know, we've just got
Harry Brooker as an all format players, just been made head.
Speaker 3 (07:38):
A captain of the white ball teams.
Speaker 4 (07:40):
But it might be that his T twenty side probably
contains more specialists going down the line, and that we
see the ODI teams and Test teams marry up a
bit more, certainly with the batting and also potentially with
the fast ballers as well.
Speaker 2 (07:52):
That is so interesting that T twenty is now becoming
the one which is different, rather than teas cricket being
the one that is different. Ellie, do you think the
players who play just white ball or just red ball
cricket would prefer a coach just for them?
Speaker 4 (08:08):
Yeah, but potentially I think, I mean again, it will
come down to the individual's strengths as a coach and
whether they do have a good sort of cross format caliber.
Another thing we're finding at the moment is that players
are really looking for coaches who've been there and done that,
and that is you know, they really kind of respect
the caps and the achievements of players of coaches in
(08:29):
their playing days, so.
Speaker 3 (08:30):
That's another factor there.
Speaker 4 (08:33):
I think it really does come back down to the individuals.
It comes down to the individuals selected, It comes down
to alignment of.
Speaker 3 (08:39):
Vision, and it comes down to excellent communication.
Speaker 4 (08:41):
If you can get those right, I do think it
can work, but it really does sort of depend on resources,
whether equally financial resources, whether New Zealand can attract that
one big name coach and get them on a year
round salary, or whether they're actually splitting. It does help
them find the best candidate for each format because it
(09:01):
allows that coach to also go off and either either
take their well earned breaks or or maybe pick up
a gig in one of those champions in one of
those franchise leagues. I was actually I was crunching the
numbers for New Zealand and England in the up to
the end of April and twenty seven, which is the
end of the world.
Speaker 3 (09:19):
The current Future Tours program.
Speaker 4 (09:21):
New Zealand have about one hundred and fifty one days
of cricket outside of global tournaments, England one hundred and
sixty six. So actually in New Zealand have got quite
a bit of test cricket coming up, so I can
see why they are mulling this over.
Speaker 3 (09:33):
But it is still less than England with that one coach.
Speaker 4 (09:35):
So you think in theory it should be possible to
have a single coach overseeing the whole thing. They might
miss the odd series to have a break, you know,
there's a bit of family time. That probably comes down
to have the strength of their assistant coaches and whether
they're able to step up, But that also provides opportunities
for the coach development as well.
Speaker 2 (09:51):
Indeed, I just began to get your view on something
that high performance manager Brian Stronach here at New Zealand
Cricket said this week. He said, at the moment, we
haven't any strong preference for either a split coaching role
or a sole appointment who covers all three formats, and
we're unlikely he said, to be clearer on that until
we see who's putting their name forward. I found that interesting.
(10:15):
Does it seem like the right approach to you? Or
should they decide first of all if they're going to
split them or not and then take their applications accordingly.
Speaker 4 (10:25):
Yeah, I think it probably is the right approach. I
think you do have to kind of survey the field
and see what the options out there are out there,
and I think that will come down so the individuals
who come in, they have those discussions, you may find
I mean England certainly found this.
Speaker 3 (10:40):
I think with McCullum.
Speaker 4 (10:42):
The initial suspicion was that he was kind of geared
up towards the white ball side, and when they had
those initial conversations, from his point of view, he saw
the greater remedial work needing to be done with the
Test team and that's what really appealed to him. At
the time, they thought England was, you know, the white
ball team was a pretty well oiled machine. They did
have two world titles, so they kind of that did
stack up in some respects. But what we've subsequently seen
(11:03):
is that white ball team has fallen off and the
McCullum now wants get the whole thing together. The question
I have seen this point raised by Mike Atherton, former
England cats in himself, is the whether the kind of
magic of McCullum and that messaging that he brings will
that be spread too thinly across three teams year round.
Will it lose some of its luster? Because players will
(11:25):
be consistently hearing the same voice over again and that
might maybe shorten his shelf life long term.
Speaker 3 (11:32):
I don't know. We'll have to see how that one
plays out. It hasn't been a.
Speaker 4 (11:34):
Great start for him in the white ball formats, but
you know this is now a fresh start with a
new captain and with the schedule easing. You know he
will hope that he can he can get that message
across in all three formats and the results taken up
to Neil Well.
Speaker 2 (11:47):
I think we'd love to have bringher McCullum judge our teams,
but clearly it's not going to happen. Ellie, You've given
us heaps to think about and know our listeners are
going to want to who I have their say on this.
Just before you go, though, just want to flick across
the football because you are a Nottingham Forest fan. Hidy
times for you, third in the Premier League with seven
games to go, see me fine, the FA CAUP and
of course our man Chris what at the heart of
(12:09):
it all, although as you'll also know, he got injured
when he was back here playing for New Zealand and
those FEEFA World Cup qualifiers. But how much have you
enjoyed watching Forest and watching our man Chris Ward being
them in for you this season?
Speaker 4 (12:22):
Oh man, it's been manner from heaven. I cannot think
of a He's the best striker we've had, probably since
Collimore about twenty five years ago. Just that incredible low
heart rate, the way that he's able to pick himself
up even after.
Speaker 3 (12:34):
A miss and still put the next one away.
Speaker 4 (12:37):
He's a real leader on the field up front for us.
I did actually tune in to watch that World Cup qualifying. Finally,
I think it's sort of over breakfast time. My wife
thought I was mad and I was grimacing when Chris.
Speaker 3 (12:48):
Wood went off with that injury. But yeah, it's an
incredible time at the club.
Speaker 4 (12:55):
I'm just waiting to find out if I got my
FA Cup semi final tickets through. I hope I should
find out in the next twenty four hours, and hoping
that Chris is back on the park for them, because
we do need him. We played without a striker on
the weekend because of injuries, so we need them back ASVP.
Speaker 2 (13:09):
All right, We'll keep our fingers crossed for that for
you and also for our national team as well. I
hope you get your FA Cup semi final tickets as well, Eley,
I think you probably deserved them. Thanks so much for
joining us to talk some cricket mate. We'll do it
again soon.
Speaker 3 (13:21):
Lovely cheers Jason.
Speaker 1 (13:23):
For more from Weekend Sport with Jason Fine, listen live
to news talks ed b weekends from midday, or follow
the podcast on iHeartRadio
You're listening to the Weekend Sport podcast with Jason Vine
from Newstalk zed B.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
And so to Cricket. As mentioned for the first time
in eight years, New Zealand Cricket is seeking a new
black Caps coach, but just which teams the newcomer will
take control of is yet to be determined. Incumbent Gary
Stead has stepped down from his white ball duties. His
contract expires in June, but he is still contemplating whether
(00:33):
he wants to put his name forward to remain as
Test coach. Now whether or not that's even an option
remains to be seen. New Zealand Cricket haven't yet committed
to staying with an all format coach or splitting the
roles between red and white ball for the first time ever.
New Zealand Cricket's head of High Performance, Brian Stronach said
this week the ultimate goal was to get the best
(00:55):
coach or coaches for New Zealand's players. England had split
coaches between twenty twelve and twenty fourteen. Andy Flower looked
after the Test side and as Giles the white ball side.
Speaker 1 (01:07):
They did it.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
Again between twenty twenty two and twenty twenty four with
of course our own Brendan McCullum looking after the tear
side and Matthew Mott the white ball teams, and from
the start of this year Brendan McCullum took charge across
all formats. Pakistan and South Africa also make use of
split coaches for their different setups. So what are the
(01:29):
pros and cons? Is it the right thing for the
black Caps to do? Let's bring in leading English cricket
writer from The Guardian, Alie Martin. Ellie, thanks for joining us.
Let's start with some generic pros and cons, shall we.
So let's start with the pros the benefits. What are
the benefits of splitting the coaches between red and white ball.
Speaker 3 (01:49):
Yeah, sure, hi, Jason, thanks for having me.
Speaker 4 (01:52):
I think in England's experience what they found, but particularly
in the most recent era that you'd spoke about with
mottin McCullum, was that just this sheer fixture overload meant
that splitting the coaches allowed those coaches to manage their
workloads much better. They weren't complete strung out, They could
hit each series with fresh energy. You'd have to say,
I think in other advantages you can bring in specialism
(02:14):
by way of format. It might be that a particular
coach has their strengths in one format and that that
actually lends itself to having a specialist for one of
the others or for the other two if it's Olyyes
and T twenty and I think a big thing at
the moment we're finding in the modern era, particularly with
the rise of franchise T twenty cricket, is that coaches can
(02:34):
pick up really lucrative gigs for pretty much an annual
salary for about two months work. And that being the case,
is that by splitting the coaches you can actually bring in.
Speaker 3 (02:45):
More of the talent pool around the world and be
a slightly more.
Speaker 4 (02:48):
Attractive proposition, so that that particular coach may be able
to marry up working with the national team and still
having the opportunities in franchise cricket as well. So that
was certainly England's thinking when they split it with McCullum
and Mott. But as you mentioned, we've gone back to
the single coach now in England.
Speaker 2 (03:07):
All right, So those are the pros. Let's talk about
the cons conversely, what are the downsides Ellie of split coaches?
Speaker 3 (03:15):
Well, the cons are that well.
Speaker 4 (03:17):
Yeah, with split coaches is that you can have you
can get into a situation where the two teams, or
maybe that the test team and the white ball team
are at very different stages of their development and the
one medicine for one team is not necessarily the medicine
that the other team requires. So in that instance, you
can find that with two coaches that sometimes the messaging
can become a bit mixed and for it to work well,
(03:40):
I believe you have to have a real alignment in
terms of the overall vision between the two coaches.
Speaker 3 (03:45):
And extremely good communication.
Speaker 4 (03:48):
Another pitfall what we saw and a good example was
during that Flower Gild split that England had ten ten
twelve years ago, was that one team can feel like
it's getting the others getting priority in terms of resource.
I mean the way England and their schedule is mapped
out is it's there have been times when you know,
the selectors have had to decide who is going into
(04:10):
what format and who's being rested, and quite often one
format and one coach will feel like they are the
sort of the second class citizen in that instance. So
that that is an issue and that does require good
communication and a good alignment of the overall goal for
all teams at to work, I believe.
Speaker 2 (04:28):
So England have gone to split coaches twice and come
back twice. So is that an admission of sorts that
it doesn't work, or or as the current scenario where
I've broader all back under Brendan McCallum just based around
Brandon McCallum.
Speaker 4 (04:45):
Yeah, I mean, particularly in that instance of the Mott
McCullum one. I mean there was a huge lag in
terms of fixtures after the pandemic and actually England found themselves.
Speaker 3 (04:54):
You know, a Test match would finish on day five.
Speaker 4 (04:56):
And quite literally the following day a white ball series
would start in another part of the world, so that
coach cannot be in two places at one time. So
it really was a kind of pragmatic view that was
taken in that instance. And you know, England did enjoy
some early success in when they had the split coaching there.
England did win that T twenty World Cup at the
end of twenty two, and at the same time the
(05:17):
Test team enjoyed a really strong revival under McCullum and Stokes.
So we saw in that instance that you know, it
did work initially I think what's happened subsequently is that the.
Speaker 3 (05:30):
Fixture congestion has eased a little bit.
Speaker 4 (05:32):
We're actually seeing it might only be a week or
two weeks, but there are gaps actually starting to develop
in the schedule between series, so a coach can visibly
get from one to the next. And I think with
England not going that well under Modern and Butler in
the end they gave up both their world titles at
a very poor Champions Trophy, which was McCullum's first assignment
and led to Josh Butler being being sacked as captain
(05:53):
or stepping down as captain, but it was kind of inevitable.
Speaker 3 (05:56):
I think looking at that is that McCullum has seen it.
Speaker 4 (06:00):
I think he's he believes he can make it work,
and England are quite fortunate they have a coach of
his caliber and kind of state who believes he can
commit to a year round, single job with the national
team when as I mentioned earlier, there is a huge
appeal there to surely pick up a couple of gigs
on the side in T twenty, which, as I say,
a pretty lucrative.
Speaker 2 (06:20):
Just for reference, Ellie, how much crossover is there currently
between England's red and white ball sides in terms of
players who play just read ball just white ball, in
players who play both.
Speaker 3 (06:31):
Yeah, good question.
Speaker 4 (06:32):
It's certainly during that sort of post pandemic era they
really did split off into two separate groups because of
the logistics I mentioned, and what you had in that
instance was guys like Ben Stokes and Joe would kind
of come back just for the major tournaments and that
does create issues. You know, you kind of build one
team in bilateral cricket, but then some big stars come
(06:52):
back for the main event that can knock people out
of position, that can change the strategy, so that can
create an issue. What we're finding with McCullum now with
the fixtures having eased a bit for England, and this
probably reflects his background with New Zealand as well, is
that he is looking to foster probably a more tight
knit group and I think he's trying to bring the
two sets of players into one and have a smaller
(07:15):
pool so that he can get consistent messaging into a
smaller pool of players who can carry it across formats.
One of the big sort of takeaways England had from
their very poor champions trophies. They really believe now that
that Test and ODI cricket are the two formats that
really marry up closest, and that T.
Speaker 3 (07:31):
Twenty is now the outliers.
Speaker 4 (07:33):
So it might be that, you know, we've just got
Harry Brooker as an all format players, just been made head.
Speaker 3 (07:38):
A captain of the white ball teams.
Speaker 4 (07:40):
But it might be that his T twenty side probably
contains more specialists going down the line, and that we
see the ODI teams and Test teams marry up a
bit more, certainly with the batting and also potentially with
the fast ballers as well.
Speaker 2 (07:52):
That is so interesting that T twenty is now becoming
the one which is different, rather than teas cricket being
the one that is different. Ellie, do you think the
players who play just white ball or just red ball
cricket would prefer a coach just for them?
Speaker 4 (08:08):
Yeah, but potentially I think, I mean again, it will
come down to the individual's strengths as a coach and
whether they do have a good sort of cross format caliber.
Another thing we're finding at the moment is that players
are really looking for coaches who've been there and done that,
and that is you know, they really kind of respect
the caps and the achievements of players of coaches in
(08:29):
their playing days, so.
Speaker 3 (08:30):
That's another factor there.
Speaker 4 (08:33):
I think it really does come back down to the individuals.
It comes down to the individuals selected, It comes down
to alignment of.
Speaker 3 (08:39):
Vision, and it comes down to excellent communication.
Speaker 4 (08:41):
If you can get those right, I do think it
can work, but it really does sort of depend on resources,
whether equally financial resources, whether New Zealand can attract that
one big name coach and get them on a year
round salary, or whether they're actually splitting. It does help
them find the best candidate for each format because it
(09:01):
allows that coach to also go off and either either
take their well earned breaks or or maybe pick up
a gig in one of those champions in one of
those franchise leagues. I was actually I was crunching the
numbers for New Zealand and England in the up to
the end of April and twenty seven, which is the
end of the world.
Speaker 3 (09:19):
The current Future Tours program.
Speaker 4 (09:21):
New Zealand have about one hundred and fifty one days
of cricket outside of global tournaments, England one hundred and
sixty six. So actually in New Zealand have got quite
a bit of test cricket coming up, so I can
see why they are mulling this over.
Speaker 3 (09:33):
But it is still less than England with that one coach.
Speaker 4 (09:35):
So you think in theory it should be possible to
have a single coach overseeing the whole thing. They might
miss the odd series to have a break, you know,
there's a bit of family time. That probably comes down
to have the strength of their assistant coaches and whether
they're able to step up, But that also provides opportunities
for the coach development as well.
Speaker 2 (09:51):
Indeed, I just began to get your view on something
that high performance manager Brian Stronach here at New Zealand
Cricket said this week. He said, at the moment, we
haven't any strong preference for either a split coaching role
or a sole appointment who covers all three formats, and
we're unlikely he said, to be clearer on that until
we see who's putting their name forward. I found that interesting.
(10:15):
Does it seem like the right approach to you? Or
should they decide first of all if they're going to
split them or not and then take their applications accordingly.
Speaker 4 (10:25):
Yeah, I think it probably is the right approach. I
think you do have to kind of survey the field
and see what the options out there are out there,
and I think that will come down so the individuals
who come in, they have those discussions, you may find
I mean England certainly found this.
Speaker 3 (10:40):
I think with McCullum.
Speaker 4 (10:42):
The initial suspicion was that he was kind of geared
up towards the white ball side, and when they had
those initial conversations, from his point of view, he saw
the greater remedial work needing to be done with the
Test team and that's what really appealed to him. At
the time, they thought England was, you know, the white
ball team was a pretty well oiled machine. They did
have two world titles, so they kind of that did
stack up in some respects. But what we've subsequently seen
(11:03):
is that white ball team has fallen off and the
McCullum now wants get the whole thing together. The question
I have seen this point raised by Mike Atherton, former
England cats in himself, is the whether the kind of
magic of McCullum and that messaging that he brings will
that be spread too thinly across three teams year round.
Will it lose some of its luster? Because players will
(11:25):
be consistently hearing the same voice over again and that
might maybe shorten his shelf life long term.
Speaker 3 (11:32):
I don't know. We'll have to see how that one
plays out. It hasn't been a.
Speaker 4 (11:34):
Great start for him in the white ball formats, but
you know this is now a fresh start with a
new captain and with the schedule easing. You know he
will hope that he can he can get that message
across in all three formats and the results taken up
to Neil Well.
Speaker 2 (11:47):
I think we'd love to have bringher McCullum judge our teams,
but clearly it's not going to happen. Ellie, You've given
us heaps to think about and know our listeners are
going to want to who I have their say on this.
Just before you go, though, just want to flick across
the football because you are a Nottingham Forest fan. Hidy
times for you, third in the Premier League with seven
games to go, see me fine, the FA CAUP and
of course our man Chris what at the heart of
(12:09):
it all, although as you'll also know, he got injured
when he was back here playing for New Zealand and
those FEEFA World Cup qualifiers. But how much have you
enjoyed watching Forest and watching our man Chris Ward being
them in for you this season?
Speaker 4 (12:22):
Oh man, it's been manner from heaven. I cannot think
of a He's the best striker we've had, probably since
Collimore about twenty five years ago. Just that incredible low
heart rate, the way that he's able to pick himself
up even after.
Speaker 3 (12:34):
A miss and still put the next one away.
Speaker 4 (12:37):
He's a real leader on the field up front for us.
I did actually tune in to watch that World Cup qualifying. Finally,
I think it's sort of over breakfast time. My wife
thought I was mad and I was grimacing when Chris.
Speaker 3 (12:48):
Wood went off with that injury. But yeah, it's an
incredible time at the club.
Speaker 4 (12:55):
I'm just waiting to find out if I got my
FA Cup semi final tickets through. I hope I should
find out in the next twenty four hours, and hoping
that Chris is back on the park for them, because
we do need him. We played without a striker on
the weekend because of injuries, so we need them back ASVP.
Speaker 2 (13:09):
All right, We'll keep our fingers crossed for that for
you and also for our national team as well. I
hope you get your FA Cup semi final tickets as well, Eley,
I think you probably deserved them. Thanks so much for
joining us to talk some cricket mate. We'll do it
again soon.
Speaker 3 (13:21):
Lovely cheers Jason.
Speaker 1 (13:23):
For more from Weekend Sport with Jason Fine, listen live
to news talks ed b weekends from midday, or follow
the podcast on iHeartRadio
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