Paul Ford: BYC podcast co-founder on the summer cricket schedules for the Black Caps and White Ferns
June 28, 2025 • 10 mins
The Black Caps and White Ferns are staring down the barrel of a packed summer schedule, according to a new release from NZ Cricket.
New Zealand have released their schedule for the upcoming home summer, with a combined 59 international fixtures for both the men's and women's sides.
BYC podcast co-founder Paul Ford joined Piney to discuss.
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Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Weekend Sport podcast with Jason Vine
from Newstalks EDB Voice of Sport on your home of Sport.
Weekend Sport with Jason Vine and GJ. Gunner homes New
Zealand's most trusted own builder, newstalksbb.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
SO New Zealand Cricket this week revealed the upcoming summer
schedule for both the Black Caps and the White Ferns
and white Ball cricket again dominates all up are combined,
fifty nine internationals will be played by the New Zealand
men's and women's sides respectively, fifty nine all up. Three
of those are Test matches. They're all against the West
(00:44):
and these currently ranked eighth of the twelve nations that
play Test cricket, and all three are scheduled before Christmas.
New Zealand's last time some aer also featured just three
Test matches against England, again all before Christmas. So how
will this land with cricket fans, particularly those who enjoy
watching Test cricket in January and feur as we pretty
(01:07):
much have always done up until last summer. Well, the
biggest cricket fan I know is Paul Ford, co founder
of the Beige Brigade, co founder and co host of
The BYC Podcast, New Zealand's longest running sports podcast. He
joins us now, Paul, thanks for your time. You've seen
the schedule. How do you feel about the fact that
for a second straight summer there's no international red ball
(01:29):
cricket after Christmas?
Speaker 1 (01:32):
Oh?
Speaker 3 (01:32):
Look, it's it's frustrating, Piney, no doubt about it.
Speaker 4 (01:36):
I mean, I guess the fact that there's a beautiful
little window ahead of the two World Cups, the champions
Trophy last year and then the Tea twenty World Cup
this year, it's kind of asking for trouble.
Speaker 3 (01:46):
I guess teams want to be out and about and.
Speaker 4 (01:49):
Yeah, look, but from a Kiwi cricket fans perspective, very
very frustrating.
Speaker 3 (01:54):
And I guess a reminder that we are.
Speaker 4 (01:56):
We are something of a cork on the ocean, floating
in the raging global tides of cricket.
Speaker 2 (02:01):
That's a great analogy. What, then, as this bob cork
should we expect now as far as our home international
program is concerned, every summer? Is this what we should expect?
Is this the new normal?
Speaker 3 (02:15):
Well?
Speaker 4 (02:16):
Yeah, that's yes, I guess that's one option. But look,
I think there's a couple of things. One, it would
be great to see World Cricket take control of the schedule,
you know, and it means that individual boards around the
globe are going to need to let God some fiefdoms
and do what's right for the global game to flourish.
You know, They're going to have to relinquish some power
(02:37):
and push some things into the middle for the greater
good of the game. And I think that there's this
real pressure building. I think that that teams around the world,
the bigger countries and everyone in between, needs to give
something up for this to work.
Speaker 3 (02:54):
You know, we've seen.
Speaker 4 (02:56):
That there's lots of people absolutely clamoring for this, for
yes cricket in particular to find its place in the world.
And I think that, yeah, the ICC need to take
control of the schedule. How can that happen? I think
that's the that's the first thing. And you know New
(03:16):
Zealand Cricket are implicated in.
Speaker 3 (03:18):
That as well. Right, the schedules at least partly of
our own making.
Speaker 4 (03:21):
A bunch of years ago, when the FTP fell away
and the Big Three went to break away, New Zealand
said we'll come with you basically, and that's meant that, sure,
there's a few there's a list of tours that are
going to happen and so on, but actually those are
often you know by that that program is put together
through bilateral negotiations, right, it's not dictated to by the ICC.
(03:44):
It used to be if you remember people everyone played
everyone home and away over X years, there were this
many games that it was starting to get into the
much more regulated and you know, there was control around
the competition. We've got this really weird situation where at
the moment for something around the World Test Championship, you've
got the actual teams that.
Speaker 3 (04:04):
Are playing dictating how and when they play. Well, that
doesn't happen. That's not how the NBA runs.
Speaker 4 (04:11):
It's not like the Chicago Bulls decide that they'll play
them three times and then once and we'll play those
guys over there twice and we're not playing them in
that country.
Speaker 3 (04:18):
You know, I think that that's a really big part
of it. And you know, as I say, New Zealand
cricket is implicated in that.
Speaker 4 (04:24):
And I guess the third point, and I've been crapping
on it's a very long answer but I think the
third point is, if the new world is that there's
a window in January, let's take it. Let's make that
January window sensational from a domestic cricket point of view.
Let's take control of our own summer. Let's take control
of our game, and let's make our domestic competition a
(04:46):
hell of a lot better, much more magnetic for international players,
and just frankly, let's get put something together that fans
can care about.
Speaker 3 (04:53):
Think about what it could be.
Speaker 4 (04:54):
The Black Clash on tour over the whole summer that
would work for me.
Speaker 2 (04:59):
That's out of the box thinking. I don't mind it.
I don't mind it. You look at the teams that
are coming, Paul On. On the face of it, when
you say, okay, Australia are coming, coming, the West Indies coming,
South Africa are coming, that looks fantastic, you know, four
big teams. But then you say, well, Australia are only
here for four days effectively England as well for a
short time, and both of those series are before the Ashes,
(05:20):
So who's coming, We're not sure. The West Indies and
then South Africa don't arrive until sort of mid March,
probably around about the time we're thinking about changing the
clocks again. What are your thoughts on the schedule as
a whole.
Speaker 4 (05:33):
Yeah, I mean I think again, I think yeah, starting
in October. I like the I guess I like the
fact that we're trying to get it in and yes,
it's great that Australia is coming here, but it does
feel like an afterthought. Is that going to be the
top Australia team? Are we really making the most of it?
Is this going to help build the next generation of
cricket fans. Playing three games in one place over four
(05:55):
days in early October. I'm not sure that it's really
going to do the biggest job that we need it
to do. And so yeah, I think it's you know,
the West Indies, I think they're going to be interesting.
Speaker 3 (06:09):
They've obviously got some fantastic.
Speaker 4 (06:11):
Players, but they are like us, like New Zealand, they
are at the whims of the big cricket and gods
and they are part of the fragmentation of cricket is
happening to the West Indies just like it's happening to
New Zealand, and so it's pretty hard for them to
put to put together a fantastic International Test Cricket Program.
(06:36):
So yeah, I'm a bit concerned about how much of
a draw card they will be. The good news is,
I guess there are three tests, and people test cricket fans,
you know, old blokes like us, Jase, everyone over the
age of thirty that loves test cricket. They'll be getting
along to those games because we don't really care. We
just love going to the games. What I do worry
about is that what helped guys like us or our
(06:56):
generation and older fall in love with the game is
these incredible test series that happened in and around all
of our major grounds over the summers.
Speaker 3 (07:05):
And you know that does feel like that is falling away.
Speaker 2 (07:07):
That is so true, Paul, that is so true. That's
how I fell in love with test cricket like you did.
And yes we're of a certain generation, but those test
matches in the eighties and nineties, those wonderful contests across
all the grounds, as you say of New Zealand. So
how will today's youngsters fall in love with cricket? Are
they really going to fall in love with the game
(07:29):
through watching I don't know, T twenty franchise cricket.
Speaker 3 (07:34):
No, I think they're not falling in love.
Speaker 4 (07:36):
I think there's a I think that people will go
along and keep it. There'll be a hardcore audience, absolutely,
But if we're looking to grow the game, we've got
to look at what we're actually competing with here, and
what we're competing with from a cricket point of view
is the NBA. It's those big American sports where absolute
saturation across social media, incredible storylines and the best players
(08:01):
are playing against the best players with regularity in a
schedule that is fixed.
Speaker 3 (08:05):
You know when the games are going to be.
Speaker 4 (08:07):
Once you start putting guaranteed content in front of people
at guaranteed times, you can really really start to build something.
I think that's a piece that's really missing for New
Zealand cricket fans.
Speaker 3 (08:17):
You know, if I want to.
Speaker 4 (08:18):
Make my son to a Test match next year, when
am I going to go and do that in New
Zealand the schedule's not out, I don't know, but I
can go and do it. If cricket is being prioritized
like it is in Australia, I know the Boxing Day
Test is going to be on.
Speaker 3 (08:35):
Start to lock that in. If I'm going to go
to an NBA game or whatever.
Speaker 4 (08:38):
You know, you know that that schedule is going to
be locked in and NFL the same, and so you
can start to build this monster around that because you've
got this guaranteed stream of content. We don't know what
the hell's happening until, you know, a couple of months before.
Speaker 2 (08:49):
It's such a good point. He just while I've got you.
As I mentioned at the top of the chat, you're
the co founder and co host of the BYC podcast,
which in the last little while has celebrated twenty years
in existence. It's New Zealand's longest running sporting podcast. Can
on that What is the secret?
Speaker 3 (09:09):
Yeah, well, I don't know. Really, it's a miracle, let's
be honest.
Speaker 4 (09:13):
I feel very humbled about it actually, And I guess
the secret is that people are involved for the love
of it. You know, we're not no one's doing it
to make lots of money. Everyone's just doing it because
they love talking about the game. And I think that
twenty years ago when we started doing it, we spotted
you know, base Regade did this too, spotted this niche
of people that love cricket but they don't necessarily need
(09:34):
to be talking.
Speaker 3 (09:35):
About it in a deadly serious way.
Speaker 4 (09:36):
They're not trying to be sports journalists like yourself pointing
you know, and we love all of that stuff, don't
get us wrong, But there's this window. There's a bunch
of people that just want to sit around effectively, have
a couple of beers and talk to their mates. And
I guess we put that into podcast form and it
seems to be going, you know, gangbusters, but I still
can't believe that it's.
Speaker 3 (09:53):
Been going for twenty years. It makes me feel very old.
Speaker 2 (09:55):
Well, what it should do is make you feel very
proud because it's a terrifica team and it may there
be twenty more years and maybe twenty more years beyond that.
The niche was found, as you say, a little while ago,
and you I have well and truly owned that niche
over the last two decades. Lots to get stuck in
to with our listeners. Paul, thanks for kicking the conversation off.
We'll catch up again soon. Thanks Pliny, cheers mate, Thank
(10:15):
you mate. That is Paul Ford byc podcast and as
you can tell, their cricket fan knows a lot about
the game, has followed it for a long time.
Speaker 1 (10:24):
Your for more from Weekend Sport with Jason Fine. Listen
live to news Talk zed B weekends from midday, or
follow the podcast on iHeartRadio
You're listening to the Weekend Sport podcast with Jason Vine
from Newstalks EDB Voice of Sport on your home of Sport.
Weekend Sport with Jason Vine and GJ. Gunner homes New
Zealand's most trusted own builder, newstalksbb.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
SO New Zealand Cricket this week revealed the upcoming summer
schedule for both the Black Caps and the White Ferns
and white Ball cricket again dominates all up are combined,
fifty nine internationals will be played by the New Zealand
men's and women's sides respectively, fifty nine all up. Three
of those are Test matches. They're all against the West
(00:44):
and these currently ranked eighth of the twelve nations that
play Test cricket, and all three are scheduled before Christmas.
New Zealand's last time some aer also featured just three
Test matches against England, again all before Christmas. So how
will this land with cricket fans, particularly those who enjoy
watching Test cricket in January and feur as we pretty
(01:07):
much have always done up until last summer. Well, the
biggest cricket fan I know is Paul Ford, co founder
of the Beige Brigade, co founder and co host of
The BYC Podcast, New Zealand's longest running sports podcast. He
joins us now, Paul, thanks for your time. You've seen
the schedule. How do you feel about the fact that
for a second straight summer there's no international red ball
(01:29):
cricket after Christmas?
Speaker 1 (01:32):
Oh?
Speaker 3 (01:32):
Look, it's it's frustrating, Piney, no doubt about it.
Speaker 4 (01:36):
I mean, I guess the fact that there's a beautiful
little window ahead of the two World Cups, the champions
Trophy last year and then the Tea twenty World Cup
this year, it's kind of asking for trouble.
Speaker 3 (01:46):
I guess teams want to be out and about and.
Speaker 4 (01:49):
Yeah, look, but from a Kiwi cricket fans perspective, very
very frustrating.
Speaker 3 (01:54):
And I guess a reminder that we are.
Speaker 4 (01:56):
We are something of a cork on the ocean, floating
in the raging global tides of cricket.
Speaker 2 (02:01):
That's a great analogy. What, then, as this bob cork
should we expect now as far as our home international
program is concerned, every summer? Is this what we should expect?
Is this the new normal?
Speaker 3 (02:15):
Well?
Speaker 4 (02:16):
Yeah, that's yes, I guess that's one option. But look,
I think there's a couple of things. One, it would
be great to see World Cricket take control of the schedule,
you know, and it means that individual boards around the
globe are going to need to let God some fiefdoms
and do what's right for the global game to flourish.
You know, They're going to have to relinquish some power
(02:37):
and push some things into the middle for the greater
good of the game. And I think that there's this
real pressure building. I think that that teams around the world,
the bigger countries and everyone in between, needs to give
something up for this to work.
Speaker 3 (02:54):
You know, we've seen.
Speaker 4 (02:56):
That there's lots of people absolutely clamoring for this, for
yes cricket in particular to find its place in the world.
And I think that, yeah, the ICC need to take
control of the schedule. How can that happen? I think
that's the that's the first thing. And you know New
(03:16):
Zealand Cricket are implicated in.
Speaker 3 (03:18):
That as well. Right, the schedules at least partly of
our own making.
Speaker 4 (03:21):
A bunch of years ago, when the FTP fell away
and the Big Three went to break away, New Zealand
said we'll come with you basically, and that's meant that, sure,
there's a few there's a list of tours that are
going to happen and so on, but actually those are
often you know by that that program is put together
through bilateral negotiations, right, it's not dictated to by the ICC.
(03:44):
It used to be if you remember people everyone played
everyone home and away over X years, there were this
many games that it was starting to get into the
much more regulated and you know, there was control around
the competition. We've got this really weird situation where at
the moment for something around the World Test Championship, you've
got the actual teams that.
Speaker 3 (04:04):
Are playing dictating how and when they play. Well, that
doesn't happen. That's not how the NBA runs.
Speaker 4 (04:11):
It's not like the Chicago Bulls decide that they'll play
them three times and then once and we'll play those
guys over there twice and we're not playing them in
that country.
Speaker 3 (04:18):
You know, I think that that's a really big part
of it. And you know, as I say, New Zealand
cricket is implicated in that.
Speaker 4 (04:24):
And I guess the third point, and I've been crapping
on it's a very long answer but I think the
third point is, if the new world is that there's
a window in January, let's take it. Let's make that
January window sensational from a domestic cricket point of view.
Let's take control of our own summer. Let's take control
of our game, and let's make our domestic competition a
(04:46):
hell of a lot better, much more magnetic for international players,
and just frankly, let's get put something together that fans
can care about.
Speaker 3 (04:53):
Think about what it could be.
Speaker 4 (04:54):
The Black Clash on tour over the whole summer that
would work for me.
Speaker 2 (04:59):
That's out of the box thinking. I don't mind it.
I don't mind it. You look at the teams that
are coming, Paul On. On the face of it, when
you say, okay, Australia are coming, coming, the West Indies coming,
South Africa are coming, that looks fantastic, you know, four
big teams. But then you say, well, Australia are only
here for four days effectively England as well for a
short time, and both of those series are before the Ashes,
(05:20):
So who's coming, We're not sure. The West Indies and
then South Africa don't arrive until sort of mid March,
probably around about the time we're thinking about changing the
clocks again. What are your thoughts on the schedule as
a whole.
Speaker 4 (05:33):
Yeah, I mean I think again, I think yeah, starting
in October. I like the I guess I like the
fact that we're trying to get it in and yes,
it's great that Australia is coming here, but it does
feel like an afterthought. Is that going to be the
top Australia team? Are we really making the most of it?
Is this going to help build the next generation of
cricket fans. Playing three games in one place over four
(05:55):
days in early October. I'm not sure that it's really
going to do the biggest job that we need it
to do. And so yeah, I think it's you know,
the West Indies, I think they're going to be interesting.
Speaker 3 (06:09):
They've obviously got some fantastic.
Speaker 4 (06:11):
Players, but they are like us, like New Zealand, they
are at the whims of the big cricket and gods
and they are part of the fragmentation of cricket is
happening to the West Indies just like it's happening to
New Zealand, and so it's pretty hard for them to
put to put together a fantastic International Test Cricket Program.
(06:36):
So yeah, I'm a bit concerned about how much of
a draw card they will be. The good news is,
I guess there are three tests, and people test cricket fans,
you know, old blokes like us, Jase, everyone over the
age of thirty that loves test cricket. They'll be getting
along to those games because we don't really care. We
just love going to the games. What I do worry
about is that what helped guys like us or our
(06:56):
generation and older fall in love with the game is
these incredible test series that happened in and around all
of our major grounds over the summers.
Speaker 3 (07:05):
And you know that does feel like that is falling away.
Speaker 2 (07:07):
That is so true, Paul, that is so true. That's
how I fell in love with test cricket like you did.
And yes we're of a certain generation, but those test
matches in the eighties and nineties, those wonderful contests across
all the grounds, as you say of New Zealand. So
how will today's youngsters fall in love with cricket? Are
they really going to fall in love with the game
(07:29):
through watching I don't know, T twenty franchise cricket.
Speaker 3 (07:34):
No, I think they're not falling in love.
Speaker 4 (07:36):
I think there's a I think that people will go
along and keep it. There'll be a hardcore audience, absolutely,
But if we're looking to grow the game, we've got
to look at what we're actually competing with here, and
what we're competing with from a cricket point of view
is the NBA. It's those big American sports where absolute
saturation across social media, incredible storylines and the best players
(08:01):
are playing against the best players with regularity in a
schedule that is fixed.
Speaker 3 (08:05):
You know when the games are going to be.
Speaker 4 (08:07):
Once you start putting guaranteed content in front of people
at guaranteed times, you can really really start to build something.
I think that's a piece that's really missing for New
Zealand cricket fans.
Speaker 3 (08:17):
You know, if I want to.
Speaker 4 (08:18):
Make my son to a Test match next year, when
am I going to go and do that in New
Zealand the schedule's not out, I don't know, but I
can go and do it. If cricket is being prioritized
like it is in Australia, I know the Boxing Day
Test is going to be on.
Speaker 3 (08:35):
Start to lock that in. If I'm going to go
to an NBA game or whatever.
Speaker 4 (08:38):
You know, you know that that schedule is going to
be locked in and NFL the same, and so you
can start to build this monster around that because you've
got this guaranteed stream of content. We don't know what
the hell's happening until, you know, a couple of months before.
Speaker 2 (08:49):
It's such a good point. He just while I've got you.
As I mentioned at the top of the chat, you're
the co founder and co host of the BYC podcast,
which in the last little while has celebrated twenty years
in existence. It's New Zealand's longest running sporting podcast. Can
on that What is the secret?
Speaker 3 (09:09):
Yeah, well, I don't know. Really, it's a miracle, let's
be honest.
Speaker 4 (09:13):
I feel very humbled about it actually, And I guess
the secret is that people are involved for the love
of it. You know, we're not no one's doing it
to make lots of money. Everyone's just doing it because
they love talking about the game. And I think that
twenty years ago when we started doing it, we spotted
you know, base Regade did this too, spotted this niche
of people that love cricket but they don't necessarily need
(09:34):
to be talking.
Speaker 3 (09:35):
About it in a deadly serious way.
Speaker 4 (09:36):
They're not trying to be sports journalists like yourself pointing
you know, and we love all of that stuff, don't
get us wrong, But there's this window. There's a bunch
of people that just want to sit around effectively, have
a couple of beers and talk to their mates. And
I guess we put that into podcast form and it
seems to be going, you know, gangbusters, but I still
can't believe that it's.
Speaker 3 (09:53):
Been going for twenty years. It makes me feel very old.
Speaker 2 (09:55):
Well, what it should do is make you feel very
proud because it's a terrifica team and it may there
be twenty more years and maybe twenty more years beyond that.
The niche was found, as you say, a little while ago,
and you I have well and truly owned that niche
over the last two decades. Lots to get stuck in
to with our listeners. Paul, thanks for kicking the conversation off.
We'll catch up again soon. Thanks Pliny, cheers mate, Thank
(10:15):
you mate. That is Paul Ford byc podcast and as
you can tell, their cricket fan knows a lot about
the game, has followed it for a long time.
Speaker 1 (10:24):
Your for more from Weekend Sport with Jason Fine. Listen
live to news Talk zed B weekends from midday, or
follow the podcast on iHeartRadio
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