Live from the ex Board Beargarden Studios. You're listening to the b YC where we all be reflecting on the black Cats first Test performance against Sri Lanka. To be fair, it was a pretty solid performance given the location, past history, and the fact that it was the first real run of the season. There were always some key moments when New Zealand had the opportunity to dictate terms, but ultimately batting last and Sri Lankan conditions is always a challenge.
There are, however, some questions that need to be asked, particularly with Conway's continued struggles and the awkward conundrum of the skipper and whether the team would be better served with a straight swap of Henry for Salvey. Let's dive in and fell as we were saying before the podcast started, Dylan, a pretty solid effort overall is a generic kind of look at this Test match, and from a personal point of view, better than I was into dispating.
Yeah, I thought losing that Test to Afghanistan, not losing to Afghanistan, yes, but losing the entire test or weather, I thought that was really put the black Caps on the back foot. But they played pretty well. In fact, they dominated the first half, well, not dominated, they should have dominated the first half the Test bold very well to dismiss Sri Lanka for what was it three or five first innings had a real chance to post a big total. And we'll get to one of the reasons
why they didn't. Yes, they didn't. Oh we will press home that advantage. But yeah, a reasonably solid performance. Disappointing fourth innings chase, but perhaps predictable in those conditions. But yeah, bloody good Test match and a great time. So yeah, how good lie on the couch dinner.
I tell you what, Yes, well, I tell you what. For me, I'm doing a radio show at that time, but I've got it on in the background there. You know, we had some pretty appalling shows during that period, as my colleagues accuse me of not paying attention to the show while the cricket was on. Just to start off, pull Ford, your thoughts pretty solid from you.
As well, Yeah, yeah, look I agree, and I think yeah, at the end of the game, it was like, oh bugger, you know, played pretty well, felt like a game that maybe got away and you know, not a bad effort. After one hundred and ninety days away from the game. And Sri Lanka a decent side. You know, they didn't do any grass transplants, they didn't use any four fans and four plugs to keep the ground in decent condition.
And I was, I really, I know we talked about it last week, but I was surprised when we hit the rest day on Saturday night and I said it into just before the Blederslow, and of course it wasn't on, and switched over to CNN and watched them live Shrilankan election in the lead up to the Blislow, which was interesting. Congratulations to Hareni Amasaria for winning the SriLankan Prime Minister.
Funnily enough, Paul I did the same thing actually on Saturday. But there you go. David writes, hello all, I'll try to keep this brief, as I know you don't want need war and peace level emails. Following the black Caps recent test last I wanted to say how impressed I was that the black Caps took the game as deep as they did and didn't just roll over. Sri Lanka were excellent at times against a frankly complacent and hubristic
England in their recent test series. Joe Root comparing the England team to coldplay while not really acknowledging the talent Sri Lanka possesses, oh dear, coupled with the washout and therefore a severe lack of appropriate match practice, New Zealand were one good innings in support of ratching away from snatching victory and gall Yes, there are issues at the top of the order and a lack of bowling depth.
This makes our performance even better in my book, and while the challenges will increase, I remember some of our failures and the fourth innings in particular only too well, which leads me to enjoy us actually being competitive on the subcontinent. I might change my view during the Test series against India, however, keep up the great work, Dave.
Yeah, fair play to them. I think we did take the game to them. I thought our batting plans were very positive and unexpected. You could argue maybe a couple of them took them too far, but I like the fact that they were reversing against the big turning ball and using conventional sweep as well, because that's obviously the easiest way to get out and smother spin. But yeah, just I mean they were very good and yet didn't win and lost, So that's I guess concerning and a lot of respects too.
The other thing to bear in mind, and I just had a quick look Sri Lanka at home and Test cricket are actually quite shit. You know. They've only beaten in the last few years. And I didn't go sort of empirical on this, but the last few years they've beate in Afghanistan, Ireland, in Bengal, Dish, they've lost to Pakistan, Australia, England twice, US and India. So it's hard to know.
I mean, I thought Ika an interesting team. I've obviously got some good players, but I feel like they are there for the taking and we just didn't quite get around to it.
Good one, Paul, thanks for raining on our parade.
Mate.
We were just saying what a solid performance it was, and then you go and bring that sort of shit.
Out with some few facts.
But interestingly enough, first and foremost, let's acknowledge it a significant moment. We lost the toss, the significant and tri luncan conditions. Let's be honest. I was really surprised because we just discussed it in the last podcast. Will O'Rourke over Henry. We were all convinced it was going to be Henry and my, oh my, uh, that young feller Dylan continues to impress.
I like the cut of his jeb Yeah, terriffic five point fifty five in the first egg with pace really really late induck in that first spell in particular, and kind of showed up the skipper's limitations at the other end as well, who was bowling a more gentle kind of outswing. But yeah, I mean, well, o' rock, he's got a big future ahead of him if he can say fit.
You know, there were echoes for me, Paul and watching Willow Rourke and I don't know if you agree with us of Jamison and what I mean by that. He's a big, tall, burly guy. He tends to bowl back of a length, gets the batsman playing on the back foot a lot, and then he's able to chuck in that full bunger and that's a really effective method.
Look, yeah, I think it's a really it's a really fair comparison. Definitely gets the batsmen hopping around. You can tell that they're trying to protect their fingers on the bat handle. All those sorts of things. They're really not enjoying quite a slippery bouncer that more often than not was pretty well directed. So yeah, absolutely, I mean, I you know, you talk about injury with will o'rourkean none other than Sir Richard Headley this week also said keep it,
keep your hands off them. From a T twenty and IPL perspective, I just obviously I agree, but it just doesn't feel realistic that this kid is not going to get some pretty decent offers over the next few years. Yeah. I mean, it's just that just the reality of the way cricket works, right, you know, there's not enough Test cricket for a guy that come to just play test cricket for New Zealand.
Yeah, that's the other factor. It's a conundrum. And Sri Lanka capitulating in the lower order. In fact, that was a theme throughout the Test match, actually that all the lower orders just added no value whatsoever. And then New Zealand comes into bat. Let's let's focus on that. They would have been relatively happy to have restricted Sri Lanka to that score, Dylan, or do you think it was a few more than they would have liked?
I thought with the damage will ow' rourke did, it was a few more than they would have liked. You would have expected our spinners to really capitalize on that early work of O'Rourke. And I thought that the spinners took a wee while to acclimate. Is that a work? Yes, it is acclimate to conditions. In a way. It's similar to batters, right, you grow up playing on wickets like the Bay over the basin Hagley. You get used to
playing a certain way. We shouldn't expect spinners just to be able to go over and bowl on turning pictures and be immediately brilliant just because they turn. You have to bowld different trajectories, different speeds. And I thought that first trelancabatty innings, I thought they were quite poor for too long at doing that, and once Ahs got used
to it, he was obviously highly effective. So I did think they got a little too many runs actually, And as for those tails folding in every innings, I don't think we can appreciate just how difficult it is to play on raging turners if you do not have a rock solid technique.
Sure. I would suggest though that in that first couple of days it wasn't a raging turner got it got as as you would expect in Sri Lankan conditions later on, and that's why I think the toss was really significant and I think it's understandable too, just as you've stated that our spinners took a while to kind of find the arrange. So we get them out, we bat, we get ourselves. Well let's start with Conway. You know, he's obviously had a big break. There were some people beating
the drums and going what's happened? What's happened to? Conway didn't really answer his critics pulled forward in this Test match.
Well, no twenty one runs, was it? I think?
Yes?
Just looking the seventeen and four twenty one off sixty six balls, Yeah, look he looks atsy. I think Dylan talked about in the bounce and being closed off and not seeing the straight balls till very late. Yeah. Look, he looks really troubled at the moment, doesn't he. It's
sad to watch. Actually, it looks really painful. And when you look at his career betting record in Test cricket, obviously starts with a absolute monstrous skytower at one end, but it's turned into a bit of a slum village over recent testings for sure.
Yeah, you know. And there's one thing that it was prevalent in his game, I thought, right from the very beginning, which is his propensity to get his bad away from his pad. He used to get a lot of inside edges onto his pad, onto the stumps. That was his dismissal and the second innings from recollection. But we'll touch
on that a little bit further down. But New Zealand pull Dylan got themselves into a strong position where we were potentially going to post a big lead on them, and I remember talking in the studio and going, here we go, Fellows, this is the key to it, and then an absolute bloody disaster, a brain explosion. The runout of Mitchell to me was another who was you know?
Was he on fifty odd by that point fifty seven? Yeah, and looking solid, And I thought, yeah, here we go if we can get one hundred, one hundred and fifty lead here, which is probably overplaying it, but we're in the box seat.
Two critical turning points in this match, both batting two hundred and ninety one for five in the first innings and poised to put on a big lead. Yes, Glenn Phillips unnecessarily takes a run. There probably was one there actually, but it just wasn't. As I think I was mentioned to you before the podcast. At that point in time, it's Sri Lanka's job to unsettle the batters, yes, not New Zealand's job to unsettle the bowlers, because they'd kind of done that, and I just thought it was a
bit wishful thinking. Having said that, Mitchell was very slow on the uptake and looked like he was sitting on his back and or it. But that runout was critical. Two hundred ninety one for five became three hundred and four for nine. Yes, that's how Then at the end that's as particularly disastrous it was for New Zealand. And yeah, the second second major turning point would have been blunder
or reverse sweeping. Once Prova Jayasuria came over the wicket to him, he had sort of won the battle as well there and the second endings at one hundred and fifty two for four things looking promising. I thought that was the other turning point, But I don't think you can look past the runout as probably the single moment and the test where a position of strength was thrown away.
Yeah, what was particularly poor when you look at the final margin, you know what I mean, you go, oh, geez, just another one hundred runs more when we were in that position at five down and we just didn't nail it.
Well, that's right, and even you know, I just psychologically a lead of one hundred, which obviously would have been enough. That's kind of ridiculous backwards engineering, but just a psychology that I think could have been extremely helpful. Yeah, as you say, twenty four runs behind that when that runout happened, jas Area I think was in his thirty sixth or thirty seventh over, So it doesn't look like he gets very tired, very easily, but certainly into the grind and
just just a calamity. The first time Daryn Whtch's ever been run out in a Test match. Oh interestingly enough. Yeah, the other turning point that I thought you were going to cite Dylan but you didn't was also for me.
Was also involved Glenn Phillips, and I feel like I feel like he was doing that thing in the field that you do when you in you're kind of oh know, when you're sort of hype your add and you're kind of like I'm going to preemptively sprint off in the direction that I think the ball's going to go, and then the ball goes exactly where you should be fielding. And it was a bit sort of show body. I felt, Oh,
I feel sad saying that. But this was the drop catch off Sat and a commindu menace was twenty one not out that was punished with an extra ninety three runs. Yeah, a full teapot from Metchell Center. He was really pissed off.
Just on that. Dylan and I were talking about Phillips before this podcast, Paul Forward and saying that he is a bit of a show pony and he's a little bit about himself when he's batting. There's just something about him that I've you know, I think he brings some real skills to the game, but there's also attributes that I feel less comfortable with.
Yeah, there's the expector which can actually go both ways. Yes, and at times I think when he's at the crease it's too much about him. An example I always cite, I think, is when Retch and Ravenel was hunting down a double ton last summer and Phillips came out to bat and almost immediately started hogging the strike, going through these quick singles with a guy that's better for hours and hours, and it just felt like he doesn't necessarily
as an EQ. I don't know if he has a batting EQ, but he's but the positive is far away the negatives with Phillips. He's a spark plug. As we mentioned all the time, he's an X factor. He's becoming more than a useful part time off here. He probably turns it more than any other spinner we've got. But sometimes I just think he needs to slow down a little bit. Maybe that's the wrong advice to give someone like.
That, take a deep breath, but just you take a deep.
Breath and appreciate the situation you're in. I don't think he did that with the runout, even if you do want to blame Mitchell for being lazy between the wickets.
Very similar for Sri Lanka and the second innings there pull forward a collapse of the lower order and they too were in a position where they could, you know, look like they were going to get quite a substantial lead. Really encouraging to see Patel, you know, come into form.
What did he end up with six foot Yeah, yes, yeah, and good to see him getting a decent run, you know, because we had I think it was in the toad to England where we were like, you know, he got two or three overs and they see you off, you go, you know what I mean? And would you class him now as our number one?
I mean I did and I definitely continue to do so, Yes, yeah, absolutely I do. And I yeah, I've been thinking this week and I know it probably more convenient, more obvious to do this after he took that phenomenal team wicket bag in India, But you know what would aj Sptateel have done for New Zealand if we played him in the same way as Australia have played Nathan Lyon. Yeah,
it's just an interesting thing to think about. And every time I see him playing these Test matches and get all these wickets, I'm just thinking, shit, could he really? Could he really not have done this in New Zealand? Are we sure? And I just don't think. I'm just it just doesn't quite sort of add up for me. I had a really qulock and I know it's not quite apples with apples, but if we look at aj F Patel's Test cricket performances. Obviously they're all away from home.
So he averages twenty eight point five strike rate of fifty five, and we look at Daniel Vittori's away bowling record bowling average of thirty two and a strike rate of seventy five.
So you heard it here. First pulse ages is better than Daniel.
I'm just saying, well, you would call Dan dan Vittorian non parie.
Is that the words that you use this week, and you cannot and you've just heard them.
I know, I know, I guess I'm kind of I'm not saying that. What I'm saying is that it's it's just interesting how players get put in these boxes and everyone's just decided, and I mean the selectors have just decided, oh nah, he can't play in those conditions. He can't do that, he can't do that. I'm just not so sure. I'm just not so sure as really the point.
I'm making now, it's a very good point, and I think we've actually outthought ourselves on that too often. In the past couple of seasons. He would have been really handy on that Bay oval, the slow Bay oval, pick pitch, and also the basin Glen Phillips takes five wickets against Australia and it turned Nathan Lyon was the most dangerous bowler the season before Jack Leech got wickets, got a
five for a think against New Zealand. But we are we're locked into this mod that Ages Betel is our Asia only bowler and that's all we're going to do with them. Silly silly business.
So then we come in bed again. Let's look at the winners, middlers and losers. Middlers. Yeah yes, And Jack has some correspondence in regards to this, Dylan, Yeah, yeah, I.
Mean he Jack Shepard writes how good has ratch and been? And without getting ahead of ourselves, how good can he be? It feels like we're looking at a generational talent developing. I wish him a long and fruitful Test career. Rats seemed to be the only need to play one shot for half as runs, but perhaps that was a measure
of how effective he was. Question to what extent was Ratchen manufacturing those half trackers from the spinners that allowed him to so if effortlessly back off and punch everything through the off side. I think Ratchen Revenger, thank you for that. Jack I think Ratchen Revenger definitely leads our list of winners with thirty nine and ninety two. And the shot he refers to is that back for punch through point and some of them weren't even all that short.
What that was his method? He decided he wanted to go back, he wanted to play off the wick at and he's got such good eye, hand coordination and fast hands. He can do that, and he can make balls look short that aren't necessarily that short, whereas others have to Tom Latham has to sweep. He's not as confident of getting himself out of trouble rocking back as a left hander. Conway we probably didn't see long enough either, but Conway
probably can't do it. Ratchen can do as well. So yeah, he'd be he'd be on tough with my list of winners, along with Ages Patel obviously he took eight for one hundred and fifty in the match and turning a six for and Willow Rourke who also took an eight for one hundred and four and included a five for. So they had my three winners pull forward.
Yeah, look, I can't argue with that. The thing about ratching as well, I do wonder, you know what's twenty three twenty four. Not many New Zealand cricketers would have played as much subcontinental cricket as ratchin Avendra. He's been playing in that neck of the woods for about a decade, given his father's connections and obsession and dedication to the game, and I reckon you can see that coming through. He
just looks quite at home. He has a method and yeah, he just just you know, fantastic, busy footwork, sparkling, cover drives shit. He deserved the time. Felt sorry for him, but yeah, I agree on Dylan's Dylan's a handful of blocks that sit at the top of the pile, for sure.
I have a slide issue with both of you about Rattion. And don't get me wrong, I think he needs to be labeled as a winner in this Test match, but I actually have an issue with the way he plays the spinners and that second innings. The first twenty or thirty minutes, it seemed to me inevitable that he was
going to get out. Inevitable. You'll recall that he played the same way against Australia when they were over here, and was relatively effective against the spinner in the first innings and then in the second innings the Australians went, we see what you're doing and shut it down. And I think he needs to expand his game a little more and not just rely on that shot shot behind point and through point because he's going to be found out.
You need more avenues. But full credit to him, you know, he's he did well in this Test match, but I still think he needs to expand his game a little bit more because he was very fortunate to survive the first twenty five minutes of that second innings.
Agree, disagree, partially agree. I think you've got to back your method, and he backed his method. I think most people apart from Kane Williamson struggled early on that wicket, and Kane just happens to be one of the greatest batters of the world's ever seen. Yes, so I didn't mind as long as he was showing a method, and I think he did. Oh and he was lucky, really, no doubt about it. And he was nearly out one
of the more unlucky dismissals. Yes as well when he chopped onto the keeper's foot and it bounced just oh, yes, that would have been a hell of a way to go out, But no.
I claimed as a claimed as a catch too.
I know I thought he actually played Nathan Lion better than most of them. But I do recall the one dismissal that was pretty ugly, Yes, at Wellington.
And he couldn't get it through in that second inning.
Yeah, and he just kept on. It was like they set up the Great Wall of China and you keep on trying to knock it down and it was no good.
Should we move on to the middle meddlers? For me, I'll give you mine Latham.
Yes, seventy and twenty eight, probably probably almost.
Almost almost a winner, yeah, Williamson yep.
Fifty five and thirty, Yeah, Mitchell fifty seven and not much Yeah.
Probably.
That's about Phillips.
Forty nine, not out to fifty two.
Yeah, yeah, fair enough.
And I'm just I put with him at the moment I put Blundle, and there is a Blundle twenty five and thirty. That'd be my middlers, Paul, if you had any variation on that, I agree with that, which leaves us with three. And if you're not a middler and you're not a winner, who.
We left with their Paul Ford.
I think it might be the captain. Yes, the best golfer in the team. Correct, Yes, my my fetish player of Danes got days gone by? Sad times for Devin Comway.
Hey, just on that, Paul. Do you want to read the correspondence there from Matt regarding our skipper?
Yeah, sure I can. Hey, boys, glad you're back for the upcoming season. Last two Tests have been within touching distance for the black Caps. Is the continued selection of Saudi a significant reason for the losses? In particular this last one? Henry right now is a better option with the ball and the bat. I'm sure he could have made up sixty runs by batting with Phillips and Avenger and knocking a couple of wickets a little earlier. Is selection costing the side?
Oh that's a really good question. I mean, is what's what's he bowling one twenty six one twenty seven k, which is just in the slot for batsman.
I was talking actually gained a few k over in England playing in the one hundred. That's what he'd been working on, but it just didn't seem to manifest. But you're talking about form versus record and Sowdi's record and subcontinent's actually really good, like better than most international seamers that go there. In fact, there's very few that to pass him there. So I didn't mind him getting this first Test. I really didn't. I think he deserved the selection.
He was skipper. They're clearly going to arrest him at some points in this Asian swing. This one wouldn't have been the one to do it. Did it hurt New Zealand? Well clearly? Did you know one for forty eight nor for thirty nine in a match double of three and two with the bat? It did hurt and there's no two ways around it. But Willie pay we'll get onto that.
Yeah I can, I just say Paul very quickly. Yeah. Look, I think Saudi is a great cricketer and he's been a great cricketer for us. But if I look at it on just the most basic things, as mentioned in this correspondence, you know, who do I think is more threatening as a bowler at the moment? I go, Matt Henry? Who do I think is more effective as a batsman at the moment? Clearly Matt Henry, And just on that basis alone, I go, you bring him in you give Lathan the captain c and you bite the bullet.
Yeah, yeah, look, I think that's right. You touched on it just then as well. And the third aspect, is he such a good captain that you can play him regardless of form? And I think the answer is no, Latham is on a par with him, so, you know, and I think that yes, subcontinent record, amazing record for New Zealand, all of that stuff, you know, average below thirty,
all of that great stuff. But the fact of the matter is that in his last three series his bowling average in the series is eighty seven, sixty one and ninety one. Those are just the bare facts of the matter. He just doesn't seem like he's got that ability and you know, to not the top off teams in the bowling and that's what we need.
And can I just make the very subtle point too in terms of Henry, You know, he was on the outer for so long and I think he's really coming into himself and he's probably in his prime right now in terms of his bowling, and I think that it needs to be a factor as well, don't you agree.
Yeah, yeah, he's a better bowler than Tim Sallia at the moment, no question about it. I mean again, you can look back at his record and say he's had a few opportunities in Asia and hasn't covered himself in glory, But then again, it took him a while to cover himself in any sort of glory. He is a slow burner when it came to Test cricket, and it does seem strange and a very new Zealand thing to do.
Is the last Test series they played, he was the pick of the bowlers right from the series, probably both teams. He was the pick of the bowlers against one of the greatest seam of takes of all time. And yet he's missed. His name's missing next time around. And unless there was another reason for that that we don't know, like tight hammy or.
You don't think so, but I do.
Actually I do think Tim Saldy's a better captain.
So do I.
Maybe I said anti cantap thing I get, but I always feel like can tabs as captains, they with a cantab, they put God up there and then right at God's right foot they have the headmaster, and I feel like it's the same with the captains as well. They just so.
The struck down had to go to Wellington to to Flower as a captain, didn't he look I like sealthy as a captain, I really do. And but but I think Latham's solid. I think he's solid. Let's take a break, Fellers and when we come back, we'll have a preview of the second Test match in the same location. Welcome back to the b YC. So the second Test starts tomorrow, Paul Ford and Dylan wants to know the reasoning behind playing it at the same venue and thinks that you'll have the answer to that.
I have no idea. I just it's really it's very strange, isn't it. I wonder if it was tied up with the fact that all of the players, so you know how they had the rest day, all of the players, all of the officials, all of the people in the crowd, everyone associated with that Test match that voted. You can't vote. They don't do a special voting system in Shri Laka.
You have to go back to your village two hundred kilometers three hundred kilometers one hundred and fifty kilometers return trip on that day to come back to play the cricket. So I do wonder whether they've said, right, we're going to shorten the gap between the Test matches because of that rest day, and therefore you know, we're going to minimize the travel because we realize that everyone from Sri Lanka has already been home and back during the middle
of the Test match. So that's my theory at least.
Or they looked at how stat and realized that New Zealand were quite good in Colombo and lose every time they're playing Gold. So there you go.
Maybe maybe in terms of the selection for the second Test. I just want to read this actually from Who's It? From the James James is It and Dylan's latest brilliant bounce ride up on Conway's struggles. He mentions Phillips or Blundell as potential options to move up the top. But what about Ratchen, He says, opening is where he's played the bulk, if not all, of his cricket for Wellington,
with Conway behind him at three or four. Rattionen's a fourth choice spinner on the line up currently, so I don't think his bowling load warrants him getting a longer rest. Seems the most logical choice as no one would really be radically out of position, and it is potentially where ratchin is best long term, was also the top when he dominated and the one days on the subcontinent last yearedial in Cleveland.
I'd like Ratching to be our number four test better for the next ten years.
Thank you.
I'm really happy with him there and test cricket. I don't want him nicking out against the Red Bull with the regularity that he would I suspect if he was captain. But in terms of this, yeah, I think in terms of this, sorry, I'm going to treat this test as just a one off test that with no looking to the future in India for the three tests coming up next month. I just want to look at this test in isolation and I'm going radical.
Oh boy, I am.
I am going radical. I am picking Latham and Blundle to open. It's one test. You got a one to get back and I want a right handed pinch hitter at the top to balance Latham. The only way I think we can get to shul anchors at the top. Our tail is not going to contribute, I don't think, so we've got to do something a little bit different at the top. Ben william the three Revenger it for Mitchell. At five, I'm sticking Conway into six to split that
string of right handers that we've had. Phillips at seven, I'm bringing Embracewell as your us spinning left handed kind of pinch hitter. At eight, I just think Santona played himself out of the team. Sorry Mitchell, but there's just purely performance. I'm giving the captain's arm band to Bracewell. That's a joke.
Come on now, of course Nathan's.
Going to captain. Sorry can Tabs. I'm bringing Henry for South Pattel and overall yep, pop.
Yep. I slightly different but same, lots of the same philosophy, I guess.
So I should hasten to say they won't do that, but that's just what I'm doing.
Well, and they won't do this, am I really? At the top is Phillips. Phillips is going to open at the top pincher David Warner style. Then Williamson Revenger. I'm burying Colmay in the middle order Mitchellundle, I'm bringing Bracelyn as well, Henry Ages and war at the end. So yeah, similar, similar, but slightly different, just a different roles, I guess for for for Phillips and Blundle. I just think blundle keeping
is a bloody difficult task to keep in. That was my only Yeah, it's a fifty to fifty call for me to look.
I hear what you fellas are saying. I'm giving Conway another chance and you know, hopefully he's one good innings away from just clicking again. But similar to both of you, I was going to have brace Well as a straight swap for Santna and Henry for Salvi and Latham to skipper. All right, yeah, we happy with that great stuff. Well that starts tomorrow, so looking forward to that. Let's go
to the white ferns, shall we. Yeah, we were saying why we were saying in the last podcast has been a dreadful run and that we feared that the Australians were absolutely going to pump us. They didn't do that. They beat us three zap and can I make the point also, I think that's now ten t twenty losses in a row for the woman. But we did run them close. Yeah that wow. I mean they won in the nineteenth over, didn't they not that close?
I mean the cases was the five ball margin. I think in the first game was.
It last night with five nine ten balls?
So they were They lost all three. There was some positive signs that Australian never got away on them. There was never a game where I thought, O, this is embarrassing and I'm afraid it's where the White fans have got you. Now that that is a plus, the fact that you were sitting there almost cringing. George Plumber got runs at the top of the order. She had a half century, probably didn't get them quick enough, but that's
still positive. She's young twenty. This has to be the springboard for her now, after you know, a string of failures that an all fenness probably should have seen her out of the team. She has now proven she can do it. She needs to do that regularly. Sophie Divine didn't get a run. The big thing is still strike rates. There's just too many of the areas of the ground they had not accessing, so limited in their shot making.
You go through the top water Baits is striking at one ten, Plumber at ninety seven, Kerr at one oh one, Gays at one oh seven, Holiday seventy two, and Divine didn't get enough to kind of be representative, but it was only fifty two what she did get out of there. The only one was Maddy Green at one two one where you look at it and go, yeah, that's going to post your competitive totals. So that's my summation.
I mean, I listened to those strike rates and I think that's Chason Hoyt territory.
Paul Ford, Yeah, he'd be proud of that. But yes, I think that's right. But yeah, pretty make it, certainly making it makes it really difficult to get one hundred and sixty striking at those sorts of numbers. And you know, when you look at what some of those Aussies are up to, you know, we're one hundred and sixty two herely one hundred and fifty Litchfield one hundred and fifty.
You know, like that's a that's a step change that's required and that strike greaate easier said than done, though, right.
Yeah, Sophie Divine that's her swan song. Should it also be the swan song for the coach Ben Lawton?
Ah?
Yeah, well, I mean but I mean, if you don't have the resources, you don't have the resources, you know.
I know we talked about this but last week, but I'd say, Ben Lawton, you cell of it?
Ben Lawyer. Yeah, I knew it was Lawyer because from last week's debacle, but I just wanted to amuse you.
Did you know how put the Ben and big bold letters so you wouldn't make the same mistake. Look, if they have a rich at wilty Twitter, I think they'll be questions asked. But using a cricket aren't really in the business of shunting people on and paying them off.
So yeah, it's not great, Paul, it's not great.
No, it's gad. I think there were some some more positive signs, you know, so they were great blood rations or capitulations and yeah, look but you're right to go well at the World Cup. They're going to need a couple of miracles, that's for sure.
Hey, we've got the Woman's Cricket World Cup theme song. Should we have a listen to that? You're gonna love it whatever it takes. Now, Yeah, this is stakes. Now, gonna aim for the stack, keep.
You on the priside from a safe So we'll do it an now the same gonna gonna win.
No one not given in, gonna show you how hollow hollow. So that's what. That's whatever it takes by Wish and can I just tell you what it is? It is a song that includes the video includes iconic moments from previous Women's Tea twenty World Cups with choreography by Wish, and it emphasizes the thrill and lively spirit of the tournament.
I didn't mind it.
I don't mind it either actually, and some of the shockers that we've had over the years. That was actually okay.
It's a bit later on in the song where there's kind of this refrain that goes, do it, do it, which I'm a little bit uncomfortable with. But although the song was all right, all.
Right, right now it's time for Paul Ford's news or ruse.
Yeah it is.
Of course.
Last week the Oie Trophy was dubiously pilfered by Dylan Kleaver on a technicality to do with bat sizes. It's a cool anyway. Three bits of news. One of them contains a blatant live which one is it? England Woman's Captain hither Night has apologized after being reprimanded and given a suspended one thousand, one thousand pound fine for attending
a fancy dress party in blackface in twoenty twelve. Pictures of Knight at the party and end of season event at a Kent cricket club with a sports Stars theme
event emerged recently on Facebook. She was charged last month by the Cricket Regulator for bringing the game into Distribute night now thirty three but twenty one at the time the photographs were taken admitt of the charge, but was able to demonstrate that, in the words of the Interim Director of the Cricket Regulator, Dave Lewis, there was no
racist intent in her conduct. Number two under Captain Harry brook in his first game in charge, England has slumped from a commanding two hundred and thirteen for two to three hundred and fifteen all out as they gave Australia's boundary riders catching practice. But more interestingly was what Brooks said after the match. He said, We're out there to score runs. If you get gought somewhere on the boundary
or in the field, who cares. On another day it could go for six, so I'm not too fussed about it. Obviously it was grabbing in the pitch, but another day we hit them for six. Predictably, former players and Australians leapt on his comments, and Nathan Lyon is in Australia preparing for the upcoming Test series against Sri Lanka and was asked about Brooks comments on Saturday Night. Of course, magnificent from him. That's England at the moment, isn't it.
Lyon said, it's hard to feath them. I know if I had his skill level with the bat, I'd be pretty disappointed. But then again, I'm Australian. Brutal from Nathan Lyon and number three. Afghanistan's cricketers have sailed a historic One Day International series win against South Africa with one hundred and seventeen run victory in the second match at Sharja.
Playing in their first ever bilateral ODII series against South Africa, Afghanistan took an unassailable two nil lead in the second match and made history by claiming their first ever series win against a top five ranked ODI team, dominating South Africa by one hundred and seven seven runs. And of course, our favorite cricketer Severicon captain was timber Bavooma who top scored with eighty eight but oversaw a collapse of seven for thirty one.
There we go okay me. First is it, I'll go three? Was in Afghanistan's first ever bilateral competition.
M okay, I won't go three, then I will go for Heather Night. I'll say it was ten thousand, not one thousand. Fine, but that was ridiculous. I did read that story. She went as a sports hero. She wasn't going as a black and white minstrel show. I mean it was. You can be awfully delicate about these things.
Yes, awfully awfully delicate. Yes, that is correct. And I guess the good news on this one, Jason, is that you've taken on the bacon.
Thanks mate.
What was the reason? Did you get the reason right?
First ever bilateral ODII series against South Africa? Yeah?
Boy, I don't believe that.
Just hand it over Dylan. Come on, buddy, take it.
I say, Dylan, I so confident. I didn't even bring the trophy in.
He's not even looking at me at the moment. Yeah. Sweet Hey. Speaking of Dylan, let's get into who am I?
It's Dylan Cleavers.
Who am I?
Yes, the long awaited return of who am I? Very simple rules. You've got to guess who I am? Right into pull forward with your answer. The only clo I'm going to give you is that I have played at least one test for New Zealand. That is the only prerequisite. So who am I? By virtue of alphabetic fortune? I take up a special place in the annals of New
Zealand cricket history. I was, to it, a citizen of the world, arriving in this place on this in the same city from where Osama bin Laden was taken from it. I was educated at Wellington College, but not the ron Briley version in the nation's capital, but the one in Royal Berksher, named after the Iron Duke himself, and which will set you back a cool one hundred and eight thousand dollars per year to send your child there. After settling in New Zealand, I quickly established a reputation as
an all rounder. And though it pains me to this day that my everlasting legacy will probably be a king peer, I'm a big personality whose surname implies a rooster with evil intentions. New Zealand ended up being too small for me, so I went on to Sri Lanka, where I coached, and then settled for good in Perth, which is where I rest now. In eternity. Who am I any clues?
Fellows, that's a great clue about the rooster. I think I've.
Okay, well we'll leave it to the listeners.
And I don't think it's feathered penis, but you know it's not far off that perhaps.
All right, let's get into Paul Ford's cricket violence corner. Paul Forward's cricket violence corner.
Leading cricket umpire Michael Goff has been banned from driving and find more than four thousand pounds after refusing to provide a breath sample to police. Officers attended his home and heartily pull on August the first, after he returned from a night out in Durham with his partner. He claims he had a vodka after arriving back at the house, but refused to provide a sample despite being asked several
times the te Side Magistrates Court Hurt. The forty four year old, who played cricket for England under nineteens and Durham before retiring to pursue an umpiring career, did not believe he had to provide a specimen, but he did plead guilty and was banned from driving. Prosecuting Olivia Randall told the court Guff's Gof's partner told police they'd been drinking in the city. They returned separately. Just quite weird, with Goth seen on CCTV driving his own car while
his partner caught a taxi. Goth, of tulip clothes in the Bishop Covpert area, admitted failing to provide a specimen for breath analysis, and the court heard he has a previous excess alcohol conviction from two thousand and nine. He was fined four thousand, one hundred and sixty six pounds.
There you go, naughty boy, There you go, an umpires, A strange bunch.
Easy, young Hi, Well listen, we've got a little bit more correspondence. But if people want to get into sending us stuff, Paul, what do they do?
Flick It's an email to b YC at Base Brigade dot code dot NZ, or slide them to the DMS for the Alternative Commentary Collective or the Base Brigade on Instagram or Facebook.
Great stuff, mate. We won't get into this particular one. I don't think on this podcast, but day I think we'll touch on it maybe in the next podcast. Foulers, how do we feel about that.
It's very topical and it require some chat.
I think, yes, yes, how.
You might write a rap I might write some rap lyrics to respond to it as well, which I might try to do over the weekend.
Good stuff, mate, now listen. Thanks for taking the time to listen to the b y C Podcast, Tell all your mates about it and until next week. We'll see you later.