The panel of Mark Butcher, Taha Hashim, Ben Gardner and Yas Rana react to England's dominant series-levelling win at Old Trafford. There's also discussion on The Hundred, underrated county cricketers, the India-Pakistan Asia Cup clash and much more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Aug 29, 2022•1 hr 10 min
The panel react to South Africa's resounding win over England at Lord's. Mark Butcher shares his assessment on Zak Crawley and compares the youngster's struggles to those he faced himself in the early parts of his Test career. Ben Stokes joins the show to talk about his upcoming documentary, Ben Stokes: Phoenix from the Ashes, that is set to be released by Amazon later this week. There's also some chat on The Hundred, the Royal London One-Day Cup, the Asia Cup and much more. Due to a technical p...
Aug 22, 2022•2 hr 31 min
The panel preview the England-South Africa Test series, with Dean Elgar telling everyone he is definitely not worried about Bazball even after his side were smashed by England Lions. They look at South Africa's selection dilemmas, including whether county cricket titan Simon Harmer will play. The also discuss the Ollie Robinson v Stuart Broad conundrum, and what the series could mean for Ollie Pope and Zak Crawley. Away from the Test series, they discuss Trent Boult being released from his New Z...
Aug 15, 2022•1 hr 25 min
Mark Butcher, Jo Harman and Taha Hashim join Ben Gardner to discuss England's fourth-place Commonwealth Games finish, Lisa Keightley's legacy as she steps down as head coach, and the implications of Tahlia McGrath appearing in the final despite testing positive for Covid-19. They also discuss what to expect from incoming ECB chair Richard Thompson, the opening stages of The Hundred and the One-Day Cup, and Jason Roy's continuing poor form. The episode also includes a lengthy lookback at England'...
Aug 09, 2022•2 hr 34 min
Mark Butcher gives his thoughts on England's T20I series defeat to South Africa and assesses the Proteas' chances of challenging at this year's T20 World Cup. He also wonders what the immediate future of international cricket looks and where bilateral cricket fits alongside the growing power of T20 leagues. Elsewhere in the show, Jo Harman, Phil Walker and Yas Rana react to England's Test squad for the first two Test of the South Africa series, the start of the Commonwealth Games and much more. ...
Aug 03, 2022•1 hr 20 min
Mark Butcher gives his views on England's drawn ODI series against South Africa, including Sam Curran's potential with the bat in white-ball cricket. The panel of Jo Harman, Phil Walker and Yas Rana talk up England's chances at the Commonwealth Games, review the most recent round of the County Championship, discuss the possibilities of England recalls for Ben Duckett and Haseeb Hameed, and run through some of the other headlines from the world game this week, including the recently released repo...
Jul 26, 2022•1 hr 21 min
Mark Butcher, Phil Walker, Ben Gardner and Yas Rana react to Ben Stokes' retirement from ODI cricket and discuss whether or not there is actually too much international cricket for the 'Big Three.' The panel also do their best to make sense of England's downturn in form in ODI cricket, talk about a chaotic Finals Day, the omission of Tammy Beaumont from England's Commonwealth Games squad, pick out a few players to watch from the county game and much, much more. Gullivers Sports Travel: https://g...
Jul 20, 2022•1 hr 23 min
Author Alex Preston and CEO of the Ukrainian Cricket Federation Kobus Olivier join the show to tell us about the recent history of cricket in Ukraine, how the sport has been affected by war and how next week's decision from the ICC about whether to grant Ukraine ICC membership could change the sport in the country forever. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Jul 18, 2022•45 min
Mark Butcher, Ben Gardner, Cameron Ponsonby and Yas Rana react to the first five games of the England-India white-ball series. They look back on a string of impressive performances from England seamers, a stunning knock from Suryakumar Yadav and wonder what the future of ODI cricket looks like. There's also discussion on a gripping round of County Championship action, a brief preview of Finals Day, a look at Emma Lamb's first international hundred, discussion on South Africa's series forfeit aga...
Jul 15, 2022•1 hr 22 min
Mark Butcher, Phil Walker, Jo Harman and Yas Rana react to England's latest victory under Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes, a thrilling seven-wicket win at Edgbaston. They discuss Joe Root and Jonny Bairstow's form, the logic behind McCullum's philosophy and where India went wrong in Birmingham. There's also discussion on England women's drawn Test at Taunton last week where a number of new faces in the England Test side impressed. The panel also assess the ECB's treatment of the T20 Blast ahead ...
Jul 06, 2022•1 hr 22 min
Phil Walker, Ben Gardner and Mark Butcher dissect England's latest ridiculous Test win, which featured 10 wickets for Jack Leach and an extraordinary counterpunch from Jonny Bairstow and Jamie Overton. NZ Herald sports reporter Andrew Alderson joins the show to give the Kiwi perspective on the result, discuss what's next for Kane Williamson and wonder where the Black Caps go from here. They also look at what changes England could make for the India Test at Edgbaston, how the tourists will cope i...
Jun 27, 2022•1 hr 15 min
Mark Butcher, Phil Walker, Ben Gardner and Yas Rana react to England's dominance in the opening two ODIs of their series in the Netherlands. They also look forward to Jamie Overton's Test debut at Leeds and discuss what to expect from the Surrey speedster. There's plenty of chat on the T20 Blast, England women's upcoming Test against South Africa, Chris Silverwood's initial success with Sri Lanka and more. Ben, Yas and Phil also respond to your questions, including one about getting into the gam...
Jun 22, 2022•1 hr 10 min
Mark Butcher, Jo Harman, Phil Walker, Ben Gardner and Yas Rana do their best to make sense of England's extraordinary win at Trent Bridge, one that saw them bounce back from conceding 553 in the first innings and needing 160 from the final session to make it two wins from two in the new Brendon McCullum-Ben Stokes era. You can get 20 per cent off at Charles Tyrwhitt either in store or online with the code WISDENPOD. The latest issue of Wisden Cricket Monthly – which features Felix White's exclus...
Jun 15, 2022•1 hr 26 min
Matt Parkinson joins the show to tell us all about his Test debut at Lord's, one that saw him go from readying himself for a day trip to the Lake District to padding up at Lord's over the course of a few hours (we apologise for the audio quality for that part of the episode). Another England spinner – Charlie Dean – joins us later in the show ahead of the Charlotte Edwards Cup finals day to talk about her meteoric rise over the past 18 months. Elsewhere, cricket writer Jim Wallace joins Ben Gard...
Jun 10, 2022•1 hr 21 min
England beat New Zealand at Lord's to give Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes a winning start to their leadership of the Test side after Joe Root's fourth innings hundred helped them chase down 277 at the Home of Cricket. The panel of Jo Harman, Yas Rana and The Telegraph's Tim Wigmore react to the Test and talk about some of the questions that are explored in Tim's new book – Crickonomics: The Anatomy of Modern Cricket – that he co-authored with Stefan Szymanski, such as, why do New Zealand play s...
Jun 06, 2022•50 min
Phil Walker, Taha Hashim and Yas Rana preview the first Test of the England-New Zealand series that gets under way later this week. Mark Butcher also joins the show to give his views on the upcoming series as well as the County Select XI's victory over New Zealand at Chelmsford. The panel also talk about Eoin Morgan's future as England white-ball captain, the opening rounds of the T20 Blast, the IPL play-offs and the Women's T20 Challenge in India. For the month of June we're offering our listen...
May 30, 2022•1 hr 24 min
Mark Butcher, Jo Harman, Phil Walker and Yas Rana look back at the biggest talking points from the latest round of County Championship action and reflect on the opening block of the competition as a whole. They also preview the T20 Blast that gets under way this week. The panel talk about the IPL, Charlotte Edwards Cup and the ongoing Bangladesh-Sri Lanka Test series as well as their favourite stats on the game. This episode also includes Yas' interview with new England quick Matty Potts that wa...
May 24, 2022•1 hr 28 min
Mark Butcher, Jo Harman, Phil Walker and Yas Rana discuss the announcement of England's 13-man squad for the first two Tests of the summer against New Zealand. James Anderson and Stuart Broad are back, Matty Potts and Harry Brook are two new faces in a group that is otherwise similar to those selected over the winter. The panel also react to the appointments of England's two new head coaches, Brendon McCullum and Matthew Mott as well as Tom Harrison's departure from the ECB. Mark and Jo share th...
May 18, 2022•1 hr 24 min
The panel of Phil Walker, Jo Harman and Yas Rana round up all the latest County Championship action and have a stab at selecting the England XI for the opening Test of the summer. Phil tells us about his recent conversations with Mark Waugh and Marnus Labuschagne, Jo reflects on his interview with in-form Kent batter Daniel Bell-Drummond and Yas gets excited about young Durham quick Matty Potts. Mark Butcher joins over Zoom to add to the selection chat while George Heath joins from Dubai to upda...
May 11, 2022•2 hr 33 min
Mark Butcher gives his view on the decisions made by Ben Stokes in his first week as England's full-time Test captain, while Ben Gardner and Yas Rana are joined by CricViz analyst Ben Jones to round up the latest County Championship and IPL action. CricViz Ben also provides an analytical view on the major selection debates around England's top seven heading into the first Test of the summer. Georgie Heath joins the show towards the end of this episode to talk about the FairBreak Invitational, a ...
May 04, 2022•2 hr 31 min
It's been a busy first week in the job for England's new managing director of men's cricket Rob Key. Multiple outlets are reporting that Ben Stokes is set to be named England Test skipper and Key has already outlined that the head coach role will be split in two. The panel of Mark Butcher, Jo Harman, Phil Walker and Yas Rana react to those developments and round-up all the latest action from the County Championship. Later in the show, there's an interview with Kent's in-form opener Ben Compton a...
Apr 27, 2022•1 hr 14 min
The panel of Mark Butcher, Lawrence Booth, Phil Walker and Yas Rana react to a massive week in English cricket, one that saw Joe Root call time on his reign as Test captain and Rob Key appointed to the role of managing director of men's cricket at the ECB. How should Root's captaincy be remembered? What should we expect from Key at the helm? At the 44:30 mark, Wisden Almanack editor Lawrence Booth reveals who this year's Five Wisden Cricketers of the Year are. You can order the Wisden Almanack a...
Apr 20, 2022•1 hr 15 min
On this week's show, the studio panel of Phil Walker, Jo Harman, Ben Gardner and Yas Rana look back at a run-filled opening round of the County Championship and discuss Rob Key's status as the frontrunner for the vacant England men's director of cricket job. At the end of the show, they pick their 'Uncapped County Championship XI of the Century'. They also celebrate Anya Shrubsole's career after England's 2017 World Cup final hero announced her retirement from the international game at the age o...
Apr 14, 2022•1 hr 17 min
The panel discuss Australia's dominance in women's cricket and how England and the rest of the world can possibly catch up, after Meg Lanning's side won their third consecutive world title. Mark Butcher brands the domestic schedule "horrendous", explains why producing quality pitches is so hard, and gives his take on the race to be the ECB's managing director of England men's cricket. There's a bumper County Championship preview, featuring an interview with Rory Burns, and title and promotion pr...
Apr 05, 2022•1 hr 27 min
After England's heavy defeat at Grenada extended their winless run, Mark Butcher, Phil Walker, Ben Gardner and Yas Rana ponder what comes next for England and specifically Joe Root's tenure as Test captain. They run through the possible candidates to replace Root should he leave the role. There's also discussion on what went right for West Indies and the women's World Cup after India's dramatic exit from the competition. Taha Hashim joins the show over Zoom to give his thoughts on the final Paki...
Mar 28, 2022•2 hr 32 min
This week's show comes directly from Barbados. Mark Butcher talks to Yas Rana to give his immediate thoughts on the game from the ground before a panel of Yas, Ben Gardner and freelance journalist Cameron Ponsonby go over the Test, discussing a particular encouraging debut from Saqib Mahmood, Kraigg Brathwaite and Jack Leach's pair of record-breaking displays of endurance, the future of Chris Woakes, a return to form for Ben Stokes and much more. Ben provides an update on the women's World Cup a...
Mar 21, 2022•56 min
Ben Gardner and Yas Rana review the first Test of the West Indies-England series, one that saw Jonny Bairstow score his second Test hundred of 2022 and Zak Crawley register his second Test century of his career.. Yas is joined by Taha Hashim later in the show who looks back at the five days in Rawalpindi that were worth celebrating even if the cricket didn't always thrill. Ben and Yas also talk about the women's World Cup, India-Sri Lanka and the latest updates to the Laws of the game. Learn mor...
Mar 14, 2022•1 hr 4 min
The panel pay tribute to the life of Shane Warne, who died suddenly at the age of 52 late last week. Warne's former Australia and Hampshire teammate Simon Katich joins the show from the 15:36 mark to share his memories of one of the all-time greats, while Mark Butcher tells us what it was like to face and share a commentary box with Warne from 33:20. From 49:12, we read out some of the many touching tributes we've been sent over the last few days. RIP, Shane Warne Learn more about your ad choice...
Mar 07, 2022•1 hr 1 min
Carlos Brathwaite joins the show to help preview the West Indies-England Test series that's about to get underway. Carlos also gives a fascinating insight on the health of the game in the Caribbean using insights from his own career that has taken him all over the world. Mark Butcher tells us how he's hoping England will change in the West Indies while pod regulars Phil Walker, Jo Harman and Yas Rana get involved with it all, as well as rounding up all the latest news from the international game...
Mar 04, 2022•2 hr 37 min
The panel look back at all the major news from the last week in international cricket, including Joe Root's decision to bat at three for England, Rohit Sharma's appointment as India Test captain, the dual dropping of Ajinkya Rahane and Cheteshwar Pujara, New Zealand's emphatic win over South Africa, a thrilling ODI between Bangladesh and Afghanistan and much more. The panel, joined by women's cricket journalist and historian Raf Nicholson, preview the upcoming women's World Cup from the 18-minut...
Feb 24, 2022•2 hr 43 min