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Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
That is very good.
Chapter 2: When does the IPL start again?
I think I speak for everyone when I say, when does the IPL start again? As we head deep into the off-season of T20 cricket, having just had five months of it, we lament the return of the purest expression of the sport and think about ways of jazzing it up a bit, perhaps with a different ball when it's dark.
There's England and New Zealand, Australia and Pakistan, BBL privatisation and a dash of 100 AI slop. Mitchell Santner is on the show to discuss Kiwi nightclub bouncers, two-faced coaches and how to get away with chucking it. Phil Walker is on the show to tell us how the nation feels about this team.
And if or when the fans may start to start sharpening their knives and affixing bayonets on the plus side, it may also be extremely fun. So here we go. Test cricket is back for now. The thing we actually like is back for now. And your favourite show is back for always. Sam Perry, thank fuck, that's over.
Great to be back, he goes. Not for me, just to start on a note of disagreement. There's now a midnight to 4am shaped hole in my life where I consumed every single ball of the Indian Premier League. Sam, will you please get some sleep, says my wife. Babe, babe. It's time for Virat and the kid, I would say. You've got to sit.
Chapter 3: What are the off-season reflections on T20 cricket?
No, I agree. And, yeah, look, the reason we weren't here is because, you know, we were servicing our real bosses in India via Nord VPN ads. Make of that what you will. But it's good to be back. It's good to be back. Familiar sights and sounds. I, you know, my cricket club, you know, which has an alumni WhatsApp message group, last week they went to Lee's Fortuna Court. Familiar. That's great.
And, yeah, so there's nothing ā There's nothing like a gruelling season of IPL to be grateful for like an English cricketing summer. Legit. And to also see stories like Lou Vincent completing a three-month stint at Ibiza Cricket Club. You know? Right. His jaws over the other side of the pick. And then Mitch Marsh is saying...
Chapter 4: What insights does Mitchell Santner share about cricket culture?
Can I join? Yeah. Um, but yeah, looking forward to 18 straight months of, of podcasting about bulk test cricket while simultaneously bemoaning the diminishment of test cricket. Um, you know, I'm looking forward to talking about the future of Australian cricket, which is two roads diverging in a wood, those roads being sports, better India cement.
um, through the mechanism of the big bash tournament, which isn't to be confused with the big Bosch tournament, uh, which I saw yesterday, a charity event hosted by Johnny Fisher, AKA the Bosch father. Um, so CA, if you're out there, do not send the copyright lanyards his way at that is the Bosch father. He cannot be fucked with.
Um, I'm enjoying just finally, um, I'm enjoying seeing headlines like Australia forced to cancel pre border Gavaska series camp in the UAE due to ongoing middle East war. Um, The preparations have been thrown into disarray after Trump's Middle East conflict forced the abandonment of a planned UAE pre-tour camp. Now that no one wishes war or anything, but at least it's more familiar.
You know, we can, we can wrap out. Yeah. We can get our chops around this.
You know what I'm saying? Yeah. Totally. Yeah. And what does that mean for Fergus O'Neill's idea of County v. State, County v. Shield?
Yeah.
And where the game is going to be played. Hey, Chuck's back, and he said that the Middle East is closed. But, yes, it is, as you rightfully say, it is a long, long stretch for TGC on this main podcast, the thing that most people enjoy, I suppose, where we complain about the things not being the way they used to be whilst simultaneously having more of it than ever.
So that is the way we go about it. A huge show this week, though, Mitchell Shantner. Mitchell Shantner. Mitchell Santon is on the show and also Phil Walker is on the show. But England, New Zealand, Australia, Pakistan, BBL, privatisation, Ask TGC, all these things are coming right up. But I do want to shout out that the Hall of Fame for our Patreon for TGC Raw is dropping in two weeks' time.
That is the best of the last 100 episodes, one hour every single Friday dropping into your feed. So the best of that is going to come right the pig's way in a couple of weeks' time, 52 weeks a year. Get ahead. Well, I suppose we're in the UK somewhere right now, but it's patreon.com forward slash grey cricketer, an extra hour of content every single week.
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Chapter 5: How does the team feel about the upcoming series against England?
They know how to score a pace and discombobulate the bowlers. And they usually have enough of the ball by Stokes et al to get the job done. So, yeah, they'll run into a Kiwi unit that... As you said, they've got a little bit of fire about them, especially if they play Kyle Jamison, Willow Rourke together and Matt Henry. So, yeah, and they've got experience with the bats.
Plenty of test entries there as well. They've got Ratchet and Ravindra coming through. He's probably ready to fire. So, you know, the K-Wigs do this to India as well. We treat them like quiet little pawns on the chessboard and they can do damage, so...
Yeah, it's, um, when I look at New Zealand's likely side that I've written down, it's, uh, Tommy Latham, captain, obviously with Devin Conway, Kane, Ratchet and Ravindra, Daryl Mitchell at five, then maybe Blundell six, Santner seven. That's probably the one, those are the ones that are up in the air.
Then Henry Jamison, O'Rourke, they got, uh, Henry Nichols, Phillips, Smith, Blair Tickner, and Zach Fulks as well in their squad. Um, but, uh, when When I think about like last series, India were understrength in their bowling, but the batting is no doubt about the quality of the batting. Obviously, Shubham Gill last English summer was amazing.
There was a period of time halfway through the series where he was looking at can he reach Bradman's numbers of 900 plus runs in a test series. Didn't get there eventually, but the point being that given the decks have been so flat in England the last couple of summers and seem to be getting flatter and the way it's been going, the pitches have been getting better to bat on.
Bumrah played two test matches last summer. You know, like the likes of Ashwin, for instance, not playing anymore. It felt like India's bowling was under, but the batting was strong. And I look at New Zealand's bowling, perhaps a little bit stronger than what India we thought were going to offer up.
Though in the end, it was sort of wickets from unlikely sources, I guess, given that Bumrah played in two games they didn't even win. But with that batting, with that middle order especially, Latham, Conway opening, then Kane, Ratchin, Ravindra, Daryl Mitchell, that's pretty bloody strong. And you look at the bowling attack where they're going to have Stokes, Atkinson, Robinson, Bashir, Tongue.
I mean, that's certainly solid. That's certainly solid. But then the batting, Ben Duckett, Emilio Gay looks like he's going to get a test cap. Bethel, three, Root, four, Brook, five, Smith, six, Stokes, seven. You know, it's hard to get away from. We're looking at an absolute run fest here. But... Yeah, I don't know.
I mean, New Zealand famously always overrated, probably the most overrated side in the history of cricket. And they actually overachieve. Sorry, they actually underachieve. But I'm looking at New Zealand being like, I can see something happening. Are you saying you're having a look at New Zealand? I'm having a look at New Zealand. Are you saying they're a watch? Yeah.
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Chapter 6: What are the insights on England's cricket strategy?
conducted themselves, and they believe in it. And I think they've been praised for it for several years. I thought it was surprising that people tore strips off them in this situation. I think they've been very consistent, the England team. I just don't think that style of play was going to work in Australia. And I think the end result was pretty accurate.
So there's certainly been... The word that McClellan keeps using is refinement. And he gave a series of interviews last week and they were kind of like sealed interviews. There was one with the ECB, which is now the nature of the thing. But he did do some interviews with the press. And I was there on Friday last week for a series of interviews.
And he kept using this phrase, we've got to trust our jab, trust our jab. Right. Can't keep throwing haymakers. Can't keep trying to knock them out. Got to trust our jab. And Stokes started saying this, of course, across the winter. Stokes, I thought, was very astute, actually, after the Brisbane game, and definitely the penny had dropped for him.
And I think there is more that binds the two of them together than separates them, but there's certainly been some shifting in attitude, I think, and understanding of their philosophy in the last few months.
Chapter 7: How does Ollie Robinson's return impact the team?
In amongst it all, because it's so stark when you lose to Australia like that, And all of the good things and all of the positive things that did, no doubt, throw up remarkable results. You went to Pakistan. Now, perhaps in reflection, that's not that big a deal these days. But you went to Pakistan and won three. New England never win in Pakistan.
Admittedly, then they lost to one, managed to balls that one up. But they went to New Zealand and won the series. England don't really do that either, and they won a lot of test matches at home, as we know.
The 2023 Ashes remains the great mystery, really, the enigma of the whole Stokes-McCullen era, because 2-2 could have been 3-2, but also they could have been 3-0 down, you know, if Mark Wood and Chris Wokes hadn't got it done at Stokes. So it's the classic ifs and buts series, and famously it rained for two days at Old Trafford, but whatever. The result remains the same.
And in the end, all of the nuances of all of this, it gets lost and you just get given the score. And we couldn't beat Australia at home, and we stunk the place out when we went out there. And they remain the monuments to this very interesting, audacious, and often quite thrilling reinterpretation of how to play test cricket.
If they can find a third way, if you like, then Australia will be coming to England next year concerned that that mad record that no one would have ever imagined of not being able to win over here for a quarter of a century. It will probably carry on because England did have their number in 2023.
And if they can just adjust it slightly ahead of next summer, if they can refine it a little bit this summer and pick one or two players whose chances are probably overdue. They brought back Ollie Robinson, which is an interesting development. That's a whole psychodrama in itself. then then, yeah, I still think there is a way that this this this idea has its has its its final validation.
I still have a lot of I've had more fun covering English English test cricket in the last three years than I have had in 20 years. Right. So and that can't be underestimated in an era where a lot of blokes, they don't want to play the thing anymore. They certainly would rather go and do something else. and people have played a lot of money not to play test cricket.
So there is virtue and value in it, in and of itself. But if it blows up in their face, again, in the ashes, then it gets... It's only seen as hubristic. It's only seen as full of your own steam. And that narrative... took root in Australia, and that's what they're fighting for. They're fighting for the future, really, of this whole idea.
It will either be laughed out of town or it will be seen as ultimately a brilliant thing for the game. And that's what's at stake. It remains so.
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Chapter 8: What challenges does Australian cricket face with privatization?
Rightly or wrongly, but it got boiled down to that. People test match in the series and he couldn't get through the first hour or two. Now, you know, cricketers get back spasms. They get injured. That's that's occupational hazard. But it seemed to feed into this idea that he had, if you like, say, a liberal attitude to fitness.
And that would manifest, obviously, in the second and third spells that he would bowl that would be down on pace. What was what did Hayden say? Nude nuts. He's bowling 70 mile an hour nude nuts.
he has his own vocabulary does the great man um but yeah so so at some point down the line england had a bowler who was ranked number five in the world with an average lower than anderson lower than broad lower than wokes even at home uh and they got fed up with him they got tired of of him in the setup and he went to india he had some off-field issues he had had some personal issues he was
Falling in love with somebody else, basically. And it became a bit of a big story over here. And they had a podcast, him and his new girl, which was probably ill-advised. Definitely ill-advised. He also had a column that I was ghosting, by the way, in 2023 that got him into a bit of shit. So there's blood on my hands as well, folks. They said enough. They've had enough of him. Early 2024.
Number fifth ranked test bowler in the world. You saw that Anderson and Broad were on their way out. They had actually gone, one of them at least, by that point. And you had probably the best new ball bowler after those two in the game sitting on the bench or cast out even. They've brought him back now and it's bittersweet from an English point of view because you saw the pitches in Australia.
You saw how well, you know, your... Bless them, your medium fast bowlers went, you know, brilliant at what they do, obviously. But we had our own one and he wasn't playing. He was actually in Australia anyway. He was playing, he was netting with NSW.
So it's frustrating that they didn't reach this moment, this impasse a little bit earlier because he'd have been useful for England, I think, in the winter. But I'm glad that they finally got there. And he's only 32. He's fitter than he's been in a while. He's now captain of Sussex. I actually covered the Surrey-Sussex game and he was really good on the field.
He's misunderstood as a kind of a lunk-headed seamer, but he's a smart bloke and he's got a very good cricket brain. And if he can stay fit, then he has to be back in that team. So I'm quite pleased that he's been recalled. But again, just as the team itself is on a knife edge, he is on a knife edge.
If he comes in and bowls an innocuous couple of spells with a new ball and then comes back and he's a bit down on pace, then the speed gun's going to be screaming at him and everyone will be piling in again. And that's the nature of it. People, they want to like this team, but they don't quite know how to at the moment. And as Robinson comes into it, and it could be...
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