Hello and welcome to Stumped, your intercontinental hit of news features and debate from the quirky world of cricket.
I'm Alison Mitchell and I am in the ABC commentary box at Perth Stadium on the edge of the Swan River.
We've witnessed the opening days of the Test series
between Australia's men and West Indies here in Western Australia and it's an absolute delight
to actually be in the same room as my co-presenter Jim Maxwell, for once.
Yes Ali, we're the pigeon pair.
Although you might think we're in different places, we are sitting next to each other in this wonderful stadium.
It seats about sixty thousand but we got ten and then seven on the second day, so... that's thousand.
The atmosphere has been good. So's the game, so far but everyone said
it was going to be a lively pitch for the bowlers but as you'll hear it's been anything but.
And I'm Sunil Gupta but I'm not in Perth, I am in New Delhi, where winter is slowly setting in.
Lovely sunny winter afternoons and they warm us into the evenings.
But actually, here we're spoilt for choice because there's so much cricket going on
and of course, the soccer or the football World Cup, which is going on about two hours away from us in Qatar.
And congratulations to the Socceroos.
Yes, Jim. Yes. I can't believe Jim didn't mention it in his opening.
Yes, well, thank you Jim for leaving to me and of course for England.
This time, the cup might actually be coming home.
Jim and I are here at Perth Stadium. It's a vast, empty bowl at the moment
now that everyone has cleared out for the night.
A ring of fire, if you like, the floodlights around the uppermost rim of this Perth Stadium.
Australia piled up four for 598 declared. West Indies closing the day with 74 runs on the board
without losing a wicket. So they're still more than 500 runs behind.
But Steve Smith and Marnus Labuschagne both racked up double hundreds.
Don Bradman's record of 29 Test hundreds was equalled, when Steve Smith passed the 100 mark
on the second day of the match.
But there was a really tantalising prospect, Jim, wasn't there? And Sunil, I'll get your thoughts on this as well,
watching the test debut of Tagenarine Chanderpaul, son of the great Shivnarine.
So he went out with the bat, faced quite a barrage Jim, didn't he?
But he really came through and it was a highly commendable 47 not out, that he closed day two with.
Yes, we had the old guessology in the commentary boxes as to
what position the West Indies might be in at Stumps, having been pretty ragged in the field
and conceding all those runs.
So none for 74. It was astonishing.
In fact, Australia struggled to create any chances. There was an LBW review.
There was a tad close umpire's call and there were one or two nasty deliveries that tangled up the young batsman.
But
It was a pretty serene, resolute performance by the two openers to get through twenty odd overs
before Stumps against a much vaunted Australian attack. But, as we saw a couple of years ago
against India, sometimes, the great bowlers, as it were, don't get the result that everyone expects
and that was certainly the case tonight, which is giving this game a bit more steel in the hope
that it will be a five day contest. Particularly, when you look at the scoreboard and four wickets only
have fallen for 672 runs so it's a batsman's paradise at the moment.
It is, isn't it?
Sunil, when we talk about father-son combinations in Test cricket over the years, there has been many, hasn't there?
This Shivnarine-Tagenarine combination does seem to have a lot of people excited and
it was exciting to watch him in the flesh today. A 26 year old on his Test debut.
But there are a lot of similarities with his father, Shiv.
Yes, left-handed, a similar stance and obviously under the tutelage of Shivnarine Chanderpaul,
he must have learnt the basics very well.
Because, I remember when he used to play against India. He used to come in at number four or number five,
somewhere around that point in time and you'd say "Oh my god, we can't get him out."
He used to hang around and hang around like a limpet. And I think opening, I don't think Shivnarine
ever opened in the Test matches but Tagenarine opening at Perth against an Australian attack,
as you said, the vaunted Australian attack, I think this will do him a world of good
and will do West Indies cricket a world of good.
I understand the grandfather did a lot of the teaching and the coaching of young Tej
because Shivnarine moved to Florida many years ago and Tej stayed back
with his mother and grandfather in Guyana and therefore he spent a lot of time with his grandfather,
who did a lot of the coaching. So, almost, sort of learning from the same tutor mentor
that Shivnarine learnt from as well. Jim, got to touch on the crowd numbers in Perth
because this first Test match has started on a Wednesday. You mentioned the numbers, which were low.
Yeah, 10,000 on the first day and a little over eight and a half thousand on the second day.
How worried are you about such a low attendance for an opening Test match of the Australian summer?
Because, you know, I've spent a week in Perth in the build up here, and everyone's saying the summer starts
with the start of the Test series in Australia. That's the significant moment
for the start of Australia's men's cricketing summer. But where are the people?
10,000 for the first day of a Test in Australia is not far off the mark for a non-India/Ashes matches.
You don't get big crowds wherever you start, beyond Sydney and Melbourne.
So it's not that much of a surprise, to be honest.
And given, as you say, it was a Wednesday, the schedule's dictated that they've gotta start Wednesday here,
Thursday next Test and then Friday in Brisbane to give them rest days and so on.
So that's a problem. And if we'd have had 10,000 at the Waca, you would've thought the ground's full.
So, this is a 60,000 capacity stadium after all so 10,000 tends to get lost in the place.
But the important thing about what we are seeing so far is that Test cricket can be sustained
as a worthwhile game because we are overrun with all this white ball cricket.
And the last thing this summer needs is to have a very one-sided series against the West Indies and then South Africa.
So it's good news for Test cricket and hopefully for the fans, who will start to think,
"Oh, these blokes can play a bit, I might go and watch" and we could be here on Saturday and see a decent crowd.
But yeah, I'm not surprised with the crowds and given all the things that have been happening.
What's surprised me really is that the West Indies have shown a lot more fight so far
to give us hope that it will be a contest.
I do want to talk about the England-Pakistan Test series, which has got underway,
because England's men are in Pakistan for the first Test series in 17 years.
I was on the tour in 2005 that England's men last went on. This is a highly significant tour.
But there were talks that this match would actually be postponed by a day,
after waiting that long for it, because 14 members of the England squad picked up a virus and just
the day before the match were being advised to rest, rather than train in Rawalpindi.
But they did get under way finally, and Jim, how good is it to see these two sides playing -
they've got a three match Test series - in Pakistan finally?
It's fantastic. Just like Australia playing earlier in the year against Pakistan
and I hope they have a wonderful series and it's pretty clear
from the opening day that Baz-ball, or whatever it is, is paying off,
despite the fact that England had to restructure their playing eleven because of all these problems.
Good thing, they won the toss, so they could bat first and most of the sickies could have a spell in the room.
Sunil, it's a lot closer to home for India. Of course we know the relationship with India and Pakistan.
India aren't going to be travelling to play Tests in Pakistan any time soon.
But the significance of this tour for everything that goes into cricket and beyond?
Oh, I think it is hugely significant.
Sri Lanka has been going there. Zimbabwe have been going there. Windies have been going there.
But for England to travel after so many years. I think that really does...
it's a signal that things are well with the country and I think Pakistan will take great heart and great hope,
not that they've done too well in the bowling department, which is surprising,
but nevertheless, they will take great heart that the world is now coming back to them.
I think it's great for cricket in general, because as it is, there's such a small cluster of countries that
play high level cricket and if two of them are not playing then that does take away certain things,
like England and Australia not playing the Ashes, for whatever reason. It just takes away from the game.
So it is for both the subcontinent as well as for England, for Pakistan, it's a big day, it's a big moment.
I'm very glad that the virus did not really disrupt and sometimes, you get a lot when you face adversity.
To put in Zak Crawley, who'd done nothing in the summer and then suddenly goes and scores a century
and everybody else. I think that will give them really enhanced hope that they
can play on the sub continental pitches because that's always been, again, the way that India goes
to England and gets done in by the swing, done in by the spin over here. But I was astonished
to see Pakistan's team makeup. I mean, I know there are people who are suffering from injuries,
like Shaheen Shah Afridi, who got it in the World Cup and stuff. But suddenly all the old bowlers,
who bowled against Australia. Australia were there for the Test series. Nauman Ali, so on and so forth,
they're not playing. I think that is one of the issues that Pakistan cricket need to address.
They make so many changes, in their Test team, especially. Series upon series.
I think they need to have a much more settled eleven and I think then you will see a much better cricket from them.
Jim, I noted the score for England after the first 12 overs of the innings and England were 87 without loss.
Now, Pakistan were 84/3 after twelve overs of the T20 World Cup Final.
So it's almost like just translating a game from T20 to red ball, but without the fielding restrictions,
with bowlers rolling with a red ball and trying to utilise all those skills.
Some other numbers to throw at you.
The fastest century stand in Tests with the 100 coming from 13.5 overs,
as Crawley was eventually out for 122 and Duckett making 107. But are England truly revolutionising the way
to play Test cricket? Or do you think this bubble will at some point burst?
It's hard to say and it's exhilarating to see it happen. And I hope it can continue from their point of view.
I think against better bowling in different conditions, it's another story, but clearly this is a pretty good surface
to be having a bat on from the sound of it. And there's no doubt that, in most forms of the game,
it seems that batsman excel if they get away against the new ball.
It comes under the bat. It's much easier to score than when the ball gets a bit older and softer and so on.
And when you get these belligerent stroke makers like Crawley getting underway so extraordinarily
then you're going to get big scores more often. 400 is going to become a norm on good surfaces,
I would think, on any day of a Test match, if they get in as we are seeing here in Perth
with the amount of runs being scored. So, I think it's, for Test cricket, a wonderful development
as long as we still have balance in the game and we get there in England all the time
with the Dukes ball and fellas like Jimmy Anderson still at 40, who can wobble it around.
So yep, I think days out, like the one that England are enjoying at the moment,
are going to make people think "hmm this Test cricket's all right".
They actually hit the ball to and over the boundary as regularly as they do in the T20.
Now, to the Women's Big Bash and it was third time lucky for Adelaide Strikers,
who finally won their first WBBL Championship and stunned the Sydney Sixers with a ten run victory in the final.
Deandra Dottin, who retired from West Indies duty earlier this year, shone with bat and ball.
An unbeaten 52 from 37 balls then bowled a double wicket maiden in her very first over as well.
Jim, first of all, just how good is it to see a new team win the WBBL
and Strikers to finally get over the line?
It was fantastic and it was a very good game. I watched. I listened.
They played at that little ground at North Sydney... with a crowd of four or five thousand
hugging the boundary line. Nice small ground too, which also helps the scoring.
But the Sixers came badly unstuck against the Strikers.
Made a few mistakes in the field, got off to a bad start in the run chase
and the Strikers, with Dottin performing so strongly, thoroughly deserved their win,
but it was a wonderful end to what has been an excellent competition.
It is, without doubt, the premier women's competition, WBBL.
And hopefully it can keep up its profile because I think it's doing a lot to attract people to play
and it's certainly attracting spectators and an audience on radio and television
that's putting the women's game in the spotlight.
Well, I think it's gonna face some competition from the women's Indian Premier League when that launches,
particularly if whispers of what I was hearing today, of how much money there'd be on offer
for the players comes to fruition. But at the moment, you're absolutely right.
The WBBL has been the leading tournament and Sunil, you've been speaking to Strikers victorious Katie Mack.
Yes, indeed I did and I started by asking her, how it feels for her to say that she is finally a WBBL Winner.
Yeah, it feels pretty good. I've been at the Strikers for four years.
That would have been our third final. So, to I think come second again, would have been pretty devastating.
But as well, yeah. I haven't won Big Bash at all and the Strikers haven't won in eight years so
I don't reckon they'd be a bunch of girls more relieved, happy, excited than that group of girls, were on Saturday.
Yeah so, how did you celebrate this maiden victory in the WBBL?
We rehydrated well.
I think the best part of most celebrations, with sport, is going down
into the changing rooms, singing that team song and I was lucky enough that my parents were there
and a few other family and friends were there. So being able to get everyone in the changing room
singing the song, you know the coach doing a bit of a chat to the team.
I reckon that's the best way to celebrate in there. Straight after the game, emotions are high.
And then we were actually really lucky, we got invited to the town hall in Adelaide and got greeted by the Mayor
and the Premier and had a bit of a function there and I think some of the girls' partied hard after that too.
Tell me, Katie, when you came to this particular final and you had two consecutive finals
the last one with Perth Scorchers - and I'm just looking at the scorecards here.
They're of eerie similarity. When you lost to the Perth Scorchers, they'd scored 146.
The Adelaide Strikers had put on 136. So that was just about ten runs.
And then this one against the Sydney Sixers, you put on 147 and they were 137.
So ten runs each. Isn't that eerie? What a coincidence.
Yeah, I think it also sort of comes back to that theory of getting runs on the board in a final
cos if you'd asked anyone before that game, you know, 140 was definitely on the lower par for that ground
and potentially also of the stadium. I mean we hadn't played there yet. But, um.
Yeah, I think it goes to show that having that pressure of a chase definitely is a thing in T20 cricket.
Thank you so much for being on Stumped with us.
Thanks Sunil.
Well, that's all we've got time for on this week's Stumped. My thanks to Jim Maxwell and Sunil Gupta
and to all of you for listening. We'll see you again next week. Bye bye.