Hello and welcome to Stumped, your intercontinental hit of news,
features and debate from the quirky world of cricket. I'm Alison Mitchell in London,
where we've had fireworks going off for both Diwali and bonfire night here, but cricket
is facing its own explosive situation surrounding Yorkshire County Cricket Club and an investigation
into racism at the club, which at the heart of it has issues of governance, of process,
of transparency and education. It is a sorry, sorry mess and it is not going away anytime soon.
Hi, it's Jim Maxwell for the ABC in Sydney. England are about to arrive in Australia and
Joe Root's talking about the Gabbatoir's no longer a death sentence for English teams.
We will see what happens, but we're watching this other show at the moment in the Middle East and
who knows, Australia might even get to the final. Maybe they'll be playing England, Ali.
Hello, everybody. Happy Diwali. I'm Charu Sharma for All India Radio in Bangalore.
These are very strange days; on one hand, of course the festive season is peaking
with Diwali, and lots of festivities, celebration, happiness, joy. And on the other hand,
extreme lament and despair at the goings on with the Indian cricket team in the UAE.
A lot of people keep asking 'So Charu, what are our chances still?'
And I have a favourite answer now, which I'm going to leave until a little later.
All right, we will come to it. We'll tease it out of you. Let's chat about the men's T20 World Cup
because it's thrown up some really interesting stories, hasn't it, over the last week and
Pakistan becoming the first side to qualify for the semi-finals. Bangladesh, Sri Lanka
and Scotland meanwhile, have all gone out, and Pakistan have been really impressive. We'll come
to them in a moment. But Charu, I do want to talk about India, because it's been an up and
down tournament so far: thrashed by both Pakistan and New Zealand, struggling to take any wickets to
speak of, but then they go and score the highest total of the tournament so far against Afghanistan
with 210. Right, there's still an uphill battle isn't there to get to the semis, but
did that match against Afghanistan alleviate some of the criticism in any way? Or is this just
papering over the cracks? Because let's face it, India will always be expected to beat Afghanistan.
Yes, they're always expected to beat them but it's like applying just a little bit of salve
on a very deep cut. It's really all over for India. The first two matches were horrendous and
the kind of margins we lost those matches I mean, unimaginable. And of course, now for the answer,
people say: 'well it doesn't, they still have a chance!' I say my standard answer these days:
Alison, I ask you this: 'What is the closest figure to zero that you can think of?'
Zero point one, one, one, one?
Yeah, it gets people thinking and I say: 'that is the figure that in terms of chances for India
to make it through the top two in that group.' It's really, very difficult right now.
Too little, too late. And Jim, we heard before that Afghanistan match,
Jasparit Bumrah, the Indian bowler, started talking about bubble fatigue.
Is that an excuse? Or a genuine reason? I mean, they're not the only ones, surely?
Come and live in Sydney or Melbourne for a couple of months. You'll get bubble fatigue
pretty quickly. Yeah, it's sounds a bit hollow to me, if that's a genuine excuse. They've just
been a bit flat in those two games. It's probably a good thing that they get to change the captain, Charu.
People are now saying that the Cricket Board got rid of Kohli because of his performances
or his lack of performances or whatever. But to the best of my knowledge, it was Kohli
who decided that: 'listen, I don't want this additional responsibility. I've played
enough as a captain, I've got perhaps different priorities: a wife and child and
everything else and you know, I'm just really tired of this whole T20 captaincy business.'
So, it's a good time to move away as a sort of instalment plan to maybe move away from
captaincy in the other forms as well as he goes along. He has reached a very iconic status and I can't
see anybody in the board or world cricket telling Kohli what to do.
How much, then, of a rebuilding job or a re -energising job is Rahul Dravid going to
have to do as the new coach? Since we last spoke, it has now been confirmed that
Rahul Dravid will take over from Ravi Shastri at the end of the T20 World Cup. So, what is
the task ahead of him as the new coach?
Well, is it a good time to quote Ian Chappell on the importance of a coach?
He does bring something new to the table, doesn't he, just because the kind of person he is and of
course he's played just as much cricket as a lot of other very celebrated coaches or cricketers.
In a sense, he's lucky that the UAE debacle is not really his problem - it's soon going to
be over and he will begin afresh with New Zealand touring India, which could be a tougher tour for
New Zealand. What does he really do with the personnel he has? I don't think there's going
to be a major change of personnel. He has what Ravi Shastri has in terms of personnel.
Will he be able to affect some kind of changes, in terms of the inspiration or the quality of inspiration
that he brings. And even more important for me personally - a little old-fashioned - is can he
affect the culture of the Indian cricket team? Can he make them a little more humble? Can he
get them all together and say: 'Listen, forget the superstardom. Let's just go out there and
do what we really set out to do as professionals.' So he's got a couple of challenges. And I say that
only because it's the crown of thorns. As a coach, he cannot really go out there and bat, and bowl,
and catch and everything else that he was good at - well, I suppose not bowling.
I don't see major changes. If he's lucky enough that India does well at the start of his tenure,
people will say: 'Wow, well done.' And if the team does badly against New Zealand,
people will say: 'What was the need of changing the coach?' So, you know, it's a crown of thorns.
Jim, I've been looking forward to us having a little chat about the England v Australia
encounter at the T20 World Cup! England have been pretty flawless so far in their start to the
competition, haven't they? Four wins out of four. But Jos Butler has been absolute
stand out in the games against Sri Lanka where he got 100 as well as against Australia.
When England beat the Aussies by eight wickets with 50 balls to spare last Saturday, what was the
response to that in Australia, Jim? England just simply being too strong? That they got Buttlered?
Well, it happened in the middle of the night. I don't think anyone saw it!
It didn't really happen - fake news! When I woke up and saw the score, I thought I thought:
'Oh, God. We've lost another T20 game.' We don't care really. We're only interested in the Ashes,
and the more so as we as we flounder in this tournament.
England are playing with a lot of confidence and superbly led by Eoin Morgan, and Buttler's
playing superbly. But look, one game can turn all that around. As we know, once you get to
the semi-finals. You can have a good or bad day out, and that's it. So England look really,
really strong through their excellent bowling, pretty good fielding too, and some quality in
their batting. But that's not to say that should they meet New Zealand or India in the semi-final,
that might go wrong should they have to play Australia, Pakistan, or anyone in the final.
Jos Buttler has been incredible and the unbeaten 100 against Sri Lanka - 101 Not Out - and getting
that 100 with a six off the last ball as well. He's now become the first England men's player
to score 100 in every format of the game. Heather Knight has done it as an England women's player.
He is just outstanding, and it'll be a question as to whether he can translate that
into Test match cricket. But in terms of the T20 World Cup, Jim, yeah, you got to back it up
with the bowling and England have taken wickets at the top and they've restricted power plays very
well. But then when you've got someone like him who is in form, very difficult to stop, isn't he?
He is. It's like my old line about anyone can get a duck. It's hard to assess someone's
form if they keep getting ducks, because they haven't got in. So even Buttler can get a duck.
England are playing superbly and Morgan's the best captain of all these teams. So, I think
if you want to run a book on it, they're the favourites, no doubt about that. But we could be
sitting here next week saying: 'well, that's bad luck. They shouldn't have lost that semi-final.'
And what of Pakistan then, because they became the first side into the
semi-finals - they had that 45-run win over Namibia, one of the nations who
has absolutely benefited from the exposure in this T20 World Cup. But yeah, like England,
Pakistan have won four out of four. How good is it to see them doing this well?
They got depth and variety in their batting, their bowling, and it's all falling into place.
Good luck to them, given the way they've been pretty much marginalised,
if not ostracised by the cricketing world. That's right, and Jim, that leadership from the
front with the bat has taken Babar Azam back up to number one in the ICC T20 men's batting
rankings. He's got what, three 50s in his first four matches. He's knocked Dawid Malan off and
it feels like he absolutely deserves that spot. Do you reckon that as well?
Oh, yes, he's an outstanding player and he's one of the reasons why they're doing so well.
I actually woke up at four o'clock the other morning - this is where
I have to get the times right with you - and I turned the radio on and
I heard the penultimate but over of that Afghanistan v Pakistan game and I thought:
'Afghanistan's going to win this game.' And that bloke came out and hit four sixes.
Well, now to Australia and the Women's Big Bash League which has reached the halfway point,
and we've already witnessed a super over, and the second highest partnership ever in the
competition. Now, viewing figures were also up at the start of the tournament, there was a 58%
increase in television audience across the first five games compared to last year. Early this week,
I spoke to the general manager of the Big Bash League, Alistair Dobson,
just to assess how this year's competition is going.
What's your take on why we're seeing this particular increase?
I think there's a couple of reasons and you couldn't go past simply the quality of the
cricket. It continues to improve every year we think, and we're confident it's the best
cricket league in the world for women, and you know, the best players from all around the world
playing. So, I think you can largely put it down to just how watchable it is, from a spectacle and
entertainment and quality of cricket perspective. Equally, we've been able to get all 59 games of
this year's season on television, which is the first time we've had all ball games on TV.
A big part of this is just that the players themselves and their openness and willingness to
be part of the broadcast and give of themselves - whether that's being on the microphone or
broadcasters talk so glowingly about these players that just want to want to share the game with
everyone. And I think that really connects with the audience as well. It's been a great start and
I think also, we're now in the third year of a standalone competition, separate from the men's
Big Bash, which I think has created a really unique spot in the Australian sporting calendar
in that October and November; off the back of our winter football codes, before often the BBL
starts and the men's Test season often starts in that December period. So, to carve out a dedicated
window in October, November, I think was a risk at the time, but maybe not so much risky, albeit
a bit of a leap, because I think for the first few seasons of the WBBL to be played as doubleheaders
with the men's and that brings with it a bit more certainly around crowds and
the scale that you can bring. So, to separate the two was very much a calculated risk and strategic
move that had been a long time in the making. There'd always been an ambition of creating a
longer summer of Big Bash, from the women's through to the men's. The risk or
the calculation was always based on cricket is not traditionally, in that October, November window in
Australia. Are people going to come and be part of it and want to take in cricket at that time? They
have, and then I think what it's done is just continue to create such a strong competition,
whether it's people at the grounds or audiences on TV just keep wanting to engage with [it].
What would be your message to other nations who are looking to evolve their women's games
similarly? Is it confidence in the product, but marketing? A certain
amount has got to surely go into that and promoting what you've got?
Yeah, it's probably all those. I think, firstly, backing the product and the competition.
These are phenomenal athletes that are great cricketers and bring such a competitiveness. But
also, as I said a minute ago, I think the strength that the WBBL brings, and I think women's cricket
broadly is the way that the athletes engage with the fans and with kids and with everyone who wants
to be part of it. They're very open athletes, and they're very willing to be to be part of
the broadcast, part of the marketing, part of the growth of the game, they're also committed
to that aspiration that everyone has around the game. So backing the product, but also just
backing the personalities and the athletes that are involved, because they they're
so giving and they lead it for us, pretty much. How important has it been to have the Indian
players taking part? You've got eight featuring this year alone.
Phenomenal. Firstly, the WBBL has such a rich history of players from all
around the world wanting to come and play, whether it's historically a lot of
English players and South African players more recently coming in big numbers. And this year to
have the Indian team out playing a national series prior to the WBBL was such a great
opportunity. And they just bring another style and another type of cricket. Obviously, there's big
Indian community in Australia that have really engaged as well, so it's been amazing. I think
you have to look at the game so far, they've often been the highest run scorers and been
really involved in a lot of their team success, so it's been great. Great to chat. Thanks, Alison.
Alistair Dobson, General Manager of the Big Bash Leagues. Jim, what is your take on
the WBBL, first of all that the competition and it's been so far this season?
It's fast evolving into a very good, attractive competition. And it has its own window
this year, perhaps more than before, because of Covid and
men's cricket being disrupted & not played - a bit of Sheffield Shield, a bit of domestic
one day stuff, Australia playing somewhere else in the world, so they've grab the opportunity
and it really is women's version of the IPL to a large extent because of the international players
that are here. They've made a big difference to the flavour, the quality of the tournament,
particularly those girls that can whack a ball, like Mignon du Preez and Sophie Devine.
Those names come to mind immediately and Harmanpreet Kaur. They've made a big difference
to the series. Charu, with the eight Indian players that are in the WBBL,
has there been any particular standout performances that you've enjoyed?
Jim mentioned the big strikers and I think they've all done rather well, and I agree with him
completely that the WBBL is - if nobody minds this comparison - the IPL for women and they have this
massive lead as well. However, Harmanpreet's done well, Smriti Mandhana has done well but she always
does - so silken and smooth. She may not be a massive hitter, but she's always among the runs.
Jemimah [Rodrigues], our young friend who we had on Stumped earlier has also finally done
well and I'm happy for her, and of course Shafali [Verma] - the other striker - and Deepti Sharma
has played an all-round role. So, at least five out of eight have done reasonably well.
There's a campaign here in India on the network the WBBL is being shown
which really showcases the Indian players as well, so there's a lot of attention now,
deservedly so for women who've gone to Australia. It does, I think, it's going to - as it did for
the first two or three who went - just completely change or shall we say exponentially increase the
confidence that these girls have playing in international matches, so that's a huge plus.
Well, that's all for this week Stumped here on All India Radio. Don't forget
that you can follow us on Twitter we're @BBCWSSport - make sure you use #BBCStumped.
For now, I'll say thanks to Charu Sharma and Jim Maxwell,
and of course to you all for listening and we'll see you again next week. Bye bye.