Hello and welcome to Stumped, your intercontinental hit of News, Features and debate from the
quirky world of cricket. I'm Alison Mitchell in the ABC commentary box at the Adelaide
Oval - venue of the second Ashes Test match between England and Australia. It has been,
well, we'll come to the kind of day it has been in a moment. The Adelaide Oval one of
my favourite grounds in the world and looking out now, the scoreboard is under lights, the
crowd of all dispersed, there was another gorgeous sunset with a purpley pink sky. It's
gonna get even hotter as this week goes on, but Adelaide what a wonderful place to stage
Test cricket.
And sitting alongside Ali, Jim Maxwell here with this wonderful view of the ground that
Ali's been talking about - a famous cricket ground in all its glory with over 30,000 people
watching today. It was a very tough, grinding, attritional day of Test cricket. But the conditions
here in Adelaide are set to be pretty warm over the next few days. So, we'll see how
the pink ball wobbles, but you got to be dressed for the occasion as you can see.
Yeah, this is Sunil Gupta for All India Radio in New Delhi, where it's actually getting
colder by the day, but it's getting hotter by the minute in our cricketing world. Ali,
I couldn't help noticing your top with all the flowers on it because we are having our
own mini War of the Roses here. The white ball captaincy and the red ball captaincy
I'm sure you've read a bit about all that happening. Rohit Sharma taking over and Virat Kholi,
he Test captaincy, so a lot of sense, and the vice-captaincy, the team selection,
Pujara, Rohani, that entire thing. The team has finally taken off for South Africa, and
you know, the IPL: Can you leave that behind? So, we got all the shenanigans about the IPL.
Who's in the team? Who's out? Who's poaching who? Where's David Warner finally going to
end up? Lots of stuff going on exciting times here in India.
I'll tell you where he ended up today back in the pavilion, but only after making 95
- out in the 90s for the second time and as many Test matches, but yep, I've got the flowers
on. Jim's got the pink shirt on to match the pink ball Test we've got here. And you mentioned
captains, Sunil. Well, the start of this Test match, I haven't known anything like it. Australia
suddenly had a different captain walking out to the toss. And it's none other than Steve Smith,
the vice-captain elevated out of nowhere when Pat Cummins was deemed a close COVID
contact the night before this match. News only broke around about 10am local time with
the match starting at 2:30 in the afternoon. Jim it was an extraordinarily busy start to
the day news wise; everyone was scurrying to try and find out exactly what had happened.
And it turned out that Pat Cummins had been out to a restaurant and someone who he knew
on the next table had flown in, taken the regulation COVID test on arrival into Adelaide
and was waiting on that COVID test result. But it turned out to be positive, and that
is what scuppered Pat Cummins playing in this match. He's now got to isolate for seven days.
And very nearly scuppered Mitch Starc and Nathan Lyon who were in the same restaurant,
but they were actually outside. So, they were more casual contact than close contact. And
that could have been ridiculously upsetting. I mean, it struck me that the team had absorbed
this news by the time we got around to starting the game in the afternoon. The fact that there
was a bit of a delay allowed a reaction that sort of said: "Okay, this is the news, we've
got that. Let's take it on board," and the other good thing that probably happened given
that Michael Neser was making his debut as a replacement for Cummins was that Australia
batted. Had they bowled, it may have been a little more challenging than what occurred
on the day. But it's really a remarkable start to the day and we continue to get surprises
as this pandemic keeps spiking.
Sunil, have you ever known anything like that when a captain, of all players... I mean,
there's been times sure where they get last minute injuries in warmups, but to lose the
captain so soon to the start of such an important Test match.
No, I can't really recall. I was thinking about it. You're right about, you know,
Rohit Sharma, for instance, about to make his best debut against the West Indies. And I think
he sprained a hamstring or something of that sort, and he couldn't play and somebody else
came in. That delayed his Test debut for quite some time, and that's happened quite a few
times on the on the morning of the Test match actually. But I cannot recall a captain dropping
out and not for a reason like this. I can understand if he was hit on the head with
a ball while fielding or something, but that close COVID contact. We haven't seen that,
you know, the end of this COVID impact, at least for the next year.
Well, there was such debate at the start of, or before, the start of this tour as to England
even coming because of the COVID conditions. Jim, has there been any indication that this
might result in COVID conditions tightening for the players? Because they are absolutely
at the moment allowed to go out for dinner. Admittedly, I think in small groups, so that,
you know, should this type of contact happen, you don't wipe out, you know, six or seven
players. But England would be very, very unhappy, and I'm sure Australia would as well, if there
was any sense of trying to restrict how much the players go out to try and stop this happening
again.
You've got a dilemma here, on the one hand, most of the Premiers in Australia - not all - want
there to be a good family environment for Christmas. And they're keen to relax the
impositions that have been placed on everybody and goodness knows what the psychological
scars of all this are going to be. But then, because this virus is starting to spread,
there's an acute awareness amongst the politicians and the Medico's, that they may have to be
stricter. So, it's a bit of watch this space. Particularly, it's mainly about, from here,
Victoria, and then New South Wales. New South Wales tends to be taking a more relaxed attitude
towards this pandemic at the moment, but they've got all these cases on the rise. And so too
is Victoria, so it's a world that you cannot predict, as we know from being here in Adelaide
12 months ago.
Indeed. Sunil, that meant that Steve Smith walked out I think, in Pat Cummins jacket
actually. I saw a photograph, and it was actually the same 47 number that Pat Cummins wears
out when he does the toss. So, guessing Steve Smith was not expecting to have to put on
a green and gold blazer and do the toss. But yeah, we didn't expect to see him in this
position - sure, vice-captain, but yeah, he's in that leadership role. Do you think is actually
almost the best way that this could have happened to him that it was so last minute, you know,
no time for opinion pieces about the rights or wrongs of him being captain again, and
that sort of thing?
Absolutely. First of all, you think about irony, and you think about,
you know, all these things that pop up and where he was, you know, two or three years
ago, and suddenly vice-captain now and walking out as captain. Truth is stranger than fiction.
I mean, that's really what happened over there. But I just hope that Pat Cummins wasn't
wearing that jacket in the restaurant, because if he was I don't think Steve Smith would have
walked out either to do that toss. But really, you talk about, as I said, irony, and poetic
justice to a certain extent, I guess. Yes, well, at the end of the day, what goes around
comes around and I guess he's paid his dues for what he did. And I think you're absolutely
right, Ali, you know, no time for discussions, no time for all the stuff that happens behind
the scenes. You walk out you take it, I think it was very good reception that he got when
he came out to bat as well.
Yeah. Did you notice that, Jim? It was quite a spine-tingling reception, actually when
he came out, I felt.
I was on at the time of Warner's dismissal, and I was just watching and listening. And
yes, it was very solid, very supportive. I think from Smith's viewpoint, it would have
been a wonderful relief to have that appreciation given the circumstances of all this. So, it
was a good moment for him and for Australia in the way the crowd responded.
Smith came into bat after a 172 -run stand between David Warner and Marnus Labuschagne.
There'll be lots of conjecture again about the makeup of England's bowling attack. They
did take an early wicket in Marcus Harris, but they failed to penetrate. There were chances
though: Labuschagne offering two chances both the Jos Butler - one very, very late in the
day. The first one was a leaping chance that Butler wasn't able to hang on to. The one
at the end of the day, much more straightforward. But in terms of the bowling line-up, Sunil,
they've got Broad and Anderson back. But they opted in advance to leave out Mark Wood.
Do you think that was the right move?
No. Absolutely, no. I think he was the best bowler on show in Brisbane, and I think that
when you go into a Test match with only a part time spinner, you're actually painting
yourself into a corner. And that I think is exactly what England have done. You saw the
amount of turn that Joe Root was getting. He got, I think, Labuschagne
himself on the glove or was it Smith and it went through backward short leg. So, there
is spin and bounce. Nathan Lyon will be licking his lips. So, I think the team composition
I really do think that I would have had Mark Wood, just for the pace that he generates.
All the other bowlers are in the you know late 120km/h, early 130km/h, and that's just
about it. So too much of a muchness. You need to have variety in your attack.
Too samey, Jim? Too samey. Five right-arm, fast, sometimes fast medium bowlers. And they
got their length wrong for a lot of the day. I mean Labuschagne played very doggedly and
he left the ball well, but on this surface as we've seen with the drop ins here in Adelaide,
if you go on length unless it's full, you know it's probably going to go over. And there
were a couple of LBW moments that ended up with no result for the bowlers. But they went
for this strange tactic mid-afternoon of trying to bounce Australia out and it may have borne
a result had they taken that catch when Labuschagne was on 21. A wicket or two can make all the
difference, and if Australia had been three or four, not two, there's every chance that
England may have got away with restricting them to under 300 and I'm not so sure that's
going to happen now.
Australia played their first day-night Test match - the first was played in 2015 on this
ground - and Australia have won every single Test match that they have played under lights
in Australia since. That is a formidable record.
Next on Stumped, history it will be made this month when the USA welcomes Ireland as the
first full ICC member to tour the country. It's a huge step for the USA fresh from being
announced as co-hosts for the T20 World Cup of 2024 - the men's that is - alongside West Indies.
Ireland will play the first of two T20 matches in Florida, with three One Day
Internationals over the coming weeks. It's a significant milestone for Team USA and their
new Indian born captain Monank Patel and he joins us now. Monank, welcome to Stumped.
Thank you very much. Thanks for having me.
It's great to have you on. That's the first time that you've hosted one of the four member
nations on American soil, so just explain the significance of that to you.
It's definitely the biggest home series we have ever had before. It's a great opportunity
for us to play against a Test nation side. So, it's a huge for us moment for us.
The series will be broadcast out around the world and we are really excited to play against
a Test nation side and fans are looking forward for this upcoming series too.
What were the facilities like when you started the organisation, you know, club cricket and
to get the tournament set up? And how did you find that? How'd you get around that?
How did you organise that, now that you've got a team that is a full ICC member
very soon?
So, I joined USA Cricket back in 2018 when I was eligible to play, and we have a... I'm
from in New Jersey and I play for the club. So, there are different leagues. And now we
just had our National Championship held back in November, so the domestic structure is
getting better here. A lot of young talents and a lot of players have a chance to showcase
their talent. Basically, there were more than 150 players participating in the National
Championship, including the under-19 players. So, the domestic structure is getting very,
very strong. And there are a lot of chances for the young talent and a lot of local players
to showcase their talent and get a pathway and a chance to represent the country.
Can you tell us a bit more about how cricket's profile in the United States has changed in
the last 10 years? Apparently, you re launching a major league of six teams in 2023.
Cities wise, state wise they are different clubs, very different leagues. There are different
tournaments around the year - almost eight to 10 different opens, like the LA Open,
US Open, different private tournaments where people all over the country play together
in a different teams. So overall, it's a very, very great opportunity for the players
to play together and against each other. Before a couple of years ago, the cricket
was not that much which we are playing right now. Right now, we are playing almost 12 months
a year.
Yeah, Monank, what's the reaction been from the general public? I mean, cricket is obviously
not so well known, but now that you've made it to this stage, you hope to qualify for
the next T20 in Australia? What's the reaction been knowing that the US will co-host the
T20 World Cup in 2024. That's not very far away. And what infrastructure is there to
host this world event? I mean, will there be special cricket stadiums? Or will you use
baseball stadium and you set up a pitch over there and refurbish that? How does it work
in the US?
Right now, there are different grounds already prepared and in different locations,
but I don't know exact the ideas or the information exactly in which part of the
country it's been going on. But yeah, definitely there are like three or four stadiums in the
process. It's going to help us as local players and young players, where the cricket will
grow basically with this opportunity.
So that's a great potential launchpad, the 2024 World Cup for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics
and getting cricket included there. So just generally what more needs to be done in the
US to develop cricket?
Right now it's a process. It's not going to happen within one or two years and the
process has already been started. There are almost more than 50 indoor facilities
and outdoor facilities are already started. And other facilities are already in the process,
so before two or three years, there weren't enough facilities where players can go and
practice but now if you see there are different facilities all over the US and which will
definitely help the youngsters and different players to practice all year. Before, it was
like very seasonal months they used to practice but now they can practice all over the year.
In two or three years I see different grounds in almost all parts of the country where you
can also play cricket outside and you're not dependent on just indoor practice.
We look forward to tracking that progress and indeed how you go in the global qualifiers
as well. Monank Patel, thank you so much for joining us on Stumped. Captain of the USA
men's team.
Thank you. My pleasure, thanks.
Well, that's all we've got time for on this week's Stumped here on All India Radio. Don't
forget you can follow us on Twitter: We're @BBCWSSport and use #BBCStumped and check
us out on YouTube as well! Go to BBC World Service YouTube. My thanks to Sunil Gupta
and Jim Maxwell and of course to you all for listening. We'll see you again next week.
Bye bye.