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'm in Adelaide between Test matches at the moment
and that's meant that I've had a chance to do a little bit of bush walking,
do some wildlife spotting. It's actually part of the Heysen trail, which is some stretch of
1200 kilometres - goes all the way from the south coast of South Australia, all the way up into the Flinders Ranges.
I did a teeny, teeny bit of it up to the top of Mount Lofty Summit, which is on
the outskirts of Adelaide city itself today. But plenty of wildlife. Kangaroos. An Echidnas, Jim,
that's basically like an Australian hedgehog and even a lizard, which I think was a Shingleback lizard,
I learnt afterwards. A little bit slow moving, a bit like me in the morning sometimes
but very beautiful all the same.
Well done Ali, you're getting around the place.
I'm somewhere between Test matches in Sydney going to Brisbane
and hoping that South Africa turn up and play some strong cricket
because, my goodness, we need it after two seriously one-sided Test matches so far.
But it's the pinnacle of the game and we're expecting South Africa, who haven't lost a series
here for some time, to turn up and give Australia a charge.
I hope that happens.
Hello everybody, this is Charu Sharma, glad to be back on Stumped. I have just reached New Delhi.
I'm at a friend's place. Vikram Yadav, who leads our cricket team because tomorrow we're going to
play some alumni cricket once again up north. This is a public school alumni tournament between Mayo College
- my school - The Doon School, Scindia and Daly. It's just like a really fun event that I look forward to.
And I'm actually skipping my Pro Kabbadi League Final, which happens this weekend
to play this alumni tournament. I must be nuts. But it's great to be back on Stumped.
And so much cricket going on and therefore so much to talk about.
We thought we would take the chance at the start of the programme here
to really have a bit of a dive into all those matches going on
and ask ourselves who should be the most confident Test team going into 2023.
And maybe, who out of those playing at the moment should be the most worried about the fortunes of their side.
So Jim, you and I have been watching Australia. Top of the Test Championship table
and they're about to take on South Africa as you mentioned for a three match series.
So off the back of the West Indies, this is really the main course of the summer isn't it now for Australian cricket?
It is. It's interesting to look at those behind Australia in the rankings. South Africa too.
It's hard to believe, it's Sri Lanka at three. And then you would think on any sort of form recently
that it'd be India and England who will be vying for the play-off against Australia.
But sounds like England have still got to do as much as India to make sure of getting there. So.
Yes, it's a bit like that unfortunately. It just doesn't seem to sink in with current form
that a run of rankings down to England at five, Pakistan six.
Well they've left it a little bit late, haven't they, to make any sort of charge?
But are Sri Lanka the sort of surprise package of the year in many ways, Charu,
that they're up at third in the table as they are?
Well they are very strong at home and they've been lucky to be playing a little bit at home.
But yeah, it's surprising and equally surprising that India and England are where they are.
Jim just mentioned their spots and from whatever little I know, India need to win
all six Test matches that are in store for them until the cycle comes to an end.
That is not impossible but seems like a bit of a tall order. And England are playing so well, Alison and for them now
to also be in a fair, I wouldn't say impossible but a very difficult situation, I wonder who eventually is gonna
meet Australia because Australia do seem to be at a point, where you can t shake them off the
top two spot so that's one half done of the Test Championship. I feel very sorry for New Zealand.
After being the defending champions and they're in an absolutely hopeless impossible spot.
Yeah and Kane Williamson has just stepped down as their Test captain as well. Tim Southee taking over.
There's another one for the fast bowlers union, captaining a Test side although Williamson
will carry on in the white ball format. But yeah, that a development for New Zealand cricket and
they've got England coming in February as well so that's Brendon McCullum on his home soil.
Of course, they've already met since he took over during the English summer.
But Jim, the South Africa series. I do want to talk to you about the Australia-South Africa series coming up because
there is going to be plenty of spice to that. Do you reckon these two groups of players are going
to really go in hard and aggressive or do you think things have sort of toned down a little bit,
almost by necessity, given the Sandpapergate tour that happened last time these teams met?
Well, in the shadow boxing that goes on prior to the series, the press are all over the Rabada-Smith
confrontation from 2018 and Usman Khawaja, of course, has been making commentary about
there's no one good enough to replace Warner no matter what he does.
And with all this sort of carry-on, I suppose,
there will be some edginess in the series. Particularly with this pace attack that
South Africa have got. It looks very handy. I mean, if they can do what the West Indies never
looked like doing and get through the top order, this could be a very good series.
The worry for South Africa is their batting and whether or not, it' s good enough with the relentless pressure
Australia can apply, particularly in their own backyard. Their pace attack and Nathan Lyon.
They're gonna have to do a bit of Stokes and Bazball, I think, they've got to take Australia on a bit.
And therefore, yes, I'm sure it will be a bit spicy and that'll be good. That's what we want!
We're screaming for a contest! Please can we have one?
So let's just take a moment to talk about England in particular,
because they are down at fifth in the World Test Championship table behind Sri Lanka and India as we've mentioned.
But they have won eight of their last Test matches, including a series win over Pakistan.
I mean, it is too late a charge for them Charu isn't it?
But the difference in 12 months from when they were being beaten soundly in Australia is just staggering.
It's a very strange flip-flop. I don't see how and why they lost the match as they did about a year ago.
But the kind of style they're playing now, the aggression and of course the bowling
is just top of the world. I mean, the series in Pakistan because it's happening so close to us
and something we watched very closely. And all I can say is we've got to compliment Pakistan
as well for staying with England almost all the way. They lost the second one very narrowly and
the first one too despite all those millions of runs being scored, Pakistan did come back.
So it's been a very absorbing series and somehow England, perhaps more because of their bowling
really rather than their batting, both sides have batted reasonably well, have really shown
the world that even on these tracks, they can come up with these magic deliveries. So it has
been a wonderful series and I just wonder, if we're talking about the World Test Championship,
whether England has an outside chance of making the final because they are playing, to my mind,
the best cricket among all the countries in terms of red ball right now.
They've got a nice little balance there at the moment and Bairstow must be looking and thinking,
how am I going to get into this team with this bloke Harry Brook bashing it all over the ground?
So it's very exciting, I think, and it all points, as an Australian would tell you,
to an Ashes series the like of which we may never have seen before in prospect.
So just put it this way. If Australia play anyone else but England in the final of that championship
and happen to win it
then it just adds a bit more momentum to the expectation for England in an Ashes series taking on the world champions.
I just thought I'd throw that in.
Australia, after this three Test series against South Africa, embark on the small matter of
a four Test match series in India in February and March.
So how much of a challenge is this going to be for Pat Cummins and his Australian side?
Well, I do think quite massive. They are playing fabulous cricket no doubt. But it's not easy
to win in India for most teams and I do think there's going to be a fabulous contest as much
as I suppose the Ashes in terms of quality. India are going through a bit of a rough patch right now
in just about every department of the game. Certainly not starting out well with the bat, which is a pity.
They've lost a couple of their bowlers temporarily because of injury. So I've got to admit
that at this point of time, India seem a little more vulnerable,
but they are always very strong at home, aren't they?
And it depends on what kind of pitches and where they play.
But the India-Australia contests are now, you might want to throw England into the mix, but this is the apex contest.
And when it happens in Australia and India win it's fabulous and when Australia come to India, if they should win,
it'll be fabulous because India like most teams are very very strong at home and yes,
we look greatly forward to the contest.
It's just that maybe the India-Australia
contest will get the crowds back but in India, my belief is that Test matches are just a notch lower
than they were in terms of attention, even five years ago. Really?
So I hope that Australia when they come in here and the media, amongst others, you know, throw the whole contest up
and there's this churn that the crowds and the attention returns to Test match cricket because as you know
there's so much white ball cricket going on, so much attention there as well.
Arjun Tendulkar is at the very start of his first class career, but he scored a century on his First Class debut.
The 23 year old son, of course, of the legendary Sachin Tendulkar.
So that was 100 playing for Goa in the Ranji Trophy,
Charu, so I mean, I imagine that got a fair amount of headlines, did it in India?
Well, it's like nobody else has got any runs at all except Arjun. Good for him because, I mean,
imagine the cross that he's bearing. It's ridiculous, but when I watched him before,
there was a Mumbai T20 league and he has been on the periphery for quite a while,
which is why he shifted from Mumbai to Goa to get a better shot at getting a few games,
so it's fabulous. I can't imagine how proud Sachin will be feeling right now. It's not a cheap team by the way.
He got his hundred against Rajasthan, which is a pretty strong team generally speaking.
Of course, everybody's forgotten that the guy he had a big partnership with,
Prabhudessai got 200 odd but it's all about Arjun getting the hundred and I'm really happy for him because he's a nice guy.
Of course, he is primarily a left arm quickie. So the run getting is, sort of almost,
well I'm not saying incidental, I'm sure you want to be called an all-rounder.
But it's like a massive monkey off his back, isn't it? And that's his debut match. It's taken time for him to play
a Ranji Trophy match but in a debut match to get a hundred
Oh the celebrations in the Tendulkar home must be their fabulous.
Now let's talk a bit of women's cricket because the Women's T20 World Cup
starts in February and there are two series going on now, which are attracting quite a lot
of attention, not least India versus Australia. 47000 fans flocked to Mumbai to see the second T20
International end with a super over. So never mind men's Test cricket not attracting crowd,
the women are attracting very big numbers. And Australia being the number one side in the world
in women's cricket right now. They've just won 21 matches in a row. So it was always going to
take something rather special to beat them. And so step up India's Devika Vaidya.
After eight years out of the T20 side as well for India, she hit a four off the last ball of the normal
match in their 20 overs to level the score and therefore send the game into a Super Over and
well that crowd just seemed absolutely wild for it. Then we saw Richa Ghosh and Player of The Match,
Smriti Mandhana smash sixes off Heather Graham, who was making her debut for Australia.
In that Super Over, they made 20 runs off the six balls and in response, Australia only managed sixteen
and so there was the victory for India. But Charu, what a spectacle that was. I mean Australia did
come back to win the third match but holding their nerve to beat the World Number One team in this
pressure situation, is that going to bode well for this elusive World Cup trophy in February?
Well, it's about time. I mean the Indian women have been so close so long now and it just hasn't happened for them.
But you could argue that there was home advantage. And of course, when that volume of
crowd gets behind you and a near full stadium at the DY Patil, which is on the outskirts of Mumbai
then what better in terms of motivation? It was an extraordinary match. No doubt about it.
We got plenty of media here in India. I'm sure it's going to be replayed several times as well. But it was a pity,
therefore, that they went down by a reasonably big margin at the Brabourne Stadium, the CCI the next match around.
And you might notice that even the number of spectators was a lot less than the DY Patil.
India is trying to now open the gates and women are allowed free and so on and so forth,
but still have to make a lot of time. It's never easy getting around India to actually go to the
ground and watch. So I do think the crowds were the most special part. Of course, there's top
opposition playing Australia. Any win for any team over Australia any time is fantastic. So if they
can just somehow keep the rest of the series close or indeed the matches close. I think
it'll garner a lot more attention. So at this point of time in India, yes winning is important, but
getting more attention towards women's cricket is perhaps even more important in the larger scheme
of things, which seems to be happening.
But they need a coach Charu don't they.? They've got an interim coach at the moment,
Hrishikesh Kanitkar. Can he make a realistic impact?
He's been in the coaching for them for quite a while now, but to have anything on a temporary basis is a bit of a problem.
In fact, strangely enough. W V Raman, who was the Indian Women's coach was commentating on the match
and he was doing all the interviews and stuff. So he must be wondering why am I not back
here as the women's coach. So I don't know what ails the appointment of a permanent coach.
I just think it's a little disrespectful to not have a permanent coach and a permanent support staff
for the Indian women's team because Harmanpreet Kaur, obviously has taken fairly strong control
of the team. Now I always said that the higher the quality of a team and that's the major international
teams, the best players in the world, how much can a coach influence them anyway?
Maybe three to five percent. But with the women's game still growing, if I can use that term, still maturing,
maybe the need for a permanent coach is that much more important for the women than it is for the men.
So yes, they need a little bit of help there. Kanitkar's a fine guy but whoever it is needs to
be appointed on a more long term more sustainable basis, so that everybody gets used to each other.
You just wonder what the Women's IPL will do for the women's game. It should be the most significant
evolutionary step in the game's history for its potential to pay the players the sorts of sums
that former players would never ever have imagined and to where the game could go commercially,
but it comes back to that point of investing in it in order to then raise it upwards.
Yeah, its time has come. I mean it's been a long time coming and we were talking about Stumped for years now
about when it's likely to happen and I'm so glad that it is scheduled for March.
Although, mind you there's still all sorts of little question marks because the teams haven't been announced yet.
I think there's a tender out for a team ownership and then of course, there is a
a player distribution mechanism, perhaps an auction or whatever else. All that still has to be planned
and you're wanting to begin on the 3rd March. So that's a little myopic because everything
needs time to be organised really well. But I suppose the BCCI will pull it off.
Great news of course to have that happen. I'm not so sure about the commercial circles just yet.
We'll see as time goes on in terms of the amount of money that needs to be spent on players or the player purse
or so on and so forth. But whatever the situation, the important thing was for it to start and
can you imagine the excitement among the women cricketers of India?
Because now it's like the men situation was fifteen years ago.
It's not just the top 15, 18, 20 women who are going to be in the limelight.
It's gonna be exploding to about a hundred or more and it couldn't be better news for women's
cricket in India about the Women's IPL itself, in terms of its viewership and ratings and commercial circles.
All that we'll see but the first step is always the most difficult. And that apparently or
according to what we all know has been taken. Yep, it is happening. Opportunity knocks.
Well, that's all we've got time for on this week's Stumped. My thanks to Jim Maxwell and Charu Sharma
and of course to all of you. And we'll see you again next week. Bye bye.