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 you would never think that
we would have been waiting for the cool change; that's more of an Australian thing. But gosh,
we needed it - a searing heat, homes just not built for it, air conditioning just not
the norm in the UK and temperatures hitting 40 degrees! Unheard of! Cricket wise, players
sweltering, spectators sweltering, commentators sweltering when there's no air conditioning.
I also managed to get a little day trip across, though, away from the cricket to the Isle
of Wight. I can thoroughly recommend that got the foot ferry across, hired bikes and
explored the island. Found little beach and a very pleasant way to see out some of the
heat. We'll talk about the Commonwealth Games in this show but at the moment as well, the UK
and England is very much wrapped up in the women's Euros because the England's women's
team are doing very well on that front. Jim Maxwell in Sydney. Yes, a few of my friends
keep telling me to watch the Euros. What's the Euros? What's soccer?
Soccer. Yes, exactly. Well, it's probably better weather for soccer than cricket here. The great, wet low continues
in Sydney. If it's not raining, it's windy or it's both. And there are still many golf
courses that have been closed for months that have got no chance of opening for a while,
so not a good place to be playing cricket, but not a bad spot to be watching it on the
telly. Particularly the finish to that Pakistan, Sri Lanka game yesterday. Wow. What a performance
by Pakistan to chase. This is what everyone's doing in cricket! It's so commonplace now;
leave team 350 to get and they'll knock them off in the fourth innings.
We'll looks like Baz-ball's really taken off. Hello, this is Charu Sharma from Bangalore for All India Radio.
I have many things to say, but Alison, you mention cool change and my mind went back
to one of my favourite songs by Little River Band called Cool Change, so I'm humming it.
But anyway, we've got to move on. Bangalore's full of rain, once again, but we still get
quite a bit in. There is a new version of the Karnataka Premier League now called the
Maharajah Trophy. The press conference has a player draft very soon. I'm soon scheduled
to go to the opening ceremony of the Chess Olympiad, which India is making a big deal
out of - the 44th edition. That's next week and of course, we're also rejoicing about
that fabulous 2-1 win in the ODIs in England. There is a lot of talk about whether Virat Kohli;
which direction is he going in and a lot of people are pouring in their advice,
including Sunil Gavaskar and let me drop a name or two. I was at a club yesterday - the
Bangalore Club and guess who I meet? KL Rahul. I said "What are you doing here? Run to the
West Indies, quickly!" He said I'm going very soon. Plenty of cricket coming up.
Hopefully KL Rahul is well recovered and on his way back to the team. We must start this
week on Stumped with the news that caught everybody by surprise. Although maybe on reflection,
not so surprise. England men's Test captain, Ben Stokes announced his retirement from one-day
internationals. It's come after England played four Tests inside five weeks and then
just two days after the Test series finished, started a run of 12 white-ball matches in
24 days. That schedule seemingly prompted Stokes to make this decision, although it
is not as if it is a sudden problem. He says he can't give one hundred percent in ODIs,
and that three formats are unsustainable right now. Jim, is this going to be a wakeup call
to administrators in any way, that there is too much cricket, and this is the damage that can result?
Well, it's hard to Imagine we're going to have a one-day World Cup and Champions Trophy
and no other 50-over games played in the intervening years, but I do think it's
all a bit much of a strain. Of course, in Stokes' case, he's 31. He's got a wounded
knee and he needs to be able to adjust his life so he can play his best cricket when
he plays. He can't do that every day of the week, and nor can a lot of other players.
So, I think it is putting the game on notice about one-day cricket. It'll have to defer
more to the franchises and T20. That's obvious from the schedule that 's just come out - the
Future Tours Programme. Luckily, Test cricket seems to have retained its prominence, pre-eminence
in all of this discussion. So, yes. I think unfortunately, we are seeing a lot of that
noise from people like Ashwin. I saw Wasim Akram the other day saying it's a bit
of a spent force as a viable international game now. So, yes. I think we are seeing the
kind of gradual demise of the importance of 50-over cricket in the schedule. That is disappointing
because my goodness, we've had some wonderful World Cups, including the last one that Ben
Stokes was the star in. It won't fade immediately, but in time it's just going to get overrun
like all cricket by T20. Or, maybe T10, by the time we've finished doing this programme
in 2050 or whenever it is. Is it a spent force, Charu? Because does it still pull in TV
audiences, TV money and do you think that this is symptomatic of what we've been saying on Stumped for a
long time about the volume of cricket and could more players ultimately follow the Stokes route?
I may take some time over this. The stage is yours. Thank you, but for starters
this is a bit dichotomous, because on one hand we keep saying that Test cricket must live on,
and yet they don't seem to have the patience for a one-day match? I mean, that sounds ridiculous.
How do we have patience for a five-day match played largely during the day when there is
nobody watching, in terms of big numbers. So, if one-day internationals are in trouble
and Test cricket's in very deep trouble on that same score. Back to playing too much.
I have to say I don't want to sound too contrary a note. But the cricketers in general, compared
to many other sports which are also athletic and robust. The word I'm looking for escapes
me. But the cricketer has played the least in terms of physical sports. So we're playing
a lot more, perhaps, than the past, when the past was a pastime kind of sport. Now there's
a lot more, but if you take any other major physical sport. Let's say a tennis player
out there, who'll play two, three, four hours of a really tough match; virtually constant
play and come back the next day and play again and the next. And the next. And you make the
final. He will play on Sunday. On Monday, you're back again. So, there are many other
sports where the top sportspersons are playing 400 times more than cricketers in general.
So, what is this business of a playing too much? Are you playing professional sport or
do you want to have your cake and eat it too? In stokes' case, maybe... Well, he was talking
about his mental strain and everything else. Maybe the last two years have been very tough
on every sport, on cricket too, in terms of the quarantine and the isolation and everything
else. And that may have had an excessive impact, apart from the fact that he is burying his
one-day international hardened wounded knee. So many other people may follow. It's just
they have to get used to more cricket because it is their profession. And I don't think
cricketers are playing anywhere near as much physically as many other top physical sports.
So it's certainly an individual decision. It felt a little bit as if in some respects
the kind of career obituaries are being written about Ben Stokes, like the big emotional goodbye.
But, actually it didn't feel like a big emotional goodbye because he is the captain of the Test
team and we're still seeing him in Tests. I think that probably shows, demonstrates
quite a big point anyway in that he's leaving ODIs, and it leaves a hole in the team in
terms of his ability, but I didn't feel as if it was a hugely significant thing that
he was stepping back. Other than feeling dismayed that it was because of the game that he has
had to step back. I feel very glad that he is the Test captain, and because of that he's
even more invested in Test matches and I think we should all feel very grateful that
he wants to pursue his Test career because that also sends a message to others in the
game to sell it. This is where you make your legacy. Now, T20 cricket is next week making
its debut at the Commonwealth Games. The world's best women's cricketers have arrived here
in the UK in the city of Birmingham, where the Games will be held. For most of the players,
well, it's going to be a completely new experience. But for New Zealand star Suzie Bates, it's
not going to be that unfamiliar. That's because 14 years ago, she represented New Zealand
at the Olympics in basketball. I caught up with Suzie this week and asked her whether
she ever imagined that she'd be playing cricket at the Commonwealth Games.
To be honest, no. I think that was the beauty of playing different sports when I grew up. It was having options
and when basketball had the opportunity to qualify for Beijing, it made my decision around
committing to basketball for a couple of years an easy one because I thought cricket would
never get that opportunity and I didn't want to have any regrets. So, to be sitting here
now, going to a Commonwealth Games with cricket, it's pretty surreal thinking 14 years back,
I probably thought that was my last opportunity at one of those events once I committed to cricket.
Yeah. So, there was the basketball, there was cricket, but when you were younger,
is it true that you also played a bit of rugby union? Because I didn't know this about you.
Yeah, I did. I played everything. Being in a small town like Dunedin, you get dragged
into all sports and with two older brothers, I literally did everything they did. So, I
played soccer, I played tennis because dad was a tennis coach, and rugby I sort of played
up until high school. I broke my collarbone playing basketball and that was the end of
my rugby career, but a sort of hung out in the midfield and played a little
bit of touch with Kelly Brazier, who's a 7's star in New Zealand. So, that's how the conversation
came out because we went to school together. Yeah, I did enjoy my rugby, but I guess injuries
prevented me from carrying that on and it clashed with basketball, and I love my basketball too much.
Did you always know you wanted to pursue a sporting career, albeit wholly amateur at that time?
No, I think that's what's very special about my career. I just played sport
because I loved it and I had two older brothers and that's what we did on the weekend and
I just joined teams purely for the love of movement and wanting to be part of team sports.
It just has happened in my time, which I'm really fortunate that it has become professional
and became a job, but it was never an intention and never dictated any of my choices. Which,
looking back, I sort of took for granted. Whereas nowadays, I feel like contracts and
things can get in the way of young people making what is the right choice for them in
terms of their sporting career and being able to work out with that financial benefit what
sport they truly love. You went to the Olympics as a basketballer. When was it
impossible to keep playing both? Yeah, well I was 19 when I went to the Olympics with basketball,
and I remember leaving the Games and basketball was my number one sport. I wanted to be the
best basketballer I could be and I had a taste of international basketball. I'd signed with
professional team in New Zealand, which actually folded, so I'd signed up for that and cricket
was going to become second best for a bit longer, but that team folded so I joined the
domestic cricket team with the Otago Sparks. Then we had a World Cup in 2009, so I thought
well, with no basketball I'll have a go at making that team. And then cricket just kept
providing consistent opportunities which basketball didn't in New Zealand. I would've had
to go overseas, so that actually, naturally just made me choose more cricket because I
could see when the next World Cup was. I could see when tours for the White Ferns were, whereas
basketball was limited funding. I was unsure of what was next and where I had to go.
It did give you an Olympic experience. How cherished is that being part of, I suppose, that bigger
movement as well as representing your country? In cricket, you represent something bigger
at an Olympics? Yeah, that's what's so special about and why I'm so excited,
not only the White Ferns, but other female cricketers to experience, because you are part of a massive
global sporting event. It's pretty special as an athlete to be part of it, no matter
what sport you play. Yes, to go to the Olympics, as a child growing up in New Zealand, I watched
the Olympics on TV and I dreamed of going to one. I didn't really know what that sport
was going to be and to have my whole family come as well that was really cool. My big,
older brothers, you know, coming to an event to watch me play that was a special moment.
I probably appreciated it more now, talking about it and knowing cricket's at a games
for the first time you reflect and as you get older, you realise they're pretty unique
opportunities and not every athlete gets to experience them. And your career, Suzie, where
would it rank if New Zealand could do well at this Commonwealth Games, because in recent
World Cup events, New Zealand hasn't been up there challenging as you have been in years
gone by when you earlier on in your career. What would it mean and how deep do you feel
you can make those semi-finals and onwards? Personally, it would be a real highlight.
I think off the back of the disappointing home World Cup in terms of performances. But
the success that we had of promoting the game in our country is something I'll never forget.
So, we still have that support and to have a global event to make our fans proud again
is something that we're really motivated to do. And obviously there's been a lot of change
and a lot of stuff happened with New Zealand cricket recently. So, if we could medal it
would definitely be a highlight, and that is the goal to go out there and medal. So
that's getting through the semi-finals, which we haven't done in pinnacle event in a while.
We have the talent like we've always had, it's just making sure that we give ourselves
the best chance in those critical moments. And you are one of the players that will benefit
from the New Zealand initiative to give male and female professionals equal pay in terms
of match fees. How is that going to change the dynamic and help the game in the country?
It's an interesting time and obviously it's massive news in New Zealand and we are now
one of the highest paid female athletes in the country through this change. But you're
probably not going to see the benefits immediately. It is going to take five years, I think, to
see the benefits of that investment. But for me, it's about now we have really put our
money where our mouths are. You know, young females like myself growing up, as they get
to 18 and are potentially going to choose another sport like basketball. Cricket now,
is a fully professional sport in our country so I think we're going to attract some of
the better athletes because there's a real clear pathway. It doesn't change too much
in terms of the amount we train, but I think having domestic players being paid as well.
And we are going to keep players in the game for longer, which is going to improve the
depth of our domestic cricket and that's just going to flow onto the international game.
I think we have now, young girls want to be part of the White Ferns and they can actually
fully invest in their training, and that makes them better athletes and better cricketers.
Do you think that cricket in the Olympics, given that cricket is now in the Commonwealth
Games for this year, could that be a precursor to cricket in the Olympics and could act as
a further carrot and incentive, if you like, for players to think by representing my country,
I could have an opportunity at an Olympics or Commonwealth's? The global audience that
the Olympics has, that has got to grow sport and yeah, I think as a hockey player, for
example, in our country. If you wanted to go to an Olympics, hockey would be a sport
that you'd chose over cricket. So, potentially, it does attract those athletes and then you
start getting into the American market as well with the Olympics and having the Indians
following the Olympics, I think would be massive for the IOC. So, there's huge benefits.
It's going to be an interesting landscape in the next four or five years. Things have changed
so quickly, although I feel like I've been playing for a long time. In the last five
years, the women's game, there was things that I never thought would have happened in
my career that have happened. So, you never really know what it's going to look like.
Enjoy the Commonwealth's. I hope you and the rest of the team are able to embrace that
whole experience and look forward to seeing you in action. Thanks for being with us on Stumped.
No worries. Yeah, can't wait! Well, that's all we've got time for on this week's
Stumped. So, I'll say thanks to Jim Maxwell and Charu Sharma and of course to you for
listening and we'll see you again on next week's show. Bye for now.