Hello and welcome to Stumped, your intercontinental hit of news, features, and debate
from the quirky world of cricket. I'm Alison Mitchell in Melbourne, a city that's been enjoying
the Barty party - Ash Barty's having a wonderful run in the Australian Open and Dylan Alcott,
whose...well his final didn't go the way he wanted but in wheelchair tennis, and the quads were he has
just been remarkable and the new Australian of the Year as well. But, this is a cricket programme,
not a tennis programme. And I am enjoying covering the women's Ashes Test which is taking place in
Canberra. I'm following it all from the studio here in Melbourne, but we'll get more into that as
the show goes on. You're a true all-rounder, Ali, and it's good that you're a dual
passport holder I think at the moment the way Australia's travelling against England. As you can see,
there's a Christmas tree behind me, and it's still Christmas for Australian cricket. Maybe not in the
Big Bash, that's been very curious. The Sixers have somehow got to the final despite the fact
they can't have their best replacements and it was the most miraculous victory against the Strikers
to get to that point. So, the cricket season glows on and the Australian batting's pretty good
to start the Test match in Canberra. Well for both of you I guess I have to wish Ash Barty good luck.
Hello, This Charu Sharma for All India Radio, not in Bangalore this week, but five hours away in
India's most beautiful district called Coorg, where on the coffee plantation picking is going
on, requiring some extra attention. So yeah, we're in the middle of the jungle not that this scenario
would appear in the middle of the jungle. But you know I'm also happy to be away from all
that lament and all the confusion caused by the Indian cricket team sinking like a rock after
that first win in South Africa and looking forward to all the home series now. I'm not paying so much
attention to the women's Ashes as I should. I know Alison, you will rap on the knuckles for that.
Well we're gonna be talking about it Charu. I know there's some issues that you're wanting to get
into, so we will come to those as well because we are going to start with the women's Ashes series,
because it has headed to Canberra with Australia leading England by four points to two in the
multi format series. That's after Australia won the first T20. Unfortunately, both the second
and third T20s were abandoned due to rain and that weather was a huge frustration for England captain
Heather Knight and her team. They are now focused on this Test match which is worth four points.
If Australia win it, well then they'd retain the Ashes before the three ODIs are even played. That
means England cannot afford to lose. Now day one did see England get off to a great start with the
ball, Heather Knight put Australia into bat and well they got reduced to 2-4 and then 3-43,
before Meg Lanning, the captain and Rachel Haynes settled into a century partnership.
Both were dismissed shorts of hundreds. Australia, they closed the day on 7-327 A pretty healthy
looking total. Now Jim, it is fascinating to watch a women's Test, because it's four
days in duration. It's a format that isn't played domestically and very rarely, internationally.
So, adaptations, stamina and concentration levels are all tested. And England did
drop both of those key batters - Lanning when she was on 14, just before lunch, Haines on 44 in the
20 minutes after and those drops proved costly. They so often do in Test cricket, don't they?
Yes, particularly with this Australian side, which has a fair bit of depth and clout in its batting and
England got on the wrong end of that as a result of giving a few chances away. So,
it's tough I think in these games, particularly when England are under the points pressure of
this format, trailing four points to two because of wash outs in the T20. And the pressure just
builds. They've sent Australia in, they've got to do this, they've got to do that, so that the
Test match can never stand alone in a series of games, which would normally be the case if there's
some sort of tradition and history of playing Test cricket. You could keep the white ball stuff over
there and play the Test match separately. But that's not the way it works, so I think England
have got a very big task ahead of them to stay alive in this match because they've got to compete
with Australia's excellent score, and try and open the game up over four days to get a result other
than a draw, which I would think at the moment it's probably their best outcome and I hope that
with the one dayers, they can do a little bit better than they did in the one T20.
It's interesting what you're saying there about the Test match and you know, can it stand alone? Of course,
the Test used to stand alone and that's what the Ashes trophy was decided on. Australia and England
have played each other since what 1934, but it was 2013 when this multi format series was brought in
because the Test matches were sort of dwindling. Rather than playing three, it then became
a series of two and then just one completely on its own, which was felt to be unsatisfactory.
Charu, what do you make of this multi format series with the T20s, the Test and the ODIs?
Do you like it? Well, I have a fairly healthy dose of traditionalism inside me as
well when it comes to cricket. But I've got to admit the area that cricket is moving into and the way it's evolving,
this is probably the best way forward, because I mean time's just so short. You can't have these
long tours anymore, and there's so many more countries to play. You can't just play against
one country and then play five Tests once and then go and play one dayers again, and so on,
so forth. So, this is the way to go. And I know it takes attention away from the single Test match.
If there was a possibility, I think, a longer Test series, and I'm sure the multi format would
have seemed a little less useful, but here, every match needs to count because this is the big tour.
It might mean for bigger squads because there might be professionals playing red-ball and
white-ball differently. But it does give a lot of relevance to every single match, every single day,
barring of course, the weather problems that you've had in Australia this time around. So,
I'm not against it. I think if every single match counts, it garners a lot more attention. Rather
than, as you know, Australia, every once in a while, doesn't seem to be friendly with the
T20s. Like, you know, we don't care what happens here, you got to care for every single match. So,
this is probably the way forward given the way global cricket is evolving.
Now I feel it has in a way sort of saved the Test format for the women, because I think that really was in danger of dying out.
South Africa had stopped playing it, India had stopped playing it. When they played England
in a multi format series last summer, they hadn't played a Test since 2014. So, it has provided a way of
keeping it alive. But there is that difficulty, Jim, isn't there when players don't play
multi format cricket at all domestically, in the rest of the world, anywhere. And then you know,
preparation is difficult because of Covid at the moment, certainly. I was chatting to Lisa Sthalekar
earlier today - the former Australia spinner - and she was suggesting if there's no
domestic multi-day cricket, maybe by way of preparing players or at least working it into
a domestic schedule, what about having Australia v Australia A matches scattered throughout a season,
and in England have England V England A four-day matches scattered throughout the season? So,
it actually gives players a bit more experience of multi day when it's a time where it's impossible
at the moment to consider bringing four-day cricket in on a permanent domestic club basis.
If Test cricket is going to continue to be relevant, they need to play more
preparation style cricket, whatever it may be, in order for it to have some credibility. So that's
something we're going to have to wrangle with because unless you get all the other countries to
come to the party, it's a standalone competition, it seems, just for England and Australia.
And I don't think that's an altogether healthy situation. But whichever way you look at it,
we know that the short form, white-ball game, whichever name you put to it is going to dominate
the conversation and the television stations preoccupation with covering the women's game.
If somehow they can maintain what they've got, and make it viable, perhaps it can endure. But
it's the old story about you know, where does Test cricket go from here when there's
so much pressure in the schedule with all the white-ball cricket that we're playing. That's not
just a women's thing, it's a men's thing more and more. But somehow, we've got to try and find a way
to keep Test cricket as part of the game. How you do it? That's the quandary.
Yeah, indeed, I think I feel rather more optimistic knowing how special the players
look upon the opportunity to play Test cricket, however rare, it might be. But speaking
of credibility, Charu, an important element of this Test match has been that there is full
DRS - the decision review system - which in previous important women's series has been
missing. And that has seemed to be a bit of a slight, but it's here now and that's significant, isn't it?
A big step forward. Not just because it sort of gives, as you say,
a special recognition to women's cricket but also the utility of it because we can't have
one form of the game always not being assisted by technology, because we know how much it assists.
Now with no disrespect to the umpires, you know that. They get a fairly high percentage right, but
if there is technology and that's not available for women's cricket, it is a slight. It's like
saying we don't have the budget for this and we don't quite want to give you the same privilege
because women too need to question decisions once in a while. And of course, the responsibility with
it all. They'll learn like, I remember the first time DRS was instituted I think the Indians were
in Sri Lanka, and the Indians got hopelessly wrong, because every time the spinner bowled,
Kumble said everything is out all the time! But I think they've also matured and learned in the
men's game. And I'm sure the women would relish it, but I love the fact that there's now this
recourse, and it adds to the drama of it all as well, and just gets more things right.
Yeah, I think it's important to have the technology at its best. There still needs to be some refinement on
umpires call in the game. I mean, it's absurd to think that someone is not out because the umpire
says it's not out and the replay shows almost half a ball hitting the stumps, for goodness sake.
So, they still have to play around with that part of it, I think, but
we're getting there. And I don't think there's any doubt that we're getting
more credible decisions out of the process than we were before. Well, some of the players
featuring in this Ashes series have featured in the ICCs annual awards, which came out this week.
Top performers across the men's and women's International game have all been celebrated.
Significantly, Pakistan picked up four awards, including the men's cricketer of the year, which
was won by Shaheen Shah Afridi and the emerging women's cricketer of the year in Fatima Sana. Now
women's cricketer of the year was India's Smriti Mandhana. Charu, you'll be pleased about that.
Jim, no Aussies on the list though. Did they just not play enough during the pandemic?
I can't see any New Zealanders there either. So yeah, Australia doesn't play much cricket. They
only play the T20s when they have to and they won that and play the Ashes at home and they won that.
They don't like playing Test cricket overseas anymore. You can come and play in Australia if
you want to play. So, it is nice to have some kids who were playing. But you know, you got to win big
trophies. And none of these countries are winning big trophies! Well Australia got one...
Ouch, ouch. Let's celebrate the individual wins. And in particular,
then let's talk about Pakistan because in their 17-year history, the ICC awards 17-year history that is, Pakistan had won three
of the main honours, and now they've won four in just one year. So, Charu, how would you rate Pakistan
over the last 12 months, especially the men's team? Well, it's just that they're carrying a bad
reputation. It's a bit like South Africa for many years carried this reputation of being chokers,
whether right or wrong. You can argue with that. Pakistan too. I mean, every time we refer to the
team, we say mercurial, undependable, and so on and so forth, but individually, there's no
doubt that there's some very bright you know, fabulous cricketers on the team. And I have no
argument with all three that have been nominated or given the award. I mean, Shaheen Shah is very,
very incisive. A terrific, fast bowler; big, tall everything that you need in a fast bowler.
Babar Azam I'll always have very high regard for because he's technically just so pleasing to watch.
Perhaps there's a case to be talked about here, whether the sum of their parts may be not adding
up, but they have some individually brilliant cricketers. And I'm glad for Pakistan cricket,
which we all know has been suffering for many years now particularly in an attempt to try
and play cricket at home that needs to have this to cling on to and realise that they are really
very good internationally. They just haven't had quite the result that Australia has had when it
comes to big tournaments. Jim, have you enjoyed watching Pakistan in the last 12 months?
The men's team I'm guessing you've seen a lot more of? Yes, and I'm looking forward to the series
that Australia is going to play particularly the Test matches in Pakistan, assuming it all
comes off. That's a very important thing to occur, you know.
These awards are very encouraging, particularly when you go down to the associates; one winner
from Oman and the women's associate cricketer from Austria! That's usually an American saying: "Where
do you come from? Austria?" "No, I said Australia." It's interesting to look at the overall best
bowler, best batsman in the game at the moment are two Australians, but they don't feature because
as you say, you don't play enough but it's good to see the spread of these awards. What do they
actually get? Do they get a badge, a trophy or a check? What's the award?
I think a nice memento or trophy. A trophy. Yeah, you remember the old ICC trophy with the ball on top? Yeah.
I'm looking forward to Pakistan, just playing Test cricket against Australia again. Apart from
all the other little things that are going around at the moment in terms of the scheduling of the
game and in matches that are attractive. To be quite honest with the emerging men's cricketer
of the year, Janneman Malan. I've never heard of him but he must be good.
Well he had a really good knock against the Indians in the final ODI if you remember he played really well. Very
difficult to out. Charu, I want to come to you on Smriti Mandhana
because she was named the women's cricketer of the year for the second time in her career and her numbers:
855 runs in 22 internationals - an average of 38.86 - one century and five half centuries.
She's excellent across all formats, isn't she? Well, the numbers speak for themselves. Of course,
she's fairly prolific, hasn't maybe got as many big runs as she might like, but it's more
just the way she bats. It's so pleasing. I was talking about Babar Azam a short while
ago and you know how lefties are, I mean, they're twice as elegant for some strange
reason anyway. And she has not only been in good form around the world, not just like at home,
but also the way she collects her runs so pleasing. The offside; I used to talk about Sourav Ganguly
in the past about you know, there's God and then there's Sourav Ganguly, but Smriti is just so fluent,
and she can pull pretty well too. So, I think the batsmen are busy trying to figure out what's her
Achilles heel. She's just that competent, very pleasing to look at, and when it comes to an
award, of course, she has got it twice. In the subcontinent, I will wager that these awards
probably carry a little more significance because in the past haven't gotten enough of them.
And she's properly pleased. I just hope that overall, apart from her getting the award, it does
something more for women's cricket in India, where there's a little more attention, more competition,
perhaps more reward. Where Indians wake up to say, 'hey, one of our own is the best in the world,'
so maybe we should flock to the sport in bigger numbers to watch and certainly bigger numbers to play.
Even bigger, is that possible, even bigger? I mentioned that some of the players from the
Ashes series feature is only one in fact; it's Tammi Beaumont for England.
She's the women's T20 cricketer of the year. Another England player in Joe Root is the
men's Test player even though on the end of the drubbing the Ashes of course, but individually,
he still had a phenomenal 2021 with the bat. 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 Charu Sharma, Jim Maxwell, and all of you for listening. We'll speak to you next week. Bye bye.