Hello and welcome to Stumped, your intercontinental hit of news, features,
and debate from the quirky world of cricket. I'm Eleanor Oldroyd sitting in this week for Alison Mitchell
and I'm in a sunny London town where there is blue sky overhead. The daffodils are out,
there's a bit of warmth in the air. Spring is on the way and that fills my heart with joy because
I looked at my diary and I've worked out that we are recording this on a Thursday and three weeks
today, the domestic cricket season gets underway. The County Championship season will begin when no
doubt there will be snow and it'll be freezing cold, and people will be sitting wrapped up warm
across the country. But the cricket will be back in an English summer, which is one of my
best times of the year. My favourite times of the year, but I am extremely lucky, of course, because
I missed out on two months of the English winter by spending it in Australia with you, Jim Maxwell.
Yes, Eleanor and you had a wonderful time apart from the cricket, I suppose. But maybe things
are looking up a little bit for the English women in New Zealand in that event down there
that Australia are certainly playing well in. And I can smell autumn gardenia, just outside as you
were going on about the flowers, but our cricket season is winding down. Other than our eyes on
events across the ditch in New Zealand and in Pakistan where we had a gripping draw
between Australia and Pakistan - a game Australia should have won. But the Babar, he
was bigger than the other Baba in making a massive score and batting for 10 hours to save the game.
Well, he's brilliant, isn't he? Eleanor. Welcome to Stumped, if I can
say that on behalf of the Stumped team. Great to have you here. I'm Charu Sharma
for All India Radio in Madhya Pradesh in the central Indian city of Indore which, by the way,
has been declared the cleanest city for the last five years in the country and there's plenty of
evidence of that from what I can see. This is a sort of a temple and a wildlife trip, so
more on that much later, but we'd started it all off. It's very hot, I must confess. Cricket wise,
well the Indian men had been overwhelming against Sri Lanka in Test match cricket at home. The women
have sadly disappointed a bit. Up and down and allowing England a way into the World Cup,
but hopefully they'll be more steady as they go along. We've got lots to catch up on, particularly
from the men's Test point of view, because we've got England in action in the West Indies at the
moment. We've had that Australia epic Australia against Pakistan draw in Karachi, Jim, that you've
mentioned and we will talk about India playing Sri Lanka as well. But we going to start with
the women's Cricket World Cup, where England have kept their hopes of retaining the trophy alive for
now. They've lost against Australia, South Africa, West Indies, but they beat India by four wickets
in their last match. Jim, do you feel like this could be a turning point for England or
has the damage already been done? Well, I hope it is a turning point because they're a better
side than the one we saw in those other matches, but it hasn't quite clicked. There was some pretty
ordinary fielding in one or two of those games and they need their top players Knight and Sciver,
in particular, with the bat to come off and they'll be competitive. But it becomes a bit of
a crisis of confidence when you're losing, even if you've been in the game and had a chance. So
from here, I well, remember what happened with Australia in 1999 when they started badly and then
won every match. So maybe England can do that and beat Australia in the final. That will be some result.
What have you made of England, Charu? I think, as Jim says when you get into a losing
habit, it's difficult to shake it and England, having come off the back of not winning a game
and in the Ashes in Australia and then you forget how to win, don't you?
They also perhaps had the misfortune of playing all the best teams first up. They've played three very tough teams and
I'm not particularly happy that India allowed them back in, because they did beat India in the super
final back in 2017, but they are back and they're a very good team as Jim has said I see no reason
why against lesser opponents as they go along the tournament, they can't win everything thereafter.
They beat the West Indies I mean they lost to the West Indies, but India beat the West Indies. I don't
know what s going on in terms of form here. I think England have much better team and I don't
know why they started so badly. I'm not so sure whether the conditions didn't suit them,
or they were under prepared. Well, they are a much better team and Eleanor, there's good news, they'll
win everything from now on. I'm certain about that. How about that for a prediction?
What about Jhulan Goswami, Charu, because she made history this week by becoming the first ever female pace
bowler to claim 250 wickets in one-day cricket. What an achievement for her.
Quite brilliant. And I believe there's a movie soon to be made on her as well, which is the new fad here in India,
but why not? She has been playing for India for so long. Bit of an odd figure in Indian cricket being
very tall and of course, the 250 wickets, just isn't a tribute to what she's been able to achieve
internationally. Always very tight and never gives too many runs away, has a very steady action
coming in and a very good line as well - almost always keeps it outside off stump. So, she does
all the basic things really well. And I remember Bob Willis telling me a long time back. I was
chatting with him in the mid-90's and I've said this before, and I'll say it again. He said that
for any bowler, there were some sort of tradition about trying to be under 25 as an average.
And he was just over, and he regretted that at the end of his career. But Jhulan on a 21.9 or so
under 22. It's also the fact that she has gotten all these wickets but given very little away. So,
a top-class performance and whether they admit it publicly or not, but people love such records don't they?
So well done, Jhulan. A great performer, great soldier for India. Next on Stumped. Deandre Dottin,
Harmanpreet Kaur and Mignon Du Preez are just some of the big names to sign up to
a brand-new women's cricket tournament featuring players from as many as 36 countries, including
Bhutan, Vanuatu and Germany. The Fair Break invitational is a women's T20 cricket tournament,
which will be played in Dubai and contested by six teams featuring world renowned players. To tell us
more we're joined on Stumped by the founder of Fair Break and the man behind the tournament,
Shaun Martyn. Hello, Shaun. Hello, Eleanor. So what made you in organise this tournament?
Tell us the thinking behind this particular tournament. It sounds absolutely fascinating.
Well, it goes back a long way to prior to the 2013 women's World Cup. I did a lot of work with
Lisa Sthalekar for many years. I wrote a book with which we launched in Mumbai in 2012 and at the
end of that tournament in 2013 when she retired, we set about creating what we called the WICL
in those days - Women's International Cricket League - with a view to having a global women's
T20 tournament to advance to the game and also to try and improve the player remuneration
and conditions around what was going on. We could see the increase in the quality of the play
and also the viewer numbers around the world. And that prompted us to begin that. Now that
was an interesting exercise in itself. We were seen by some people as a rebel
group which we weren't, we were just trying to grow the game and improve conditions and
subsequently that morphed into what is now Fair Break, because the more work we did the
more it became around equality and opportunity issues. Then I worked for seven years to get
approval from the ICC to run this tournament. So, there's never been a cricket tournament like it,
there's never been 36 countries involved in to the best of my knowledge any sporting event
team sporting event outside of an Olympic Games. So, it's quite interesting. Over the years,
we've identified and unearthed a lot of talent in associate nations that you don't get to see,
because there's not the opportunity for them to play. So, when you marry that talent with
what I would say the more better-known international players, then that's quite a powerful mix of talent.
Jim Maxwell, Shaun. Nice to be talking with you. I remember all of this
happening some years ago and things have certainly evolved for women's cricket. It's getting more
exciting and pretty good to watch, which you couldn't say 10 or 15 years ago. So can
you tell us more about some of the people involved because you have some huge stars involved.
Well, just from our own management team we've got some interesting people. Geoff Lawson works on
this with me full time and has for a number of years. Alex Blackwell's part of our management
team, Sana Mir is part of the management team and I suppose, from 2018 we were putting
Fair Break teams on fields. We played the first ever Sir Paul Getty women's XI at Wormsley and we've
done that every year up until Covid. Suzie Bates has captained that team. Alex Blackwell has and
that was really the format. That was an example of what you see in the tournament where we would
blend some very notable, iconic players with these great associate nation players. So, every time a
Fair Break team has taken feel that's been in a squad of 12 or 14 women usually from 10 or 12 countries.
But in this particular tournament, we've got a host of names... If you want
names of players. The Mignon du Preez's, the Marizanne Kapp's, the Stefanie Taylor's
the Diana Baig's, The Deandre Dottin's. Suzie Bates is playing,
Sana Mir is coming out of retirement to captain one of the teams. So there's 40 players
from full member board nations and approximately 50 players from associate nations. But I think
you'll find in the tournament that some of the associate nation players that we've identified
will probably be as bigger names by the end of the tournament as some of the ones that are notable in
women's world cricket now. Yes, you talked a bit about the hidden diamonds in the
other nations. Can you give us a bit more of a feel for that; about the opportunity and
perhaps some other names from these other places that we wouldn't have heard of before?
The other good aspect of this is it's the first time those associate nation players are fully
contracted and paid. So that's a significant piece for a lot of them. It's actually life
changing for many of them in their countries that they live in. If I talk about players like
Selina Solman who have been with us since 2016; the captain of Vanuatu. Selina's played against
you would say the Charlotte Edwards', the Suzie Bates. She played in Australia here against a full
WBBL side and was the player of the match in those games. She's an outstanding player. Anju Gurung
from Bhutan who you'll see who bowls magnificent left arm in swingers and only plays men's cricket in
her country and I think will be a sensation. Esha Oza from the UAE - outstanding player.
Geetika Kodali from North Carolina, who played for us at the Bradman Oval prior to covid.
17-years of age and an outstanding player. There's Maryam Omar the Kuwaiti captain. She's
a civil engineer and plays Premier League cricket in Melbourne and plays in a hijab. So these
are the outstanding players. If they were playing not in associate nation countries, I believe they'd
be playing for a full member board country. Sterre Kalis from the Netherlands has been with us
for three or four years now and she's fully contracted player for the Northern Diamonds
and the last time Sterre played for us at Bradman Oval, it was against Sarah Campbell and Hannah
Darlington and virtually a full WBBL side, and she'd still be batting now if we hadn't retired
her. They are incredibly talented group, but it is about opportunity and exposure for them.
Shaun, it sounds like you've got some fascinating ideas there and I'm sure that the rest of the world will
watch with great interest, what you're doing as well because it's a whole new ball game as they
say, but it's cricket, essentially, and that's what we love and I love the idea that you're
trying to grow the global game in a very literal sense. Shaun Martyn, thank you very much indeed.
Shaun is the organiser of the Fair Break tournament, which will be taking place
in Dubai. Let's wrap up Stumped today by talking about some extraordinary Test match cricket that
has been going on in the men's game around the world. Jim, let's start with that extraordinary,
that amazing Test match between Pakistan and Australia in Karachi. Australia 556-9 declared,
then Pakistan bowled out for 148. So, 400 runs behind. Australia didn t enforce the follow on.
They declared, but still set Pakistan a huge target to win it or to save the game and
they saved the game. And Babar Azam was the star of that with 196 in his second innings.
What a Test match, but will Australia rue those missed opportunities, or will they just take
their hats off to the way that Pakistan played in that second innings? Oh, they'll certainly take
their hats off, particularly to Babar Azam, for playing such an extraordinary innings. I think the
interesting part of this match was the way that Pakistan, unlike, perhaps, sometimes in the past,
they showed a bit more resolve. The word collapse and the word Pakistan are synonymous quite often
in the history of cricket. No-one can collapse as well as Pakistan and we saw that in that first
innings on a good pitch. Yes, Australia got a bit of reverse and it all happened in a hurry. As they
tend to do when you have a collapse, and they made 148. I well understand why Cummins did not enforce
the follow on and they'd only batted for 53 overs but there was so much time left. In the end,
after the declaration, still 172 overs to get them out! Well with that attack,
if you can't get a team out. something's gone amiss and Australia could argue that yes, they missed
some chances. Crucially, Smith dropping Abdullah Shafique when he was 20, and he went on to 96. So
that and just the attitude, resolve, the skill of Babar Azam in occupying the crease for so long,
thwarted Australia and they put a few more chances down on the last day, but it was engrossing
viewing. I have to say. As so often in Test cricket when we see this situation when one team's
trying to survive, the other team's pressing for victory. Only one team can win it, you'd assume.
You get this drama and we had it right at the end. Another dropped catch from Khawaja.
So, well done Pakistan for getting out of it. And I have a feeling that they're probably going
to get out if that's the way you want to look at it. Australia declared twice, so I think they were
the dominant team without getting the chocolate so to speak. Lahore will be even tougher than
these two Tests to get a result because that's another slow, dead as Julius Caesar pitch. So,
we may well get three draws, which takes us back to India playing Pakistan in the 1950s when there
were draws on very flat pitches, and the pitches are pretty flat! Well, that's all we've time for on this week's Stumped
on All India Radio. Don't forget you can follow us on Twitter, we are @BBCWSSport and use #BBCStumped and check us out
on Youtube too. Go to BBC World Service Youtube. My thanks to Charu Sharma, Jim Maxwell and to all of
you for listening. Speak to you soon. Bye bye.