Pressure on the hosts, rain frustration & Nas' role at the ICC Women's World Cup

0:01Nas:Yeah, gone, gone, he gets his fairytale ending. An epic way to go to a Test Match 100. The London Sphere, the first time win is the most remarkable thing you'll probably ever see in cricket. 604 and final Test wicket for Stuart Ball. It's India who win the T20 World Cup. England's captain Ben Stokes, while he is there, England have hope.

0:32Well Nass, myself and the crew have made a slightly rustic trip from the centre of Indore to here which is Gullawat Lotus Valley which is an absolutely beautiful spot. The flowers though don't bloom until November and we're here in October so we're a month early. We should just explain the different attire. I, being a professional, got my laundry sorted.

0:54Nas:you by contrast did not i put my laundry in yesterday and the production assistant manager of this trip when we are doing an interview three million miles out of indoor tomorrow and my laundry isn't back yet so i've got jeans i've got a bead on i've got my smart shoes on look at the state of you ward come on up your game rustic it is rustic setting it is obviously the day after that England won that thrilling game against India. They're through to the semi-finals. It was a great game of cricket. It was. I said to you before the game, it was one that you couldn't call really because there's so, you know, between those sides, there's not much between them.

1:33Nas:There's great senior players, some younger players that are making their way in the game. Whereas previous games in this tournament, you'd rock up and you'd know, you know, England would probably win or Australia would probably win or South Africa would probably win. And with that one yesterday, all the way through, right till 57 needed or 58 deliveries with wickets in hand, you still felt there was a twist and a turn. And there was. So for India in particular, that's three in a row close games that they've not got over the line. South Africa, they'd almost won the game. Nadine de Klerk came in and suddenly took it away from them.

2:12Nas:Australia, they got 3.30 and lost the game. And then yesterday. But for England, they keep their unbeaten run going and they're through. They're qualified through to semifinals. We'll come back to England, but let's deal with India. They had that game by the scruff of the neck and they looked, and you did the presentation, they looked distraught. Yeah, Harman Preet, Kaur, you know, the pressure of being in a home World Cup. Right before the first game, she did a press conference and she was asked about the pressure of a home World Cup. And she was like, no, we don't feel the pressure. but if you lose three in a row and there's a big crowd in like that who are expecting them to win you then suddenly do because you now that New Zealand game that they've got next is a massive game so yeah they'll be hugely disappointed they were going well Harman Preet herself Smriti Mandana the ball was getting wet you know you can do those presentations you've done them and you have to speak to the captains as I had to yesterday I had all my questions ready for Nat Siverbrunt about the toss and batting first.

3:12Nas:Because when I went back after doing the toss yesterday, every single Indian I spoke to went, bat first here in indoor. There's a lot of dew comes down. That ball's going to be like a bar of soap. It's going to skid on. It's a chasing ground. And I was like preparing, what do you think about the toss decision? But they go on to win the game and India managed to snatch a defeat from the jaws of victory. I think the Smriti Mandana dismissal was the key turning point. She's held her hands up actually in the press. Yeah, and Harmanpreech mentioned her twice at the presentation. Three times actually it was.

3:47Nas:So Deepty's going well, Deepty's smashing it, Deepty should take that roll and Smitty should back through. And with mid-off out to try and take on, she probably says she was trying to hit it somewhere else, but hit it straight to cap, see it long off. And then, you know, the wheels come off after that. So that was a key, key wicket. Well, it's not over for India. They play New Zealand, as Nass said, and then they play Bangladesh, but they obviously need to arrest that losing run that they're on at the minute. From England's point of view, in terms of winning a tight game, that is what Charlotte Edwards has wanted to instil into this team the moment she took over.

4:24She's done that, it would appear. How different, perhaps, is that from previous England sides? It is different.

4:31Nas:The two accusations you could have against England in recent history has been when the pressure is on, they've crumbled. Whether it be in an Ashes series, whether it be under the lights in Dubai in a game against the West Indies in the T20 World Cup, which they needed to win, or semi-finals in T20 World Cups, which they've needed to win, they've succumbed to pressure, and mainly in the field. and the fielding has let them down and they've dropped catches and missed chances. That both they put right yesterday, albeit yesterday wasn't a must-win game. So that's the next challenge. When it's a knockout game and it has to be a must-win, otherwise you're on the flight back home, that will be the next challenge.

5:12Nas:But yesterday was a big pressure game against the top side with 20 ,000 in, screaming for India to win to keep their standards up from a game that they were losing, take their catches with a wet ball, sort of is the Charlotte Edwards way of doing things. Under pressure, we will deliver. I thought Nat Siver-Brunt had a good evening as well. She had to mix and match her bowlers to go back to Lindsay Smith, who's done all her work at the start of an innings, but to make sure she had overs of Lindsay Smith at the end. She said to me at the presentation, it wasn't the 50th over she was concerned about.

5:47Nas:It was the 48th and 49th, how to go about those, and I think she got it pretty much spot on. Well, she went Lauren Bell for the 49th. First of all, went for four. Yeah, yeah. And then there was an option of a super over as well last night, which we all started thinking about. We'd still be there. Yeah, looking at the regulations for the super over. So, yeah, and then you start thinking, have I got that wrong? Sometimes, and I wasn't being derogatory to her at the presentation when I said, did you just make it up as you go along? I was thinking of the captain. Sometimes towards the end, it's not all pre-planned.

6:19Nas:It's literally like, because you've got six, If it's five bowlers, it is a bit pre-planned. If you've got six bowlers, you're like, okay, who's the best right now? It may be a right-hander on strike, a left-hander on strike. It might be a short boundary. It might just be someone who's having a good evening, and it might just be gut feel that it's going to be Lauren Bell, that one, and it's going to be Lindsay Smith, that one. And she's got her bowling options and her field setting and the right fielders in the right positions. I thought she had a really good evening. Lindsay Smith had a really good tournament.

6:49Nas:Yeah, I think sometimes when you have to wait for things, I think A, you appreciate them a bit more. She's had to wait a very long time for this format, 50-over cricket and a 50-over World Cup. But also there's that sort of, I didn't expect to be here, I can handle this pressure. I think she's very good at handling pressure. Anyone that can bowl in the power play with the fielding regulations, with a brand-new ball like she does, she strikes me just as a tough cricket director. We talk about succumbing to pressure England. I look at people like her and Charlie Dean, Deepti Sharma in the Indian side, although she got out after getting 50 yesterday.

7:29Nas:There's people you watch and you think under pressure, they're the sort of people you want in your side. I think Lindsay Smith's one of them. I think Charlie Dean is another that scored some useful runs again to get England up to 2.88. So she's having a good tournament to come on and bowl that last over with a wet, slippery ball under pressure. she got it spot on. 300th game for a country yesterday for Heather Knight, her third international ODI 100 and when I heard that as she was approaching the milestone I had to double check that I thought surely she's got more than that but it was her third nonetheless, beautifully judged.

8:04Nas:Yeah she looks in good form, good touch considering how long she's been away from the game really, I did the game in May at Chelmsford where she was almost stretched off with that hamstring but you thought with a hamstring she'll be back in six weeks eight weeks and then she was in the hundred and she was in the dugout and she was like a mentor and then she's taken a lot and she's been through a lot she's been through high pressurized chambers to get the rehab going quicker she's been doing pilates and all this sort of stuff to get her body right and then she started well i mean the game against bangladesh when england were really struggling and she got the rub of the green she had a bit of luck with the catch and reviews but she got england over the line she looks in really good touch and she sweeps beautifully hard sweep she's worked on that reverse sweep remember in the women's game you only allowed four outs it's not like in the men's game where you had the extra fielder out so if you have got that sweep option i know as captain even with the extra one out anyone that sweeps well it's going to be so difficult to bowl out because you bowl your best ball a length ball where other batters are just blocking it or knocking it for one hard sweep four so you move that fielder there fine sweep four so you take this one over there reverse sweep and you could see um she just had um harman preak core um trying to work out where to get that extra fielder so her period as a dk mentor has stood her in good stead for this world cup would you say taking all the credit what are you on about sorry who's heather knight you said she was a mentor in the dugout oh dk no she's a better mentor than dk let's be honest so yeah i I mean, it's set her up perfectly for a World Cup, unlike DK.

9:44Nas:You've been here since the start. Let's look at the whole tournament. Have you seen any different trends? The trend in this tournament has been runs down the order. A lot of the sides have got off to bad starts and the game is going away from them. Even Australia in their first game here on a flat one in Indoor against New Zealand were struggling and then Ash Gardner came in and smashed 100. India, Australia against Pakistan in Colombo were 70 for 6 and then Beth Mooney batting at 4 and Alana King came in and took the game away from Pakistan. South Africa in the game against India when they were losing and lost at the end got over the line.

10:30Nas:So I think that's been the trend in this. That was Nadine de Klerka did that for South Africa. in this World Cup it looks like middle order batting has been absolutely fighting Heather Knight against Bangladesh England was struggling and Heather Knight with Charlie Dean got them over the line so that seems to be whereas in previous World Cups maybe the players at the top of the order I think it's now going the other way Elisa Healy's found form Tasmin Brits who's had an incredible year in 50 over cricket she's got a another hundred and a 50 the other day as well so that was the early trend definitely middle order runs we don't know yet that the fourth member of the semi-finals and this might not play out in the question i'm about to ask but in terms of size like bangladesh have you seen in any way the standard coming closer together Have you seen improvement in some of the other nations?

11:27We know about the big guns in women's cricket. What have you seen from, say, Pakistan and Bangladesh?

11:34Nas:I'd like to say slightly, and that's only because of conditions. So obviously the tournament's in subcontinent, so you'd expect Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Pakistan to be closer to the other sides. But two things with that. One, now, because of WPL, because of the amount of cricket these sides are playing and players are playing. They are used to these conditions. All that England team last night, a decade ago, they may have been alien conditions, but now they all play WPL. They'll be used to the crowd as well because of the 100 and WPL. So they're not phased by it. But, you know, the pitches have helped as well, obviously, the spin options of the subcontinent sides.

12:17Nas:I just think the batting hasn't. I think the batting remains the same. I think once you get, and there'll be the odd exception to this, but if you can post a score of 220 against Bangladesh, 99 times out of 100 you're winning that game. Same with Pakistan. Same with Sri Lanka if Atapattu doesn't get them. You'll probably go on to win the game. So that power hitting that you see from Australia, South Africa, England, India is still not quite there in some of the sides. So Pakistan will say, well, hold on. We had England 70 for 7 before the rain came and we were 30 for none chasing it down as well.

13:02Nas:So there have been opportunities where we've nearly had an upset. But as we sit here now, there hasn't been an upset in the tournament. It's interesting you mention about the batting and, say, posting 220 or whatever. I was talking to Ajesh, who runs ICC TV, and ICC TV are brilliant in terms of stats. We'll come on to that in a minute. And Ajesh was looking at the stats of the strike rates if a batter in women's cricket isn't scoring a boundary. It's that it drops off a cliff, and that's being able to knock your twos, to knock your ones, to keep the scoring ticking over. Is that sort of what you're talking about?

13:33It is the power hitting that I'm talking about.

13:38Nas:When I watch Tasman Brits back, you watch her, she is big and strong, and she can muscle fours and sixes everywhere. And then you can get off strike and knock it for ones and twos. And if you haven't got that strength, and I look at the Bangladesh line up, and I look at the Pakistan, they are small, not overly muscular, so they then have to rely on touch and other options. and I'd like to see them, we've spoken about the Heather Knight sweeping, I'd like to see them sweep more. Look at Phoebe Litchfield. She's not massive. She's not a big unit, but she has wonderful wrists and she sweeps and she uses her feet and she has touch and timing.

14:21Nas:So I do think there is a bit of a discrepancy there that the batting of some of these other nations does need to just go up a notch and maybe a bit more gym work. You see it in the men's game now, how strong. You don't have to be in the gym all the time. But I do think there is an area for improvement there in some of the women's game. I think there is, you know, Elisa Healy is not a massive unit, but she works areas. She'll often not be sitting in the room watching her bat. And you think, oh, that could be caught in the deep. And she hits it where there's not a fielder. Obvious thing to say, but there'll be a deep mid-off and a deep point.

14:58Nas:and Healy will find a way of absolutely hitting it perfectly between the two over extra cover for four. One of the frustrations of the tournament overall has been the rain in Colombo. Now, this is an Indian World Cup. We should be clear about that. The reason they're playing in Sri Lanka is because of the tensions between India and Pakistan politically. And Sophie Devine has been quite strong in what she said that, all right, we're playing in Colombo, but why can't we start in the morning when it's not going to rain? If it's going to rain, it's going to come later. We're not getting enough cricket.

15:29We waited four years for this and we're watching it rain.

15:32Nas:What's your take on that? She makes some very valid points there. You wait, as a female cricketer, you wait all this time to be centre stage in a World Cup, especially someone like Sophie Devine playing in her last 50-over World Cup probably. I think she's made that well known. And you want to play all the time. and you're right the first bit it wasn't supposed to be in Sri Lanka supposed to be just here in India and then you're in Sri Lanka it is the monsoon it's the rainy season they get so much rain there and then you have the same weather pattern every day in Colombo you get up it's bright sunshine and gradually the cloud builds the toss is half two at three o 'clock the clouds are rolling in at four o 'clock it's raining every day so I don't know why when I first looked you Now you come out, what time are the starts?

16:23Nas:It's 3 o 'clock. Why 3 o 'clock? I don't know if it's a TV thing, so you can have East and West. You can have Australia and New Zealand and England and all have the right TV slots. A lot of timings is obviously about TV slots around the world. Maybe the heat. I've heard one reason that it's the heat starting later in the day. You played Test Match in Sri Lanka starting at 10 o 'clock, wouldn't it? Hotter than the sun. I know, yeah. So it is. You just get on with it. That's part of being an international cricketer. You just play, you start at 10 o 'clock, play test match cricket, play one-day internationals.

16:54Nas:So I don't know the reason for it, but it's been disappointing to say the least because it has altered the table. You know, Schlenker would have waited a long time. Chamari Atapatu would have waited so long to have a home World Cup and be a captain in that 50-over World Cup. And every day you're sort of looking at weather forecasts and seeing if it's going to rain. So it has been very disappointing for players in particular in Colombo with the weather. Now, I'm not taking the mickey here at all. I did a little bit last night as we were coming off air because you were doing the presentation. Then you came over to us.

17:30Then you had to go and do digital. But people might be interested to know how it works. You're out here obviously talking to me for Sky Sports, but you're also working on the World Feed, which is ICC TV. What does that entail? What does a day entail for you? because you're flying around the place, you're doing different games, multiple different teams, a lot of prep work. How does it all work for you?

17:51Nas:Well, firstly, it's not a tough gig, as you know. No. And look where we are, and we love India. We come here. I've been to venues that I probably haven't been to for a very long time. And when you rock up there, you realise you're so old, they don't play in the same ground. You think, oh, I played at that ground. It's like, no, that ground's gone. This is a new ground or whatever. So we used to have like seven match shows how old I am, seven match one day series and I've probably been to Guwahati or I've probably been to Indore or Vizag or whatever and so it's nice to go back and it's nice always good to be back in India but your average day it is a bit groundhog day it is travel played or travel commentate travel commentate but the massive and you'll know this the massive change has been the information you get in the old days of me you ass bumble beefy bob whoever strolling around checking golf course times where to eat and where you can get a glass of chardonnay or whatever and then rock up the next day and go who's playing today sort of thing those days have long gone you or we will have obviously a statistician so the equivalent of benedict you know mazza as we both know from our days in Pakistan.

19:05Nas:Maza did the last venue. We'll have a crew for each venue. So your statistician will send you stuff all on your phone, on your laptop. But your phone's working. My phone's gone. I've completely lost my phone. No laundry, no phone, no passport, no glasses at one stage on this trip. No visa. No visa. The wheels have come off this trip completely. I fell off my chair yesterday in the comm box. I don't know what's going on. I'm back in the lake in a minute. so you'll get that then Crickviz will send you stuff which is really useful stuff match-ups and where they've struggled and who's who's hitting well in certain areas and then some other random stats person will send you stuff and then you'll get stuff from the other games that are going on so you'll finish at 11 in the evening and your phone will go with all the stats for the game that you're not doing somewhere else so you're bombarded with this information that is there and then you get the analysis producer with ICC events they'll have a specific producer for analysis and they will be hitting you with ideas for match-ups and who's struggling you know like the Tammy Beaumont stuff struggling against the in-swing and it's very useful you in the old days you just as a captain you'd have a gut feel so when you're preparing to bowl to Ricky Ponting your gut feel was with length you better be spot on if you're slightly full that much full he's driving you through mid on so your bowler adjusts by that much and he's pulling you over square leg for six so you'd say to your bowler just on gut feel bowling to Ricky get your length spot on that's more important maybe than line whereas now it's all about the analysis you get it's not just gut feel the gut feel is backed up by the stats so I might ring the analysis producer or the statistician or crick vision says my gut feel is that tammy beaumont keeps getting out to the in swinger or the knit backer and they will send you stuff to back that up or say no that's absolute nonsense is actually the one that moves away so it's all very useful the only thing i'd say to your modern commentator and i've always learned this from someone like bumble or ian smith they will turn up with their stats and they will all they will do their prep but they have a real I mentioned gut feel there.

21:21Nas:They will have a gut feel to commentary. A game of cricket is a lot more than statistics or analysis, and I'm as worse as anyone with over-analyzing. It is just about calling the moment and having that let it breathe and let the moment talk for itself sort of thing. So if I was offering any advice, it would be just have a turn up and have a feel for commentary. just let the words at times, it's about words and that's where people like Ian Smith, Ian Bishop, Bumble are just magnificent and just explain the commentary rotor because that is dictated by the producer and overseen an ICC event by Adjesh who I mentioned a little earlier, do you look at that very closely do you work in a partnership with your commentator how does that work, do you look and say oh well we can go that way with this commentator you and I have commentated together for 10 years or whatever it is now but in these events you are commentating with with new people yeah and there'll be people who are not just new but new to commentary so it's a tash farron who's done quite a bit of radio so she will have a first gig at tv commentary maybe so you wouldn't expect her immediately as you know there's a lot big difference between lead commentary and color commentary so often someone new to the gig will be on color commentary and also they add so much more tash just outside coming out of the dressing room she will know exactly what lauren bell's working and she did a really good piece on lauren bell's wrist position and run up an angle of your run up we have broadie why is broad so good for us you know it's suddenly he's just like that he'll see things and do things that we're like okay i never really thought of that sort of thing because he's just come out of the dressing room and then you'll have your lead commentator who i think Bish has arrived since the West Indies series, who's more experienced, that will do the first few minutes of taking you on air and all the stuff that you have to do and call the moment.

23:25Nas:So, you know, I don't mind. I don't rock up and look at the comm and go, well, I'm not on lead enough or I'm on colour too much or whatever. You're there, you commentate. The hardest bits for me is the toss. I get really nervous about the toss. You've done hundreds. I don't know why. I just really get nervous about the toss. I can't see a part unless you're Ravi Shastri no one does a good toss it can only go wrong England have won the toss and they're going to you're relying on the director they're batting the toss does my head in it's all good fun you work as a team you work as a pair the analysis is really good in ICC events we're lucky at Sky when we do those third as pieces and we have people, you know, in Iserworth that are building stuff or whatever.

24:17Nas:But here at ICC, they have so many analysis producers that will have ideas and throw ideas at you. With the toss, I'm with Bumble on this, and he said this years ago, if you and I were tossing up and whoever it was flip up, you win. We'll bat and then just walk away. Well, that's good coming from Bumble. Didn't he headbutt Richie Richardson at a toss? He went down to pick up the coin. I mean, Richie Richardson went down and the two of them head-butted. Bumble's beak got in the way or something. So it's not as easy as Bumble makes out. Back to the cricket then. We know three of the semi-finalists.

24:51Who do you think potentially could be number four?

24:55Nas:Well, it makes that India-New Zealand game. I think that's Navi-Mumbai, which is a good pitch. It'll be a good crowd in in Mumbai. I've not been there. Have you been to Navi-Mumbai? I've not been there at all. So I think they played WPL games there. Again, going back to your initial question a few moments ago about that's where the stats and the information is very useful. And co-commentators have worked on WPL and on those games. What's that venue like sort of thing, getting information. But you still have a gut feel. India haven't played bad cricket. India are struggling to qualify and have lost three in a row.

25:32Nas:not because they've played bad cricket but they've just played bad bits at the end of games so you still feel that they're good enough to get through but if they do get through they're going to have to be a bit tougher because they may well face australia or something or england again if england topped the group so um i still feel india but new zealand new zealand have you know they've been sort of biding their time they started slowly then a bit of rain in colombo um those two experienced players um they'll want to finish off well in world cup cricket susie bates and sophie devine so i fancy india still that i said before that it will be india australia and now england south africa but new zealand have got a say in this well south africa still got a game in colombo haven't they so i'm just thinking it's one place four two place three so they might drop a point potentially with rain and because i suppose everyone's desperate just to avoid australia at all class until they have to.

26:32Nas:We haven't spoken about them, haven't we? They're just such a top side and we'll find out Wednesday. Even though both sides are qualified, it's still England-Australia. We know it's just such a big game for those two nations in any format, men's, women's, Ashes coming up, whatever. It is just such a massive game. Australia just looks so strong. Healy's found form, Litchfield's found form, Sutherland with the ball brilliant, Alana King brilliant just the drift and spin and she's got a fabulous record against england i think that's an area for england alana king against them um that's going to be a big big battle for them so they look incredible the batting depth of you know with mcgras and sutherland and gardner and all these batters down the order they just keep coming at you um so that they still look favorites it may be your classic sort of we've waited a month to find out that australia are the best cricketing nation here.

27:33Nas:But as we found out last night, if you get it slightly wrong for 10 overs, a game can be taken away from you. So who knows? Well, that is Wednesday back at Indoor. England play again at Indoor against Australia. As Nass says, both have qualified, but it is, of course, England against Australia. Happy Diwali, everybody. We found some flowers. There was a lad that just brought some flowers in, so we didn't quite have to wait till November. We will catch you next time and now she's got a bit of a bead on so we're going to get in the shade. See you later.