The Pope joins the pod! Nas returns to the 'Gabbatoir' and The Judge remembered

0:00Nas:This episode of the Sky Sports Cricket Podcast is sponsored by Tourism Western Australia, a part of the world we love, isn't it Ath?

0:09Ath:Sure is. We played and commentated there lots of times. It's always a place I've enjoyed going back to. How's your swimming, Nas? You ever gone snorkelling? I have, and Western Australia is the perfect spot for people who love being in the water. It is, in particular, the coral coast north of Perth, home to the crystal clear waters of the World Heritage listed Ningaloo Reef. You can go diving or snorkeling or even get out on a glass bottom boat.

0:37Nas:I've seen people swimming with whale sharks and hundreds of different types of tropical fish. It looks spectacular.

0:44Ath:Leave the everyday behind, get away from the well-known and the well-trodden and reconnect with something unspoiled, even a little wild, in Western Australia.

1:15Nas:England have hope. Put the beer away. Put the champagne on ice. 24 years of pain in Australia. Finally, they're beaten at home by England.

1:26Ath:OK, this is a mini Sky Cricket pod. Not a full one, mind you. Just a mini one the day before the first day of the second test at the Gabba. And we're in the Gabba Toire. Is it nice to be back at the Gabba Toire, Nass? Well, I didn't get it.

1:40Nas:They wouldn't let me in. I mean, for everything I've done for Australian cricket at this particular ground, I turned up, showed my accreditation. They wouldn't let me in. And then about half an hour later, Cricket Australia kindly came down and sorted out my accreditation. Then the moment I got in, we all got kicked out again. There was a fire alarm and fire engines and everything. It is lovely to be back at the Gabba. Yeah, looking forward to the test match.

2:03Ath:Well, it's a ground that's changed enormously, actually, a long time ago when I first played my first test here, 30 odd years ago, 1990. I think the hill, the old hill was about here. And then they had a dog track running around the outside. But now, of course, it's the kind of gabbertoir of the modern kind of concrete bowl that it is, really. But the pitch hasn't changed very much. It's usually a pitch that, a bit like the Optus of Perth, offers pace and carry. And that's going to be England's big challenge this week.

2:34Nas:It is. I mean, it can be flat here, by the way. Everyone's just making out. It is an absolute minefield. it's going to be like Perth. We've played here. England played here. Second time round when Strauss and Cook and that brilliant batting line-up scored, what, 500-plus on it?

2:49Ath:Second dig, mate.

2:50Nas:Second dig, yeah, not first dig. But that was obviously a day game and this is a day-nighter and they say under the lights here it does zip around. It does in most day-nighters. So it's been a long wait, Ath, hasn't it? It's been 12, 13 days. So that's going to be important.

3:05Ath:Well, you've racked up 74 bottles of Chardonnay I've had a great time.

3:09Nas:I've done literally every tourist spot between Perth and Brisbane. So I'm really looking forward to it. He's cut that pitch, but it still looks pretty green. So England have gone in with the balance of the side. I think it's the right balance. Will Jack's come in for the injured Mark Wood. Five seamers always seems a lot for me. And they had to play five in the last game because they wanted to go hard on that Perth pitch, which obviously aided seam and fast bowling. But also because three of them were Wood, Archer and Stokes, all a history of injury. So to go with four would have been a risk. Whereas now without Wood, they can go four and they can also go Will Jacks.

3:48Nas:And he obviously adds to their batting. What do you make, Australia? You've been here watching us a few whispers about Pat Cummings. We haven't got a team yet.

3:55Ath:Just to give you the timeline, it's half past four on the day before the game. So whatever we say here, we'll get overtaken at some point because we haven't had an Australian team. Steve Smith, who is nominally the captain in the squad, he gave the captain's press conference about a couple of hours ago down on the outfield. But he had very little to say, really. People kept asking about the team and he said, I just don't know. I'm not a selector, so I have nothing to say. And the reason for that is there are one or two rumours swirling around that Pat Cummins, even though he's not in the squad, is very, very close to selection and that they could, if he gets ticked off by the medical people, he could make a dramatic late entrance.

4:35Ath:I've spoken to a couple of people and they said they saw Pat Cummins

4:38Nas:and Andrew McDonald having a hug out there. Now, was that a hug? Welcome back or a hug? It was whatever you want to see in a hug.

4:47Ath:Anyway, those are the rumours swirling around. We think Travis Head will open. Usman Khawaja definitely not playing. We think Josh Inglis will play in the middle order. If Cummins came in, I suppose he could come in for Nathan Lyon, couldn't he? or dog it. They could just make a light for light swap, but then it'd be one of three and a half seamers with Cameron Green. Anyway, that's all speculation.

5:09Nas:I think that's why they were delaying it because they were waiting for the latest cut of that pitch. Once it's been cut, then don't go too early on your decision-making process. So they'll know now. It's just an odd thing to do with your captain. It's the sort of thing your captain is your first thing that you want to make the decision on. And they've left it quite late.

5:26Ath:Well, I think he just hadn't... You've got to get ticked off by the medical people first and he had to do two lots of bowling, which he did on Monday and Tuesday. He bowled consecutive days for the first time. So they're kind of leaving it to the last minute. The word last week was that it was unlikely, but it's not without possibility. Anyway, as I say...

5:47Nas:Ignore all that, by the way. That's all going to get overtaken. By the time you listen to this,

5:50Ath:the Australian team's probably been announced and all that uncertainty will be settled. Morning after, Judge passed away yesterday or that the news was announced yesterday that our friend Judge had passed away. Lots of lovely tributes in the papers today. I've read most of them and all of them sum up a guy very well who was an outstanding cricketer, a slightly troubled soul in the years after his career finished, but a hugely popular and loved member of the England team.

6:22Nas:Yeah, I've read all the pieces. I've seen all the footage on Twitter and the shots and I forgot how many times he batted without a lid on, actually. I remember him with those side pieces on, but there's a lot of footage of Judge batting. Which you wouldn't be able to do now. You wouldn't be able to do. I read your piece, it was a lovely piece as ever. Mike Selvey, what was it? He hit it as hard. You'd want the executioner's axe to fall as hard as Robin Smith hit it. And that was it. And the square cut has got mentioned so many times. And also, more importantly than all that, you get remembered for your cricket, and England fans have remembered, and Hampshire fans have remembered him for his cricket.

6:57Nas:But like Jack, Jack was very close to him, Jack Russell, all that team were. He was such a popular member of that team. And just seeing the reaction of fans who loved him for the player that he was, but also teammates who loved him for the person that he was. He had no, in fact, he was the opposite of someone who had an ego about him. You mentioned it yesterday. He actually was sort of a little bit of a nervy cricketer that didn't believe in himself.

7:21Ath:Yeah, he was a bit of a worrier. Yeah. very shy actually but somebody who always wanted to please he never really said no if you asked him to do something he would be incredibly eager to say yes

7:35Nas:I remember Edgbaston I think Shane got him again and he struggled picking Shane he was one bowler that he really struggled with and he came in at Edgbaston the old dressing rooms and he was just in the dressing room looking up at the screen in bewilderment and he was just laughing at himself he just said I just cannot pick this bloke Is he a flipper, a flopper, a googly? What is he bowling at me?

7:54Ath:They said he was a bad player of spin or a less good player of spin than pace, which I think is fair enough because he was an exceptional player of quick bowling. But I played in the game in Colombo when he got 100 against Moralee. It was 1993. It was a one-off test at the Sinhalese Cricket Club. I remember it. I opened with him, actually. I didn't get many. He got 100. It was a baking hot test match. You know what it's like in Colombo in March. And he used to sweat a lot, Judge. He was kind of high nervous energy when he batted. So he was drenched at the end of that innings and he had about 15 pairs of gloves laid out, you know, all drenched with sweat.

8:30Ath:And for somebody who by reputation was not a great player of spin, that was a fantastic inning. So he was certainly an all-around player, but if you said what was his super strength, it would be his bravery and his play against pace. So, yeah, a sad day yesterday. today and again our sympathies with judges family and friends um you've got to go and interview

8:57Nas:his holiness the pope done nothing for 12 days and it's work work work now i'm gonna i'm gonna ask him i'm gonna ask him what they've been up to um he seems to be playing a little bit better i mean wait just wait it's gonna come now just don't let's not go too early presuming that i've done some prep for this interview so i'm looking forward to speaking ollie pope and i'm looking forward to tomorrow.

9:18Ath:Okay, well good luck with this Holiness the Pope and yeah, catch you later.

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10:18Nas:Oli, thanks for your time. It must feel really odd. You've gone a long time without cricket, probably the longest you've been on tour without cricket, would you say? 12 days? Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I think I've been here for about a month or so now and obviously played two days of competitive cricket. So it's weird, yeah, but just ready to get going now. Just looking back at those 12 days, have you got the balance right between work and rest? You've had to work really hard because of what happened in Perth. Yeah, absolutely. I think we've had five sessions now. This is number five, so today will be pretty light.

10:49But no, I think we managed to... I think it's always healthy to get your mind away from it, kind of reflecting the result. Then you've got to just draw a line under it and go again. We did some good things, and we obviously had a bad couple of sessions in that last day of the game. So, yeah, there's only so much you can think about it. So, no, the guys are just fresh and ready to go now.

11:07Nas:There was a lot of talk about the two-day game in Canberra. just having seen the way that game panned out, the conditions, the climatic conditions, and the nets here in Gabba, at the Gabba, do you feel you've done the right thing, just looking back on what you could have done as a team? Yeah, absolutely. I think you can kind of look at it both ways, and I understand why there was a lot of noise around playing the two there, but then at the same time, look, we're trying to get ready for someone like Mitch Stark, who's going to be looking to swing the ball left arm angle and bounce here pitchers here in the humid conditions.

11:36So for us, I think it was clear. Obviously played in everyone's mind a little bit at the start. Do I, don't I? But then I think, yeah, it's definitely the right thing. And like I said, we've got some real good experience within the team. And we know how sort of quick things can change in cricket as well. As soon as you kind of get a bit of time in the middle, things are back to normal.

11:55Nas:The general point, though, forget just this week, but the general point between games anywhere in the world, if you go up, you know, Test cricket is a team game, but it's an individual game. can you go up to brendan mccullum and say do you know what the team might not be going to canberra or wherever i would like to go and play that's okay yeah absolutely um i think he kind of spoke to people about it and tried to gauge a little bit of a an opinion but no he'd be absolutely fine with that i know there's kind of this view from the outside that maybe it's just i just go have a train and then rock up at the game but i think that everyone's we've got everyone's very well in tuned with what works for them on the pitch and and of course we're as ready as we're ever going to be for this game but also for the rest of the four other games as well which I think is really important.

12:40I've learned over my time what gets me in the right frame of mind and I think that's getting that balance between kind of switching off from cricket but then also making sure you're 100 % here when you're at the ground so yeah we're ready to go.

12:53Nas:Let's talk pink ball test match cricket. You've played four of them in a variety of conditions. Is there any general rule or do they all vary from ground to ground, country to country? Yeah, I mean, I played a couple out here and then where I wasn't probably playing my best cricket for sure and then one in India and then in New Zealand as well. And I think, yes, I don't think you want to look into it too much. For me, in terms of when it's light, yes, it's going to be a little bit easier to bat in, I assume. Maybe it won't quite sort of kiss on as much and that's how it's felt in the nets anyway.

13:28but I think it's important to not look too far ahead obviously when we're batting in the day we're not going to be thinking oh you've got to get to this score by evening but because we all know how to deal with a ball that swings and a ball that nips if it does do that under lights which it's probably done slightly more when we batted in the nets under the lights so it's just trying to be as clear as you can be while you're out there and then try and adapt your game accordingly so you know that when it if it is slightly more in the bowler's favor at times how you're going to get through it or how you're going to put a little bit of pressure back on

13:54Nas:tell us specifically because I've never played a pink ball test match and people listening or watching specifically twilight new ball mitchell stark or whoever running in what are the difficulties at that period yeah I think look the ball does swing a little bit more under the lights and I guess the harder thing is probably seeing the seam normally when you're batting I guess if when you're facing these guys who are bowling 90 mile an hour and you can get a pretty good idea whether it's going to swing or not because you can see the seam and I think what the pink ball does is it just makes it a little bit harder and and the swing can be a little bit more inconsistent so it's just trying to while you're out there be as clear as you can right look someone like start might be looking to swing them back in or someone someone else might be looking to take it away and realizing what their biggest threat is and how you can kind of negate that and play the percentages but of course with a new ball it's not going to be easy but yeah it's just trying to play play the percentages into your hands that's a danger period as a batter and the mantra of this team and your coach is brenda mccullum is to run towards the danger an old school cricketer like me would see as that that's the danger period survive get through this and it'll get easier what put yourself in that position out there tomorrow and you're batting under lights and it's doing everything are you running towards danger are you saying it will get easier if i survive i think that's probably when it's down to the individual um for me uh without giving too much away i think the way I kind of went about my innings in that last game other than the dodgy shot I played getting out is how I go about things when I feel like it's tough, when I feel like it's nipping.