Women's World Cup preview with Mel Jones | Plus, Ashes squad announced & Dickie Bird tributes

17:04Ath:And Henry Cullen, who hit the winning runs, was one of Josh's best mates in that setup. So good day for Worcestershire, who's seen around that issue. It says probably a lot of good things about that club. Paul, Josh's dad, was telling me how supportive the club had been over the last 16 months. So well done to Ashley Giles and Worcestershire, not just on the win in the Metro Bank, but on the broader picture there. So that was a good day, although a little bit kind of nostalgic for those of us who remember the one-day finals. as they were, you know, the Lords final back in the day, full house, that kind of thing.

17:51Ath:I think they've got to think about taking that final back to Lords and try and make it more of an event than it actually is. Obviously, you know, it's one of the consequences of the 100, how the 50-over competition has been downgraded to a development hybrid first-11 second-team competition. But I think more can be done to make that final still more of an event.

18:16Nas:And the counties voting to keep the status quo? Yeah, that's the other bit in the news. Turkey's not voting for Christmas.

18:24Ath:Well, it's no surprise. So in the end, after a year-long debate or a season-long debate, the change is two fewer blast games, which for a lot of meetings and hot air and, you know, it seems a minimal change. But it's a reflection really on the different perspectives, to put it that way, the different pressures that come on a fixture list and a schedule. So the players, the PCA, they've been trying to argue for a bit less cricket and a fixture list that is a bit more spread out and a schedule that is a bit more spread out. And in fact, they were pretty critical of the outcome yesterday. the day but the members you know they wanted 14 championship games and they rallied around from the start of the season when they recognized that this review was was coming and about to land they they rallied and um you know pretty vocal in in most counties that they wanted 14 games then you've got the high performance angle not that after the failure of the Strauss review not that England cricket, Rob Key or anybody had much to do with this.

19:39Ath:But, you know, the high performance angle would want very different kind of a structure. Then you've got the commercial pressures. So you've got all these different pressures and different angles and wanting different outcomes. And in the end, it's kind of come to a stalemate. I think it was probably nine all in the end. They needed to be 12-6 to get any change through. And in the end, 12 games didn't have enough support. So they tried to get a 13-game option through, which to my mind looked a bit convoluted and quite a hard sell and hard to explain. And the outcome, eventually, after all that, is 14 games.

20:19Ath:So not much change. Two fewer Blast games next year. So there's not going to be much more space in the schedule than this year, which hasn't pleased the players, at least.

20:29Nas:I mean, everyone, I said a couple of leaps ago, everyone wants their piece of the pie. No one's willing to give up their piece of the pie. Everyone wants the best bit of the summer. And then everyone says, oh, well, what are we going to do about the schedule? Which, if you want the best bit and everyone wants bits of it, something's going to have a give, have to give, or you're going to end up with a schedule that you've got. So we're going to have more of the same.

20:53Ath:And the last live game that we did then, or before the Metro Bank, was that Surrey-Knotts game, which was a good game of cricket, actually. You know, high-class, fast bowling on both sides. And I was there for the first two days. You were there for the last two days and a kind of thrilling end. But it looks like on the back of that, that Surrey's dominance in the championship is going to come to an end and Notts will get home. Kesey rested a lot of key players for that final round of championship. If you'd have been a Knott's player, Josh Tong, say, with the ashes just around the corner, but a championship on the line, what would you have wanted to do?

21:34Ath:You'd want to play, wouldn't you?

21:35Nas:You'd want to play, absolutely. And I mean, you know, but the bigger picture for Rob Key is not if Knott's win the county championship. He and Brendan McCollum, Ben Stokes, and all of them are going to be judged on the next five test matches. So he has to look after that, really. So I thought it was an excellent county championship. And if you look at the county cricket this year, everything has been really close finishes. You look at the finals day was a brilliant finals day. Metro Bank, we've just spoken, brilliant final. County championships going down to the wire. That game went down to the wire with Josh Tun taking the last wicket.

22:12Nas:So there'll be some very tired on the back of what we've just spoken about, some very tired county cricketers out there. But it's been an excellent season of county cricket. So as you say, in the next 24 hours, Notts may well be the first time in 15 years that Nottingshire win the county championship. And money bag Surrey, as you often call them, may not get it this time. Can I ask you a question before we move on? It may be our job to give solutions to the problem. So let's just say you've got a clean slab of paper, such a sheet of paper, but you have to keep everything because everyone wants a piece of the pie.

22:51Nas:So they're the two things trying to oppose each other. So everyone's a piece of the pie. They want to keep their county cricket. They want to keep championship. They want to keep the blast. They want to keep the Metro Bank. They want to keep the 100, test match cricket, white ball cricket, 50 over. If you were in charge, how would your schedule look? How would it go?

23:14Ath:What's the key factors that you'd have? I've almost parked it. You know, I've been writing about and talking about this stuff for so long now. It's almost like, well, it's an insoluble thing because of everything, you know, you want to get in. There'll be people out there that say, well, just can the hundred. But, you know, that's not going to happen. You're too far down the road now with 500 million raised or whatever. So that stays. Obviously you need the championship Because the test cricket drives everything in this country still So you need a good first class programme behind that I personally don't like the fact that the 50 over competition now is just Hidden and a hybrid development competition Because the 50 over World Cup is still a key thing Upon which England will be judged And then you've got the blast Which is the key driver of the county finances and you don't want that to be pushed back into May in the cold weather.

24:16Ath:You want to try and give counties a good chance to sell that competition as well and get good crowds in because that drives finances. So how do you put all that together? I mean, I think it's slightly unfair of you to ask me to prove all these solutions in two minutes at the end of a podcast. But maybe what we could do, maybe, is one winter, one podcast this winter, come up with this and give our ideal solution. Because you're right. I mean, you know, we kind of complain and whinge as everybody does, but we haven't really offered the perfect solution. And that really, so I'm kind of not really answering your question, but that was where they started.

25:03Ath:At the start of this review, I think it was Rob Andrew who said something like, you know, everybody knows that the schedule is unworkable and unreasonable and hopeless. But there are 18 counties who say that. And we've got 19 different solutions out there or not one solution that everybody can agree on. And of course, that is how it panned out. So thanks for sitting on the fence there. That's not a very good answer to your question. but maybe between us we can come up with the perfect ideal. No chance. Should we get Mel on and talk what she's up to? When are you off to the Women's World Cup next week?

25:45Ath:Visa assuming next week?

25:47Nas:Yeah, Monday morning if I get my visa. Hint, hint.

26:01Ath:We'll be right back.

26:19Ath:what happened on the Monday after the weekend before. So make sure you give us a follow. Just search for Sky Sports Golf wherever you get your podcasts.

26:34Ath:Mel Jones, welcome. How are you? What time is it in Melbourne or Sydney? Well, Sydney, moved to the dark side, 6pm. And I've put a jumper on just to make you guys feel really comfortable. But really, I was in shorts and t-shirt all day today, and it's technically still winter here in Sydney. So, no. So, before we talk about the Women's World Cup, which is right around the corner, and obviously you'll be part of that, you've got a bit of news, the Afghan women who are in Australia, that you played such a central and important role in getting them out of Afghanistan to Australia. They're on tour.

27:19They are. And I can't even begin to express to you the WhatsApp messages and the extent of jubilation, excitement and that sense. I think we've all been there, haven't we, as international cricketers, when you get selected for something that goes beyond what you're used to playing. And that's exactly what they're experiencing at the moment, which has been fantastic. So they're in Bengaluru at the moment. They're at the Centre of Excellence there, which I haven't seen yet. I will see within the next little bit. And it is next level amazing. The BCCI have set up a ridiculously good training centre there.

27:58And these women are experiencing all that and a little bit more at the moment. So it's taken them from not really doing a lot in terms of the training and playing prior to fleeing Afghanistan to now getting immersed in a high-performance program where this World Cup, all these teams in the World Cup have experienced throughout their careers. So it's next-level amazing.

28:26Ath:And just tell us a little bit about the tour. I mean, how long are they there? Is it just a training program? Are they playing competitive games? And presumably all part of the funding that has finally been put in place to allow them to kind of up their game, as it were, in terms of cricket. Yeah, exactly. So first things first, we wanted to make sure that it didn't impact their consistent playing schedule. So the majority here in Australia, so we didn't impact their playing here. So we've got it just before this World Cup, which is brilliant. They've got match simulations. They've got everything that a high-performance team, an international team would experience over a two-week period.

29:09So they're going through fitness testing. So I don't think they're overly happy with that. No one is like yo-yos and two cakes. Not overly happy with that, but they're doing it and going, right, okay. So this is their baseline. So for next year, all going well, we bring the group to England just before the T20 World Cup over there. So they've got a baseline to say this is where we're at in comparison to the rest of the world. They've got match simulations and they'll be heading into their first match tomorrow. where they'll be wearing Afghan colours. They'll be wearing the logo that they designed 12 months ago leading into the match in Australia.

29:48They'll have their names on their back. And so for them, primarily, as much as it's about the training and the playing, it's about identity for them. And that's what we've seen just absolutely flourishing over the last week or so.

30:01Nas:What is the end goal for you, Merle, and the team, and the story, really? What you've done is amazing. What they have done is more than amazing. and you're now getting much more support from the people that you spoke about. But what direction do you want it to go in? You know, some of it, me and Af stood on the outfield in Pakistan when England men played Afghanistan men, and there was a lot of talk about should that game go ahead. And I said, well, one of the reasons is it keeps us talking about what's going on in Afghanistan with the girls and women and what they're going through. Is that as part of the reason you're doing all this, is to keep the story out there?

30:40Yeah, Nass, I couldn't have said it any better. I mean, I can sit here and I can do that because I've got a platform to talk about it. But one, it's not my story to tell. We need to have a platform in which these amazing women in their own right, individually, but also collectively as a team, can keep telling their story of where they want to go. So I can sit here and say, I would love to be able to see that over the next 12, 18 months that we set up a program and a platform for them to have autonomy over their playing future. And they want to be able to go to the ICC and go to ICC qualifying World Cups.

31:18That's, you know, I'm relaying a message here to say we are a group that were heading on that journey and then we didn't have that. So we want to pick that journey up again, almost like the Afghan men's team did all those years ago. I mean, it's one of the most amazing sporting stories, the Afghan men's side, who had nothing, challenges, and now all of a sudden, not only playing in World Cups, but knocking on the door, playing in World Cup finals. That's exactly the storyline we would love to see for this group of women now. And I say that as in this group of women who are in India at the moment.

31:52it's not just those women though because there is a whole cohort of afghan women around the world and we know that they're cricket loving people to say i'd love to be part of that now and so that for us that's that that would be our dream position to say in the next 12 to 18 months where are you around the world we haven't forgotten you we're going to open up the doors as much as we possibly can and provide you an opportunity exactly like the men's had all those years ago and potentially, fairytale story, we finish in a wonderful World Cup position in the next, you know, 5, 10, 15 years' time.

32:28Ath:And when are you off to India then? Presumably you've got your visa. They've given you a visa because they won't give Nass one. Well, and fair enough too, and that's just common sense really. So just on his side, not on my side. I have my visa. I'm off tomorrow morning. Great. Will I see you there, Nass?

32:48Nas:I'm hoping so. Are you going to go, Artie? I guess you're one of the big gun commentators, so you'll be there at the first game, I'm sure. Look, I will just run off the lines that you feed me on air. You know.

33:03Ath:So it's just around the corner. Obviously, it's coming up, the 13th edition of the women's 50-over World Cup, which, I mean, on a more general basis, what is that now? A dozen years since it was last held in India? would that be right? 2013, yeah. And, I mean, if you put that in context, the change from then to now, not just, I mean, in women's cricket terms as well, but in women's cricket in India terms between then and now is transformational. Like if I cast my mind back to 2013, I can remember sitting there with the likes of Alan Wilkins and Natalie Jumanos, Ebony Rafa Brent, Prakash Wakenka, and we're sitting at the CCI.

33:57For the majority of it, no one knew it was on.

33:59Ath:The final was moved, I think. Yeah, yeah. It was just no one knew it was on. Like there was just no, like you know the enormity of the ICC now and how they can just galvanise people. And I think there's certainly been a movement. The men winning the T20 World Cup recently in the Caribbean slash USA and the scenes on Marine Drive. And I asked Ravi Shastri during our broadcast this summer in England saying, saying, will that happen if the Indian women win this 50-over World Cup? And without dropping a beat, he went, yeah, the place will be packed. It will stand up like you haven't seen before. And put the WPL into that perspective, put in the form of the Indian women's cricket team into that perspective, put in just the growth of the game and all those rivalries.

34:55So this, yeah, it'll be a game changer for the women's game. I just hope that we're ready for that game-changing moment. I think we saw a little bit of it at 2017. We were all there for the Women's World Cup final at Lourdes. That was that little moment in time, MCG. It's just sort of, you know, one step by one step. But I think this will be one of those moments where we go, we were there for that kind of situation.

35:21Nas:The exposure has changed and that highlights it, but also the standard and the quality. I mean, the recent game was in Delhi, Australia, India.

35:32Ath:I mean, I'm amazed you haven't picked up on the prize money as well, Nass, given that that's only the four.

35:37Nas:It's not all about money. Playing sport is not all about money.

35:40Ath:Almost$14 million is unbelievable, isn't it? You know, I think up from three and a half last time. It's an incredible.

35:48Nas:Talking about the money, the game, 800 runs nearly. You know, 430 played 320. 2020, the skills, you know, Smitty Mandana, Beth Mooney, it is just incredible. The depth to batting, the skills have gone through the roof as well. Not across the board, but some nations are taking it to a different level at the moment, including yours. Says the batter, you know, all about runs, isn't it, Nass? You know, we haven't talked about the bowlers. Did they not bowl well? No, you're right. Look, there is year on year you do see it. You see a depth in the game, and we've just talked about India, Australia now, who have played each other quite frequently of late.

36:33But you look at Sidra Min, who is on a vein of runs for Pakistan at the moment, which is absolutely brilliant. Tasman Brits from South Africa, and we're talking 50-over format cricket here as well. So that batting expertise across the longer format, which I think if you ask most of the women in this World Cup, if they want to win a World Cup, this is the one they want to win. Because this is your pure test of skill set across, and particularly in India, when you're going to non-connected grounds, there's all these other challenges that are going to be placed in front of these teams. So the team that comes out on top for this World Cup will definitely be a team that's managed every kind of situation.

37:20But you look at Sri Lanka, they've got home games now, which they weren't originally afforded. That brings them back into the mix. Pakistan being there and base there, that brings them back into the mix. So it is a supremely hard World Cup to try and pick. And I haven't even put England into those equations yet, but I'm sure you'll pick up on that.

37:39Ath:Well, maybe we can talk. I mean, in the 12 editions we've seen so far, Australia have won it, what, seven times and England four. And it feels with England like it might be the final, the almost last hurrah for a certain generation of players. You've got a number there, you know, 33, 34. And a little bit like Rob Key was talking about Chris Wokes, that at the end of an Ashes, you start to think of a new cycle. It feels like that this is going to be the start maybe, the end of one cycle, and then England will think again after this. Yeah. Yeah. I think that's every World Cup, isn't it? Like I look at this World Cup and I looked at, and I don't want to be an ageist, but I look at purely the ages of a lot of these plays across all the teams, and I'm like, there is a huge cohort sitting around that 34, 35 mark who kudos to them if they can put themselves through all those warm-ups again to come back in four years' time.

38:45But you're basically thinking that's it. Some of them already put their hand up, Sophie Devine saying that's it. But there's a lot there you go. We're not going to see that cohort again. But then you look at the amount of players coming to this World Cup who have played in the ICC under-19 Women's World Cups over the last two editions. And it's this huge space of we're not going to see some of the greats of the game ever again, but we're also going to see some of the future greats of the game. And it's a really nice space to be in kind of thing to say. And I don't think you get that often. It's quite a unique situation at the moment.

39:20So it's one of those, yeah.

39:22Nas:Going back to the money side of things, if you're 33, 34, and there is a lot of money in the women's game. I mean, you as a trailblazer all those years ago would have loved to have been playing for all the money. But I guess a part of you is like, good, this is what we wanted to see. But if you are of that age and you have the World Cup and you have the win money and you have the franchise leagues around the world, there is a serious incentive to stay fit and keep playing for as long as possible, surely. Oh, 100%. Like it is, it's game changing dollars, isn't it? I remember when the Aussie girls won last World Cup in New Zealand and there was a commentary about, I might say, it was like, Jonesy, you know, my mortgage, I can buy a house.

40:11Like it seriously shifts your entire life, not just your cricketing career, your entire life. And that's coming from an Aussie who is well set up and has got great contracts. Now, imagine if a Sri Lankan or a Pakistani player, you know, or a South African player comes through and wins this. That is severely game-changing. So, yeah, hang in there as long as you can later. It is amazing. But at the same time, what it also does, jokes aside, is that we all know this. We get to understand our game at a certain age. And previously for the women's game is most of those women were leaving the game because they had to go off from work.

40:51So you get to 32 and you're like, can't do this anymore. I've got to go off on a new living because I don't have any Australia, we call it super annual pension or anything. I've got to go off and set myself up for my life. Whereas the players now, their life is, they can set themselves up for life in cricket. So now all of a sudden, when you get to 32 and you get into the best stages of your life and playing career, you are now being afforded that. So that's why we're also seeing these magnificent runs and the extension of the game and the expansion of the game is because the investment in the game.

41:28Ath:Nass talked about that amazing recent series between India and Australia. Obviously, Australia are a short price favourite for this. I mean, can you see any particular weaknesses in their squad or any reason why they shouldn't win this tournament? Because that's the general expectation on this team right now. Yeah. I will go back to the T20 World Cup and the UAE. New Zealand lost 10 straight games going into that World Cup. No one even put them in the semis. They certainly didn't put them in the final. They go through and they win it. so there is a precedent set almost to say don't just rely purely on form coming into a world cup um so there there there are a few dark horses there um and once you get through to semi-finals and finals then anything can happen i i get that it's 50 over cricket though and the longer the game goes a little bit the less happenstances of just you know how did that happen comes into play And typically teams can bounce back within phases of game.

42:36I certainly get that. The Australian team for me has understanding of playing in India, traveling in India, depth of squad and a hunger to know that it's not just about they're going to win another one. For them purely, it's we're going to win our first one as this collective squad. So there's so many nuances to the Australian team. So, yes, 100 % they're in the box seat. India, you cannot underestimate them at home. And then there is still the New Zealand of the T20 World Cup. You could just pipe up and just, you know, spoil it for everyone.

43:14Nas:You mentioned depth of squad. Grace Harris, unfortunately, injured on the verge of the World Cup. I mean, big blow for her. But if any side, any country can cope with it, it's this Australian squad. I know she hasn't quite transferred a T20 to 50 over, but still as that sort of finisher that can take a game away from someone and the character of Grace Harris, it's a little bit of a blow, isn't it? Huge blow. I can't underestimate it enough, and that's nothing to say against Heather Graham coming into the squad, who has performed superbly well in India over the last couple of years as well. What Grace Harris affords a squad is, number one, it's her favourite format.

43:55So everyone thinks of Grace Harris as this power player, I'm just going to go in there and hit the ball kind of thing. She is articulate about the game of cricket. She thinks about it. She understands it. She knows it. She wants to develop her game and she loves a 50-over format. She gives you bat and ball. She's solid on the field and she's just a point of difference kind of thing. You lose and Australia have lost her previously going into, you know, major tournaments to a calf injury as well. So they've been there, done that before. I'm supremely gutted for her and for the squad as well because I think she was an integral part of a World Cup winning squad.

44:32And we always talk about who's going to win you World Cups and everyone goes to the big-name players, but I often think it's the ones that are on the bench that win you World Cups. And so for me, I think that's a huge, huge loss for Australia. They won't miss a beat. They will plan for everyone missing, to at least Lisa Healy, to at least Perry to whoever. They would have planned for it over and over again on multiple levels. But yeah, massive boy.

45:01Ath:Mental venues there, are there... It's hard to say. I don't think I've been to Guwahati. You're destined to go there first, visa permitting that. I mean, do we expect huge differences in the venues and the way that the cricket is played at those venues?

45:18Nas:I was speaking to DK actually about it and he said just be careful at the start of the tournament and everyone just presumes India and spin. You know, England have gone very spin heavy in their squad. They've got four frontline spinners and K-Cross didn't make it because they left her out for the extra spinner. Just be careful. I mean, maybe at the end, towards the end of the tournament when some of these venues get used and used again, TV, certain pitches have to be maybe used again. So he just said, be careful. India, immediately when people say India now, people say, I'll spin slow, low. but we've even seen in the recent games it is very batter friendly so don't just presume spin is going to win it do you agree mel or 100 nasa couldn't say it any better which i'm surprised i'm agreeing with you but so i'm agreeing with dk yeah that's right um and and i think you're right too and when you look at the tournament too so uh there are a few grounds that have been known as similar friendly grounds.

46:17So if you go into that mindset, you could be caught short and also you then get to finals time. So Nabi Mumbai gets brought into the equation. Dew comes into effect. There's so many different pieces that you might not have to actually deal with at the start of the tournament. So that's where depth of squad comes into play. So if you just pick for the history of a country and you don't actually look at the games in which you're playing in specific cities and then for the round games and then potentially finals, you could come up a little bit short.

46:54Ath:So you're off tomorrow. Nass, you're off next week visa permitting. If we were going to pick a winner, I'd be very boring and I'd say Australia. Is anybody going to move away from that rather staid and boring prediction?

47:08Nas:I mean, India have got a great chance looking at their side. They may need their fielding just to improve a little bit. You can't afford to be dropping catches. England, the challenge for England, that, is that they beat sides, mid-table sides, lower-ranked sides, and they absolutely hammer them. You know, A.G. Jones, Tammy Beaumont, 100 each. Nat Siverbrunt across the board will get runs against everyone. But they then get up against sides that are ranked above them, which are India and Australia. And to a degree, even now South Africa and New Zealand or whatever. And that's when the challenge, just in the summer, I did a game at Chelmsford and they walloped the West Indies.

47:50Nas:And they walked every game against the West Indies. It was Hayley Matthews against England. And then they played India and it was like, ah, OK, we thought we'd actually close the gap, but we haven't. So the challenge for them, fitness, fielding, and when they play against the big guns, the sides above them, to put in a performance. So England have a lot of high-quality players, any side with Nats of a brunt.

48:12Ath:What would count as early days in the Charlotte Edwards regime and a kind of up-and-down summer, if you like? What counts as a reasonable return for England? Do they have to make the final to be considered success or not?

48:30Nas:Well, for anyone who knows Charlotte Edwards, the only success is winning it. She's done it with franchise. She did it as a player, as a captain around the world with franchises, whatever. Anyone knows Charlotte, she's not going to come back going, oh, well, we got to the final. That'll do that. We've shown progress. They're going to win it. But the two sides who are playing against each other recently, Australia and India, they are the sides they're going to have to beat if they are going to win it. And that challenge mentally, when you have to up your game, if they can do it, dropping crucial catches.

49:02Nas:The game they played, it wasn't even a knockout game, the T20 World Cup in Dubai. They dropped so many catches. So they've worked hard at it, but we'll see in a final. I mean, you've touched on New Zealand there. South Africa are improving, which, you know, that's the only concern for me is I really hope like Pakistan, Bangladesh. Sometimes you turn up to a game and the worst bit about sport is you shouldn't know the result before it happens. Can you see surprises in this tournament? I think the surprise will come from, I'm almost India, Australia in the semis. Then I go, hmm, this could be actually quite interesting there.

49:44So there's a surprise in itself because I think in previous years, most people would have said, you know, it's a South Africa or England or New Zealand, you know, but I have a feeling because there's Sri Lanka playing at home, Pakistan being based there for that time. You mentioned Nass South Africa, who I still, I think this might be a little bit of a low period for them in the 50-over before they can get up and crack on again. I think it all comes down to there'll be moments in World Cups, as we know, it's a long tournament. And I look at England and India and key positions, and this is where you go to depth of squad, and I look at the wicket keepers.

50:23Now, if Amy Jones or Richard Gauch go down in any way, shape, or form, then that shifts an entire situation. You lose Elisa Healy. It's devastating for Australia. It's a captain, but Beth Mooney slots in and everyone sort of jumps up a little bit. So I think if anything, the surprise will come from how teams manage their players and get them fit and firing at the back end of a tournament. If you do that well, a la England, then I think they've got a really good chance.

50:54Nas:Mel Jones, Ashes prediction and World Cup prediction. You cannot say it. Oh, Ashes as well. Men's Ashes prediction and women's World Cup prediction. If you say Australia or Australia, that will just, you'll never be invited. You're never going to be invited back again. Never invited back again. Okay. Australia and Australia. You gave me the perfect out, fellas. I will predict that you guys will get really excited at some stage in the men's ashes and even the women's will come and that will all fly very quickly. How's that?

51:33Ath:Okay. Safe travels if you're going tomorrow. Absolutely all the best with the Afghan women. That is such a fantastic story. And we hope that tour goes as well as it possibly can. Nass good luck with your visa thanks Michael and if you do get it safe travels thank you we'll be podcasting throughout the tournament no doubt while I'll be here and yeah safe travels to you both lovely can't wait for our first stint together Nass yeah looking forward to it now

52:06Nas:not no you're not