Are World Cup Winners India the Best T20 Team Ever? | Stick to Cricket EP 36

0:00Michael Vaughan: Before we get started, I'd like to thank our partners Betfair. Hit subscribe so you don't miss an episode. Enjoy the show.

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1:28Mark Butcher: Okay, one judgment. Anyway, give it a try at mintmobile.com slash switch. Upfront payment of$45 for three-month plan, equivalent to$15 per month required. Intro rate first three months only. Then full price plan options available. Taxes and fees extra. See full terms at mintmobile.com. Old park star in the first. All right, these are the tips, are they? Jaguar. Jaguar, get on that. Jaguar. Blossy mouth, can't lose. Is that a Jaguar? I can't. Jaguar.

1:55Michael Vaughan: Lost him out, we can't lose. Can you give any tits for Thursday and Friday?

1:59Sir Alastair Cook: Yeah. No, not... They would have already lost by them, Bumble, you're always. Hello, everyone. Yeah.

2:04Michael Vaughan: That's it. Oh, yeah, you all right?

2:07Sir Alastair Cook: All right. There's lots of people here. All right. Have you come out there?

2:14Sir Alastair Cook: Who's giving you that? Yeah, no. Who's giving you that? Travel day. You've not bought that. Travel day. Nice and comfy, mate.

2:22Mark Butcher: Where are you going tonight? We're in Manchester. Where are you going tonight? Where are you going tonight?

2:28Sir Alastair Cook: Oh, I'm going to...

2:32Sir Alastair Cook: Where are you going tonight? I'm going to do something with Sean Newdall tonight. Oh, nice. OK. He's all right.

2:40Michael Vaughan: Is he? Yeah.

2:41Sir Alastair Cook: Yeah. Is he not? I'm going to do something for him. He hasn't got one of Arkansas. Well, you're a bit, Roger. He says, I don't know where he's fucking going. He's winding you up.

2:49Michael Vaughan: I offered Roger the chance to come in. He was great, wasn't he, on the show? Geoffrey Archer. When he says, come on, who's the leading bowler? Bring them the ashes, Geoffrey Archer.

3:01Sir Alastair Cook: No, no, no, go see Old Shagbag for Parkinson's. Have a little chat down there. Well, I'll give him our very best. Always. I was at the Wankade. The what? What's it called? It's called the Wankade.

3:13Mark Butcher: What have you been doing now? Wankade, Wankade. The Wankade.

3:16Sir Alastair Cook: I always get that one wrong. I was at the Wankade. Wankade. I was at the Wankade when he got Dhoni and Tendorka. Won the game. It would have been your luck.

3:25David 'Bumble' Lloyd: That was the one test match I missed. Oh, really? That was one test match I missed. Freddie was captain. Yeah.

3:30Michael Vaughan: Monty Panisar. Caught him. Did he catch him or he dropped one as well? No, he caught him.

3:35David 'Bumble' Lloyd: He got a slashing court back pad, didn't he? Well, Dhoni. Dhoni hit and then Monty ran to it and then just let it stop and landed a yard away from it. Very next ball. Caught him. Was that the same shot? Monty caught him. I was in the crowd.

3:47Mark Butcher: I was on the bench. See, you were very tall, wasn't he? He stood tall at the crease and he must have been 6 '2". Yeah, big leg. Yeah.

3:57Michael Vaughan: Not about batter, he used Duncan Furley back in the day, didn't he? Chase. Then he went to Chase. And then went to Middlesex.

4:05Mark Butcher: Come on, you'll know this from Middlesex as well. Yeah. When did spinners change, particularly off-spinners, when John Embry would get tight into the umpire and just go bang, wicket to wicket, where the Australian off-spin was ball outside off-stump. Tying a line. Tim May. Tim May, you're right. Yeah, to ball outside to bring slip into play. Whereas England off-spinners used to dart it in at middle, middle and leg. Didn't flat jack. Because you couldn't get it to carry to the keeper.

4:36Michael Vaughan: Your man at length, Jack Simmons, did he ever give it a bit of...

4:39Mark Butcher: No. He was just flat jack. He, again, loads of them, like Ashley Giles and them, started as seamers. and so they had good, strong actions, like him. You started as a seamer, didn't you? I did, yeah. Did you?

4:52Sir Alastair Cook: Yeah.

4:52Mark Butcher: Did you, Egg? No, I did.

4:54Sir Alastair Cook: Yes, quick. What? No, not quick. What was your action? I was like, Waz. I'm talking schoolboys, yeah? Yeah, yeah, you used to open a bowl then, yeah, left arm. You've been playing golf, Phil, haven't you? I have, yeah. Played with the Bulldog, Jimmy Bullard and Tubes. He's a good player, isn't he? He's very good, very good. Scratch? Er, yeah, yeah, yeah, whatever that is, Nort. Yeah. Nort. Where did you play with Jimmy Bullock? We played Pryford Lakes, losing the name. Pyrford, sorry. Pyrford, sorry.

5:28Mark Butcher: I played with Butler, I mean, Josh Butler. What's your handicap? And he said, I haven't played for a while, I'll play off 16. I said, no, what's your handicap? I bet 16, I bet he gives it an absolute wallet. So, part of five, he's in the semi-rough with his drive, he gets one of them rescues, he's putting for a three.

5:52Sir Alastair Cook: I couldn't imagine he gives it away. Even though having said that, he didn't play so well, did he? World Cup, he had a disappointing time over there, Jost, didn't he?

6:00Mark Butcher: Both openers didn't do it, did they?

6:02Sir Alastair Cook: Who was the other one?

6:03Mark Butcher: Salt.

6:04Sir Alastair Cook: Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

6:05Mark Butcher: Have you not been watching it?

6:07Sir Alastair Cook: I have been watching it. Well, obviously, watching it closely. You know what I mean, who comes in and where and everything.

6:13Mark Butcher: It didn't... Do you know, it didn't engage me, the World Cup. No. No, I thought it was so predictable.

6:20Michael Vaughan: Well, you were coming, weren't you, until your flight got cancelled? I know, yeah, I know. There's something about Kieran. Where's Kieran? No, I've got a new Kieran. New Kieran. Oh, all right. What's your name? Harry. Harry, Harry. Has Kieran been sacked?

6:33David 'Bumble' Lloyd: Well, no, Kieran's just... He's not too well today, so I'm stepping in, so...

6:37Michael Vaughan: All right, Harry. Well, good luck. Good luck on you. Is this your debut? My debut, yeah. I thought he started well. Harry, give me a bit more coffee, why don't you? I'll have a pint of coffee. Cheers, Harry. I'll be up all week.

6:52Michael Vaughan: Before we get started, I'd like to thank our partners, Betfair. So just hit subscribe so you don't miss an episode. Enjoy the show.

7:04Michael Vaughan: I reckon if you put Jasper Bummer in England's team, they win it.

7:07Sir Alastair Cook: Do you have to swing lambs round your head sometimes? I think you can if you have to do that sometimes to when they come out Oh, I bet a little I was I thought you meant big sheep

7:17Michael Vaughan: How the hell is the rest of the world gonna stop this juggernaut too? We're talking about McCullum McCullum McCullum Harry Brooks Well, what this catch?

7:24Sir Alastair Cook: He's ever played under it was the only one, okay? Where he just stands there and just goes twat the next

7:34Michael Vaughan: I'll tell you I think is that the stupidest team of the tournament. Yeah. Oh well South Africa. We've got an elephant.

7:42Sir Alastair Cook: What, is your number one pick? Going to see all your old mates again and having a little cricket, glass of wine, bit of lunch, lovely. He's all right, he's in.

8:00Michael Vaughan: We'll start the show. Come on then. We'll start on a serious matter.

8:05Sir Alastair Cook: Yeah.

8:05Michael Vaughan: The West Indies, they were knocked out on March 1st. It was a week last Sunday. Yes. Calcutta, out of the tournament. Should go home. Well, you'd hope that there was an arrangement. I know the world's a difficult place to meet. You would hope that the ICC, they can chart our England flight 36 hours. And I'm sure the ECB might have contributed something. Again, I don't know exactly in terms of the cash, but the West End is still in Calcutta now. Right. Stranded. We're on March the 10th.

8:34David 'Bumble' Lloyd: Can flights go the other way, though? Can they not go just along?

8:38Michael Vaughan: Yeah, yeah. Did it go to Australia? Well England went via, so the West Indies could easily have jumped on England's plane. Why didn't they? Well I don't know, they weren't asked to. It was obviously a smaller plane, England went through Egypt. The direct flight from Mumbai to London, commercials were all, well they're full because obviously no one's going through the gulf so those flights are very hard to get on. Whose responsibility is it to get? Well I think it's the duty of care of the ICC to make sure that all players, you know, it can't be just, oh, England, oh, 36 hours later, you're out because you're a powerful nation.

9:12Michael Vaughan: You're telling me, I'll give you a scenario. Can you imagine if India were in a tournament away from India and they had to stay in a hotel for nine days, stranded? It would never happen, so why should it happen to the West? And South Africa. South Africa were knocked out on March the 4th. Semi-final. Lost to the New Zealand in Karkutka. So they're the same, they're still in Calcutta waiting to get home. So is it the board who got England out? I would say our board would have had quite a say in it, yeah. I'm sure they said, look, we need our players to get out and that's our contribution.

9:44Phil Tufnell: I'm guessing that the issue potentially is the heft of your financial power in terms of making it easier to get your team out. And South Africa and West Indies are not exactly over-blessed in that department. But then you would then think, well, then it's the responsibility of the board to help them out so they can go, right? Yeah.

10:05Michael Vaughan: I think the ICC would have a slush fund for what you'd describe as a rainy day. I mean, this is just one of those... Yeah, emergency. It's an emergency. Due to your care comes into it. I mean, these players are sat in Calcutta. I mean, I'm not saying Calcutta's... But when you've been knocked out on March 1st and you're still there on March 10th, it can't be right.

10:23David 'Bumble' Lloyd: Yeah, you left Australia the day the last test, didn't you? I did. You're out, you're relentlessly out.

10:28Michael Vaughan: You'd have been there for about eight months, hadn't you?

10:30Sir Alastair Cook: Yeah, we'd been there for a while. Well, yeah, once you're done, you're done. You don't want to be hanging about. You don't. No, you're out the door, so... There's only so much Rosie you can drink in there. Rosie, Rosie, Rosie. Catman Rose.

10:45Mark Butcher: Rosie Lee. Right, I'm safe. Do we know what's the feeling of the team? What's the feeling within the camp at West Indies? They're all very disappointed. Yeah,

10:57Michael Vaughan: and I'm led to believe March the 4th, a representative from the ICC spoke with one of the managers of the West Indies side. I've got Choco.

11:09David 'Bumble' Lloyd: I'm sorry. He could have left it.

11:10Michael Vaughan: I'm sorry, is he gone? He has now. He's gone now. I'm led to believe March the 4th, which is three days after they got knocked out, a conversation was had with someone at the ICC to a higher-up manager of the West Indies team. And he stated he'll get back to them in two hours and still to this day they've not got back to them. So they're just waiting. They keep getting WhatsApps. Yeah, it'll be coming, it'll be coming, but no conversations. So these young lads, they're just sat in the hotel in Calcutta. Does any of them wait? There has been. So Akhil Hossain and Jim Rung got out of there. Their agents sorted them a commercial fight, which is, I guess some people are going, well, why didn't they all do that?

11:52Michael Vaughan: But some of them haven't got the money to be able to do that. And it's not it's not on them to do that they go and represent their country at an ICC event Plus it's slightly team game

12:05Phil Tufnell: Just imagine in that in that team room and everyone's everyone's in a foul mood anyway And they're kind of like in the names of the two blokes who got out have come up They're probably not the most popular people around at the moment. Cheers, left. Yeah, thanks. Thanks, fellas.

12:17Michael Vaughan: And they'll, you know, if you look at Shemran, he'll be back there for the IPL soon. Posting stuff on Instagram on the beach. Well, it's not a great position. Dave, you started by saying the tournament didn't quite grab you.

12:31Mark Butcher: Explain. Well, I thought it was predictable. And, you know, when we sat around here, I think we got the semifinals, didn't we? We got the semifinalists. Everyone. So the haves have come through. Yeah. The half-nots have tried valiantly. We said straight away New Zealand. Everybody. Australia got knocked out. But we all said, I think we all said New Zealand, didn't we, New Zealand? Keep an eye on New Zealand. And we said the team to beat is India. They're going to win it. You wouldn't bat against them. That's what's happened.

13:04David 'Bumble' Lloyd: I enjoyed the tournament. I thought actually the beginning bit, which normally I, you know, until they get to Super H, you think it's pointless. Actually, I really enjoyed those, like the Associates playing. and they've improved a huge amount, that actually, in T20 in particular, you can turn into big guns. I actually just, on a purely personal thing, like, if you're not, it was just bad TV time, wasn't it? For England. As in, like, if you're out on the farm... Well, I suppose you're always out, aren't you? He's with the sheep, isn't he? In the afternoon. Yeah, but he's with the sheep.

13:36Michael Vaughan: Shearing done. What happens on the farm at 1.30? So give us your daily schedule on the farm.

13:43David 'Bumble' Lloyd: Well, it depends. At the minute, we've been lambing, so we've just finished the first little lamb. So what happens? What time do you get up? I would be, well, we're down the farm at half seven.

13:51Michael Vaughan: Half seven down the farm, yeah. Yeah.

13:52David 'Bumble' Lloyd: It can be tricky, that's going to be tricky. It can be. Yeah. And then just until half five, and then someone go down in the evening as well.

14:02Michael Vaughan: All right.

14:03David 'Bumble' Lloyd: So there's not always...

14:04Michael Vaughan: Half seven till five. I've seen a few. Do you get, like, full English breakfast every morning on the farm now? No. Oh, so the TV shows kind of make that up.

14:12David 'Bumble' Lloyd: Well, I think... So many shows where you get these full mashings. Yeah, I think back in the day, farmers' wives would have... Yeah. Um... I just... For me, personally, I think, like, you know, the games... I thought the Winter Olympics, for example, was just perfect. When you come home, it's on at six o 'clock and you... Yeah, I mean... Like, for the kids from school and stuff.

14:30Phil Tufnell: Yeah, for the working man and for the kids at school, 1.30 start...

14:35David 'Bumble' Lloyd: But I thought it was a good tournament. I just said I found... I didn't watch much of it live.

14:39Phil Tufnell: Not much. Do you have to... Do you have to... The turning of the sun around the planet.

14:44Sir Alastair Cook: Do you have to swing lambs round your head sometimes? I think you can... No, you have to do that sometimes too, when they come out. That's cruel. What, when they're born? What's the first thing they do? Yeah, the first thing you do is swing around your head.

14:56David 'Bumble' Lloyd: It's not quite... You don't quite round your head, but you can... Like, if they get... I'm going to sound like I know what I'm talking about, but they've got a bit of mucus stuck in there, and they come out in a bag, you then swing them... Oh, a bit of little lambs. I thought you made a big sheep with them. LAUGHTER

15:11Michael Vaughan: It's an Olympic sport, that.

15:13David 'Bumble' Lloyd: It's like the hammer, isn't it?

15:16Michael Vaughan: Come up with something there, Bumble. You know the sheep, you know it. It's too crazy. Is it High Rocks? This new training thing that everyone seems to be into. There's yours. Just winging sheep. Winging sheep? Oh, shit. You're being winging sheep.

15:30Mark Butcher: One of the great commentary lines that concerned Cookie, and it was Jeremy Corney, and it was about preparation and what the team had been preparing, how they prepared for this tour, which we talk about a lot. And he pipes up Jeremy Corny, he said, and Alex Dukuk has prepared by lambing. He's been lambing. Did he think that was a good thing or a bad thing? But there's a lot of sheep in New Zealand, isn't there? There's more sheep than people.

16:02Michael Vaughan: Stick to Cricket is brought to you by Betfair.

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17:40Michael Vaughan: and you've only you're there oh yeah yeah it was uh rounds good and oh the atmosphere in india is

17:47Mark Butcher: always great well yeah you you seem to be critical about the pitch being too flat i thought it was

17:52Michael Vaughan: boring all right yeah i didn't like the balance between bat and ball hello there was a balance Oh, you piped up! He piped up!

18:03Phil Tufnell: He's much better at farming social media than me. It was a great opportunity to get a little boost of followers by having a go back. Not a go, but just making another point.

18:15Michael Vaughan: Well, actually, it was the first innings of the final, I just thought, this is a road, this is not good. And then Bumbra balled and I went, oh, it's quite good, actually, this pitch. It's quite good for the bowlers, if you're special. If you're good, yeah. If you're good, you're good.

18:26David 'Bumble' Lloyd: 250 plays 240 is fine, isn't it? It is.

18:29Michael Vaughan: It's just that I think T20 cricket and India deserve a lot of credit over the last two years. Bear in mind they're the champions from the Caribbean, so they had a good team two years ago. I think this team now have taken it on again. They've taken what we used to think... If a score started with two, 210, 220, it was like a big, big score. I think this Indian group have gone, you know what? 250 is possible on a regular basis. You think Zimbabwe, they knocked 250. England, they got over 250. They got over 250 in the final. You kind of go, that's kind of the norm.

19:03Phil Tufnell: What I would say about all of that is that I'm not all that fussed about there being a balance between bat and ball in T20 cricket. I'm not sure that's what it's for. But also, I think you have to appreciate, it's a little bit like saying, you know, if you've got a really good attacking side against a poor defensive team in football or something, and you get a bit upset if they keep banging goals in it, It's kind of like, well, sometimes the two teams are mismatched or one team is just very, very good and they have a good day. Now, most teams will be trying, as far as I'm concerned. If you're a top team, you're trying to push the limits and score as many as you possibly can.

19:38Phil Tufnell: And on most occasions, you don't manage to do it. On the few occasions that you do, it's because of particular brilliance. And then we ended up getting treated, really. That game, the semi-final, the England semi-final. It was fabulous. England were probably five or six missed fields and a catch away from turning India over. We win that, don't we? And it was no lesser spectacle because there were lots of runs scored in exactly the same way as it's no lesser spectacle. If it's a low-scoring game on a difficult pitch and the game is tight, if the game's tight, it's a good game. It's T20.

20:10Sir Alastair Cook: That's all there is to it. Everyone says, you know, batting, batting, batting. What it does highlight, though, is if you have someone like a Boomba up your sleeve, He goes at six.

20:20Michael Vaughan: Well, in the last two World Cups, he's got... The last two T20 World Cups, he's got 29 wickets. 29 wickets, averaged around 11. Economy is around 5.7 in the last two World Cups.

20:36David 'Bumble' Lloyd: Well, even in that semi-final, he bowled that 18th over. And if it wasn't him bowling that 18th over... No, we get home. You actually think England have got... We get home. It's a 50-50 chance. But England, I think tactically, we're not going to give him a wicket. will try and take the 90s.

20:49Phil Tufnell: Because you're worried that if he gets one of you, he gets the next one coming in as well. If Bethel got out there, if Bethel got out on the 18th,

20:55David 'Bumble' Lloyd: there's no way he would win. The only way he's winning, and he did the right thing, but when you've got a bowler that as a side, it's gold.

21:01Phil Tufnell: I think, as far as bowlers, and seeing people tweeting things about you might as well have bowling machines instead of bowlers and stuff. The point is that the role of a bowler is almost purely defensive, and the skill of a... India was the best bowling attack in the tournament and they won the tournament. Everyone was talking about their batting, but the bowling was awesome too. And so you need... The game is much more of a team game, I think, T20 cricket than most of the other formats. Do you reckon? Yeah, I do because all of the individual components are important. So I disagree.

21:39David 'Bumble' Lloyd: I think, look at New Zealand. You would say that South Africa are a better side than New Zealand, but one person won them. that semi-final and that's what happens in T20 the thing that I think India have changed it a bit now is the consistency of how they play T20 because I mean they've got six or seven match winners with the bat well they've all yeah absolutely and then there's more there's more players

22:00Phil Tufnell: and a bowler my point is not that the individual brilliance isn't important in T20 my point is that all of those individual parts like a bowling attack never mind one bowler's figures or whatever it might be but a bowling attack it's job is to is to restrict the opposition to one less, you know. And so every delivery that all of them bowl is very, very important. Not going for sixes, not getting hit for a six, getting hit for a four instead of a six, sometimes is a really good ball, as don't it?

22:29Mark Butcher: If it's a tight game, it's a great game. If it's a miss, mate, it's... Well, the final was a big match. But that's any sport. Yeah, it is. I mean, if it's 3-0 at half-time, football, mate, I'll watch someone else.

22:40Michael Vaughan: I reckon if you put Jasper Bummer in England's team, they might win it. I reckon they put him in anybody's world. Exactly. But that's... Yeah. Probably Lionel Messi, Ronaldo, these kind of... Didn't you say he's the best baller you've ever seen? He is, yeah, that I've seen, yeah. You've ever seen? Yeah, he is, yeah. And you've got to remember, I started watching cricket probably properly 85, 86, when I really started to study cricket. And he's the best I've seen. You know, I haven't seen...

23:07David 'Bumble' Lloyd: Sorry, is he the best in match-winning spells in test match cricket? Has he like the only I haven't like he's definitely without shadowed out. He's the best all formatted bowler Around and I think you can safely say that con you in any form. He's like the best all-round Has he like in a test match? He's bold some spell and I I'm not I saw him in Australia last year in first. Yeah, like an eight for 15 or as he is he not always he just not that kind of bowler

23:36Michael Vaughan: That's my only like he hasn't I've seen him a bit in Australia to produce some spells that have just been Differently. Flat decks. And he's a thoroughly nice bloke.

23:46Mark Butcher: He's lovely. Oh, well, he's in there. Really, really.

23:49Sir Alastair Cook: I mean, I...

23:50Michael Vaughan: That's my opinion. So, if I say Bumba's the best I've seen, across the... Talking about three formats, all format, he's the best I've seen. Who's the best you've seen?

24:01Sir Alastair Cook: Crikey, best I've seen. Well, I'll probably sort of go back a little bit further than that. But not in that all formats and everything. Are we allowed to clue spinners in it? Marshall, Watt Yeah, any bowler Akram Watt, Akram Akram Wazim Akram, yeah

24:17David 'Bumble' Lloyd: Akram

24:17Sir Alastair Cook: Dale Steyn Dale Steyn, Akram

24:20David 'Bumble' Lloyd: I think Boomer is a better All-Right Bowling style

24:22Michael Vaughan: Yeah, perhaps Meritren Look, Wazim Akram Would have adapted to this With all the shots That the players have been playing He'd have adapted I have Akram on there as well Don't forget

24:32Mark Butcher: He will have played With old Wazim Wackar was a fantastic Oh, oh Well, well Jesus, sorry Am I right? When he first came. What the hell?

24:43Phil Tufnell: Can we tell what's going on there? What the hell?

24:46Mark Butcher: Was it your dad? Was it against Sylvester Clarke or at Wacar that Jeff Arnold said, put your pads on, and the baller only balled six balls?

24:57Phil Tufnell: No, no, no. It was at Johnny Robinson, left-hander. When he first arrived. Wacar. When Wacar first arrived. Young lad, moustache, headband. and he walked his mark out in the nets. We had a middle net session at the Oval and the Oval nets were quick and bouncing. And he kept walking away like this. And Anthony Gray was our overseas player. That's it, Tony. Yeah, big time. Tony'd come out with his trainers on for this next session. Anyway, Wacker runs in, bowls his first ball, which flashes through, flies into the back of the net. The net's bulging and everyone just goes, whoa, hang on, what just happened there?

25:33Anyway, Tony Gray gestures to the dressing room,

25:36Phil Tufnell: I better get my boots on here because this kid's going to nick my spot. And six balls later, it was done. He nearly killed Johnny Robbins. He came from Bolton League. He was playing in Bolton League.

25:46Mark Butcher: He was a whacker. Yeah, definitely. And he went down to their place, to the Oval, and then he won it at the Oval, won the Championship there and went to Glamorgan and won it there, didn't he? No, he didn't win it at the Oval. He didn't win it?

25:59Phil Tufnell: No, he took only wickets in two seasons on the track. Didn't he win it? Blame the bats. I remember him winning it for Glamorgan.

26:06Michael Vaughan: They won it down in Taunton, didn't they? Because the old balcony in the corner, the dresser. I remember Crofty, he'd give it the shame-worn dance, didn't he? On the balcony, Crofty.

26:17Sir Alastair Cook: He'd be singing, what did he used to sing? Oh, land of my fathers. Oh, Gerry Lee Lewis.

26:23Mark Butcher: He does a really good Gerry Lee Lewis. Great balls of fire. Great balls of fire, Robert Croft.

26:30Michael Vaughan: Absolutely brilliant. I saw at the weekend, Italy beating England at rugby. I don't think he was Italian, but one of the rugby players playing for Italy does an amazing rendition in the dressing room. What, Pavarotti? Ness and Dormer. Have you seen it? No, I haven't. He doesn't. Oh, he's brilliant. Ness and Dormer. I don't know who the fella is. I don't know who he is, the rugby player, but he gets in the dressing room.

26:53Sir Alastair Cook: It was Pavarotti, were you?

26:53Michael Vaughan: It was a geezer and similar.

26:56Sir Alastair Cook: It'd be a good prop, Pavarotti. It'd be difficult to get your arms around. I'll tell you what I did like, well, I think where T20 now has changed massively as well, batsman here, is that shot the boys now play to the full ball, to the spinner, off the back. Yes. We didn't really used to have that.

27:17Phil Tufnell: Slam it over mid-on. Yes.

27:19Michael Vaughan: Talk us through it, Phil. Well, I don't know. I've been trying to think. We haven't had a demo for a while. This is your Sanju Sampson, player of the tournament.

27:27Sir Alastair Cook: Yeah, Harry, just go back a little bit. Oh, sorry, Harry. Sorry. Well, it's difficult because, as you say, when it was a spin bowler, you want to get them sort of, you know, you want to get them looking to go there. But even if you're bowling like quick, that Finn Allen, is it Finn Allen? Yeah. He just stands there and you think, well, if it, you know, the ball's pitching there. And the boys are just going bang and hitting it on the sort of rise. Do you know what I mean? And that's whether it's spinning, whether it's going on, whether it's skidding. and they're not missing it through here.

28:02David 'Bumble' Lloyd: I don't know if I can take him seriously. I can't take him seriously doing a batting demonstration on his kit.

28:08Sir Alastair Cook: He's looking good. That could be 100 out. If you can't find a length as a spinner, you're in a little bit of trouble, aren't you? Pickle. You're in a pickle.

28:20Michael Vaughan: The problem the spinner has, you mentioned that length, and it's a bit shorter than what you've suggested, but they're so wary. If you go to that length that you were talking about, So the step it goes miles. Yeah. So you drop it in a little bit shorter. And you're right, they're stepping back that quickly. And the spinner... Or going over extra. Or going over extra.

28:39Sir Alastair Cook: And the one thing...

28:39Phil Tufnell: Ball hitting the top of the stumps. And the one thing that the spinner then did have

28:43Sir Alastair Cook: to try and counter sort of the step and fetch was bowl it into the surface. Not short, but, you know, get it into the surface. Now the boys, they're just... It's like... And Sanju Sampson did it. against... I'm out of breath. Sanju Samson was doing it to our boys as well, and the Seamers, where he just stands there and just goes, twat, doesn't he? No! But it's not even a short ball. It's not over there. He just stands there and just goes... What about Brevis?

29:25Michael Vaughan: What about Brevis when he plays the shot into the stand? He just puts his head down.

29:33Michael Vaughan: How are you running? I don't know where I'm going. Is his to the leg as well? Oh, both. I just stand over there. Harry Brook at mid on. Phil, just give us a hand. I've got an apple in my hand. What did he do wrong, Phil?

29:48Sir Alastair Cook: Well, I think he gets it in front of his face, doesn't he? Listen, I can't talk. Listen, but I mean, it wasn't...

29:53David 'Bumble' Lloyd: I reckon you should be thrown to Vaughn. No, no.

29:56Sir Alastair Cook: We've not got the next couple of fellas here. Come on, what did he do wrong? Well, I think for the start, as you say, that was another one of Sandu's sort of... And the bats twizzled a bit, hasn't it? So I think, A, he might have thought he'd actually leathered it, perhaps. Is that might be right? And he sort of got himself in a sort of funny... He did. Yeah.

30:18Phil Tufnell: The issue was he had both feet off the floor with all his hands. And so he had nothing to... No, he didn't need to. I don't know, he kind of like...

30:24David 'Bumble' Lloyd: I reckon he's right.

30:25Phil Tufnell: He took it and he kind of looked like he was taking it quite easily, you know. Yeah. But with both feet off the ground, once the ball makes impact, if you've got nothing solid keeping you on the ground, it just bursts straight.

30:36Mark Butcher: No, his feet are off the ground. Right, give it your ball.

30:39Sir Alastair Cook: Right. And I think also that it was that high when he's got himself, as you say, he couldn't then sort of get it like that because he had no feet. He sort of couldn't see it. And he just couldn't see it.

30:51Michael Vaughan: What's in the end, John? LAUGHTER

30:55Mark Butcher: I've seen that before. Oh, perfect. I tell you, I think... Unlucky Harry, boy.

31:03Michael Vaughan: I tell you, I think, is the stupidest team of the tournament. Yeah. Oh, hello. South Africa. Oh, thanks. Because I'll tell you why. If South Africa had allowed the West Indies to beat them in the Super 8s, India would have been knocked out. You're not allowed to do that. No, but I'm just talking. If they'd have just cleared them out, the juggernaut that was coming, by winning that game, they allowed the juggernaut to go, we'll beat Zimbabwe, we'll beat the Westerners in a kind of quarterfinal, then we'll beat England. But they weren't through at that time, were they? They weren't through. They had to play Zimbabwe next.

31:40Michael Vaughan: So South Africa were going to play Zimbabwe next. I'm just saying, it's quite a sensible, not sensible. Come on. I'm just saying, if they'd have lost to the West Indies that day, Indy would not have won the World Cup. It's a gamble. Are you saying we'll pick a lesser team? Well, against Zimbabwe, they did rest three. These things shouldn't happen and don't happen,

32:08Sir Alastair Cook: but I'm just saying, if they'd have manoeuvred...

32:12David 'Bumble' Lloyd: I didn't realise they put the pressure on them against Zimbabwe, but just say they played their team and they just reversed the batting order, so they lost to West Indies but still played. Is that illegal? They'll be looked at as... They'll be looked at as what, though? Against the spirit of the game.

32:29Michael Vaughan: It is. It's not in the spirit. There's no sanction for that. No. I'm going to say, if you want to win a World Cup, the best way to win a World Cup is get rid of the best team. Early. Stick to Cricket is brought to you by Betfair.

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34:14Phil Tufnell: You were there, right? Was there much chat? Obviously, in the semi-final and in the final, both teams against India won the toss and stuck them in.

34:24Sir Alastair Cook: Why?

34:25Phil Tufnell: Why? Was there any chat about that beforehand? We talked about it beforehand.

34:29Sir Alastair Cook: How do you beat... We talked about it on the show. Surely you don't stick them in. Let them back with no pressure.

34:35Michael Vaughan: The only thing I can say is, right, the 1KD semi-final, it was 40 degrees in the day and there was a bit of wind and they were talking about Duke coming in because wind and life, a difference in temperature, I don't know, but it was just a pure pitch throughout. So if it's a pure pitch throughout, you're probably better getting the run.

34:52Mark Butcher: Runs on the board. You go back to the 50 over World Cup,

34:55Michael Vaughan: England played South Africa at the 1KD, boiling up, we'll have a ball. They got 400. Oh, man, I remember that was the maddest thing of all time.

35:02Phil Tufnell: It was like 50 degrees or something.

35:03Michael Vaughan: Now, in the final... Who'd had a ball? Who'd stuck on it? In the final, there was... You kept it. No. Who was kept it? No, it was Joss. In the final there was a pitch, you know they have red soil pitch. What are you blaming me? Black soil pitch. It must have been me. Now the final, work this one out. And I don't know which was a 65 % 35 % but it was a mixed pitch. It was a mix of red and black. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

35:27Mark Butcher: Yeah, hybrid.

35:28Michael Vaughan: Yeah, so they were a bit unsure of what it was going to do. Yeah, they were a bit unsure. So I guess because you're unsure, most captain coaches, when they're insuring T20 cricket, they're generally bold, don't they? Cyril Washbrooke. Cyril Washbrooke. Did he play T20?

35:44Phil Tufnell: How much T20 did he play?

35:46Mark Butcher: Cyril Washbrooke, when I became captain at Lancashire, 1973.

35:53Sir Alastair Cook: Yes.

35:54Mark Butcher: If you're ever thinking of inserting the opposition, think again.

36:01Sir Alastair Cook: Yes.

36:02Mark Butcher: And he walked off, that were it. And from that day, throughout my captaincy, we'll bat every time.

36:09Sir Alastair Cook: But we said it, we said it, are we going to beat India? And you say, well, listen, they're so good. It's going back to old school, isn't it? Have a bat and then hopefully a bit of pressure builds, you get a couple early and there you go.

36:23Michael Vaughan: Guess the one team to beat India in the tournament.

36:27Sir Alastair Cook: South Africa.

36:28Michael Vaughan: Guess what they did. Had a bat first.

36:31Sir Alastair Cook: There you go. Doesn't matter how good you are, pressure's a big man.

36:34Phil Tufnell: It does two things, isn't it? You've got a batting line-up like that, batting first. They've literally got no issues whatsoever in terms of any sort of external pressure. And then also you have the problem of having Boomer defending against you when you're chasing, which is just a nightmare. I think you'd rather take your chances against him...

36:54Sir Alastair Cook: Early doors, yeah.

36:55Phil Tufnell: ..bowling first. Definitely. With a rate on the board, having to go at it.

37:00Michael Vaughan: Well, I'll tell you what they do really well, the Indian T20 team, and the caps is that usually with someone like Bumra, you think he's always going to bowl you two in the power play and then two down the back end. What they do is they use him as an insurance policy. So they let Hardik, Panjian, Archdeep bowl the first two. If they go really well, Archdeep might bowl the third. If they look like they need to drag it back, Bumra will bowl the third. If then the fourth over goes well, he might not bowl in the power play, i.e. against England. They thought the back end was going to be important. So they left him with three to the last ten.

37:32Michael Vaughan: In the final they went two up the top because they wanted to clear out Finn Allen and Seifert. Obviously, Axel Patel ended up getting Finn Allen out, but they changed the way that they used Bumre, so the opposition couldn't predict. If you know when he's going to bowl, you can kind of work out the union.

37:46Phil Tufnell: The other bowlers in the line-up are good enough to allow them to do that. This is the point, again, about how important the bowlers are. I thought Ashtey was incredibly skilful with the new bowlers. He was one of the only blokes in the entire tournament who was able to swing it both ways when it was new. Hardick had a terrific tournament with the ball. You know, you'd kind of... I know in IPL's gone by, you'd look at Hardick and think he was a little bit of a liability with the ball. But he's become very skilful at what he does. And then, you know, the spinners, Chakravarti... Did he end up being...

38:17Phil Tufnell: He didn't bowl so well. He ended up being leading wicket taker. Oh, did he? No, but he went for more runs. He did go for more runs. But they had lots and lots of options to be able to enable them to introduce Boomerat the critical moments in the games, you know.

38:33Sir Alastair Cook: It's just an arsehole. But there again, the bat first. Yeah, they did very well. As we know, the bat first is you can sort of negotiate and then catch up and everything instead of, like you're saying, we didn't want to have a go at Boomerol because you could have got two or three.

38:47Phil Tufnell: And you forced the opposition's captain's hand a little bit more

38:53Sir Alastair Cook: in terms of how he uses his bowlers. Absolutely. Instead of just going, right, hold on, we can really sit back and just see how Winslow works out.

39:00Mark Butcher: Gambier's obviously, he's a coach, isn't he, Gambier? Yeah. And so his stock has risen.

39:06Michael Vaughan: Well, he's now got Bumble. He gets absolute pelters. He does, and it's because of the test team. Yeah, yeah. You know, if you look at the white ball team now that India have, we've got to start speaking that this potentially is a real danger for the rest of the world. They should have won the 50-over World Cup, they didn't, but they then won the T20 World Cup in the Caribbean, they won the Asia Cup, they've won the Champions Trophy, They've won another T20. So they're back-to-back World Cup T20 champions. Never been done before. A team's never won the T20 World Cup in their own backyard. India have done it.

39:36Michael Vaughan: How the hell is the rest of the world going to stop this juggernaut? Because let's talk now. So this is India's first team that we've just seen win. I think we can name another India in the XI that will probably come second. Shubmangil. Well, you've got Shubmangil, Yasser Shijaisal, Sherees Aya, Jiti Shana. The left-hander. You've got... 14-year-old. Suryvansi Rishabh Pant Garswell Rishabh Pant Mohamed Siraj Kuldeep Yadav Yuvi Chahal Give me more names I reckon their second team I'd say It'd be like the old days When you toured Australia And you played And the A team Beat you up as well

40:17Phil Tufnell: You could very easily swap out India's top six With another top six

40:22Sir Alastair Cook: And it wouldn't harm them a great deal It wouldn't And that's where I go back to the Boombra factor. He's so...

40:29Michael Vaughan: He's the only one that can't be replaced.

40:32Sir Alastair Cook: Remember, there you go. We were saying how good he is. Well, that's how good he is. He's the only one that can't be replaced in that line-up. Stick to Cricket is brought to you by Betfair.

40:44Mark Butcher: Who are the casualties, coaching-wise? Well, Brendan's all right, isn't he? He seems all right, doesn't he? That's the whisper. It's just whether... Can they adapt? Can they sort of change what they've done? Go back to Ben Stokes' interview, they've rumbled what we're doing. So you've got to come up with something else.

41:06Michael Vaughan: Well, the debate is... Harry Brooks, the best captain he's ever played under. He's the only one. He hasn't played under another. OK. Well, that's true. He's spitting facts then.

41:20David 'Bumble' Lloyd: And also, you're not going to slap off your coach. I got myself in a slight cul-de-sac.

41:26Michael Vaughan: Let's be honest, from a playing perspective, a player's perspective, I think he must be great to play for. Of course he is. Because he gives them pretty much the licence to be and go out there and play. My difficulty looking at it is... You've got to win. You've got to win trophies. We haven't won. That is a fact. And did we beat any big boys? Not really. Well, New Zealand in the last group stage, Super 8 was a good winning... Oh, you're talking about this comp? Yeah. I think this comp has kind of glossed over what was the real problem in the winter. It's the Ashes. Let's be honest, the Ashes was a shocker.

42:02Michael Vaughan: Now, we can't just because we've had a couple of good T20 knocks from Harry Brook and Jacob Bethel. Oh, everything's rosy. The fact of the winter is that the main course, which we have to judge this England management on, it was a shocker. And it's how you get over that.

42:18Mark Butcher: Well, they've changed. Obviously, if they're going to stay in position, and the media have been after him, haven't they? The media, by and large, have been after McCollum, that it's got to change. The hierarchy have said, we're going to stick with what we've got, but I think our debate is that they'll have to change their approach. They've got to start winning.

42:39Michael Vaughan: Do you think, I don't know Baz well enough, I mean, you've been on a golfing trip with him, but I don't know whether he can change from his philosophy. I heard his interview at the end of the semi-final where he said, we didn't quite stick to, I don't know what the actual word, we didn't stick to our values of what we've been doing before. Is this about the Ashes? Yes. I would say that they actually did. Particularly in the first two games. Entirely. You know, the first two games, you go back to Perth, day two, they played the basball way, got bowled out, lost the game. You go to Brisbane with the pink ball, Nieser bowled, with the keeper stood up, all the big drives.

43:13Michael Vaughan: That's the basball way. It was found out. You go to the first innings in Adelaide, where we should have got 350, 400. It was a road. The Bas-Bor method got us bowled out too cheaply. And then they started to play a little bit. And obviously, Bas-Bor won the game in Melbourne. That's fine. But ultimately, it was the method that they've been playing that cost them in Australia.

43:33Mark Butcher: Can I just go in? You've got two long-term international captains, and he's captain as well, at international level.

43:40Sir Alastair Cook: For an afternoon.

43:42Mark Butcher: You have a breather. Is it not the captain who drives the team? Yeah. See, we're talking about McCullum, McCullum, McCullum. It's the captain who drives the team, doesn't he?

43:55David 'Bumble' Lloyd: Well, I think we go back to this winter. Obviously, the Ashes, which we cannot gloss over, but we did say that they had to get to the semi-final. I remember that. Which they got to the semi-final to give McCullum, if that's what the hierarchy want to do. I think if they got knocked out of Super 8, I think it was... I know we're going back to the results-driven business. I think McCullum would probably have to go. I think he's done enough in this T20 to allow him to continue. The thing which I'm now looking at is, are they brave enough or honest enough to admit that mistakes were made and they're going to change the philosophy of selection a bit more?

44:36David 'Bumble' Lloyd: Counting cricket. Well, counting cricket. Because you cannot keep picking, for example, and I don't want to pick Zach Crawley out, but I'm going to. He's averaged 30 for 70 test matches and he's played every game. Are we now saying, I think that that's proven it. His big moment was that Ashes, he's going to win us games in Australia and he hasn't. So are we now going, right, we've got to change. That has to change. That philosophy has to change. The preparation we know we spoke about was wrong. We're going back on overall grounds. Do I think McCollum can change and can lead England forward? I think he can, but there has to be some...

45:10David 'Bumble' Lloyd: You know what I'd like to see happen?

45:12Michael Vaughan: Because Baz is doing it completely different to probably anybody else. And I think there's a bit of a myth that a lot of people in the game don't quite understand what happens behind the closed doors of the England dressing room. I think he's got to go out into the county game and present to all the counties and all the players and all the coaches, this is the way I go about my business. This is my blueprint, this is what I want, this is what I expect. When I set up a test team, these are my players, what I want, these are the way that I want you to play.

45:36Sir Alastair Cook: But he's done that and they've failed. No, but not to the county system.

45:41David 'Bumble' Lloyd: I don't think the counties have a clue what they're trying to weigh in. Well, I think everyone has done because they've openly said we want players in that top six who can win games of cricket. And I think everyone knows that.

45:52Michael Vaughan: I don't think he's ever gone into the dressing rooms of our game and just explained to everyone, this is the reason why I go about my business this way. I agree. To really explain it and then everyone goes, OK. And by the way, answer some questions from people that might go, I don't think that's quite right.

46:07Sir Alastair Cook: I think people would be surprised, actually. I think that he's got himself in this position where he thinks that everyone plays golf and everyone's very loose and messing about and everything. He's not like that. I can guarantee you. I don't think he is. No, he won't be like, you know, oh, come on, let's not worry about it, it's the ashes. He might just be... He's perceived as that way, and I make Mike right a little bit there.

46:29Mark Butcher: He might just be protecting his players a bit too much. Correct. I think he's a cosy club. He doesn't have to go to the county, just make a statement that you're all in the mix now. To come back to Zach Crowley, that Zach Crowley is not automatic, he's in the mix with other players and we're going to look on form, that we're going to see it's going to be quite a while before we play a test match and there's going to be a lot of cricket played. And so players like Hamid and like Sibley, who've been there before, they're in the mix to open the batting.

46:59Michael Vaughan: I think optics are really important at this stage. I'm not a big person for optics generally, but I think it's very important that Baz McCollum is seen out and about. And I'm not saying April, May, the whole of April, because he's probably going to go back to New Zealand for a breather. But come in May, come and study a bit of our game and get out and about just to show your face. Be seen. You know, be seen in and around all the county games, watch a bit of four-day cricket, speak to the coach. That comment that Darren Lehman made in the winter was probably one of the biggest comments that I heard this winter, that he is a coach of Northampton, he's not had one phone call.

47:31Michael Vaughan: It's remarkable. It's remarkable.

47:33Phil Tufnell: I mean, that aside, I think he's going to survive, right? Or not survive. He's going to be head coach. All three formats.

47:41David 'Bumble' Lloyd: I don't think if he's a coach of the whiteboard, they cannot have another coach, can they? No, no.

47:47Phil Tufnell: He's doing a whole lot. But what I would like to see on the field is, we know, right, that given a fair wind and given things in their favour, that England can play a game at sort of an elevated level, particularly at home. They've done it, right? What I want to see from a Baz McCullum, Ben Stokes led team is the ability for them to go up and down the gears and do that when it's optimal for them to do so and play the game the way that it's meant to be played in other times. That's kind of it. I don't think that there's, there isn't a massive amount of argument for me around the players that England have selected.

48:21Phil Tufnell: You can, you know, nitpick one position here or a bowler there or whatever, the spinner, whatever, if you like. but generally speaking they are the best players that England have available to play. But too often they've played in a way that has given the opposition, I don't know, let's say six, seven wickets out of 20 in a Test match. And as a consequence of that, they've failed to win big moments and big series against big teams.

48:48David 'Bumble' Lloyd: I'm intrigued to see how they play. Because actually the first two games they played really attackingly, The next Test match, Ben Stokes got like, what was it, 50, 170 balls?

49:00Phil Tufnell: For me, there was a dawning there and we're kind of redoing some old ground here. But there was a dawning there for Ben. Actually, his legacy is on the line or was on the line there during the Ashes. He wanted to be an England captain that had that feather in his cap and that it wasn't going to work out doing it the way that they were doing it. And so there appeared at the time to be sort of some cross wires between the captain and the coach and the messaging. And, you know, so that needs to be sorted out. And the only way that we will see that as observers from the outside is by the way that England then go about playing their cricket during the course of the season.

49:38Sir Alastair Cook: Well, I haven't just said that, though. Just very, very quick. Sorry, Bob. We're very quickly having said that. But then that style of play against Pakistan and New Zealand in English kind of conditions, would probably... Work. Work. Which it did. Yeah, absolutely, yeah. That is so... He's got himself in a bit of a funny place here now because you just sort of start, you know, looking to change your philosophy of the game when actually the philosophy that might be required this summer is the one that you have to go back to. Yeah, but... I think what we're trying to say is,

50:15Michael Vaughan: and we've said it for a few years now, you can't just play one way in test cricket. No, you can't. You've just got to be able to adapt and assess and work out the situation. Whatever that situation is for that hour, then you play it accordingly, both with bat and ball. And then you go again for the next... Test cricket is all about the kind of movement of what happens.

50:33Mark Butcher: These are two established captains. If the court says, fellas, enjoy yourself and entertain me, you two are going to say, this is my team. You drive the team, surely. You're the captain. You drive the team.

50:50David 'Bumble' Lloyd: You drive it with the coach. So, like, you and Duncan Fletcher... That's different than... No, you and Duncan Fletcher would have sat down and gone, this is how we play. This is how we want to play. What did he say? Bus drive.

51:04Phil Tufnell: So, it's interesting.

51:06David 'Bumble' Lloyd: So, I played under Duncan with Michael as captain

51:11Phil Tufnell: and with two of them as captain. And central contracts. And central contracts. Both were central contracts, right? So that's no different from now. Everyone's got central contracts and stuff. But you had the same coach, Duncan Fletcher, working with two completely different characters. Completely different, right? And the team under Nasser, and it was, you know, we had to go from being the worst team in the world to sort of like slowly climb up the charts. Nasser then hands it over when he felt that he'd taken the team and the players in it and the way that we were playing as far as he could go.

51:43Phil Tufnell: And then Michael took it on a step further. So the same coach changed the way that his outlook and the way that he treated players or allowed players to kind of come up with their own solutions or play in a slightly more on the front foot way with two different captains. So it's not impossible. No, you're absolutely right.

52:00David 'Bumble' Lloyd: And the coach has to change. But the only difference in this situation is it's the same captain.

52:07Michael Vaughan: Yes. And the same coach. So both of them, and I'm more than happy for them to both carry on, but they do have to just change and adapt. I think Ben's already got it in his head that he wants to,

52:21Phil Tufnell: but you've also got the spectre of, we're already talking about the next WA Ashes series or whatever, but Ben won't be around by then. So at some point in the next 18 months or two years, there is going to be somebody else taking over that job. There has to be.

52:36David 'Bumble' Lloyd: Well, you say that Stoke Ben will get to Ashes if he can't heal.

52:40Phil Tufnell: No, no, to the Ashes at home, yeah, but after that. The tea is a long time. No, I know that, but what you know is, for a fact, is that at some point, the next guy needs to be sort of being put in place and being ready to take over the job.

52:54Michael Vaughan: Well, I reckon... Jacob Beathard. I do, I see plenty in Jacob. I mean, they... But I mean... He's captain.

53:02Mark Butcher: He's just captain of the county champions. Yeah, yeah. I've got 1 ,500 runs and 6 or 700. That's a fair lick.

53:11Michael Vaughan: He ain't a blocker. He can play. The problem Jake will have is the fact that he plays all formats and he's such a busy kid. But from what I've seen, and they made him T20 captain last September, which was remarkable. But you kind of look at, and I have to give, Luke Wright is leaving his position. I think he's gone now, hasn't he, after this World Cup. You mentioned selection. I think he's done a good job. quietly in the background. Who would you take over from him? I don't know. No idea, but I think he deserves a bit of praise and credit for doing half a decent job. He's under the radar.

53:44Phil Tufnell: What's that, mate?

53:45Michael Vaughan: Luke Wright's job. Ooh.

53:48Mark Butcher: Ooh. Oh, hello, Paxman. Paxman.

53:51Phil Tufnell: I'd have to fight Harmy for it, wouldn't I? And he's winning, so...

53:55David 'Bumble' Lloyd: Well, but Harmy said he didn't get it winning. No, I know.

53:59Phil Tufnell: I've had no discussions on that front. Well, he has, obviously. I was like, yes, Prime Minister. I've had this. I couldn't possibly.

54:07Michael Vaughan: Would you be interested in... No? No interest, Phil? Would you be interested? Oh, I'd love to do it.

54:13Sir Alastair Cook: What a crack that would be. Going round to the county games, going to see all your old mates again and having a little cricket, glass of wine, bit of lunch, lovely. He's all right, he's in.

54:25Sir Alastair Cook: You've got the job. Thank you.

54:27Phil Tufnell: That is how Jake and Bethel became an England player.

54:32Michael Vaughan: Stick to Cricket is brought to you by Betfair. Right, lads, I think we'll finish with some community questions. Well, this is one for you, I think. With the Cheltenham Festival starting this week... Oh, yeah, go on. ..we want to know your favourite UK sporting event that isn't cricket-related.

54:52Sir Alastair Cook: Ooh.

54:53Michael Vaughan: Ooh. FA Cup final for me. Yeah. Back in the day, though. Ryder Cup. Ryder Cup.

55:00David 'Bumble' Lloyd: I'm having the Ali Pali darts. UK, Dave. What a week. What team is it? Ryder Cup's in...

55:05Michael Vaughan: It's not always in the UK. It's in the UK. Ryder Cup's great. Yeah.

55:09Sir Alastair Cook: Anything like darts. Ali Pali darts. Ali Pali darts. Ali Pali. Ali Pali darts. Over Christmas, what a day. What are you going for, Phil? I like the FA Cup show. The old one. Oh, yeah. When the TV used to... It used to start at 9 o 'clock in the morning,

55:26Michael Vaughan: didn't it? Build up all day. On the coach. On the coach.

55:31Sir Alastair Cook: Stun boardmen telling a joke on the coach.

55:34Phil Tufnell: The teams used to stay around the corner from my gaff at what used to be known as the Selesdon Park Hotel. Which is like, I mean, it's the worst drive in the world to try and get the worst West London. But all the teams used to stay. I put suit on.

55:48David 'Bumble' Lloyd: Put your white suit on. Luton off to Wembley on 12th of April. What? In what? The Verdu Cup, thank you very much. What's that? I don't know. It's like there's the FA. There's the Champions League. Then the FA Cup. Then it's the Carabao Cup. Then it's the... Wimpy. Wimpy.

56:05Phil Tufnell: I've only been to it once, but the Open's pretty special. Oh, yeah.

56:09Michael Vaughan: Yeah, I've been to that. Right, that's good. Bumble, just for you, name your top three jockeys of all time.

56:16Mark Butcher: Leicester Bigot. Yeah.

56:18Michael Vaughan: He's a question of sport, wasn't he? Yes, I think I did well with that. AP McCoy. AP McCoy. Yeah. Good golfer. Dottori.

56:28Mark Butcher: Mick Canane.

56:29Sir Alastair Cook: Not that would be bad.

56:30Mark Butcher: Daniel Vittorio.

56:32Sir Alastair Cook: Daniel Vittorio. He's big. I bet they all should be going, oh, fuck.

56:38Mark Butcher: I've got Daniel again. Pat Henry. Pat Henry. Pat Henry, yeah. John Joe. John Joe O 'Neill. I mean, how many do you want? I asked for three. Right. Plenty there.

56:50Michael Vaughan: Right. Let's go. Oh, this will be good. Joanna Mason. Joanna Mason, right. The 100 auction on Thursday. I think this show goes out Wednesday, so... Who's your number one pick? Oh, blimey. And I'll go around, can you name all the teams? We've got an elephant. What, is your number one pick?

57:18Sir Alastair Cook: He's got four pounds. It's got a strong base.

57:25Mark Butcher: It's got his back and his trunk. What have we got? An elephant. You've got an elephant.

57:31David 'Bumble' Lloyd: So what's your team called?

57:33Michael Vaughan: African elephant as well. Big ears. Super giants. You're the Manchester super giants.

57:38David 'Bumble' Lloyd: Sunrises, Leeds Sunrises? Leeds Sunrises. Leeds Sunrises. All the beautiful sunrises.

57:46Mark Butcher: Let's name the team. Mumbai Indians. London Indians. Oval Indians? No. Oval... London... MI London. MI London.

57:54Sir Alastair Cook: MI London, all right. Is it the London spirit? Or MI5, MI London.

57:58Michael Vaughan: London spirit at the Lord's, yes. So Cardiff is... The London spirit is still London spirit. I think they are. Are they? I thought they... I think they are. I think they are. Cardiff is... Iceded Fod. Welsh fire. Are they still the Welsh fire? You're asking the wrong person. No, this is... Welsh fire. Who else play? Birmingham... Phoenix. Are they still the Phoenix?

58:17Phil Tufnell: They're the Phoenix. Southern Braves are still the Southern Braves. Right, Southern Braves. That's four. That's seven. Oh, the Capitals.

58:22Sir Alastair Cook: Who? Is it the Capitals? What are the Oval? What of Oval? Oval Capitals.

58:26Phil Tufnell: My London.

58:27Sir Alastair Cook: Yeah, MI London. It might be the London Capitals. Not MI London. Oh, I see.

58:32Michael Vaughan: Number one pick. Trent Rockets. My number one pick and I'll say that... I'm going Boomer. Al Adal Rashid was not retained by Leeds Sunrisers. It's beyond me. Really? Hang on. So, the Leeds Sunrisers, they kept... Let me get Harry Brook, who's got a monster check. I think he's on 475k. Well, play me under it. Brydon Kars, yep. Mitchell Marsh and Nathan Ellis. How Adal Rashid's not one of those four, he's beyond my side.

59:00Mark Butcher: They've got Harry Brook and Brydon Kars in the same team again.

59:03Michael Vaughan: They'll be lively, won't they? Get ready, Leeds. Yeah, Adal Rashid's my number one pick.

59:10Sir Alastair Cook: Zampa wouldn't be far away, would he? Someone like Adam Zampa. Zampa who? Sam Billings, captain.

59:17Michael Vaughan: What, he's your number one pick? I can't really remember who. I think James Coles will go for a few quid. Yeah. All-rounder down Sussex, good player. So who you having as your number one pick? Bat Bowl all-rounder. Boulder, Rashid.

59:33Phil Tufnell: Sam Curran always lights it up. Is he not already at Mumbai? He's already retained.

59:39Michael Vaughan: Joffre? He's already retained. That's the thing, we've got to know who's out. Rashid, Batu, do you want Batu? I bet Finn Allen would be in that, wouldn't he? Or he might be the MLC. Oh, Seifert.

59:55Sir Alastair Cook: Shafane Rutherford. Bosch. Yes, nice shout.

59:59Michael Vaughan: Right, we'll finish with this. You've got to rank the following three batting performances from the World Cup, one to three. Jacobs 100 against India, Harry's against Pakistan, Finn Allen's against South Africa. Finn Allen one. One, yeah. Finn Allen number one. Yeah. Bethel too. I'm just saying that Jacob Bethel playing it against Bumrah, Chakravarti. I mean, that reverse flick that he put into the stands of Chakravarti.

1:00:24David 'Bumble' Lloyd: Didn't win, though. The thing that got me again. Oh, you're going for the win. Well, I think Philan has to be.

1:00:28Michael Vaughan: Harry Brook against the... It was spinning up in... Where was that? Palachale, wasn't it?

1:00:32David 'Bumble' Lloyd: That was quite sad.

1:00:32Michael Vaughan: The thing again about that... Nice Palachale. That knot. That knot. There's a lot of elephants up there.

1:00:37Sir Alastair Cook: They all have... And hogs. They have some wild hogs. It's the composure of it. That Jacob Bethel knot. But, you know, you see everyone else smashing it around. He was just sort of... Am I right? He's a serious player.

1:00:50David 'Bumble' Lloyd: He doesn't move much, does he? He's not like one of those who dances down, gives him five foot, and you think a one in ten will come up. All his shots are playing, I like it.

1:00:58Mark Butcher: You see Fred Boycott. If you want, you know, you want. On social media, Fred Boycott. Yeah, I have him on X, yeah. On X. Well done, India, the world's slogging champions. He doesn't slog.

1:01:13David 'Bumble' Lloyd: though he knows slogs well never does sandju samson no he's not a slogger no to be consistent you can't can you no but then it's phil allen he's a slogger well he's a he's a big lad we're in an

1:01:26Michael Vaughan: era of if we saw a a six over extra cover in our time we might have seen did you ever hit six over extra i don't think i did i might have done in counter cricket with a short boundary to one side down at Chelmsford that was my shot your little boundaries down at Chelmsford or

1:01:43Phil Tufnell: wide square

1:01:44Michael Vaughan: Ilford somewhere like that a bit square

1:01:47Phil Tufnell: than that maybe I reckon we see

1:01:50Michael Vaughan: three in innings don't we these days in T20 cricket Karl Upe used to hit me for six over Hector Karl Upe was

1:01:58Sir Alastair Cook: playing that game

1:01:59Mark Butcher: where oh Graggy what's his name 158 Napier Napier Graham Napier yes and he used to open the ball in as well he's a good cricketer He was a good picketer. You had to keep getting the ball, Bumble. You went over the garden, didn't you? He was on the tent. The big dog come after me. Bloody big Alsatio come after you. Woof, woof, woof.

1:02:19Michael Vaughan: Jesus. I was climbing up that scaffolding. I tell you, were you in New Zealand that trip, when Nathan Astle got all of us? Yeah. Kettle and smoking caddy have extra cup.

1:02:31Sir Alastair Cook: Caddy, get on. It's ricocheting off the stand back. We didn't have to fetch it.

1:02:35Phil Tufnell: Kettle's coming back off the roof. There's a lot of steam coming out of those in. You said, people's republic,

1:02:40Mark Butcher: we're good out of people's republic of Chelmsford with Sky in that scaffolding and one of them green boxes. You dread it. Play a night, mate, 6.30, 7 o 'clock start. They're all steamed coming out of Chelmsford and they're shaking. They're trying to shake you out of this box, the whole bloody thing. People's Republic of Chelmsford.

1:03:03Sir Alastair Cook: Lads, that's it. Well done. That was brilliant. Well done, boys. Well done. Very good. Well done, Paul.

1:03:29Michael Vaughan: Thanks for listening and thanks to our partners, Betfair. You can subscribe wherever you get your podcasts and you won't miss an episode. And if you want to support the show, please leave us a five-star review and help others find it too. See you next time.