Mark Waugh: Iconic Moments, Shane Warne Stories & Life at the Top | Stick To Cricket EP 30

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0:33Yeah, not in the UK. No, Australia. Yeah, Australia. Australia, mate. Australia. Always would concern me having one of those shows. Yeah. Who's coming through the door? Who's coming through the door? You don't have to worry, Cat. No need to worry. This is your wife.

0:54So rude. That'd be a good show. So rude. Sorry, Phil, I couldn't miss that. Rude.

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1:17Joe Root or Steve Smith? I mean, Joe Root's a great player, but I don't think I would fear him playing against us if he's played against us. No? Well, you asked me a question. I said, Steve Smith. I actually played professional soccer. I got paid$30 a game. Were you right foot, left foot? Big Glenn Hoddle. Glenn Hoddle. Good distributor. And he lets off this enormous fart.

1:41Cricket or racing, choose one of them. I like both. But you can't. I can watch both. Well this is the question. You don't have to. I can do what I want. You sort of going into politics. The balls just sprung off your head, didn't it? Trying to catch it and went, f*** over there. And then you're right. And I've got, he's walking off.

2:08What was it like growing up with a load of brothers that played the game? Good, good, yeah, great. My dad was a good tennis player and my mum. My uncle was a good cricketer. That was the only cricket in the family. He kept in Bankstown first grade, downborn. So Stephen, obviously, twin brother, and two younger brothers. Dean, who was four years younger, and Danny, ten years younger. Both good cricketers, played first grade and a bit of state cricket. But he wasn't just cricket, was he? No, soccer, tennis. What position? I was midfield, Stephen was centre forward. I actually played professional soccer, got paid$30 a game for a club called Sydney Croatia in Sydney, who were the top club at that time, back in the 90s.

2:54So I grew up with Robbie Slater, you know Robbie Slater? Yes, yes. Blackburn Rovers? Yeah. West Ham. West Ham. West Ham, yeah. Yeah, he's my era, Robbie. Played in the same team. Yeah. Yeah, he was not as good as myself and Stephen. No way. He wasn't. Whether I played with Blackburn and West Ham. He was just a runner. He had not much skills. Yeah, were you right foot, left foot? Both. Big Glenn Hoddle. Good distributor. I like Glenn Hoddle. Yeah. Good vision. Good vision. With the mullet? Yeah, it's a good distributor. Did you have the engine as well? you know box to box but what about Steven as a center forward yeah he's a glory glory hunter yeah yeah he was good so it's a Steve would have been what kind of strike what we took Tony you know back in the day what any caral inica goal hanger no more not great in the air but good good just nippy yeah good faith go on with them feet though Steve nice tender to get so we play We played representative soccer, yeah.

3:52So when you played, so you were a pro? Yeah, sort of a pro. Half a season. So how many would watch the games? A couple thousand at least. More than that. So Sydney, Croatia, so I had a Croatian coach and he knew nothing about cricket and then the seasons started to overlap. This is age sort of 17, so I had to make a decision. Would you get in the best ever Australian football team? There are not many of them, is there? Would I get in it? Like Harry Kuhl, Mark Swartzer. Mate, we had a top side in the 2000s. Everton. Timmy Cale. Mike Maduka. Mike Maduka. We had a lot of Premier League fans. Any mid-middlefield?

4:32Midfield. Although you could be in there. No. Well, possibly. Probably Slater played, yeah. I love my soccer, yeah. And everyone always says backyard cricket in Australia. hmm you know we didn't really play backyard cricket why didn't we play back too cold but too but in summer you when you've played in summer well we sort of play on the drive blackout cricket in winter even in the wreck on the yeah on the wreck on the recreation ground just the village we had a lamp post on our street that's it that's the stumps traditionally not going to go over the top of that is it traditionally you'd have a big backyard in australia not now but you in years you know back then everyone had a bit you know dwelling in a big yard yeah you know a backyard well a lot of those you know towns in the north of england yeah sarah's house you've got a bit of space over here that's right backyard cricket was competitive obviously yeah well we're all so when was it when you suddenly started to realize you you were a soccer player then you thought no i played both because they're different seasons so but i always liked cricket a little bit better than why i didn't like going training in the winter you know at the night time it was cold and what was your team uh played for uh supporting no cricket bankstown bankstown bankstown so they've had um who they've had over the years eleni pascoe and jeff thompson My uncle captain there in first grade.

6:07Jesus. I thought Tomo was from Queensland. He went to Queensland. All right. He's from Punchbowl Boys High. Right. Lenny and Tomo went to the same school, Punchbowl. All Lebanese mainly now. Yeah. That's where Brad McNamara went. Was it, yeah. Punchbowl Boys High. So Bankstown. We won comps. We had a good side. Wayne Holdsworth played for Bankstown. I remember him. Punchbowl. Yeah. Lenny Pascoe. Lenny and Jeff. Steve Smith was a good opening baster, remember Steve Smith? Not this Steve Smith. Steve Smith played World's... Yeah, he's a good player. It'd be a tough club game, wouldn't it, Geoff Thompson, steaming in?

6:44Well, you know what, they used to turn up late to first grade because they'd be down at the beach and they'd get dropped to third and fourth grade the next week. Yeah, he'd turn up in fourth grade and... Tom and Lenny are in. Forgot your helmet. Jesus! So did you play loads of junior cricket with Steve? Because you played over five test matches together. Yeah, we're in every school team, state team, rep teams together, all the way through. What was your highest partnership together with your brother? Well, 464 in Sheva Shield Cricket. It was a world record at the time versus WA in Perth. They had a good side too.

7:20Bruce Reid, Terry Alderman. 464? Ken McClay. You didn't play on the up in Perth then, obviously, to get 464. Oh, did you? Who played first? Who played the first first-class game?

7:36Stephen played before me, yep. Was it competitive? Yeah, a little bit. And then he played... He got picked for Australia when he was 19, I think. All right. And he wasn't ready, but... And I had a bit of a back injury. I sort of dropped away a bit, and then... I got picked for New South Wales as an opening batsman. Got dropped. Myself and Tubby opened together, first game together, against Tasmania in Hobart. Winston Davis I think was the overseas. I was, yeah. Bowler for Tassie. Did you get some? No. 20, 20. I got dropped. Not easy. About four games. Then I came back as a number six and opened the bowling with Mike Whitney at the Gabba.

8:16Seema. Did you face him bowling spin or seam? Oh, probably. Oh, spin, spin. Spin, not the balls. I'd usually put... I'd say Pfeiffer against your mob in Adelaide. Seema. I think you played that game. I probably did. I could always let me bowl in a few offers. Could have maybe caught, caught bowled or something. I was similar bowled to you, actually, Vaughan. A bit of drift out of the way, I think. Yeah, offspin. Yeah, yeah. You're quick. You can't have been a quick seamer, though, can you? I reckon I was sharp. Sharp. Yeah. I loved hitting blokes in the head. Your brother was like that. Yeah, Steve.

8:50I just bowled bouncers. But he marred us. Well, I'm on his pace. I mean, it's a hail's lip in Pakistan. Did you? Yeah. What, straight one through the grill, or? I don't know. Straight. I like bowling bouncers. Because, I mean, as a batsman, you've caught bounces, don't you? Can I ask a quick question? You must have been asked it a million times. Was it in Perth when you were running? Yes. For Stahey? No, I was running for Craig McDermott. Oh, was it? Yeah, yeah. Running for Craig McDermott. Talk us through that. Well, is there a worse job than running for summer? I mean, have you all done it? I've done it one.

9:24Not even your runs. I run Michael Bathen out in Glamorgan as a runner. Well done back in the day before it got like I still don't like the venue but the old kind of dress rooms There's two dresser's fire gardens there were two dress rooms upstairs and I Give it the full dive and I was still two meters out That's a walk-off where you stormed off. Yeah, well, it's similar Well, all I could see on the balcony all the lats were like moving into my dress Yeah. So Billy was batting... He just beat him in for three weeks. Billy must have been 11. Not a bad number, 11. Anyway, he got injured as usual.

10:03There's always something wrong with Billy. So they said, oh, he needs a runner. So I look around the room, there's Boonie, Swamp, AB and Tubby. So they're all slow as wet week. So I got the job and you need to trudge out there. and Stephen's heading towards his 100 and I'm running for Billy. So the over before Stephen hit one straight to point. There was no, I said, he said yes, I said no because there's no run in it and he'd come up to me at the end of the hour and said, fucking wake up, you know, I'm 99. I said, yeah, I know that, but that wasn't a run. So he goes, back up next time we get a chance.

10:43So next over, McDermott's on strike, gets off strike, so Stephen gets on strike And Chris Lewis is bowling. Good bowler. Yeah. Sharp, wasn't he? Yeah, yeah. So in Perth, the field are back, aren't they? Slips and gully and, you know. So if you hit it straight down, you're going to get a run, aren't you? So Stephen blocks it straight down, so I just take off. We didn't call because we never spoke much, so we just ESP. But he twins. He's just sort of looking. And I just ran. And I get at least halfway down, maybe further. And he says no. So I've had to turn around. I was there. Run. And I dived, like you.

11:20Like, I never dive. So I dive full length. And I thought, oh, fuck, I reckon I'm out. You know, you just know. So it goes to the third umpire, isn't it? Yeah, it went to the third umpire. It's just the red or the green light, isn't it? That's it. Yeah. So Lewis has followed through, picked it up, threw it to Gucci, who was in front of the stumps. Gucci gets it and underarms it into the stumps. I dive. I think, I'm gone. I'm gone. Anyway, it takes about two minutes for the decision to come up red out. Oh, shit. And I was out by about this far. Yeah. And then I just trudge off and I just see Stephen way behind me.

11:57What was sad? What was sad? Just steam coming out. So we get into the dressing room in Perth. It's quite a long dressing room. In the middle is all the table with all the food and drinks and autograph bats. And I just hear Stephen say, get out of the fucking way. And he just chucks his bat about 30 metres and just knocks everything over. I just walk in. Sit down. Did you say sorry? I think so. I don't know. I can't remember. I tried to, but I don't think he took it on board. He didn't take it on board. So he got 99 not out. He liked his not out. But who wants to run for someone? No. You kind of run for anyone.

12:36Good God, no. No, no, no, no. Well, I might have done it sometime, but I can't remember it. No. Do you do? One Ronnie and Ronnie? He ran himself. Ronnie? Did he get Ronnie out? Yeah, because he did the good old... And he had the run out? It was chaos, wasn't it? No, it wasn't. It was chaos. So he hit it. Especially for at square legged. I was at square leg. I was at square leg. He hit it and he run as well. Obviously he's out of the ground, isn't he? And then the bloke apparently couldn't run. Did 44 yards, four left-handed and he was out. You don't have the angle of the ball or anything when you're at square legs, do you?

13:11Do you remember Ull Mortensen? Yes. Ul Mortensen, the Danish fella, comes in with a runner. I'm umpiring with Murph Kitchen. He hits this ball and sets off running. He's injured. So he's running, his runner's running, and the non-striking batter's running. Peter Willey's at gully. They didn't know the rules, players don't. Peter Willey just said, just throw it into him. He said, just take the bales off. Take the bales off. I can speak to Will, he says How's that? Murph Kitchy says, that's out And he's just adjusting his pads He said, well, no, I'm not putting his gloves out He said, I'm sorry, he said, you're out He said, out He said, I'm in He's in He's in We're all fucking in Murph said, that's fine But you should be in at that end

14:23What year was it, an old year, when you first went over to England to play county cricket? County cricket, I reckon I was 23 or 24. So I hadn't played for Australia. AB was a pro at Essex. And he had to come home, like August or something. so he recommended me to go and play at Essex. So I went over. I wasn't playing at all. It was the middle of winter. I'm like, Jesus Christ, am I going to go over and do any good? Went over there. Sunday league game at Colchester. Yeah. Castle Park? Castle Park. Yeah, Castle Park. He's called something else, isn't he? It used to be Castle Park. It's Dog Shit Park.

14:57Oh, that's Hillford. Dog Shit Park. Dog Shit Park. That's Hillford. Hillford. Dog Shit Park. Played there as well. I'm not diving anywhere over there. Yeah, no. Colchester's a nice little place. Yeah, so I couldn't hit my first 20 balls. I was like, oh, Jesus Christ. And then I ended up getting 100. Got a couple of poles as well. Got stung by a wasp up my pants as well. Got all the chest off and had to drop my strides. So that was my first game. So I finished the season there. Then I came back, I think, the year after. The wickets were very ordinary. So they brought in the rule. You lose 25 points.

15:34What are you writing down? 25 points if you produce a dodgy wicket. and South End I think we got docked 25 points. You would have played there. Bloody shit joint, big open fields. Shocking dressing rooms, South End. Yeah, so I played probably, I don't know how many games I would have played. You'd have played when you drove everywhere. Yeah, you'd finish a game, you could finish at South End, you could be playing at Blackpool the next day. And have to drive there, after batting all day, or bowling all day. so my roommate was um paul pritchard for a lot of the first year yeah that's some good aussie's bruce francis was was it essex stuart law a b casper

16:23scott brant came a bit late i'm not sure i'm completely no you must have enjoyed that i did yeah what was the side what was that song um good hardy is the best name alan lilly i think was in just because he threw throw downs to Gucci. He could not bat. He had a first-class average of about 21, Alan Lilly. He had two first-class underers, both against the Union. In about 4 ,000 years, yeah. Boy, he was just prepped. And he drove Gucci, I think. He needed a driver, didn't he? Yeah, yeah. Gucci, Pritchard, Nasser. Yeah. Suggsy. Did Nasser ever bring you out? I reckon he tried a few times. No, he didn't get me.

17:04Fossey, John Stevenson, Suchy, John Childs. That's it. Good, sir. You would have won a few. Yeah, Fossey. Yeah. You would have won a few. We won one and we got Rob once as well. And we lost. Was it B &H or NatWest? At Lourdes. NatWest was 60. I was B &H. Against Nottinghamshire again. Eddie Hemmings. John Lever. For four. For backward gully. Yeah. For four. So no, county cricket was great because I hadn't played test cricket and you're playing against Marshall, Donald, Ambrose. Walsh, Courtney Walsh. Walsh. Every team had a really good overseas player. You played literally every day, didn't you?

17:44Yeah. For guys you got. I loved it, though. I love playing. Well, because you don't play as much over it, do you? No, no. What years were you there? I remember you came back. Well, 60 now. My first one was 24. What's that? Where's Laurie when we need him? 36 years ago, so we're talking in 89. Yeah. You also came back, didn't you? 2002? Yes, I came back. He came back 2002 and he played the last three games. Yeah, and I think Essex got promoted. And you batted a Will Jefferson, 6 '10". He played in 2002. He did. He came back. Jeffo got under and I reckon you got 80. I reckon I got, was that against Stuart McGill?

18:21Alright, you got 80 not out and you and Jeffo, they chased down 200. 6 '10 opening bar. 6 '10. That's right, yeah. You got 80 not out, so CSM. I was on the academy like that. Yeah, I reckon of all if you look at juniors play talking of IPL's We always talk about it don't be on Fox. How much would he go for? Oh? Well, there's a bit of that balls a bit of that what now? I'm Cameron Green's gone for four million So he's gonna go he's gonna go for what was ten you giving him ten here yeah Feel that's breaking the barrier. I don't think you're allowed to go like that. Well, what the barrier is Go for four no disrespect You must out junior.

19:11I know yeah, do you still did you only use Slazinger because I can remember when I eat our big sweat band Slazinger B on a hand and a 500 What I mean, whatever stick it they want to put on and sell out a trust it what we come sunny what was it called the sunny tusk back in the day no super tusk simons yeah you had one of those that was when i was new south wales and then all my australian career was i remember going to the factory in um english factory in burnley was it no wakefield wakefield yeah on the one just on the left no junction 38 yeah who was our bat maker um yeah he passed away just recently yeah ed eric eric eric loxton there you go i remember the bat maker yeah good knowledge yeah they're good good stickers good gear it's good hey Dave can you tell us that Manchester joke heard on the radio that you're told by fart it made me laugh oh yeah maybe Chuck all that that's a bit random I know I just I just remember listen to that maybe Chuck I thought be great for the show that it's probably it's it's a don't always an old guy can the fellas have gone in a unisex toilet wait it's not male female just cubicles this fella's gone in on a sit-down job he's having a sit-down job and he lets off this enormous fart and it's going on the voice from the next cubicle said is that you Maureen

20:54I thought I'd just bring that into the show. You know, they've had six million hits. Six million. Oh, I loved it. I just saw it. I thought, bring that onto the show. Junior, you've been a player, incredible player, won World Cups, 99. 99, yeah. So you were at Lords. We lost in 95. So that was against Pakistan at Lords, wasn't it? They won the toss, Pakistan. So it wasn't a bit of a green tie. That had, yeah. Yeah, it worked out well. I think they got about 120, didn't they? 130? Yeah. The only one that wasn't batted? Yeah. Yeah, they did, yeah. At Lord's. Yeah, it was green. Yeah, one day game.

21:25Well, it wasn't green, but it did a bit. It did a bit. I took a one-hand specky early. Get rid of EJs. How did you become such a good catcher? Yes. I think it's just natural. Is it? Yeah. That's probably why I was rubbish. Well, my dad used to hit us a lot of volleys. You know, he used to practice his volleys at tennis. So a tennis ball was good. Yeah. Yeah, good to catch your technique to give with it because if you grabbed at it, it would bounce off. Always liked fielding, and then I had Bob Simpson as my state coach. He was one of the best catchers of all time. But what did he teach you that made him so good?

22:04I just think technique, watching the ball, not watching the bat, standing with your feet not too far apart. You know, basic skills, anticipation is a big thing in fielding, I reckon, wherever you field. So if someone asked me, do you watch the ball or the bat, where did you feel? It slips? I did. Well, everywhere. First slip. I first slip. So did you watch the bat or the ball? The ball at first slip. Yeah. Well, I think you've got to watch the ball everywhere. So did you, someone said you used to watch the ball at... Silly middle. Silly middle. Yeah. All you do is just angle your body to the ball and just follow the ball.

22:35Man. Yeah. Why didn't you ask me or Phil what you did? Whoa. Come on. Well, tough as I... I call a belter here. What about every ground you come to you told you talk about here remember the one day here? Is this a run-out? I was batting with Stephen he cooked me a few times during the season, but then I cooked him I hit one to backward point You know when you think it's past him It's a heavy amateur field, isn't it? Yeah, so I've called yes and spun straight back to the field And we just had a mix-up and Stephen's given up. He just stopped. He was walking off to the dressing room So they've thrown the ball back to toughers over the stumps.

23:16Old crocodile crawls. The ball's just sprung off your head, isn't it? Trying to catch it. Come on, give us a tab out. And then Stephen's... How did it go, Phil? The best thing is then you then picked up and launched it about a thousand miles. And missed the stumps. No, no, give me an orange, I say. Peach. What do you want us to do, Phil? No, just log one. I'll tell you, it was a bit like Jaxi's one here, and I've watched it back because I couldn't understand how I dropped it and then just just as it was coming in I've just gone like that I just took it yeah just just wait look at what you look at the stumps for why do you look at the stumps for?

23:55Where do you want it? Just about there and then I've gone boing like that and it's gone you're right it was like a sprang and it went get over there like that And then your brother... And I'm going, he's walking off, and I'm going... Oh, no! He's been sitting there. He had a ping at the start, and I was there. And I'm going... Oh, no! You threw that as hard as you could, couldn't you? And Steve has just... He got back, he's just... Oh, my God. We didn't talk about that. That's the first time I've... It's the only time on a cricket field run, at the old bottom lip where it's made the... We can't!

24:33He's a great sequence. It's like the old village. It is village. Oh, European cricket. Them two. Today, Wendy, we're both running to the same. European cricket. Romania v Italy. Oh, my God. Thankfully, next over, though. Can you get him out? I think so. Oh, hold him, cut. You've got me again. Got me again. Stick to Cricket is brought to you by BetFair.

25:07What about some of the characters you play? So you go back to all your test career, one day career, which was the best team that you played in for Australia? Well, when I first played, AB was captain. And we weren't that good a side then. We were pretty solid, but then you had guys like Merv, Swampy, good guy. And then the Tubby Taylor era. You know, Warnie, McGrath. Healy. Healy. Healy was a good character, yep. All good guys. I mean, we didn't have a dickhead in the team to be honest. All good guys. You know, we trained hard. There wasn't a big drinking culture. There was a few good drinkers in the team, but not that many in that era.

25:58More the era before with Booney and Swampy and those sort of guys. Tim May? Tim May? Yeah, he was a character. He's a lot of bowler. If anything was going to happen to someone, it would be Tim May. I remember him doing practice at Lord's and he was miles away. I don't know, standing up there and Tom Moody hit this drive and he called out watch out and Tim just looked up and he was straight in the mouth. About 100 metres away. That was the sort of thing that happened to Tim May. Watch out. Watch out. Like a meerkat. Yeah, look at him. but I mean then you've got Warnie Andrew Simons these guys yeah what's your best memory of playing with Warnie touring with Warnie Warnie most of them can't talk about that but I just think in general really yeah I mean I remember the party he put on his house Liz Hurley was there there was only six of us got invited six couples that was interesting yeah did you get sat next to Liz for a little while yeah she was good company early then she just got sick of us i think just she turned she turned up in our con box it was a tiny con box i think i remember where it was and they sat when he was off they sat hand in hand i thought elizabeth elizabeth he used to say that was overrated didn't he holding hands or was that you no i think he did too yeah what would you say was your best knock.

27:25My best knock? Well, I reckon my 100 on Dubu is right up there at Adelaide. Oh, really? You played? Yeah, I did. You didn't bowl many overs, and I give you a bit of a touch-up, actually. Yeah, you did. Kept running down properly. I reckon you bowled five overs. Did I? Yeah. Saving myself at a second, too. But, it's just one of those I was in good form, because I think I'd scored 3 ,000 runs in the calendar year, because I'd played at Essex, and then I'd played at New South Wales. 1 ,000 a year? Yeah. I made 3 ,000 runs that year. Got picked. That's a lot. That's It's knocking down the door isn't it?

27:57First ball just went past my glove, Philip De Freitas, and then I hit one down the ground for three and then I just, you know, just relaxed. Did you say just passed your glove or did it? Well you know, I've worked with you now for a number of years, you wouldn't come across as a nervous. Everyone gets nervous. Would you be nervous? Yeah, yeah. I used to sleep in the dressing room if I was nervous, when I waited to go into bat. Really? Yeah, I'd fall asleep so I'd... Richard Gitchison used to do that. Yeah. I didn't want to, but I did. And then I was watching Tubby batting Bernie. That's why I was falling asleep.

28:32What about Bowler? Bowler. Apart from misconvening. Me and yourself. Well, you got me out. I reckon the second most. Ambrose. Yeah. You're the second. 13. Phil Tufnell is the second. Thank you. You're all right up there, yeah. It's an all right. Bit of a difference between Tufnell and Ambrose. Ambrose used to do that. Ambrose, yeah. Yeah. I'll nip away. I remember he got me out first ball on a Boxing Day test. He always bounced me first ball, so I'm half ducking. Fuck, he's pitched it up. Plum. You know when Curly does two appeals in one? You know you're out. Absolutely plum. First ball, Boxing Day.

29:06Ambrose, yeah. So Ambrose is the bowler? Yeah, I thought so, yeah. Spinner? Which spinner? Used to climb into a spinner. Used to get out the spin a lot because I didn't respect him much. Sorry, tough. Really? Yeah. I mean, Moore really got me out a few times. He doesn't. A few dodgy ones, but anyway. Did you ever whack Warn and stuff in there? Yes. I've got 100 here against Warnie. He got a bit testy too. Because here in the Shield matches, all your stats have come up. Like, oh, 5 ,000 runs, first class runs and all these hundreds. And I'm sort of looking at it. And Warnie goes, what are you? Stop looking at the F and scoreboard.

29:42Why don't you just bat? I said, I'm batting all right. I said, if you could turn a bull, you might be a chance to get me out. Blowing up, coming around the wicket. I did get a hundred against him, yeah. Smoking for a few sixes over extra? Nah, not many sixes, no. No. Just... Boys, I've just been giving the nod. I want the bird. Go, go, go. Cheers, Phil. You've had a good tour too. Thanks, Phil. I think you've had a good tour too. I think you'll get another gig. I think you've been excellent. We'll roll too. Ah! That's it, absolutely. So, Alistair. See you, Phil. Love you all, boys. Love you all.

30:20Sorry, I'm sorry, guys. Safe flight, Phil. See you, mate. Bloody Mary's or? Bloody Mary's. Yeah, well done. See you, boys. Enjoy. Bye, Phil. Yes. Stick to Cricket is brought to you by BatFair. How did Mum and Dad cope with you all? Because you're different characters, aren't you? Yeah, a little bit, yeah. Yeah. We never used to fight or anything. No? No, we never got in the trouble. I just played sport. That's what we did. Well, you didn't go to school. Not bad. It was a medium. Did you go to school every day? Yeah. Yeah. Did the high school certificate. We got some very similar marks. Stephen actually went to a teacher's college for one day.

31:04He was going to be a school teacher, or a PE teacher. But he had to go to the art lesson, then music, and he just walked out. He just got no idea about either of them. So he lasted half a day at college. I never really had a job. My first job was indoor cricket umpire. Ten bucks a game. Three games. I used to cut them short too, the balls. Yeah, cut them short. And then I worked in a sports store. Well, if you call it work. That was about it, as far as a job. So, since you've stopped playing a long time ago, has it always been commentary? Has there ever been a moment where you go, like, Cookie's thinking about going into coaching?

31:43No. He's going to be the guru. No. Have you ever thought, or have you ever been asked to come into a team and coach? Not really. I've done a few clinics and that, but I just get bored. I feel like I wouldn't have the patience to be a coach. You're with the horses, aren't you? Yeah, race horses. Yeah, my wife's a trainer, so that's sort of my interest. I mean, I love sports. I play golf. Do you get involved with the horses? Yeah, a little bit. I'm not like a hands-on person, but I get involved with picking the races and the jockey and getting owners in the stable. You're not mucking out. I can, though.

32:22I've been giving my own strike. Yeah, I can do, yeah. How many have you got? Got about 35 horses on the farm. At home? Yeah. And then at the track, there's another 30 there. If you could only watch cricket or racing, what would you watch? Me, racing. Your racing. It's pretty tough, that. Why, you'd choose one of them. I like both. But you can't. You can't. It's a programme. We're trying to... Oh, that's a programme. Are you going to watch racing or are you going to watch cricket? Split screen. Well, I can't choose. I can watch both. Well, this is the question. You don't have to. I can do what I want.

33:05You sort of going into politics. I didn't know you liked horse racing that much. Oh, he lives in a horsey area. No, no, in York, yeah, yeah. Right in the middle of it. He'd love that farm, aren't he? You had a horse once didn't you? I've had a couple. Just put some money in the middle of the kitchen and set fire to it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I always tell my mates it's money you can afford to lose. It's not an investment. Yeah. But it's good fun if you can get Jag a winner but um... Jag a winner. What's your best moment in horse racing? Um, well, my wife, we got married and the week before we won the Sydney Cup which is a group one race.

33:43So my wife trained the winner, the Sydney Cup winner, who scored Martoon. And then we got married the week after, so we had the trophy at the wedding. We've had a runner in the Melbourne Cup, ran fifth. We've had group winners. Melbourne Cup winner or a Test 100? What would you trade? Melbourne Cup winner or a Test 100? Would you trade it? It's tough. Got to be a Melbourne Cup winner, isn't it? Yeah. So you've done this, you give a few of them away. Yeah. Yeah. Melbourne Cup winner. What was your speech like on your wedding day? Was it emotional? Emotional? No. You don't do emotion, do you? Just that era.

34:20We just weren't. I think it was seen as a weakness or something to be too emotional in our era. Yeah, no, not... I did make a speech, yeah. Obviously, I was just thinking you did on your wedding day. Thanks for that. Not emotional, no. No, no. Straight to the point, probably. I think you'd have preferred the race than the cricket. I would look at your eyes. He didn't want to say it, did he? I love cricket. I love racing too. I like cricket. You do. Let's finish with some community questions. Are these tricky or what? They could be, yeah. Who's your Ashes cult hero? My Ashes cult hero over the years?

35:02Yep. Oh, jeez. We'll go Warnie. Same one. Why? Why? Because he won a lot of games. Big games, big moments. Adelaide, remember? Yeah, big moments. England thought they were safe in the KP era. Were you playing then, Cookie? Yeah. Yeah. Do you not remember his not? I didn't get anything. No, I don't think so. I love beefy. Like, Ash's moments, beefy. Yeah. Yeah? Yeah. Melbourne, when he got the last wicket. Tom Owen, AB. Dan Headingley. Mm. Yeah. Which players of this era get you on the edge of your seat? That I like to watch? Yeah. Well, I mean, I like watching some of the England guys, but Harry Brook, because you're on the edge of the seat, because you're either going to get a boundary or get out, one of the two.

35:52You said Yassif Shui Jaiswal. Yeah, Jaiswal, yeah. I think he's a great talent. I like fast bowlers and aggressive players, aggressive batsmen. So anyone in that sort of... Travis Head, do you like that? Yeah, Travis. Travis is great. I mean, Vip Richards was my, you know, he was my number one player that I'd like to, well, I'm lucky enough to play against him. A-B, A-B? I'm just trying to think of, like, some of the... Well, about Tendulkar and Lara. Who's the greatest batter you've seen? If you had to pick one, who's it going to be? I think Richards, Lara and Tendulkar are the three. Those are my top three.

36:34Yeah, they'd be my top three. I don't think I can pick one. I'm putting Ponton in there. Yeah, Rookie's right up there too. I think Lara's the best one innings person I've ever seen. If you asked me to play one innings, I reckon no one else could play. Not because he got 400 and 300, but I think one innings I don't think anyone else could play. Sorbus. That's why I'm at the races in Barbados, but no. What about the three formats? How do you rank them? Tess, Sodi, Ice, T20. As far as liking to watch them? Yeah, what kind of rocks your boat? Well, I mean, test match cricket is number one, isn't it?

37:10The ebbs and flows of test match cricket. If it's played in the right way, I don't like defensive test match cricket like sometimes you see in certain areas, like playing to win. T20's, yeah, skilful, isn't it? You can't remember a lot about each game, but it's got its own skills. And ODI cricket, World Cup's a great, I reckon. Yeah. World Cup 50 over cricket. the bilateral series and tri-series have sort of gone past the use-by date but I still love the World Cups meaningful one-day cricket when there's something on the line I reckon bilateral series are gone I honestly do, I think the franchise league system that's where you've got to pick your international teams when you get to a World Cup you play a series or two leading into that World Cup, but these bilateral series Atherton said you were interesting, he said don't play 50 over he said just play World Cup Yeah, but leading into that World Cup, it's a T20 World Cup, you play some warm-up games.

38:07Yeah. 50-hour work, you play some warm-up games, but we don't need... England won't bother, would they? ...like world cricket now. They won't bother. No. Right, here's a tough one for you. I know you like one or the other. One player to bat for your life, Joe Root or Steve Smith? Oh, jeez. I'm going to go Steve Smith. Why? um I just think they're both great players got great records but yeah I'm gonna go with Steve Smith I mean Joe roots a great player but I wouldn't I know I don't think I would fear him playing against if he's played against us no not really he's over 50 yeah no good a great 41 test of a great record yeah he asked me a question i said steve smith pick one or the other you told me well yeah good answer um right which one should we go for here sledge have you ever been sledged not a lot james ormond james oh yeah oh go on go on uh yes yeah last last game of the series and you tried a few players about 40 players and i came out to bat and i was sort of feeling it silly mid off and i just said oh who's this bloke you know didn't know much about him he's surely not good enough to be playing test match cricket something like that not not much and then he walked past me he said well at least i'm the best player in my family you can't reply to that yeah what do you what about i must have mentioned your steven as captain in 97 98 when we had warren egg as our number two wicket keeper and we tactically said, well, Stewie will bat, but Warren Egg will keep wicket.

39:51Warren Egg's all-time favourite cricketer is Stephen Waugh. Loves Steve Waugh and he thinks it's great. He comes out at number seven or number eight. Steve Waugh's walking towards him. He thinks he's going to say good luck. He said, you're an absolute disgrace. He said a total embarrassment to the game. 31 years of age, you know, they just started playing. you're not good enough to be out here he said I welled up he said all right you we're gonna finish with you could give me a bit of heads up yeah it's gonna you're you're if you can pick your greatest 11 test match 11 this is what it's gonna be so who you're opening batters from what era you've played against not from this era let's start with Lauren tendulka all right so three Three and four.

40:44Yeah, three and four. Lara. Akram. Ambrose. We've had Ambrose. Ambrose. Ambrose at ten. Eleven. Tufnel at eleven. Akram. Tufnel. Akram at nine. Yeah, Akram. No, I don't know. Good ball. Akram, who's number eleven? You want another quickie? Number eleven. Akram. It can be your teammates as well. It doesn't have to be opponents. Or just play against. Oh, they should play against. Play against. Play with or against. He's your last. Just trying, McGrath's got to be there, put him 11. Awany's got to be there, doesn't he? Yeah, number 8. Number 8. Murley? Gilly, Gilly. Keepers, keepers, yeah. Healy, Healy.

41:24Healy or Gilchurch. Well, go Gilly, yeah, Gilly. Yeah, Gilly. All round. Number 6, we want an all rounder, don't we? I'm just going to start. Oh, Viv Richards has got to be there. Yeah, Richard. He's got about 5. Callis. Callis can go 6. Callis can go 6. Yeah. six gullies one and two i live richard's captain yeah he's aiden hey i'm border well i can't fit them all in all right right richards is captain you need a couple of those you got you got you got well i did play against greenwich um oh gucci um groups greenwich hayden well hayden's got to be there don't he oh it's your team so what about gucci i've got gucci That's a good one.

42:08That's a good one. That's six. Yeah, that's good. Not Lager then. Don't put Lager on. Brian Lara. He's 12. He's 12, man. That's your 11, that. Hayden Gootes, Lara Sachin, Richards, Jack Callis, Gilchrist, Warne, Akram, Ambrose, McGrath. Pretty good. You've not put yourself in. Where would you bat if you were playing? I'm batting four, aren't I? Yeah, so you're getting rid of Sachin. I didn't say that. Ring Sachin. Didn't say that, didn't say that Just tell Satchin he's not in Yeah, pretty good, get rid of Satchin Yep Alright, so you got his number Satchin, hey, Bumble Bumble Bumble It's Bumble Just say Dave Lloyd, he might not know Bumble Davey Lloyd That's it, he'll know that He's gone Alright, well he's not in, Satchin, June you're in June, thanks for coming on the show Pleasure Yeah.

43:06Enjoy. Go get it. Essex, boy. Essex. Essex.

43:31Essex. 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.