Tennis, Tomatoes and Tay Tay

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0:41Hello and welcome to TailEnders! Thank you for having us on TailEnders. Oh, interesting. Interesting, because I heard Jimmy do the Felix role, but then I heard what sounded like Felix playing the guitar. But on my screen, it's not Felix playing the guitar. Who is playing the guitar? That would be me, Gregory James. I've stepped up in the absence of Felix White, who's playing his music to thousands. I'm playing my music to you guys. oh well also to to tens of thousands maybe hundreds of thousands on tail enders yeah felix is on tour with the mccabees but he has recorded a really lovely chat with izzy wong after the women's t20 world cup final took place at lords on sunday we're going to hear that a bit later this is g-force craig james in london we have matching tendorka live in bristol and we have Jimmy in the house that wickets and modeling and other investments have bought in Manchester.

1:43Hello. Hello. Can I just quickly ask, Matt, was that a bit of Blackbird by the Beatles you just played there? I didn't want to say anything, but I have been learning Blackbird through the summer. Yes. It's the only song I know. I thought I heard that. Wow. Anyway, guys, how have you been? you've both had crazy weeks. Well, me and Jimmy were just catching up about our crazy weeks and our crazy weekends. And I was just giving him a bit of gossip about my New York trip. Obviously, he was more excited about hearing about my World Cup trip. Went to see Brazil, Norway. And then I was like, yeah, busy old time.

2:22Went to a wedding. And then I said, Jimmy, what have you been up to? And he replied, what did you reply with? I've been playing T20s and watering my tomato plants. well tricky tricky in this hot weather no it is really tricky actually so i've got uh some i think they're shirley tomatoes oh don't call me shirley and in this heat they need so much watering can i just say they surely do but they are they are bearing fruit they surely will yeah they are they are i i can see some there's there's about 15 to 20 tomatoes on each planet at the minute coming through so i'm i'm buzzing yeah that's that that is really good so i've got tomatoes uh also you've both been in the royal box at wimbledon separately how was that yes yeah yeah yeah yeah well jimmy sort of that's that's where he belongs i'd say what are you watching the football pressing the wrong i was pressing the volume down he's got a football in front of him what's the score it's one nil to egypt and messy mr penalty um yeah how was the roll box yeah that's that sort of jimmy's realm isn't it that the roll box in fact when when i went there they said oh have you been here before and i said yes i was jimmy's plus one a few years ago and daniela has still not forgiven me or him yeah but it was nice to um nice to make my mum the plus one this time jimmy does it for you you've been a few times haven't you now when they get you to stand up now what um my daughter's ringing my wife and it's coming through on the lap of the computer thought i'd be a reminder to water the tomatoes no but i will have to straight after this podcast um does it do you still get excited when you're in the royal box and you're asked to stand up and you've got all those legends around you yeah i'd say um standing up's probably the least look forward to thing that there is um but yeah the whole thing's amazing i look i love tennis daniela loves tennis so it's the greatest day if you're a tennis fan and to sit in the Royal Box an incredible view we had amazing games as well we watched Djokovic we watched Sabalenka against Osaka and Sinner played last so it was just the best day yeah that's a huge day we got to see Serena Williams which was good yeah that would have been cool to see her just being they've still got that Serena magic it was a funny one because you want to cheer for the new person, the 20-year-old Australian who was called Maya Joint.

5:17You're like, oh, it'd be amazing if she beat Serena. But then you also go, yeah, but I sort of want to see Serena Williams. So it's one of those weird ones. I don't know what you're like when you're watching tennis, but I change allegiances about three or four times throughout the whole match. Just thinking, oh yeah, that'd be it. Oh no, that's quite a good story. Oh no, that's actually a better story. Oh no, it'd be better if that, what were you, were you willing Djokovic on? Because he's that machine. I was. I think I was winning Djokovic on because he's in a similar phase to Federer towards the end of Federer's career, where everyone is questioning his age and how long he can go on for.

5:53Can you keep up with Alcaraz and Sinner, that sort of thing? And he's an absolute legend. I want to see him do well at Wimbledon. So I was kind of rooting for Djokovic. I was buzzing to see Sabalenka. I love Sabalenka, but she lost to Osaka, who was just incredible. But yeah, I mean, it's just incredible to see those players up close and the power that they've got is just phenomenal. And I think it's similar to – do you know what? It's different to every other sport because you can be the front row of a cricket match. You can be the front row of a football game or a rugby match. And actually, rugby is probably the most similar in a way because you don't appreciate the power of these people.

6:35So with cricket, you're still quite a long way away from the action when you're watching it. Whereas rugby, when you hear that tackle, when you hear the bodies collide, it is actually frightening up close. But Wimbledon, because you're so close to the action, you don't appreciate the power, I don't think, on TV. But when you see them moving across, the speed moving across the ground and the power of the shots, I think is just incredible. I'm also, and this is something that everyone says, if they ever get lucky enough to go and watch tennis at Wimbledon or something. You get into centre court and obviously centre court is massive, but you look at the actual court and you can't believe that's the same size as the one that's in your local park or the one that used to be in your local park, which is now made into eight paddle courts.

7:17But the one that used to be in your local park, it's mad that it is tiny a tennis court really for the speed that they're hitting the ball. It is actually frightening. Seeing Serena with some of her serves, she got up to about 129 miles an hour. just like still can do that at age 44 amazing so there you go welcome to the loosely tennis space podcast also can we talk about um yeah i know jimmy went with us and a core section of our audience is mainly interested in kind of lawnmowers but it would be remiss of me can we discuss anything about the swift calcene up chores or is that is that top secret it's not top secret but i i well it is top secret i was thinking um you know i was thinking i know a lot of tailwinders are planning their weddings i love a wedding i thought i could tell you some of the kind of classic british wedding things that i look for in a wedding and then you could tell me what did traveston taylor do yeah go on that'd be all right yeah so i think as a guest the thing that kind of makes or breaks from a wedding for me getting on a good table did the bride and groom give any thought to get on a good table was it uh was it a fun table to be on

8:36there weren't tables okay didn't get a seating plan there was no seating plan ah so you didn't even get like a bottle of red and white on the table no but it was it was unlimited food and drinks obviously did she go for a hog roast there wasn't a hog roast but there was steak that's okay endless steak endless steak one of the questions big questions for all people getting married is it's basically yeah oh okay do you go speeches first then dinner or do you go dinner then speeches that's the big question for a lot of people because if you go speeches first it can be a bit wooden because you're nervous but then if you go speeches after the best man can get too drunk well it was ceremony it was ceremony first which included speeches and then and then into the party right and in terms of um entertainment wise like a good british wedding i would say you got kind of dangerous dave's disco you know a smoke machine 12 p.m curfew then last song maybe kings of the on sex on fire and then dangerous dave goes one more song mr bright side ties around your head someone did the premier the dj did play mr bright side at one point okay what was what was the entertainment like any um i think that is the stuff that is not supposed to be talked about but but if you enjoy if you enjoyed match in's opening song then you would have enjoyed one of the people performing

10:08was it similar was there a dress in that box with like wigs and oversized glasses with like a photo booth. A selfie station. Yeah. Was there a selfie station? Well, there's no phones. We had to have our phones locked away. Okay. Did the best man include in his speech the groom's trip to Magaluf when he took a year out of university?

10:35No comment. Okay. Was there, in terms of like getting a gift, did did she put like a qr code in the invitation no gifts with like a with like a link to amazon thing our presence was the present you didn't put like a hundred quid in and just contribute to the honeymoon no that'd be nice lawnmower microwave air fryer yeah wedding favors any wedding favors you know branded key ring uh you know a bottle opener pair of roll-up shoes um i'm i'm surprised do you know what i should have done i really i i should have i should have broken the agreement and i should have told you matching that it was happening at madison square garden because then i then you could have called the venue and got roller souls into the venue i am sorry for that yeah that's when it's going to be riddled with roller souls isn't it yeah on the tables vendor machine in the corner that'd be the dress code we did actually do gary linica's second wedding so there you go

11:47get that on the website

11:53that's that's excellent we need to we need to talk to gary linica about that i i quite like this though because this is fun even though we don't expect you to say anything about it or you can't we could just be stilly about it did you did you okay the final question yeah no no please no it's good to know because this is what my life for the next few weeks is going to be like yeah i feel like i'll be able to say a couple of things on a podcast and various radio shows and then when we go to the pub i can tell you everything nice and then i'll go on another podcast no okay well i'm not gonna tell you no no i'll tell jimmy because he doesn't care no for that final question for me a good wedding did you better make like a random new best friend that you drank and danced with all night and then you swapped the us with and then be like oh my god let's be best friends forever but in reality you'll never see him again that's a good wedding for me i do actually have a good answer for that and should i probably should i say it look i can trust the tail end is not to tell you know the daily mail um hugh grant amazing and his wife that fits into that i was gonna ask if um it's probably it might be the same answer but was there like a drunk uncle with a with his tie around his head by the end of the night he was dancing like yeah plenty yeah because it was there it was friends family colleagues a radio presenter um well i didn't say that did i didn't i didn't confirm that you're guessing that it was him no anyway did you have a good time well obviously yes yeah if you can't have a good time at that then what are you doing i have a bit worried absolutely i've got i've got um i've just got one question please did it feel like a wedding great question it did actually yeah it did in madison square garden with thousands of people yeah because they sort of they made it they made it very weddingy obviously and there was a wedding so you know there were vows and there were there was a whole thing and the vicar was adam sandler um it definitely it felt it was very yeah it was very weddingy and they were sort of milling around that bride and grooms are milling around chatting to people and they were they were yeah it wasn't like a wedding i've had any other wedding i've been to but it was definitely it felt like a wedding yeah that does put pressure on like other people for your future weddings you go to if i if i get married which you know might happen i would be nervous that you know i'm not gonna have beyonce singing at my wedding or whoever was there well on spielberg he might be he wasn't singing i just i just for some reason i had in my head that it's that big an event that they'd have like a charity auction at 10 o 'clock do you know i mean yeah that sort of thing or like johnny gould comes out yeah i know that sounds silly but like that no i know what you mean yeah no it didn't it didn't feel like a charity dinner okay should we get into some tailenders should we do some let's do some cricket look if more comes out about the wedding believe me i'll sing like a canary because i've got some great stories but i need i need somebody to break the dam first i don't want to be the guy Ben Stokes, because we asked for some reflection and reaction on the last podcast.

15:38I've had an email from George who says, Hi, GeForce. Hi, Felix. Hi, Jimmy Husha. Hi, Shantnade of the movie. Hi, Matching Tendulka. I played cricket at school, but I eventually fell out of love with it by the time I was 16. Nothing personal. I wanted to be in a band above all else, and sports seemed irrelevant to me at the time. Is this from Felix? Thanks to Tailenders, in the past two years, I've been drip fed cricket back into my system. And I'm now at the stage at the age of 29 where I call myself a cricket badger. Sadly, though, I'm filled with regrets for the fact that I missed arguably the most epic period of test cricket ever seen.

16:112010 to 2024. I missed Broad. I missed Anderson. I missed Headingley, the World Cups. The list goes on. I had tickets to see England, New Zealand at the Oval, which would have been my first test match since a year seven school trip. Great school trip, by the way. But sadly, I had to sell them because my band was on tour. so when Stokes announced his retirement on day four at Trent Bridge I was determined to not miss seeing yet another great of the game so on day five I drove from Surrey to Nottingham to catch the last three hours of cricket before we were all bowled out I had a grin on my face all day despite the result and I'm grateful I got to see Stokes for his send-off as well as Root who I hope to see at a test match very very soon all I can say is a huge thank you to tail enders for getting me back into this wonderful game can I get a shout out for my band the Valor if you've read this far Go well.

16:55Cheers, George Coulson. Thanks, George. Thanks, George. I'll listen to the violin tonight. What an era. He's missed, 2010 to 2024. That's the modern era. That's some great test series in that era. Sorry, some great narratives. Great narratives, yeah. Jimmy, can you pick a series between 2010 and 2024 that George should go back and re-watch in full? day by day highlights. Yeah, 10, 11 Ashes away. Yeah. 2012 away in India. 2013 Ashes at home. 2015 Ashes at home. Yeah. And that is as much as I can remember. Sorry. I actually would love to re-watch some of those pandemic test matches. Why? Because, well, there was some good cricket and it will be very, very strange to watch it back now.

17:56Yeah. With protocol. Lots of people with long hair. You had, as you said before, you look even better with long hair. Even better with long hair. Hmm. Well, you're a few days on now. You know, post T20s, post Tomatoes, post Taylor and Travis. What do we all think about the Ben Stokes stuff? It's all seems, all these things just seem to die down and we all just have to get on with our lives and all the rest of it. but how do you feel? Brendan McCollum still the coach? That just all seems to be just happening now. Jimmy, where are you a few days later? I think, you know, I've listened to a lot of people's opinions and stuff and I mean, it's so difficult not having first-hand sort of experience of where Ben's at.

18:47I hear lots of people saying he looks tired, he looks exhausted, which I think is true. Yeah. And he said it himself, you know, he's put everything into being captain of England for the last few years. And that's maybe taken its toll. But I think sort of trying to read between the lines, I feel like he not only being a bit exhausted and tired, but he feels like he's given so much to England and he's got very little back from potentially the system, corporation, the business. So do you think if he was better looked after, then this wouldn't be a thing at all? If you think if he was better cared for, then we wouldn't be in this situation.

19:25I don't think it's not necessarily caring for, it's just showing support for, you know, back him. He's the captain. You know, he might have made a mistake on that curfew thing, but I don't think that's just it. I think that's the straw that broke the camels back, to be honest. I think there's been other stuff where he's just not felt that support from higher up. And it's ended up with this being the final straw and with him being tied and everything, I think that it's just come to a head and I can definitely see him playing again for some reason. I've just got a feeling that I could see the Ashes next year, maybe playing a part in that.

20:03But I think it doesn't feel right the way it ended. It feels strange the way no one's ever retired mid-session, mid-test match. you know it's a it's a strange thing and i feel like we should we should be really celebrating his career because it is phenomenal and it's going to get kind of glossed over with a lot of the other stuff that was going on around that yeah i did see that he started up a tiktok account so maybe he's going down the whole kp route you know monetizing you know social media maybe that's waste time on it yeah i'm not i'm not sure he needs to monetize anything i think ben stokes is going to be okay financially fine okay i think the uh go follow ben stokes on tiktok i'm sure he'll appreciate the shout out i'm i'm completely with you jimmy a few a few days on i just don't i don't want that to have been the end that's not that's not um but then again we've talked about this before you can't necessarily choose how it ends can you you can try but yeah you can't but when you've got someone like that like you you you remember when broadie retired and that felt like a fitting end his last test match yeah and i just feel like there is a better end for Ben Stokes do you know what I mean if someone wrote the book there'd be a better ending than that if I but I might be wrong that might be the you know that that might be the way it should have ended and I might be being kind of like wanting the fairy tale thing the fairy tale ending and life's not like that but he he is like his career has been punctuated with chaos good and bad and we talked about that so for it to end in chaos is sort of fitting but I just I'm really I I still stand by, I don't know how we've lost Stokes, but kept Key and McCollum.

22:08Like that wasn't the one to keep. Like don't, mate, do everything you can to make sure Ben Stokes sticks around just for a bit. Can I just say, we've gone from not being able to hear Matt to hearing every breath coming out of his nostrils. Sorry. It's gone to the point now where I find it weirdly comforting. you know like when you sleep with the fan on

22:36when i do different podcasts and i don't hear him i'm i'm more on edge because i can't hear i can't hear the sort of like for the benefit of the tape i was before we started recording everyone's like we can't hear you we can't hear you get closer get closer so i get closer and then everyone's like your massive nose too close i didn't mention the size of it. I just said I could eat breathing. No, but it does sound cavernous.

23:06Sounds like Madison Square Garden in here. Tennis we've had her wedding in Matching's nose.

23:18Thank you to the Matching Tendorka cavernous nose podcast with me, my nose. that's an NDA not to talk about staying the weekend in your nose I think Ben Stokes wise I think he will play for Durham chill out a bit relax and then McCullerman Stokes will go by the next Ashes and he will be invited back play the Ashes have a blinder and then that will be the end of his career that's what me and my nose think

23:54it would be great that's that's what we're all we're all hoping for it you you rarely get what you want in sport i'd say but we there's there's a chance but this has to just play out of it doesn't it take the sting out of it it was getting to the point where it was to to coin a word that felix loves it was getting untenable for it's just for all of it just to keep going like that it was just a mess of bad decisions of terrible management of unclear messaging of bad results he just needs to be like okay this is clearly for whatever reason not working at the moment i'm going to take myself out of it let's see what happens maybe they can clear away the problems come back because i do think he can offer those new players something really useful like he's the guy to to bring that next generation through isn't he Jim well yeah I mean he's there's so many positives around his is the way he is around the group taking pressure away from players but then there needs to be a buy-in from the players as well because you know as much as the coach is trying to protect them and take pressure away from them you can't be then you know breaking curfews or going out and you know as they were in the ashes and stuff like that you being seen you've got to then repay the faith that the coach is showing in you.

25:15But what I will say, it could get even messier, which is an issue. But I don't know if, with the Ashes 12 months away, less than 12 months away in England, do we want to get to the point where we're like a football team in a relegation battle going, we're going to change it on the eve of the Ashes in the hope that the lads will And, you know, like the team who's about to get relegated changes the manager. So they go, oh, well, we know the result's going to pick up for the next few games because we get a new guy in sort of thing. I just, I feel like it's a bit of a mess. I want to hear from someone as well.

25:53I want to hear that we're going to keep faith in this group. We're going to find a captain. We're going to find, you know, we know we've got the right coach. We're going to find a captain and we're going to plow on. And we're going to try and get better at cricket and get better results. or you go the other way. But just let, can we know what's happening? Do you know what I mean? And it is difficult because we're straight into white ball cricket. That's half the problem. Straight into white ball cricket. So we move on and red balls have gone about. I think that's come a convenient time for them because they can just go, oh, we'll focus on white ball now and we'll deal with that later.

26:28But you're absolutely right with that is that we need to know what's going on. That is why last episode when we were like, oh should we talk about ben stokes's best bits no not yet because i'm not ready for montages yet i don't want to see i don't want to see that because i'm still cross that he's not playing you can't just be like oh all right thanks then bye here's your best bit it's not big brother the montage was so weird sky sports do cricket better than any sport in the world but the montage even they don't know what's going on so how can you blame them they just had to like splice together some, you know, whatever.

27:05Oh, ****, quick, do the best bits of Ben Stokes' career. He appears to be retiring at 3.25pm. Quick, run the best bits. Well, there aren't any yet. We haven't got them out of the vault. Yeah. The voiceover went, In a world where dreams keep alive was one man. What is going on? And they forced him to watch it. And he was like, what the **** is this? It was way too quick. It's way too quick. We just need to just take a minute. Everyone's being like, oh yeah, let's write the Ben Stokes book or let's do the Ben Stokes musical or let's do the Ben Stokes biopic. Not yet. Not yet, Ben. I want to see the Ben Stokes musical.

27:45Who would play Ben Stokes in Ben Stokes the musical? Benedict Cumberbatch. It's because he's also called Ben. Benedict Stokes-a-batch. I think you could... Damien Lewis. Damien Lewis, great one. Because also he can sing. Damien Lewis is good. He can sing as well. That is good. Damien Lewis is a great shout because he does have a band and he's ginger and he's sort of rugged. Yeah, that does work for me. I was going for a slightly cheaper option, but not a bad option. Yeah. Max Brannan off EastEnders. Yes. Good shout. I think he'd do it with Ben Stokes. Maybe he does the tour when it was the UK tour.

28:31Good shout. Max Brannan does it he does the regional bit and then it gets to the West End and it's Damien Lewis yeah I like that limited run

28:45alright for the next episode of Tailenders I would like the Tailenders to come up with their dream casting for the Ben Stokes musical who's playing Joe Root Jack Leach obviously the big one who's playing Jack Leach probably Jack Leach I'd say I think he'd throw I think he throws his hat into the ring for that um who's playing Ben Stokes who's playing Brendan McCullum who's playing Cummins I'd say um who's playing Johnny Bairstow yeah um I want all of these names please I'll throw one in the hat I'll throw one in the hat for Brendan McCullum the guy out of Flight of the Conchords oh Jermaine Clement uh Yeah, just because of Kiwi.

29:35And a bit musical and a bit funny. Yeah, that's good. Make a comedy sort of, not that that's Brendan McCullum, but just because of Kiwi, basically. Just a bit of light. Yeah, just a bit of light. It would need to be someone who, I think you would dial up that character in a musical, you know, having got a 2-1 in drama. I would dial up the drama of Brendan McCullum and I would make that character entirely drunk. Yes. They would just be drunk all, hung over all the time, drunk all the time, being like, let's do this now. It's that, and that would be his catchphrase. Let's do this now. We're doing this now.

30:15And then it would just be whatever it would be, flying to play golf in, you know, middle of Sydney or whatever. Come on, get on the plane, we're doing this now. And that's his thing. and he has to get carried off every scene. He's just sort of coming up with mad ideas.

30:35Have you seen this TikTok?

30:44So, please send through your dream casting for the Ben Stokes, the musical. Can we talk about... Sorry. What was Jimmy going to say then? No, I need the toilet. But if you two want to crack... Well, I'll tell you what we'll do. We'll listen to Izzy Wong and Felix White. You can go for a piss and we'll come straight back next. Perfect. How did a boycott Jimmy become a billionaire from posting videos? On Good Bad Billionaire, we're going to find out how the world's most popular YouTuber, MrBeast, made his fortune. He's buried himself in a coffin for days. Counted to 100 ,000 on camera. And even recreated Squid Games, all in an attempt to go viral on the internet.

31:27But it all started when he gave a homeless man$10 ,000. So is he a philanthropist reshaping capitalism? Or is he just the king of the attention economy? Find out on Good Bad Billionaire. Listen on BBC.com or wherever you get your podcasts.

31:45Hashtag, tell end of the world, unite and take over, go well, cheers. This little segment is coming from two separate places in the universe. Me, Felix White, from Edinburgh Corn Exchange Production Office. And you, Izzy Wong, are? London. Yeah, London, somewhere near New Jersey Park. How are you doing, Izzy? We're all right. All right. Yeah, yeah. Big, big couple of days. Big emotional day yesterday. I was watching it. I'm here with the McAbee, so we were doing a production rehearsal yesterday. And I watched it on my phone while we were going through the set and stuff. I mean, I was watching clips and the last thing I saw was Sophie just looking inconsolable on the edge of the boundary.

32:21is that the feeling of everyone really after yesterday yeah I think so like you know devastated I think um obviously like worked really hard played some really good cricket and beaten by you know probably the best side on the day yesterday so yeah there was some pretty pretty disappointed people in that changing room to be fair but I guess that's to be expected isn't it you know um if it didn't mean anything to lose the world cup final people wouldn't celebrate when they win them so much so yeah that's true yeah I think like in a couple of days it you know might settle down and I think we'll be able to look back and we had such a such a good time this tournament and yeah like I think in the coming weeks I guess that will kind of take over from that initial disappointment but yeah it was pretty tough yesterday did you have a sense about I mean this is a very stupid sports question but did you have a real feeling that you could you could win yesterday I mean obviously they did but they just like I felt from the semi-final like there was such a good feeling about the oval it just felt like I don't know whether it's just what's gone on with the men's stuff and things like that and it was it was just from an atmosphere perspective but it seemed like a real antidote to a lot of the ills in cricket at the moment and it felt like such a positive day but I really just felt like oh that wave was going to carry England but this Australia team are just unstoppable aren't they really at the moment they are unstoppable like they've got an absolutely stacked team you know they've got players that batting at nine you look at sophie molyneux their captain batting at nine and she opens the batting quite a lot in the wbbl so yeah like they're an unbelievably talented squad and but i think like what you're saying about the atmosphere at the oval and that was like felt like one of the great days out yeah it really was a semi-final win and like that energy felt like it really um carried on yesterday and you you know, absolute credit to the people that came out.