What’s Your Favourite Curfew?

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1:07That's O-D-O-O dot com. Hello and welcome to Tell Enders. Hello and thank you for having us on Tell Enders, your loosely weekly cricket-based podcast. No curfews allowed. Wow. Wow. No curfews here. This is GeForce Greg James. That is Felix White. and that is Sir James Anderson. Hello. We have all assembled because we really wanted to talk about the victory at Lourdes for the England men's cricket team, which is full of positive stuff. Some really good performances. But there is much like over the week of that test match, clouds have rolled in and there are problems. There are problems. The year nines let themselves down on a school trip last winter, you might remember.

2:01And then the head of year decided to impose a curfew to stop any future problems happening. And that curfew has been broken by the head boy. And that is bad. First time of asking. Yeah. The first try, like, it'll be different this time, guys. We promise. First time. F***ed it. So we will talk about the test match because there was some really good stuff. but there is a situation where it's not funny i would just think to myself this is the worst imposed curfew since um the first gremlins when that boy has had that gremlin for four minutes and he's feeding it water just after midnight it's it's as bad as that execution wise you worry that when when the curfews get put in place for grown-ups you know like oh i don't i I think that might be a bit late for all that.

2:55Can that be the first question for Jimmy, please? Jimmy, how many curfews have you played under in your regimes and do you feel they're effective broadly? Disqlip included. That's a good question. I don't think I've ever been asked that before. I have all the questions. Who's the best butt you've bowled at? What's your favourite curfew? Favourite round. What was your favourite curfew? But I want to know it so badly. I want to know it more than your favourite batter. What was your favourite curfew? I feel like my favourite curfew, if I've got to pick one. Well, we had one in Australia. Okay. When Ashley Giles was director of cricket.

3:43Go well, Gilo, 10 end up. I just remember lads going out. This would be two or three weeks out before the first test match in Australia. And there'd be people in the hotel reception with clipboards, like marking everyone off like a school tray. It is the year nines then. At midnight? Yeah. So the lads are getting back at like 11.58. Here. Out of breath with like loads of sweets they just got from the shop. Yes, Mr. Giles. Here, Mr. Giles. Do you have to be in your room or can you be in the hotel bar past midnight? Is it out of a building generally? It varies with the small print in the curfew contract.

4:27mostly it's just being back at the hotel i mean yeah

4:34it is well okay what were the emotions for you fee the emotions for me were oh when i saw the news break and then i was like that's kind of funny then i got sad about ben stokes i felt sad for him because i don't want ben stokes to sort of i don't want this to be the end for ben stokes this way not that i think it necessarily is i just i just don't want there's a lot of stuff and then it just like overshadowed the victory and we went so much through so much torment over the winter and i felt sad about it and now i just feel kind of bored by everyone saying it's not on it's just not on we can't go on like this why are they doing this to us anyway we should just do a quick sort of up to speed story check-in with what what what what this means and the context of it.

5:19So Joe Root will captain the side next week at the Oval. That's the second New Zealand test. So Ben Stokes and Gus Atkinson have been omitted from the test squad following this incident in a nightclub after they went out and celebrated the victory on Sunday night at Lourdes. Which, you know, that happens, as we know. You go out and celebrate victories and successes, and that's an amazing part of it, because you've got to celebrate those victories. But the problem is that there was this curfew that was self-imposed they were like we promise guys there's not a drinking problem there's not drinking culture we promise like we'll show you we'll show you after the noosa incident halfway through the ashes where they all went sort of essentially like a sort of resort or whatever and then got on it and we're photographing on it then there was the ben duckett thing where he was being filmed stumbling out of a bar or a club saying you're trying to find an uber home or whatever it was and that and then the harry brooke situation which happened in new zealand a few months earlier which the ecb had decided not to tell everyone about which is that he had been involved in a scuffle at a nightclub he was then fined tens of thousands of pounds and that was they were going to hope that was going to sort of stay under wraps to a certain extent that then came out so all of this is piled up and then we england had a terrible ashes and everyone was like okay this team aren't doing very well and they look like they're having a laugh and taking a piss and literally getting on the piss.

6:44And now we're at this situation where the story from the Lord's Test is people were breaking the curfew, which feels like not the story you want after a Test match victory. So that's the update. Can I just quickly, just quick question, and this is not a loaded question. Has there ever been an England cricket team that hasn't got a drinking culture to some degree? Has there ever been an English Test cricket team that hasn't gone out drinking after games in the history of cricket? Not that I can think of, no. Do you know what I mean? Does this team have more of a drinking culture than other teams?

7:29No, I don't think so. I mean, the issue is not really the drinking bit. We don't know the details of if either of them was drunk, were they drunk. By all accounts, they're not at fault for whatever happened, that incident. But it's the fact that after the winter, everything that's added up, it's just not a great look. No. And especially with it being the captain. I was thinking earlier, you put yourself in Ben Stokes' shoes after the winter that he's been through. totally yeah the cricket the cricket wasn't great he was getting it from all angles in terms of the the standard of the cricket and the the off-field stuff as well so he's finally won a test match you know i can imagine that you just want a release and like you know yeah just go out with go out with the mate or a couple of mates or whatever and just just with the relief of it all having that what is it two weeks before the next test yeah it's not like there's a game in three days so the fact is that there was an incident that's actually drawn attention to them being out after the curfew if they if that incident doesn't happen then they could have been out till one o 'clock and no one cares no one knows about it and then we just you know England 1-0 up going in with a full strength team into the next game but the situation we're in now is that you know it's just a bit of a mess in it after after the winter just draws and wanted attention again onto that off-field sort of environment that culture um yeah but yeah it's not a great situation to be in i was just to answer your question earlier greg i felt exactly the same that you did in that but i don't know if people remember but but for the test our main thing was that we were so excited after all the talking over not much cricket just to have some cricket and we've had the equivalent of two days worth of overs on a pitch which is impossible to bat on and now we've got a whole new thing but we just did not talk about cricket and i think there's just an element of sheer exhaustion at it like not even there's not even a like this is cool this is sort of um adrenaline fueled gossip which harry brooke was a little bit he was a little bit of a like um rumor mill excitement about i think this i think every i've listened to and read lots of things then it feels like this week and it feels like almost everyone is just a bit exhausted of it and don't even want to get the knives out but i just tired the whole thing might be people involved as well and it's a sad place to be really well well that's that's true for definitely a lot of fans i feel i definitely feel that you definitely feel that i don't know what how you feel jim about that maybe similar we'd much rather be talking about fun cricket stuff but the other thing is that you look at rob key and you looked at the interviews actually with brendan mccullum before the test and me you and i were texting about these i was like this looks like a guy's not having a great time i feel that joyful and then the ben stokes looked quite i didn't think he'd have to at all yeah quite knackered by the whole thing and it is kind of must be so draining to talk all the time and if you're not playing very well as well it's difficult and then this this rob key interview i or the little soundbite that pops up on england's the england Instagram earlier is quite weird.

10:58He's asked whether or not he thinks there's a drinking culture in the England team. And this was the answer. Is there a drinking problem with this team? Look, it's hard for me to defend this team at the moment in terms of that. Yet again, it was two players that went out. And as I said, I believe in the last, my dealings with Ben Stokes, since he's been captain, I believe this is out of character. and I'm sure we'll find out more in due course. You've got to say no there, haven't you? Well, the problem is that he's said no quite recently, hasn't he? But it's two or three players and it's turned out just even for the things that we know about, it's about six.

11:37Since he said that. So he probably feels like he can't say no anymore. But yeah, can I tell you what honestly I felt about that when I heard that? I really like Rob Key. I've gotten really well with him. I think he's a really intelligent guy, all that stuff. When they were talking about the selection after the Ashes and he was asked about people being left out, basically implying Zach Crawley, he said that they had trusted certain players too long. And I felt like that was a really difficult thing to hear given that the whole shtick from the hierarchy in the team was that they were going to give trust and belief to a certain amount of cricketers to play however they wanted, well, how they wanted them to play.

12:18And they were saying it doesn't matter how many times Zach Crawley gets out like that, we back him to score a big 100 or 200 match in one in every eight games or whatever, and that's going to win us test matches. So after he didn't do that eventually, to say that they were actually too loyal to certain players really rubbed me up the wrong way because it made me feel like, well, so you're just throwing him overboard then and saying that the issue was your over loyalty to him. You've given him the impression that he just needs to go and do it and could do it and do it again and there's no consequence for the failure and so for him to now say that he doesn't know where he is with this england team anymore felt like another version of that like why do you know it's the last thing i'd want to hear i don't know where jimmy stands on that but it's just like how is the team going to feel about hearing that publicly uh i don't know it's a tricky one because like i get his his point of view because he has defended quite a lot of things that have gone on whether it's selection whether it's the off-field stuff he's trying to give the guys a bit of rope to be adults to choose the direction they want to go in both as cricketers and off the field yeah no fair enough and it felt to me like seeing that was like you know how often can i keep doing this like how often can i keep trying to be loyal to someone with selection if they don't return it in in terms of performances how often can i say no there isn't a drinking culture and backing people and then not getting the loyalty returned so i felt like that there was a bit of that in that in the interviews that i've i've seen I think that's a very fair point I think that's a very fair point I hadn't sort of thought of it that way but it's just a bit of a mess oh and what do you think Greg what were your feelings when you heard that well I just I just felt I sort of feel sorry for everyone involved because I don't think well okay I know they wouldn't want all this to have happened yeah so it might just have to come to a point where some of those people in the management team or brendan or ben hopefully not ben because that's the person i want to see play cricket more than i mean i don't i don't really mind who runs the england cricket board or whatever or coaches i i want to see those amazing players do really really well it might just be that you might not be able to do this job as well as you thought you might and that's okay and i just feel like everyone's kind of worn down by it and even before the series i was saying how sort of bored i am of hearing those interviews and totally i don't that's not really why i like cricket that's not i don't really like sport for that during the test test actually i was literally said what you just said me and a friend was talking on whatsapp and i was saying we were both saying we would rather that one of the most enjoyable things to watch in test cricket is ben stokes out of form batting trying to find form that even that is just great watching so like you're saying like it would be so sad if we don't watch ben stokes play for england because of this i can't think of any batters i'd want to watch back more even when they're completely out of touch yeah so i guess how do i feel is that it's it would be okay if there was a refresh and just like hold your hands up and say do you know what i don't I don't know what to do.

15:54And I've tried all I can and I've worked really hard and I feel really sad about that. This is actually, do you know what? I sent you a message, didn't I, over the test? We were enjoying some of it and then we watched that McCullum interview during the rain break and I said, Fee, all I want is for them to say, we f***ed this and we didn't mean to and we're just gonna, gonna try our very best not to f*** it this time. Yeah. I just wanted them to go, I'm really embarrassed by it because I mean maybe that's not everyone but I respond really well when I hear people say that and they go I feel really embarrassed about that I'm sorry sorry sorry let's try again we tried but it didn't quite work but maybe now it's okay just to say okay tried that job let's let's go again because there's obviously some amazing players we want to make sure that those players get the best platform to become the next Joe Root to become the next Stuart Broad to become the next Ben Stokes Jimmy Anderson that's what we want in the next 10 years is the best whatever the structure is whoever's in charge whatever you're paid loads of money you've got all the money in English cricket to play with just like find the best people to do this thing try a new thing maybe that's what needs to happen now I don't know Jim Jim yeah I don't know I don't really want to like go to town on people because I've been there and broken curfews and not done everything perfectly so it's really difficult and then I know how hard it is on the flip side of that, trying to manage players and get them to perform well and to do the right thing both on and off the field.

17:31They're both very difficult things to do. So I'm reluctant to sort of fly in on it. As we've mentioned, it's just a real shame. It felt like when the Test match, there's so many good stories coming out of it. Ollie Robinson coming back into the team, Gus Atkinson 5 for Emilio Gay, 50 on debut. You know, it felt like an exciting, right, here we go. We've got to start forgetting about the winter now. We're 1-0 up. Yeah. And instead of being excited about Joffre Archer being back in the squad for the second test, you know, trying to build on that first test victory, it's sort of all that energy and sort of excitement has just been drained out of everyone again.

18:17well okay well maybe let's be optimistic because i like being optimistic reasons to be cheerful well why don't we just see what happens at the oval and it's maybe just maybe we should just take it in isolation and not be too boring about it i don't know maybe just go they messed up they have one one match off they're both back in for the third test we go and enjoy the oval and see what happens at the end of this series at the end of the summer i don't know How do you two feel about Rooty captain and not Harry Brook? Fantastic. I feel good about that. I think fantastic, Hall. I just think someone just needs a safe pair of hands that we just know where we're at just for like, do you know what I mean?

19:01Just I think, because I think Harry Brook then having to answer questions about the drinking culture of team having himself just been fined for an incident before a game just wasn't going to play, was it, for anyone? And he wouldn't be equipped to answer that. He couldn't answer that. Because in lots of ways, the reason Ben Stokes is being treated so harshly or is considering retiring is because Harry Brook did what he did a few months ago. And if he hadn't done that, then the curfew wouldn't have been instilled. So I don't think Brook can be captain. In this instance, I don't think. I think obviously eventually he will be.

19:34But I think that's very smart just to shield him from those questions because that would have been a total disaster. and just let Joe Root talk in the lovely way he does and say, let's get on with cricket. Yes. What about you, Jim? Yeah, I agree with what you said there. It just made me think that I like, and I know it's quite soon after what happened in the winter and the New Zealand incident or whatever, but I just thought, well, if he's not right for taking over now, then why is he vice captain sort of thing? That was the first, my initial thought, but then I completely agree with what you said.

20:07For now, it's probably the right thing to do. I think that would have been really difficult for Harry I think the hard thing is a little bit like we've got into this situation where you can feel that the personnel and the team want to win and if they win they'll be like forgive my language, f*** you to the media and certain people and fans that want to win and certain people in the media are a bit like told you so when stuff like this happens and then because of all of that thing going on I think large chunks of people watching the cricket aren't sure whether we're going told you so about this regime or want england to win so there's this really weird circulation of energy that is usually a very simple thing but we go and watch cricket and we want to get a cricket there's so much little sort of mini plays in it now i think and i feel the energy sometimes from the personnel of of like the leadership of the england side that if they want to win despite everybody else and to be like we did it even though you said we couldn't and it's just all that negative energy is fueling it's on top of each other again and again and again does that sorry that sound really bleak it does i just it's like that old thing that they say about in politics when you become the story for you know more than three days then that's sort of a signifier that maybe you should that's kind of changed actually in the last few years but that used to be the thing it's like if you become the story for too long then you're sort of distracting from everything essentially you're distracting from the good work that the rest of the government might be doing and i just wonder whether rob key and brendan mccullum have just become too there there's just too much too there all the time yeah i think to what you're getting at a little bit fee maybe is that doesn't feel like a a mission statement from the team yeah this is this This is us.

22:03Here's us 11, 12, 13, 14 blokes, whatever. This is what we're trying to do. It just feels so muddy now. And so, oh, remember Baz Ball? Oh, remember the Ashes Armour? There's just so much stuff that happens. I wonder whether there is, what is left? What road is left? There's a lot of pride, hurt pride. And store, yeah. But you shouldn't have, you don't cling on just because you think there might be a resolution at the end. I don't know. Tricky. Can we ask about Ben Stokes? Because I really do love Ben Stokes. And I really want him to be the England captain and play for loads more years and lead England in the next ashes.

22:40I think that is almost crucial just to see that through. I know that's contrary to what I just said, but I do think there's so much that he has done for just cricket in this country that I hope that he is just takes the test off and then comes back. What do you think, Jim? You know him the best out of all of us by a long way. what will he be doing now and will he come back and be up for it do you think that's so hard to say well he'll have so many emotions going on right now he'll be angry he'll be disappointed you know sad about what's happened that i really honestly don't know mate i i could easily see him not play again but on the other hand you know after the winter when he you know after australia he said I've not stopped thinking about this team and how I want this team to move forward.

23:31So I just don't feel like that goes away. And part of me would love him to get a chance to do that because he's a great captain. And I think he can do some really good things with this group of players. He's recovered from worse. Yeah, he has. But is it just one thing too many? That's the only other thing. After everything he's been through in his career, there's quite a lot to deal with. But as you said, even as a player, not just as a captain, but as a player, the fans want to see him play. You want to see Ben Stokes at his best with bat, ball, and in the field, changing games, changing the momentum of games.

24:08That's what he's been so good at. Yeah, I think, and I just hope that will, I'm sure that will reach him wherever he is, that everyone would be desperate for him to keep playing cricket for England. Yeah. Can you DM him and tell him that, everyone? I haven't heard anyone say, actually, that he shouldn't really i think everyone's just a bit like is it like you said is it just one thing too far for him i've heard well or have you heard different the word that you liked i've heard a lot of the word untenable i know i just did not expect i knew i just knew untenable but not in that i've heard that a lot jimmy look what i was getting at is i just want you to tell us everything's going to be okay?

24:51I think it will be. Everything, it feels huge at the time, all things like this, but there's a test match in a week or so's time and things could look very different there. You've got guys like James Roo, who've got a chance of coming into the team. Jordan Cox. Jordan Cox is back in the squad. Joffre's back in the squad. Opportunity Cox. So it's, there are things to be excited about and I just, you know, it'll be a challenge. It's a massive challenge now for Joel Root, for the foreseeable, to get the best out of this team and try and stay on top of New Zealand because New Zealand will be hurt after that test match because it was a bit of a lottery, that game.

25:34It wasn't like the best team will win this game. It was literally a lottery of whether you get a ball that rolls along the floor or moves six inches sideways. I think if it was a slightly better wicket, it would have been a better contest and more exciting to watch because New Zealand are a really good team. So I think it could be an exciting few weeks, the rest of this series, to be honest, from a cricketing point of view.

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27:01I'll tell you what I also love is Sharky texted me saying that he loved Opportunity Cocks. Thank you, Sharky. That's what I really love. What I loved more than anything this test match, yeah I love watching Emilio Gay up in the batting more on him in a second I really enjoyed seeing Oni Robinson come back and get some wickets I really enjoyed that story I really enjoyed Harry Brooke batting well I really enjoyed watching the New Zealand seamers as well I really enjoyed seeing Nathan Smith I really enjoyed Kyle Jamieson I really enjoyed watching Gus but more than anything Nasser Hussain Mike Atherton in a rain break so good there actually isn't anything better it's the best broadcasting there is I actually there was one period of play I think Saturday well no play period of rainbreak which is the new play for me I actually didn't want them to come back on for another hour or so totally I was much more enjoying hearing them talk do you know what we talked about before I f***ing love so f***ing much the table with the white cloth and the croissants that never get eaten and the orange juice that never gets drunk and Atherton and the broadsheets asking a bunch of questions.

28:17That is honestly, if I could choose one thing just to watch for the rest of my life, it wouldn't be Breaking Bad. It wouldn't be Sopranos. It would be Atherton and the broadsheets and the broadsheets and the croissants that never get touched. And knowing that someone whips that little white tablecloth off that table in the ad break and they get back to business. but also the other thing i really loved was that butch got involved and he was in the rain break mel jones got involved she was amazing in the rain break broadies in the rain break fantastic the ian what the whole gang ian ward just like just casually just casually like he's never not on he doesn't even doesn't even i don't think it crosses his mind that he's on tv sometimes I think it does Ian Ward is so good and so casual he's just propping up the bar and just firing a question Stuart Broad, why are you dressed like a narcoologist from Indiana Jones?

29:21Broad, he's just going to turn his arm over, he's wearing a Panama hat, no big deal he's just like total electricity he's a conductor, lightning conductor Ian Ward in those nets Kane Williamson is batting masterclass Ian Ward's doing throwdowns. Stuart Broad's got his Panama. I haven't bowled for a while, Wardy. Just get your arm over. Don't worry about it. That was the best passage of play of the whole test match. I'd rather stick the Grand Prix on. Wow. Who won that? Good Grand Prix, to be fair. Who won? Antonelli. Very good. Did he? Kimi Antonelli having the most amazing season. I did actually see Broady's tour of the dressing room.

30:02Oh, I put on the group, yeah. Oh, my God. The lean on the table in the middle was just so partridge leaning on the bar in the travel tavern. I've literally found the side by side shot of partridge leaning on the bar in the travel tavern and broadly leaning on the table in the dressing room. It's the same and it's quite similar clothes. What was he doing? What was he doing? He was explaining how he where he used to lean. He was he was doing a tour of the whole thing. just going um so over there would be that's where johnny bairstow would um he'd throw his kit all over the place over there he one at one point he ripped his shirt open from the collar when he got out and he'd go over there that's where jimmy would be that would be an absolute bomb site over there harry brooks sitting by the coffee machine and jimmy it was cool cool bit good bit good insight good bit but it was dressed in sort of partridge tie and blazer badge combinations

31:05and to be fair this is not me bitching because I text him the exact same picture yeah and I said this is amazing partridge Jimmy who would have taken more wickets on that pitch you or Stuart Broad I don't know actually maybe him I think maybe him because if they kept low from that angle because he would have been getting balls that were just going rattling through from his height wouldn't he yeah yeah I don't know he'd have taken 20 wickets on that pitch I mean I I did receive a few messages saying I think that Jimmy would have taken yeah anyone else yeah I'd have been fighting Brodie for the wickets on the wicket like that yeah yeah you would have been like you have six I'll have six you would have taken loads let's just say that but that hasn't happened but Ollie Robinson has happened he's come back after two years away and undeniably an unbelievable sporting story to get three wickets in his first over back in the England team.

32:06So great to see that. And obviously it makes us all go, oh, maybe some control would have been good during the Ashes, but let's not do that. Let's resist. Because that didn't happen and he wasn't there. He was the last bowler to take how many wickets in that many balls for England. Oh, this is a stat bomb, wasn't it? Stat bomb, yeah. that he claims he didn't nick off Saltzman. Which he clearly did because he was in the broadcast booth. You know the answer, don't you? He's worn asleep. Can't remember. Oh, I know the answer, yeah. Okay, go on, Jim. I'll give you three guesses, Jim. Who was the last England bowler to take as many wickets and as many balls?

32:45It's a quirky answer, obviously. Yeah, I can't remember. You were playing. You were playing. I'll give you another clue. In India. I'll give you another clue he's in the 11 I'll give you another clue he's captain of the oval oh Joe Root Joe Root Jesus Christ how can I not remember that yeah stat bomb did you hear that off someone in the commentary box sharky I faded up yes you faded up you

33:19clearly I heard that from I think Andy Zaltzman or Nick Miller who does the TV stats say yes I stole it from them nice Emilio Gay love him not a stat bomb but charisma bomb the interview with Mel Jones was so lovely and interesting thoughtful lighthearted passionate and just got across the fact that he was having the best day of his life which is exactly what you want to see as an England cricket fan. You want to see all those players just having the best time putting their pads on or getting ready, marking their run up and playing for England at Lord's. And he was just, he just had childlike joy in his eyes.

34:12And I hope that he keeps hold of that because it then translated into batting really, really well on what was, as we all know now, quite difficult wicket. did you like I mean you've played against him Jimmy you've known Emilio Gay for a while what did you what did you like in terms of what you saw as he stepped up to test level I think the one thing that stood out was his temperament I think if you get picked for England then your technique's going to be pretty solid and it you know he's got hundreds for Durham this year but you never know how someone's going to cope with that added pressure stepping up to the next level at Lords on debut in front of bigger crowds, more people watching on TV.

34:56I thought he handled himself incredibly well. On a wicket that was not really fit for purpose, he was calm. That sort of temperament will just keep standing him in good stead for his career because I think he's got good enough technique to play as long as he wants, really. If you can just not get too ahead of yourself when things go well, not get too down on yourself when things don't, then I'm sure he'll be in this team for a while. it's weird because it's 57 but it's actually that's actually a test match winning innings yes isn't it it genuinely is a test match winning innings well we look forward to hearing more from emilio gay and in fact we were about to hear from him on tail enders because he listens and sent me a message over the weekend and i said can we chat and then we were about to chat and all this happened and the ECB were like, nobody's talking.

35:50Bye. Nobody's talking. And then the next day we were like, I wonder why that happened. Oh, right. Okay. Ooh, good. No, but at some point we'll have a chat to Emilio Gay on Tailenders. Can't wait for that. That'll be, yeah, it's gonna be really interesting seeing how his summer pans out. An email about the pitch. Jimmy, you just said that it wasn't the greatest. I think everyone can agree that it certainly wasn't the greatest wicket. There are loads of reasons for that. lords are trying their best it's like no one wants to lose test matches nobody wants to make a bad cricket pitch but there are loads of problems with lords as everyone's talked about volume of cricket they can't ever relay the square because they can't dig it up because they have to keep playing for cricket there's so many cricket it's lords you can't stop cricket at lords what do you do i don't know dropping pitches who knows that's i don't know anything about that but luke has had an email a thought on an email he says hi g-force jimmy felix matching and shut the movie during the Law's test we've been told non-stop that the pitch is a disgrace and unsuitable for test cricket while I agree that the wicket was imbalanced in favour of the bowlers there is nowhere near this level of furore when pitches are flat roads with 500 playing 500 before an inevitable England collapse of course and these flat pitches happen far more often if I was a bowler for either team this week I'd feel a bit miffed that all the talk has been of the bowlers that didn't need to do anything in particular to get wicket to a disgraceful surface I'd be interested to hear your thoughts of course in particular how Jimmy feels about that level of criticism go well cheers cheers Lee I don't mind the balance between bat and ball I do get it there are quite some quite flat wickets around the world in test matches but that's just the extreme too extreme for me like even as a bowler I don't I didn't find that entertaining to watch I was quite enjoying watching Glenn Phillips but I thought any any minute he's just going to get one that either moves six inches up the hill or P-rolls so but that was the thing yeah yeah there was there was felt like there was no skill involved towards the end it didn't really matter you just just everyone was going to get one like that of course there's skill involved you've still got to hit the seam you've still got to try and hit a good area but it just felt like the one thing that surprised me was I was quite surprised that at no stage did New Zealand try and be a little bit more aggressive with the bat.

38:15When you know that you're playing on a pitch where there's a ball with your name on it like Bethel got for example he can't hit that in a million years then why not try and score as much as you possibly can like in slightly different ways and be a little bit more aggressive. But anyway yeah saying that you know It was a tricky situation to bat in there. Interestingly on the pitch, because Lancashire at the moment, we got in a bit of trouble for a wicket. We played Middlesex on at Old Trafford. And the groundsman has tried to prepare a good wicket. We played there two weeks previous to this game against Middlesex.

38:56Played on a really good pitch and we managed to get a win against Derby on the last day, day four. Yeah. So prepared the wicket exactly the same, the groundsman. and then it comes to the game and it's seemed more than he thought. And I just presumed it's like, you know, each wicket's different. It's got slightly different soil content. The grass might grow slightly differently, patchier on some wickets and thicker on others or whatever. But this looked the same and we thought it was going to play the same. We picked two spinners because the derby game spun on day three and four. But then it seemed loads and we got bowled out for 90 and it was a low scoring game, ended in two and a half days, I think.