Test Match Special - CWC Day 16: Root’s heroics, Woakes at 3, and England’s ‘perfect performance’

Episode Date: June 14, 2019

Michael Vaughan, Sir Alastair Cook and Jonathan Agnew reflect on England’s ‘perfect performance’ to beat West Indies by 8 wickets, but there are concerns about injuries to Eoin Morgan and Jason Roy. We hear from Joe Root, who scored a century and took two wickets, as well as Morgan and an angry Fazeer Mohammed tells us why he’s had enough of West Indies’ ‘showboating’. Glenn Hoddle joins the podcast to talk about his love of cricket, and what it was like to face Joel Garner. And Andy Zaltzman gets very excited as history is made as England win back-to-back victories at a World Cup against Test level opposition, and then even more excited as someone e-mails him about ‘Eddie Hemmings World’.

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Vote on 99 waits on O'Shea and Thomas into him and he's helping this one away. A bit of a leap from him. Not exactly the David Warner type leap, but the chairs and the adulation right around the Hampshire Bowl for England's finest batsman of this generation by a long, long way. And he's taking England to a comfortable victory here. Hello, welcome to Southampton, where England has their third win of the Cricket World Cup after a routine eight-wicket win over the Westerners with 101 balls remaining,

but a couple of key players may have picked up injuries. Coming up on this podcast, we'll hear from Michael Vaughan on England's win, Sir Alistair Cook, on what he called a perfect performance. We'll hear from a former England coach who faced Joel Garner, but never played professional cricket, and we continue our quest to try and find a listener in every country in the world. world, but we begin with England's win over the West Indies. Available every day during the Cricket World Cup. This is the TMS podcast from BBC Radio 5 Live.

Two more points for England takes them up to level second place. Get the table after a comprehensive, very easy victory over West Indies and here at the Hampshire Bowl. So they're up their level with Australia now. On six points from the four games that they play, West Indies is very disappointed. Very disappointing. They lost an important toss. never really looked to be in the game once they were 55 for three

wickets for plunket wood, gale out at that stage as well Puran made a good 63 Hettmire 39 but England chipped away arch took three for 30 including two in two balls three for wood two for root and scored a lovely hundred opening the batting and this is where England have issues of course with injuries to Roy and to

Morgan we'll talk about that in a second but root promoted a hundred not out Wokes to number 3, 40, after Bearstone made 45. And Bedstokes finished it off at the end in just the 34th over. So also a good result for England's net run rate today. Their bold West Indies out quickly and cheaply, and they romped to their target within plenty of time. So we're going to have interviews shortly. I think we'll be hearing from Joe Root in a second.

Injuries, that's going to be the key thing that we're talking to Michael Vaughn and others about in a second, really, about Jason Roy and Owen Morgan, both hobbling off with different ailments, but Roy with a hamstring, Morgan with a back spasm, and also the West Indies too. There were two bowlers down, with both Russell and Gabriel hobbling off, and Thomas not looking very fit there towards the end either. So whether it's the heavy ground or the rain that's fallen

and resulting in some slipping and sliding around and skidding by some of these players, who knows, but Morgan's in particular look very innocuous, just running up to the stumps to gather a throw from a fielder and was in really dire straits as he was helped off the field but he walked off really very gingerly indeed and Roy having obviously done something to his to his hamstring so there'll be things that got Afghanistan to come and Sri Lanka after that so they are matches that possibly if players do have to miss

games and they're ones that perhaps they wouldn't mind too much. It was a terrific inning. He got a bit to hit. He got a bit to hit. He's England best ever consistent player. I mean, he just makes batting look so easy. He doesn't change his method, whether it's

50 over cricket or test match cricket. His balance has been very good. There was no swing, so there's no real concern about his head position. When the ball's swinging around, you have to work your head position into the right zone. And, you know, the Westerners ball poorly. You have to say you just sit on back foot against this team

you know what's coming it's going to be short and when they did pitch the ball full it was a half follow so again you don't have to do a great deal with your feet you just have to dip your head back towards the ball and that's exactly what Joe Rich done

I think that he's got three World Cup Centries now no one England players ever done that it's obviously the kind of player that England have is still a young player and he looks very very committed and you know driven to make sure that this

England one day team go all the way in this tournament they've got an incredible chance of winning that trophy from BBC Radio 5 live. This is the TMS podcast at the Cricket World Cup. Joe, welcome to the Test Match Special podcast. Opening the batting didn't look too much different to batting at number three today. It's not.

I mean, you look at the first game, as in in the first over. So you find yourself in those situations sometimes and try not to overthink it. I think actually I ended up facing my first ball later on in this game than I did in that first one. So it's just part and parcel. and it was about just doing the job.

You play the situation, got the opportunity to go in first with Johnny. And with Morgs and J.O. were not able to necessarily bat straight away. It was important we got off to a good start. And I thought the way he played and the way that we managed to approach that first ten overs in particular was very good and very pleasing. And hopefully that calmed the dressing room down and put us in a really good place for what was to come after. Did the dressing room need calming down after what he'd gone through in the first innings? No. but when there is change

and there is a different forced into doing things differently in a major tournament been in sides before that have panicked and I think it's one of our big strengths is we do keep things quite calm we don't let things fluster us and I think as a group

will take a lot of confidence about how we went about the whole game I thought the way the guys set it up up front with the ball was outstanding kept creating chances we did win a toss which was very favourable and and we took advantage of that and then from that point on we we sort of managed to drive the game forward which is something that we pride

ourselves on if we get chance to do so it was a really good performance and a really not just getting the win but the manner in which we won was great going into some really big games and getting into the the crux of the tournament now leading run scorer in the tournament first England batsman to make three World Cup centuries. How does that feel? It feels good, but it's about doing it throughout the whole tournament so it's no good just contributing here and there.

I think we know what as a group, we're going to have to be consistent, we're going to have to keep looking to make those big scores and definitely not going to be sat back happy with what achieved so far. It's all about us collectively

performing and collectively do something good together. So if we can continue to keep dovetailing well and keep building those really substantial partnerships which either set a game up or win them then you know that's what's going to get us across the lining and get us in a position where we can put sides under pressure right you're absolutely not allowed to duck this question right what gives you more pleasure a century or two wickets with the off-break is a tough one but it's hard to look past 100 I did

really enjoy those two wickets so I didn't really expect to get the opportunity to bowl today But I've been trying to work on a few things and make sure that it was called upon at I could offer and do a job for Morgs and Joss. And, you know, I guess it's probably burgled a few today more than outskilled them. But I know that I'm not got the best stop ball. I'm going to have to find different ways of getting into the game and trying to put batters under pressure, trying to outthink them or play a little game with them, make it hard to, to take it hard to. to line me up. So that was sort of the plan today, be a little bit unpredictable and hope that they come at me and that brings me into the game. And looking ahead, you talked about

flexibility and not panicking being a great strength of this England team. If it is bad news for Owen and Jason going forward, you've shown today that you've got a lot of options, your own bowling, Chris Wokes moving up to bat at number three, you moving up to open. This England team seems to have a lot of bases covered. Yeah, and you're forgetting about the guys that I haven't played today. You've got some fantastic proven performers at international cricket, guys like Marian Ali, James Vince, guys in good form that play some really good stuff this summer and in an England shirt in recent times that can come in and do a job and that can win you games of cricket. So one thing that is one of the main factors of the success of this side over

the last couple of years is that we have got strengthened that. We've got guys that can fit straight in and that can it doesn't seem like too strange a fit if we have to change things round and I think that's going to be really important in the long tournament I mean not seen many injuries so far throughout across the board but when you're playing as many games as we are as thick and fast it might become a more common occurrence later down the later down the line throughout the tournament and it's really important that we've got a strong squad of players that are all ready to go which I believe they are Well done, Joe.

Cheers, thanks. Joe, what a tournament is having, 51, 107, 21 and 100 not out today. That 100 are coming in, the winning cause, rather than the losing one against Pakistan. Of course, Charles Dagnall is with Chris Wokes. Are you not, Charles? I am indeed, thank you, Jonathan, and Chris Wokes. Well, you make a score at number three.

You get to keep the position, don't you? Not too sure about that, Duggers. Although I enjoyed it, really enjoyed it. Obviously, it came off at half time and with a couple of our guys going down in the field kind of got the tap on the shoulder and said Defancy 3

so yeah I was obviously delighted to take the role on and you know went pretty well so pretty pleased Who gave you that tap on the shoulder whose idea was it

I'm not sure whose idea exactly was but TB Trev coach tap me on the shoulder along with Thorpe as well and there's the odd whisper of me opening up but that got

poo pooed pretty quick so yeah would you have done that should you have been asked oh 100% yeah I mean to be fair we joke with the vats

quite a bit about saying that opening the ban is the best gig in the world opening the bay in one day cricket so I'd have had to have gone out and showed what I could do but no I was happy to bat three and did a job for the scene obviously a comfortable afternoon in the end and this is one game that I'm sure you would have had been

encircled as a tough one yeah definitely I think we looked at this fixture we know the West Indies are dangerous particularly with the you know I suppose with bat and ball in hand but in particular with the bat they can come out and you know put you on the back foot from ball one so it's important we started well today obviously winning the toss

was quite a big factor in probably today's game as well so obviously win the toss and then we bowed nicely up front picked up the big wicket of Gailen Lewis at the top and I just thought we were good all the way through we held our lengths well on a wicket which just offered a little bit for us and you know at 212 I'm sure you would have been delighted with and snatched your hand off if offered it at the start of the game yeah definitely I think particularly against the West Indies

we know they're a dangerous outfit and they can score big scores you know they can go and get 350 plus as well as weekend so we knew it was a dangerous game and you know really pleased that we've come through really well and obviously a good two points ball so good for the net room rate as well you talked about a couple of the players going down struggles for jason roy and no and morgan what do you know if anything not a huge amount mate to be honestly i know morg's was was almost okay to go out and bat and then you know i think he seized up again so um whether that's a back spasm or not i mean i might be speaking out of turn there but that's what he looked like you know when he walked off

um and with jace i'm not 100% sure either but um you know we just obviously hope that It's nothing too serious with obviously two games coming up pretty quickly now. All right, well played today. Thanks so much for your time. Cheers, man. Chris Vokes, who almost opened one day I'll get to have my way. We batted at three today and made a very good 40. Alastair Cook's alongside me as well, the first time we've seen England in their one-day colours for a while.

Cookie, you'd be pretty impressed with that, wouldn't you? It was a perfect performance almost, wasn't it? It was a domination pretty much from start to finish. They've got a little bit of luck with the toss, but they had favourable conditions of the bowl. you still, that becomes a pressure when you win the toss and bowl and everyone's saying it's going to nip all over. You still have to deliver the goods and the way Chris, Chris works and Jophrat just started up, you wouldn't have sensed it was a kind of World Cup game with nerves, nerves about, and almost to get into a stage where it's called a full pointer. It felt like

an important game at the beginning of the game and thinking they can't afford to lose the West Indies and, you know, apart from, I suppose, that partnership between the two left-handers of the West Indies Hetmar and Puran, then, you know, they were 140-odd for three where you think if they could get 260, 270 and make it a tough total, England have looked in total control. Yeah, and Archer again proved that badly, didn't he? The pace, Puran, little glance at the glove and so on. It's that little bit extra, isn't it?

Yeah, but I think Chris Rokes sat the tone this morning. I thought his first three overs were probably Chris Wokes back to his best. There was a little bit of movement there from he gets the first wicket. but when you've got someone like Joffar Archer and he's getting steep bounce it's that length and it's going through chest high from a ball

that as a batsman you're probably thinking of going forward to he's got that intimidation that short run-up and that delivery that's coming out of their hands without any maximum effort at 90 miles an hour

and he's getting a bit of movement and when you see three slips in a one day of this era it's very rare that you see that you know you've got conditions you know you've got a confident team you know you've got a captain that's willing to kind of go

and be aggressive you know this England side we've said it for what they've got all the ingredients they've got everything you know there's nothing that you look at the single side and go oh they're just missing that now Archer's in there with that extra pace Wood's in the side he's hopefully going to stay in the one that if you look at his figures

today three for 18 from 6.4 Mark Wood and he's just brought a little bit more aggression and more pace with Archer as a batsman cookie you're back down if you've only got one quick you can kind of go oh I can get rid of that but if there's another one coming on to replace Archer

It's very, very difficult to get set against this England team. When Owen Morgan brought Mark Wood back on, when Andre Russell was just starting to get going, he's got the luxury that he can go at Russell and then he got him out and then Joffra comes on the other end as well. So England have got that luxury. They can go hard for a lot longer now with those two guys playing in the team. And the lower order just don't like it. They do not like it or the top order don't like it as well. And the one thing about Joffler, when he bowls, his bouncer, I haven't faced him for a long time.

I was going to say that. You haven't seen him for three or four years. I mean, do you see a difference? Yeah, he's definitely quicker. He is definitely quicker there. And there's just no clue to where that bouncer is coming from. Obviously, it can't really tell from here. You have to be facing him.

But other bowlers who bowl bounces, there's something in either the livery stride or their load up. Sometimes Stuart Broad loads up slightly differently. He's actually stopped doing it. But I could tell at first slip he was going to bowl a bouncer until we told him. and he doesn't do it anymore. But Geoffrey looks like there's just no difference. It's actually just a snap of the wrist and he says, I'm bowling short

and it doesn't take anything out of him. And he's very, very hard to pick up. And he saw, what, four or five of those West India's batters getting gloved in front of their faces today in shock, in shock. And he looks a real handful. I just wonder, Agnes, if England have kind of, I don't know if it's stumbled,

but I just wonder if this formation that we're seeing, which is five seamers, with Ben Stokes being the fifth seamer, Adel Rashid the leg spinner and now Joe Roo has got two for Bowling and his offspring in a few tricks I just wonder if this is the formation we're going to see you know I wonder if Mowing can find a way

back into this side and whether they need him or whether the formation that we're seeing here cover so many bases where you've got your two quicks you've got your school levels in wokes and stokes you've got your leg spinner and then you've got a bit of offspin from Joe Rueh I just wonder whether this is the formation that we'll see for the remaining few games what are you doing with Roy and Morgan

I know you're not a physiologist I know you don't know the extent of the injuries but with Afghanistan and Sri Lanka coming up I mean there is well you could say the possible breathing space in a way if you've got two people to get right it's not as though they're playing Australia on on Tuesday for example

well I think a hamstring is it's just more about getting it right it takes time to get right you can't it's one of those injuries where you're sitting there and you feel absolutely fine and then well I'm fine then you go to stretch it and you can start to feel it again and again and again the England medical team

kind of led by Craig Deviman there the physio he'll be on Jason right here to be an in him every on the hour, every hour already, so we get the best care to get him back. You know, I wouldn't imagine there's any chance of risking him at Afghanistan unless he's a hundred percent fit. I think Owen Morgan, actually, I was really right when I saw him walk upstairs. I didn't even think it could be in a back spasm. And if he's fit to play, you know, I've not had the greatest back throughout my career.

And if these spasms, you know, come and go, you know, he could be absolutely fine tomorrow morning. Yes, very good. What are you doing with him? I have no question that Owen Morgan will be fine. whether he's worth just resting against Afghanistan on Tuesday because, no disrespect to Afghanistan, it's a game that possibly Owe Morgan could miss and should still be fine. Jason Roy is a concern because that hamstring we saw in the West Indies has gone before.

So they'll have to take extra care with Jason Roy, Afghanistan on Tuesday, Sri Lanka on Friday. If there was a week ever to get an injury, I would say this is the week, and everything seems to be falling nicely into place for England. They've won a good toss here. It was good conditions against Bangladesh. The injuries have come at a time where, potentially, they could get them right for in a week and a half time when they play the Aussies.

We'll have to wait and see on Jason Roy. He's more of a concern to me than the captain. I'm pretty sure the spasm will go. The travel will be the one thing that he has to get over. He may miss Tuesday, but I'm pretty sure he'll be fine by next Friday. Let's hear now from Owen Morgan. He's with Charles Dagnall. Well, Owen, obviously, a fantastic win for you today.

But first off, let's talk about the injuries. How are you first off? Yeah, a bit stiff and sore. A bit of a back spasm while I was out there. hasn't settled down yet. I probably get back spasms twice as three times a year. Unfortunately, it's come now. Hopefully it settles down in the next 48 hours or so. Jason Roy had a stiff hammy, so it came off, and again he'll be assessed and scanned in the next 48 hours, and hopefully both of us don't present serious injuries.

There was talking on the commentary about the week that's ahead, and this is no disrespect to Afghanistan or Sri Lanka for that matter, but if you are to rotate, is that a possibility just to conserve players and to look after them a little bit, manage them? Yeah, I think that'll be dependent on how everybody's travelling. You'll have to, well, together with the medical staff, we'll have to present, you know, a risk assessment as to how risk it is to put guys through those two games. I think ultimately we want to win as many games as soon as possible to try and, you know, guarantee qualification. We take that game by game. Afghanistan, we won't take lightly there. So I'd struggle against in the past.

Sri Lanka, you know, can turn up on any day and compete against any other side. So if all fit, we'll look to play our strongest 11th. Did Mark Wood come through okay today because of the soreness that he had in the week? Yeah, he did. And we would have liked to have had him bowed probably two days out in order to confirm that.

But the nature of the weather that's been around, it ended up being this morning. And he presented beautifully this morning, fit to play. And he's bowled outstandingly well there. He's proved again, he's right on top of his game and bowling quickly. Good toss to win, of course, but your bowlers have to back it up and they did that today. Yeah, I think it was a good toss to win.

And certainly, you know, we didn't make a lot of inroads early, but I think when bowlers stick to their plans and actually focus on what they're doing and execute it as well as they did today, we continue to create opportunities throughout that difficult period of the game where it is difficult to take wickets. And it's great to take opportunities when you do. because like I said it is difficult during that period just spoke to Chris Wokes

and he was ever so excited when he got the top on the shoulder whose idea was it to promote him myself and Trevor talked about it obviously with myself and Jason not being fit to go in our normal positions so there were a number of names thrown around but we felt Chris has a very good technique great temperament and ability to score runs

he scored a lot of runs for us in the past at 7 and 8 so there's no reason why he shouldn't be able to at three. And today, you know, he proved how class, you know, cricketer he is. He really is a luxury to have. In that respect, was it, was it, you wanted to keep Stokes at four and Butler at five in that respect to promote him? Yeah, it's trying to identify where you're going to win the game. I don't think in the first 10 overs, you necessarily will blow the West Indies away and try and win the game in that regard. There'll be a partnership at some stage, but having the stability in that middle order, I think, you know, gives confidence to our,

change room but also when you look at the scoreboard if you do get off to a good start and your battsman happens to be Chris Vokes as an opposition you're thinking with a long way to go here so you need to push the button a little earlier so it was more tactical obviously it's been a tough week for the World Cup with the weather that's been around you've not had any games called off and looking to have fabulous weather today but it is nice to have the sunshine back and for the tournament to sort of kick start again it is great to have the sunshining it does bode well hopefully for the rest of the tournament I really do hope the weather is set fair because Every game you play is exceptionally tough and hopefully entertaining for the fans,

but also we want to entertain a glad they don't play. Lovely. Thanks so much for your time. Thanks, Degas. Thank you. So that's Charles Dagnol talking to Owen Morgan. You see about the injuries, Alice and I saw you nodding your head sagely when he said, look, we're going to pick the strongest team that we can as we go. That was, to me, the most important thing he said, actually. I'd hate to think they're starting to think about rotating now where they're nowhere near qualification.

Yes, you know, they're probably playing two of the weaker sides in this tournament. But Afghanistan on a used wicket, like everyone's saying, could be, you know, they've got some fantastic spinners, so that could be hard work. And again, Sri Lanka, on their day, can upset anyone. You know, we've seen that before. So the thing which I got out of there, obviously, if Jason Roy is not fit, he won't play. They won't risk him. If he was 80%, they're not going to risk him.

And James Vince comes in, you know, a great person to have as a backup. But to say they're going to play the strongest side, It means Jopra played. It means Mark Wood will play. Liam Plunkett will play. They'll have the feeling of a really important game. It's another important two points. Yeah.

And before you go, I'll let you remind us all of that fluky pull from the lottery yesterday to pull out Joe Root from the hat. Come on, Andy. Where's Joe Root standing in the moment in terms of tournament runs? We're having this contest, aren't we, about who's going to actually pull out the bats? and it's been top of the table at the end of the tournament. I've got a horrible feeling of routes well clear, isn't he now? He's on 279 from four innings, averaging 93, strike rate 97.

He's 19 runs ahead of Shakib al-Hassan and David Warner on 255. The top of the table. Who have you got? I've got Aaron Finch. I'm still, you know, where is Aaron Finch? Fifth, he has 190 runs. I had Babbar Azam, who, um, the cameos are not quite hacking it for Babba. They're not, oh, bad luck.

Well, he could still come good. It's too early, though. to be top of the table and it's like it's like a horse it's like a horse winning from halfway around in the lead there you think that's just not going to happen but there is ever a horse to back on. It's Joe Root he'd be up there, wouldn't he? He's

so consistent and the sun can come out. I did have a word in this morning so get your head down boy. This is Mark Wood make sure you're subscribed to the TMS podcast on BBC Sounds or your usual podcast app. You'll get a new episode each day throughout the tournament you can also email the team on

TMS at BBC court.uk. Woo-hoo! Well, I'm joined now by a West Indian commentator, Fazir Mohamed. I'll bet you'd be disappointed with that, weren't you? I mean, there's a big game. It just looked rather lethargic performance there.

Yeah, it's not so much the losing, but the manner of the losing. And it's almost as if the West Indies, having not gotten what they would have seen to be a competitive total, might have been hoping for a miracle or two with some early wickets, but virtually from the second over,

it looked as one that they had given it up. and then it degenerated almost into comedy with Chris Gale and the shore boating and all of that it didn't leave a particularly good taste in the moment it was a very good toss for it going to win and when you're playing against West Indian bats when and so on the ball's nipping about I mean it was a pretty dream start

but batting wise I mean he's encouraging at least to see you see poor Aaron and Hetmire's battling away there point taken but the coin has two sides which means agers that one day you're going to lose the toss another day you're going to win the toss And you can't just simply be operating on the premise that we're going to get first use of the pitch,

whatever the condition. You've got to be prepared for the time when you've got a bowl second. So, yeah, okay, the luck of the toss. It is part of the game. That's how it goes, and you don't win World Cups. You can't be competitive at World Cups, relying on the toss to go your way all the time.

To your question about the batting, yes, 144 for 3, looking well set, maybe 270, 280 at that point, and then it just fell away. There wasn't much in the way of resistance or even batting through to the 50th over. And dropping the spinner too. I mean, they really seem to put all their eggs in,

winning the toss and bowling first basket today and coming with all the big boys. Yeah, and maybe they're getting carried away with their own narrative about the fast bowlers, but you should have learned from Australia because Australia was 79 for 5 rally to get 289, which tells you that you won't necessarily intimidate teams all the time in the way you would have done earlier in the competition.

It's a long haul and you've got to be able to have enough of your artillery and a variety of your artillery available to really go a long way in this tournament. It just didn't look like there's any fire out there, to be honest. I mean, when the short pitch bowling, especially breathache to all the game with three out, it's all lumbering in it. There wasn't that spark when it worked so well against Pakistan. And that is where the challenge comes in. And it's all well and good to be all high-fiving and jumping around and enjoying it when it's going your way.

You've got to show the backbone when it's not going your way, when you realize, okay, we're really up against it, guys. We need to knuckle down and put in some hard yards here. And even if you're going to lose, you send the message going forward to the next match that we really mean business at this World Cup. Well, that's four games, two defeats now. So it's still not quite alarm bells time. But how do you think the West Indus shaping up? I think alarm bells is in the sense that if it hasn't happened already, Jason Holder, Floyd Riefer, the head coach and everyone else,

the senior men in the team, should be saying, look, guys, whatever went on this Friday at Southampton, we need to put that behind us as quickly as possible and not linger over all that went wrong. But learn from it and move forward because there are really many more opportunities to slip up. Bangladesh have had where. Indies number in one-day cricket since in the Caribbean last year. They've won three matches in Ireland against the West Indies.

Granted, the West Indies didn't have these shortball tactics then, but Bangladesh are a very competitive unit at this World Cup and after that it's New Zealand and India. So in double quick time, the West Indies could find themselves closer to the wrong end of the table if they don't rebound as quickly as possible. Available every day during the Cricket World Cup. This is the TMS podcast from BBC Radio 5 Live. So an easy win, there are the 100-1 balls to spare,

net run rate and stuff and all sorts of things are Statoes to consider, I would imagine. What else has caught your eye, Andy Zaltzman? We've seen history, Agers. Hasn't we? Something that has not happened for 27 years. England have won back-to-back World Cup matches against test-level opposition.

They have not done that in a world. We've had a terrible run at World Cup since then. That was the time we even reached semi-final. So even triangular then? No, just in World Cups. In World Cups. So a moment a moment to savour. Well, that's fair. It's been following in England and World Cups for more

than a generation. They've now won. They lost six against West Indies in World Cups and nine in a row in this country against West Indies. Root superb, again, is 16th ODI 100. The fourth England 100 in this tournament. They only had six centuries in the previous seven World Cups in 48 matches, four in the first four matches here. The bowling is interesting there.

Joffre Archer, three three-three-fers already. No England bowler had ever taken three wicket halls in a single World Cup before. They've had seven in total from five different bowlers. So we knew about the strength of England's batting coming in. The bowling has been a little up and down over recent years we saw in the Pakistan series in May. They were getting hit around for 300 regularly.

But the bowling seems to be coming to a nice boil. On the plus side for the West Indies, they kept England's batsmen to under 300. got the first team to have done that in eight games I think although the way they went about it by only scoring 212 themselves you could question the tactics and also

England hit no sixes that's only the fourth time in 87 innings since the last World Cup that England have failed to hit a six so I don't know if the West Indies are going to cling to that as a modicum of something they need a straw or two what about the two Yorkshire opening batswin

You're working on that at so. Have there been two... Well, as far as I could work out from... It was a quick peruse down the list while the play was on, so I haven't double-checked it. But I think it's the first time two Yorkshiremen have opened for England in one-day cricket. And Joe Root, his first time is an opener in whiteball cricket, scored an unbeaten century. Okay, brilliant.

Hang around. We've got news of a big milestone in our quest for a listener in every country in the world to market a bit later on. But first, a very well welcome to the Test Match special podcast to Glenn Holley. Glenn, it's lovely to see you. First thing is obviously, how are you doing? How are you getting on? Yeah, I'm almost back to 100% fitness, which was great. You know, such a shock what happened, but slowly but surely getting there, Jonathan.

Yeah, so it's great to be at the cricket watching this wonderful game. Enjoy me cricket, so yes, it's when I was asked to come down. Jumped at it. Yeah, good. So tell me about your cricket, go on. We all know about your football. Well, I played a little bit back in the day in the Essex sort of for shearing. And I was playing on a Saturday for Tottenham, and the club didn't know, obviously, but it was me, Graham Roberts, and Mark Falco used to play for Shearing on a Sunday,

and then we got away with it for about 18 months, and the club found out. Literally doing it quietly, no one knowing. Yeah, no one knowing, because I don't think they'll let us play, to be honest. But I loved it. I really did love it. And so we'd go and play our away games, or White Art Lane, on a Saturday, and Sunday, our warm down, would be playing cricket. So that was the only warmed down We used to do back in the day

So it was really enjoyable What did you used to do? What were you? I was like I came on a first change probably A little medium pacer And then probably batted around about six Right So yeah

What sort of player I'm stylish footballer I mean you must be a bit of a David Gower No no not at all It's my boy My boy was at the MCC in the Middlesex He was the one that took up the cricket Jamie

So I remember the last five about five or six years ago watching just as much cricket as I was watching football to be honest so I've always loved the game but nowhere near Jamie's talent what do you like about it

what is it about cricket that switches you on then well I love the technical side I mean a lot of people that don't understand cricket and you guys obviously would know I think there's so much technical from bowling to batting

you know people that don't understand the game probably would look from afar and think oh what are they doing you know he bowls up and lets it go or whatever but there's so many things that you have to be thinking about whether you're bowling or batting that come into play more than any other sport really

golf's pretty similar football's more instinctive rugby and tennis it's all about instincts and obviously cricket is as well but there is a multitude I found it was a multitude of technical ability that bowlers have to do and think about and batsmen and I just found it really intriguing and fractions of millimetres are making all the difference too of course

absolutely yeah You know, any sport, I suppose that happens, but with cricket particularly, especially, wow, I've come here today, until you see live sport, it's not the same, is it? No. But Archer, how quick is he?

I know, I know. Do you fancy facing that? Oh, my word. It was, I did, I did face Joel Garner once. Oh, did it? Yeah, we had a little testimonial game, a Tottenham and Arsenal team played many years ago against Middlesex with Gatim playing.

Oh, yeah. And I said to the big fellow, he was doing, he was coming off about, two paces and I've got up the other end I said look if I get up the other end just give me a 50 percent oh my word Jonathan 50 percent so he went back about four you four paces and I can still see it now I'm still playing my shot and I hear the wicket keeper gloves like just taking the ball and I went oh big man no more no more than that I always say to people I'd love to be able to take them out to actually you know people who do sit I watch on the telly or whatever

just take them out and just go and have a look at what that sort of bowling really is like when you are standing there, and that's coming at you. You were asking Michael Vaughn earlier, won't you, about how you deal with a bouncer, for instance, from archery. I mean, can you imagine it? Oh, my word. Well, now I've seen it live side on. No way.

I just said, you know, I asked Michael, is it in the end, is it instinct? When you've got somebody that quick, you just, your instincts take over in it. And I think, you know, that's what he was saying, you know, because the thing with Archer as well, the disguise, some bowlers that he was explaining. There was only two minutes in there.

It was intriguing. You can read them, you know, you can actually. see that we're, but he said this fella, you don't know when he's going to release it and how he's going to release it. So that disguise in any sport, whether it's football, tennis, you know, that's worth its salt, isn't it?

Yeah. Well, you'll see some more later because the West Indies got some huge fellas as well who were going to bowl about the same sort of pace. Well, back in the old day, when I was young watching that West Indies team, wow, that was relentless, wasn't it, for English batsmen. But it looks like, yeah, they've got another generation

maybe coming through, which is exciting for them. Who would have been your cricket heroes then? Who would you sat away? It's sort of Graham Gooch's territory, I suppose, you were originally. You know what? Even a little bit before there, I couldn't name some of the test match teams recently. But you know what? I can boycott Edridge, Amos.

That whole team is instilled in my, Randall. Do you remember Randall? Of course. What a, you know, and everyone said about his fielding, well, everyone can feel like Randall, but he was like a generation ahead. And everyone was so excited and nodded. You know, that team, I can see. Underwood and Co. Underwood and...

Willis? Old, maybe? That's it, Chris, old, yeah. And Snow, even John Snow, just before. And Tony Gregg, obviously. So I was brought up watching that. I know that team inside out. And Boyx, obviously, opening batsmen and... Did you admire the way Jeffrey played?

Oh, well, I admired the fact that he's stubbornness. He didn't care. If he was going to get 100, it didn't take... If it took three days, it didn't matter. He was going to get his 100, which, you know, they had to get him out. and that's the name of the game. I mean, does every sport need someone like that

with that sort of mentality, do you think? Yeah, I think so. Hey, listen, talent isn't enough anyway. You need the stubbornness, you need the desire, you need the mental attributes that Geoffrey Boycott had in abundance as well as talent. But talent isn't enough. It really isn't.

And every sport you look at, football, particularly, there's so many talented players I've coached and with my academy that I put together that just didn't make it. because there is something missing in between the ears, you've got to have that strong mentality, that belief. Available every day during the Cricket World Cup. This is the TMS podcast from BBC Radio 5 Live.

Well, that's lovely to speak to Glenn Hoddle. Who knew the he'd have faced Joel Garner? Well, during the interval today on Test Match Special, we spoke to the former England bats from Robin Smith about the struggles he's faced since retiring from cricket. It was a very emotional interview. And thank you to everyone for your messages. We will pass them on to him.

I promise you. He's going to be a guest on the Tuffers and Vaughn podcast on Monday, so look out for that. Now, Andy Zaltzman still here. On yesterday's pod, we were on listeners from 97 countries. Well, we brought up the century with a six. Wow. We were bemoaning as lack of a six today. We're now on 103. Keep your emails coming in with podcast in the title, letting us know where you're tuning in from. Adam Jones. So I'm not wishing to be greedy. But in the last 10 days, I've listened to the podcast in Tanzania, Kenya, and Ethiopia.

He's getting around about. Yep, impressive. Duncan Abate says, if you still need a Bhutan tick, bracket, land of happiness, then look no further. I think they, in Bhutan, I think they don't measure, or they use gross national happiness rather than some kind of other economic system. Yeah, yes, I don't know how that's working out for them, but clearly happiness is a big deal in Bhutan.

We live in Hong Kong, says Duncan, but are on holiday in the Kingdom of Bhutan, a truly magical country but we would suggest you stay clear of the chili cheese the national delicacy good advice i think that's very good advice peter hodgkinson hello i started listening to the podcast for the first time during this world cup i'm really enjoying it keep up the good work currently listening from tamper in finland i never know if it's tamper or tamperi tamperi i'm going to go for both it's in finland anyway and i'm here to you could have just said finland i got this one i'm here to race at the yukala orienteering relay which is run

through the night in teams of seven starting at 11 p.m. I'm looking forward to finding my way through the dark Finnish forest against over 20,000 other teams. Should be a good adventure and a far cry from my early sporting years growing up playing quick cricket at Trent Bridge. 20,000 teams of seven. Extraordinary. Running through a forest at night. It sounds like the most confusing horror movie of all time. That's the Finns for you. Now finally, a terrific email I've had him for you, Andy. This is from Matt Hawkins. The email title is Eddie Hemming's world. It sounds like some sort of computer game.

Well, no, it was in fact. It was referring back to something we did last week on the... Well, I mentioned last week on the pub, the idea of an Eddie Hemings theme park. Right. How on earth did you get on that? It must have been raining. It was a rainy day, Agas.

It was the... I mean, only an absolute day-long deluge. It could be speculating on theme parks based on moustachioed England off-spinners. Yes. Anyway, but I mean, it's the future of entertainment. Matt Hawkins writes, given all the rain that's curtailed so many matches this week,

I wonder if Andy's had a chance to think more carefully about Eddie Heming's world. I mean, to be honest, it's not Super Mario, is it? No, I'm not really a businessman. No. Get Michael Vaughn involved. Given that this year marks the 70th birthday of the great man, it would seem fitting that a blueprint for his theme park could be outlined. Maybe it can be launched alongside next year's 100.

That would be good. Wouldn't you love to see children going down a roller coaster? Yes. That mirrors the flight of a looping Eddie Hemmy's delivery. Yes. In the second state, it used to be quite a cany. Seema, you know, Eddie Hemings. Oh, really?

Quite a bad-tempered one. Right. He was, at his Warwickshire days. I imagine he was quite bad temper when Capaldev hit him for four sixes and four balls. He was actually quite bad tempered all at the time. Right, okay. I'll take your word for that. I'm sure thousands of those fans who've not yet turned their attention to cricket

will flock in their droves to the Derek Randall running between the wicket's roller coaster. The Tim Robinson Tower of turning the ball off the pads and the much anticipated Andy Pick Helter Skelter. I await further suggestions with interest. I hope Colin Graves and the ECB hierarchy are listening. That's one of the more absurd subjects that we've had, even during the rain. The TMS podcast at the Cricket World Cup. Now, to finish this podcast, I want to bring you a section of another podcast.

This is BBC Radio 5 Lives, You, Me and the Big C, which talks frankly and openly about cancer. Andrew Strauss is a guest on this week's programme, talking about his wife, Ruth, who died in December from a rare form of lung cancer. He speaks very openly about how Ruth's illness and death affected him and his family. I think the one thing that Ruth and I were both petrified about

was, you know, how are the kids going to cope with this, losing their mum? You know, that's such a, you know, sort of animalistic instinct as a parent to not put them through that pain. And when she said to us, listen, there's certain things you're going to need to do in terms of making sure that you're open with them and giving them permission to talk about how they're feeling or whatever.

But they'll be okay. They were going to miss their mum terribly. But if they've got the right support around them and, you know, they've got you there to guide them, they will be okay. At what point did you tell them? Because I can't get, our kids are a similar age. You know, mine are 9 or 11.

And I cannot, do you know, just sitting here listening, I cannot get my head around the idea of ever. And I probably will have to at some point. I hope it's in a long time. How do you tell your children? and mommy's going to die. Well, you know, we never had, well, we didn't have that conversation until right at the end. So, you know, I remember coming back from the hospital and having to take the boys to the side and say, listen, I had a chat with the doctors and they've told us that we're going to have to say goodbye to mum soon.

You know, and that was the hardest conversation I've had in my life. Yeah, how does that not scar you? Yeah, I know. It's still brutally vivid in my mind, yeah. Andrew Strauss's full conversation is available to listen right now by downloading the latest you, me and the Big C podcast. It's called About Putting Life on Hold. It's on BBC Sounds and from all your usual podcast providers.

BBC Sounds, music, radio, podcasts.