Test Match Special - CWC Day 4: Time for South Africa to press the panic button?

Episode Date: June 2, 2019

Are South Africa's worst nightmares about this World Cup already materialising? Do Bangladesh have the quality to challenge any side at the tournament? Questions posed by Dan Norcross and answered by Alec Stewart, Natalie Germanos and Roushan Alam on this episode of the TMS podcast at the World Cup. Andy Zaltzman's also on the pod to discuss whether 'pulled crickets' will ever become a thing, and the best crowd catches he's ever seen. You'll also hear from Eoin Morgan ahead of England's second match against Pakistan.

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Facing Archer. Drives. Got him. It just caught. Joe Rood takes the catch at Slub. And the booze, inevitable booze, are for Steve Smith's arrival on the ground. Here's those Shane Thomas Bolter. We're happy as he's bowled. And Pakistan have been bowled out for 105. That is the end of the game here at the Oval. Match five of the ICC men's cricket World Cup, Bangladesh, have beaten South Africa. Hello and welcome to the Test Man Special podcast on day four of the cricket World Cup. We've had our closest match of the competition so far and a shocked result as well.

The story of Bangladesh's win over South Africa to come. And we'll hear from Owen Morgan as England gets set for Pakistan on the record-breaking deck at Trent Bridge. Hello, I'm Owen Morgan. Welcome to the TMS podcast of the Cricket World Cup. Well, Alex Stewart, we have waited for the World Cup to explode into life after that first game. when England defeated South Africa. We've had three games since then, which have been rather one-sided.

But today, I thought we were kept on our toes for the most part of this match. I'd say that Bangladesh felt like they were on top throughout all of it, but South Africa was still in with a sniff all the way through to the end. It made for a very, very exciting game. And in the end, the winners, Bangladesh.

Saddavka never got going. That was the thing. They never really got up to sevens. They were always hovering around that five, five. and a half, touch six for a while. But they never have gotten a position where they were in charge, where they were ahead of the game.

Yes, that is you could say South Africa's poor play. But I thought Bangladesh were excellent. I thought the captain was very good away. He shuffled his bowlers around, his fielding. Say two drop catches, I think they were, but the rest of their ground fielding generally was good. And their batting was excellent, especially the last six, seven overs.

And I think that was a difference. The last six overs when Bangladesh really pushed the accelerator and took a total of around 300. 310 right up to 330. What was it about South Africa today, though? Somehow they looked a bit more lackluster in losing by 21 runs than they had done in losing by over 100 against England, especially in the field.

Well, I think in the field, one is losing Engidi. That is an issue because he's a banker bowler. And then because he had to walk off after four overs, the six overs made up of part-timers, which were Markham and Dummni, meant that between Engidi, Dummini and Marcombe, they went for 82. Also, when you're in the field and you are not taking wickets

and you're in a game where at the start you're expected to win, when you're seeing bowlers run up and just bowl a ball and not really thinking about the plans, that is frustrating too. And it looked to me as though that was the case. They've had team meetings that have gone through each individual batsman where we should bowl, how are we going to bowl? And then once you get out in the middle,

it looks as everything that's been written on the whiteboard has been wiped off and it's just a blank bit of paper or blank board. And I saw some frustrated South African fielders out there. and that potentially was the reason why they then looked lackluster. Well, let's go back at the beginning of the day when South African won the toss, and they elected to bowl, and there were some raised eyebrows there

because although sides chasing have been doing well in this workout, certainly in the last couple of days, this was a worn pitch that had been used once before, and Bangladesh's strength lay in their spin bowlers, yet for some reason, Poftu Plessy decided to go with bowling first, giving himself the task of batting on that worn pitch towards the end of the day. that felt like the first mistake, didn't it?

Two things. One is 10.30 start. It is only 30 minutes, but at this time of year, it can make a difference. Secondly, I know that the pitch was watered after the England Serafka game. And Serafka would have seen that, and then they've trained here as well. So they saw a little bit more live green grass on this service, and perhaps they did against England. They thought, with their seam attack, they would get a couple of wickets early on. Once they bowled, it was pretty obvious. That wasn't going to happen there.

that one niscatch at slip, which could have proved very, very costly. But from that moment on, yes, it was then all about Bangladesh. So, yes, the toss played a part, but really it was then how both sides play, and Bangladesh played far, far better than South Africa. Well, what impressed me about Bangladesh? They got off to a decent start, 60 in 8 and a bit over us, but they lost Tommy Mikbal, but Sumya Sarka at the other end. He looks a real player.

You can see him scoring a lot of runs at the top of the order in this tournament. If he gets good pitches, he hits a really clean ball. seemed to be worried by the short ball. He had a couple of decent balls. They weren't right at the throat or at the head, but he still looked like he had a decent technique off the back foot. He drilled some drives. But even when he was out, it's the experience they've got.

You know, now when you look at Tamim Shakib and Mushfika, three really experienced players in the top four with Sumiyosaka, then you start to see it a really genuine potent threat, don't you, with the bat? I think their styles of batting as well complement each other. So, you know, we've just seen two old. I mean, Tammy McBell came over here with a tremendous reputation of being the go-to player of yesterday year, say, Jaya, Siria, a Seawag, that type of player. Well, he's been outscored by his opening partner. So that tells a story in itself.

But Shaki batting at three is a great, great move from Bangladesh's point of view. He enjoys batting at three. His record in recent times has been very good, and he showed all his experience. And that partnership with Mushfika was crucial because it's quite easy to go, are we going to have to attack a little bit more but they batted sensibly they knocked the ball around they then hit boundaries when they had to they didn't press the gamble button too early

and therefore they're always going to post a competitive total but through having wickets in hand going into the last 10 overs it allowed Bangladesh to then be really attacking at the very very end now we're going to go tomorrow Nicholas he's got Faf too plesi with him the South African captain tell me about today yeah obviously it didn't go according to plan

once again starting the camp the innings off with Lungi getting injured. Yeah, it's not ideal, but even with that happening, 3.30, I thought, was a little bit over par. And then we got in, once again, everyone chipped in with a bat, but all in all, not a great performance from us. If you won the toss again, would you bowl first again? Looking back on it, no, no.

Probably changed that. But the thinking was speaking to all the local guys, so it's played, yeah, the groundsman, that there was going to be more pace and balance in it. Obviously, when you play against the subcontinent team, if they do get runs on the board, then they can squeeze you, and that's what happened today. So in hindsight, I'd probably change that decision. And a very damaging 54 runs from the final four overs.

Yeah, like I said, there's a few areas where we went great today, you know, and we have to take that on the chin. You know, even with Lungi's injuries, I'll go-to-death bylaw with Kiji, but even with that, to go for that many runs, I looked up at the screen out towards the end of 45, we had the same mark. So that showed that that last five hours was very bad. The great skill of any sporting side that's having a rough time is to find a way, isn't it? Round the corner is India.

And at Southampton, no easy game. No, it's definitely not getting easier, but that's, I mean, South Africa is a very proud sporting nation. Skills weren't there today, but I can promise you that there'll be fight, so the guys will make sure they get back into practice and trying to make it right. But at the moment, we're firing at about 50, 60 percent, and it shows even bank. Bangladesh can beat that on any day. Okay, we wish you well, come Southampton and the Indians. Thank you, Mark.

Okay, thanks. Do a swap of microphones there, Faf. Mastrofima Tosa, ladies and gentlemen. What a performance today. Well done. You've got so much right. Yeah, obviously, you know, fast match always, you know, set the tone. They've been positive.

We've been played well in Ireland, you know. Just carry one from where, you know, love to keep our momentum, exactly the better set the tone for us. And I'll tell you what. What about the crowd here? Did it feel like a home match? Yeah, obviously, you know, crowd was behind us, thanks to all the Bangladeshi crowd. Hopefully, next match, they will come and supporting us as well in the same way.

Yeah, big game here. New Zealand, you'd like all those supporters back on Wednesday, wouldn't you? Yeah, you're expecting the same way. Obviously, you know, back home, those are watching in the TV. They're also expecting us to win. Hopefully it will go well, inshallah, next match. Great. Tremendous day for Bangladesh cricket. Well played. You're up and running in the 2019 Wendons World Cup. Well done. Thank you. Moshrafi Murtaz are the Bangladesh captain. They are up and running and in some style. Alec, thanks ever so much for joining us.

We'll see you again shortly. We're going to bring in Natalie Jamanas in a minute, but first I've got an extremely happy Russian alarm next to me. He's got a Cheshire Cat grin on, and he has every reason to. Because Bangladesh, I wouldn't say they walked today, but they were on top pretty much from the beginning through to the end. I mean, South Africa were with them a lot of the way, but you'd say Bangladesh

we're ahead of the game throughout and that's going to be really pleasing hasn't it for Bangladesh fans? Absolutely. I think in the past games like this we would have seen Bangladesh looking level and then just let it slip away but we again showed our sort of confidence in maturity

to sort of stay with the demands of the game right the way through and then sort of see out the window I think so yeah I think Bangladesh fans will be really happy I think the team would be really happy as well is it time that we started to take Bangladesh properly series so a lot of people say well you know Bangladesh is a better side but deep down they're probably not expecting them to make it to the semi-finals.

But on today's performance, I'd see no reason why they couldn't beat any side in the tournament on their day. And I don't mean in a kind of giant-killing way. I mean, they appear to have a game plan. They appear to have the people who could execute that game plan. They know what they want their spinners to do. They've got an awful lot of experience that four of their top six have played hundreds and hundreds of one-day international.

So they appear to have a plan, and they appear to be sticking to it. Is that a fair assessment? I think that's a fair assessment. I think this team has been quietly confident for a long time. I think the shortcomings of the Asian size, particularly in this tournament so far, the short ball swing. These are things that Bangladesh have encountered in the last sort of two years leading up to this World Cup. So they've had time to do their revision, their homework and fix it, and to make sure that they've had time to deal with and come up with a plan for all the things that this World Cup is going to throw at them. We saw Shoma Shaka, who sort of, you know, was playing the short ball beautifully early on in the innings.

and that's not something that's happened overnight. It's taken him a long time to go away and work on stuff. So it's been, yeah, it's been a long time coming. And I think this is a fruition of like a sort of year, two years worth of work on this side coming together to sort of be underdog slash not quite favourites but potentially semi-finals in this tournament. You'll listen to the TMS podcast with me, Daniel Norcross, Natalie Jamannis,

and we're going to come to shortly, Orozhener Lamb, of the Ducera podcast, along with our friend Anchor Desai. Now then, the one player, I have to say, who, as I was watching this as a dispassionate neutral observer that I thought was a problem for Bangladesh was actually the Captain Mashraffa Mautaza because it felt that he might perhaps not want him to bowl himself as much as he was going to have to

because of the balance of the side. In the end, I think Safuuddin rather got him out of trouble a little bit, didn't he? He got a really important wicket of Rassi Van de Dusen just as he was getting going. Is that the one sort of problem of managing? the captain long term because he's clearly not superbly fit and he's been around

quite a long time. He does have his moments and he has come under criticism in the past when he's not been required to bat and he's not bowled a few overs and the question has been asked like is your job just setting the field and picking who bowls next effectively playing a computer game of cricket and choosing who does what next but his input is

still vital to the team and we saw in Ireland there was a match where he took three wickets he often leads from the front his influence in the dressing room is still very very important to the side. I think Bangladesh's selection was slightly contentious. I was surprised to see Seifredin in there. I know he sort of paid back by taking two wickets. But I wonder whether they selected him because they expected to bat deeper and it was almost at the expense of another pacer. We missed Rubel Hussain today.

I mean, it's going to be hard for him to try and justify why he's selected again after a win and after his replacement has taken two wickets. But I think Mushraffi, he's a player who will do what you need to do for the team. I don't think he wanted to bowl six overs today but he knew he had to and I think Siphredin's first spell was particularly expensive and at one point I think Bangladesh might have gone well actually who's going to bowl these overs who were safe to the death because

they were using the fizz up early they used Mehidi Hassan almost you know from the start and Shaki was bowling in the tenth over so early on it did look like we're about to sort of play all of our cards quite early on and I think that will have to be looked at and I think it will also heavily depend on what the conditions are like I think today at the Oval was

one that actually sort of weirdly favoured Bangladesh's attack and the spin attack but we going to get green a picture than this in the World Cup and I don't think that's going to be a luxury then. If there's a Cheshire Cat Grin on one side of me to the right, there's a slightly more rueful look on Natalie Jamonis's face. Two matches have been lost. One to the world number one side, one to the world number seven side. Next up is India on Wednesday. Is it, is it time just to start screaming and hit the panic button and throw all the plans out the window and try something completely different? Well, I think if they start hitting the panic button, it's just going to get worse,

isn't it? Because from South Africa's point of view that's happened in World Cups before where they've hit the panic button and it has just gotten worse in particular in the big games that really matter and losing to the number one side in the world in home conditions for the number one side, that's not really

necessarily that disgraceful. From a bowling perspective South Africa really good against England but from a batting perspective they weren't that good and they know they weren't and that was one of their weaknesses going into the tournament. But today starting off with Faf Duplessi's decision to bowl food I think he made the wrong decision.

Probably made the right decision in the first game because everybody said bowl first. In retrospect, probably should have batted first. But you can understand why he chose it. Today, a little confused as to why he chose to bowl first today because it's just one of those records. It looks a good record, but it might get tougher to actually chase on because of the nature of Bangladesh's bowlers.

In South Africa, were the ones putting up over 300. Bangladesh could have still got there, but it's unlikely that they might have got there and it might have worked more in South Africa's favour. But to push the panic buttons now, I think we'll put them in a really bad situation that would probably be a worse situation, actually, than the situation they're already in. And from today's point of view, I suppose the only real positive that they can take is the fact that the net run rate has improved.

It was minus 2.08. It's now minus 1.25. It's amazing, isn't it, how your net run rate can improve even though you lose. But that's absolutely true. that has happened there's another possible plus so we saw Dale Stain running in and bowling a few deliveries

in the outfield after the close of play he's going to be really key you would think because one of the deciding moments of today was Lungi Gidei going off the hamstring straight now if he's got a hamstring problem as well Sam Curran do this the other day and he's out for three or four weeks

I'm not sure that South Africa can afford to be without one of their main pace bowlers definitely injured have a big cloud over another one, however great a bowler he is Dale Stain, would it be pressing the panic button to call up a replacement? Because, you know, South Africa can't afford to lose three more games. The interesting thing is, if you look over the time that Lungi and Giri has been playing for South Africa, Ngiri, Rabada and Stain have only ever played in three one-day internationals together.

Because there's always been an injury to somebody. So they've only ever played in three one-day internationals together. And yet South Africa's plans have been all around those three from a bowling point of view. So, well, well, there's got to be concerns because we've seen a couple of sides, bouncing sides out. And frankly, South Africans didn't look like doing that on this pitch. It might be partly because of this pitch, but we didn't see them really getting the ball up around head and throat height. And I've got to say also, the makeup of the batting, I mean, it strike me as, as a bit of a surprise when David Miller came out to bat at number four. He feels, does he not?

A five at the highest, six, really. So, I mean, is this part of the problem with Hashimamla? It could be. Hashimams put a lot of pressure on the rest of the order because he's been out of form for so long and he hasn't been great. In one day, internationals, he's been okay in the last year, but he still hasn't been consistent.

The problem that South Africa have is there's nothing wrong with Aidan Markle McQuarck opening the batting. But if you're going to have David Miller at number four, J.P. Dermany then is not playing his role within the side. His role within the side is somebody to come in at number four, rotate the strike, keep the scoreboard ticking over, and take pressure off the hitters that are coming in. So you want to see them flipped? Yeah, absolutely. You look at J.P. Duvenny's record in one day internationals. He is a highly talented. And anybody will say he is incredibly talented, should be averaging in the 50s, strike rate of close to 100. But you look at the hundreds that he scored in his one day international career. They've been against some. We're in the Netherlands, and he's never scored 100 against anybody else, against any of the big nations. So you have to ask the question, well, then what is his role in the side? Because if he's not going to come in at number four and possibly score you 100, he has to come down

the order. From BBC Radio 5 Live, this is the TMS podcast at the Cricket World Cup. Tomorrow, England are back in action after they beat South Africa comfortably in their opening game last week here at the Oval. They face Pakistan at Trent Bridge, and our cricket correspondent Jonathan Agnew has just been talking to the England captain Owen Morgan. Okay, how do you feel about going into the second game then? First one out of the way, done and dusted?

Yeah, things have settled down and we've had a couple of days to think about things and reflect on the good things that we did well and the possible learnings of the game at the Oval, and we're fully set for tomorrow against Pakistan. They're a side that we've played a lot against recently.

They're an extremely dangerous side on any day of the week. It's just depends on. what day that they strike so we're preparing and planning for their A game to turn up and obviously try and impose our A game as well.

Did your A game turn up at South Africa? Were you critical in any way of what happened there? Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I think when your A game isn't allowed to play particularly against South Africa with our batting with the experience and the nature and mentality

that we switch to sort of our plan B and the confidence that we did it I think allowed us to get 300 and just over previously maybe two years ago we might have got 250 or 260 and been out of the game at the halfway stage but I think

our experience and the fact that we've come on a huge amount allowed us to adapt and you know still want to score 350 but you know what it wasn't our day with the bad and South Africa bowled well in conditions that allowed them

to bowl well so we were one of the strongest points of that was our batting and our adapting to conditions which is great it does show that we've come on a lot yeah were you expecting him run to here to bowl straight away no we weren't certainly not as many ovies as he did first up particularly with engedi the far end when you've somebody like rabada you in your side you expect him to take the new ball so Tahir bowling won over yes did surprises but probably more so that he bowled a couple more after that

can see it happening again against Ryan Berto? Yeah I can I can and at different stages it's probably I watched the game this morning South Africa against Bangladesh and it might be a trend particularly with South Africa chopping changing quite a lot

Rabata did come back and take the new ball this morning but as regards how they're using Tahir they're looking to save him towards the end so other sides might look to that as a resource equally in the few games that have been played so far the short pitch delivery has been effective that might be the nature of the wickets they might be a little bit drier

and maybe cross seam into the wicket is coming off a little bit too paced yeah Ben Stokes people in writing and you can totally disagree with it that he perhaps has been quite as farier character since Bristol particularly bowling-wise do you think that catch

and such a spectacular, brilliant, amazing piece of cricket could it be something like that that could be a catalyst to get old Ben back again? I certainly haven't seen it as you guys have Ben has been unbelievable since that Bristol incident his work ethic is

mentality around the changing room and his performance all working towards what happened the other day contributing in all three facets of the game being himself going out and imposing himself on the game and he did it with a great mentality as well a great temperament

which is fantastic to see because he's maturing a huge amount as a cricketer and when he goes out and puts in a performance like that it is great not only for English cricket but for the sport there's everybody I don't know age from five years old to 75 who watched the game the other day can relate to taking a great catch maybe taking a wicket and scoring runs and having one of those days where you do nothing wrong

so for the sport it is awesome and for him you're champion all rounder and for you too to actually start the tournament like that in every capacity must be great it is great and I think the main reason is great is because when Ben's confidence is high it rubs off on other guys it's very infectious around the change room

it's very infectious on the field he'll want the ball to bowl he'll want to be in the crucial moment when maybe we're losing wickets or we need to up the rate so important parts of the game it makes them an important asset and changes

how are you going to do this though and how are you going to keep people fresh but still playing a strongest side of it like it's quite tricky isn't it? Yeah I think keeping people fresh should be relatively easy because the games we play are well I suppose

proportioned out and we do have days off a lot of days off and we can have nice leads into games. So I think turning up to any given ground and looking at the opposition, I think we've got to pick our strongest 11 based on the ground and the circumstances that we think we're going to come up against and the opposition, what's most effective against them. Yeah, so is a chance for someone else to play here? My Mark Wood, for instance, might play here?

Yeah, there is, there is a chance. We did see the wicket the other day go through a little bit with a little bit more pace and expose Pakistan, probably more so at the short ball. I did feel that they were a little bit unlucky as well with some of the dismissals so it wasn't just a tale of bouncers I think that's completely misled you have to bowl extremely well if you bowl short and it's off

it gets met in this day and age so we'll still have to be on a game tomorrow in order to try and win the game so no sort of tactical change as a result of what you saw where the West Ind is as such no I don't think so it will be more just be good at what you're doing

if you're going to use your short ball make sure it's in the right area but a good length is still a good length. That was Owen Morgan with our cricket correspondent Jonathan Agdee who was with him in Trenbridge. He joins us now as to Alex Stewart and Phil Tufnell. We're going to talk about England's prospects in the match against Pakistan tomorrow.

Jonathan, if I can come to you first from a rather soggy East Midlands, I do believe. It's been horrible up here. I mean, there's been no practice. It really hasn't. It's rained much of the day. The covers were on. Pakistan actually got a little bit

practicing but I suspect England I'm afraid won't get anything in at all well that is a bit of a shame I think that the forecast is okay for tomorrow though so we should get a full game in I just want to ask you first before we move on to Alec and Phil Tuffnell how good was England's performance do you think on Thursday well I thought as Owen Morgan said it was it was excellent because they did adapt and and it was quite interesting there wasn't he they hadn't considered him and to hear bowling that first over as he did so they were caught slightly hopping there and with Johnny Best about first ball all the nerves and everything else to do associated with the first match in the World Cup and all of those ingredients to win

so comprehensively I think he was delighted I mean I was sort of tempting him perhaps to say look you know we had four bats from get past 50 no one actually went on to get that really big score to get us up to 350 and so on but I think yeah I think a lot of of what England felt about their performance. There was a that adaptability and B, phew, it's done. First one out of the way and we're off and running and so I, you know, they'll

talk about that of course and little bits here and there, but overall it was an excellent performance. Well, they're going to be playing tomorrow, Alex Stewart, on a pitch that you would think is tailor-made for them. We think of England's ODI line-up as being based on Biff-bang Wallet. It's all about the batsmen.

They've scored 444 and 481 on this surface. We've believe it's the exact same pitch that they broke the world record on and they're playing against the Pakistan side who have now lost innumerable ODIs running 11 I think it's it 11 now well and they look they look wretched against the West Indies but it's Pakistan I think you expected them to bounce back tomorrow or do you expect they did a steamroller Pakistan on recent form you'd expect England to steamroll them you know that is the thing you always say what Pakistan is going to turn up well the Pakistan that's been turning up has been a pretty

ordinary outfit. And 11 games, as Agas says there, is a horrible run to be on that. It has to break at some stage because they have good players. But they don't look as though they're playing as a team. They don't look as though they understand how each other is going to play. And also, there'll be individuals who are unsure of their roles within the team. So if England play just to 75% of their capacity, they should win. But it's easy to say that when it actually comes to the game starting, will Pakistan suddenly turn up and put in a performance which you go, wow, where did that come from? Phil D'Avdl, we saw Pakistan flinching, really, against the...

I mean, who knew if you bowled 92-mile-hour rocket people's heads, that it's hard, but it turns out that it is. And Audrey Russell exposed them a fair bit, but all the West Indian bowlers did. Do you see England licking their lips and that and thinking, well, Mark Wood's got to come in, and if so, for whom? Yeah, mustn't get too carried away with that, I don't think, England. I don't think they will. I mean, listening there to Owen, more.

Morgan, he said we're going to pick people on, you know, having to look at wickets and conditions and what have you and who we're playing against. So I think Mark Wood might have a chance of play, perhaps. Liam Plunkett perhaps might have to make way. But, I mean, he's very good at bowling in those middle overs, isn't he? But if it comes, if the wicket looks like it was anything like the West Indies, I think you'd probably look to play Mark Wood, don't you? But, I mean, he's done a job so well for England, though, Liam Plunkett. So they're full of options, England. but yeah as Alex said if England turn up go through you know just go through the processes you would have thought that they'd get the better of Pakistan

Jonathan I want to ask you that question because you're a big old burly fast bowler you must have thought well I'm pretty sure we all did at the start of this World Cup that there's not a lot in it for the fast bowlers these days the balls don't swing the pitches are perfect they're basically cannon fodder but it's turned out that that's not been this World Cup at all so far would you would you get tempted by the thought of playing and Archer and going after Pakistan? I think Wood will play tomorrow, whether it's Plunkett or whether it's Wokes and misses it. I'm sure with the Wokes, of course,

you are weakening the batting a bit if you play them. But I think certainly, from what Owen Morgan was suggesting there, I think Mark Wood is going to play. It's really interesting this short pitch stuff, isn't it? Because you've got to be so accurate with it. You can't just go running in and just hurl the ball halfway down and think that's it. I mean, it's got to be so precise.

You know, you're allowed two balls over the batsman's shoulder height standing up the crease and anything much higher than that as a wide. So it's actually really skillful and I think Owen Morgan was right to an extent. I think Pakistan, although they were pretty horrible the other day, I watched that game with West Indies, they didn't have a huge amount of luck either. But West Indies have got these big, tall bowlers, not all fast. You know, holders not fast, perhaps it's not fast.

The other fellas are pretty lively. But they just got that ball in a sort of an awkward place. And so I think it works for them. whether it's going to work for everybody I mean I'm doing West Indies Australia for instance on Thursday at Trembridge will they do the same sort of short pitch tactic against them I wonder because they are

good backfoot players used to playing but when you get into a stage where you do have out on that leg side a fine leg and a deep square leg so you're into over's 10 and beyond you have got two men out well in a way you've got to use you can use them can't you because the bouncer

then if it's bold well does become a wicket-taking option because you have got those two men out there and the bats one have got to have a bit of a go at it you can't just sway out of the way all the time and not play a shot at it so you know all of that combined I suppose suggest that we are going to see a bit more

because the poor old bowlers haven't got anything else I mean they haven't got any any swing or anything like that to go on and you know we've seen already lots of cutters and slower balls and so on being being effective but whether England really go after Pakistan tomorrow in the same way we shall wait and see because I thought Morgan's last word They're about, you know, if you bowl short here, you know, you could get flogged. It is actually fair enough.

I think that's true. So I think you've got to pick your bats and you pick your opposition and then you look at how you're going to play each particular game. From BBC Radio 5 Live, this is the TMS podcast at the Cricket World Cup. Very much looking forward to that match between England and Pakistan. Will it be a run fest? We haven't had the fabled run fest yet. So who knows?

It could be that much. In Pakistan, England at Trent Bridge on that world record breaking pitch. Now then, I've got Natalie Germanos with me and Ruchin Alam. And I've got a rather manky envelope which says TMS World Cup podcast sweepstake written on it. I believe we're getting to choose.

We're getting to pick out the names of players. I know who I'm going to get Musta Fitsa. The leading run scorer. Here we go. Out of the envelope, I'm going to get somebody who's going to be a polar, and it might be from South Africa who are not digging very well. Oh!

Virat Koli. Oh, I got Virot Koli. Oh, pull the other. Have you really, though? Are you just saying that? Really good, Virot Curley. Oh, for God's sake. Oh, man, alive.

What are we winning? Well, what do we win? Do we win anything? We don't win anything. Oh dear, so all those celebration was for nothing. Apparently, Listers are going to suggest, so Lister's good suggest a prize for us. In fact, I don't like the idea of leaving the hands of them.

Rishad, go on. Here we go. I wonder who's left in here. Well, you'll probably get, you'll get Cain Williamson now, weren't you? I know what I'm going to be left with. Steve Smith. Oh, for heaven's sake.

I will take that. Okay, right. Okay. I know what this is going to be then in that case. Because then surely can be nothing left. Farkarza, man. That's not a bad one. It's not Steve Smith or Virac Coley, is he?

I mean, I like him a lot. He was their top player in the final in the championship. Pakistan looked dreadful though at the moment. I can't see them getting through the semi-finals. That's rubbish. That's absolutely rubbish. I don't want to play this game anymore. So, Andy, who did you get in the sweepstay?

Did you get Joe Root or something? I got Baba Azam. Barbara Azam's good. Yeah, I don't think he's going to have a particularly massive tournament for the similar reasons that you were saying about Fakhazama. I'm not sure Pakistan are looking particularly tasty as a side, but you never know, he plays the anchor role. He's a beautiful way.

If you factor in, you know, aesthetic merit, which I think should be done more in cricket. Style points. Yeah, style points. So some, you know, kind of coefficient. So he multiply all Babra Zams runs by 1.2 or something. Former South African Captain Graham Smith would end up with negative runs, would he?

I mean, Gary Kirsten. Everyone likes different. I mean, Gary Kirsten, obviously, would right off the scale. Now then, we've been asking you to let us know where you have been listening in to the BBC TMS podcast. Ideally trying to find the furthest away. David Lewis has emailed in to TMS at bbc.co.uk. He says, I'm listening to the podcast at the Botanic Gardens in Bucharest.

while teaching kids to play cricket. Well, that sounds great. I wouldn't say it's that far away. What I do about Bucharest is that a very good friend of mine was trying to go to Budapest on holiday and got on the wrong train at Athens and ended up in Bucharest.

Well, that is a schoolboy era. It was. Also, why are you teaching children to play cricket in a botanical gardens? Well, it's green, isn't it? Yeah, but I mean, you're going to knock out a rare orchid or something. I don't have you played cricket in Q?

They'd get... I'd chuck you out, wouldn't they? Well, they probably would, but I don't know what the botanic gardens are like in Bucharest. It might just be a load of daisies and a few dandelions. I genuinely don't know. Never been. No, you've been to Bucharest. I have been to Bucharest, but I didn't go to the botanic gardens. Or play cricket, in fact.

Chris Henderson has also been in touch. He says, as a British 30-year expat, not 30-year-old, he's been there 30 years, living in Tokyo, Japan, where baseball and sumo are the major sport, you keep me in touch with my British roots I listen to the pod every night by the way in Japan they have an unusual dish of honey roasted crickets yes the insect

I've tried them they're actually quite good I hoping they go on to roast every other cricket team in the competition well well said Chris Henderson they say insects are they going to be the new big thing in food yes not in cricket yeah honey roasted as well though they won't be long before they pull them they pull everything else You get pulled pork and pulled chicken.

You get pulled cricket before a lot. If you were a bee being honey roasted, I guess you'd see the irony, wouldn't you? I suppose you might. This is from Nathan Brand. I've really enjoyed the podcast so far, even more so since I've been listening from my balcony in Yerevan, Armenia.

I'm here until midway through the World Cup as I'm on a research trip. Research, research, let's go with either of them. But I am looking forward to seeing some of the games live once I'm back to the UK. for now, though, I'll have to settle for review of Mount Ararat as I'll listen to the show. Mount Ararat, that's a biggie.

It's a biggie. It's that way it's up with the Ark was. It is indeed where the arc crash landed, famously. It on the top of Mount Ararat. Also, I've got to confess I've never been to Armenia. Mark Young says, hi. I was listening to the podcast on the England-South Africa game and heard Aggers ask for the most unlikely place in the world where someone's listening to the podcast.

Well, I reckon I might have a chance. I am listening from a place called Timor-Lest aka East Timor the newest nation in Asia only 17 years old where I am working as a New Zealand volunteer

helping them rebuild the country after many years of conflict and occupation when I got the job I had to find it on the map very very good if you're playing pointless Right

you've been on pointless I have not been on pointless You'll be asked before long you'll be asked well before me that's the way it always works Timor Lest is the one you want To any question Anything to do with countries

I always say Timor Lest or South Sudan You can't go wrong Not Oscar winners of the 1940s No Timor Lest He started alongside it Yeah Hedy Lamar's favourite leading man

Hedy Lamar was also I believe a nation state in the Pacific This is from Sam Malak Dear All I'm currently listening to the podcast In Stuttgart Germany The prize I mean that's relatively close to cricket It's very close

It's about an hour and a half by plane isn't it Stuttgart? I think C.B. Frye, once he tried to convert Germany to cricket in the 1930s. I think you might. He had a trip to Germany and spoke to Von Ribbentrop. That's true, actually. That is absolutely true. The rest is sad history.

The prize for the winner of your Batman sweepstakes should be to visit the listener from the most random location and present them with the prize of best listener. Oh, wow. What is the most random? Well, Timor Lest is up there. Antarctica. Do we have Antarctica the other day? I think we have.

Oh, I hope not. Right. I don't want to have to do that. Maybe we could send Isha to do it instead. Good place for cricket. Now that Ben Stokes has competition for the catch of the tournament, I would say. A cameraman took a one-hander

whilst holding all of his equipment after a Fafti Plessi 6. That was one heck of a catch. We've seen a few. I thought that the best performing Pakistani actually in the match the other day was a chap in the crowd. It took a pretty good one, two-handed.

It was brilliant technique, not so spectacular. What's the point? Best crowd catch you've ever seen? Well, in the last World Cup, there were some spectacular efforts because there was a competition running, certainly I think it was only in New Zealand, where if you caught a one-handed crowd catch whilst wearing a sponsor's t-shirt, you won some ludicrous amount of money. So people were, frankly, risking life and limb, hurling themselves across other people's picnics

on those nice grass banks they have in grounds in New Zealand. I mean, they were happy to take out children, babies, pensioners, anything to get a diving one-handed catching the crowd and there were some heroic efforts I've got to say that it's I mean I've seen quite a good one at the AGS Bowl but my most enjoyable moment was actually not as much a crowd catch as a crowd miss completely it was a woman at the point

at Old Trafford she was holding a glass of red wine and really not paying any attention to the cricket at all and the ball came sailing over the top knocked the red wine clean out of her hands all over a white dress it was absolutely spectacular it was like seen out of pecking par one of the most remarkable things

I've ever witnessed to the cricket match now there it's time for us to say goodbye I've got one final niche stat from today's play down well let's have it then four of us South Africa's top six were bowled out today and that's the first time four of any team's top six

been bowled out in a World Cup match since 2003 when it happened to Zimbabwe against Australia in Buloa only the eighth time in World Cup cricket two of which were in the first week of World Cup competition in 1975 and it's the first time that four of a top eight ranked nations

top six have been bowled out in a World Cup game since England's playing Pakistan in Rural Pindi in October 1997. Well it was Bangladesh that did it and they have won today quite spectacularly. Thanks Andy's ultimate England are back in action on Monday morning against Pakistan. TMS will be on air from 9.30 ahead of a 10.30 map start

accompanying live text and in-play video highlights via the BBC sport website and app. Please do keep your emails coming with your least crickety podcast listening locations and you can reach us at TMS at BBC.co.com. But bye for now. The TMS podcast at the Cricket World Cup. Download and subscribe via the BBC Sounds app

for a new episode every day. This is Owen Morgan. Thanks for listening to the TMS podcast at the Cricket World Cup. There will be a new episode each day throughout the tournament. It is such a good podcast that I listen to it before I bat, when I bat

and after I bat just so I can listen to Tuffers give me some advice on cover drive, my pull shot, how I don't play the short ball, have my reverse sweep, all those very interesting things.