Test Match Special - Day 2: A run-fest for England

Episode Date: August 22, 2020

Jonathan Agnew presents from the Ageas Bowl as England strengthened their grip against Pakistan on day two of the 3rd and final Test. Zak Crawley's brilliant 267 and 152 from Jos Buttler helped England to a huge score of 583-8. Following their declaration, James Anderson struck three times to leave the tourists on 24-3. Former England captain Michael Vaughan gives his verdict on the day's play and we hear from Crawley and Buttler. Elsewhere, we find out why a Spitfire flew over the ground and Pakistan opener Shan Masood tells Aatif Nawaz about some of his team-mates and learning to speak like Geoff Boycott.

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from BBC Radio 5 Live. I'm Jonathan Agnew. Welcome to the Test Match Special podcast looking back on a record-breaking second day at the Ageos Bowl. To come we'll get reaction from England's batting stars Zach Crawley and Joss Butler and we'll get the thoughts of Michael Vaughn

and that excited Andy Zaltzman. And a little later in this podcast we'll hear why a classic Spitfire flew over the GAS Bowl earlier and have a special interview with a Pakistan opener Sean Massoud on living in England and learning to speak like Jeff Boycott.

You're listening to the TMS podcast from BBC Radio 5 Live. We'll start our review of the day, the close of play of the second day, of this final test between England and Pakistan at the Ageos Bowls. He's Pakistan in all sorts of trouble. They're 24 for three. They lost both openers. And then to the last ball of the day, Baba Azam, also to Anderson. He's taken all three.

His tally stands at 596. So it means that Pakistan are 500. and 59 runs behind. They need 384 to avoid the follow-on. England batted on a long time. They've committed themselves to enforcing the follow-on one feels by declaring at 583 for 8, with Zach Crawley recording a 10th highest score ever

by an Englishman in test cricket. 267, who was finally stumped down the leg side of the bowling of Shafique. The partnership with Joss Butler, 359 is the joint sixth highest. partnership for any wicket for England in test cricket. Butler made 152, a very steady innings by his normal standards. He just got himself in and he played and Crawley probably played the bulk of the shots in fact 267, Butler 152 some thrashing round at the end. Wokes made

40, best 27 and Broad made 15. So Joe Root declared with 13 overs left on the second day at 583 for 8 and Pakistan 24 for 3 and Michael well they're staring into the abyss they are

in England have been exceptional over the course of two days I said last night I thought it

was England's best day in test cricket for the summer and you'd have to say they've matched it up on day two

by just playing with great control power at the right times you mentioned Joss Butler you know I thought he played

at a pure test match innings because we're so used to let's interrupt you Michael because Dan Norcross is

with Joss Butler Thank you Yes, I do have Jos Butler with me, massive congratulations. Your highest first class score, second test century coming almost two years to the day since your last one. And what a partnership. Is there a better feeling in cricket than a partnership that goes on that long? Probably not.

And that is a pleasure to be a part of. You obviously, Zach's played an incredibly special knock there. It's great to be at the other end and watch him for some quite incredible cricket shots. And to put that partnership together, we talk as a side about big first run. innings runs, gone on to do that, and then obviously the wickets tonight is a really great day for us. As the partnership progressed, it looked like Zach was sort of taking the major role and you were sort of the anchor role. Would that be fair? Yeah, absolutely. I'm very happy to play

second fiddle to Zach who was, you know, scoring all around the wicket, putting the bowlers under huge amounts of pressure and he made it their margin for error very small. It was great to watch. Like I said, not many guys hit the ball as cleanly as he did. Tell us a little bit about that last session there, Jimmy Anderson picking up three wickets. It's really important, of course, for England. How well did he bowl there? Yeah, he bowed fantastically well, didn't he? He's pretty good in those situations and, you know, runs on the board and whoever comes

out to back, it's going to be tough facing Jimmy, you know, coming towards the end of the day. But all credit to him, he put the ball in fantastic areas and he got his rewards. A quick word on the pace of Joffa Archer at the back end then. It seemed to go through very quickly into your gloves. Yeah, dear, he looks fresh, doesn't he? That was exciting to see. double overs from Joffa really pushing us back in the slip cord and so yeah I think like you say you've got fresh having not played the last game and it's exciting to see in bowl like

that and the game plan tried to get to enforce the follow one with iffy weather predicted towards the back end yeah we just need to come out and bowl well we don't need to force it stay patient I thought actually tonight we we put the ball in the right areas and bowling patient and that's been the trademark of the team and that's what we have to do going into the next inning's day. Just as I say, huge congratulations, well played today.

It was a marvel to watch. Thank you very much. Thank you. There we go. It certainly was 152 from 311 balls from Joss Butler

quickly out there. So Michael, what was saying? I can't remember. Well, I was saying about Josh Butler that we're so used to him crashing it around and smacking the ball to all parts.

Well, today he played a pure test match in him because he's just hung in there. He waited for the right ball. He didn't go chasing it. Now, what was it, about 80 balls from around 120 to 140. He just didn't quite get the balls in his zone. He was quite happy to knock the singles to allow Zach Crawley to play the bigger strokes. And I think that's a sign of a player

that's, you know, really maturing at test match level with the batting hand and the confidence that he would have got from playing so well this summer. And I like the fact that he got a hundred and he didn't just give it away. There's so many. I did throughout my career. I get 100, oh, you get so excited and you give it away. I like to see players just keep batting, just stay in the here and now, just, you know, try and just occupy the crease for long, period of time. For England, to be really competitive overseas. They've got to get big, big scores. And the way to do so is when you get their opportunity at home, train the brain to get the big, big scores. And that's exactly what England have done. I was happy with the way that

Joe Root batted on and on and on and really kind of grind Pakistan into the dirt, got the big, big score and then unleashed his quick bowlers for a 40, 50 minute period. And, you know, in that kind of situation, very rarely do you see a batting unit survive and go into the pavilion just one or two down. You always tend to lose two or three because of the pressure. A bowling team that's had their feet up for two days, having a few cups of teas. The pitchers look flat

and all of a sudden it starts to do something. It's just typical test match cricket that when a batting unit bats, as well as England did, they earn the right to get those opportunities with the ball. I'm asking Andy Zaltzman, actually how long in terms of time that partnership was, but 359 runs.

I mean, you just think it's never going to end, don't it? It's a never-ending nightmare. I mean, it's exhausting. And you are searching around looking for how another you can get somebody out, aren't you? Well, yeah, I mean, England made the pitch look very, very flat. You know, you had a Pakistan bowling

unit, particularly yesterday that wouldn't have ever bowled in those kind of conditions. Nassim Shara and Shaheen Frieder, such young bowlers, high class, but they'd have never bowled in Gale Force winds like yesterday. They struggled today. They're kind of coming on the back of yesterday. They were probably tired, tired from polling just the other

day, tired from bowling at all Trafford, you know, and England have played two days of test match cricket. I think it's the best two days I've seen for a long, long time where they backed up the day one with a brilliant day two. And it's just been high class, attritional, you know, real grinding the opposition into the dirt when you get the opportunity to do so, you know, very rarely, let's be honest, with this England test match team over the years, the last five or six years, you know, have they had that mentality of really grinding the opposition into the dirt when they get the chance? No. Well, this was the first time I've seen it

which is a great sign for the team I remember my reports last night actually I was saying England should get to 400 and beyond but you never know but they've got to do it because absolutely right we are used to see and get themselves set up into good position and then down they go

and they don't mean to see them score that well that's why you know when they got past 500 and the mentality is oh you know when they're going to declare I like the fact that they went on I like the fact that the captain just sat there and just watched Don Best went out to bat Stuart Broad went out of the bat.

And I could hear the whispers around here. What are they doing? Well, I think it's the right mentality for this team. They're trying to train their brains to get into a situation of, you know, realizing that in the first innings of test match cricket, you have to go big. If you want to be the best and you want to beat the better teams, you have to go big. And, you know, let's be honest, when you face the likes of Cummins and Bummer and co, very rarely you're going to get 500.

So you kind of take 20 or 30% off the 580. You end up with 450, you know, 425, which is going to. going to be what England require overseas to beat the better teams or at least compete against them. You know, you've got Jonathan Trott as a batting coach. I can only imagine what he's been telling the batsman over the last week or so. If you get a chance, stay in, go big, get the daddy hundreds. And if you do so, you get positions like you got into tonight where you can throw the ball to Jimmy Anderson, Stuart Brawl, Joffera, I'd say, just charge in. It's perfect.

Charging for 50 minutes and cause a bit of chaos. You know, and then you hold your chances. And, you know, for that 30, 40 minute period, like England, we're going to get a wicket every single. single ball. What was the answer, Andy? I make it a couple of minutes over six and a half hours. The partnership lasted 93.2 overs. I'm talking about England's batting. So fourth time this year, they've

scored 400 or more. It's their first 500 score since 2017. They only had two 400 plus scores in 25 tests in 2018 and 2019, so it's been a big improvement this year. Well, I'm going to crack a bottle oven. For many, many years, I've been criticising the England test match

team for underachie with the bat because they've played too expansively and they've given the wicket away. Well, I've just got a sneaker suspicion over the course of the last year. You know, I think since that first innings at headling where they got blown away, I reckon the penny dropped.

I reckon the penny dropped on Joe Root the captain thought, we can't play test match cricket like this. We're just a line in the opposition. You can't remember they got bowled out by Ireland playing that way. You know, no disrespect for Ireland, but you shouldn't be getting bald out cheaply. And it was the root mantra when he first became captain, they were going to go out there and play positively and everything else. Do you think that

You can't do that. No, you can't. And I thought it started at Headland. They started to try and play the right way. They were beaten at Old Trafford, but they were beaten at Old Trafford by a brilliant bowling team. You know, and a magnificent double by Steve Smith. Chris Silver got the job.

And again, with Joe Ruth, they've gone right, old school test match cricket. The right way to play test match cricket is about a long period of time in the first innings. And I think we're starting to see a little bit of the reward in that. They're not the finished article yet, but I can just start to see, you know, big scores in this team. When you think Ben Stokes has got

to come back in, someone will have to miss out. You've got the likes of Zach Crawley, you've got Josh Butler finding his tempo. You've got Joe Rout, who isn't playing as well as he can, but I'm sure he will find his form once again. Dom Sibley at the top of the order, you've got the likes of Chris Wokes finding his form.

Don Best looks like he's going to score him every time he goes out. There's some good signs starting to show with this England test match batting line up. We'll get a proper stat attack shortly, and I know he'll easily, he can't wait to go. It's one of those days.

We have a stat attack for about for a minute and first of all we're going to join Dan Norcross again Zach 171 overnight we talked about that double hundred there's a moment today

when I thought we were going to be talking about a triple hundred a fantastic knock an incredibly long partnership have you had a better feeling in cricket oh well the catch the test match into Cape Town

was a pretty good feeling but you know no scoring double hundred for England is something I've dreamed of for years so well actually no I only ever dreamed scoring 100 for England actually so that's a lie so I mean scoring double 100 was beyond my dreams so you know it's a very good day you're going to be assailed with all these stats it was the sixth highest partnership ever for england for any wicket the highest fifth wicket partnership ever for

england while you were out there did you just feel in more and more control because presumably the psychological effect it has on pakistan just not getting a wicket over after over it just feeds you does it yeah absolutely i mean that's the that's the key to batting I suppose is wearing down the opposition there's going to be times when they're on top and there's times when they bowed really well and then if you could see off those periods then we were able to capitalise

and Joss played brilliantly well today and yesterday and he's a cool head out there and every time I maybe got a bit carried away he pulled me back in and told me to give him a nut down and you know he like I said he played brilliantly and he made it easy for me I'm interested in that passage between lunch and tea because we sort of think of Josh Butler

as the one who's going to be explosive but actually he didn't hit a boundary in that session and you seemed to take the lead. Did you discuss that or was it, did it just happen organically? No, it just happened organically really. I mean, it was one of those things. I was quite happy with my 200 so I was going to kick on a bit and play a few more shots and, you know, if I'm honest,

I wasn't too bothered if I got out at that point. So that was kind of out of went and managed to get a few away and get up to 267. But yeah, that was pretty much how it went. Yesterday we asked you, who'd be the first person you speak to, to thank for all of this. Presumably your phone was lighting up. Did you get to speak to your parents in the end? Yeah, I suppose to my parents.

It was great to talk to them. I mean, I couldn't be here without them. The support they'd give me, you know, my old man and my mum driving me everywhere. You know, a lot of miserable nights when I come in getting a duck and they try to cheer me up and things like that. So, I mean, you know, I'll never be able to thank them for all the stuff they've done. But I at least tried last night. Well, you're going to sleep well. I should imagine tonight.

You must be exhausted, though, aren't you? you've been out there, I don't know how many minutes you've batted it in the end, but it was sort of 500 or something insane. You know, I'll probably feel exhausted tonight. I feel pretty good at the moment, but maybe tonight I might feel tired and sleep well, but it'll be worth it, so no, exactly. Well, you might find yourself in the field for a while, because it looks like England may be forced to enforce the follow on if they can

with the weather around, so that could be two more days out in the field for you. Absolutely, I'd love that. If we can get a win by getting a follow on, I'd love that. And if we might, if they bat really well and we bat again, I'm happy with that as well. But if we get a win at the end, that'll make today even more special. Zach, thanks every so much. Great, today.

The 10th highest score by an Englishman in test history. Thank you very much. And that's one of the stats. Andy Cole, a stat attack. You've got about 50 seconds to just wallow in what's happened. Yeah, so the 10th highest in English test history, the third highest in the last 55 years since John Edwards, which is 3,900 in 1966.

The second highest by an England player under the age of 25, Only Len Hutton's 364 in 1938 was highest. The second highest maiden test 100 by an England player. So in terms of the first test 100, someone has scored. The seventh overall by anyone. It's the fifth highest score by any player in test cricket under the age of 23. Only Graham Smith, Garfield, sovers, Len Hutton and Don Bradman

under the age of 23 have scored more than Zach Crawley in an inning. And once that I particularly liked, 267, and none of the other top five reach 30. It's the highest score by top five playing in an innings in which no other top five player has scored 30. This is the TMS podcast from BBC Radio 5 Live. Thanks Andy, so not a day to remember for Sean Massoud dismissed yet again by his nemesis Jimmy Anderson.

But Massoud's a very interesting character who impressed at the start of the summer with a big hundred. He was educated at Stanford School in Lincolnshire and studied economics at Durham University. Ahead of this test, he joined Artif Nawaz for a chat on Zoom and told Artif how well the Pakistan team have gelled despite trying circumstances. The best thing about this dressing room has been the culture. As a group, we get along very well.

We spend some time together. This has been literally almost the same group since we embarked on this journey from Australia since we started our World Test Championship. And the best thing has been the culture and how guys, whether, I mean, in our terms, whether senior, junior, I think they're on that same par level. We get along very well.

We talk about cricket. We talk about life outside the field as well, and that's more important on how you get along. So there's this level of camaraderie. And again, having a good backroom staff, having people like Misbah, Eunice, Wakaar, Eunice, who've been there, done it all. We've got a pretty extensive backroom staff,

and everyone plays their role. And again, it's not just about their own domains, but you kind of get life experiences. I can learn something of Shaheen and Nassim, vice versa. They can learn something of Azar Ali, and then it goes back and forth. So as a unit, we're pretty close. When you talk about life off the field,

what do you like to do in your spare time, Sean? Me, like personally, I like reading a lot. I like going to the cinema, but the pandemic is, made sure that doesn't happen. I like eating meals outside. But again, we're kind of waiting for normality to occur again. I like watching sports. I follow sports quite a lot.

So whether it's basketball, I like watching documentaries. I watched a lot of sporting documentaries recently. So just a lot of things that are related to my field, but that also give me sort of that element to switch off from cricket and not just think about cricket. I think that's very important, where once you leave the field, you leave everything over there and not take that baggage with you. What do you've been reading recently? I'm quite curious. I'm reading this book called Stillness is the Key by Ryan Holiday.

It's a really good book. And another one called The Mindset by Dr. Carol Dwegg. So, yeah. All-time favorite book. Do you have an all-time favorite book? All-time favorite book would be this book called Blink by Malcolm Gladwell. that's the first book that I read before getting into reading and it just sort of touches on the power of your subconscious minds. I'm into looking at the ways our minds work and that's really fascinating for a sportsman. Absolutely. I can imagine. Is there a big reading culture in the

Pakistan team or are you one of the few people that will be in the corner under a lamp reading a book? I don't think so there is. So yeah, I have books on my tablet. I have books on my phone. So yeah, I'm quiet. When I'm looking at my phone, it kind of means that I'm reading a book. Fantastic. I bet there's some fun conversations about Malcolm Gladwell to be had in that Baghistan dressing room. So what about films? You mentioned you like films. What's your favorite film? What kind of genre do you like? It's interesting. I'm, I mean, different movies at different time. I'm huge superhero fan. So yeah, a lot of Marvel. But my favorite superhero would be Batman and the Dark Night trilogy.

Great films. Great films. So that's the only Batman I've watched. I've never watched a Batman before that, and I've made a pack that I'll never watch Batman after that. So Christian Bale is the only Batman for me. You're kidding. You've never seen Michael Keaton as Batman?

I've made a pact, so I'm not going to go back on that. Well, I mean, I understand for George Clooney or Val Kilmer, but Michael Keaton was fantastic. Christian Bale. You're looking forward to the next Batman. We've got, you know, the Twilight. I'm not watching any Batman. That's the only Batman that I'm ever going to watch in my life.

Did you watch Joker? I did. I don't think that's a good movie if you want to be in an upbeat mood, but the acting was really good. But yeah, like one of my all-time favorite movies is The Departed. I think Leonardo Decape is one of my favorite actors. And I just watch a lot of films. I like going to the cinema and watching.

Oh, fantastic. I recommend you. I don't know if you have access to like Netflix and things like that, but there's a film called Infernal Affairs, which is, you know, a Far East cinema film, which were inspired the departed. If you've not seen it, and you like the departed,

you should watch it infernal affairs. You'd enjoy that. So that's nice. You keep yourself sort of busy with films and things like. What about music? Do you like music? I listen to everything. Yeah, so there's a lot of music that we listen to,

whether it's music from back home. I think I get inspired by that as well. When you listen to something in your own language, I think, and I think it just sounds, In our language, in Urdu, or even I get a bit of Punjabi, but when you listen to the lyrics, they're more poetic, and they're also inspirational. But I listen to all kinds of music, whether it's Western, whether it's local. What are the last three songs that you listen to on your phone? So last three songs have been, so one of them has been from a TV montage.

It has Kigo in it. I think it was done over the test match. And the other two have been instrumental from the last dance. I was watching the Michael Jordan documentary. One of them was the entrance song. I think it's called Serious. It's Chicago Bulls' entrance song whenever they enter the court. And the other one was one where I think they was showing Michael Jordan and Steve Kerr, that

that two-pointer that he hit in the 97th finals against Utah. So there's this background music going on. So I always have Shazam. I make sure I have Shazam on and I see what the name of the song is. And luckily, I was able to get that. Do you have that playing in your head sometimes and you're batting in the nets? Whenever I'm batting, there's always a song in my head.

Every time I've gone on to bat. So music to me always has like, it's always time related. So it's always associated with a particular time. And whenever I'm batting, I have a particular song in my head. What's the most common one that comes up when you're in the middle? I think the one that I remember quite vividly was when I was in Gabba. That was quite your facing stark Cummins and Hazelwood. That was always going to be a feisty battle, some sweet chin music as well.

So I kept a slow song. I kept memories by Maroon 5 in that just to calm myself down. That's fantastic. It's fascinating, just listening to, because I don't know if you've ever seen clips of Varendar Sevar, but when he would bat, he would frequently, you know, listen to sing along while he was sing out loud he would sing artif aslam songs out loud as he was batting it's quite bizarre you have to learn to switch yourself off while you yeah you don't

want to be caught singing on on tv or make all the memes if they did make a film about you shan if they decided to make a biopic the shan masood story who's going to play shan masu who's going to play shan masud who would i like to play i i don't see any resemblance it doesn't matter i'll give you an idea so if you give me a choice i can i can probably make give you some ideas like when i spoke to shai the freely he told me that he would he would like see tom cruise to play him um and i spoke to yasa shah he said uh he would like to see humayu sehid play him and uh naseem shah said he'd like to see navazzo bin sidiki play him very bizarre choice personally i thought but you know to each of their own what do you what do you

think anybody who's work you admire maybe decaprio i mean i'd be i'd be on it if he plays Sean Nussud. We'll get on that. We'll get on that. I don't think that's possible. No, no, we'll use all of our BBC mind to get the message to Leo that, you know, there's a great Pakistani cricketer. We'd love to see you play him.

I'd love to get your thoughts, actually, on a couple of players in the squad at the moment. You know, we talk about the great English bowlers, but Pakistan is blessed with some fantastic bowlers currently, you know. It was a great photo. It looked like a vogue cover shoot of the eight Pakistani fast bowlers in the squad. It was very good. Muhammad Abbas is a player He's paid for Leicestershire in England as well

He loves the conditions He's so successful, so consistent You know, tell us a little bit about Muhammad Abbas He's quite an interesting character I get along with him very well We play our domestic cricket together for South Punjab We've represented Murtan Sultan's together His first tour to the Caribbean

I was a part of that as well So I've always been very good friends with Mohamed Abbas And it's interesting He seems like that quiet, shy guy always smiling, but he does have that competitive edge. It's funny that during the

games, the practice games that we had, he came across as a bit of a sledger as well, and we give it back to each other. I think when me and him were batting, it's quite interesting. He comes out like this nice guy, but when he's sledging, he's sledging. So, he's quite an

interesting character. I think one of my favorite teammates, a very nice guy, a down-to-earth guy, very humble guy and he deserves all the success he's getting again a hard worker he likes learning so whatever he does not know he presents himself out there he wants to learn he gets better best thing about him that i mean his bowling again i don't have to say anything it's it's all over there people people regard him as one of the best seamers in the world he's climbing up the rankings he probably made two jumps again after this test match um but when i see him

bat and the way he bats for Pakistan. He's a fast-poly. He gets a lot of bodyline bowling as well. He makes sure he's out there for his batsman, make sure he's out there for his team, and that shows that he's quite a tough character as well. And real team man as well, absolutely, a handful for bowlers around the world. And, you know, I'm sure the county season this year will be grateful not to see too much of him, particularly the batsman. So, I mean, he's been a great addition. You know, one of the kind of characters that's come out in this series, and it's been very unusual because we've not been able to speak to as many people the way we used to. But, you know, we've seen, we've heard a lot of Mohammed Rizwan, you know,

sort of behind the stamps, like quintessential Pakistani wicketkeeper, makes a lot of noise. And, of course, a real fighter with a very diverse stroke play, actually. Like, you know, you can kind of rein it in when he needs to, but also be aggressive when he needs to. Tell us a little bit about Muhammad Rizvon. Rizzi is probably, if I had to choose a few of the toughest people that have ever been around in terms of playing the game, I think Rizzi is. would be one of them. The best thing about him is that he's always in the present.

His belief is very strong and he instills that belief in you as well. I think there have been a lot of times where I've been down and my go-to person has always been Rizzi. And the best thing about him is the thing that he tells me and that's how he goes about his life is that you put all the hard hard yards in practice. Effort is the only thing you have. And once you go out there, you leave it, you leave it to the eternal power. And I think his belief is very strong and he instills that belief in the team as well. He's quite an energetic character.

He's always on about in the field. He's probably one of the most sort of energy-wise. His energy is always up. Again, he's an interesting character as well when we're playing games and stuff. He's quite competitive. We spend a lot of time together. We were on the A-tour together

when the England Lions team came over to the UAE, the New Zealand team came. over to the UAE. We've spent some great time together. And behind the stumps, he's been phenomenal for us. He's, I mean, whatever he's doing with the bat, it's not surprising for those that have spent a lot of time with them. And again, we hope that this is just a glimpse of how good Mohammed Rizwan is, and there'll be plenty more of sort of good innings and good keeping sort of displays that you'll see from Mormad Voswan. I hear a lot about stuff, certain talent. Some people I saw play really well on the PSL,

T20 series around the corner there's a lot of hype about Heather Ali give us a little indication because I'm sure a lot of fans in England probably haven't seen a lot of Heather Ali unless they were paying attention to the PSL but this young man looks like he could be a big star on the future Yeah I think he got his

He came onto the scene in the Under 19 World Cup as well I think he got a lot of A lot of reviews from a lot of big names It's always exciting for Pakistan Especially whenever there's a batsman Remember the last time somebody got such hype was probably Barbar Azam.

So that's always in good stead. So as a batsman, I think he has all the tools, all the ingredients to make it as a top level batsman. And what's good for him right now is that he'll be rubbing shoulders. He is rubbing shoulders with people like Barbar Azam. And again, Barbar Azam has set the sort of bar for Pakistani batsmen. If you want to be recognized in the world, those are the level of achievements that you have to achieve.

before being recognized as a top batsman. So Heather Ali's got a very good role model in front of him. First two of being in England, being a part of this group, not just the white ball, but also the red ball. He scored a very good 50 in Derby as well. That was only his first game after coming into the country, so he's never been in England. So there have been a lot of encouraging signs with Heather Ali.

And I think in the PSL, we got a glimpse of that. And we're very excited that hopefully when he gets his chance in the T20 series, he's going to be a name to be reckoned with. for Pakistan. Absolutely. We very much look forward to seeing more of Heather Ali. And you talk about playing in England and being in England. You know, you've been here many times now, Sean, and you know, familiar with everything. Is there any English

phrase that always makes you laugh or any accent that you find, you know, somewhat intriguing? Yeah, I mean I get all the accents, the Scouse accents. My brother's a huge Liverpool fan. I went to uni up north in Durham. So the Jordi accent

over there. So, I mean, yeah, all of that, there's also phrases in cricket that, because I played for my school team, for my university team. So there's also funny phrases like if there's somebody that goes into, that's playing a game and actually does nothing, does nothing with the bad ball or does not field as well, he always gets a TFC, that's a thanks for coming. Yeah, there's a lot of, the best thing about the English culture is there's a lot of banter, a lot of friendly, and yeah it's nice to see it over here people take things lightly you brought it up Sean so now you have to you have to give us a taste of Sean Massoud's Geordie accent oh I can't do that come on probably the only one I would either probably the only word I would know is alright there doesn't make you chuckle when you know when people say that

no it doesn't make it's just fascinating it's I mean when you hear the the Yorkshire accent and Jeffrey boycott saying, so Jeffrey boycott saying rubish, that's funny as well. So I think that there are a lot of things that you, I mean, when you hear somebody like Jamie Carragher talk as well, it's a unique and different accent. So like, it takes you time to get that, but once you get that, you're like, oh. Sean, this has been really fun chatting and, you know, like exchanging reading lists. That was really nice. Recommendation for you, if you're looking for something a bit more fiction-based, Murakami. I think you like some Murakami. So, you know, obviously, you know, Pakistan is here right now, and it's a huge thing.

And the world of cricket owes Pakistan a huge debt of gratitude that they came in these difficult conditions and the West Indies, obviously, that they came to Britain in these difficult conditions. Would you like to see, you know, that goodwill repaid at some stage in England come over to Pakistan to play some cricket? Look, I don't think it's my job to be specific, but I think this is what sports does. Like, it's been, it's been something that's for. fought for different things at different times. I mean, just right now, we saw a campaign when the West Indies came over here.

Sports United, everyone, sports united everyone in that aspect as well. And what matters is that we help each other out, especially through sports. Sports is powerful. If you want kids to live a better life, especially in countries like Pakistan, if you want them to have a good life, to have good futures, sports is very important. I think cricket coming back to Pakistan was very meaningful for us. It makes us all very emotional, very passionate because kids didn't get to see their heroes.

So people drifted away from the game. But now when you go to this stadium and you hear chance of Barber, of Shaheen, when Abid made his debut and scored back-to-back centuries, the way the crowd chanted, Abid, Abid, those are the things you live to see. And what would make it even better would be that we get cricketing heroes like Venstow, like Joe Root, like Joss Putler, all of them, even guys like Stuart Broad and James Anderson coming to Pakistan and just helping Pakistan cricket out, helping the country of Pakistan out because our people really need it. We've suffered a lot. We've paid a huge price for whatever's

been going on around the world. And I think our people, especially our children, our future generations, they deserve to see, not just their Pakistani heroes, but they're cricketing heroes from the globe, coming over there and putting smiles on their places. The TMS podcast from BBC Radio 5 Live. That's Charles Massoud with Atif No-Az, but I'm still not sure about it's Jeff Boycott impression, to be honest. Well, at the start of the day, we were all, players included, thrilled to see a blue spitfire fly twice over the GES Bowl. The plane is part of an effort to raise money for the NHS charities together. The plane was piloted by John Romaine, who will hear from, Sean.

But first, let's listen to when the Spitfire soared above us. Here it comes, I think it's on its way. Have a listen. I mean, listen to this. What a sound. There it is, above us now. Going from right to left. A half Cuban I'm not familiar with. I certainly don't try it in my aeroplane. Round they go. Blue reconnaissance spitfire. Heading round behind us now, Gulf Papa Romeo X-ray India for those fans who are wondering what his registration is.

Fading way into the distance. The question is, is it going to come back? There are little robot cameras lining up to film the arrival of Crawley and Butter. and Butler who are down, they come down the steps. And they're waiting, I think, for the moment that he was coming back. Wow, what's expecting that? Oh, look at that. What a sight. And here's the half-cuban, up he goes.

Vertically. Pakistan Field is watching. I know that is spectacular. players Aerosol clapping his hands together, just sheer excitement. The noise that came up there, totally unexpected. I thought he'd done his bit. But clearly he wanted to come back and have another go. That was fantastic.

Certainly was. A very special moment with the fly past of a blue Spitfire from the team of the Aircraft Restoration Company based at Duxford, all in a very good cause. We can talk to the owner, the pilot, John Romaine, who actually did a lot of flying for the film Duncirk. and you can tell us all about today, John, and everything else you've been doing. You show off.

Did it seem like that? Oh, you talked me by surprise. I thought you'd gone. Well, the first loop around was it was high and it was distance just so I could have a quick look around and make sure the site was as clear as it needed to be to overfly you. So the first one, your cameras caught me obviously because they can zoom in from very far away. But the first one was a recon look, and then the second one was the proper fly-by. And how low were you when you came over?

700 feet across the ground. And then as I pulled up into the half-Cuban, went up to about 3,000 over the top, and then pulled down again, accelerate down again. It was all to give lots of energy that, if anything should go wrong, I can obviously glide well clear of all. of you lovely people there. Well, it was absolutely spectacular. And I mean, the Pakistan fielders were applauding. And you must get that sort of reception wherever you go. Yeah, the Spitfire, of course, is everybody loves the Spitfire

and the sound of the Spitfire as well. And so doing this NHS Spitfire project has been amazing. I mean, everywhere we've gone, people have really loved it. They've got on to what we're trying to. to do. They've got attachment to it and it's yeah the feedback has been immense and it's been fantastic. So tell us what you are doing and how much money you're you're aiming to raise for the NHS. Well the the amount we're hoping to raise of course is as high as possible but the the idea is that the aircraft is going around the whole of the UK with that NHS thank you underneath

the wings. Link to that is the just giving page, Just Giving NHS Spitfire. And people can go onto there. They can make a donation. And they can also nominate themselves or a family member or a loved one or anybody that's done something special

during the pandemic. And we write that name onto that actual aeroplane. So she's flying around the country currently with just over 2,000 names on. There'll be 3,000 by tomorrow, and it's going up gradually. We've just passed the 50,000 mark on the funds, which is fantastic. We have the ability, though, to measuring the plan of a Spitfire, we can actually get 80,000 names onto her. Really?

And so if you look at 80,000 names, and then the amount of donations that that could draw in, then we could achieve over a million pounds with her. You're listening to the TMS podcast from BBC Radio 5 Live. We wish John and his Spitfire all the best. You can watch highlights on the BBC Sport website and iPlayer. And we're back on air at 10.15 for the third day. BBC Sounds, music, radio podcasts.