Test Match Special - It's time for the Indian Premier League!

Episode Date: March 31, 2023

The Test Match Special team look ahead to this year's IPL, plus we hear from England Women's star Issy Wong who helped Mumbai Indians to the Women's Premier League title.

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Hello, I'm Simon Mann. Welcome to the Test Match Special podcast at the start of the start of. the 2023 edition of the Indian Premier League. Later on, we'll be hearing from England Women's Star Izzy Wong who helped Mumbai Indians win the inaugural Women's Premier League. But before that, there's plenty to dissect around the men's tournament with so many star names and also rule changes to explore. The tournament itself got underway on Friday

with over 100,000 packed in to the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad as champions Gujarat Titans chased down 179 to beat Ben Starrison. Stokes and his Chennai Super King's side. Stokes scored only seven, whilst Moen Alley made 23 in what was ultimately a below par total for the four times champions. If you want all the details, head to the BBC Sport website and app for scorecards and analysis during the tournament. There's nothing quite like the IPL. IPL Cricket. So let's look ahead to the 20.

23 IPL. Alongside me is Ravi Bopara, played in the IPL with Punjab and Sunrises and Nikesh Raghani, who's commentated on the IPL along with me, Simon Mann, for several seasons now. Let's start with you, Nikesh. I think one of the great things this season for the IPL is it's back to home and away and back to big crowds again. Absolutely. And yeah, as we say, you know, we saw the final here in this magnificent stadium last year, 130,000. But it's actually the Gujarat Titans first official sort of home group game as a franchise as well. So that will be a big occasion for them in the opening game. And yes, home in a way, Chennai hasn't seen games, all the fascination around people like MS Thoni. A lot of the games have been in and around the Mumbai area due to COVID and things like that.

And it'll be great to see teams like Lucknow getting home crowds as well. We've never seen Lucknow Super Giants play on their home ground. And it will have that different dimension because grounds in India, depending on where you go, If you go down south to places like Chennai, it might take a little bit of extra turn. If you go up north to places like Mahali, it might take a bit of extra seam. So it brings those extra factors into play,

which I think is crucial because it doesn't become too one-dimensional then. Ravi, I don't know if I'm allowed to call you a veteran. Have you been around a long time now playing Red Ball and Whiteball cricket? Are you surprised that MS Don is still going? No, I'm not surprised. I think if your body allows you to keep going

and then you still feel like you're a good enough player to make an impact and make a difference to the team, then you must keep going. You know, there's a lot to be said to you may be stopping a youngster coming through and all that sort of stuff, but these sort of tournaments need instant results. That's what owners are after, that's what fans are after, they want results, they want victories and they want to win trophies. And if that means that the experienced guy is going to give you more chance of winning a trophy, then you go with him.

And he's still good enough to keep going. And he's still a big draw as well, isn't he? Absolutely, yes. And like you say, he's got the fresh dye in his hair. He's been down the gym. We've seen all those pictures on social media with his vest on in batting practice, bringing the guns out as well. So he takes care of himself.

He's a very fit guy. We did see, though, Simon, last season with the Chennai Super Kings. Ravi Jada, starting the season as the captain. And that was probably the succession plan which didn't work out because they ended up finishing second bottom in the group stages. They only came back as captain midway through the tournament. So maybe that was part of the idea that Doni is on his way out. He's ready to sort of call it a day at some point soon

if that successor can be somebody like a Ravidja. They haven't found that successor. So they've gone back to Doni. I wonder if that successor might be a little bit down the line, Ben Stokes. What do we think about that? And they've signed Ben Stokes. He's having a huge impact on the England test match team. What about Ben Stokes taking over as a captain of Chennai Super Kings

when Doni does finally say that's enough? It's a good shout. I mean, the only concern with somebody like a Ben Stokes is can he be available every season? Is he, you know, is his fitness going to hold up? We know he's not going to be bowling in the tournament because of his knee injury, which they're going to manage ahead of the ashes and a massive summer coming up for England, of course. And it's just year after year with his age, with the responsibility of being a test captain as well, is he going to be available season after season for the next three or four years enough for them to,

sort of pin all their hopes on somebody like a Ben Stokes as a leader of this franchise. Yeah, and I think there's a lot of responsibility that comes with being an IPL captain. You've got to be around pretty much all year to answer to, you know, owners. You've got to be there for when you're picking local players, you know, knowing your local players is extremely important because if you're going to captain aside, you've got to know your local players, you've got to know what they're good at, you've got to know how they operate and how to get the best out of them. And Ben Stokes is not going to be in India all year round.

to get to know these youngsters and the local players. So that can sometimes be a slight difficulty. Obviously, the responsibility of being England captain as well. There's a lot to take on. Unless they're looking at him further down the line, so when he does step away from England captain, see, right, can you take over the lead role at Chennai and dedicate more time to Chennai?

Yeah, I suppose it depends on that knee, doesn't it, really? How long you can keep putting it in and test match cricket. Whether in the end you just say, right, I'm going to focus on franchise cricket. Anyway, let's not get too far ahead of ourselves. M.S. Doni is going to lead Chennai Super Kings this season. Hardik Pandia, excellent season leading Gujarat last year. Did it surprise you that Gujarat did so well?

Yeah, I mean, look, nobody ex-I'm from a Gujarati background as well. So my whole family was rooting for Gujarat, as was a lot of people in the UK and all around India, massive Gujarati populations. everywhere over there as well. But look, there were a new franchise. They, along with the Lucknow Super Giants, both did really well. Both got into the playoffs. Goodrart led the group stages.

It was a pretty seamless transition, really, into becoming champions. They finished top of the group. And they just sort of eased through those knockout matches as well and the final on their home ground. But it was fascinating to see Heidek Bundyer, the captain. And I think he's really matured in the last couple of years, both in his personal life. And that shows in his cricket life as well.

he's become a father, he's settled down now. He was this young, sort of brash, arrogant kids when he came onto the scene at the Mumbai Indians. You know, typical modern cricketer tattoos everywhere, gold chains everywhere, the swag when he came out to bat. And that sort of air of arrogance, which sometimes I feel held him back in terms of being one of the senior players in that side,

in terms of being potential captaincy material when he was at Mumbai Indians. But just look at how he led that group of players. I mean, there were a bunch of misfits, really, people like Rahul Tuatiyah, who has shown flashes in the IPL previously, but he had a great season. They've obviously got the quality in Rashid Khan and David Miller and people like that. But, you know, Matthew Wade has kind of been around the block a little bit in the IPL

and in franchise cricket hasn't really found a settled place. He did reasonably well. Rhythm and Saha, the same. He's kind of been in and out of different franchises. He found his place at the top of the order in the second half of the season. And I think Hardik, the captain, the new mature Hardik Bandia, did a brilliant job in bringing this side together. No one expected it,

but people are expecting them to do well this time around. One feature of the Gujarat Titans squad and also KKR as well is they have no England players. But the other franchises do, and I've written a question down here, would a composite team of England players win the IPL? Totally theoretical, of course. But, okay, let me just run through the list.

In no particular order, Archer, Root, Stokes, Brooke, Topley, Willie, Adiorashid, Livingston, Wood, Salt, Sam Curen. No best, of course, no jacks, both injured, Jason Roy unsold. It's a pretty good

lineup of England players, Ravi. I mean, they'd come close, I think. They'd beat a lot of teams, I think. Because that's pretty much the World Cup team. They were the world champions. So, yes, I do think they will win the IPR. with ease.

I've probably been a bit parochial. If you put together a team of a composite Indian team playing in their own conditions, you'd probably say they would win the IPL as well. But I think what at the point I'm making is that there are some quality England players and perhaps the, you know, the franchises of, I mean, the England players have been there in the past.

But this season, there seems to be a bit more interest in the England players than before. Absolutely. I think that's changed over the last few years and it's brilliant to see because England have been the best whiteball team. in world cricket for a few years now. Double world champions, you know, winning the most recent

T20 World Cup as well. It was 2009, wasn't it, Simon, when Kevin Peterson and Andrew Flintoff first went over the second season of the IPL. And back then, there was a massive sort of, you know, it was a difficulty for these players to make themselves available for that window because of the early English season and there was that dispute.

And now there's the window in the international calendar for players from England to be able to go over there and you know if you're world champions you're going to be winning just like in the WPL when a lot of Australian players were picked and the Australian women's team is absolutely fantastic, has been for some time

it's the same with the England men's whiteball team as well so there's no surprise as to why there's so many England players out there. Of all the players I'm looking forward to seeing in this season's IPL England players in particular Harry Brooke is the one I'm most looking forward to seeing how is he going to go? He's had such a great start

to his international career I mean you've played in the IPL Ravi you know first what's it like and what do you think it'll be like for Harry Brooke well from what I can remember the first time I went over 2009 as you just mentioned there was no sort of expectation I just went over I had no nothing in my mind just went and played and things happened quite nicely but the difference of Harry Brooke is the IPOs on a different level now it's you know it's always talked about it's everywhere there's expectation on him in terms of what he was sold

for, you know, he went for big money, so they'll be looking at him to win games or cricket. And you could say he's probably a little bit untested in the T20 arena. You know, yes, he's a fantastic test batsman. He's shown he can get a lot of runs, and I think he's got a massive future. I really love the way he plays.

I think he's a quality player. But he's untested in this environment. So it's going to, for me, he's one of the ones I'm looking at as well. He's probably the most exciting for me. Yeah, he's with the Sunrises, Hydra. So what was it like? No expectation when you first started in the IPL. Do you feel any pressure at all?

Just got in play and... Yeah, I think I was a little bit too young to realize what was going on. I just had a good season with England and I was playing international cricket. So, you know, I got picked up to play for Punjab and I was selected in the first team to play. It was in South Africa, I think, in 2009. The IPL, it got moved. But when you're young, you're just young and... arrogant you just go and play you feel like you own the place and and you're going to own it and that's

what it felt like i don't know if harry brook feels the same way did he make much money then it wasn't quite as big as the contracts now nowhere near actually tell you what he did have though he had full access to one of bollywood's leading ladies at that time brithy zintha who's one of the co-owners of the Punjab franchise as well so there has always been that glitz and glamour and i'm sure the money was all right back then but yeah you're right it's completely changed different planet now yeah inflation i guess uh but it was good yeah pretty dinta was it was fantastic as well i remember she cooking for us um i don't think she would have cooked for many people what did she make she made parate uh aloo nice so that was uh that's it's a best you can get oh absolutely get any better than

that well at her house or in the dressing room no it was actually in the hotel kitchen so she asked to take over the hotel kitchen and said look i'm going to cook in the morning for you so what do you want for breakfast and i said well i'm panjabi there's only one thing i want for breakfast and that's aluparate and she went okay fine we'll do that and then she got them ready and then you know got up in the morning went down to the kitchen and then they were ready fresh brilliant fresh off the dava and lovely were they any good i mean she's the owner you got to be careful what you say have you yes i mean i wasn't demanding i wasn't say, hey, make me some other products. I was like, hey, if you want to make them, I'm ready

to eat them. Yeah, fair enough. And it's not just her as well. I mean, you look at Sharup Khan, who's the King of Bollywood and has sort of recently come out with another hit film, owner of the KKR, of course, along with Ju Chowler, another Bollywood actress. Apparently, you speak to any player who's played for any of these franchises, just like Ravi's mentioned there, they might be these big megastars, but when it comes to cricket, during the IPL, the film industry just completely stopped. It is all about the cricket. It's all about the cricketers.

They are the heroes and the heroines now with the WPL going on at this time of year as well through this spring period. And these Bollywood stars can't do enough to please all their players. They like to make it a really nice, friendly environment, a family environment as well. And I think that's brilliant. Just like Ravi mentioned, I had no idea that British is cooked for her players.

But, you know, Sharup Khan apparently has done a lot for his guys as well. and serve all the other owners. So you do get looked after well when you're out there. Now, it changes this season. The obvious one is what's happening at the toss. Basically, you name your team after the toss. So you take out a batting side and you take out a bowling side, i.e. if you're going to bat first or if you're going to bowl first

and you exchange after the top. What you want to make sure is you don't hand over the wrong team after the toss, but also the impact player. So you name 11, you name a batting side and the ball. bowling side, bowl first bow, bat first side. And then you also nominate four other players to be the impact player. And you can sub them in at any time during the game. So what sort of impact do you think that that's going to have on the tournament, Ravi, from a tactical point of view? I'm just wondering whether they'll be used much. I remember something like this

happening a few years ago. Yeah, and one day internationals. You had a super sub and what would happen is they would sub them in straight after the toss. But because you name your team after the toss, this time round, you've actually got that covered off. So actually you can react more this time, perhaps to the game situation, it seems to me. Well, it's interesting to see what's going to happen. I mean, I've got no idea how it's going to work. I'm guessing, for example, if out of those four players, you know,

you're going to name probably two batterers, I mean, two bowlers, a batsman, and an all-rounder or something. And if a team's batting first and they're three-down, four-down pretty early, they'll probably subbing the batsman and say, look, we need an extra batsman in in these conditions, and you bring them in for one of the bowlers, but then you leave your bowling week, don't you, by subbing him in for a bowler? Yeah, I'm just trying to work it out myself. I think if you're batting first, you stock your side with batters,

and then you sub out a batter and bring in a bowler at the end of the innings. I think that might be one way you would go for it, so you've got your batting already because you know that you're batting first, and then you bring in a bowler at the halfway stage. Yeah, that would be a good way to go as well. I think the thing I like about it, though, taking the two teams out, is we've seen in a lot of editions of the IPL

over the last decade or so, win the toss, win the game. You know, the dew comes into it. Chasing becomes easier at certain points during the tournament, particularly in the early stages, when there's a bigger differential in the temperature in daytime to nighttime as well. So you see a lot more dew on the outfield and the ball skids on.

And I think this makes it a little bit more of an even playing field in terms of being able to react to being asked to do whatever it is if you lose the toss. So I like it from that point of view. But like Ravi says, you know, the super sub rule you mentioned in ODIs that came in, the Big Bashers used the impact sub. They've now taken it out because it didn't quite work for them. So it'd be interesting to see how it works this year.

If it is used a lot, if they just realize that actually it's not doing much and we'll just scrap it for next year. So, yeah, we'll see how it goes. Well, let's hope they make it very clear to everybody, you know, when a player has been subbed on so that you can keep up with the game. You know, people watching on television, commentating, and also in the ground as well.

So, you know, that's, you know, clear change. And we're fascinated to see how that works as the season goes on. I think some of the head coaches have been trying to get their heads around and trying to work out what their strategies are going to be. I think there'll probably be some games where, you know, you'll bring an impact player in,

and they will have an impact and other games where they'll sub someone in and it just won't make any difference to the outcome of the game at all. But you're right, I mean, we've got 74 matches in the next two months

to see how it's going to work out. Yeah, I guess we're going to get a good idea of what works best and, you know, what type of sub works best for these games. But sitting here right now, I've got no idea.

It's so hard to just say what's going to happen. And I guess that's the great thing about it. you get an opportunity to see it first hand. It makes it more exciting, doesn't it? Sometimes in the middle of an IPL season, you've seen so many matches, you've seen the same scenario play out time and time again.

This just adds another dimension to it, so it might just keep those viewers, those neutrals more interested in the middle of the tournament as well. But yeah, it's, who knows, who knows what they're going to do in the opening game. And a couple of other changes as well, teams can review wides and no balls. And we've often seen games,

where he thought, you know, tight games, you think, is that a wide? Is that a no ball? I mean, you actually think about the end of the Wellington test match in which England were involved. I'm sure Jimmy Anderson would have reviewed that penultimate ball of the game, which he clearly thought was a wide. I think a lot of people did think it was a wide. Yeah, I think that's a good rule because I've played in many, many games where, you know, the ball might clip a pad down the leg side and the umpire gives it wide, or, you know, you're batting, the ball goes down the leg side and the umpire doesn't call wide, and you think that's a wide. It just stops all the arguments.

You just refer it, get the proper decision. Because you just want the right decision. That's all you want. The right decision, because it just makes it at level playing for it. You know, umpires are going to make mistakes. They're humans. And that's why the videos are there and all that sort of stuff to correct it. So why not use it?

I'll tell you who'll be delighted with that, Risha Bunth. He's not available. He's still injured after his car crash, of course, won't be playing for the Delhi Capitals this season. But there was that match last season where Ricky Ponti, the head coach was out of the team camp because he contracted COVID. So Risha Bunt was there. He was effectively just leading the whole dugout.

They were playing the game against the Rajasthan rules. They needed 36 to win off the final over. I don't know if you remember. It was Robben Powell on strike. Obed McCoy was the bowler. First three balls go for six. The third ball was clearly, according to the replays, over waist height, full toss.

And it wasn't called on field, and they couldn't review it. Risha Bunt tried to call his batters off. they kind of diffused the situation it all got calmed down but the sting got taken out of Robman Powell with all that going on so they didn't end up getting another three sixes but he honestly looked like he was going to do it

and Delhi were going to win that match and I think had they won that match they would have sort of crept into the position that they needed to it was a must win game for them at the time so you know little fine margins like that when you know the viewers at home can clearly see

it's a no ball or it's a wide allow the team to review that and just make the right decision I think the biggest ones are going to be bouncers. That's where I think most of the reviews are going to be because that's where most bowlers have arguments with umpies. They're a bowler bouncer and he calls it wide and said, well, that's not wide. But do you risk a review that fails and you might want to use it for an in or out situation?

And that's going to be it, the issue, isn't it? How do you risk your, how do you play your two reviews? Well, as a bowling team, you don't often get opportunities to use it. your reviews. I mean, you know, people don't get it in the pads very often in T20 cricket and, you know, it's just rare that you end up using them. So you may as well just use them while they're there. That one run can make a difference. Yeah, we'll see how that plays out. Another change as well, and this is the change that's come into the game in general. And one thing we've noticed about the IPL is how slow it is. You talk about the, you know, the razzle-dazzle of

playing in the IPL, it's a fast-paced game, but actually it's a very slow. game. The over-rates are slower in IPL, amazing, than test cricket. But we do have the punishment this season that if you don't have your, don't bowl your overs in time, then you've got an extra player's got to come inside the circle. I wonder whether that will actually speed up the game or not. Come the first game, Simon, we'll sort of let listeners know as to, they'll know if we've been there for four hours or three hours. But, no, honestly, we talk about this year after year after year. And we know they've got to get the ads in. and all that kind of stuff,

all the stuff that pays these great salaries for the players and gives them life-changing opportunities. So they've got to have the strategic timeouts, which are, you know, basically extra ad space and things like that. But it's all the other time wasting that you see going on in the field. You know, you see towards the end of an innings in particular, the last three or four over is just take an absolute age to bowl. There's so many discussions, so many different field changes being made.

And, you know, some of it's just unnecessary. You know, I know these are tense games. I know there's a lot on the line. But at the end of the day, you're providing entertainment to, you know, these 50, 60, 70, even 100,000 people in the stadium, many more millions watching on TV. They don't necessarily want to be stuck there for four and a quarter hours watching a game of cricket when it's been advertised as a quick, the shortest format that is played internationally. Final thoughts. What about the players who are not going to be there? There are some great players who are going to be there.

You alluded to no Pant, there's no Bumra, there's no Bermra, there's no Bairstow, there's no Ayer, there's no Hazel for the first half of the IPL. You know, they're going to be injuries around. Some of the Slafrians are missing at the start because they've got that one-day series against the Dutch. What about the players not there? I mean, who they miss most. The one that stands out for me is Jasprit Bumra, always up there at the top of the leading wicket takers. And as far as the Mumbai Indians are concerned, they had a terrible season last year.

He did well, he picked up 15 or 16 wickets through the season. was their top wicket taker and did his usual thing just wasn't backed up. But for the balance of their side in terms of overseas players and what combinations they go in for, I think it's going to affect them the most because it's going to mean somebody like a DeVold Bravis, who's such a fabulous talent or Tristan Stubbs, one or the other, won't play for the majority of the IPL.

I think that's going to be massive. Jesprit Brummer always comes up first for me. He's the best bowler in the world in T20 format, and he's going to be the biggest miss, I think for the IPL in general as a competition. Let battle commence. Two months, 74 matches, the final on the 28th of May. Gujarat Titans last time round in their first season in the IPL.

Who will it be this time round? We're about to find out over the next couple of months and you'll better follow the tournament on 5 Live Sports Extra over 40 matches for you up until the final on the 28th of May. Match of the Day Top 10 podcast The Match of the Day Top 10 podcast is back

With bigger debates, bigger topics and bigger laughs from this man Yes, Micah Richards is back Along with myself and Alan Shearer for series 8 of Match of the Day top 10 Only on the BBC iPlayer and BBC Sounds Where if you subscribe now,

you'll find the rest of our box sets to listen to The Match of the Day Top 10 podcast. Listen only on BBC Sounds. So the IPL starting today comes off the back of a very successful inaugural Women's Premier League, which was won at the weekend by the Mumbai Indians who defeated Delhi Capitals in the final. There was plenty of English influence in the Mumbai side with a team coached by former England captain Charlotte Edwards and including Nat Siver Brunt and Izzy Wong. Both played a significant part in Mumbai's success, with Siver Brunt making up.

I'm beaten 60 in the final, and Izzy Wong following up a hat trick in the Eliminator with three crucial wickets against Delhi. And Wong has been reflecting on her WPL experience with Felix White on the latest episode of The Tail Enders podcast. I think the whole kind of experience has been so amazing and so like emotional, I guess. There's just been so much kind of going on. It was relentless. It was obviously emotional because I was watching it at home and I was emotional watching it.

And one of the first things that struck me is that when, that scores those winning runs, everyone on the bench, camera cuts to you, I think it's trying to find you and everyone else like sort of jumps up around you and you're just sat there sort of staring into space for a second. Did it feel like you were sort of processing it or didn't feel real? Those games, Harmon and Natabatic and they're, they're going well, they're going at the road. The only way you kind of lose in those situations is complacency, like off off the pitch. So I was being quite conscious that like

Pluja was next in, but like if Pluja goes in, gets out first ball, suddenly I've got a job to do. Yeah. I think I was quite trying to not get too ahead of myself. Yeah. And then that's obviously hit the winning runs and I was kind of sat on the bench like,

are we sure? Like, I'm definitely sure. And then I was like, oh, yeah. So, yeah, you could, I can imagine that must be really hard to go from one to the other. I know you've only been out there six weeks and it's probably because you won so you were going crazy

but I got the impression that you got really close with that team of people it seemed like you'd known each other for years when it was kind to you yeah it felt like that as well we had a real good group of domestic guys that helped and they really got along with each other and welcomed us into their group

and that was really special I think also too part of a guest of franchise that's been around you know the owner described us as the youngest member of the M.I. family. But from the moment, they've got a women's TV. He was saying just how proud, how proud they were to be pushing the women's game. And I think that was really nice because it felt all the way through

like we were part of something bigger, but a part that they were proud of. Yeah. And the whole experience and how well we were welcomed, like how well we were welcomed into India and to Mumbai, around the grounds. Like, the fans were amazing. So, yeah. Talking, talking quickly about the fans. I know that we talked before a little bit.

about how special it was going to be, how magical, but were you even taking, because some of those crowds were like men's well-cut final type crowds. The atmosphere sounds, felt, seem like it was so intense and like everyone really locked into the game. Was it kind of mad buzz? I think there were almost 40,000 in for the Eliminator. I think we were lucky that, you know, the competition was playing with Mumbai. It felt like we had a home game every game. So in the final, you know, you do that classic thing. You do at any level of cricket. You sit somewhere and then things like up going well, partnership builds

and it's like you now can't move. It's like when I think one of the timeouts and that in harm and I've gone into the changing room to put my thigh paddle

or something like and I've come out and sat just outside the changing room in the little dining area so like behind quite a bit behind the dugout yeah

and then they kept going and I sat next to Yastika and she was like holding my hand she was like you can't you can't move you say there and then because of where

the dugout was and all the LED thing We couldn't actually, we can see those sets of stumps, but we couldn't see any of the outfield. So you see them play the shot, and then you just hear the roar as it went past the fielder, before, whatever, and it was, whoa, like, we can see, obviously, they're just batting, and then it's like, it's like, it's like, oh, the way for the crowd. And it was, it was unbelievable. That's so great.

I mean, let's talk about that, eliminate. You mentioned it's 40,000 people. It's gone everywhere, the hat trick. What was it? four for five or something, when that phase of play begins? Yeah, Kieran had been batting, Navgear, and she'd been absolutely sending it. She hit, genuinely one of the sixes I've ever.

Like, D-Y was a big ground, and she's hit it out of the ground. I don't think it was even a low full-toss. It was just a full-toss. And I remember, there was a little moment when I was thinking, oh, my God, this could go so far. And I just don't go high. Yeah. And I knew that Nat was at Cannes.

Yeah. And I'll tell you, there is genuinely no. greater feeling of comfort in this world. Seeing a ball go high in the air and seeing a Natsiva still under it and she takes the ball so high. She's just so still because she's always right under it. Yeah.

You see it underneath it and the ball's kind of travelling down and you just think, you know what? Everything's going to be fine. Yes. And she held on to it. And then from there it's just like, right, I just keep going to York and it's so.

The next two are unbelievable deliveries. They're like, they're perfect. Yeah, we'd have a training. session the day before, I'd had a, like, a bowl through lane, and just me and Gossie, and I put a football just on the crew, and because I was like, what you're doing? I was like, oh, get loose, and I'll probably just have an over and just try and hit the football, and I got close to three times, maybe, and then on my last ball hit it, I was like, right, I'm done, quit our own head, I'm done, good, that's rock and roll.

So, Lottie gave me a bit of a pet talk a couple of games before, so, like, if you can be the best you walk a bowler, around, at the end, that'll set your part. Yeah. So I was like, right, I could be a bit of. Yeah. And yeah, paid off. Absolutely beautiful. You keep mentioning Lottie, who is obviously Charlotte Edwards.

I saw when you won at the end of the final, you gave her a big hug and it was quite sweet because it seemed like neither have you wanted to let go of each other. Have you become really close in this, like in this time? Have you always been, have you known her for a long time? I've not known her that long. She actually gave her my first professional contract at the Southern Vipers. Right.

itself four years ago and then both kept saying thank you to each other i think she i was i guess grateful that but well for being picked up in the auction probably an outside chap really and then yeah the kind of faith that she put in me i guess to do a role and i think that goes further than with the ball it's like we're going to play you but we also want you to bat seven and be a key part of that middle order yeah and then in the fields like we're going to back you to make a difference and she just kept going, we've only gone and done it. We've only gone and done it. I've got goosebumps hearing that.

It's really beautiful. Have you spoken to Sophie quickly on that third wicket? Because what really struck me is when you bowl Sophie and the third ball, the Hattrick Ball, it feels like she looks back at you and smiles. She was pretty pleased to me. I said a big thank you to her for a little assist. Patrick Ball.

I might have been wheeling away in front of the cop. I guess it's nice to play against people that you like because some days you come off on the right style of it but like last time we played new P she hit me for six last year to win the game probably wasn't smiling as well at the time but you can still have that I think being happy for you mate also playing against them I think that's quite healthy I think

you mentioned that if it's anything if you miss a yorker a low full toss is better or you bowed three of them in the final and they were all massive wickets. And by the third one, you yourself were shaking your head like you didn't want to celebrate. They're big moments though, aren't they? Because all those three batters, if they get in,

it's a completely different game. Yeah, we knew that Delhi have got such a strong top order. It's really been their top order that's done a lot of the work, especially Shefali and Meg, and they've both had, yeah, unbelievable competition. So a lot of the talk was nobody's really got inspired, middle order i think we we got into it at d y the feels time we've paid them and won but let's put

them under a bit of pressure and let's see how they react to that and obviously like i had an awful ball and like i just i've just been absolutely smoked for sick you hit me over the point of the ball that's missing leg and hitting the pumping cruise yeah what is going on here like but we we've spoken about trying to try and trying to bowl walkers at the start i really wasn't clear and i just to be honest i had no idea like i just commit the deck and Harmon kept coming up to me being like give me all these positive words you're a great bowler and you respect to bowl your best ball and I'm like harman I'm trying do you think do you think you were really nervous or was it over adrenaline or is anything like that

or is it just sort of that's just what cricket is sometimes I don't think I was clear in hindsight yeah I've actually sat on the bench out halfway just saying to lot I just don't think I was clear and I think it showed I think my third over I was pretty clear and what I was trying to hit my but the other three, I think, I think I've been scrambled. Yeah, it was probably an element of, it's probably my first final on that kind of stage. I've probably lacked that clarity that I've had a couple of games before.

It's been a mad tournament for you those, because from the first ball that he hit for six to those moments in the final, it's just felt like, I've seen a few people tweeting out, Ellie Oldroy's saying that, like, things are just happening for you. But it just feels it sort of was meant to be this time.

It kind of everything, everything worked, didn't it? It's nuts, honestly. It's absolutely nuts. So one of those hotels that came to my room on the afternoon of the final and gave me a card. It had a quote from Michael Jordan in it saying, I think it was some people wish it'd happen, some people want it to happen,

and some people make it happen. And then it had this thread inside, and she was Buddhist. So she gives me a holy thread to help me to guide me and to give me more power. So I wore it in the game around my neck. You know, if there's any, If any a day that I need a bit of health, but a bit of guidance and a bit more power,

it's probably going to be one of them day. And yeah, so I'm convinced a lot came up to me after the game. She was like, never in doubt. I was like, look, I had my whole need of head on. It was never in doubt. Well, that was Izzy Wong chatting to Felix White on the latest edition of the Tail Enders podcast. Don't forget to subscribe to Tail Enders on BBC Sounds.

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