Test Match Special - TMS Moments of 2022

Episode Date: December 21, 2022

Jonathan Agnew is joined by Vic Marks, Alex Hartley, Simon Mann, Daniel Norcross, Stephan Shemilt and Andy Zaltzman. From the humiliation in Hobart to the start of the Stokes/McCullum Test revolution. The Mankad controversy at Lord’s to England men’s T20 World Cup win and the historic clean sweep in Pakistan.

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Now welcome to this special TMS podcast Looking back on some of the main talking points of 2022 We gather together the Test Match special team To pick out some of their moments of the year And you'll hear from Alex Hartley, Vic Marks, Simon Mann, Stefan Schemilt and Di Zaltzman And Daniel Norcross The TMS podcast from BBC Radio 5 live

We're just looking back on what has been What has been a transformative year, hasn't it? in English cricket. A year which began with England's humiliation in the ashes and of course the Red Ball reset. Remember all that but a series defeat nonetheless in the Caribbean. The departures of Chris Silverwood, Joe Root, Owen Morgan and Lisa Kightley. A revolution in test cricket led by Brendan McCullum and Ben Stokes and a World Cup final defeat for the women and victory for the men and much much more. So as I was trying to describe, we've asked each of the TMS team out here to come up with their moment of the year. I say not, it's not necessarily the highlight, but more of a significant moment.

We've decided it's going to be the criteria in our selection process. So I'm going to go first. And for this, we're going right back to the start of the year. Robinson's on strike. Cummins on his way, slips awaiting. There's Cummins Bowles now, and he steps away, he's bold. What a ghastly dismissal. which really sums it up.

Nowhere near it, couldn't reach the ball. But if anyone's in any doubt, there needs to be a lot of change around the England camp. And you only need to have been here and watch this match, really. There we go. It seems a long time ago, doesn't it? Nine for 52, I think, if my memory serves me right. When Ollie Roberts could barely be located on the edge of the pitch,

it might be called a dead ball these days, as we'd be describing that change in the law that means of a batsman leaves the pitch at a dead ball. He was very close to it. Anyway, England went to the Caribbean in March, but the 1-0 defeat there proved to be the last under Captain Joe Root. I feel like there's the support of the dressing room behind me, and I'm desperate to turn that round and to see them smiling, celebrating, because we don't feel that far away. It's an easy thing to say, and it's probably a frustration for a lot of people to hear. So you want to carry on.

I mean, there's a lot of uncertainties there. No manager and director, no coach, no chairman. I mean, there seems to be such little in place as far as the administration's concerned. But you want to carry on as captain. Yeah, I've made that quite clear. And all I can control is what's in my hands. And at the minute, that's trying to take this team forward and take it on. And I'll do everything I can.

Cool. It's funny listening back to that. The first time I've heard it, actually, since interviewing Root on the outfield in Grenado, when they lost that test match and just looking around and the whole thing there seemed to be a complete car crash and you could really hear the emotion

in his voice actually I let's remember how drained Root looked as he spoke to me that day and you're thinking you can't possibly carry on and who could change things around I remember driving away from the ground that day thinking who how possibly

can English cricket be rebuilt from this point and that's why I've chosen those two moments as my sort of Putting into context, really, what happened after that. Two real low moments in which all seemed to be lost. And yet from that wreckage, so much has happened since. And again, remembering the moment that Brendan McCullen was announced as coach.

And I was on holiday, actually. I thought, wow, of course. We've had all these names, Gary Kirsten, and the rest, all the sort of familiar names that appear when a new coach is being talked about. But Brendan McCullum just wasn't on the radar, but we knew him. We knew him from having watched him play, of course. We knew him from having work with him in New Zealand on various series. It just seemed such an absolutely brilliant appointment that Rob Key had made.

And he's the person with Ben Stokes, of course, who has turned things around. Who knows how long it'll last or whether the ashes will we won or anything else. But the fact is, here we are in Pakistan, less than a year after that Hobart debacle, with England having won a series here, and they've won one. You have nine tests since, which has been a remarkable turnaround. So that's why I've chosen those two. It's just interesting to listen back to Hobart and to Rooting Grenada and has realised how far England have come since then.

So that's my choice. Next up, Andy Zoltzman, and he's gone back to the first test match of the year. Coming balls outside the off-stump, pressed away by Besto. It's gone down to Dick third before, and Besto in the first. final over the day he's got his 100. He is naturally elated. He raises his bat and his helmet to the dressing room. He's almost come halfway to the dressing room.

Counter-attacking innings from Johnny Berto, his second Ashes 100. It's been a long time coming for Birstow and for England in this series. Slim pickings. But today Johnny Birstow is delivered. Certainly did. Go on, Andy. Why did you go for that? Well, I went for this because in this transformation

that happened later in the year, Barstow is arguably the key figure in terms of how it's played. Obviously, he had the leadership from the captain and the coach. But in terms of what England did on the field, he played a lot of the sort of landmark innings of the Stokes-McCullum approach to test cricket. And that innings in Sydney, I think, was a huge turning point in his career. It was his 80th test. He'd had 679 tests before that.

And it was an absolutely outstanding innings against a really high-quality attack in a difficult match situation in a series in which, England's batting had been absolutely dismembered. And he came in with three wickets down and fewer than 60 on the board and scored a hundred. And he's repeated that in four of his other five test hundreds this year. Now, there's a very rare feat over the previous 12 years. England had only had four such centuries of a number five or lower coming in with fewer than 60 runs on the board. Birsto's had five in a calendar year.

He himself, over the previous three years, 2019, 20 and 21, in and up, side have played 19 tests average 21 and not reach 60 and I think that innings in Sydney which helped England get a draw one of their best result of that rather felt like we'd won the ashes when Jimmy Anderson blocked that last ball but I think it uncorked this sort of dormant talent in test cricket we've seen what a phenomenal player he is in whiteball cricket and we've and over the rest of the year we've seen the white ball bear stow perform extraordinary feats for England in in difficult difficult situations. He scored the year

600s this calendar year ties the most by an England player in a calendar year and equaled as many as he'd scored in his entire test career up till then. He's had that McCullum arm wrapped around him I mean he's really been made to feel part of the team and I don't think that's always been the case with Bearstow but he has

really responded perhaps a slightly different way than the others get out there and smack it about but actually Johnny you're part of the side we want you, you're valuable all those things I think has really helped Bearstow this year. Undoubtedly but But he had, I think that innings in terms of, you know, his confidence as a test player, and he having played three years without reaching 60 as a batter or a batsman wicketkeeper,

that confidence must have been a little fragile. He had 100 in the West Indies, in those four extraordinary centuries in the English summer scored, you know, all in significant match situations that helped produce England wins. It was one of the most phenomenal collections of innings, I think, in the entire history of English test cricket. How's he going to get back in the side? I think they'll find a way. My second choice...

They'll have to find a way, weren't they? My second choice would have been England bowling outs, Pakistan's top three in Moultharn with three glorious deliveries by Anderson, Robinson and Wood. Okay, fair enough. So many innings you could have chosen of Johnny Bastogne beating India, that record run chase being won, of course, of Joe Root at Edgebaston.

but thank you, Andy, for that. So that's Johnny Beirstow's Sentry at Sydney, which certainly helped England hang on there against the ticking clock with Jimmy Anderson blocking out the last over, I seem to recall. Now, on a similar vein to mine, really, Stefan Schemelt is up next, and he's gone for Brendan McCullum's first interview as head coach.

I'm under no illusions. It's a big job, but it's a good time to take over. but everyone's ready for change, everyone's ready to do things slightly differently, and I think that's where my skills sit. How well do you know Ben Stokes? Not that well. I know obviously I played against him a number of times

and I followed him from afar. He plays a game how I like to see the game played, and he puts bums on seats with his style of cricket too, so I think he's going to be a wonderful leader. He might fly. He might grab the captain seat and just go to a whole new level. Right, Stefan's here. Yeah, someone had to go for that.

I'll remember it at Lord's at you, and he sat down there. What struck me most about it was when he said, yeah, I don't know Ben Stokes very well but they just clicked, haven't they? The thing is, Agas, after Joe Root stepped down, England didn't have a captain, they didn't have a coach. Stoke was the only real option to be captain, but we were trepidacious about it, weren't we?

How's he going to go? He wasn't too long after taking a break from the game. But McCollum was such a bolt from the blue. It made everyone sit up and go, hang on. This might be fun. What was it, Rob Key said? Buckle up and enjoy the ride. And there we were, weren't we, on that sunny day in May, McCullum turned up.

He was wearing skinny jeans without any socks. I thought, that's an England coach there. And instantly... You got sent off to go to church. Instantly, you knew whatever happened, this was going to be different. And they've bought the fun to the England team, haven't they, McCollum and Stokes. They've removed the pressure. Some people would say, why is it not enjoyable playing international sport?

And there is an element of that, of course. but if you only win one game in 17, that's not enjoyable. Professional sports such a funny thing. There's someone always after your place in the side, your place in the team after your job. McCullum and Stokes have removed all of that. They've taken that pressure away, and they've bought the enjoyment in lots of different ways.

We've seen them having penalty shootouts in training, that daft game where someone's wearing a helmet. They've hit the ball up into the tennis balls. Someone has to head it and catch it. The six-hitting competition here, they've been to the Grand Prix. in Abu Dhabi, in New Zealand, they're off to Queenstown on holiday before they play those two test matches. And you might think that's a bit trivial.

It makes it almost sound like playing for England is some sort of stag do, but it's not. It's all part of this idea of if you're enjoying yourself off the field, you enjoy it on the field, and you will do your job better. But I'd love to know what he is actually saying to the players, because what, you know, for all the fun and all the, you know, messing around and those games that you mentioned, whatever he is saying must be getting through. and I'd love to know exactly what it is how he's managed to put the finger on the pulse because he doesn't do a lot out there we go every morning wandering about

and going to looking at the pitch and so on and you can't help but obviously take him what the players are doing and he's always wondering about saying hello to everybody and I mean like people like me and not even these players, you know the umpires and he looks at the pitch but he's not one of those coaches who's really on it and you see some coaches

really working the players hard every morning they're very much part of the buildup that's not him at all what What he's doing is something in the dressing room when they're sitting down there? You hear the little snippet just now and then that sometimes he'll say to a player on the morning of a test match,

I haven't got a lift to the ground. Can I get a ride with you? And that's when he'll have his one-on-one conversation. And then listen again to some of those things that he said, that line from Stokes, he might fly, he might grab the captaincy and go to a whole new level again. He has.

He said, my skills, McCullum, are around taking a team from a bit of trouble into a team that has long-term sustainable success. That's what he's done. They've talked about not drawing. We'll chase anything. We're even on a mission to save test cricket. And you thought, yeah, all right, mate, whatever.

But they have. It's been an absolute joy to watch. And some other things, I think, just worth mentioning. Anya Shrubesol in the rain at Auckland, keeping England in the Women's World Cup when they were nine down. The T20 blast final, Nathan Alice, having to bowl the last ball twice because it was a no ball. It was crazy, wasn't?

But the most memorable thing, I think, was Saturday morning at the Oval when the silence. As cricket pretty much led the sporting world in tributes to Her Majesty the Queen, completely unforgettable. When they could have called the whole thing off, as other sports did, and cricket carried on. Yep. Thank you, Stefan, very much indeed. Certainly, there's no doubt the influence that Brendan McCallum and that camaraderie with Stokes and the similar thinking has played a huge part in all of that.

And he's right, I do remember McCallum turning up with his torn jeans. and sort of slip-on shoes and no socks and he was quickly bundled away by so on for the ECB into the ECB offices and it came out much more sparkly dressed of course and it was a bit of a hospital pass too cricky to become coach of the England team at that stage and not knowing a captain but the situation that they were in I don't know it was it was it was a very brave choice I would think for McCullum to take as his first international job anyway now Now then, Vic Marks, we've talked about all these innings, some sumptuous innings by Johnny Bearstow, Joe Root, and all the others, Ben Stokes himself, of course, that we've savored during the course of this last year. And here's, here's Victor's choice. Auberton faces and dries. This will go through the covers, and this will be four. He goes to 96. A full long half volley, may be, but Overton got a big stride in and has driven it to the boundary, and he's within one. One more smite of what would be an amazing achievement. Bolt into Overton.

To drive his edges and he's taken at first slip. He's gone for 97. Bolt has got his man. He'll feel dreadful right now, but he shouldn't. He has played a remarkable innings. A truly brilliant one from number eight. And listen to this crowd. Bartlettable's Jamie Overton, Victor.

Why have you chosen that beginnings, above all the other extraordinary unings that we've seen? Well, it's more to exemplify New England. This is my first experience of seeing New England live. It's headingly. Third test match against New Zealand. And I hadn't watched live any of the previous two test matches, but I kept an eye on it on the telly. And headingly, I could have gone, you know, blinkered fashion,

to the man of the match at Heady Lee, Jack Beach. But I thought I won't go Somerset, I'll go Surrey, Jamie Overton, sort of, formally Somerset. And typical, though, it just exemplified that nothing is impossible. England, well, they had a target 329 to sort of get parity in first innings. That's what they bowed New Zealand out for. And lo and behold, they're 55 for 6. Well, doomed, doomed.

And Overton, Jamie Overton coming out to bat with Johnny Beirstow. Well, they could possibly save the follow-on if we're lucky. And it wouldn't have been in force. Lo and behold, you know, ridiculous, really. Out of the blue, they put on 241. Jamie Overton generally batted at 10 or 11 for Somerset. Surrey saw potential that Somerset didn't see as it happens. And he played brilliantly, did Overton.

He was overshadow. I could easily have picked Johnny Besto, but he already had Johnny Besto. But to put on 241 in your debut, it gets a good turn. To get to 97, it's absolutely staggering. And kind of showed us that nothing is impossible with this law. They don't give up. They think anything is possible.

I mean, it was an amazing turnaround. So that's why I went for him, because it was my first experience of seeing this England side who just don't rule anything out. And it's so exciting. And I mentioned not quite a hospital pass. We know what I mean about McCullough taking that job on and how quickly he'd had turned things around and that mindset.

It is absolutely staggering. I mean, the only thing I would say to that is that things have got so low that he couldn't do any worse. So it's not about, I mean, it's quite difficult to replace Alex Ferguson when he's won dozens of trophies. Things had hit a low air. I agree with you and I agree with what's. was saying that it was a brilliant choice and it wasn't the obvious one. When Rob Key, we

were all thrashing around, we were all listening to our correspondent, what's the runes saying? Oh, Gary Kirsten's very strong-handed it, blah-de-blah. Well, Rob Key didn't go for anyone like that. He plucked and he persuaded him to come too, which is also pretty clever. And it was, well, at the moment we just say it was a stroke of genius and we don't quite know how he does it. But just look at the cricket we've watched since then. And I picked that one simply because it epitomise New England. Johnny Beirstow actually should have been man of the match in that game.

You've got 162 and 71 not out. But Overton was my choice. So Alex Hartley's next and she's gone for one of the more controversial moments of the summer. Dipty Sharma. Oh, Dipty Sharma has done a main card. Oh, she has. She's manned. Is that how you want to win a game of cricket?

That's entirely up to you. Roman Precourt is speaking to her. So she's gone through the crease. She's, well, I mean, I'm afraid we might be about to have some pretty terrible controversy here. She's done a man card and you're perfectly entitled to do this. It's perfectly within the laws of the game. And this will be given as out. And that is the end of the match.

Why have you gone for that, Alex? It's the moment. that's left the sourest of sour taste in my mouth this summer. And we're going for highlights. You know, we've seen everyone picking good things that's happened. And that, for me, was just the one moment where I just felt really disappointed at cricket as a whole. I thought England were in a losing position in that game.

Freya Davis, Charlie Dean at the crease. England got control of the game. It looked like they were going to win. It looked like they were, you know, going to pull off this miraculous win. They'd lost every single game against India. They weren't in a good place. Deep Tshama, the only way she felt like they could win that game

was a runout at the non-striker's end. And it's one of those where she threatens to do it all the time. She talks about doing it all the time. But for me, that delivery, she had every single intention of running her out at the non-strikers. It's a horrible way for it. And it was such a big game too, was it? A significant game, playing at Lords.

You know, all of that was like, the big picture, if you like, around that match. Yeah, and it was Julan Goswami's last ever game in international cricket for India. She's been a pioneer for decades playing for India. She's played the most amount of games. She's been incredible. All of it, we couldn't talk about her.

We couldn't talk about her incredible career. We couldn't talk about all the achievements that she's made as a cricketer. We had to talk about the fact that Deep Tshama has just won India a game in the sourest of ways. I mean, it's allowed. get that it's allowed, but for me, was that really the only way she felt like they could win that cricket game? They've got to sort it out because you cannot have a World Cup final

with all these people watching. Imagine India, Pakistan, World Cup final, and someone does that. You know, it would be horrific. And they're saying it's within the rules, but for me, the rules aren't black and white. It's when the bowler's in their delivery stride, but well, what is that? Where is that? And I think Liam Livingston actually summed it up really well. He said the rules need to change and we need to know is it when the front foot lands is it when the arm is up about to deliver the ball that you pull out we need to know when it is because actually from that run out during the men's T20 World Cup we saw a lot of threats and a lot of threats at the non-strikers end to run people out but

there was always a warning the rule is you don't need to give a warning anymore you don't you don't I think for me if we are going to see that implemented more and more into cricket the rules need to be better they need they need to clarify when is it acceptable to do it and when isn't. I have a plan. I won't take up time now, but I have submitted a plan to the ICC who I know want to do something about it. So I think I'll take the wicket out of it. But we'll get a pipe back in a minute. Thank you, Alex, very much indeed. So that's the Charlie Dean Mankad. Yeah, talked about a lot, isn't it?

Now, let's move on. England, well, they may have won a World Cup this year, but the final is not the moment that Dan Norcross has gone for. Five needed. Shammy's on his way. Is there any bowls Butler, who goes for the straight hit for six. The field run underneath it. Can't take it. And Josh Butler, England's captain, has won this semi-final in a most emphatic fashion.

He's smashed Shammy for six over his head. And with four overs remaining, England have won by ten wickets. Yeah, quite a moment, wasn't it, Dan? I mean, it really was. Go on, then, why have you gone for that rather than the final, though? Well, you and I were both there, and I think that game exemplified just how far ahead of the game, the game of T20 that England are, and how far behind the game of T20 India are.

And it's a curious thing. It's as much for what it tells you about Indian cricket as what it tells you about English cricket. Indian cricket, Indian players play in the IPL. And you and I saw India quite a few times in that world T20. That wasn't the only time they nearly came unstuck. They should have lost to Pakistan. They should. they did lose to South Africa

they have all the resources they have the IPL they have all these great players have massive population cricket's their major sport they play all their players play T20 cricket in India they don't play anywhere else so when they came out to Australia and you and I both know they

they do deport themselves of a certain swagger and so do their press team and there was an expectation that they were going to easily roll over England and they didn't they did the exact opposite of they scored 60-odd runs in the first 10 overs for the loss of a couple of wickets and then Hardik Pundier he plundered 60 odd in the last five overs and out they came to think well we've got enough here we've got a hundred and sixty-five or whatever it was but that was never going to be enough and it wasn't enough because England knew full well their players played big bash they played PSL they played IPL they played around the world Indian players don't do that and it's one of the strange paradoxes of the most modern world that actually English cricketers in T20 are streets ahead and yes they won the final

and it was a good final it was a bit tighter but it was destroying basically destroying the artifice of Indian cricket in such a comprehensive way 10 wickets four overs to spare I thought it was marvellous for the captain and I think it's something that should be a wake-up call for Indian cricket their players need to play in other environments or they're not going to get any better and Raal Dravid has talked about that and also they have a reluctance because they are superstars, particularly the batting that you're talking about. There's this sort of reluctance to move on, isn't there? And again, I think looking at the aftermath of that game

and the stuff that was written by Indian correspondents and journalists and former players and so on, you're right. They have got to move on. They've got to change their game. Follow England. I mean, we would have thought that in T20. Well, I mean, this is the thing. And this is partly why I chose it, because it's the theme of this year

that English cricket has taken things on. You know, one of the other things I was going to choose was England's response to New Zealand scoring 570 at Trent Bridge and every other team you know this from watching cricket for years every other team after they've conceded 570

they're going well the draw is the only option when England's approach was well if we're going to win this game we've got to go really hard we've got to get as close as possible they're actually in trouble at one point and four down for 160 odd

and they came powering on and this is what I love about what's happened to English cricket since really June of this year that in both white ball and red ball cricket there's this determination to get the victory from whatever position you are in

through aggressive cricket and those two things exemplify it but for most of all there was also the satisfaction of being in Australia watching England win and beat the favourites India so comprehensively it was brilliant to be there It was quite nice turning up to the MCG

and at that level near our broadcasting box was a huge great big sort of entertainment area isn't there laid out normally for catering yeah there was a sign up already for bCCI and there's nobody there everything laid up good to go nobody showed so yes a little bit of satisfaction from an england perspective anyway we're used to being taught all about t20 cricket aren't we from india but that was that was an extraordinary day there at adelaide thank you very much indeed dan we've got a few moments to go and simon and man actually it's gone for a moment on this tour

Ali's on his way Bowles to Stokes it charges him and hits him into the leg side that breaks the record how far has it gone waiting for the umpire it's gone all the way 500 and two for four in the 75th

over on the first day of a test series well incredible day it's not necessarily back to that isn't it just the sort of disbelief of it all really I just went for the commentary, Jonathan. The quality of the commentary.

Thank you. I mean, 500 in a day. I still can't believe they did it. 500 in a day. It's a short day, isn't it? And 75 overs. And in a way, that's the culmination of what they've been trying to do all year. And remember the questions before this tour was,

oh, you can do it in England, you know, you can do it against New Zealand, South Africa, whatever. Can you do it in Pakistan on slow, low pitches where the ball is turning? Goodness me, they could. Three hundreds on that first day. Duck it and Crawley. and Pope, and then Brooke got one as well. He made 153, and they got them in 75 overs.

I mean, it's stunning. It was a flat pitch, but you've still got to have the attitude to go out there and do it and to pull it off, really, to have the, whatever it is, the drive to go and pull it off, really. I think of those innings that you talk about, I'll remember Crawley's actually. I thought that was just because he just began very positively. Remember that the first ball, he left alone outside the off stump, And the rest of the over went for, was it, 14. 14 of the over, yeah.

First over. And I can remember at the back of the box, Artif was here, and Victor, they were talking. And, you know, it was about an hour into the day's play. And they were saying, oh, if they're going on like this, they're going to score 480. I remember scoffing at them. I remember going, you can't score 480 in a day's test cricket.

But they managed to score 506 for 4 at the end of that day's play. The other highlight of the year, I mean, there are so many. That's the thing. It's really hard to pick out highlight. We're looking for significant moments, aren't we? But I think, yeah, that was sort of the culmination of the year in a way. And it also showed their intent on this tour, which they, you know, they pulled it off. And the other one was just a sort of rogue moment, really, or a rogue series of balls.

It was Bumra's 35 off and over of Stuart Broad at Edgberston. And, you know, you'd say 35 off and over in a test match, the most expensive over ever, and 500 in a day. What about that for a year of test cricket? Well, looking back, and you cover a lot of it, Simon. I mean, to come from, well, from Hobart, which is. which is where I chose this thing to start us off really and how we all felt and how it was there then. It does seem remarkable that here we are in Karachi

less than a year on. The series already won, possibly the first team ever to beat Pakistan in Pakistan 3-0. They've had a very good start to doing that today. I mean, you wouldn't have thought that was remotely possible and with Grenada thrown in there as well and just that red ball reset and all that stuff the absolute wreckage that there was of English cricket

in March, the end of March, beginning of April how they've come this far is incredible. Yeah, well I remember watching Hobart from my hotel rooms. I was suffering from COVID. I'm not sure what was worse, watching Hobart or suffering from COVID in Sydney. Well, I was watching it and suffering from COVID for a distance, so it was a double wabby, but yeah, they were

such a low air and of course that was, you know, another really poor Ashley's series from an England perspective. And I remember Ashley Giles on that interviewing him before the Sydney Test match, he said, you can change the coach, you can change the captain, you can change me, but it won't make a bit of difference

because of the system. Well, look where we are a year later. They've done all those, they've done all three of those things, and well, I think it's fair to say it has made a bit of a difference. How much longevity it's got, well, who knows, but I think we're all already,

and we always do, don't we? We look forward to Ashley's series, but we're all looking forward to how that might pan out next summer and how they're going to play. Would they declare 340 ahead, you know, give Australia a dart at the end of a test match in the ashes like they did here in Pakistan on a flat pitch? Yeah. I don't know. It is interesting because you've done like what most of us are all doing and there's always that, we don't know if it'll last very long or we're not sure about this.

But so far, I mean, Ben Stokes like that field alteration a couple days ago, you know, where he brings that in and what happens, next ball gets hit to precisely, you know, the trap was so set. everything is going as they want at the moment. The declaration, really? Oh, yeah, we'll win the game. We can't help at the moment, still say, I'm not sure about this. How can it go on? And I wonder, well, what will turn out to be the way that it pans out in the end, whether you can, whether this is sustainable or not.

I mean, it's great for watching it. But it is that lingering question. Is it sustainable? You talked to the opposition. I talked to Razor Ali the other day. At Moulton, he's saying, we can't play like this other teams are saying

no we're not interested in that the Australians no we're not playing like this they've got Ron Ball yeah absolutely you know Baz Ball has been remarkable it's been an incredible year and thanks to everyone for just throwing in their thoughts there

illustrated by some interview clips and bits of commentary and so on through the course of this year but that was certainly fun looking back at it. The TMS podcast from BBC Radio 5 Live.