36.

And a year and a, year and a half, year and a bit up to the Ashes, that's quite a lot of cricket for a, a player of his age.

Uh, Brook was considered to be a vice-captain, a legitimate vice-captain this time last year.

They gave him the job as the white ball skipper, and the perception was during the, the, um, the winter that he was doing okay in that role.

McCullum spoke warmly about his maturity levels after the incident in Christchurch, blah, blah, blah.

So if they thought that he was a leadership contender a year ago, surely with all the experience he's since garnered, he becomes more of a leadership option now for that test team.

And yet it seems like they're leaning towards Root, because they think that's the pragmatic way of doing things.

Do you think that's the sort of approach we need to bring back?

AshesJustify the means, i.e. retaining the inherent extremities of McCullum and Stokes, and pretending they're gonna be anything different than what they, than what they are

Uh, if the ends are winning next summer, next English summer, uh, against Australia, then that justifies everything.

Um, but that remains the, the million-dollar question.

Um, this particular year is a kind of like, like a year of drift, like a summer of...

It, it's gonna be an empty summer.

Um, the, the, the intrigue comes from whether England can balls it up this summer, and, you know, they don't tend to at home.

You know, they, they've lost two series at home in, in the last 20-odd years or so.

[laughs]

Who have you got, Phil, and why? Shall we start with our Kiwis against the Proteas?

Yeah, I think you have to.

Eden Gardens is the scene for that one tomorrow afternoon, UK time.

And it's an intriguing game.

I actually spoke to, you might know him, Paul Ford, who's involved with the Beige Brigade down in your neck of the woods.

And I chatted to him actually this morning and he made the point that if South Africa have a bogey team, then it may well be New Zealand.

And that history...

It's just one player could even make a difference in this one.

Who have you got, Phil, and why? Shall we start with our Kiwis against the Proteas?

Yeah, I think you have to.

Eden Gardens is the scene for that one tomorrow afternoon, UK time.

And it's an intriguing game.

I actually spoke to, you might know him, Paul Ford, who's involved with the Beige Brigade down in your neck of the woods.

And I chatted to him actually this morning and he made the point that if South Africa have a bogey team, then it may well be New Zealand.

And that history...

It's just one player could even make a difference in this one.

to be effective in australia um do you think michael nice has probably showed that

well it's ironic isn't it from an english perspective because for many many years we would take a squad of bowlers out to australia who are medium fast who are lethal in chelmsford and derby and cheltenham and all of these places bit of a Duke's wobble in April and May in England and come to Australia and get blown away.

But of course, the pitches have shifted and changed in Australia in recent times.

These kind of traditional English style bowlers may have actually got a bit of purchase this winter out in Australia.

As it is, they've gone with pace and outright pace and bounce.

And while it's had some...

It's been profitable in certain occasions here and there.

So who are the guys that potentially you feel hard done by to look at and go and say, hey, that top three, you know, with the next series maybe looming against New Zealand and England, who are the guys that's going to be knocking the door down to be able to say, hey, I can take over from a Zach Crawley or Ben Duckett or Jacob Bethel?

to be effective in australia um do you think michael nice has probably showed that

well it's ironic isn't it from an english perspective because for many many years we would take a squad of bowlers out to australia who are medium fast who are lethal in chelmsford and derby and cheltenham and all of these places bit of a Duke's wobble in April and May in England and come to Australia and get blown away.

But, of course, the pitches have shifted and changed in Australia in recent times.

And...

These kind of traditional English style bowlers may have actually got a bit of purchase this winter out in Australia.

As it is, they've gone with pace and outright pace and bounce.

And while it's had some, it's been profitable in certain occasions here and there, it's also been proved wanting as well.

So who are the guys that potentially you feel hard done by to look at and go and say, hey, that top three, you know, with the next series maybe looming against New Zealand and England, who are the guys that's going to be knocking the door down to be able to say, hey, I can take over from a Zach Crawley, a Ben Duckett or a Jacob Biffle?

yeah but

they're in i know it's it's shocking but there entails a couple of stories that are quite key to this whole whole farago of a test series really that not only have obviously england's england's batters woefully underperformed um their good players have been average at best and they're Average players have been useless.

But Australia's top order, middle order, have not been especially great either.

And this is the frustration from an English point of view.

Australia got bundled out of 140-odd first innings of this series at Perth.

Left a few out there at Brisbane, although they played pretty well.

Their lower order did anyway, and Stark made 77 at Brisbane.

The unfortunate thing is we don't get to see the pyrotechnics from Ben Stokes because no one has given him a foundation to showcase what he can do.

oh my goodness yeah

but they're in i know it's it's shocking but there entails a couple of stories that are quite key to this whole whole farago of a test series really that not only have obviously england's england's batters woefully underperformed um their good players have been average at best and they're Average players have been useless.

But Australia's top order, middle order, have not been especially great either.

And this is the frustration from an English point of view.

Australia got bundled out of 140-odd first innings of this series at Perth.

Left a few out there at Brisbane, although they played pretty well.

Their lower order did anyway, and Stark made 77 at Brisbane.

The unfortunate thing is we don't get to see the pyrotechnics from Ben Stokes because no one has given him a foundation to showcase what he can do.

Is that what makes it even tougher? Because people do believe in what he has to say.

Yeah, it does sting all the more because there is definitely something to work with here for sure.

And we were all in thrall to Brendan McCullum as a cricket and culture when he first emerged and he wowed the bods at the ECB and initially was this breath of fresh air.

But as tends to happen with English cricket, The critics are always around the corner and it's not so much in the media, although they'd like to take their pound of flesh.

It spreads, it permeates further than that.

And the under the line warriors and the keyboard warriors and social media being increasingly toxified and so on and so on.

It feels like the discourse around him, Stokes, the whole movement, the whole culture, has turned quite ugly quite quickly.

there's a disconnect there.

So much so that now there's... questions being asked about who's going to replace him he's two tests into a five test series he had a plan people wanted to believe in the plan is that what makes it even tougher because people do believe in what he has to say

Yeah, it does sting all the more because there is definitely something to work with here for sure.

And we were all in thrall to Brendan McCullum as a cricket and culture when he first emerged and he wowed the bods at the ECB and initially was this breath of fresh air.

But as tends to happen with English cricket, the critics are always around the corner and it's not so much in the media, although they'd like to take their pound of flesh.

It permeates further than that.

And the under the line warriors and the keyboard warriors and social media being increasingly toxified and so on and so on.

It feels like the discourse around him, Stokes, the whole movement, the whole culture, has turned quite ugly quite quickly.

And so do you think some of the criticism from the likes of Boycott and others has been warranted, or is it just a little bit out of proportion, to use your phrase, to what's actually going on here?