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Good evening, Welcome to the Unplayable Podcast.

A great day for Australia here at the Adelaide Oval in the third NRMA Insurance Test Match.

They lead England by one hundred and fifty eight runs.

The English only have two wickets in hand.

We saw a great bowling display from the Australians today and they rightfully have the stronger position in this game.

It might be the best bowling performance I've scene from this Australian attack and at this current iteration of it.

We know there's been a few different members of them over the journey, but in what were just horrific bowling conditions, it must be said.

I mean, I think it was forty one forty two on the Mercury that we could kind of see.

But then the mini mandrid noticed before said that their reading was forty seven.

So that kind of cauldron like atmosphere that has stayed and creates made it even hotter out there, and they barely bowled a bad ball all day.

It was relentless.

It was on probably the flattest pitch of the series, a slow wicket.

An England side that has been demanded to fight by their captain and fight like a dog.

Well, we didn't see a whole lot of it apart from the skipper himself, and but you know, you can understand it when a bowling attack is that good.

Definitely.

Yeah.

Pat Cummins and Nathan Lyon both came in and they both made early in roads into this England eleven.

That was after Mitch Stark got to his second fifty in a row and got Australia's total up to three hundred and seventy one.

Probably not a heap to talk about there, other than Josh Racher getting a five wid Hall, which I thought was pretty well deserved in the end.

Yeah.

Well, I mean, subsequently we saw a bit of footage of Archer and Stokes kind of having a bit of a barmie with each other, which I kind of I saw a little bit at the time, but I didn't think it was that bad.

But then the television replays later on in the day, conveniently played when England had kind of collapsed, made it look a lot worse.

I don't know if that was really the case.

I mean, these things do happen, you know, you have disagreements on the field and you settle it pretty quickly.

I wouldn't read heaps into it, but you know, there was that.

But then there's also the fact that I think we kind of felt like Australia were unders you know last night going in what was about three twenty five.

They've added nearly fifty to get the three seven one.

But it felt like, you know, if you didn't have a four in front of that first inning total, you left yourself vulnerable to you know, to a team who can score really quickly.

It wasn't the case, no, I mean I was having a look at the previous day matches here in Adelaide and the first inning scores.

Well, this is only the third day match here in the last decade, but West Indies scored one hundred and eighty eight in twenty three twenty four, and then India when they won in twenty eighteen nineteen, scored only two fifty.

So it's not as if there'd been really big totals on the opening day here for the red ball cricket.

But maybe we were all saying mae, Australia under But maybe and Ben Stokes's reaction showed it.

Maybe they thought they were right on path.

Yeah, yeah, I still think Australia under a chief with the bat And you know we've said it a few times on this podcast, like this Australian group, the batting team just doesn't up and then their bowling attack goes to work.

Gee, they were incredible today.

And you think, you know, half of the front line bowlers in line and pack commons, you know, bow two overs between them in the series.

Coming into this game, pac come Ands hadn't played a Test in five months.

They were just remarkable.

They were so good Bowland.

We'll probably get none of the plauded today, but I thought he was, you know, just every bit as good as you as he was in Brisbane.

Nathan Lyon comes in and takes two wickets in his first over and pat like that.

You know, we talk so much about that extra bounce that he gets out of nowhere that just kind of leaps on batters and gets outside edges.

Well, that was on display, very very early as well.

There's been a lot of criticism so far this serious for England's batting and the shots that they've been getting out on.

Well, there weren't too many of those today because they were out to a lot of great deliveries.

Zach Crawley, Ben Duckett.

Maybe the only Pope one was a bit of a loss of concentration, but Joe Root and Harry Brook all fell to really good deliveries close to unplayable really.

Maybe Ben Duckett played a little bit Outsideay's line, but I mean the ones from Cummens who had Alex Carey in the game again with another five catches.

Not much you can really do about those.

Yeah, well it is an interesting one.

Yeah, Like you did feel that England played a little bit differently.

I mean, Harry Brook scored it a good clip, Ben Duckett scored it.

A good clip.

Yeah, they all You're right, I reckon They did all get undone by very good deliveries.

I mean that Crawley won geez, like he did well to edge that and that wasn't much more he could done.

Look duck at angled blade against a ride I'm off spinner from around the wicked could he have kind of covered that, like you'd rather probably rather nick that or go out everyw then get bowld by it and beaten on you outside edge and then to get hit off stump.

You know Joe Root pushing at one, was he thinking about the bouncer that had admittedly hit for four two balls earlier?

But you know there was just a tentative step forward.

I reckon he would have been disappointed in his footwork.

There is going to be accusations of mixed messages from Miss England camp, like this whole bas ball movement has been based on aggression.

The assistant coach, Marcus Strascothic, the batting coach, said that basically their whole ethos is about taking the putting pressure back on the bowlers.

I think is his word as a starting point.

And then if you need to absorb pressure, that's you know, the giving of pressure, the putting on of pressure is the default option and then anything else is a divergence from that.

Will you know the way Stokes has been talking about and showing fight, well like I think that's more about absorbing pressure like that.

To me, you know, showing fight isn't getting caught long off potentially you know, trying to hit a guy out of the attack, and in the past they've kind of said, well that's fine if guys get out doing that, well, you know, what's the difference between that and playing a forward defense and getting out?

So yeah, you know, potentially could they have Was this a day for baseball?

Was this?

Yeah?

Okay, Australia's bowlers are on top.

Cummins is bowling a dream Stark, we know how good he is.

Was it the data to attack them off their lengths?

You know, they didn't pursue that option, and Stokes was kind of really the only one who was.

Able to follow the plan that it looked.

Like that'd set today and maybe that was the initial plan.

I mean, they came out pretty aggressively, as they always do.

Crawley induct and Ducket hit five fours, but then they lost three for five and we just crippled really immediately, so they had to sort of reevaluate.

Perhaps I want to get your take on Pat Cummins.

Obviously his return both five spells today, three of them are only two overs each.

Obviously he's trying to ease himself back into the game, but he still managed to have an impact.

Even with these really short spells.

It's amazing to think that he has not bowled a ball in proper in a cricket game since July.

You know, an interesting process that he's gone through to get here.

So he had the back skin and during that Jamaica Test in July didn't look great.

Came back to Australia four weeks later, scan looked even worse.

Four months I think it was sixteen weeks off bowling completely.

And you know, if they were if this was a normal kind of if there was anything other than.

Ashes, he's probably resting the whole summer trying to get it right.

But they fast track his recovery.

He manages to basically look fully fit for that Perth Test, but they just keep him on eyes for those next two.

They go pretty close to blaying him in Brisbane under an over's restriction.

But you know, they having won the first Test and then obviously winning the second Test, they were just in the perfect position to unleash him today and he hadn't missed a beat like you could.

There has been signs of rust before when he's come off a long layoff.

I think of the Perth Test last summer against India.

He was by a lot of full balls in that game.

Australia lost the game.

The World Test Championship Final in twenty twenty three, he bowed ten no balls.

Both of those games were coming off not a lot of first class cricket, if any first class cricket leading into those matches, so you know, we were all kind of watching him forty degree heat as hard as it's going to get.

He was spectacular today.

I thought, did we touched on the Crawley dismissal?

The Joe rupeball was also, you know, just a peach that nipped.

Away just a little bit.

And then amid some DRS kind of drama late in the day, he gets Jamie Smith.

I mean, I feel like I'm already sick of talking about the DRS, but not I feel like we probably do have to touch on it.

We better wait into it just a little bit.

Pat Cawins, I just touched on his figures there three for fifty four from fourteen overs today and the twelfth time has dismissed Joe routes across all Test crickets.

So we know that they've both played a lot of Tests and against each other, but he certainly got the wood over the Star of England.

But that DRS stuff.

Okay, we had the controversy yesterday with Alex Carey.

I mean he basically admitted that he hit that ball and then the frames didn't line up.

Today they said that they had recalibrated it.

England got their review back that they lost yesterday.

Did they did the operators actually say that they'd recalibrated?

Is that?

What is that kind of what you'd heard?

Because I saw the they admitted it was faulty yesterday.

I wasn't sure if they said that.

They'd been that wasn't part of the statement.

But I mean, if you're going to say that it was wrong, then.

You you probably wouldn't.

You wouldn't admit it was wrong at all if you knew that you couldn't fix it.

I suppose, yeah.

So and the other bit, Sorry, just to add there was that Brendan McCullum had a meeting with match referee last night, you know, like not complaining essentially, and the review got reinstated.

That they'd lost on.

The on the Alex Carey one on seventy two that cost him about thirty four runs, maybe more if you include run scored at the other end, so that that was significant in a sense as well, that there was an a mission of fault there.

Yeah, and the England team had sort of already been aggrieved that there were a couple maybe earlier in the series that didn't they thought didn't quite line up.

And so then today when Jamie Smith was hit on the helmet by Pat Cummins, well the third I said he was hit on the helmet, but replays sort of were a bit inconclusive about what it actually hit, whether it was glove or helmet, ball balloon to Kwaja, probably didn't carry to him.

So there was all this sort of controversy going on, and then the following over.

Just before we go to the next one.

What was your opinion on that because I was I didn't watch with any of the commentary.

I was kind of watching the images on silent.

Yeah, so it looked like to me a glove because when the umpire then asked Smith to get a concussion test, because Ben Stokes looked completely confused and yeah, as if to say, why would he need a concussion test because it.

Was Smith's shut up, shut up, shut up, shut up.

So yeah, there was all that sort of stuff.

But that was and that was confusing again because the pictures maybe look like they didn't marry up with the the audio.

There was just a murmur at best, and not no sort of spike that you might expect if it brushes a glove or something like that.

So and then maybe Kawhda didn't take the care anyway.

Well that's the most likely situation, right, yeah, because I think the third umpire was heard saying, oh, it's bounced before he'd even got to that point.

So that was the first time Cummins and came back to the following over bowler, another sort of short of a length ball.

Smith has tried to pull it, he's missed it, supposedly, and then Kerry's taken the catch.

A very half hearted appeal from Cummins, but umpire men and.

Gives it out.

They go upstairs and Jamie Smith is ready to review.

He's making the signal, but he can't review if it's an umpire review for court, just checking if it was a legitimate catch.

So again there's more controversy about the order of operation of these DAR reviews.

It looked like both sides were ready to review the decision if it went again regardless, and I felt we had to chat about this and we should make this clear that I really feel like the umpires, no one should be criticizing the umpires in this, least of all the on field umpires because Nitton Mennon, the guy who was at the end for Pat Cummins on both of these decisions.

He can't make a soft signal.

Right, that's like that's been a radit that was e radicated two years ago, and that kind of gave I mean, I felt like that was an important part.

I know why they scrapped it, but for the viewers and maybe even for the people on the players on the ground, it was kind of a It showed what the decision was, like, what the ump I thought, whether.

It's out or not.

We're discussion earlier in the day and you pointed out that he basically gave both of those out even but like you know, the Aussie team are kind of going, hang on like that's out, that's out, that's out, and presumably men it is saying to them, yeah, I've given it out.

I'm just not giving the soft signal.

They want to influence Chris Gaffney, who's doing television replay.

Yeah, and Men doesn't call to check the catch if he's not giving it out in the first place, if he's giving it night out, then the Australians have a decision to make whether they want to review it.

Yeah, that's right.

And that's the other really confusing video.

I mean, if you're not a cricket fan, you know you're surely not listening to this podcast at this point anymore.

Yeah, But like if you are a cricket fan, this these kind of the minutia matters, right.

Neither team reviewed these decisions because Men in both instances was checking whether it was a clean catch and was effectively saying, yes, I think the batter has hit it.

In the first instance, Gaffney, the television umpire, then said no, he hasn't hit I don't think he's hit it.

And then the second instance he goes, well, I do think he has hit it, and that was didn't pass near the helmet.

That probably I think that was probably the right decision.

Like there was a spike around the time the ball passed a bat.

It didn't marry up perfectly, I've got to say, but it kind of looked like it kind of brushed the toe of the bat on the way through.

I don't know what else that could have been.

Often you watch the batter for their reaction to see whether that gives it is a tell as.

To what has happened.

But I think Smith was just going to review anything because they've obviously had a chat and just gone well, like, it's an absolute lottery with the RTS at the moment.

It's not marrying up and though they've tried to it sounds like they tried to recalibrate it, but I don't think they've successfully done so if it's not marrying up perfectly, then that's.

A good point.

And Smith had that.

Scenario in Perth where he was given out and he started to walk before he reviewed, and then he was upset that he was given out even though he was walking.

So he's surely been given acting lessons between tests one and test three.

But look, you can understand I'm a Mitchell Stark had some strong words to say into the stunt microphone.

He basically said, snickers, what was the exact quote?

It needs to be sacked.

Needs to be sacked, yep.

I mean, isn't a human being like it's it's a piece of technology.

It does sound.

I haven't gone deep into the weeds with this stuff, but it does sound like there is a more expensive version of this technology that is available to broadcasters that hasn't been taken up, and I believe it hasn't been taken up for tests in Australia before.

Weirdly enough, the onus actually falls on the broadcasters, and I believe Trent Copeland on Channel seven was kind of talking about this and making a fair point, although there is an element of self interest in this that you know, the bosses at Channel seven or Fox would be saying, well, let's put it on the ICC to actually pay for this technology, and they look, they probably have a point like if you know, if they're going to have this stuff, let's be fair to income about and let's get the best technology available because what we're using currently isn't working.

Yeah, and you want it to be fair and even and uniform across the board, ideally in all test matches, don't you.

So that would be the way to do that.

Yeah, that's right.

And look, the other thing is like Jamie Smith walks off the ground like he's the most unlucky bloke in the world.

Like, mate, they just set the most obvious shortball trap to you.

You had like literally three blokes, one guy just in front of square on the leg side, one guy behind, and then another guy at deep midwick and he's still trying to take him on and hit six.

Like, yes, you hit a couple of sixers, but you're gonna you're just going to get out if you keep trying that on a slow pitch.

And like, you know, even if the other one wasn't out, even if there was some doubt over this one, he was playing with fire.

He's averaging fifteen for the series.

Don't reckon.

He can really say it's down to technology.

Lou I want to get to the liquor.

Land cheers to that moment.

And we've got a good one today because Harry Brooke was racing along at forty five of sixty three today hit a beautiful six over the off side of Scott Bowland, reminiscent of that one we saw in Perth.

And then Cameron Green was throwing the ball just as Harry Brook and Ben Stokes had sort of put together a fifty run stand.

They were forging a comeback, and Cameron Green, with his third ball, manages to bowl an absolute crackeut.

Let's be fair, it was right on the money.

He'd started with a couple of short length deliveries.

He had two men back for the poor hookshot, just in case it was extra short, and maybe that played on Brooks by just a little bit.

Brook was sort of caught on the crease, a bit caught behind, and the Cameron Green with a.

Real show of emotion.

We don't see a lot of emotion from the big vuler, but there was a big jump and a big fist pump and a big celebration from him.

Yeah, it would have been a bit in that, I reckon.

And you think back to his last two batting innings, like in Brisbane he got out in that ugly way trying to back away and hit casts through the off side, and then on day one of this Test he's gotten out second ball, offering a pretty limp catch in the first over after lunch, so you know he's probably really feeling a little bit.

His place in the team was questioned, I saw from some of the reports yesterday, so you know there's a bit of emotion there.

But you know, the beauty with a play like him is if you failed with the bat, you've got a massive chance with the ball.

He got the ball pretty late.

I thought I thought there might be some kind of injury concern over him, because I reckon it was probably about the third thirty seven thirty there you go, thirty seventh over before he got to go.

And on a hot day, you would have thought Pat would have been going to everyone and cycling through them pretty early.

But so he's got slightly soft the ball, and yeah, it was just an absolute cracker.

Like Brooke just looked at it and just going hang on, like I've gotten through.

I got through bowl, and I got through Cummins negotiated line.

He hit a cracking shot off bowland and over or two before that, over cover for six.

You know, he's just started to hit his straps and then oh yeah, we'll just throw the ball to the six foot seven or rounder guy who hasn't bowled yet.

Oh yeah, he bowl one hundred and forty five clicks as well, and see you later.

I think that's why I keep saying today was one of the best bowling efforts I've seen.

Yeah, and Brooks' reaction certainly said a lot, didn't that he just sort of twelve the bat on his hand and stared at the pitch and thought what more can I do?

Sort of thing.

So Scott Boland he had a great day, especially that final spell in that third session five overs for mate and two for one in oppressive heat, it must be said.

Nathan Lion said it was up there with the hottest conditions he's ever played in and competitive to the sub continent, and he's played over one hundred Test matches and played in some really draining days, so a lot of credit has to go to the Victorian quick there.

He's had a lot of critics coming to the series.

A lot of English journals were saying that, you know, the baseballs take care of him as they did in twenty twenty three.

But so far this series he's got nine wickets at an average of twenty eight and only Joff for Archer has a better economy rate so far in the series.

So it's a big tick for Scott Bold.

He's been incredible.

It would have been a discussion, I reckon whether they pick him or Nissa for this Test.

We know the mcg's coming up and you'd be a brave selection panel to leave him out there.

But it might not matter if Australia can wrap things up here.

Worth dwelling on Nathan Line a little bit today as well, like it goes past Glen mc grath.

You know, he was only level with Glen McGrath for a couple of balls before he got his second wicket In that over, McGrath looked like he lifted the chair.

Above his head and that was actual celebration.

Yeah, and you know now i'd ask you, Josh, like he's only got worn in front of him in terms of Australians, he's what five six four, about one hundred and fifty or less than one hundred and fifty away from warning seven eight?

Any chance we.

Can never write him off, especially because he keeps talking about making the ashes and the to gave a Sched trophy in twenty twenty seven, doesn't he?

And you know he's looking as fit as he ever has he He rarely gets injured.

He had that calf strain of course at the Ashes, but I mean he's just so durable, he's so consistent and he was able to come in today and impact straight away as if he'd been bowling the whole series when he'd only had two overs way back in Perth.

So you'd be a brave man to write him off.

Yeah.

Well, and you know, like I know, it's only not only off spin, but it's a people will say, you know, spin doesn't take quite as much out of you, but you know, like it puts a lot of strain on your shoulder.

And he's now thirty, he's about to turn thirty nine.

I reckon the next few months, he's certainly thirty eight.

Yeah.

Was he Quadra's thirty ninth birthday today?

Out of happy birthday is one?

Yeah, out of interest?

So you know that he's getting older and older, and there's gonna be question marks over whether he's putting as many ReBs on the balls as he as he used to.

He's been left out two of the last three tests, so you know, like he had a point.

Prove, I reckon, and he proved it today.

He'll have a big say as well in this fourth innings of this match as well.

You would imagine there's already been a bit of turn that we've seen, so that'll continue to increase as the match progresses.

Should we finish with the BBL grid game, Well.

The only other thing I was going to say was I just reckon we should give up Archer a bit more love.

We did it yesterday.

He ended up taking five for today.

I really deserve five for came despite getting that bait from from Ben Stokes.

But then you know, after all that, like he's the one at the end of the day thirty not out standing firm with his skipper.

He's scored a lot more runs and we've scored a lot more.

He's scored more runs and all of his top order bar Brook and Stokes obviously as well.

So that showed, you know, showed a lot of ticker.

I reckoned with ball and bat.

He came under question, you know in Brisbane for you know, only cranking it up when when was on the line.

Well, this game is on the line for that team, and you know he showed a bit.

So yeah, I just really rate Joff for how he's responded in this Test so far.

And Stokes too.

I mean he was hit on the helmet in the second session.

He was cramping a lot during that third session.

I now he's put the baseball away.

But yeah, a lot of credit has to go to him for staying out there for one hundred and fifty balls three or four hours.

He was out there in really tough conditions.

He was struggling.

He had the towel on his head.

At the two drinks breaks per session which we had, he was lying down, he was doing stretches, he was popping pills, he was doing all sorts of things.

And he's going to be out there tomorrow.

We know what he's capable of.

We've seen him dig in against Australia before.

Is there something else to come from Ben Stokes in this series?

Yeah, that'll be interesting watch tomorrow.

Now, both of them would would be good BBL grew dancers, Josh, because if you had a square that was either Melbourne Renegades or Hobart Hurricanes players and then another square that was international players, Yeah, you could use those two for one of them.

I was on the meltonur Renegade supplementary list.

Funnily enough, when Ben Stokes played the randicame, do you remember Bollington in Net?

I shoul should ask him.

I can almost guarantee he wouldn't remember that, but yeah, that'd be good answers in your good game.

That's my attempt to segue.

I could thank you.

That was great.

Well, my best score today came from the Hilton cart right teammate on one line and then on the other line.

I had BBL debut after BBL ten, BBL team the last five seasons.

What are we up to now, BBL six sixteen, so last Yeah, it's almost post pandemic.

Yeah, post at Cartwright teammate.

Yeah, post pandemic.

When did so he's played for the Stars and the Scorches.

Yeah, just Stars in that timeframe.

Oh right, okay, just Stars.

So you want a unique Melbourne Stars teammate of Hilton cart right, Liam bow.

That Yeah, that would have been pretty in the last six seasons.

Not sure any debut.

I went for one of the COVID top up players if you remember that little scary ye Charlie Wakem Stars debut zero point three percent, So I'll take that one.

Yeah, that's pretty good.

I might have gone I wouldn't have been as rare, But like Tom Rogers, he's kind of kicked on.

I reckon now he's he's more permanent that Star's side.

Yeah, no, Charlie Wakem, I don't reckon.

I could beat that in terms of the rarity, but I'm sure some of our listeners are probably screaming some obscure Melbourne Stars big bash names into their into their phones.

Get onto the Big Bash app and play the good game.

Lou A great day for Australia.

Here can they continue to push forward the advantage on Day three?

You'll find out on the unplaper podcast