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visit 1-800-flowers.com/ACAST. That's 1-800-flowers.com/ACAST. You're

1:24

listening to Following On here

1:26

on TalkSport2 with me Neil Manthorpe, along

1:29

with Double Ashes winner, Steve Harmison. The 2024 County Championship

1:32

season starts this week and that's

1:34

the centre of our

1:36

focus. We'll hear exclusively from Surrey

1:38

captain Rory Burns, who's been a key player

1:40

in the team's development and has been a key player

1:43

in the team's development and has been

1:45

a key player in the team's development and has

1:47

been a key player in the team's development and

1:49

has been a key player in the team's development

1:51

and has been a key player in the team's

1:54

development Have

2:00

the other only Robinson swing to us

2:02

as well ahead of the new campaign

2:04

cited. Rumble Lloyd will join us to

2:06

discuss licenses, hopes and the news that

2:08

nice and lion will say have reduced

2:10

roll with the county and now that

2:12

his workload is being managed by Cricket

2:14

Australia As I said England and Sussex

2:16

So fast bowler Ali Robinson joins us

2:18

for a wide ranging chats and we

2:21

also he the thoughts of Davos s

2:23

set of cricket Mickey Asa emigrate friend

2:25

of this program. If that's not enough

2:27

will bring you the final word. As

2:29

always say plenty. To come over the

2:31

next hour you're listening to say Living

2:33

on. Sorry

2:38

aiming for three titles in Iraq Army

2:41

and that's where we began as they

2:43

look to give Alec Stewart the dream

2:45

farewell up with a hat trick of

2:48

titles. but it will hear this from

2:50

a number of people coming up. It's

2:52

a very very strong division isn't it

2:54

was. sorry Hampshire, Essex, Durham and Lancaster

2:57

and that's pretty being unfair to the

2:59

other for, but I mean that that

3:01

those did four or five very very

3:04

strong counties New can see all of

3:06

them mounting a very strong winning. Campaign.

3:09

Yeah. Absolutely. I think that a series

3:11

to lose because the been in this

3:13

position we are many many for many

3:15

many years and the been very very

3:17

strong the start of Alex Ten Ship

3:20

it it's Director of Cricket is built

3:22

a very very strong you know who

3:24

with with anybody jealous of got money

3:26

the got a huge amount of plans

3:28

to pick from a top top talent

3:30

the class pick from ah met and

3:32

at for me it's always to lose

3:35

both I would say it for me

3:37

the. It's got it's. got a

3:39

chance to be the best championship. For.

3:42

Many many years the strongest championship first

3:44

vision for many, many years and arguably

3:46

the best talent pool. oh man of

3:49

players in that first division full possibly

3:51

fifteen twenty years. so it should be

3:53

intriguing to how it goes. the going

3:55

to have to be mans because seven

3:58

games in your city shots. The

4:00

time till the end of April,

4:02

Eight till the end of May

4:04

I think I'm a It's like

4:06

you said before this probably six

4:08

teams that who can potentially challenge

4:10

sorry at the top of the

4:12

table and but said that I

4:14

think so Riyadh are.just. Just.

4:16

The ahead of everybody else because the of

4:19

the com for the third title and the

4:21

got some the Good: a bigger talent pool

4:23

of players because of the amount of games

4:25

in such a short space. The.

4:28

Work ethic and skills of for head

4:30

coach and our friend Gareth buddies As

4:32

I think I'm not a fully appreciated

4:34

by by everybody but one of his

4:37

greatest skills I think it's keeping everybody

4:39

happy. Assists that is twenty one and

4:41

twenty two players they can the last

4:44

two seasons in the championship as I

4:46

won the title and you know to

4:48

to keep guys happy there. Any playing

4:50

once a month is that takes a

4:53

great skill. Anyway let's hear from. Sorry.

4:55

Captain Rory Burns. thus the outcome that every

4:57

once in Iowa teams now division one com

5:00

and of yeah you know as a local

5:02

law have white guys right now and then

5:04

add stronger live alone I'll be mumps a

5:06

gun That process of a nice back in

5:08

November the sea us that we're here nicer

5:10

things and moving on says now get over

5:12

last back together and and so open about

5:15

that So am Jazz were excited and big

5:17

news came out last week student and sat

5:19

down at the end of the calendar year

5:21

to salvage an impact as he had on

5:23

you as a cricketer. Yeah.

5:25

Massive. I mean the sheer families had

5:27

a pretty big an impact on on

5:30

muckraking career and his brother Nail How's

5:32

Spies one of his disciples from for

5:34

about six Silence? yeah I've had a

5:36

big influence Sam, it was simply be

5:38

a very different place. Me with a

5:40

gaffe, an Athena Am Commons and the

5:42

for as a eleven or twelve years

5:44

am yeah society says ten minutes sought

5:46

to rebel camp for him on my

5:48

So I'm yeah we'll be looking to

5:51

send him out the best we can

5:53

and ah yes, may minimize and for

5:55

us. And co in done Lawrence

5:57

over the Windsor How much that help

5:59

sports. keep on their toes a bit and not

6:01

get complacent. You've won a couple of championships now and

6:04

every year you had it done last year, you had

6:06

it done this year. Keep that

6:08

lack of complacency, yes, keep you on your toes.

6:11

Yeah, obviously Dan's a very fine

6:13

player. I've been able to

6:16

see him up close, I've done a few tours with

6:18

him and those sort of things and to add him

6:20

into our ranks is brilliant. Obviously,

6:23

adds with ball as well as bat. So

6:27

yeah, he's excited to get it going.

6:29

It's really good for us and we're

6:31

looking forward to it. Just how challenging

6:33

going back to the championship this year will it be for you

6:35

to try and attack it and go

6:38

again given the amount of quality in the league? You

6:40

see Durham come up on what they've done

6:43

under Ryan Campbell, got Lancashire, Essex, Hampshire, who

6:45

are constant challengers, I guess. Is

6:47

this probably the healthiest the champion has been in

6:49

quite a while? Yeah, I mean

6:51

it looks a very strong division, doesn't it? And

6:53

like you say, some of those sides on paper are

6:56

very good teams. Yeah,

6:59

it's very competitive, it's always competitive. You don't really

7:01

get a down week in the championship and

7:04

that's why it's pretty so nice when you win it at the end

7:06

of the year. When you can be in that

7:08

position and say, yeah, we're actually top of the tree because

7:10

of how hard the work is that you've put in to

7:12

get there. So yeah, it'd be very

7:14

rewarding if we managed to do it again and

7:17

yeah, the hard work starts now. And

7:19

just a couple on you, how do you reflect on your

7:21

season in 2023? Obviously, you didn't

7:23

go the way you wanted in terms

7:25

of run scored, but even more hungry, I guess, to come

7:27

back in 2024? Yeah,

7:29

that's it. For

7:32

me, it was an underperforming season,

7:34

probably by the previous, many before

7:36

that. So

7:38

yeah, I want to contribute to wins

7:40

from a personal standpoint. What

7:43

I was really happy with and pleased by was my leadership

7:45

through that. It didn't really affect my

7:47

captaincy and those sort of things, which is

7:49

generally one of the hardest things to do if you're not performing exactly

7:52

how you want to. So

7:54

yeah, I'm hungry. Hopefully, I can score a

7:57

shed load of runs and captain really well again. Sorry,

7:59

skipper Rory Burns talking. to our very own

8:01

Scott Taylor. And you can

8:03

watch that full interview, by the way,

8:05

on the Talksport Cricket YouTube channel. So

8:07

head over to that, subscribe, and you'll

8:09

find a lot more content on

8:12

there already and coming up throughout the season.

8:14

They've added Dan Lawrence, as Scott mentioned

8:17

there, to Rory

8:19

Burns, joining

8:21

from Essex over the winter, and

8:23

it still seems curious, Hami. I've had,

8:27

what was it, five or six months to

8:29

digest the move, and whilst

8:31

it might well be in Dan Lawrence's

8:34

interests, I just don't seem, I

8:36

can't see how sorry needed him. No,

8:38

I can't, you say that, but

8:40

you always want good players, you

8:42

always want players who wanna push

8:44

the rest and raise the

8:46

bar to that little bit sort of higher

8:49

level, and that's what sorry's done to the

8:51

rest of teams, and Dan Lawrence will do that. It's

8:53

a big, it's a big couple of months for Dan

8:56

Lawrence, because is there, I think

8:58

the question is there, a

9:00

place in the middle order for England, or

9:02

for Grubbs, we all there, talk

9:05

about the way to keep a spot,

9:07

Vesto, Poulade, obviously, Harry Brooks gonna come

9:09

back in, and Harry Brooks, over

9:11

the weekend, smashed Durham all around the park,

9:13

he's tucked into Callum Parton, so Harry Brooks

9:15

definitely gonna come back, off

9:17

the back of a 4-1 defeat in India,

9:20

where do England stand with their batting unit?

9:22

Dan Lawrence was out there, so I think

9:25

it's a good move for Dan Lawrence to

9:27

go and play at, sorry, it's

9:29

again, bats has gotta fit them all in, but did

9:32

they need him? Yes, you always need

9:34

quality players to push the rest, but I

9:37

think from a personal point of view, and just

9:39

from Lawrence's point of view, I

9:41

think this is a good move for him to

9:44

go and push his England chances that

9:46

little bit more to play at

9:48

the oval, and I'm

9:51

not knocking Essex, because Essex are a

9:53

fantastic side, and they've got a

9:55

good set to stand at Chelmsford, but I

9:57

think just to go and play at the oval, and a

9:59

winning track. to be the champions. I think

10:02

that might just lift Dan Lawrence's game and try and

10:04

get him into that England team and that's what he

10:07

needs and that's what he's wanting and I think Sari

10:09

will say we always want good

10:11

players coming playing for the Brownhats. Now

10:13

then, it's 1973, the last time Hampshire

10:17

won the title, but they've been third

10:19

in 2019, 2022 and 2023 and a cornerstone of that success

10:26

and they really looked

10:29

good for the title at various points in

10:31

the last three or four years is

10:33

that fast bowling trio, the scene bowling

10:35

trio of Keith Barker, Kyle Abbott and

10:38

Mohammed Abbas, but they are getting

10:40

on a bit. But let's hear from Liam

10:42

Dawson, he was also chatting at the

10:44

recent Hampshire Media Day to our very

10:46

own producer Scott Taylor. Without doubt, it's

10:49

a huge motivation for that, not

10:51

just for me but I'll see everyone in that change room, something

10:53

that we haven't done as a group and the only thing we

10:55

haven't done as a group at this club. So, yeah,

10:59

everyone's really motivated. I

11:02

think if we're honest, we've been close over the

11:04

last few years but I think if we can rectify

11:06

a few things, a few of those losses, if

11:08

we can turn those into draws, that'll

11:12

give us a huge chance in competing about

11:14

being top of the league. Arguably, this season in

11:17

the championship with Durham coming up and the way

11:19

they're playing under Ryan Campbell, it's going to be

11:21

tougher than ever. How do you assess the strength,

11:23

I guess, with Division One? Yeah,

11:26

I said earlier, I think it's probably going to be the

11:28

strongest that it has been maybe for a number of

11:30

years. Obviously with Durham coming up, they

11:32

obviously dominated Division Two last year and they

11:35

play an attacking style of cricket. As

11:37

I said, there's a lot of good teams in the division. Essex

11:39

are always good, you know, Surrey are

11:42

fantastic. Langstra are going to be good this

11:44

year with Nathan Lyon. So, yeah, there's some

11:46

really good teams out there but that's also

11:48

a really good test for all the teams

11:50

involved. Do you feel like it's sort of

11:52

now and ever really with Hampshire because you've

11:54

got the likes of Keith, he's approached 38,

11:56

Carl's getting older, Mohammed's in his 30s as well.

11:58

Do You feel like it's... Yeah now whenever the family

12:01

to win this or to this it. Yet.

12:03

Probably we've We've. We've.

12:05

Gone out a great definitely specialist same

12:07

as or seats so then director is

12:09

now but there was there is so

12:11

quality bowlers but yet we know if

12:13

we play good cricket we can compete

12:16

with you on that day. and yeah

12:18

we we are desperate to win and

12:20

as a said if we can turn

12:22

a few those losses into draws us

12:24

can help massively because if you look

12:26

at the table either lossy as we

12:28

we will probably more games than anyone

12:31

the division we just lose a couple.

12:34

And. How much as the suburbs been signing

12:36

out a or Nazi compressed another year old

12:38

and of your experience so that boosts the

12:40

busing? Oh yes, Without. thou I'm

12:42

I'm not see much value on said the

12:44

couple of preseason games. A serious a really

12:46

good player and like supply that we saw

12:48

a need. It. And

12:51

I'll support or somebody can sort of put

12:53

pressure a little bit by com on the

12:55

ball isn't he's done. I'm preseason so far

12:57

as by really wow and yeah some press

12:59

he scored a fantastic hundred last year it

13:01

sounds had on a on a real tough

13:03

with it against a quality bolland som homicide.

13:05

yeah I'll see another year old of at

13:07

home and. They. Want to put any

13:09

pressure woman on him? Just want him to

13:11

gotten a Jewish Christian in Nam hopefully performs

13:14

And how to back up your twenty? Twenty

13:16

Three Forty nine. Ricky Ray Hundred runs a

13:18

stellar season Voice. Cast

13:20

for this season that up. Really?

13:23

Think more know happen again. Yeah last year

13:25

was a. Really pleased

13:27

and season be I know,

13:29

formats really but. The back

13:32

up again autopsy on Desperate say that

13:34

but very realistic. how sport works is

13:36

to date I get is gonna be

13:38

extremely tough. But. I'll

13:40

certainly be trying to say that both have

13:43

a realistic the that doesn't happen very often

13:45

at this and this. Find that you one

13:47

as a twenty one that counts the blast.

13:50

Were. Was winning the championship. Ranks

13:52

monks your career. Yeah. without

13:54

down that's that's exact or set out as

13:56

my biggest driver nicer is so when that

13:58

terrorism since us anything I've not done in

14:00

my career. Been very lucky

14:02

enough to win a number of trophies, but

14:05

to get that character one would be something that would

14:07

be a real, real special achievement to do, because you

14:09

play over 14 games. There's

14:12

obviously a lot of hard work that goes into it, but it's

14:15

obviously not easy to do. So

14:17

yeah, desperate to do that. Hopefully I can do it

14:20

before the end of my career, as a few others in that change

14:22

room want to do. But

14:24

yeah, all we can do is try and control and

14:26

play good cricket, and as I said, hopefully lose a

14:29

few less games and turn those games into draws, then

14:31

it might be possible. That was

14:34

Liam Dawson chatting to Scott Taylor a couple

14:36

of days ago. And answers

14:39

you didn't expect, Hammeh. When

14:41

Scott said to Liam Dawson, is

14:44

it now or never for Hampshire? We

14:46

all know what the answer to that is. No, of

14:48

course not. We'll be challenging for

14:50

years to come, instead of which he

14:52

said, yeah, probably. Our bowlers are

14:54

getting a bit long in the two things. They're getting

14:56

on a bit. I mean, Barca's 38, Abed is

14:58

36, and Mohammed Abbas

15:00

is 34. So

15:03

they're not old. And

15:07

Hampshire have the advantage of knowing that they'll

15:09

have them, fitness permitting. They'll

15:12

have them whenever they want them

15:14

in the championship. Yeah, they've

15:16

been quality performance Hampshire for many,

15:18

many years. I'd love

15:20

to see how they can get our

15:22

friend John Turner who came on the show at the

15:24

end of the winter who

15:26

spoke brilliantly. And he

15:29

relished the chance of going with England to

15:31

the Caribbean. And I'd love to

15:33

see them get him into the team because I think

15:36

England would love to see John Turner get

15:38

a game. And he might come into the back

15:40

end of the championship season in

15:42

September when the wickets are a little bit

15:45

flatter. And I think the reason

15:47

why I mentioned that is, I think Hampshire need to

15:49

get wins early. They need to get wins on the

15:51

board in the first seven games. Because

15:53

if the wickets do get flatter,

15:56

and it's harder for seamers to

15:58

get wickets in this. September time

16:01

because they need a little bit more

16:03

firepower. They've got that up their sleeve but

16:05

they need to get wins on the board early for

16:07

me and that's why Barker

16:10

and Abbott and Abbas have been so

16:12

good over a number of years and

16:15

Dawson himself, Liam himself, the

16:17

twilight of his career as well. So I think all

16:19

in all I think Hampshire need to come out the

16:21

traps quick, they need to come out the traps and

16:23

put you know fire and strong and the biggest thing

16:25

they need to do is get runs on the board

16:27

and I think the signing of Alistair All, I

16:30

think that's a very very good signing because I think

16:32

he is a quality quality player, a young player

16:35

with hunger and with drive to

16:37

show the England selectors that you

16:39

know my move from Sussex was to

16:42

sort of it was driven towards trying

16:44

to play international cricket. I

16:46

think in the World Games he's done quite well

16:48

so for me Ali All is a fine, fine

16:50

young player and I think he might just be

16:53

the difference of getting runs on the board to

16:55

give the likes of Barker, Abbas and Abbott to

16:57

make the bowl out especially in the first seven

16:59

games. And Hamid just before the

17:02

break why are we not talking about Essex? I

17:04

know that Alistair Cook's gone now, Sir

17:07

Alistair Cook and Dan Lawrence but he's

17:09

been replaced with Dean

17:11

Elgar, former South African captain

17:13

and Jordan Cox and but the point about

17:16

Essex is they don't struggle to take wickets

17:18

especially at Chelmsford so why are we not

17:20

talking about them? I think

17:22

Essex, I think Essex will be quite

17:24

happy people not talking about them just

17:26

slipping under the radar going nicely all

17:28

these test grounds with all that rich

17:30

and all the riches the money that

17:32

they've got you know they'll be saying

17:34

don't ride no no we're Anthony McGraw will be going

17:36

don't wear don't write us off but

17:38

we're not going to shout our name we're just going

17:41

to come and show you what we can do you

17:43

know I think as much as

17:45

what we're saying about Hampshire at the start of the

17:47

season Essex will be the ones I think that will

17:49

come on the blind side at the back end of

17:51

the season if Essex get to a point where

17:54

they're well within touching distance after the

17:56

first seven games then you will be

17:58

talking about Essex at the back. back

18:00

end of the season because they can get wickets on

18:02

anything. The scene bowlers can do

18:04

that. They've got quality, quality scene bowlers. They've

18:06

got a phenomenal spin bowler in first-class cricket

18:08

and their challenge will be to, as usual,

18:10

to get runs on the board. I

18:12

think Anthony McGrath will be saying, you don't

18:14

have to shout about us, but by

18:16

the time the seventh championship game is finished,

18:18

we'll still be there and thereabouts. I've got

18:20

no doubt about Essex, I'm not from. You're

18:24

listening to Following On here on TalkSport

18:26

2 with me, Neil Mantel, along with

18:28

former England first bowler Steve Harmison. You

18:31

can now watch the show on YouTube. Just

18:33

head over to the TalkSport cricket YouTube channel

18:36

and subscribe for loads of

18:38

great stuff. We've

18:41

got to talk about Durham now, Hami. I think

18:43

they're your pick for the title. I haven't won

18:45

it since 2013, of course, first

18:47

year back in Division 1 since 2016 this

18:49

year. Even

18:52

call-ups would seem to be potentially the

18:55

biggest problem for Durham.

18:58

Especially if

19:00

they could lose a couple of the frontline fast

19:02

bowlers to England at various stages of

19:04

the summer. Yes, I think that's

19:07

the one that potentially could hamper Durham

19:10

at the back end of the summer in

19:12

a title challenge. I think at the

19:14

start of the summer, I think Durham got a great chance of

19:17

really putting the marker down and having

19:20

a red-hot go at trying to win this

19:22

first division of the championship. I think Carce,

19:25

as long as he's fit, I think Brian

19:27

Carce will play for England at some point this

19:29

summer in a red ball game. I think Matt

19:31

Potts will play for England at some

19:34

point this summer in a red ball game. But that's

19:37

to come. That's after the first

19:39

seven games. For me, the

19:41

first seven games, I think they're recruited well. I

19:43

think Callum Parkinson is

19:45

a quality operator in

19:48

red ball cricket. I think that's a

19:50

good sign of recruitment from Leicester. Colin

19:52

Ackerman is another one who is

19:55

a very good sign. I think a lot of clubs

19:57

are chasing him. Then,

19:59

if you look at... England, the batting

20:01

unit of Beddingham just coming

20:03

back off international recognition and

20:07

100 in the winter. You've got Alex Lee, who

20:09

I think is still chasing that England dream, which

20:12

hopefully will drive him forward. And

20:15

you throw in Ollie Robinson, who potentially could be playing for

20:17

England in the back end of this

20:19

summer, is a decent batting unit

20:21

and first division cricket. And

20:23

if the wickets have got a little bit

20:26

in them, you've got the likes of Coughlin

20:28

and Rian to experience players

20:30

who know how to get wickets at

20:32

Durham to go with the firepower of

20:37

pots and casts. So I think all in all, Durham

20:39

have got a lot of bases covered.

20:43

It'll be about hitting them first seven games and

20:45

making sure they can get their noses in front,

20:47

because if they can do that, I think they

20:49

can win the championship. The problem for Durham

20:52

would be getting over the line if

20:54

England come calling later on in the summer, if the

20:56

tech pots, casts and Robinson

20:58

are where for

21:00

the second half of the championship running, then

21:04

Durham will need points on the board. Okay,

21:06

well, you mentioned Ollie Robinson there, and

21:08

he does speak very, very well. Here he is

21:10

in conversation with Jack Cunningham. I'm really excited about

21:12

this year. I think we've got a real good

21:15

chance of doing something special as a group. I

21:17

think we kind of put the foundations in place

21:19

last year, and we're going to back what we

21:22

did last year and carry on doing that this

21:24

year. We've spoken a lot about

21:26

it not being Division I, it's the County

21:29

Championship, and actually, well, in theory we

21:31

finished 11th last year. It's actually, we

21:34

turn out to every game, it's another four-day game of cricket.

21:36

Anyone can beat anyone. So yeah,

21:38

that's kind of where we're at. To be honest, kind of

21:40

legal, next question. What's the move in the squad now? What

21:42

are your aims? I think our aim

21:44

is to win it. I think why not. Essex

21:47

did it a few years ago when they

21:49

came up. One did one straight away, and

21:51

we've got a real good squad this year.

21:53

We've got a lot of competition for places.

21:55

We've got a great group of bowlers, and

21:59

like, about as big as we can. probably won't like I'm saying it, but bowlers

22:01

win your games and win your championships and

22:03

we've got that in abundance with Casti,

22:05

Potts, Uranium, Poland and so on. And

22:07

finally, what would constitute successful season for

22:09

you by the end of the company?

22:12

For me, I want to contribute to wins for Durham and

22:14

I think if I can do that then I'll put myself

22:16

in a good place and I'll put the team in a

22:18

good place. So I think the more you

22:21

buy into the team culture and the more you buy into the

22:23

team ethos of do it for the team, I think everything

22:26

else takes care of itself. That was

22:28

Ollie Robinson or Oliver Robinson as we

22:30

would prefer to have him known, having

22:33

a chat to Jack Cunningham. He does speak well,

22:35

and do you know what? I mean he didn't

22:37

say anything new there, but a cliche is only

22:39

a cliche if it sounds like a cliche and

22:42

when he says the best

22:44

thing I can do is contribute to winning

22:46

games for Durham. We've heard lots of cricketers

22:48

say that because they've been told to say that. But

22:50

when Oliver Robinson says that, he

22:53

sounds, do you know what? The other thing

22:55

is that Ryan Campbell's really been pushing his

22:57

case, hasn't he? Campbell's been saying,

22:59

you know, what do England want? They don't want a

23:01

batsman or a whiskey because he's both. And

23:04

sometimes a coach can think

23:06

he's doing you a favour and sometimes as a

23:08

player you sort of think, oh coach, just calm

23:11

it down. Yeah,

23:13

but the thing about Campbell is, and again, I

23:15

was with him the other night, I'm sure it

23:17

was brilliant, just to go away a little bit.

23:20

And the other night we had,

23:22

within a 15 minute period, we

23:24

had the Durham coach on the stage, we had

23:27

the Lancashire coach on the stage, and we had

23:29

the Yorkshire coach on the stage at Durham's Hall

23:31

of Fame dinner. All talking

23:33

up their own chances. Both

23:36

Lancashire and Yorkshire coaches,

23:38

Otis Gibson and Dale Benkenstein, they're obviously there

23:40

at the love for Durham and they talked

23:42

about how good Durham's got it. But

23:45

again, Ryan Campbell talking about how he wants his team

23:47

to play. He's right. He's

23:50

not trying to protect his own stock. He

23:52

wants these kids to play for England. He

23:54

talks about Caspi and a quality operator. Potsby

23:57

and somebody that you can hang your hat

23:59

on. on and bank on. But

24:01

he also talks about Ollie Robinson's qualities

24:04

and his qualities are he is a

24:06

phenomenal batter, he is a phenomenal wick

24:08

keeper. He has got all round qualities

24:10

where not one of them shines through

24:12

and leads, he's not

24:14

a batter wick keeper, he's actually

24:17

a wick keeper batter and a wick keeper

24:19

in one go. So when

24:21

you look at it, the one thing that

24:23

Robinson will do like Jimmy Smith does

24:25

and there is an outsider I think,

24:28

but he's not playing red ball cricket in

24:31

Phil Salt, the one thing they all do

24:33

is they all bat higher than number seven

24:35

for their first class counties and that for

24:37

me is a sign that

24:40

they're proper, proper batters and

24:42

then it just depends what you want from a wick

24:44

keeper. But Ollie Robinson for me is he

24:47

can bat from four to seven but

24:49

will bat six for Durham, Smith

24:51

the same, Phil Salt the

24:53

same for Lancashire. So I think from that point

24:56

of view, I think England want number seven

24:58

to be able to score runs and

25:00

Ollie Robinson will definitely be able to

25:03

score runs whatever level he's playing at.

25:05

So he did it in the

25:07

winter. I don't think he first cab off

25:10

but I think he's got a great

25:12

chance if he goes and puts back to back

25:14

first class hundreds in this early

25:16

part of the season, especially when you'd

25:19

think it's going to be tough for batters with

25:21

the amount of rim we've had around. Now as

25:23

promised, we're joined live from North

25:25

Yorkshire by David Lloyd to

25:27

discuss Lancashire's prospects and Bumble, thanks so much

25:30

for your time. It's great to have you

25:32

on the show and I

25:34

know that this is, I'm

25:37

trying to work out why a 36 year or 37 year

25:39

old offspring needs to

25:41

have his workload managed. The news that Nathan Lyon

25:44

will now only play five of the first seven

25:46

games. He was going to play all seven. Mind

25:49

you, I suppose with the weather and the temperatures,

25:51

he won't mind that news but I

25:53

do think that this workload management thing

25:56

is sometimes quite hard To

25:58

understand. Thanks for your time

26:01

Welcome. Yeah well the the

26:03

I I I fell as a good

26:05

I'm I'm exactly the same I I.

26:07

I cannot see that you get any

26:09

better sought. don't get burned and your

26:11

it off spinner or a boxer. I.

26:13

Think you should be playing. I'm

26:16

quite often so fast bowlers

26:18

be managed properly. To

26:21

alleviate. The. Injuries and

26:23

so on and to build stamina.

26:26

Now. Been over to Old Trafford two or

26:28

three times in this last fortnight soul.

26:30

you know I've got a feel of

26:32

what's going on. where the paint the

26:34

been in India. Practicing.

26:37

And preparing and uncommon set it

26:39

on a couple of those games

26:41

and and it looked fine Eat

26:43

Universe is there good way to

26:46

to prepare for the season. Saw

26:48

have also seen the pitch be

26:50

prepared for the first game which

26:52

is April fifth again Surrey. Bumble.

26:55

Out there I was us feel frankenstein

26:57

during the week. two rooms, hall of

26:59

fame dinner and panky. I mean bank

27:01

his eyes a light not be enthusiastic

27:03

is desperate to yeah just to get

27:05

started and get going. He said that

27:07

preseason had gone we are as well

27:09

as as with movies he would like

27:11

put the change between Ten Chapel and

27:13

and deal Benkenstein Lancashire a whole were

27:15

so from a coach and point of

27:17

view of had from within. The.

27:19

Think that's gonna benefit just as

27:22

fresh pair of eyes from outside

27:24

Lancashire and identifying were areas that

27:26

need to strengthen and a nazi

27:28

pushing towards amount for the title

27:31

challenge. Yeah. and it and it's

27:33

not only deal they can stein of

27:35

think this big changes behind the scenes

27:37

as well the bowling coach the busing

27:40

goals by craig whyte as move from

27:42

women's cricket to mains cricket will thought

27:44

you failed is coming as batting coach

27:46

so there's been quite a big change

27:49

their mind observation are being being down

27:51

at old trafford a worked on a

27:53

lanky should see the east it's the

27:55

gotta keep all with a big time

27:57

to have to keep book and I've

28:00

always thought they were a little bit cautious.

28:04

What I mean by that is they play at Old

28:06

Trafford which is a splendid test

28:08

match arena and it's

28:10

a test match pitch. They play a

28:12

four-day cricket on a five-day pitch. Now

28:16

signing Nathan Layton has certainly

28:18

helped in that regard but

28:20

they need to probably prepare

28:23

a four-day pitch and

28:25

to be a bit less cautious in

28:27

the way that they approach the game. I

28:30

think they need, in my

28:32

view, to dominate games more than they

28:34

have done in the past. And

28:37

Bumble, I think, knowing Benkey as I

28:39

do, I played with him for the best part of seven

28:41

or eight years. He's a leader, he's a captain. His

28:44

philosophy, I think he

28:46

was obviously ahead of his time but he

28:48

always used to say, I'd rather risk losing

28:51

the game by trying to win it. And

28:54

I think that mentality has

28:56

got to help Lancashire going

28:58

forward. The one thing

29:00

he did say to me, he was so

29:03

excited by some of the young talent that Lancashire

29:06

have got in their midst as well.

29:08

So he says there's one or two

29:10

young players that aren't household names in

29:12

our side. He says they've got

29:14

a great chance of pushing them through into the first

29:16

team. Well, they've

29:18

got five wicket keepers for the start so

29:20

they should be able to choose one out

29:22

of them. George

29:25

Bell may bat at

29:27

four. He's a tiny little lad but

29:29

he's a good player wicket keeper. And

29:32

when they were out in India

29:34

they were alternating between Lavelle, Hurst

29:37

and Bell. And it

29:39

may be that Hurst will take

29:41

the gloves early season and Bell will

29:43

bat at four. So

29:46

that puts the usual thing in modern

29:48

day cricket, your wicket keeper batsman

29:50

at number seven. The

29:52

batting line up seems pretty steady.

29:55

Luke Wells at the top with the

29:57

Jennings, Bahannon at three who may play.

30:00

for England, we'll talk about that as well.

30:02

Bruce the overseas guy, Bell

30:05

five, Bahannan at

30:08

six as the all-rounder and first change

30:10

baller, Wicked Keeper seven and then your

30:12

four ball is one of which you'll

30:14

be Nathan Lyon, one of

30:17

which will be Tom Bailey, so you've got

30:19

two others to choose. So I

30:21

mean sat next to Sakeeb, I went

30:23

to a splendid do, sat

30:25

next to Sakeeb Moolood and

30:27

it was Iftar celebrating the

30:30

end of Ramadan and we had

30:32

a wonderful time, there were a thousand

30:34

dollars in that point, you know the

30:36

big big thing, the big building that

30:38

old traffic, there were a thousand dollars

30:40

in there and it was a thoroughly

30:42

good do. I've never seen so many

30:44

speeches, I have never ever seen so

30:46

many speeches, there were one after another

30:48

and it was thoroughly entertaining, we had

30:50

a great time. But Sakeeb,

30:53

Sakeeb said he's getting there and

30:55

he's gonna, you know, he thinks

30:57

he'll be fit. On a

31:00

wider point about the counter championship, I mean I

31:02

covered my first one in 1988 and I remember

31:06

then being talked about the championship

31:08

being in trouble. Now your first

31:11

championship season was 20 odd years before

31:13

that and if you go

31:15

even before that, those talk about how

31:17

the championship needs to be revamped and

31:19

it needs to be reinvented and the

31:23

championship does get a lot of criticism.

31:26

We'll hear a bit later on in the program

31:28

from Micki Arthur extolling the

31:30

virtues of the counter championship. He

31:32

says that players around the world

31:34

want to play in the championship

31:37

but it always seems to be in trouble

31:39

in someone's mind. I mean it's

31:42

just such an easy punching bag isn't it,

31:44

it's always blamed for when England do badly.

31:47

What are your views on it? I mean you

31:49

know I still have the

31:51

same sense of excitement before

31:53

the start of every championship as I

31:55

do now but does

31:58

it need reinventing or is it... in

32:00

pretty good health. Well, you mentioned

32:02

I started in 1965 and it was

32:05

in dire straits then. And

32:07

I think it was a UK

32:09

situation, it's the UK way of

32:11

life that we're finding

32:13

fault when it's not there. I think

32:16

right now the authorities are doing the

32:18

very best to demort

32:21

County cricket. I'm

32:23

with Mickey Arthur, I'm with yourself,

32:25

I'm with many, many people who see

32:27

County cricket and I'll tell you this,

32:29

it is, in my

32:31

opinion, it is where every

32:33

player starts, every one of

32:36

them starts, every UK player starts

32:38

in County cricket. So don't shove

32:40

it to one side. You

32:42

know, I do despair but I'm philosophical

32:44

that we're playing in winter. I

32:47

think, you know, County cricket, a great

32:49

idea for County cricket will be to

32:51

play in summer. I think it

32:54

would be a wonderful thing, a wonderful sport

32:56

to play in summer. And

32:58

I do hope that it catches on at

33:00

some stage that we can actually play County

33:02

cricket in summer. And just

33:05

very briefly, I would go three divisions

33:07

and the top three teams in

33:09

each division and the

33:12

best loser play off in

33:14

the semi-final and then there will be a

33:16

final for the championship. And I'm just throwing

33:18

it out there. I've not gone into any

33:21

great detail and to

33:23

help the members along who want to

33:25

see County cricket to use

33:28

the festival grounds a little bit

33:30

more. And this

33:32

is where Army comes into this, to

33:35

have one derby. You have

33:37

one derby game home and away,

33:39

alternate years. So Lancashire

33:42

would play Yorkshire, they play Eddingly one

33:44

year old Trafford as a one off.

33:47

It don't matter which division they're in, that's a

33:49

one off game. And you can play it

33:51

for the ale cup or you can play it for the

33:53

boycott cup, you can play it for what you want. But

33:56

who would Durham play as their

33:59

main rider? I'll throw one

34:01

out there Scotland. Yeah. Durham versus

34:03

Scotland. It'll be an absolute

34:05

jamboree to grow up to Edinburgh play

34:07

one year and come down to Durham

34:10

to play the next year. But

34:12

you can, you know, you've got

34:14

Middlesex versus Surrey, you've got Kent

34:17

versus Essex, you've got Worcester versus

34:19

Worridge, you can't Gloucestershire versus Somerset.

34:22

I'm just throwing it out there to

34:25

appease the membership and

34:27

that will be my little tickle to

34:29

County Championship. Yeah, I agree

34:31

that the championship from,

34:33

I quite like the, I've always liked the

34:35

three divisions type model that goes

34:37

with it. And I think the

34:40

biggest part that you see in there is,

34:42

you know, play it in the summer. It's

34:44

got to stop raining first, Bumble. And I mean, it's

34:47

got to stop raining for us to even

34:49

get on the park. So seven championship games

34:51

in an eight week or a nine week

34:53

period. We're not going to get sad. I

34:55

don't think we're going to get seven championship games in. But it's

34:58

just the middle of the summer is

35:00

where I think a lot of members want first

35:03

pass cricket. I'm not, I'm not bothered

35:05

when it's played as such. I was like a

35:07

couple of games in the middle of the summer, because

35:10

I think we still have to look at all

35:12

our, all our moving parts and our moving parts

35:14

and not just 11 cricketers, the

35:16

batters, the opening batters, the middle order batters,

35:18

they're all rounders, bowlers. We've got a lot

35:20

of different disciplines. And one of the disciplines

35:22

is Spin Bowl and Department. And

35:25

Lancashire have got Nathan Lyon. They've got Tom

35:27

Hartley. You've just mentioned Josh Bahannan, who had

35:29

a fantastic trip to India with the A

35:31

squad. You know, for Hartley and Bahannan

35:34

to stake a claim to play for England, Bumble,

35:36

Hartley is going to use Nathan Lyon, isn't he? Yeah,

35:39

he will. If he plays, I'm not hearing

35:41

that he's going to play. And

35:43

he was always a white ball pick

35:46

before England might call

35:48

him for him. And so Nathan Lyon

35:50

will be the number one spinner. It'd

35:52

be nice if they played together, but it'd be

35:54

more helpful if they played in summer. Bahannan

35:59

has every chance. playing for England

36:01

because the England number three at the

36:03

minute is averaging 32 after 47 test

36:05

matches. So I'm sure they'll be looking

36:07

at that. And the Volta

36:09

for England, an absolute Volta with

36:12

the way that they're doing things at the

36:14

minute, is that I

36:16

think they'll probably be looking for a

36:18

wicket-keeper and that brings Phil Salt straight

36:20

into it. Phil Salt plays

36:23

exactly the way that England

36:25

wants to play, that the number seven has

36:27

to dominate the tail. You've got

36:29

to be able to play with the tail and

36:31

be proactive. And so Phil

36:34

Salt, although he's playing franchise

36:36

cricket, has every chance and

36:38

his competition will come from Robinson

36:41

of Durham and Jamie

36:43

Smith of Surrey. Those are

36:45

the three that I think that England will

36:47

be looking for. And so Benkenstein's

36:50

plans, if he was thinking of

36:52

using Phil Salt, might be disrupted

36:55

and Bahannan with a good start has every

36:57

chance of playing because he's done so well.

37:00

Campbell, I feel like a whole

37:02

separate podcast needs to be dedicated to your

37:05

revamp of the Championship. Three

37:08

divisions, top three and

37:10

plus best loser, semi-final and a

37:12

final. I've

37:15

been distracted by it. But just

37:17

confirm, why the three divisions? What's

37:19

wrong with the two that we've

37:21

got now? There's

37:23

nothing wrong. The absolute main thing

37:26

of this, forget the three divisions

37:28

or two divisions. I'd

37:31

be passionate that we're playing somewhere. To

37:34

play these seven matches, it's

37:36

so unfair. It's pushing the

37:39

County Championship to the side

37:41

when it is the place where

37:44

every cricketer starts. Every UK cricketer,

37:46

that's where you start. It's your

37:48

dreams, your ambitions of playing Test

37:51

match cricket. And we haven't

37:53

mentioned, we're talking Lancashire now. We've

37:55

got two forgotten players in

37:58

Livingston and Butler. They are

38:00

Lancashire cricketers and you

38:02

know, they will just be seen as white

38:05

ball cricketers. And in

38:07

particular with Livingston, it's a

38:09

travesty to me. I think he's got

38:11

the tools to be everything.

38:14

I really do think he's such a

38:16

super player and you

38:18

know, his finances will come from

38:20

one day cricket and from franchise

38:23

cricket, but he could

38:25

make a real difference to England's test

38:27

team in my opinion. Bumble,

38:29

it's been an absolute pleasure having you on. Thank

38:32

you so much for your time. If you can

38:34

spare us another 10 minutes,

38:36

it would be wonderful to catch up with you

38:38

in a couple of weeks time if we get

38:40

any cricket in the championship. Winter cricket. I'd

38:43

love to. I love a

38:45

chat. I love an early morning chat and

38:47

we can have a man, but we can

38:49

extol the virtues. A lot of wonderful game

38:51

we've got. Absolutely. The one

38:53

and only legendary David Bumble Lloyd.

38:56

You're listening to Following On here on Talksport

38:58

2 with me, Neil Manthal, alongside former England

39:00

fast bowler and my mate,

39:03

Steve Harmison. Next up, we'll turn

39:05

our attention to Division 2 and

39:07

here exclusively from England and Sussex

39:09

bowler, Olly Robinson. Hey

39:14

folks, I'm Mark Marin from the

39:16

WTF podcast. And this episode is

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40:19

Hi, this is Craig Robinson from Ways

40:22

to Win, and support for

40:24

this podcast comes from Invesco

40:26

QQQ. The future isn't

40:28

scary. Not realizing its potential,

40:30

however, could be. Just like

40:32

on the recruiting trail, I've

40:34

seen potential come in many

40:36

forms as a coach. Learn

40:38

more at invesco.com/QQQ. Let's

40:41

rethink possibility. Invesco Distributors,

40:43

Inc. You're

40:54

listening to Following On here on Talksport 2

40:56

with me, Neil Mantel, along with former England

40:58

fast bowler, Steve Harmison. And

41:00

if you've missed any of the show and you want to

41:02

catch up, you can always download the podcast from the Following

41:04

On feed, available as always

41:06

via the Talksport app, or wherever

41:08

you get your podcasts. Right,

41:11

let's hear now from England and

41:13

Sussex fast bowler, Ollie Robinson. Earlier

41:16

on today, Talksport's Scott Taylor traveled down to

41:18

Hove to have a chat to him, wide-ranging

41:20

chat ahead of the new season. So, Ollie,

41:22

thanks for joining us ahead of the new season.

41:25

Always an exciting time. How are you feeling? Yeah,

41:27

I'm excited. I'm excited just to play some cricket again,

41:29

to be honest. Obviously, I've played, I think,

41:31

two games since July. So, to get back

41:34

out there and be with the Sussex boys,

41:36

it'd be good and exciting to get back

41:38

out there. How frustrating has the last 12

41:40

months been for you, the injuries? Yeah, it's

41:43

obviously for any sportsman to get injured during

41:45

the games, or any time, it's very frustrating.

41:47

And I've been training as hard as I

41:49

possibly can to avoid those,

41:51

I suppose. India was a

41:55

tough time, obviously, waiting to play in

41:57

the fourth game and then having another niggle

41:59

in my back. It's pretty upsetting

42:02

and frustrating really, but it's

42:04

one of those things in sport and you just have

42:07

to try and bounce back as best you can. Is

42:09

that the problem with a red ball only cricket so

42:11

that during the winter there's obviously no cricket, you can

42:13

bowl overs in the nets for fun, but come to

42:15

match practice, can't get any? Yeah

42:17

I think so. You've hit them down the head there,

42:19

I think bowling in nets you just can't replicate that

42:21

game speed, that much intensity. And

42:24

for me I'm someone that needs that, I need rhythm, I need to

42:27

bowl. And that's why obviously playing Sussex at

42:29

the start of the year will be so important

42:31

for me. How much are you

42:33

looking forward to leading and jading skills among

42:35

the attackers as well, but you're probably the

42:37

most senior bowler, how much are you relishing

42:39

that responsibility? Yeah obviously it's something

42:41

I've done here for a while now. To

42:44

have jading with us as well is great, I

42:46

think. It can take a little

42:48

bit of load off me and also opening

42:50

bowling with someone who also plays at the

42:52

highest level is good to

42:54

watch those other bowlers, you'll be very skillful

42:56

bowler, very fit lad and to bowl with

42:58

him for the next few months would be

43:00

exciting. Do you have a, are you

43:02

someone that goal sets or does it take it

43:05

each day as it's time? Because 2024 is the

43:07

first English summer without Stuart Broad playing for England,

43:09

so do you see that as an opportunity to

43:12

cement your place as the opening

43:14

bowler with Jimmy? I've

43:16

got a few goals I've set, yeah, and I

43:18

think one of those is probably to cement my

43:20

place in the England team, not necessarily to replace

43:22

Baudy because obviously he's one of the best we've

43:24

had, but it would be nice

43:27

if I could cement my place this year in the

43:29

England team and really sort of make a statement I

43:31

suppose over these next coming months. There's

43:33

probably a few doubts over me I think,

43:35

but if I can string some

43:37

games together and get back out there, there's

43:40

obviously a lot of test groups still to play this year. We've

43:42

got West Indies, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, New Zealand,

43:45

so yeah I need to

43:47

put my best foot forward and cement my

43:49

place. You mentioned the noise, how does that

43:51

affect you? Because there's a lot written about

43:53

you and then you

43:56

don't back it up for the wickedness performance in the

43:58

fourth test, which obviously forces... another pile

44:00

on how's that affect you? It's

44:02

hard I think I know

44:04

that I say obviously a lot in the media and I

44:06

do like that side of sport I do like the banter

44:09

and and sort of those conversations

44:11

that I had so you do set

44:14

yourself up to to be

44:16

killed I suppose when it

44:18

doesn't come off but it's one of those things

44:20

isn't it professional sport you can't you

44:22

know you can't foresee the injuries and obviously you

44:24

don't know when they're gonna happen but the

44:27

things about my personal life and stuff I

44:29

think are quite difficult to to see because

44:31

people actually don't understand what I'm going through

44:33

or what's been happening they just read something

44:35

and they think oh I know him I

44:37

know what's been going on so that side

44:39

has been quite hard obviously it doesn't take

44:41

away from the side from the point that

44:43

I have had an injury during a game

44:45

again and I would like to sort of

44:47

put that to burden just play some cricket

44:50

now We're very

44:52

guilty of doing that but then

44:54

when we do have characters we

44:56

like having characters so has this sort

44:58

of criticism discouraged you from being who

45:01

you are? I know you like

45:03

to dish it up. A

45:06

little bit I think I think it's just when

45:09

you get crucified over and over again for

45:11

like personal attacks over and over again so

45:13

it just depends I don't mind

45:16

I don't mind the sports side of it I can

45:18

I can handle that it's when people attack the person

45:20

my personal life I don't think that's really

45:22

that fair for people to do but it is what it

45:24

is and obviously it's always gonna happen in sport I think

45:26

it's one of those things you have to sort of accept

45:28

it when you play at the highest level but

45:31

yeah I'll be trying to put the sports side of it

45:33

right and getting back out there and taking some wickets. And

45:35

how much has that changed you as a person being part

45:37

of the England set up and I guess

45:39

having to deal with the extra limelight and stuff over the

45:41

last couple of years? I think

45:44

it's matured me quite quickly I think

45:46

from my debut obviously that didn't go

45:48

to plan I think it's

45:50

matured me very quickly I think you have to

45:53

be able to deal with it otherwise you just

45:55

get sucked up you just you don't

45:57

play for England you can't deal with those things and

45:59

I've used people around me for help and support and

46:02

that's helped me a lot playing for England

46:04

with with that added line like you say.

46:08

Yeah just I suppose

46:10

you deal with it it's

46:12

done differently by everyone and for me

46:15

my way sometimes is being sort of extrovert

46:18

on the pitch and I'm not actually like off

46:20

the pitch but people don't always see but yeah

46:23

it's definitely difficult. And

46:25

how much you look forward to finally like expressing

46:27

yourself on the pitch again you said it's been

46:29

12 months that's been quite frustrating but you talked

46:31

about all the cricket you got coming up I

46:34

guess going back to your happy place is the

46:36

main aim. 100% for me I

46:39

love playing cricket I love crossing that white line

46:41

getting competitive and just bowling really my body being

46:43

sore at the end of the day recovering coming

46:45

back trying to do it all again I love

46:47

that that side of

46:49

cricket and playing cricket and I think if

46:51

I can get back to that place where

46:54

all I think about is cricket I just

46:56

love playing I'll just enjoy playing cricket again

46:58

and hopefully that's the other side of it

47:00

we'll just take care of itself taking wickets

47:02

for Sussex and England I think that can

47:04

only help. There's been a lot of

47:06

talk about some comments saying you're at a crossroads in

47:09

your career do you feel that personally or just do

47:11

you look at Jimmy who's seven years older than you

47:13

and think I've got plenty of time left in the

47:15

tank. I think

47:17

obviously with my injuries it's it's

47:20

one of those things you only have so many lifelines if

47:23

I keep going down in games then why would

47:25

folks you pick me or bad pick me and

47:27

that's the crossroad I think that we've got I

47:30

don't think my talent on my skill is a

47:32

question it's can I keep backing

47:34

up games can I win games of cricket bring them

47:36

down the field stay for the whole series not just

47:38

one or two games so

47:41

I know that and obviously that's out there

47:43

everyone knows that so for me it's just

47:45

about backing games up bowling hard and

47:47

proving that I can still still do that and

47:49

be the person to do that. I guess you

47:52

can't help injuries obviously these things happen but how

47:54

much confidence does it just maybe playing

47:56

under previous captains or coaches you would

47:58

have a bit of anxiety and we're going to. lose

48:00

my place but Stokesy and Baz, they back

48:02

you, they publicly back you, so how much

48:04

confidence does that give you? Yeah it does

48:06

and for me as the person I am

48:09

I really thrive off that. I think if

48:11

someone goes cold turkey on

48:13

me or sort of pushes me

48:15

to the side that really demotivates me but

48:18

the way that Stokesy and Baz have gone about

48:20

it makes me even more motivated to be in

48:22

the side, to get back in the squad, to

48:24

start in the 11. So yeah they're really

48:27

great characters that have helped me a lot and

48:29

hopefully we can get back to the

48:31

place that we want to be in. And just

48:33

finally on Stokesy himself, he pulled out of the

48:35

T20 World Cup today but a huge

48:37

boost to the test side, we saw what

48:39

he did to row it's armour this first

48:41

fall back. The difference he makes with the

48:43

ball with the test side is huge isn't

48:45

it? Yeah massive, it balances the side up

48:48

and you have another world class seamer in

48:50

your ranks so it's a decision that I

48:52

didn't actually see coming I thought, the World Cup

48:54

for England that surely he's going to want to

48:56

play and obviously he does want to play but

48:58

I think it shows how good the test environment

49:00

is and how special the team we have is

49:02

for him to pull out of

49:04

the World Cup, to focus on that team,

49:06

to focus on the test matches

49:08

just shows that it's a really

49:11

exciting time for that team and I have no doubt that

49:13

if we can get a few

49:15

more percent out of each individual and sort of just

49:17

click at the right times we could be the best

49:19

team in the world and I think that's what Stokesy

49:21

sees as well and that's why he's made this decision. Just

49:24

finally on the English number itself, you've got

49:26

six teams in the season before the test

49:28

summer is maybe the first couple thinking let's

49:30

just get through it and injury free and

49:32

then focus on you've got the miles on

49:34

the legs that start making that claim for

49:36

the test side in the summer. I

49:39

think for me in the position I'm in

49:42

I just have to hit the ground as hard

49:44

as I can from the get go I don't

49:46

think there's any room to really ease into it,

49:49

I think I'm playing four or five games

49:51

so I think I just have to hit it as hard as

49:53

I can and if the body gives up it gives up but

49:55

there's always something you can do again and I think for

49:58

me now I just have to let go. and

50:00

try and bowl as hard as I can and prove to

50:02

people that I can do it. Is it hard? Like,

50:05

when you're running into bowl thinking, oh

50:07

my back, hopefully my back doesn't go here. How

50:09

hard is it to switch off? But I guess,

50:12

you talked about being competitive, but when I guess

50:14

you have balling hands, that goes

50:16

to one side? Yeah, I don't really think about it.

50:18

It doesn't... I don't get any pain when

50:21

I'm bowling. It's not something that I'm like, oh,

50:23

this is going to go, because I don't have

50:25

any pain and then all of a sudden, it

50:27

will just twinge and I'm like, oh, it's gone.

50:30

And it's a

50:32

bit annoying. I've had other problems... I've had other sort

50:34

of niggles and you're like, oh, you know when it's

50:37

going to go or you know that your quad could

50:39

tear, because it's on the edge. With my back, it's

50:41

like, it's amazing. In India, for the five,

50:43

six weeks before the fourth test, it was unbelievable.

50:45

I had no pain, no problems. Getting

50:48

to the games, I think I was on five

50:50

now and had that twinge. And you just can't

50:52

foresee that you can't really do

50:54

much about it, because you just think it's going to be fine.

50:56

So it might be

50:58

a bit psychological. It might be something underlying,

51:00

we don't know. But at the moment, I'm

51:02

looking at every avenue to try and fix that

51:04

and get back to where I want to be.

51:07

That was Ollie Robinson in conversation with Scott Taylor

51:09

a little earlier today. Hami,

51:11

I must say, he does speak

51:13

well. I sometimes do wonder who's

51:15

advising him. And I think sometimes

51:18

he doesn't behave quite as sensibly

51:20

as he speaks. But

51:23

Sussex have really been through a tough

51:25

time, haven't they? For a number

51:28

of seasons now. And they need

51:30

Ollie Robinson to lead. If he's not in the

51:32

England squad, if he's not playing for England, I

51:35

mean, this is the perfect opportunity. The

51:37

age of 30 now, to be the senior

51:39

professional that he should be, and

51:42

to perform consistently. I mean, it's

51:44

not unusual for him to go off and take 10

51:46

or 12 wickets in the first game or the first couple

51:49

of games of the season. But he needs to do

51:51

it for a prolonged period of time. He

51:53

needs to do it for a long period of

51:55

time. He needs to put back-to-back games together. He

51:57

needs to make sure that, you know, when he...

52:00

does speak, he backs it up because over the course

52:02

of the last six

52:04

months, 12 months, whatever, you know, whenever he

52:06

said something, he hasn't been able to back

52:08

it up. I think Ollie Robinson's in a

52:10

crossroads in his career because

52:12

is England, have England washed their

52:14

hands with him? I don't think they have. I think

52:17

there's no question that Ollie

52:20

Robinson is a phenomenal bowler. And

52:23

like Rob Key said in his Telegraph article,

52:25

you know, he's a phenomenal bowler at

52:28

84 miles an hour. But

52:30

he's not a phenomenal bowler at 78 miles an hour.

52:32

He might be in first class cricket and he can

52:34

bowl 78 miles an hour as long as he wants

52:37

for Sussex. But he

52:40

ain't troubling for England. He's

52:42

not troubling international players at 78 consistently

52:45

mile an hour. So he has

52:47

to get that point right. And

52:49

that comes with hard work. And it's whether he

52:52

wants to do that hard work and hopefully he

52:54

does. If Ollie Robinson plays

52:56

six out of these seven games and goes and

52:58

gets 30 odd 40 wickets,

53:00

which he will do and he can do, but

53:03

it's how he does it. And I think that's what

53:05

the England selectors will be looking at. You know, is

53:07

he just is he going through the motions because you

53:09

can land it on a spot, he can do that

53:11

with his eyes closed. It's the intensity of backing the

53:14

spell up and backing the spell up and keeping it

53:16

going till the end of the day. That's

53:18

what we'll get him back into the England team because

53:21

I think he's out of the team at this moment in

53:23

time. I really do. And I think I think

53:26

he's not he's not burned any bridges, but I think he's

53:28

a couple of people down who I think trusted him. And

53:31

unfortunately, over the winter, I think he let

53:34

himself down a little bit sometimes. But

53:37

he said he's 30 year old. So if he

53:40

if he wants to do that, and

53:42

goes off to be Sussex is number

53:44

one man, and leave them and say,

53:46

right, I'm going to get back into the England team

53:48

grip. So six will win more games than they'll lose

53:50

because he will win the games for them. But

53:53

if he goes the other way, because

53:55

England might not be looking for him and he

53:57

doesn't want to go through that last.

54:00

at 84mph and push himself

54:02

back up day after day, then

54:04

where will Ollie Robinson be at the end

54:06

of the season? And will he just curate,

54:09

just peter out? I hope it doesn't because

54:11

I think he's a talented boy but

54:13

I think he's actually at the crossroads now. He has to

54:15

hit these seven games hard to get back

54:17

into that England record because if he does Sussex

54:19

win, if he doesn't, then I'm

54:22

not sure where Ollie Robinson will be at the

54:24

end of the season and that would be a

54:26

concern because like I said before, this boy's talented

54:29

but it's talent that could

54:31

get wasted if he's

54:33

not willing to work that little bit harder to

54:35

make sure that he's on

54:38

it because he can't have any drop-offs.

54:40

Unfortunately, the pacy bowl's out, he can't

54:42

but the skill levels he's got is

54:46

very, very good. So it's a hard

54:48

one but it's a waiting to

54:50

see and I'm really intrigued to see where Ollie

54:52

Robinson is come June the first in all this

54:55

championship cricket has gone. Well, we'll

54:57

be keeping a very close eye on

54:59

Sussex because we're both big fans of

55:01

Paul Farr Brason. He's been a great

55:03

supporter of the show over the last

55:05

couple of years. Who else? Yorkshire have

55:08

got to have a bounce-back season, Hammee.

55:10

They cannot linger in Division 2. It

55:12

just doesn't look right. They'll have obviously

55:14

Harry Brooke and Joe Root in

55:17

the second Division for at least five

55:19

of the seven first championship games. Can

55:22

Will Yorkshire, are they good enough to

55:24

bounce straight back? Anybody else catch your

55:27

eye? I like the Mark Elaine leading

55:29

Gloucestershire. That's a great story and I

55:31

hope that he does well. He deserves

55:33

to. Yeah, I agree.

55:36

Sorry, man. Yeah, I agree. I think I'd

55:38

love to see who we do really well

55:40

at Gloucester. He's a good man. He's a

55:43

really good man and he's

55:46

got his county back that

55:48

he's done so well. Yes,

55:50

I'd love to see Gloucestershire

55:53

Have a good season. Again, as

55:55

much as Surrey is to lose

55:58

in the top division. With

56:00

Rutan broke available for five or six games

56:02

in the yeah in the second of the

56:05

and for Yorkshire there's only one team when

56:07

in that second division. that and I look

56:09

forward to see now York to go to

56:11

the it's not just about broken. Broken

56:14

Router think there's some the some very very

56:16

good cricket is not. You'll decide some young

56:19

cricketers in that York decide who got a

56:21

chance last season. Because.

56:23

Of circumstances I'm the season I

56:25

think they can. They can really.

56:28

I think put that me out put as

56:30

tech to rest of the how with a

56:32

strong foot forward the like to George Hill

56:35

and Matt Revis to to just need to

56:37

very very good talented young pledged to play

56:39

were written broke and nothing will enhance our

56:41

and I think they'll they'll come out strong.

56:43

So I expect Yorkshire to in the second

56:46

division as much as Yami. It's so nice

56:48

to lose in the first version too Strong

56:50

pig counties am and I think the first

56:52

division English cricket need York to in the

56:54

top division because his from Yorkshire always mixing

56:56

them better. While. You're listening

56:58

to following on here on taught for to

57:01

his main ailments up along with Storm Hall

57:03

of Famer Steve Harmison and you can Now

57:05

what's the show on you Tube As you

57:07

know doing is doing that already. Just head

57:10

over to the Talks for Cricket You Tube

57:12

Channel Let's say here now from Davos ahead

57:14

of Cricket Mickey author Steve be looking ahead

57:16

to the new season with Talk Sports Luke

57:19

Polten Hide I think I've said at a

57:21

lot of the if if we if we

57:23

having this conversation and September get. And.

57:26

We've been promoted to Division One. I.

57:28

Would be extremely, extremely happy

57:31

because that shows that over

57:33

six months we've played consistently

57:35

well. I. Know that we

57:37

have a waffle team That honest, I

57:39

can beat any team in that in

57:41

the country. I'm confident that will be

57:43

there in there about an hour Apple

57:46

to manage. It's about just. Ah,

57:48

understanding what happens on the day week

57:50

at what gotta get ourselves to quarterfinal.

57:53

We. One game away from finals day and

57:55

then who knows after that and and

57:57

in the fifty others depending on on.

58:00

who we've got, we'll

58:02

look to win that as a

58:08

coach. For me it is

58:11

player improvement. So if I see

58:13

our players grow, our players

58:16

get better, our players put themselves

58:18

in positions to

58:21

win us games at cricket and then

58:23

their ability to take those match-winning

58:25

moments and making them proper for

58:27

us. That fills

58:29

me with pride and joy.

58:31

So hopefully we've had a bit of those. We're

58:34

a Division I County come September. On

58:36

relation to the England Test match, there

58:38

was a tweet released by the cricketer

58:40

that stated that it was unfair for

58:42

the young spinners of Tom Hartley and

58:44

Bashir and Rehan Ahmed to quote

58:47

carry the count of a domestic league that

58:49

doesn't work. What was your thoughts on that

58:51

and your opinions on their statement? Well, my

58:53

opinions on that was it didn't take them

58:55

long to start criticising the County Championship. When

58:58

England were playing well, nobody spoke about the

59:00

County Championship and then they

59:02

criticised it a minute. It didn't go right,

59:04

which I thought was unfair. And

59:07

we've got young Jack Morley here

59:09

this year. We're going to give him

59:12

opportunity because I do think that for England

59:14

to become that test team

59:16

that we

59:18

want them to be and they're very, very good.

59:21

That is one area that they do need

59:23

to improve because you've got to go and

59:25

play in the subcontinent. You've

59:27

got to win in the subcontinent to be the best team in the

59:29

world. So as long as

59:31

we can develop a spinner for them, those spinners

59:33

are allowed to grow and allowed to develop, England

59:35

will get it right. Why do you think the

59:38

County Championship does get the blame straight

59:40

away when something goes wrong? Why is that? Well,

59:43

I think it's just because it's just the kicking

59:45

can all the time. I've been in domestic

59:49

systems around the world now. South

59:53

Africa, Australia, Sri Lanka, Pakistan,

59:56

I've coached in the

59:58

West Indies. the

1:00:00

dash, I've been all over. The

1:00:02

county championship still attracts your

1:00:05

best overseas players. They

1:00:07

want to come and play here. Young

1:00:10

players growing up in other countries want

1:00:12

to come and be

1:00:14

part of the county championship and I wanted to come

1:00:16

and coach in it. Coaches want to

1:00:18

come and coach in it because it's a

1:00:20

very very good system. I

1:00:22

think it does get unfairly tainted at

1:00:25

times. I was with Mickey Arthur, former

1:00:27

South Africa, Australia Sri Lanka and Pakistan

1:00:29

head coach having a chat to

1:00:31

Luke Poulton Hyde. I always

1:00:34

smile when I reel off those

1:00:36

four test playing nations that he coached. I

1:00:40

don't mind admitting this. He actually ran

1:00:42

his bullet point presentation past

1:00:45

me before he applied for the South

1:00:47

Africa coaching job and he never thought he

1:00:49

didn't think he'd get it. He thought

1:00:51

he was a real outsider and he

1:00:53

went on to coach Australia Sri Lanka

1:00:55

and Pakistan. Absolutely amazing and he's been

1:00:58

a brilliant coach. He speaks extremely

1:01:01

well and do you

1:01:03

know he's moving the furniture around

1:01:05

at Derbyshire and he's brought in

1:01:07

a couple of big names and

1:01:09

you're in Donald would be an interesting appointment

1:01:13

there and I find

1:01:16

him quite inspiring and I think that young

1:01:18

players would find the same thing. I think

1:01:20

there's been a few players over the last

1:01:22

couple of years who joined Derbyshire because of

1:01:25

Mickey. Isn't that right? Yeah I

1:01:27

think so and I think to have coaches like

1:01:30

Mickey Arthur and Otis Gibson who have done

1:01:32

a huge amount of international

1:01:34

cricket coaching, that's brilliant for our

1:01:36

game especially our young players. Who

1:01:39

cannot be inspired for playing for somebody

1:01:41

like Mickey Arthur. He's got all the

1:01:44

knowledge of the coaching side of it but he's also

1:01:46

got the empathy of the way of

1:01:48

dealing with people as well. So for

1:01:51

me Derbyshire I've got a chance because not

1:01:53

only because I've got Mickey Arthur but they've

1:01:55

got a fully concentrated Mickey Arthur. He's not

1:01:57

got Pakistan to go to. He's

1:01:59

got a team. drive Derbyshire forward

1:02:01

and I think because of that, I

1:02:03

think you've got to throw Derbyshire in the mix for that second

1:02:05

division as well. All right, moving on to

1:02:08

a couple of other bits of news. Babadar

1:02:11

Zham's removal as Pakistan captain didn't go

1:02:13

well, did it? He's been,

1:02:15

he's back as white

1:02:17

ball captain. Corey Anderson returning

1:02:20

to international cricket with the USA,

1:02:22

that's a good story. I think

1:02:24

he was hard done by in his first international career

1:02:26

and I think he's got nothing to lose now. A

1:02:29

real one to look out for at the G20 World Cup. And

1:02:32

how about Ravi Bhopara still going strong, signing

1:02:35

for North Ants on a one year deal?

1:02:38

Yeah, Ravi, another one, a bit like Mickey

1:02:40

Arthur, international coaching jobs. Ravi's had some tracksuits

1:02:42

in his time, he'll not know which one

1:02:44

to put on, his wardrobe must be massive.

1:02:47

So yeah, massive. Yeah, it's good to see

1:02:49

Ravi because he's a great lad and he'll

1:02:51

give North Ants in a lot of experience.

1:02:53

Yes, I agree. I thought Corey Anderson

1:02:55

at New Zealand was a little bit hard

1:02:57

done by in. Let's see how long

1:02:59

Babadar Zham last as his white ball coach because

1:03:02

I actually, I actually white ball captain because I

1:03:04

actually thought some of the sticky got was disgusting.

1:03:06

It was terrible. Some of the stick

1:03:08

that, you know, Babadar Zham, what else do you want

1:03:10

him to do? He had to captain

1:03:12

the white ball team without Shaheena Freedy who was injured

1:03:14

for quite a lot of that. And

1:03:16

then now he's got Shaheena Freedy back fit, take

1:03:19

the captain off and give it to the Freedy

1:03:21

and then the realized, ah, he's

1:03:23

actually better when he just bowls. So we'll take

1:03:25

the captaincy back often. It's Pakistan

1:03:27

cricket without the sort of the out

1:03:30

the turmoil, what would Pakistan cricket and

1:03:32

West Indies cricket be to the world?

1:03:34

You know, it's a gift that keeps on

1:03:37

giving. So we keep on loving it. But

1:03:39

Babadar Zham, yeah, rightly put back his white

1:03:41

ball captain because he's a top top and

1:03:44

he's somebody who I think in all

1:03:46

that carnage can make, you

1:03:49

know, make decisions calmly while, you know,

1:03:51

the world's ending around him. Okay.

1:03:53

Hami, just to confirm, we should

1:03:56

do predictions here just to confirm

1:03:58

that you are going direct. and

1:04:01

Yorkshire. Are your predictions for division

1:04:03

1 and 2? My

1:04:05

predictions for division 1 and 2 are

1:04:07

Durham and Yorkshire. Okay, I'm going... That's

1:04:10

it. I'm not giving you anything more

1:04:12

than Durham and Yorkshire. Okay.

1:04:16

I think it's serious to lose

1:04:19

but I think doing what

1:04:21

they did, 20 players and 21 players, too

1:04:25

many cooks and all that. I just

1:04:27

think if Durham get lucky with their international

1:04:30

call-ups, Durham will give a good

1:04:33

strong count of themselves this year and I reckon Durham

1:04:35

might just come on the blind side and win the

1:04:37

first division of the championship. And do as Essex did, when

1:04:40

was that, six or seven years ago. And

1:04:43

this week's final word, Hammeh,

1:04:46

we cannot take our attention away

1:04:48

from the Bangladesh Sri Lanka theories

1:04:50

which has been incredible. It's provided

1:04:53

some YouTube clips for

1:04:55

the ages. I mean, absolutely brilliant. There

1:04:57

was one moment where one

1:04:59

Sri Lanka batsman, I can't remember who it

1:05:01

was, Jantamendis perhaps, was dropped

1:05:03

three times by three different slip fielders

1:05:05

off the same delivery. And

1:05:08

then... Did

1:05:10

you happen to see that? You've got to go and look for it. It's

1:05:13

brilliant. I mean, there was three clips

1:05:15

in that game. There was the appeal

1:05:17

which I don't even think Stuart Broad

1:05:19

would have even contemplated during the appeal.

1:05:22

There was the catchment... The

1:05:25

hilarious point of the catch was, I

1:05:28

think two of them had helmets on, it slipped. Two

1:05:30

of them had helmets on, it slipped. Now they dropped

1:05:32

the catch, it was like to me to you and

1:05:34

they would just bounce off each other. And then I

1:05:36

think the best one was, well, you back your mate

1:05:38

up and you play as a team and you're hunting

1:05:41

a pack. But the ball got edged out of the

1:05:43

third and five of them chased it. And they were

1:05:45

like, the guy that picked it up turned

1:05:47

round to pass it to his mate and it was like, which

1:05:50

one? My pass it to? That's four of

1:05:52

them, right on top of himself. I mean,

1:05:54

that was a good one. That was a

1:05:56

great one. But I think for me, the

1:05:58

final word this... this week, having

1:06:00

played in two Boxing Day Test matches and seeing

1:06:02

what it's like to play in Boxing Day at

1:06:04

the MCG, to have a

1:06:07

women's Test match, I think that is brilliant

1:06:09

and hopefully that the MCG is reasonably full

1:06:11

because to have an Aches Women's Test match

1:06:14

at the MCG is telling you exactly the

1:06:16

trajectory that women's cricket is going on. It's

1:06:18

on the up and up, it's going well

1:06:21

and for me that's the sort of

1:06:23

the ice on the cake for England

1:06:25

and Australia's women's side to

1:06:27

pull out one of the iconic cricket grounds, Sydney,

1:06:30

Lords, MCG, for me

1:06:32

that's brilliant for a women's game. And

1:06:35

there it is, our final word this week, the

1:06:37

MCG to host a women's Aches Test match in

1:06:39

January 2025. Great

1:06:42

news. You've been listening to Following On here on

1:06:44

Talk 4 2 with me, Neil Manthoff

1:06:46

and former England fast bowler Steve Harmison and if

1:06:48

you've missed any of the show or you wish

1:06:50

to catch up, you can download the podcast from

1:06:52

the Following On feed now available. As

1:06:54

always, buy the free TalkSport app or wherever

1:06:57

you get your podcasts. We'll be back next

1:06:59

week to look back at round one of

1:07:01

the County Championship but for now, this has

1:07:03

been Following On.