00:00:04
Speaker 1: This episode of The Surge is brought to you by Origin, proud partners of Cricket Australia and powering the Power Surge in BBL fifteen. We're over halfway through the BBL fifteen and if this season has taught us anything it's to expect the unexpected in the Big Bash. Chief, please the read aase to a magnificent victory. Mike Cassei returns to the desk, while Scorch's youngster Marley Bidman dials in from Perth to take us through their thrilling win over the Strikers. This is the Surgeyday. Everyone, Welcome back to the Surge. Adam White with you back in the studio after being on the road for the last couple of episodes, and I have got Mike Hussi back with me in the studio. Mike, welcome back today, Adam.
00:00:51
Speaker 2: Great to be here again.
00:00:52
Speaker 1: There's been lots going on and it feels like a fairbits change since we spoke last.
00:00:57
Speaker 3: Yeah, definitely, I'm in some exciting games, particularly the game they seemed to always have a scorching game up there and then a great derby last night. Really enjoyed the Stars against the Renegades Renegades just getting home in a real tight one.
00:01:10
Speaker 1: Yeah, it felt like being back at the MCG in the early nineties for World Series cricket. Just that atmosphere of a packed house for the night cricket, that kind of atmosphere that you don't get so much anymore in cricket. It was so exciting.
00:01:26
Speaker 3: Just under seventy thousand is incredible. You know, it's two good rivals going head to head, some stars from both sides, and I thought the Renegades were going to blow that. I thought they were going to chase that score down easily and then they just wobbled at the end. But thankfully for them, Will Sutherland did the job at the end.
00:01:39
Speaker 1: Yeah. We'll talk more about that game shortly, but just on the actual atmosphere, I mean, there's been a lot of talk in the build up that they might get sixty plus thousand and take it back to the days from nearly ten years ago when they were getting those sorts of crowds. But not only did they get them, the ones that went last night. I kind of feel like they'd all want to go back again. It was that sort of night.
00:02:00
Speaker 2: Yeah, definitely.
00:02:00
Speaker 3: I think also the earliest start time helps six o'clock.
00:02:04
Speaker 2: You can bring younger kids.
00:02:05
Speaker 3: Finished by nine o'clock, you can still get home by a reasonable hour, whereas that extra hour and a quarter sometimes it's a bit too late for a lot of families to get there. So it was a beautiful day in Melbourne, two good teams, earlier start time. I think it all just I mean, we're all falling in love with cricket, we've got the ashes on. The big Bash has been great, So I just feel like just everything sort of jelled together to make it a perfect night storm.
00:02:26
Speaker 1: Yeah, I know that from my case that we all went as a family because it was the earlier start, The next door neighbors went, the people up the road went. But I know Tea the executives would want the latest starts, So it's I guess it's Alster Dobson's job to get their right balance.
00:02:42
Speaker 2: Isn't it definitely end?
00:02:43
Speaker 1: Okay? So before we get into the games and the issues in the game, I'm just interested in your overall thoughts on where we sit at the moment. So maybe here Dricking is the star player in a competition to this point, probably just over halfway through.
00:02:55
Speaker 2: Now, I mean it's a tough one. I think.
00:02:58
Speaker 3: You know, Sam Harp has been really good with a bad as has Matt Renshaw, that they're both up there and the run scoring stakes. Harris Ralph and Peter Siddle have been unbelievable with the ball. But I think the two that I'm really tossing up between is Jack Edwards from the sixers and Cooper Connelly from the scorches. I think both of them being all round us, they just can't keep them out of the game. I mean, if Cooper Connelly misses out with the bat, he seems to just come in and get three or four or three wickets and a couple of catches and just stays involved in the game. And Jack Edward's a bit the same. He's playing a tough role batting down the order. He's played some good innings so far already, but he's also picked up some handy wickets. He's got a five for against the Thunder in one innings as well. So I'm finding it really hard to sort of split those two.
00:03:37
Speaker 2: Edwards and Cooper Connelly.
00:03:39
Speaker 1: I think the key to both of those two is that the ability to bowl four overs'd be batting in your top six. Just from a structural point of view, I think, particularly with Connelly and Matt Short's an example of the strikers stillness and max what the stars gives you that opportunity to play the extra batter in the middle order. If you've got that guy that can bowl the overs and bad.
00:03:58
Speaker 2: High oh, without doubt.
00:04:00
Speaker 3: I mean those players are worth their waiting gold, you know, to have, you know, and they're good fielders as well, so to have someone very proficient in all three aspects of the game, I mean, they're just they're so handy, and it just helps the balance of the team. As you say, you can just you feel like you're a bit light in one one other aspect, then you can strengthen that, you know, extra batter or if you need one extra bowler, you've just got so much more flexibility.
00:04:21
Speaker 1: Definitely, definitely right. What about a player breakout player so far that surprised you, Not so much the best, but one that surprised you.
00:04:29
Speaker 3: Yeah, another sixerer Actually Joel Davies as someone that's really stepped up. He's bowld beautifully with his left arm spinners, so he's very cagey. I thought he was more of a part time sort of bowler gun fielder and more of a sort of late order hitter. But his bowling has been really impressive and just lately starting to play a couple of innings with the bat as well. We know his fielding is always going to be really good, but now getting a few more opportunities for the Sixers and he's really grabbed his chance.
00:04:52
Speaker 1: They probably didn't win the game against the Renegades if he didn't play.
00:04:56
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think you're right bad Ambo, Yeah.
00:04:58
Speaker 3: I mean, I've just really enjoyed his composure under pressure, Like he's bowled in some tricky situations and he's been very clear on what he wants to do and he's been able to execute his skills under pressure, and that's always the mark of a really good player. He's shown really good composure and calmness on the bigger stage.
00:05:13
Speaker 1: You talk to Andrew McDonald about is there any correlation at all between what you do domestically, particularly in the BBL, to potentially playing cricket for Australia, And he talks about it's not so much the batting or the bowling, it's the ability to execute your plan under pressure, to be to have clarity under pressure, which clearly is the case in BBL and Cooper kindly comes to mind, is to be able to execute under pressure. Joel's kind of doing the same things. It's something that you can really enhance your reputation as a cricketer.
00:05:40
Speaker 3: Most definitely, And I reckon that's what the the people up there and the Australian set up and selectors are looking for that.
00:05:47
Speaker 2: You know, they know they're highly skilled players.
00:05:49
Speaker 3: You know everyone playing in the Big Bash has got great skills, but can you access those skills when you're under enormous pressure. Another one that I was impressed with just in the last couple of games of Josh Brown watching him bat last night, he was so composed as well, it's a big game, it's a Derby mcg seventy thousand, just about there in the ground, and he just looked in control of his game.
00:06:09
Speaker 2: He wasn't rushed.
00:06:10
Speaker 3: The other end, I thought Seifert he looked a bit frantic and he's an experienced international player from New Zealand, overseas professional and I felt like Josh Brown was the calm one at the crease, and I think that's what the selectors are sort of looking at.
00:06:23
Speaker 2: Those sort of attributes in players.
00:06:24
Speaker 1: Definitely a breakout team before we get to some of the issues. Is there one to this one? Because it's really hard to find out or to determine who are the best teams in the mark because it kept changing.
00:06:37
Speaker 3: It is difficult. There is one team that I wasn't that hot on coming into the season and they've pulled off a couple of incredible victories and that's the Brisbane Heat, chasing down two hundred and fifty seven against the Scorches their win win Max Bryant helped the knocko off the Melbourne Stars the other night up at the Gabber as well. They've just got that crowd absolutely rocking up there. They're not the most fashionable team going around. They don't have the biggest names or the biggest stars, but they're just finding a way to get things done and I admire that about them. I really do that. There's something special about the Brisbane Heat at the moment. And can they maintain it, I'm not sure, but at the moment they're finding a way and I love going up to the Gabba to watch them play at the moment because you just get so many classic matches up there.
00:07:19
Speaker 1: And the thing about the Heat is if they can stay in touch. Knowing that Kawajo and Labashane come back into that team, Nie is another one that comes back into that team, it can completely turn the competition on its.
00:07:31
Speaker 2: Head, definitely.
00:07:33
Speaker 3: I mean there's a few teams in that boat that are going to get some players back after the Ashes finishes and they could become real dangerous. So that's where the Brisbane Heat they intrigued me a little bit because you know, the games that they won that they probably should have lost, they're the ones you look back on at the end of the season and think, well, that's the one that got us into the finals, and yeah, you're right. Once you get in the finals and you get some big names back, then anything can happen.
00:07:55
Speaker 1: Absolutely. Okay, the Brisbane Heat HUSS's breakout team so far in the competition. And now let's get strange to the power play because there are so many issues bubbling around at the moment. I want to start with the Melbourne Stars. You always like to be positive when you think, when you look or reflecting back on a game, which was obviously last night with the Renegades and the Stars. The Stars, now that's two in a row where they were in winning positions and they lost both of them. Well, what's going on there? Do you think has anything changed?
00:08:22
Speaker 3: I don't think there's any cause for panic whatsoever. You know, they've lost two tight games. It can happen in T twenty cricket. It's a volatile game. You just need one or two players to play out of their skin and the game can get taken away from you. So you know, yeah, they'll be disappointed to lose those two games, but they've got a lot of experience in that team, They've got a lot of quality, and so I mean, I don't think there's any as I said, no cause for concern whatsoever. I just think they just need to get back to just you know, playing their game, executing their skills, which they were doing probably a lot better earlier in the season. I feel like even last night, they were just getting a bit carried away with some external stuff. They were getting involved, you know, with some confrontations out in the middle, and I just think that good. They don't have to worry about trying to think they've got to flex their muscles in front of the opposition.
00:09:04
Speaker 2: They just got to play their game.
00:09:05
Speaker 3: If they play the game on skill and not on a motion, then more often than not they should come out on top.
00:09:10
Speaker 1: Do they? And I agree with you, And I spoke to Sam Harper about this last night. He is kind of saying, well, look, the two games we've lost, where in the balance. That's the nature of T twenty cricket. Do they have to be a little bit careful that they don't lose all that momentum that they had through the first half of the competition and what they did towards the end of last year.
00:09:28
Speaker 3: Well, of course you need to be careful, but the T twenty cricket's a game where if you try and be careful, sometimes it doesn't go your way. So I think they've just got to almost put those two games behind them. They're playing good cricket. They've got some stars in that team. One area that also interests me a little bit about the stars. They muck around with their batting order a lot, and I understand you do need to be flexible through the middle order, but they've got some high end, world class players they keep pushing down the order further and further. Stilln is coming in at six last night. I think you know he's in great form. That was a mistake, Glenn Maxwell. He's hardly battered in the tournament. You know, you've got to get these players in facing a few more balls. So I don't like the way they're mucking around with their batting order, you know there, But I do understand that the flexibility and there's a lot of strategy that goes involved in that.
00:10:15
Speaker 1: And then to the Renegades, they found a way to win, which I think is important because they found a way to lose a few games as well through this tournament. But to someone like Will Savon, who is still a young man who's still trying to work out his own game, let alone the Renegades game, to have that moment where he was able to execure under pressure, what does that do to his confidence and he's belief.
00:10:35
Speaker 3: Well, yeah a lot. I actually was very impressed with his captaincy last night. I thought the way he in the field, the way he sort of rotated his bowlers around that they've got a bit of an identity now of playing the extra spinner, using their spinners in key times, and I think that's a really good tactic from the Melbourne Renegades. I thought the way he thought, yeah, just the way he sort of maneuvered the balls in the field was very very good. So I think, you know, he can take some confidence from the captaincy side of things, but then yeah, you want a performance as well. And I feel like he's been bowling quite well in the last couple of games, picking up the odd wicket, but he's keeping it tight. To finish a game off like that against your rival with the bat, yeah, that'll do his.
00:11:15
Speaker 2: Confidence the world of good.
00:11:16
Speaker 3: And I hope that a few of his teammates jump on the back of that and he can carry a few because I get the feeling he's a bit of that spiritual sort of leader in that team, like he's such a great guy, a great talent, and if you can get that confidence going, I feel as though he can drag a few blokes along with him.
00:11:32
Speaker 1: And of course, the mace, the Melbourne Mace is behind you there, and it's got the big r of the Renegades on it because they were the ones that won the mace. They've got it at least for the next few days before they head across town to Marvel Stadium to take on each other again. And there were we be a bit more spice in this one based on how that game finished last night.
00:11:53
Speaker 3: Well, there was plenty of spices in it last night. I mean, the Stars were I thought they were out of it, you know, as the Renegades are chase down that total, and then they just fought their way back into it and they had some real belief they were going to win that game. You could see how emotional some of those players were getting. Sibtle forty one years of ay so pumped up, Stoynus, Harris Ralph.
00:12:10
Speaker 2: You know, I was sort of thinking, Wow, they're right up for this.
00:12:14
Speaker 3: So going down in the end, you think they'll trying to step it up at Marvel Stadium in a few days time.
00:12:19
Speaker 1: Will Southern did a really good job carrying his team on his back towards the end. I think that was an easier thing than actually carrying that mace off the field. It's that heavy. But it's good to have it in the studios with us today. All right. The other game that was played last night was the Scorches and the Strikers had finished here on the east and side of the country. It felt like about two o'clock in the morning, but somehow the Strikers managed to lose almost the unlosable. How did that happen?
00:12:46
Speaker 3: Well, they've done it twice. Now there's a game at the gap where they should have chased down comfortably as well when they blew that one, And so now they've blown this one against the scorch they were in a position where you just need one of those batters at the top to take the responsibility back pretty much to the end, and they win that game in a canter. So they'll be bitterly disappointed with that. The Strikers, interesting, they've they've changed their tactics a little bit. That they identified bowling was a weakness over the last couple of years, so they've gone out and tried to strengthen that as much as they can. And they've done a pretty good job with that, to be fair, But unfortunately it seems to have taken away from the batting side of things and overcorrected. Yeah, and they're so reliant on Matt Short at the top to play that beginnings, and he's at his best when he is clear and free to be able to be aggressive and play shots, and I feel like he's just a bit caught in between now because he knows he hasn't got that sort of star power through the middle order anymore. Then, Yeah, it's just putting a little bit of doubt in his mind. And then Chris Lynn, well, you know he's obviously a gun player, but it's not as consistent as probably what he used to be. So you know, they rely heavily on those two to get a lot of the runs and unfortunately they miss out.
00:13:53
Speaker 2: Then you know that they just don't have enough quality through the middle.
00:13:56
Speaker 1: And then from a scorch's point of view, they had to do it differently. And remember talking to you about this last time. We know how good their batting is. It's had to be their bowlers a couple of times now to get it done. They will talk to Marley Beadman a little bit later on as to what's happening sort of behind the scenes, but they have to give them a lot of confidence to knowing that their batting is fine, that they're they're fighting away with their bowls.
00:14:17
Speaker 4: Yeah.
00:14:17
Speaker 3: Well, the bowling was a concern for me coming into the tournament. I mean, they lost so many experienced bowlers and there's a lot of youth in there, a lot of unheralded players. The batting look really strong, and to be honest, the batting hasn't really fired in the last couple of games, but the bowling has been really strong and sort of pulled them out of them my really, So yeah, I'm also interested to chat to Marley about, you know, this bowling group and how they're coming together and the work being done behind the scenes, because they're obviously doing.
00:14:43
Speaker 2: A really good job.
00:14:44
Speaker 3: Because they've had a habit of, you know, defending those low titles in the past.
00:14:49
Speaker 1: It's really had to know who it is they've got. We're talking before about having at least one bowler in your top six. They've got two. They've got Hardy and Connolly that can bowl therefore overs, but still batting the top six. So they're getting it from different contributions from different people all the time.
00:15:03
Speaker 3: Well, that was the funny thing about last night's game. The Strikers used so much spin against the Scorches and it really worked, probably apart from the last over, which sort of got away from the Strikers a little bit, but they did a great job with their spinners, and then the Scorches thought, well, if it worked for the Strikers, it might as well work for us. In Ashton, Turner picks up two wickets in one over. It was unbelievable. So, I guess we talked about the Scorches batting a fair bit, but they have got a couple of injury concerns there as well. The two overseas players, so Fin Allen and Laurie Evans both out of the team at the moment. I don't know how bad their injuries are, but that certainly changes the dynamic of the batting a little bit.
00:15:38
Speaker 1: Agree talking about injuries, how about Hurricanes. No Tim David kind of felt like it was no Tim David, no Hurricanes. That might not now necessarily be the case from what we saw the other night.
00:15:48
Speaker 3: That was an incredible run chase against the Thunder. I mean, I thought the Thunder had more than a half runs on the board. There must have been a really good pitch and they chased down comfortably in the end. I still think there's some concerns there with no Tim David, like just knowing you've got that guy that can when you know you need twelve, thirteen, fourteen and over, you're not going to be able to do that all the time. So, I mean, the Hurricanes look great. They've got a very well balanced team. They look really good on paper. But I still think you take a Tim David out of any team and you're going to have a little concern there for sure.
00:16:22
Speaker 1: Because I think it changes the way the Hurricanes play. And I know you've said this on game coverage on Fox about how they can be calm in the first ten and not panic knowing that Tim David's to come when he's not there. Once the rate becomes a bit of an issue, they are more prone to maybe panic and make mistakes and push too hard.
00:16:41
Speaker 3: Yeah, without doubt. I mean they're doing a pretty good job of it at the moment, you know, being able to cover. I think Matthew Wade's going to probably become the most important player in that team in the middle. He's taken the responsibility and chased down a couple of you know, good good sort of totals there at the end for the Hoebart Hurricanes got him a couple of wins, so I think his experience will be vital for them moving forward.
00:17:00
Speaker 1: And our man Chadury has done quite well as well in that sort of four or five slight. Tim Ward's an interesting one. We'll talk about him maybe a little bit later as well, but I kind of found thought three four years ago he was potentially an opener for Australian Test cricket and he kind of is just not quite taking his cricket to another level. But what is a able to do last night? I never expected that or the other night, never expecting him to do that in twenty over cricket.
00:17:26
Speaker 2: No me neither.
00:17:27
Speaker 3: I must admit I had him on my super coach bench, so I wish I had him on the field. But I commentated a game with Moses on RICKX when Tim Wood got his opportunity to play for the Hurricanes, and he spoke glowingly about him as a player and said, I really rate this guy and I think he can become a really good player, and he's showing it. I mean, that was an incredible and no one expected it. You know, there's the other big names in the team. You've got Wade, you've got McDermott, you've got Mitch Owen. But no, it was Ward the one that was that took the game away from the Thunder. It was a great performance.
00:17:55
Speaker 1: Shots that I didn't think he was capable of playing because it's all that he's temperament and he is technique not some of the things that he was doing up in Sydney. So what does that mean for the Thunder now? I mean, David Warner goes to makes one hundred and thirty, I'm not out they don't win. This is a team that's got a lot of experience. They've played in the Grand Final last year and mathematically it looks almost impossible for them now to make the finals.
00:18:18
Speaker 2: Well, I believe there's still a two percent chance and.
00:18:20
Speaker 1: The Star think the Stars were one percent chance.
00:18:22
Speaker 3: I'm not really willing to write anyone off because the Melbourne Stars after last year were zero and five. Now the Thunder one and five. Yep, so one and five, so they're still on par with the Stars. But they're going to have to get something going. And that David Warner innings was absolutely incredible watching some of that. He was vintage David Warner. And they don't deserve to lose that game when you've got one player that plays that well and makes you know, we'll just say one hundred and thirty.
00:18:51
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's a shame.
00:18:52
Speaker 3: It's a shame for the Thunder, but they've still got to believe and sometimes like the Stars last year. You get yourself into this position, you become really dangerous because you think, well, we're unlucky to make the finds. We've got nothing to lose. Now, let's just go out there and just see what happens. And you can get on these rolls. And the Stars showed it last year. And I'm not riding the Thunder off from doing that either, because they've got enough quality there. They just haven't put it together yet. And while they're still a mathematical chance, then I'm not willing to write them off.
00:19:20
Speaker 1: If you talk to other teams, they'll say the same thing. They're they're of the belief that the Thunder are a top fourteen. Yeah, and so they will take them very seriously from now to the end of the season as well. They're not going to be taking them lightly.
00:19:32
Speaker 3: Well, you can't take any game lightly, but you just don't like come up against teams like that when they've got nothing to feel like they've got nothing to play for, they become really dangerous.
00:19:41
Speaker 1: Agree, all right? That is that the power play for this edition of the Surge. Next is the young staff from the West. His name is Mali Bidman. He will join us on the surge.
00:19:58
Speaker 2: He's just trying to heave a good le. I have a mid wicket, give himself for a room, so the stunts mix it.
00:20:05
Speaker 1: Have gotten bites to dust.
00:20:07
Speaker 2: This is just a procession slow ball from Bev and i'skul a bit of bowling, actually just a bounce.
00:20:16
Speaker 1: Yes, Marley Beidman one of the young stars of not only the Scorches but the entire BBL competition, and he joins us on the surge. Marley, thanks so much for joining.
00:20:25
Speaker 4: Us, No worries, thank you for having me.
00:20:26
Speaker 1: Guys, that was a big win last night. You had to do it the hard way and for a lot of the night I didn't think you were going to get the win, but you got over the line. It was quite a dramatic performance and an impressing one.
00:20:37
Speaker 4: Yeah.
00:20:37
Speaker 5: Absolutely, quite a bizarre quite a bizarre wicket to be honest, as we thought. Ended up playing obviously a huge, huge role with the spin in both sides of the game. And yeah, I mean it was just just an incredible win.
00:20:51
Speaker 1: Now, Mike's got a lot of questions for you, but I did want to ask you about you know, when you see a game change where there's so much spin being bald and you're a fast bowler. What are you thinking sitting in the standing in the field.
00:21:03
Speaker 4: It was a mixture of things.
00:21:04
Speaker 5: I think cutters were working pretty well at the time, and obviously we had some experience there with Joel and those boys who have played a lot of cricket across a lot of a lot of different wickets. So it was conveyed pretty early that paced on looks pretty nice and that sort of the three three quarter team and off cutters and things were sticking a little bit more.
00:21:23
Speaker 4: So.
00:21:24
Speaker 5: Yeah, I think it was just sort of about adjusting as quick as we could there and then yeah, as a bowling, you know, just adapt.
00:21:29
Speaker 3: Yeah, good Amali, myke custody here mate. So you guys didn't look like you had enough runs at the halfway mark of that game. What sort of things were spoken by Adam Vojas, the bowling coaches and all the bowlers amongst yourselves about what you needed to do in that second inning to try and give yourself a chance to win.
00:21:46
Speaker 5: I think, to be honest, there was a mixture of things at came out and said we thought we were obviously a few short.
00:21:54
Speaker 4: We sort of built a reputation.
00:21:56
Speaker 5: And a legacy around competing and scrapping hard in low totals. So At just said, regardless of what the outcome was, that he wanted us to bring energy and fight and that was a real sort of focus point for us of regardless of what went on and obviously how many runs we had in the show, we just wanted to go out there with an intent and obviously we're going to play the Strikers again in a few days time, so if there's any way to leave a few scars.
00:22:20
Speaker 4: There, and that was the plan.
00:22:21
Speaker 1: Yeah.
00:22:21
Speaker 3: And the atmosphere at the ground seemed incredible last night, and you guys as players seemed more pumped up than usual, especially like someone like Joel Paris. He was running around like an eighteen year old after getting a wicket.
00:22:32
Speaker 4: Yeah.
00:22:32
Speaker 5: Absolutely, I think forty thousand people are obvious. Is such an incredible atmosphere, as you said, and such an incredible energy. So yeah, I speak Jolia let loose there for a few hours and started running around like aheadlets's chock.
00:22:44
Speaker 4: A little bit.
00:22:45
Speaker 5: But yeah, I think that that passion and energy is just awesome. I think it shows how much it matters to us and how much we care about going out there and trying to put on a performance as a bowling.
00:22:53
Speaker 1: In it, you talked about the trademark of defending those scores and getting down and dirty when you have to talk to us about some of the things that you've had to learn as a relatively new player to the team to be like some of the great scorches bowlers of the past and keep that reputation going.
00:23:15
Speaker 4: Still very much a working progress, still learning.
00:23:18
Speaker 5: Every day off that group, and obviously have such an incredible wealth of knowledge behind the scenes as well with when Richo's around and Lance when he's not playing, but he's still around the group. So I'm very much still learning as I'm going. But I think a lot of a lot of it, to be honest, is an attitude and a mindset thing which I've had to sort of adapt through the senior boys. Seems to be just a willingness of belief and fight regardless of where you are in the game and sort of regardless of what position you're in. Is that WAA is that we think we can get back in any game and we can end up winning any game. And I think that's driven from v Adam Bogs and the coaching staff, and then obviously at being one of the most competitive people I've ever met also adds on.
00:24:02
Speaker 4: Top of that.
00:24:03
Speaker 5: So, yeah, it's an incredible culture and it's an absolute privilege to be able to put that hat on and sort of following the footsteps of some of the most incredible fast bowlers and bowlers of the game has I've ever seen.
00:24:15
Speaker 1: So is that a pressure to be like them? Or is it actually quite easy because you've got so many players that are still within the Scorches organization that that that care, that that legacy almost for them to sort of pass on to you that hey, this is the way you do it, and it's actually not not too difficult, not too much of a pressure.
00:24:36
Speaker 4: Yeah, I think it's one hundred percent of privilege.
00:24:39
Speaker 5: I think, yeah, it's an absolute privilege that I said, to be able to put that hat on and to be able to run out there with that group, and what they've accomplished over the last few years, not only through Ebash but through West Australian cricket and domestic cricket has been absolutely incredible. So there's always going to be a little bit of a little bit of pressure and a little bit of expectation, but it's very minimal, and I think just the understanding of that I'm able to do what I love and to be able to follow in the footsteps of such great cricket. Is it something that's an absolute privilege?
00:25:10
Speaker 3: Can you just take us back to you know, you as a child and your journey and your cricket career so far.
00:25:15
Speaker 2: Just just give the listeners a bit of.
00:25:17
Speaker 3: An insight about where you've come from, how you got into fast bawling, and yeah, your journey so far.
00:25:23
Speaker 5: Yeah, I started off down south in a little town called Guarama in the southwest, close to Margaret River, And yeah, I sort of grew up there and had a pretty normal upbringing for a down South boy.
00:25:34
Speaker 4: Love my diving, love my surfing.
00:25:37
Speaker 5: Anytime I could get in the ocean, that was sort of where all my spare time went. And then sort of started to pick up a cricket ball a little bit later, I think I was. I played milo cricket originally and then didn't really sign up for a junior's team and just played a lot of backyard cricket with my old man. And then I think I would have been around year four or so, year three maybe was down in the nets and a great man named Bill van Vliet was a batmaker and surfboard shaper in quirum Up. At the time, I was having a hit in the nets and he came up to me and gave me my first bat and I remember that so vividly, and remember seeing in at the quareum Up nets and just trying to bowl as fast as I could after I watched Mitchell Johnson in that twenty thirteen forty Nash series and then yeah, I sort of just fell in love with the game from there and signed up for a local team and played for quirum Up that first year, and then ended up moving up north to Dampier and played a couple of years of club cricket up there before I got scouted by the Whacker.
00:26:33
Speaker 4: And I was about thirteen.
00:26:35
Speaker 5: I was twelve or thirteen, and then moved down to Perth for high schooling went down to Melbourne. Then yeah, it just sort of went from there. Played the full juniors, made my first grade debut at fifteen, and then yeah, I played a couple of years the first grade and then got my first contract when I was eighteen, and then yeah, it's just sort of all float on from there.
00:26:56
Speaker 1: It sounds like male he's about forty six going through that, and he still funny enough.
00:27:02
Speaker 3: Nathan Colton, I was now playing down a kowerhum up there, and I think he's terrorizing some of the batters down there. But what about some of the most influential coaches you've had in your career so far? I know you're still young, but have there been any any bowling coaches that have, you know, really had a big impression on you.
00:27:18
Speaker 5: Yeah, I've been I've been very fortunate so far to work with some incredible names. DK Lily has been one that's been there for me since I was sort of thirteen or fourteen, which has been absolutely incredible. And then yeah, I was going through Mattie Mason early days at w A was also amazing, and then working with Timmy mackinaw he's been absolutely incredible. But yeah, I've I've been super fortunate to be able to work with some incredible names.
00:27:44
Speaker 1: Yeah, You've got to tell us how do how does how is this possible that you get to work with Dennis Lily?
00:27:51
Speaker 4: This is a funny story.
00:27:53
Speaker 5: I was back down We're in perfect time, but we went back down south over the holiday break. I was in about I was in year nine or so, and I was coming back from a stretchy and I was bowling to a bin down the.
00:28:05
Speaker 4: Side of a mate's house as fast as I could on a gravel road. It was absolutely peppering the bin.
00:28:10
Speaker 5: And he has two houses, and he was watching from his house up on top of the hill. For some reason, thought that there was a little bit of pace there, or there's a little.
00:28:18
Speaker 4: Bit of something. And he was very good friends with a man named Rod Dugan.
00:28:23
Speaker 5: He's a close friend of Dkays and Max got in contact with Rod, and so our kids absolutely peppering him bin on the side of the house, and I think he's got a little bit of pace behind him. So gave Rod a call, and then Rod got a hold of DK and Decay sort of came back and was like, I don't really want to work with anyone under the age of seventeen or eighteen his singers. Once they developed their own action and their own understanding of cricket, then he felt like he could help them. He didn't want to grab people too early and sort of change anything. So yeah, I ended up that just sort of got buried and he months went by and then was I don't actually remember how it all ended up happening, to be honest, but I think I was back down there again, and Rod got in contact with Dennis again and eventually convinced him to have a session down at South Perth and went down to the nets as a thirteen or fourteen year old and Dka watched and then from there sort of ended up breaking his own rule, which was which is an absolute privilege And um, yeah, as I said, I'm very thankful, very fortunate to have him in my corner.
00:29:23
Speaker 2: You have got a beautiful smooth action.
00:29:25
Speaker 3: You have you modeled that on anyone in particular, There's been a few.
00:29:29
Speaker 4: I don't know if it's been modeled off.
00:29:31
Speaker 5: There was a lot of inspiration from Dalas Dane when I was young, watching him charge in and bowl as quick as he could and terrorized batsman. I think that was That was a yeah, that was probably the most the most influential cricketer I had. And then as Mitchell Johnson in that Ashes series, as any young kid has watched, was pretty incredible. And then I went through a bit of a stage of loving watching the old West Indies ear of Malcolm Marshall and so forth, and yeah, went back through that are and sort of fell in love with fast bawling through that as well. So there's been a combination of people, but I'd say Dale Staine would have been probably the number one.
00:30:07
Speaker 3: Oh that's I was one of those bad when they were terrorized by Dale Stain. I hated facing him. I'm getting the ships now just thinking about it.
00:30:15
Speaker 1: It's just thinking about that that famous series the other day video.
00:30:21
Speaker 2: Embarrassing.
00:30:23
Speaker 1: See, Like, I know you've had some injury issues through your young career, which inevitably happens with most young fast bowlers. But how difficult is it to sort of rein it back and not want to get the radar gun hitting one point fifty and just managing your own body as much as anything to make sure that you can have a long sustained career.
00:30:43
Speaker 5: Nearly impossible, to be honest, I think, Yeah, once here to speak again, you sort of fall in love with that, and it can be dangerous, to be honest, It almost can be a little bit, yeah, a negative thing I feel because it's fast fallowings. I've personally found one of those ones where if I feel like i'msing it ends up coming out slower. And it's one of those ones where I feel like, when I'm in rhythm and when I'm not thinking about it and you sort of enter that flow state, that's when you end up bowling your quickest. So it's a tough one of you always got your eyes on the gun and you always wanting to bowl fast, but at the same time, I feel like when I'm bowling my quickest is when I'm in my best rhythm, and that's when you're just not thinking about it and it just flows naturally. So yeah, it can be a hard one, especially a training when you want to crank it up, it can be a hard one. But yeah, I try not to worry about the gun as much when I'm playing and just sort of find that rhythm and just worry about competing and then normally the pace will follow if I do that.
00:31:37
Speaker 3: And You've had some experience around Australian squads and Australian teams in the last year or two. What have you learned from being around those guys and what's that experience been like.
00:31:46
Speaker 4: It was incredible. The first ODI two that I went away on was absolutely amazing.
00:31:51
Speaker 5: I was down in Margaret River at the time surfing and at the beach on the Sunday, and then it was not sure if I wanted to drive up on Monday.
00:31:58
Speaker 4: I didn't have training till Tuesday.
00:32:00
Speaker 5: Wasn't too sure, but decided luckily to drive up and got a call in the morning from an unknown number and was a little bit rather across what's going on here early in the mornings about eight o'clock, and ended up not answering it, and then got a text message from Dodders and it said, hey, mate, give me a call back when you get a chance, and not gonna lie.
00:32:18
Speaker 4: I wasn't one.
00:32:18
Speaker 5: Hundred percent sure who the number was, and then did a quick Google search and figured out that I've probably picked that phone call up pretty quickly, so called Dodters back. And then yeah, I got the news that I was on the plane in a day's time and went over and got to finally meet Staky and got to finally meet Haff and sort of just stand behind him and pick their brain as much as possible, And yeah, it was an incredible couple of weeks. And then recently I've been fortunate enough to go over the T teny Scott again, and.
00:32:44
Speaker 4: See Nelly go about his business.
00:32:45
Speaker 5: And again watch Half and how those boys go and how incredible they are, and yeah, just trying to pick their brains as much as possible.
00:32:52
Speaker 1: You're a great storyteller. It's really cool listening to this, Mali. So when you're watching them, did you feel I'm miles away? Or by actually watching them and observing him feeling, actually, I'm not that far away. If I can get this right, that right, and listen to this, listen to that that that I'm kind of in the mix, I'm not far away. It's almost touching distance.
00:33:15
Speaker 4: It was a mixture, to be honest. At the start, I felt like I was miles away.
00:33:19
Speaker 5: I was. I was only a traveling reserve, so there was no real chance of playing, and I just knew I was over there, so obviously just solow up as much as I can.
00:33:26
Speaker 4: So I always feel when I watched SHARKI and those guys.
00:33:30
Speaker 5: Will always feel like I'm a one hundred kilometers away because they're so so incredible what they do. But it was sort of as the tournament went on, Dwarsh went down with a pack and then someone got injured, and then I think Starky was overcoming a flu or something, and I sort of realized I was like, oh my god, I'm two people away here from almost having to run out and take the new rock. The way things was going, everyone was going down with injury or sickness. So I thought I had to flick that that mindset pretty quickly and realize that if I do have to go out and bolder, Harry Brook probably shouldn't be thinking I'm a hundred silmeter. So switched on a bit there, and then Yeah, I think as it went on, and just the more that I got to pick those boys' brains.
00:34:06
Speaker 4: Sort of the more confidence I got in myself.
00:34:09
Speaker 5: But yeah, also just just amazing how sort of welcoming and understanding Starky and those boys are as well. They make you feel like you're a part of the unit straight away, and I think that was, Yeah, that helped massively.
00:34:21
Speaker 3: There's been a lot of talk about some of the next generation coming through, the young guns yourself. How do you deal with that sort of external sort of pressure and expectation. I guess on young guys coming through, I.
00:34:34
Speaker 4: Don't think there's a lot of pressure there.
00:34:35
Speaker 5: I think it's more of a as I say, a privileged, to be honest, to be sort of put in that bracket. I think a lot of people have spoken about that World Cup group from a couple of years ago and the talent that's come out of that, and I think that, Yeah, when we finished that World Cup, I realized and I looked around and I thought, this is an incredible group of cricketers. And then over the next sort of three to five years, if we didn't see a lot of national representatives or domestic success, I would have been a little bit stumped, to be honest, because of how the talent that came out of that group.
00:35:06
Speaker 4: So yeah, I think it was. Yeah, it's an.
00:35:08
Speaker 5: Absolutely on an a privilege to be able to sort of be put in that next generation and to be put in that position to be able to learn off the senior boys now.
00:35:16
Speaker 4: But yeah, I think we saw what Sammy.
00:35:20
Speaker 5: Did over the last few months, and even harder seeing hitting his three hundred or whatever crazy number he did in that one day game in Great Cricket, I think, yeah, just the talent that have come out of that group is absolutely incredible, and yeah, I can't wait to see what happens over the next few years.
00:35:36
Speaker 1: So does that then help you knowing what Sam's been able to do for his country and obviously finish South Wales as well, and what Vidla did in a Shield final, and you know there's countless other examples. You've just given a couple as well. Do you kind of feel like, well, if they can do it, I can do it. It's just a matter of time. Is that kind of how you see it? Yeah?
00:35:56
Speaker 5: Absolutely, I think Sammy was a huge that was a massive inspiration to all of us. So I remember the group chat got brought back from the dead when it was ramping. Boomer at one hundred and forty was sending in video saying what is going on here? So yeah, I think it's a huge inspiration obviously, and it was such an incredible evenings. And then as you said, VI's on one hundred and fifty and only absolute rockets in the Shield final was amazing as well. So there's constant motivation there. Even Peaky the other than artwhack them in that big Bash game. I think there's always there's always going to be inspiration and motivation there. And I know personally I just used that as few I see the other boys my age and from that group doing incredible things in a high level of cricket. I just try and use that as motivation. So I'm sure we're all on a pretty similar page. And yeah, as I said, I can't wait to see what that group does.
00:36:46
Speaker 2: And what's your major goal.
00:36:47
Speaker 3: You've obviously played a fair bit of white ball cricket and not a lot of red bull cricket just yet. But is your dream to play test cricket or are you're happy just playing the shorter forms of the game.
00:36:56
Speaker 4: No.
00:36:56
Speaker 5: Test cricket, absolutely, I think that's any young kids dream to be honest, to be able to put the baggy ground on your head and run out in the test match boxing day. Test would be the absolutely absolute pinnacle for me personally. So it's just been more of a body thing recently of trying to get my body right. I've had a few little little niggles and little injuries that have sort of held me back from being able to build a consistent load to be able to attack red ball properly. So it's just about getting through the start of the season, get a few one day games in and then roll into Big Bash and hopefully get through this no worries and then yeah, have a look at where I'm sitting, and I think there'll be a decent chat about whether or not my body will be in a good position to have a look at red ball the back half of the year.
00:37:39
Speaker 3: Also, the plan is to hopefully play some sheffield Shire cricket at the back end of the season.
00:37:43
Speaker 5: Yeah, we'll see see where we are, whether that's second eleven or Gray cricket and build up from there. But yeah, I think it will be starting a limited overs red ball game would assume sort of tapping myself at a number and whatever that is, and then hopefully showing some resilience and yeah, being able to build up into hopefully it will be a shill game.
00:38:02
Speaker 1: Just finally, Marley, we really appreciate your time just on the scorches and what's possible this year because the bowling in US has talked about this, We've all talked about it. It's so different this year to previous years. There's so much more of a focus on the likes of yourself. What do you think is possible for this group in twenty.
00:38:21
Speaker 4: Six Absolutely anything. I honestly believe that.
00:38:26
Speaker 5: I still look at our batting lineup now on the scoreboard and we line up and think that would be an absolute nightmare of ball two. So I think, yeah, I think we've got so much power up top and a great mix of experience in youth between our bowling lineup.
00:38:40
Speaker 4: So I think we're just starting to gel now.
00:38:43
Speaker 5: I think we're actually yeah, I feel like we're starting to grow as a unit and as I said, trust.
00:38:48
Speaker 4: Ourselves a bit more.
00:38:49
Speaker 5: And it's such a it looks it's such a different look for the Scorches and obviously having dworphin AJ and all these people that have been around for long periods of time now it is a different look. But I think we're starting to play some really strong cricket now. And as I said, I think our batting lineup is absolutely incredible, So I think anything is possible. I don't want to jinx anything too much in such early doors, but yeah, I think that the sky is the limit for our group.
00:39:15
Speaker 1: Thank you so much for Johnny us sharing your story. I know that there's a lot more young cricket fans now that know a lot more about you from the way you've just shared your your stories. Feels like it's almost like this is your life you've gone through all the way back. But it's been awesome and all your best cricket is still certainly to come. Thank you for sharing and good luck for the rest of the tournament.
00:39:37
Speaker 4: No worry, thank you for having me guys.
00:39:39
Speaker 1: Marley Biardman, Johnny is on the surge. We're back with more after this. So good to catch up with one of the young stars of the competition in Marley Biardman. He speaks very well as well. He's an impressive young man. It's time now to get into yes no waight hasten and we put you under a lot of pressure last time. Let's see whether we can do the same again. We did talk a little bit earlier about tim Ward they unlocked the gem or do you need to see a little bit more.
00:40:04
Speaker 3: I'd like to see a little bit more, so I'll wait. I'm happy to wait on that one. But I really enjoyed his innings against the Sydney Thunder and that'll help his confidence as well, because I think getting an opportunity at the top of the order in the Big Bash, he would have been unsure whether he's good enough, and so that's half the battle sometime is being able to do it once say okay, I am good enough to do this, I can perform at this level, so he looks like he's got the skills. I think if someone like me Jol can get going at the other end, that can take some pressure off him as well. So I'm willing to wait, but I'm edging towards a yes.
00:40:33
Speaker 1: Okay, Glenn Maxwell's form with the bat is becoming an issue for the Stars.
00:40:38
Speaker 3: No, No, definitely not. I don't like him batting so low. I understand the theory behind it, because he can finish games off as well as anyone and as quickly as anyone. But I don't think it's a concern. I mean, they're getting runs from other sources at the moment. Sam Harp has been awesome, Marcus Sdin is scoring runs, so I don't think it's a concern. And you just know that there's going to be a game or two, or three or maybe even four where Maxie gets going.
00:41:04
Speaker 1: All right, We've only got to go back to last year where he didn't have the best start of first half of the competition, then came home like a freight train. It almost single handling got them into the finals. I think we've got to just remember that that wasn't that long ago. The strikers aren't good enough to play finals this year or.
00:41:23
Speaker 2: I think that's real.
00:41:25
Speaker 3: Yes, again, I'm not willing to write them off, but their batting looks thin to me, and so much pressure on your chrystline and you're Matt short. They don't get runs, then I feel as low there they're going to be struggling a bit. So yeah, I feel like they're not in the top four teams. I'm not saying they can't make the finals, because you can always get on a bit of a run, but I don't feel like they're one of the four best teams in the camp fair enough.
00:41:51
Speaker 1: There's no denying that the Gabba is the home of the big bash thriller.
00:41:58
Speaker 3: Well I'm going to say yes, although having said that, last night at the MCG was an absolute cracker of a game. I really enjoyed that. But I get excited every time I come to the Gabba one. The crowd's great, they get right into the game. Conditions are beautiful up there, beautiful pitch. There's bit of pace and bit of bounce for the bowlers, but it's also great comes onto the bat so you see lots of runs, you know, lots of sixers, and it's always very exciting.
00:42:22
Speaker 1: Was that the favorite place you for you as a player to bat was the Gabba, the one that you got excited about the most.
00:42:29
Speaker 3: Oh, favorite is It's hard to pick a favorite, but I did love batting there just because the pitch was so good for batting. It was true, came onto the bat you could score all around the ground.
00:42:38
Speaker 2: Once you get in.
00:42:38
Speaker 3: You'd have to work out early in rings because it had that extra pace and bounce and it could swing around a little bit. But once you got in, Oh, it was a dream to bat on and you could just feel like you could hit the battle wherever you wanted.
00:42:48
Speaker 1: Did you get seduced by the short boundaries straight as well?
00:42:52
Speaker 3: See the problem for me, Whitey was that every boundary felt big, didn't matter. I never felt like I had a short boundary ever.
00:43:00
Speaker 1: Ah yeah, I'm not even going to go there. I think I've seen you hit plenty of sixers to suggest otherwise. Not opening the batting with David Warner at the start of the tournament, he's now coming back to costs or now coming back to haunt the thunder.
00:43:12
Speaker 2: I think I agree with that. I think that's a yes.
00:43:15
Speaker 3: I mean, anytime you come up against David Warner, where do you not want him to bat? And that's probably at the top because you know, if he gets going, he's going to take the game away from you, like you know what he did to the Hurricanes the other night. Plus they've got experience in the middle there with Sam Billings, So I understand if there was a lot of inexperience through the middle, then you can put David Warner in the middle, control that middle part of the innings, play the spin well, run hard between the wickets, finish the game off. I understand that thinking when you've got someone like Billings there to do that exact role, and I think you're better off just getting Warner at the top. I mean, again, you can understand what they were thinking. Jokes and Constance two exciting young players, but they're not a David Warner. They've looked okay and they've got them off to a quick start every now and then, but neither of them have gone on with it to get a big match winning score. David Warner, when he gets going, he will get you a match winning score.
00:44:05
Speaker 1: Isn't that the underrated part of what you've just said? Then around. We see around the competition an exciting own player can go out there and get fifty off thirty balls, sixty off twenty eight balls, but then get out. We saw what David Warner did. Now, okay it didn't result in a victory, but that ability to turn a really good start into a big score where others can bat.
00:44:26
Speaker 3: Around, definitely, And again for the young guys out there national selectors, yeah, they're looking for that calmness and composure under pressure, executing his skills under pressure. But they're looking for those sort of players that play those match winning innings that can turn that fifty into an eighty or ninety one hundred. And that's why I was so pleased with for someone like Josh Brown last night, because he got to fifty after getting I think in his previous match he got a good forty and looked really good and I was just hoping that it's come on now, switch on and keep going. And I thought the way he played through that middle phase of the game was really good. Now disappointing to get our when he did, because he had a chance to take the Renegades all the way to victory, but it was a little tick in his development as a player to just kick on a little bit more than rather than being happy with his forty or fifteen.
00:45:10
Speaker 1: Yeah. Interesting. Another thing that came out of that Thunder Hurricanes game was Nick Madison retiring himself out. Now, I must confess I'm surprised this hasn't happened more often. I think it was a selfless move from Madison, who, as I understand it, made that call himself as opposed to it coming from the dugout. But last I'm sort of putting words in your mouth. Yes, no, wait, a good decision.
00:45:34
Speaker 3: I'm going to say weight because I don't necessarily like it personally right now. I've been involved with teams. So the Chennai Super Kings, we retired Devon Conway. He was sixty odd not out and he was getting tired. He was losing a bit of power, so we retired him at the back end of the T twenty innings and he comes off and he was bemused, like he was like, hang on, I'm on sixty five seventy not out. I feel like I'm going well, and you've retired me to bring in like a hit it to finish things off with the Nick Madison one he'd invested thirty however, many balls he'd faced on the wicket, so he was used to the conditions. It's not that easy for a new player to come in, I eat Daniel Sands and just hit the ball out of the park from ball one. So the question for me is I understand the thinking, and Sam's came in and to be fair, did a reasonable job. But could Madison Madison have done just as good a job, if not better, because he had been out there for longer and used to the conditions. I mean, we'll never know the answer that question. So what did Sam's hit? I saw he hit definitely hit one six and I think he nicked one over the slips that went for four. So I don't know if he scored many.
00:46:43
Speaker 1: More than a round two hundred for his innings. Yeah, so he didn't face too many balls either, A bit of.
00:46:48
Speaker 2: That and that's pretty good.
00:46:49
Speaker 3: But I mean Madison, he probably could have gone about the same. So and then you've got to also understand what effect does that have on the player. So Madison retiring himself, that's absolutely fine, but that had come from the side, and you know, does that affect the player thinking, oh gosh, these guys don't rape me, or they don't think I can finish the game off. It can have a negati effect unless you've spoken about it as a team before the tournament. So for example, for Devin Conway, he was amused when we decided to retire him in that particular game and I think it had an effect on him moving forward.
00:47:18
Speaker 1: So then does that mean there needs to be a mindset change from cricket that it's almost like taking a bowl off who's not doing a job for his team and replacing him with another bowler. That it can happen to a batter as well, who he might be twelve off eighteen balls when they need to be going at eight to Nine's that I'm sorry, you're not doing good enough job. We're going to replace you like you would if it was a bowler. So is that a mindset change thing?
00:47:42
Speaker 4: Yeah?
00:47:43
Speaker 3: But I think you need to sit down as a team before the tournament and have these discussions and sort of say, look, what do we think as a team, when do you think is the right time to do it.
00:47:50
Speaker 2: I'll give you another example.
00:47:51
Speaker 3: I was coaching in one hundred with the Welsh Fire and we had a player I'm happy to name him Steve Eskinazi, and it was batting nicely. It was a difficult pitch, but he has a reputation of being very good in the power play and then not really been able to find the boundaries through the middle phase of the game. And so there was discussions going on in the dugout of whether we should retire him and bring in a player that can find the boundary through the middle a guy called Tom Coler Cadmore, And I was sitting there and I'm thinking, I don't like this, So we decided not to do it. And to be fair, Steve Eskenazi absolutely dominated the middle phase, ended up on sixty odd and hit a number of boundaries, and I thought, oh, thank goodness we didn't retire him, because the new guy coming in might have had to take four or five bulls to get used to the conditions and then be able to try and pick up the pace. And I'm so glad we decided not to do it. So there is going to have to be a change of mindset.
00:48:42
Speaker 2: But I don't know. I'm still reticent to go for it.
00:48:46
Speaker 1: See I was dead set on it being a good thing. But even if you're saying it now. It's starting to make me feel like it's good on paper or good in theory, but it doesn't necessarily work that way when it actually you put it in practice.
00:48:58
Speaker 3: If you've got say like an Andre Russ waiting in the wings, and you know he can come out and smash it from ball one for the last couple of overs, maybe you do just send him in there and say, you know, try and try to hit a couple of six sift and if the bat are out there in the middle is getting tired or he's lost a bit of power, you know, he's just not been able to find the middle of the bat for a period of time, then definitely consider it. But I feel like you need to have that conversation as a team.
00:49:21
Speaker 1: Sean Abbotts, he was bowling another night at Marvel Stadium and all I can think about was you, Because you talked about him being in the top three best BBL players of all time. We haven't seen a lot of him through this tournament, through injury. He's immediately making an impact. Is there no one I'm going to say? How do I say this? It's almost like he's more important to his team than anyone else in the competition.
00:49:44
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think that's fair. I think that's fair.
00:49:47
Speaker 3: Yeah. I mean he bowls all the difficult overs and Moses on Rix goes to him every single time, so he knows he can trust him. He knows that he will again be able to execute his skills most most of the time under pressure. He picks up wickets for them. He's gone in the field. He's handy with the bat as well, so he's one of those complete package players that we're talking about before. So yeah, he's very very important player and he'll be jumping out of his skin, you know, to play. You know, he's been injured for a while, so back to full fitness, bit of confidence early by having a good game under his belt and for the Sixers, I hope he can keep those performances up.
00:50:24
Speaker 1: Absolutely. We might continue that conversation around retiring that's been after the show, because I've still got more questions I want to ask about that, but we are pretty much wrapping up our show for today. Thank you for coming in again. It's great talking for here with you, and thank you all so to Maali Bidman for joining us from the scorches. But before we do this, two things before we go there's two things I need to do. Firstly, your super coach team. Please, how is it going? Because I know you take it more seriously than me, which I didn't think was possible. James and I we've got our team. It's just like the most important thing we do over summer. How's your going, because I think it's going better than mine.
00:50:59
Speaker 2: I'm going okay.
00:51:00
Speaker 3: I've just been sorting out my trades this morning actually for the new round.
00:51:03
Speaker 2: The new round starts today.
00:51:04
Speaker 1: With it, you're already looking ahead to the next round in the round after that, well, you've got to keep an eye on the schedule.
00:51:09
Speaker 3: So the Sydney Sixers have two games this round, so anyone out there get a couple of Sydney Sixers players into your team. My rankings coming down, so it's I'm ranked one, three hundred and thirteenth at the moment, so not too bad.
00:51:21
Speaker 1: It's pretty good.
00:51:23
Speaker 2: Yeah, but many yea.
00:51:24
Speaker 3: Last round was okay, but still managed to hang in there, so I'm enjoying it.
00:51:28
Speaker 1: We crashed and burned in the last round where we're having a crisis meeting over lunch today before we start looking at our trades and what about updated seeds? At this point in the tournament. Did a week or so ago, what have you got for us now?
00:51:42
Speaker 3: Yeah, Well, I'm not sure if they've changed too much. To be honest, I've gone Hobart Hurricanes still number one, per Scorches nipping at their heels, especially now that they're getting a bowling sorted out as well. They're number two. I'm still got the Melbourne Stars in there in the top three, despite losing it the last couple of games. I think there's enough quality in their team there. And then at four I'm sliding the Sixers in there. I feel as though they're getting their game going a little bit more. Babbo's starting to find a bit of form as well and Sewan Abbott back in the team that I feel like they're a top fourteen all right.
00:52:15
Speaker 1: For what it's worth, I've got Stars, Hurricanes, Scorches, Sixers, with the Renegades fifth. They're my hic at the moment, so pretty similar to what you've got, but in a different order. I don't think it also to play the Big Bash grid game. I know that a lot of people are having a lot of fun with that, showing off with all the random players from the past that have played in the BBL and make sure you also stab today with everything BBL. By downloading the big Bash app, you'll find the BKT tipping competition week and we have to fifteen thousand dollars plus all the stats, the ladder, the fixture, everything you need, the supercoach, everything we need when it comes to the BBL. That's it for us for the surge. We'll catch you again next time.
Speaker 1: This episode of The Surge is brought to you by Origin, proud partners of Cricket Australia and powering the Power Surge in BBL fifteen. We're over halfway through the BBL fifteen and if this season has taught us anything it's to expect the unexpected in the Big Bash. Chief, please the read aase to a magnificent victory. Mike Cassei returns to the desk, while Scorch's youngster Marley Bidman dials in from Perth to take us through their thrilling win over the Strikers. This is the Surgeyday. Everyone, Welcome back to the Surge. Adam White with you back in the studio after being on the road for the last couple of episodes, and I have got Mike Hussi back with me in the studio. Mike, welcome back today, Adam.
00:00:51
Speaker 2: Great to be here again.
00:00:52
Speaker 1: There's been lots going on and it feels like a fairbits change since we spoke last.
00:00:57
Speaker 3: Yeah, definitely, I'm in some exciting games, particularly the game they seemed to always have a scorching game up there and then a great derby last night. Really enjoyed the Stars against the Renegades Renegades just getting home in a real tight one.
00:01:10
Speaker 1: Yeah, it felt like being back at the MCG in the early nineties for World Series cricket. Just that atmosphere of a packed house for the night cricket, that kind of atmosphere that you don't get so much anymore in cricket. It was so exciting.
00:01:26
Speaker 3: Just under seventy thousand is incredible. You know, it's two good rivals going head to head, some stars from both sides, and I thought the Renegades were going to blow that. I thought they were going to chase that score down easily and then they just wobbled at the end. But thankfully for them, Will Sutherland did the job at the end.
00:01:39
Speaker 1: Yeah. We'll talk more about that game shortly, but just on the actual atmosphere, I mean, there's been a lot of talk in the build up that they might get sixty plus thousand and take it back to the days from nearly ten years ago when they were getting those sorts of crowds. But not only did they get them, the ones that went last night. I kind of feel like they'd all want to go back again. It was that sort of night.
00:02:00
Speaker 2: Yeah, definitely.
00:02:00
Speaker 3: I think also the earliest start time helps six o'clock.
00:02:04
Speaker 2: You can bring younger kids.
00:02:05
Speaker 3: Finished by nine o'clock, you can still get home by a reasonable hour, whereas that extra hour and a quarter sometimes it's a bit too late for a lot of families to get there. So it was a beautiful day in Melbourne, two good teams, earlier start time. I think it all just I mean, we're all falling in love with cricket, we've got the ashes on. The big Bash has been great, So I just feel like just everything sort of jelled together to make it a perfect night storm.
00:02:26
Speaker 1: Yeah, I know that from my case that we all went as a family because it was the earlier start, The next door neighbors went, the people up the road went. But I know Tea the executives would want the latest starts, So it's I guess it's Alster Dobson's job to get their right balance.
00:02:42
Speaker 2: Isn't it definitely end?
00:02:43
Speaker 1: Okay? So before we get into the games and the issues in the game, I'm just interested in your overall thoughts on where we sit at the moment. So maybe here Dricking is the star player in a competition to this point, probably just over halfway through.
00:02:55
Speaker 2: Now, I mean it's a tough one. I think.
00:02:58
Speaker 3: You know, Sam Harp has been really good with a bad as has Matt Renshaw, that they're both up there and the run scoring stakes. Harris Ralph and Peter Siddle have been unbelievable with the ball. But I think the two that I'm really tossing up between is Jack Edwards from the sixers and Cooper Connelly from the scorches. I think both of them being all round us, they just can't keep them out of the game. I mean, if Cooper Connelly misses out with the bat, he seems to just come in and get three or four or three wickets and a couple of catches and just stays involved in the game. And Jack Edward's a bit the same. He's playing a tough role batting down the order. He's played some good innings so far already, but he's also picked up some handy wickets. He's got a five for against the Thunder in one innings as well. So I'm finding it really hard to sort of split those two.
00:03:37
Speaker 2: Edwards and Cooper Connelly.
00:03:39
Speaker 1: I think the key to both of those two is that the ability to bowl four overs'd be batting in your top six. Just from a structural point of view, I think, particularly with Connelly and Matt Short's an example of the strikers stillness and max what the stars gives you that opportunity to play the extra batter in the middle order. If you've got that guy that can bowl the overs and bad.
00:03:58
Speaker 2: High oh, without doubt.
00:04:00
Speaker 3: I mean those players are worth their waiting gold, you know, to have, you know, and they're good fielders as well, so to have someone very proficient in all three aspects of the game, I mean, they're just they're so handy, and it just helps the balance of the team. As you say, you can just you feel like you're a bit light in one one other aspect, then you can strengthen that, you know, extra batter or if you need one extra bowler, you've just got so much more flexibility.
00:04:21
Speaker 1: Definitely, definitely right. What about a player breakout player so far that surprised you, Not so much the best, but one that surprised you.
00:04:29
Speaker 3: Yeah, another sixerer Actually Joel Davies as someone that's really stepped up. He's bowld beautifully with his left arm spinners, so he's very cagey. I thought he was more of a part time sort of bowler gun fielder and more of a sort of late order hitter. But his bowling has been really impressive and just lately starting to play a couple of innings with the bat as well. We know his fielding is always going to be really good, but now getting a few more opportunities for the Sixers and he's really grabbed his chance.
00:04:52
Speaker 1: They probably didn't win the game against the Renegades if he didn't play.
00:04:56
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think you're right bad Ambo, Yeah.
00:04:58
Speaker 3: I mean, I've just really enjoyed his composure under pressure, Like he's bowled in some tricky situations and he's been very clear on what he wants to do and he's been able to execute his skills under pressure, and that's always the mark of a really good player. He's shown really good composure and calmness on the bigger stage.
00:05:13
Speaker 1: You talk to Andrew McDonald about is there any correlation at all between what you do domestically, particularly in the BBL, to potentially playing cricket for Australia, And he talks about it's not so much the batting or the bowling, it's the ability to execute your plan under pressure, to be to have clarity under pressure, which clearly is the case in BBL and Cooper kindly comes to mind, is to be able to execute under pressure. Joel's kind of doing the same things. It's something that you can really enhance your reputation as a cricketer.
00:05:40
Speaker 3: Most definitely, And I reckon that's what the the people up there and the Australian set up and selectors are looking for that.
00:05:47
Speaker 2: You know, they know they're highly skilled players.
00:05:49
Speaker 3: You know everyone playing in the Big Bash has got great skills, but can you access those skills when you're under enormous pressure. Another one that I was impressed with just in the last couple of games of Josh Brown watching him bat last night, he was so composed as well, it's a big game, it's a Derby mcg seventy thousand, just about there in the ground, and he just looked in control of his game.
00:06:09
Speaker 2: He wasn't rushed.
00:06:10
Speaker 3: The other end, I thought Seifert he looked a bit frantic and he's an experienced international player from New Zealand, overseas professional and I felt like Josh Brown was the calm one at the crease, and I think that's what the selectors are sort of looking at.
00:06:23
Speaker 2: Those sort of attributes in players.
00:06:24
Speaker 1: Definitely a breakout team before we get to some of the issues. Is there one to this one? Because it's really hard to find out or to determine who are the best teams in the mark because it kept changing.
00:06:37
Speaker 3: It is difficult. There is one team that I wasn't that hot on coming into the season and they've pulled off a couple of incredible victories and that's the Brisbane Heat, chasing down two hundred and fifty seven against the Scorches their win win Max Bryant helped the knocko off the Melbourne Stars the other night up at the Gabber as well. They've just got that crowd absolutely rocking up there. They're not the most fashionable team going around. They don't have the biggest names or the biggest stars, but they're just finding a way to get things done and I admire that about them. I really do that. There's something special about the Brisbane Heat at the moment. And can they maintain it, I'm not sure, but at the moment they're finding a way and I love going up to the Gabba to watch them play at the moment because you just get so many classic matches up there.
00:07:19
Speaker 1: And the thing about the Heat is if they can stay in touch. Knowing that Kawajo and Labashane come back into that team, Nie is another one that comes back into that team, it can completely turn the competition on its.
00:07:31
Speaker 2: Head, definitely.
00:07:33
Speaker 3: I mean there's a few teams in that boat that are going to get some players back after the Ashes finishes and they could become real dangerous. So that's where the Brisbane Heat they intrigued me a little bit because you know, the games that they won that they probably should have lost, they're the ones you look back on at the end of the season and think, well, that's the one that got us into the finals, and yeah, you're right. Once you get in the finals and you get some big names back, then anything can happen.
00:07:55
Speaker 1: Absolutely. Okay, the Brisbane Heat HUSS's breakout team so far in the competition. And now let's get strange to the power play because there are so many issues bubbling around at the moment. I want to start with the Melbourne Stars. You always like to be positive when you think, when you look or reflecting back on a game, which was obviously last night with the Renegades and the Stars. The Stars, now that's two in a row where they were in winning positions and they lost both of them. Well, what's going on there? Do you think has anything changed?
00:08:22
Speaker 3: I don't think there's any cause for panic whatsoever. You know, they've lost two tight games. It can happen in T twenty cricket. It's a volatile game. You just need one or two players to play out of their skin and the game can get taken away from you. So you know, yeah, they'll be disappointed to lose those two games, but they've got a lot of experience in that team, They've got a lot of quality, and so I mean, I don't think there's any as I said, no cause for concern whatsoever. I just think they just need to get back to just you know, playing their game, executing their skills, which they were doing probably a lot better earlier in the season. I feel like even last night, they were just getting a bit carried away with some external stuff. They were getting involved, you know, with some confrontations out in the middle, and I just think that good. They don't have to worry about trying to think they've got to flex their muscles in front of the opposition.
00:09:04
Speaker 2: They just got to play their game.
00:09:05
Speaker 3: If they play the game on skill and not on a motion, then more often than not they should come out on top.
00:09:10
Speaker 1: Do they? And I agree with you, And I spoke to Sam Harper about this last night. He is kind of saying, well, look, the two games we've lost, where in the balance. That's the nature of T twenty cricket. Do they have to be a little bit careful that they don't lose all that momentum that they had through the first half of the competition and what they did towards the end of last year.
00:09:28
Speaker 3: Well, of course you need to be careful, but the T twenty cricket's a game where if you try and be careful, sometimes it doesn't go your way. So I think they've just got to almost put those two games behind them. They're playing good cricket. They've got some stars in that team. One area that also interests me a little bit about the stars. They muck around with their batting order a lot, and I understand you do need to be flexible through the middle order, but they've got some high end, world class players they keep pushing down the order further and further. Stilln is coming in at six last night. I think you know he's in great form. That was a mistake, Glenn Maxwell. He's hardly battered in the tournament. You know, you've got to get these players in facing a few more balls. So I don't like the way they're mucking around with their batting order, you know there, But I do understand that the flexibility and there's a lot of strategy that goes involved in that.
00:10:15
Speaker 1: And then to the Renegades, they found a way to win, which I think is important because they found a way to lose a few games as well through this tournament. But to someone like Will Savon, who is still a young man who's still trying to work out his own game, let alone the Renegades game, to have that moment where he was able to execure under pressure, what does that do to his confidence and he's belief.
00:10:35
Speaker 3: Well, yeah a lot. I actually was very impressed with his captaincy last night. I thought the way he in the field, the way he sort of rotated his bowlers around that they've got a bit of an identity now of playing the extra spinner, using their spinners in key times, and I think that's a really good tactic from the Melbourne Renegades. I thought the way he thought, yeah, just the way he sort of maneuvered the balls in the field was very very good. So I think, you know, he can take some confidence from the captaincy side of things, but then yeah, you want a performance as well. And I feel like he's been bowling quite well in the last couple of games, picking up the odd wicket, but he's keeping it tight. To finish a game off like that against your rival with the bat, yeah, that'll do his.
00:11:15
Speaker 2: Confidence the world of good.
00:11:16
Speaker 3: And I hope that a few of his teammates jump on the back of that and he can carry a few because I get the feeling he's a bit of that spiritual sort of leader in that team, like he's such a great guy, a great talent, and if you can get that confidence going, I feel as though he can drag a few blokes along with him.
00:11:32
Speaker 1: And of course, the mace, the Melbourne Mace is behind you there, and it's got the big r of the Renegades on it because they were the ones that won the mace. They've got it at least for the next few days before they head across town to Marvel Stadium to take on each other again. And there were we be a bit more spice in this one based on how that game finished last night.
00:11:53
Speaker 3: Well, there was plenty of spices in it last night. I mean, the Stars were I thought they were out of it, you know, as the Renegades are chase down that total, and then they just fought their way back into it and they had some real belief they were going to win that game. You could see how emotional some of those players were getting. Sibtle forty one years of ay so pumped up, Stoynus, Harris Ralph.
00:12:10
Speaker 2: You know, I was sort of thinking, Wow, they're right up for this.
00:12:14
Speaker 3: So going down in the end, you think they'll trying to step it up at Marvel Stadium in a few days time.
00:12:19
Speaker 1: Will Southern did a really good job carrying his team on his back towards the end. I think that was an easier thing than actually carrying that mace off the field. It's that heavy. But it's good to have it in the studios with us today. All right. The other game that was played last night was the Scorches and the Strikers had finished here on the east and side of the country. It felt like about two o'clock in the morning, but somehow the Strikers managed to lose almost the unlosable. How did that happen?
00:12:46
Speaker 3: Well, they've done it twice. Now there's a game at the gap where they should have chased down comfortably as well when they blew that one, And so now they've blown this one against the scorch they were in a position where you just need one of those batters at the top to take the responsibility back pretty much to the end, and they win that game in a canter. So they'll be bitterly disappointed with that. The Strikers, interesting, they've they've changed their tactics a little bit. That they identified bowling was a weakness over the last couple of years, so they've gone out and tried to strengthen that as much as they can. And they've done a pretty good job with that, to be fair, But unfortunately it seems to have taken away from the batting side of things and overcorrected. Yeah, and they're so reliant on Matt Short at the top to play that beginnings, and he's at his best when he is clear and free to be able to be aggressive and play shots, and I feel like he's just a bit caught in between now because he knows he hasn't got that sort of star power through the middle order anymore. Then, Yeah, it's just putting a little bit of doubt in his mind. And then Chris Lynn, well, you know he's obviously a gun player, but it's not as consistent as probably what he used to be. So you know, they rely heavily on those two to get a lot of the runs and unfortunately they miss out.
00:13:53
Speaker 2: Then you know that they just don't have enough quality through the middle.
00:13:56
Speaker 1: And then from a scorch's point of view, they had to do it differently. And remember talking to you about this last time. We know how good their batting is. It's had to be their bowlers a couple of times now to get it done. They will talk to Marley Beadman a little bit later on as to what's happening sort of behind the scenes, but they have to give them a lot of confidence to knowing that their batting is fine, that they're they're fighting away with their bowls.
00:14:17
Speaker 4: Yeah.
00:14:17
Speaker 3: Well, the bowling was a concern for me coming into the tournament. I mean, they lost so many experienced bowlers and there's a lot of youth in there, a lot of unheralded players. The batting look really strong, and to be honest, the batting hasn't really fired in the last couple of games, but the bowling has been really strong and sort of pulled them out of them my really, So yeah, I'm also interested to chat to Marley about, you know, this bowling group and how they're coming together and the work being done behind the scenes, because they're obviously doing.
00:14:43
Speaker 2: A really good job.
00:14:44
Speaker 3: Because they've had a habit of, you know, defending those low titles in the past.
00:14:49
Speaker 1: It's really had to know who it is they've got. We're talking before about having at least one bowler in your top six. They've got two. They've got Hardy and Connolly that can bowl therefore overs, but still batting the top six. So they're getting it from different contributions from different people all the time.
00:15:03
Speaker 3: Well, that was the funny thing about last night's game. The Strikers used so much spin against the Scorches and it really worked, probably apart from the last over, which sort of got away from the Strikers a little bit, but they did a great job with their spinners, and then the Scorches thought, well, if it worked for the Strikers, it might as well work for us. In Ashton, Turner picks up two wickets in one over. It was unbelievable. So, I guess we talked about the Scorches batting a fair bit, but they have got a couple of injury concerns there as well. The two overseas players, so Fin Allen and Laurie Evans both out of the team at the moment. I don't know how bad their injuries are, but that certainly changes the dynamic of the batting a little bit.
00:15:38
Speaker 1: Agree talking about injuries, how about Hurricanes. No Tim David kind of felt like it was no Tim David, no Hurricanes. That might not now necessarily be the case from what we saw the other night.
00:15:48
Speaker 3: That was an incredible run chase against the Thunder. I mean, I thought the Thunder had more than a half runs on the board. There must have been a really good pitch and they chased down comfortably in the end. I still think there's some concerns there with no Tim David, like just knowing you've got that guy that can when you know you need twelve, thirteen, fourteen and over, you're not going to be able to do that all the time. So, I mean, the Hurricanes look great. They've got a very well balanced team. They look really good on paper. But I still think you take a Tim David out of any team and you're going to have a little concern there for sure.
00:16:22
Speaker 1: Because I think it changes the way the Hurricanes play. And I know you've said this on game coverage on Fox about how they can be calm in the first ten and not panic knowing that Tim David's to come when he's not there. Once the rate becomes a bit of an issue, they are more prone to maybe panic and make mistakes and push too hard.
00:16:41
Speaker 3: Yeah, without doubt. I mean they're doing a pretty good job of it at the moment, you know, being able to cover. I think Matthew Wade's going to probably become the most important player in that team in the middle. He's taken the responsibility and chased down a couple of you know, good good sort of totals there at the end for the Hoebart Hurricanes got him a couple of wins, so I think his experience will be vital for them moving forward.
00:17:00
Speaker 1: And our man Chadury has done quite well as well in that sort of four or five slight. Tim Ward's an interesting one. We'll talk about him maybe a little bit later as well, but I kind of found thought three four years ago he was potentially an opener for Australian Test cricket and he kind of is just not quite taking his cricket to another level. But what is a able to do last night? I never expected that or the other night, never expecting him to do that in twenty over cricket.
00:17:26
Speaker 2: No me neither.
00:17:27
Speaker 3: I must admit I had him on my super coach bench, so I wish I had him on the field. But I commentated a game with Moses on RICKX when Tim Wood got his opportunity to play for the Hurricanes, and he spoke glowingly about him as a player and said, I really rate this guy and I think he can become a really good player, and he's showing it. I mean, that was an incredible and no one expected it. You know, there's the other big names in the team. You've got Wade, you've got McDermott, you've got Mitch Owen. But no, it was Ward the one that was that took the game away from the Thunder. It was a great performance.
00:17:55
Speaker 1: Shots that I didn't think he was capable of playing because it's all that he's temperament and he is technique not some of the things that he was doing up in Sydney. So what does that mean for the Thunder now? I mean, David Warner goes to makes one hundred and thirty, I'm not out they don't win. This is a team that's got a lot of experience. They've played in the Grand Final last year and mathematically it looks almost impossible for them now to make the finals.
00:18:18
Speaker 2: Well, I believe there's still a two percent chance and.
00:18:20
Speaker 1: The Star think the Stars were one percent chance.
00:18:22
Speaker 3: I'm not really willing to write anyone off because the Melbourne Stars after last year were zero and five. Now the Thunder one and five. Yep, so one and five, so they're still on par with the Stars. But they're going to have to get something going. And that David Warner innings was absolutely incredible watching some of that. He was vintage David Warner. And they don't deserve to lose that game when you've got one player that plays that well and makes you know, we'll just say one hundred and thirty.
00:18:51
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's a shame.
00:18:52
Speaker 3: It's a shame for the Thunder, but they've still got to believe and sometimes like the Stars last year. You get yourself into this position, you become really dangerous because you think, well, we're unlucky to make the finds. We've got nothing to lose. Now, let's just go out there and just see what happens. And you can get on these rolls. And the Stars showed it last year. And I'm not riding the Thunder off from doing that either, because they've got enough quality there. They just haven't put it together yet. And while they're still a mathematical chance, then I'm not willing to write them off.
00:19:20
Speaker 1: If you talk to other teams, they'll say the same thing. They're they're of the belief that the Thunder are a top fourteen. Yeah, and so they will take them very seriously from now to the end of the season as well. They're not going to be taking them lightly.
00:19:32
Speaker 3: Well, you can't take any game lightly, but you just don't like come up against teams like that when they've got nothing to feel like they've got nothing to play for, they become really dangerous.
00:19:41
Speaker 1: Agree, all right? That is that the power play for this edition of the Surge. Next is the young staff from the West. His name is Mali Bidman. He will join us on the surge.
00:19:58
Speaker 2: He's just trying to heave a good le. I have a mid wicket, give himself for a room, so the stunts mix it.
00:20:05
Speaker 1: Have gotten bites to dust.
00:20:07
Speaker 2: This is just a procession slow ball from Bev and i'skul a bit of bowling, actually just a bounce.
00:20:16
Speaker 1: Yes, Marley Beidman one of the young stars of not only the Scorches but the entire BBL competition, and he joins us on the surge. Marley, thanks so much for joining.
00:20:25
Speaker 4: Us, No worries, thank you for having me.
00:20:26
Speaker 1: Guys, that was a big win last night. You had to do it the hard way and for a lot of the night I didn't think you were going to get the win, but you got over the line. It was quite a dramatic performance and an impressing one.
00:20:37
Speaker 4: Yeah.
00:20:37
Speaker 5: Absolutely, quite a bizarre quite a bizarre wicket to be honest, as we thought. Ended up playing obviously a huge, huge role with the spin in both sides of the game. And yeah, I mean it was just just an incredible win.
00:20:51
Speaker 1: Now, Mike's got a lot of questions for you, but I did want to ask you about you know, when you see a game change where there's so much spin being bald and you're a fast bowler. What are you thinking sitting in the standing in the field.
00:21:03
Speaker 4: It was a mixture of things.
00:21:04
Speaker 5: I think cutters were working pretty well at the time, and obviously we had some experience there with Joel and those boys who have played a lot of cricket across a lot of a lot of different wickets. So it was conveyed pretty early that paced on looks pretty nice and that sort of the three three quarter team and off cutters and things were sticking a little bit more.
00:21:23
Speaker 4: So.
00:21:24
Speaker 5: Yeah, I think it was just sort of about adjusting as quick as we could there and then yeah, as a bowling, you know, just adapt.
00:21:29
Speaker 3: Yeah, good Amali, myke custody here mate. So you guys didn't look like you had enough runs at the halfway mark of that game. What sort of things were spoken by Adam Vojas, the bowling coaches and all the bowlers amongst yourselves about what you needed to do in that second inning to try and give yourself a chance to win.
00:21:46
Speaker 5: I think, to be honest, there was a mixture of things at came out and said we thought we were obviously a few short.
00:21:54
Speaker 4: We sort of built a reputation.
00:21:56
Speaker 5: And a legacy around competing and scrapping hard in low totals. So At just said, regardless of what the outcome was, that he wanted us to bring energy and fight and that was a real sort of focus point for us of regardless of what went on and obviously how many runs we had in the show, we just wanted to go out there with an intent and obviously we're going to play the Strikers again in a few days time, so if there's any way to leave a few scars.
00:22:20
Speaker 4: There, and that was the plan.
00:22:21
Speaker 1: Yeah.
00:22:21
Speaker 3: And the atmosphere at the ground seemed incredible last night, and you guys as players seemed more pumped up than usual, especially like someone like Joel Paris. He was running around like an eighteen year old after getting a wicket.
00:22:32
Speaker 4: Yeah.
00:22:32
Speaker 5: Absolutely, I think forty thousand people are obvious. Is such an incredible atmosphere, as you said, and such an incredible energy. So yeah, I speak Jolia let loose there for a few hours and started running around like aheadlets's chock.
00:22:44
Speaker 4: A little bit.
00:22:45
Speaker 5: But yeah, I think that that passion and energy is just awesome. I think it shows how much it matters to us and how much we care about going out there and trying to put on a performance as a bowling.
00:22:53
Speaker 1: In it, you talked about the trademark of defending those scores and getting down and dirty when you have to talk to us about some of the things that you've had to learn as a relatively new player to the team to be like some of the great scorches bowlers of the past and keep that reputation going.
00:23:15
Speaker 4: Still very much a working progress, still learning.
00:23:18
Speaker 5: Every day off that group, and obviously have such an incredible wealth of knowledge behind the scenes as well with when Richo's around and Lance when he's not playing, but he's still around the group. So I'm very much still learning as I'm going. But I think a lot of a lot of it, to be honest, is an attitude and a mindset thing which I've had to sort of adapt through the senior boys. Seems to be just a willingness of belief and fight regardless of where you are in the game and sort of regardless of what position you're in. Is that WAA is that we think we can get back in any game and we can end up winning any game. And I think that's driven from v Adam Bogs and the coaching staff, and then obviously at being one of the most competitive people I've ever met also adds on.
00:24:02
Speaker 4: Top of that.
00:24:03
Speaker 5: So, yeah, it's an incredible culture and it's an absolute privilege to be able to put that hat on and sort of following the footsteps of some of the most incredible fast bowlers and bowlers of the game has I've ever seen.
00:24:15
Speaker 1: So is that a pressure to be like them? Or is it actually quite easy because you've got so many players that are still within the Scorches organization that that that care, that that legacy almost for them to sort of pass on to you that hey, this is the way you do it, and it's actually not not too difficult, not too much of a pressure.
00:24:36
Speaker 4: Yeah, I think it's one hundred percent of privilege.
00:24:39
Speaker 5: I think, yeah, it's an absolute privilege that I said, to be able to put that hat on and to be able to run out there with that group, and what they've accomplished over the last few years, not only through Ebash but through West Australian cricket and domestic cricket has been absolutely incredible. So there's always going to be a little bit of a little bit of pressure and a little bit of expectation, but it's very minimal, and I think just the understanding of that I'm able to do what I love and to be able to follow in the footsteps of such great cricket. Is it something that's an absolute privilege?
00:25:10
Speaker 3: Can you just take us back to you know, you as a child and your journey and your cricket career so far.
00:25:15
Speaker 2: Just just give the listeners a bit of.
00:25:17
Speaker 3: An insight about where you've come from, how you got into fast bawling, and yeah, your journey so far.
00:25:23
Speaker 5: Yeah, I started off down south in a little town called Guarama in the southwest, close to Margaret River, And yeah, I sort of grew up there and had a pretty normal upbringing for a down South boy.
00:25:34
Speaker 4: Love my diving, love my surfing.
00:25:37
Speaker 5: Anytime I could get in the ocean, that was sort of where all my spare time went. And then sort of started to pick up a cricket ball a little bit later, I think I was. I played milo cricket originally and then didn't really sign up for a junior's team and just played a lot of backyard cricket with my old man. And then I think I would have been around year four or so, year three maybe was down in the nets and a great man named Bill van Vliet was a batmaker and surfboard shaper in quirum Up. At the time, I was having a hit in the nets and he came up to me and gave me my first bat and I remember that so vividly, and remember seeing in at the quareum Up nets and just trying to bowl as fast as I could after I watched Mitchell Johnson in that twenty thirteen forty Nash series and then yeah, I sort of just fell in love with the game from there and signed up for a local team and played for quirum Up that first year, and then ended up moving up north to Dampier and played a couple of years of club cricket up there before I got scouted by the Whacker.
00:26:33
Speaker 4: And I was about thirteen.
00:26:35
Speaker 5: I was twelve or thirteen, and then moved down to Perth for high schooling went down to Melbourne. Then yeah, it just sort of went from there. Played the full juniors, made my first grade debut at fifteen, and then yeah, I played a couple of years the first grade and then got my first contract when I was eighteen, and then yeah, it's just sort of all float on from there.
00:26:56
Speaker 1: It sounds like male he's about forty six going through that, and he still funny enough.
00:27:02
Speaker 3: Nathan Colton, I was now playing down a kowerhum up there, and I think he's terrorizing some of the batters down there. But what about some of the most influential coaches you've had in your career so far? I know you're still young, but have there been any any bowling coaches that have, you know, really had a big impression on you.
00:27:18
Speaker 5: Yeah, I've been I've been very fortunate so far to work with some incredible names. DK Lily has been one that's been there for me since I was sort of thirteen or fourteen, which has been absolutely incredible. And then yeah, I was going through Mattie Mason early days at w A was also amazing, and then working with Timmy mackinaw he's been absolutely incredible. But yeah, I've I've been super fortunate to be able to work with some incredible names.
00:27:44
Speaker 1: Yeah, You've got to tell us how do how does how is this possible that you get to work with Dennis Lily?
00:27:51
Speaker 4: This is a funny story.
00:27:53
Speaker 5: I was back down We're in perfect time, but we went back down south over the holiday break. I was in about I was in year nine or so, and I was coming back from a stretchy and I was bowling to a bin down the.
00:28:05
Speaker 4: Side of a mate's house as fast as I could on a gravel road. It was absolutely peppering the bin.
00:28:10
Speaker 5: And he has two houses, and he was watching from his house up on top of the hill. For some reason, thought that there was a little bit of pace there, or there's a little.
00:28:18
Speaker 4: Bit of something. And he was very good friends with a man named Rod Dugan.
00:28:23
Speaker 5: He's a close friend of Dkays and Max got in contact with Rod, and so our kids absolutely peppering him bin on the side of the house, and I think he's got a little bit of pace behind him. So gave Rod a call, and then Rod got a hold of DK and Decay sort of came back and was like, I don't really want to work with anyone under the age of seventeen or eighteen his singers. Once they developed their own action and their own understanding of cricket, then he felt like he could help them. He didn't want to grab people too early and sort of change anything. So yeah, I ended up that just sort of got buried and he months went by and then was I don't actually remember how it all ended up happening, to be honest, but I think I was back down there again, and Rod got in contact with Dennis again and eventually convinced him to have a session down at South Perth and went down to the nets as a thirteen or fourteen year old and Dka watched and then from there sort of ended up breaking his own rule, which was which is an absolute privilege And um, yeah, as I said, I'm very thankful, very fortunate to have him in my corner.
00:29:23
Speaker 2: You have got a beautiful smooth action.
00:29:25
Speaker 3: You have you modeled that on anyone in particular, There's been a few.
00:29:29
Speaker 4: I don't know if it's been modeled off.
00:29:31
Speaker 5: There was a lot of inspiration from Dalas Dane when I was young, watching him charge in and bowl as quick as he could and terrorized batsman. I think that was That was a yeah, that was probably the most the most influential cricketer I had. And then as Mitchell Johnson in that Ashes series, as any young kid has watched, was pretty incredible. And then I went through a bit of a stage of loving watching the old West Indies ear of Malcolm Marshall and so forth, and yeah, went back through that are and sort of fell in love with fast bawling through that as well. So there's been a combination of people, but I'd say Dale Staine would have been probably the number one.
00:30:07
Speaker 3: Oh that's I was one of those bad when they were terrorized by Dale Stain. I hated facing him. I'm getting the ships now just thinking about it.
00:30:15
Speaker 1: It's just thinking about that that famous series the other day video.
00:30:21
Speaker 2: Embarrassing.
00:30:23
Speaker 1: See, Like, I know you've had some injury issues through your young career, which inevitably happens with most young fast bowlers. But how difficult is it to sort of rein it back and not want to get the radar gun hitting one point fifty and just managing your own body as much as anything to make sure that you can have a long sustained career.
00:30:43
Speaker 5: Nearly impossible, to be honest, I think, Yeah, once here to speak again, you sort of fall in love with that, and it can be dangerous, to be honest, It almost can be a little bit, yeah, a negative thing I feel because it's fast fallowings. I've personally found one of those ones where if I feel like i'msing it ends up coming out slower. And it's one of those ones where I feel like, when I'm in rhythm and when I'm not thinking about it and you sort of enter that flow state, that's when you end up bowling your quickest. So it's a tough one of you always got your eyes on the gun and you always wanting to bowl fast, but at the same time, I feel like when I'm bowling my quickest is when I'm in my best rhythm, and that's when you're just not thinking about it and it just flows naturally. So yeah, it can be a hard one, especially a training when you want to crank it up, it can be a hard one. But yeah, I try not to worry about the gun as much when I'm playing and just sort of find that rhythm and just worry about competing and then normally the pace will follow if I do that.
00:31:37
Speaker 3: And You've had some experience around Australian squads and Australian teams in the last year or two. What have you learned from being around those guys and what's that experience been like.
00:31:46
Speaker 4: It was incredible. The first ODI two that I went away on was absolutely amazing.
00:31:51
Speaker 5: I was down in Margaret River at the time surfing and at the beach on the Sunday, and then it was not sure if I wanted to drive up on Monday.
00:31:58
Speaker 4: I didn't have training till Tuesday.
00:32:00
Speaker 5: Wasn't too sure, but decided luckily to drive up and got a call in the morning from an unknown number and was a little bit rather across what's going on here early in the mornings about eight o'clock, and ended up not answering it, and then got a text message from Dodders and it said, hey, mate, give me a call back when you get a chance, and not gonna lie.
00:32:18
Speaker 4: I wasn't one.
00:32:18
Speaker 5: Hundred percent sure who the number was, and then did a quick Google search and figured out that I've probably picked that phone call up pretty quickly, so called Dodters back. And then yeah, I got the news that I was on the plane in a day's time and went over and got to finally meet Staky and got to finally meet Haff and sort of just stand behind him and pick their brain as much as possible, And yeah, it was an incredible couple of weeks. And then recently I've been fortunate enough to go over the T teny Scott again, and.
00:32:44
Speaker 4: See Nelly go about his business.
00:32:45
Speaker 5: And again watch Half and how those boys go and how incredible they are, and yeah, just trying to pick their brains as much as possible.
00:32:52
Speaker 1: You're a great storyteller. It's really cool listening to this, Mali. So when you're watching them, did you feel I'm miles away? Or by actually watching them and observing him feeling, actually, I'm not that far away. If I can get this right, that right, and listen to this, listen to that that that I'm kind of in the mix, I'm not far away. It's almost touching distance.
00:33:15
Speaker 4: It was a mixture, to be honest. At the start, I felt like I was miles away.
00:33:19
Speaker 5: I was. I was only a traveling reserve, so there was no real chance of playing, and I just knew I was over there, so obviously just solow up as much as I can.
00:33:26
Speaker 4: So I always feel when I watched SHARKI and those guys.
00:33:30
Speaker 5: Will always feel like I'm a one hundred kilometers away because they're so so incredible what they do. But it was sort of as the tournament went on, Dwarsh went down with a pack and then someone got injured, and then I think Starky was overcoming a flu or something, and I sort of realized I was like, oh my god, I'm two people away here from almost having to run out and take the new rock. The way things was going, everyone was going down with injury or sickness. So I thought I had to flick that that mindset pretty quickly and realize that if I do have to go out and bolder, Harry Brook probably shouldn't be thinking I'm a hundred silmeter. So switched on a bit there, and then Yeah, I think as it went on, and just the more that I got to pick those boys' brains.
00:34:06
Speaker 4: Sort of the more confidence I got in myself.
00:34:09
Speaker 5: But yeah, also just just amazing how sort of welcoming and understanding Starky and those boys are as well. They make you feel like you're a part of the unit straight away, and I think that was, Yeah, that helped massively.
00:34:21
Speaker 3: There's been a lot of talk about some of the next generation coming through, the young guns yourself. How do you deal with that sort of external sort of pressure and expectation. I guess on young guys coming through, I.
00:34:34
Speaker 4: Don't think there's a lot of pressure there.
00:34:35
Speaker 5: I think it's more of a as I say, a privileged, to be honest, to be sort of put in that bracket. I think a lot of people have spoken about that World Cup group from a couple of years ago and the talent that's come out of that, and I think that, Yeah, when we finished that World Cup, I realized and I looked around and I thought, this is an incredible group of cricketers. And then over the next sort of three to five years, if we didn't see a lot of national representatives or domestic success, I would have been a little bit stumped, to be honest, because of how the talent that came out of that group.
00:35:06
Speaker 4: So yeah, I think it was. Yeah, it's an.
00:35:08
Speaker 5: Absolutely on an a privilege to be able to sort of be put in that next generation and to be put in that position to be able to learn off the senior boys now.
00:35:16
Speaker 4: But yeah, I think we saw what Sammy.
00:35:20
Speaker 5: Did over the last few months, and even harder seeing hitting his three hundred or whatever crazy number he did in that one day game in Great Cricket, I think, yeah, just the talent that have come out of that group is absolutely incredible, and yeah, I can't wait to see what happens over the next few years.
00:35:36
Speaker 1: So does that then help you knowing what Sam's been able to do for his country and obviously finish South Wales as well, and what Vidla did in a Shield final, and you know there's countless other examples. You've just given a couple as well. Do you kind of feel like, well, if they can do it, I can do it. It's just a matter of time. Is that kind of how you see it? Yeah?
00:35:56
Speaker 5: Absolutely, I think Sammy was a huge that was a massive inspiration to all of us. So I remember the group chat got brought back from the dead when it was ramping. Boomer at one hundred and forty was sending in video saying what is going on here? So yeah, I think it's a huge inspiration obviously, and it was such an incredible evenings. And then as you said, VI's on one hundred and fifty and only absolute rockets in the Shield final was amazing as well. So there's constant motivation there. Even Peaky the other than artwhack them in that big Bash game. I think there's always there's always going to be inspiration and motivation there. And I know personally I just used that as few I see the other boys my age and from that group doing incredible things in a high level of cricket. I just try and use that as motivation. So I'm sure we're all on a pretty similar page. And yeah, as I said, I can't wait to see what that group does.
00:36:46
Speaker 2: And what's your major goal.
00:36:47
Speaker 3: You've obviously played a fair bit of white ball cricket and not a lot of red bull cricket just yet. But is your dream to play test cricket or are you're happy just playing the shorter forms of the game.
00:36:56
Speaker 4: No.
00:36:56
Speaker 5: Test cricket, absolutely, I think that's any young kids dream to be honest, to be able to put the baggy ground on your head and run out in the test match boxing day. Test would be the absolutely absolute pinnacle for me personally. So it's just been more of a body thing recently of trying to get my body right. I've had a few little little niggles and little injuries that have sort of held me back from being able to build a consistent load to be able to attack red ball properly. So it's just about getting through the start of the season, get a few one day games in and then roll into Big Bash and hopefully get through this no worries and then yeah, have a look at where I'm sitting, and I think there'll be a decent chat about whether or not my body will be in a good position to have a look at red ball the back half of the year.
00:37:39
Speaker 3: Also, the plan is to hopefully play some sheffield Shire cricket at the back end of the season.
00:37:43
Speaker 5: Yeah, we'll see see where we are, whether that's second eleven or Gray cricket and build up from there. But yeah, I think it will be starting a limited overs red ball game would assume sort of tapping myself at a number and whatever that is, and then hopefully showing some resilience and yeah, being able to build up into hopefully it will be a shill game.
00:38:02
Speaker 1: Just finally, Marley, we really appreciate your time just on the scorches and what's possible this year because the bowling in US has talked about this, We've all talked about it. It's so different this year to previous years. There's so much more of a focus on the likes of yourself. What do you think is possible for this group in twenty.
00:38:21
Speaker 4: Six Absolutely anything. I honestly believe that.
00:38:26
Speaker 5: I still look at our batting lineup now on the scoreboard and we line up and think that would be an absolute nightmare of ball two. So I think, yeah, I think we've got so much power up top and a great mix of experience in youth between our bowling lineup.
00:38:40
Speaker 4: So I think we're just starting to gel now.
00:38:43
Speaker 5: I think we're actually yeah, I feel like we're starting to grow as a unit and as I said, trust.
00:38:48
Speaker 4: Ourselves a bit more.
00:38:49
Speaker 5: And it's such a it looks it's such a different look for the Scorches and obviously having dworphin AJ and all these people that have been around for long periods of time now it is a different look. But I think we're starting to play some really strong cricket now. And as I said, I think our batting lineup is absolutely incredible, So I think anything is possible. I don't want to jinx anything too much in such early doors, but yeah, I think that the sky is the limit for our group.
00:39:15
Speaker 1: Thank you so much for Johnny us sharing your story. I know that there's a lot more young cricket fans now that know a lot more about you from the way you've just shared your your stories. Feels like it's almost like this is your life you've gone through all the way back. But it's been awesome and all your best cricket is still certainly to come. Thank you for sharing and good luck for the rest of the tournament.
00:39:37
Speaker 4: No worry, thank you for having me guys.
00:39:39
Speaker 1: Marley Biardman, Johnny is on the surge. We're back with more after this. So good to catch up with one of the young stars of the competition in Marley Biardman. He speaks very well as well. He's an impressive young man. It's time now to get into yes no waight hasten and we put you under a lot of pressure last time. Let's see whether we can do the same again. We did talk a little bit earlier about tim Ward they unlocked the gem or do you need to see a little bit more.
00:40:04
Speaker 3: I'd like to see a little bit more, so I'll wait. I'm happy to wait on that one. But I really enjoyed his innings against the Sydney Thunder and that'll help his confidence as well, because I think getting an opportunity at the top of the order in the Big Bash, he would have been unsure whether he's good enough, and so that's half the battle sometime is being able to do it once say okay, I am good enough to do this, I can perform at this level, so he looks like he's got the skills. I think if someone like me Jol can get going at the other end, that can take some pressure off him as well. So I'm willing to wait, but I'm edging towards a yes.
00:40:33
Speaker 1: Okay, Glenn Maxwell's form with the bat is becoming an issue for the Stars.
00:40:38
Speaker 3: No, No, definitely not. I don't like him batting so low. I understand the theory behind it, because he can finish games off as well as anyone and as quickly as anyone. But I don't think it's a concern. I mean, they're getting runs from other sources at the moment. Sam Harp has been awesome, Marcus Sdin is scoring runs, so I don't think it's a concern. And you just know that there's going to be a game or two, or three or maybe even four where Maxie gets going.
00:41:04
Speaker 1: All right, We've only got to go back to last year where he didn't have the best start of first half of the competition, then came home like a freight train. It almost single handling got them into the finals. I think we've got to just remember that that wasn't that long ago. The strikers aren't good enough to play finals this year or.
00:41:23
Speaker 2: I think that's real.
00:41:25
Speaker 3: Yes, again, I'm not willing to write them off, but their batting looks thin to me, and so much pressure on your chrystline and you're Matt short. They don't get runs, then I feel as low there they're going to be struggling a bit. So yeah, I feel like they're not in the top four teams. I'm not saying they can't make the finals, because you can always get on a bit of a run, but I don't feel like they're one of the four best teams in the camp fair enough.
00:41:51
Speaker 1: There's no denying that the Gabba is the home of the big bash thriller.
00:41:58
Speaker 3: Well I'm going to say yes, although having said that, last night at the MCG was an absolute cracker of a game. I really enjoyed that. But I get excited every time I come to the Gabba one. The crowd's great, they get right into the game. Conditions are beautiful up there, beautiful pitch. There's bit of pace and bit of bounce for the bowlers, but it's also great comes onto the bat so you see lots of runs, you know, lots of sixers, and it's always very exciting.
00:42:22
Speaker 1: Was that the favorite place you for you as a player to bat was the Gabba, the one that you got excited about the most.
00:42:29
Speaker 3: Oh, favorite is It's hard to pick a favorite, but I did love batting there just because the pitch was so good for batting. It was true, came onto the bat you could score all around the ground.
00:42:38
Speaker 2: Once you get in.
00:42:38
Speaker 3: You'd have to work out early in rings because it had that extra pace and bounce and it could swing around a little bit. But once you got in, Oh, it was a dream to bat on and you could just feel like you could hit the battle wherever you wanted.
00:42:48
Speaker 1: Did you get seduced by the short boundaries straight as well?
00:42:52
Speaker 3: See the problem for me, Whitey was that every boundary felt big, didn't matter. I never felt like I had a short boundary ever.
00:43:00
Speaker 1: Ah yeah, I'm not even going to go there. I think I've seen you hit plenty of sixers to suggest otherwise. Not opening the batting with David Warner at the start of the tournament, he's now coming back to costs or now coming back to haunt the thunder.
00:43:12
Speaker 2: I think I agree with that. I think that's a yes.
00:43:15
Speaker 3: I mean, anytime you come up against David Warner, where do you not want him to bat? And that's probably at the top because you know, if he gets going, he's going to take the game away from you, like you know what he did to the Hurricanes the other night. Plus they've got experience in the middle there with Sam Billings, So I understand if there was a lot of inexperience through the middle, then you can put David Warner in the middle, control that middle part of the innings, play the spin well, run hard between the wickets, finish the game off. I understand that thinking when you've got someone like Billings there to do that exact role, and I think you're better off just getting Warner at the top. I mean, again, you can understand what they were thinking. Jokes and Constance two exciting young players, but they're not a David Warner. They've looked okay and they've got them off to a quick start every now and then, but neither of them have gone on with it to get a big match winning score. David Warner, when he gets going, he will get you a match winning score.
00:44:05
Speaker 1: Isn't that the underrated part of what you've just said? Then around. We see around the competition an exciting own player can go out there and get fifty off thirty balls, sixty off twenty eight balls, but then get out. We saw what David Warner did. Now, okay it didn't result in a victory, but that ability to turn a really good start into a big score where others can bat.
00:44:26
Speaker 3: Around, definitely, And again for the young guys out there national selectors, yeah, they're looking for that calmness and composure under pressure, executing his skills under pressure. But they're looking for those sort of players that play those match winning innings that can turn that fifty into an eighty or ninety one hundred. And that's why I was so pleased with for someone like Josh Brown last night, because he got to fifty after getting I think in his previous match he got a good forty and looked really good and I was just hoping that it's come on now, switch on and keep going. And I thought the way he played through that middle phase of the game was really good. Now disappointing to get our when he did, because he had a chance to take the Renegades all the way to victory, but it was a little tick in his development as a player to just kick on a little bit more than rather than being happy with his forty or fifteen.
00:45:10
Speaker 1: Yeah. Interesting. Another thing that came out of that Thunder Hurricanes game was Nick Madison retiring himself out. Now, I must confess I'm surprised this hasn't happened more often. I think it was a selfless move from Madison, who, as I understand it, made that call himself as opposed to it coming from the dugout. But last I'm sort of putting words in your mouth. Yes, no, wait, a good decision.
00:45:34
Speaker 3: I'm going to say weight because I don't necessarily like it personally right now. I've been involved with teams. So the Chennai Super Kings, we retired Devon Conway. He was sixty odd not out and he was getting tired. He was losing a bit of power, so we retired him at the back end of the T twenty innings and he comes off and he was bemused, like he was like, hang on, I'm on sixty five seventy not out. I feel like I'm going well, and you've retired me to bring in like a hit it to finish things off with the Nick Madison one he'd invested thirty however, many balls he'd faced on the wicket, so he was used to the conditions. It's not that easy for a new player to come in, I eat Daniel Sands and just hit the ball out of the park from ball one. So the question for me is I understand the thinking, and Sam's came in and to be fair, did a reasonable job. But could Madison Madison have done just as good a job, if not better, because he had been out there for longer and used to the conditions. I mean, we'll never know the answer that question. So what did Sam's hit? I saw he hit definitely hit one six and I think he nicked one over the slips that went for four. So I don't know if he scored many.
00:46:43
Speaker 1: More than a round two hundred for his innings. Yeah, so he didn't face too many balls either, A bit of.
00:46:48
Speaker 2: That and that's pretty good.
00:46:49
Speaker 3: But I mean Madison, he probably could have gone about the same. So and then you've got to also understand what effect does that have on the player. So Madison retiring himself, that's absolutely fine, but that had come from the side, and you know, does that affect the player thinking, oh gosh, these guys don't rape me, or they don't think I can finish the game off. It can have a negati effect unless you've spoken about it as a team before the tournament. So for example, for Devin Conway, he was amused when we decided to retire him in that particular game and I think it had an effect on him moving forward.
00:47:18
Speaker 1: So then does that mean there needs to be a mindset change from cricket that it's almost like taking a bowl off who's not doing a job for his team and replacing him with another bowler. That it can happen to a batter as well, who he might be twelve off eighteen balls when they need to be going at eight to Nine's that I'm sorry, you're not doing good enough job. We're going to replace you like you would if it was a bowler. So is that a mindset change thing?
00:47:42
Speaker 4: Yeah?
00:47:43
Speaker 3: But I think you need to sit down as a team before the tournament and have these discussions and sort of say, look, what do we think as a team, when do you think is the right time to do it.
00:47:50
Speaker 2: I'll give you another example.
00:47:51
Speaker 3: I was coaching in one hundred with the Welsh Fire and we had a player I'm happy to name him Steve Eskinazi, and it was batting nicely. It was a difficult pitch, but he has a reputation of being very good in the power play and then not really been able to find the boundaries through the middle phase of the game. And so there was discussions going on in the dugout of whether we should retire him and bring in a player that can find the boundary through the middle a guy called Tom Coler Cadmore, And I was sitting there and I'm thinking, I don't like this, So we decided not to do it. And to be fair, Steve Eskenazi absolutely dominated the middle phase, ended up on sixty odd and hit a number of boundaries, and I thought, oh, thank goodness we didn't retire him, because the new guy coming in might have had to take four or five bulls to get used to the conditions and then be able to try and pick up the pace. And I'm so glad we decided not to do it. So there is going to have to be a change of mindset.
00:48:42
Speaker 2: But I don't know. I'm still reticent to go for it.
00:48:46
Speaker 1: See I was dead set on it being a good thing. But even if you're saying it now. It's starting to make me feel like it's good on paper or good in theory, but it doesn't necessarily work that way when it actually you put it in practice.
00:48:58
Speaker 3: If you've got say like an Andre Russ waiting in the wings, and you know he can come out and smash it from ball one for the last couple of overs, maybe you do just send him in there and say, you know, try and try to hit a couple of six sift and if the bat are out there in the middle is getting tired or he's lost a bit of power, you know, he's just not been able to find the middle of the bat for a period of time, then definitely consider it. But I feel like you need to have that conversation as a team.
00:49:21
Speaker 1: Sean Abbotts, he was bowling another night at Marvel Stadium and all I can think about was you, Because you talked about him being in the top three best BBL players of all time. We haven't seen a lot of him through this tournament, through injury. He's immediately making an impact. Is there no one I'm going to say? How do I say this? It's almost like he's more important to his team than anyone else in the competition.
00:49:44
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think that's fair. I think that's fair.
00:49:47
Speaker 3: Yeah. I mean he bowls all the difficult overs and Moses on Rix goes to him every single time, so he knows he can trust him. He knows that he will again be able to execute his skills most most of the time under pressure. He picks up wickets for them. He's gone in the field. He's handy with the bat as well, so he's one of those complete package players that we're talking about before. So yeah, he's very very important player and he'll be jumping out of his skin, you know, to play. You know, he's been injured for a while, so back to full fitness, bit of confidence early by having a good game under his belt and for the Sixers, I hope he can keep those performances up.
00:50:24
Speaker 1: Absolutely. We might continue that conversation around retiring that's been after the show, because I've still got more questions I want to ask about that, but we are pretty much wrapping up our show for today. Thank you for coming in again. It's great talking for here with you, and thank you all so to Maali Bidman for joining us from the scorches. But before we do this, two things before we go there's two things I need to do. Firstly, your super coach team. Please, how is it going? Because I know you take it more seriously than me, which I didn't think was possible. James and I we've got our team. It's just like the most important thing we do over summer. How's your going, because I think it's going better than mine.
00:50:59
Speaker 2: I'm going okay.
00:51:00
Speaker 3: I've just been sorting out my trades this morning actually for the new round.
00:51:03
Speaker 2: The new round starts today.
00:51:04
Speaker 1: With it, you're already looking ahead to the next round in the round after that, well, you've got to keep an eye on the schedule.
00:51:09
Speaker 3: So the Sydney Sixers have two games this round, so anyone out there get a couple of Sydney Sixers players into your team. My rankings coming down, so it's I'm ranked one, three hundred and thirteenth at the moment, so not too bad.
00:51:21
Speaker 1: It's pretty good.
00:51:23
Speaker 2: Yeah, but many yea.
00:51:24
Speaker 3: Last round was okay, but still managed to hang in there, so I'm enjoying it.
00:51:28
Speaker 1: We crashed and burned in the last round where we're having a crisis meeting over lunch today before we start looking at our trades and what about updated seeds? At this point in the tournament. Did a week or so ago, what have you got for us now?
00:51:42
Speaker 3: Yeah, Well, I'm not sure if they've changed too much. To be honest, I've gone Hobart Hurricanes still number one, per Scorches nipping at their heels, especially now that they're getting a bowling sorted out as well. They're number two. I'm still got the Melbourne Stars in there in the top three, despite losing it the last couple of games. I think there's enough quality in their team there. And then at four I'm sliding the Sixers in there. I feel as though they're getting their game going a little bit more. Babbo's starting to find a bit of form as well and Sewan Abbott back in the team that I feel like they're a top fourteen all right.
00:52:15
Speaker 1: For what it's worth, I've got Stars, Hurricanes, Scorches, Sixers, with the Renegades fifth. They're my hic at the moment, so pretty similar to what you've got, but in a different order. I don't think it also to play the Big Bash grid game. I know that a lot of people are having a lot of fun with that, showing off with all the random players from the past that have played in the BBL and make sure you also stab today with everything BBL. By downloading the big Bash app, you'll find the BKT tipping competition week and we have to fifteen thousand dollars plus all the stats, the ladder, the fixture, everything you need, the supercoach, everything we need when it comes to the BBL. That's it for us for the surge. We'll catch you again next time.
