Predicting England's Test squad for India & a war of words in Australia, with Travis Head | Wisden

[@thebaldmanwithlonghair6470]

The contrast between Phil and Jo's outfits is fantastic. Like a couple who can't agree how to heat the car, so one's dressed for skiing and the other's just chilling out, loving life.

[@WisdenCricket]

😂

[@sanjayprakash471]

Brilliant chat with Travis Head. No doubt he has been a very consistent performer across all formats. Big game player - WTC and WC finals performances says it all.

[@thatsbollox]

Great get with the Head interview. I doubt the Indians want to see his face though. The guy is king of the world right now. Dont be so humble Phil....the big names want to speak with you coz you're considered an important and knowledgeable voice.

[@thatsbollox]

Phil hit the nail on the head. What we cn take from the WCup is that you must play your best bats regardless of which format you play. Test bats are 100% relevant to ODI, but T20 are not. A quick glance at the best performers shows up so many guys with a terrific test average. Whereas T20 specialists (eg Sky) seem to be out of their depth coz ODI isnt a sloggers game. Marnus for example...the strike rate becomes secondary to ability to put partnerships together.There's almost always one guy scoring at a fast clip. Rare for both bats to be slow in ODI. So easy to overthink selections with things like LHB or RHB numbers. Also, stop playing average "all rounders" rather than specialist strike bowlers. ODI has 2 balls these days so effectively its a new ball bowler game. i.e. you can still play your best test strike bowlers and put effort into field placings...get the early wickets and you win far more than you lose in ODI. We learnt in that WCup final how vital wickets are in first 15 overs. Over-thinking is the enemy. With time on side the tendency is to get cute.

[@almac9203]

The English approach worked for about 6 years and won them a WC. The optimal approach really depends on the pitches and atmospheric conditions. The all out attacking approach works better on flat decks whereas the more conservative approach works better on tricker wickets. I would say horses for courses. Marnus works when you are chasing 240 but less so if you are chasing 400.

[@thatsbollox]

@@almac9203 Partly agree, but a guy like Marnus chasing 400 will still step it up to a run a ball. Turning the strike over means that is plenty when the runs flow at the other end. England showed a complete lack of ability to construct solid partnerships. In 50 overs it is still a vital cog in the wheel. Not in t20 hit and giggle though.

[@tomsear1]

@@thatsbollox completely ignorant comment slash question follows - developing all 3 arguments- logically shouldn’t India have beaten Aussies - pitch prepared by Sadhu’s, wicket tumble in AUS 1st 15, post conservative Indian batting. As noted, I may be missing the point

[@tomsear1]

Insightful, thx bollox

[@thatsbollox]

@@tomsear1 None of what you said is logical. No...logically India should not have beaten Australia. They are not good enough. Saying they were good enough was simply an error touted by many.

[@thatsbollox]

Jo...whoever you interviewed regarding finger spin that said drift and shape has disappeared is bang on the mark. I'm seeing so many batsmen these days seeing that throwing darts is their way to progress in the game. Just ping the darts in, mainly because of that progression to front foot LBW now being regulation. Feels like only yesterday if you got way forward you were pretty much protected against LBW. The review systems at top level has filtered down to weekend umpiring.

[@BABJIRAO]

Travis head smashed the Indian bowlers to the plup in the world cup finals. That too under tremendous pressure. He has also taken a brilliant catch to dismiss Rohit.

[@DigontoZahid-lc7kt]

Bailey's response was absolutely brilliant ....these ex aussie players are embarrassingly bitter about this current aus team ......warner paid his dues his punishment was 100 times more harsher than anyone has ever faced in a ball tampering scandal .....johnson bringing that up and trying to question warners whole aus career was disgraceful to begin with warner will always be a aussie legend no matter how much holier than thou poms or ex aus players cry about it .......johnson was no saint....

[@rahulranjan7947]

Good show.. bring it on

[@Grant_Ferstat]

RE Johnson's comments. I don't really have an issue selecting Warner for the series against Pakistan, coming off his World Cup form. He'll probably play well in home conditions against a team that typically doesn't play well in Australia. I do question though how he has stayed the incumbent for so long. I get that someone with such a good long term record gets some credits, but 2-3 years worth? I'm with Mitch on that score. Warner's position has been cordoned off from judgement based on either form OR long term record. For example, your interviewee Travis Head, who at the time was the #4 ranked batsman in the world and in red hot form was dropped for the first test in India because of a perceived weakness against spin. David Warner with a test average in India of 21 and with basically two years of poor form, on the other hand, was selected. Similarly Warner was backed in again for the Ashes series in England where his test average is 26. Despite his poor form & in the twilight of his career the selectors were convinced he was going to turn it all around? Really? Why? History will show that all Warner really accomplished in England was to transition from being Broad's bunny to Woakes'

[@stevenbox4523]

Crawley didn't run himself out, there was a pretty easy single there. That was on brook

[@tylermartin3173]

Athanaze is like Chanderpaul , what is Phil watching ???

[@tomsear1]

Yas’s lappie.

[@TwelveDeck]

The guy doing the Travis Head interview looks smitten.

[@maxmojo4694]

Where is Yas reading questions from and how can i send them?

[@tomsear1]

ChatGPT

[@WisdenCricket]

Feel free to send over your questions to twitter.com/WisdenCricket or to [e-mail] for longer questions!

[@tomsear1]

Jo, Yas & Phil are all the same room - or Tardis - why the Faux Zoom schtick? & if Phil is dressed like Shackleton - who is setting the air con temp? & why is Mark in a another room, but same building decorated like a day spa waiting room. Questions.

[@tomsear1]

Wisden Samuel Beckett Studio.

[@ohhahhglennmcgrath4202]

To elaborate on the Aussie ex-players and the way they're always looking to have a go at the current Australian setup under Pat Cummins. It boils down to, they're basically mad that they're playing exceptional cricket but also being nice doing it. That older generation grew up thinking the only way to play and win was to be loud, aggressive and to shout and deride the opposition constantly. Now that there's a bloke who's in charge who isn't aggro as all hell and who does care about issues like climate change, indigenous issues, women's rights, etc. in Cummins, they get they panties in a twist. Personally, I could deal with less of our former greats complaining and going on and just constantly having a go at the current setup despite what we've achieved. Especially when Langer's stint was so painfully AVERAGE after the post-Sandpapergate rebuild in 2020 onwards. Just worsens my opinion of them by the hour.

[@tino6440]

Spot on. It was the right decision to move on from Langer at the time. Overall his tenure was solid but the two home series losses to India prove that he wasn’t some irreplaceable genius and his aggressive, “hard nosed” style was always gonna sour relations with the players eventually. It was also funny seeing the previous generations basically have to wait a year into the Cummins/McDonald era until we lost a couple games in India for their “gotcha” moment, even if it made no sense. The narrative of this current team being “too soft” because they supposedly couldn’t handle Justin langer’s style is something that a large section of the public bought into, and Cummins’ “woke” politics only made people buy-in more. It’s ridiculous that it’s taken winning a WTC, retaining an ashes in England and winning a World Cup in India all in the same year for people to finally accept that maybe they were wrong about Cummins. Ultimately, general divides are nothing new for Australian cricket since most of them have been extremely successful, but the previous generation’s consistent disdain for this team for daring to play their cricket in a different way has been embarrassing. It’s great that they’ve been made to eat their words.

[@ohhahhglennmcgrath4202]

@tino6440 In my case at least I've always loved Cummins captaincy. His philosophy of let the players express themselves is what turned Travis Head into a juggernaut. Heady is no longer shackled by doubt and look what he's done since. Just a pity to see how many ex-players who have given Australian fans so many good memories constantly whinging and moaning all the bloody time. But yeah. Happy to see em eat their words now. Hopefully they can shut up for at least a microsecond for once.

[@amitm2692]

Just wanna see the best of jos butler again in white ball in whatever is left of his remaining career....plz get someone else to captain this team....dont care if Eng lose just wanna c jos at his best

[@tomsear1]

Pity Ian Curtis did not have time 2 make Wisdens

[@mikedavies6649]

Callum Parkinson is a better spinner than Leach and Dawson

[@tomsear1]

Cricket looks more like NFL slash Gridiron every year.

[@shashanktakiar6]

India have 4 left handers top 8 jaiswal ishan kishan jadeja axar patel

[@anshathani1987]

Jadeja could be rested and even they don't, you need quality to win in India. India has had no left arm pacer and that's hasn't stopped them. Australia played both Murphy and Lyon and did well.

[@Apis4]

It's the second biggest open secret in Cricket after India goes out their way to get as close to unsporting as possible to doctor pitches, at least among most Aussie fans, that Warner has been done for a while now, even with his WC performance, but is in the team for life, until he choses his farewell moment, because he has a LOT of dirt on CA, and knows a lot more about 'Sandpapergate' and things with Langer's dismissal, and even what happened with Paine, than we do. So he gets his cradle to grave position in the squads, and to write his own farewell. That is not something Johnson just made up. That is Johnson giving voice to what literally hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of Aussie cricket fans have been thinking for a while now. Same with Bailey as head selector, real fast from player, to... something in ... management?.. coaching?..... background decor? ....for all of about 5 seconds, then selector supreme? And there's no nepotism, at best, or much shadier stuff to keep the closet closed, and things behind doors? Again, something many fans kind of have had reason to question. Again, Johnson, obviously seeing it, as a fan, too, finally saying it, but he's only speaking for thousands, or millions, of us, who agree but do not have a column in a major newspaper. Bailey's reply was wholly unbecoming anyone involved with any aspect of administration of Cricket in Australia, to be honest, and he should be fired immediately. Even if he's been a key part of picking the right players, helping make the right choices of any kind, with the board or anything like that.... does not matter. It is preferable Australia fall to the deepest nadir in their cricketing history, than he be allowed to keep his position, or any job with Cricket Australia, after that scumbag reply. Personally, I think he should get the immediate boot, and Warner be told his services are no longer needed for any form of the game, too, after the Pakistan Test, his plan or not, and he too be.. 'retired' for all formats. Kudos to Johnson for voicing what he has publicly. Now, also, as you guys noted in an ep during the World Cup, or the WC review ep, there's a very strong connection between any given generation of the Australian team, and the Greats of previous eras, and they bring a brains trust, that is essential, to Australia's success. But that cuts both ways. Many of those blokes are happy to try straighten up, keep in line, advise, mentor, champion the newbies, because how much an honour it is, here to play for the country.... but they expect the same back. Cricket Australia should have told Cummin's et al, they were fired, and torn up their contracts, on the Langer business, but they pandered to them, and that is also probably connected to skeletons and closets if you ask me..... after that, it looked to some of the former players, the new kids didn't have respect for them, because they would not have gone the path they went down with Langer, if they DID. So this has made some Ex players, leery of getting in to deep, and it also made them more willing to come out and have say, or spray, it is not the first though, either. Might have been a lot less messy, more gentlemanly, but has definitely happened before down here.

[@amitm2692]

U must like the sound of your own words 😅😅

[@Douglas..1]

@@amitm2692 Brilliant comment. So helpful(!).

[@Apis4]

@@tino6440 It is not that they got rid of him, it was HOW and total lack of self awareness as to WHY he came in and replaced Lehman in the first the first place. Entitlement. They felt entitlement. Sorry, f*ck that. Have you ever been in a locker room at even a shadow of that level, even just at regional or inter-district level? No f*cking way only Warner and Bancroft knew what was going on with the tampering plot... the captain and coach both are right bloody there and you are not doing sh*t without their nod. Do not be that blind. Every single one of them should have been on the chopping block, they all should have been put on a public pyre, because we are Australia, and you cannot do that to Cricket here. Lehman was quietly ushered out, and Langer bought in to whip them, to drill them, to put them on a leash and show them they now had a boss. Instead of taking it like men, showing they belong in the baggy green, they took it like whiny little b*tches, and showed total disrespect to someone who had done more than enough in his career to be owed it. F*ck them. As a die hard Aussie cricket fan, I would rather we have a 20 yr trough, losing everything, than reward that kind of BS. Your argument about result validating it means sweet FA to me, pal. I do not care about results, I care about Australian cricket being beyond reproach, and I am not the only one, or Haydn and Johnson would not be saying what they have, but they are voicing what a great many of also feel. So you can take a walk, it is obvious you do not get it, and have no morals or honor.

[@VARMOT123]

Did you miss India-aus series lol ?

[@Tom-os4hy]

no one gave a shit

[@amitm2692]

U mean the pan masala Paytm MasterCard T20 bilateral series that had more relevance than ODI wc?? 😅😅

[@rahatmahmud5435]

Nobody cares about pan masala series. It's just entertainment. nothing serious about it

[@Tom-os4hy]

wtfs a paytm

[@jehanariyaratnam2874]

Phil Walker wants Travis Head to play for England😂

[@Soubhik12345.]

India will lift the t20 world cup ❤

[@ASHISHMISHRA-qd5sz]

i am finding it hard to understand the comparison of dhoni and morgan as captain. No comparison msd>>>>>>>>>> morgan

[@Douglas..1]

How many semi final upsets have India had under MS Dhoni compared to England under Eoin Morgan?

[@Douglas..1]

Sorry I meant exits.

[@ASHISHMISHRA-qd5sz]

@@Douglas..1 what do you mean? Please elaborate

[@rahatmahmud5435]

Bro, Msd's india was already filled with legendary players like sachin, sehwag, harvajan, yuvi, raina, zaheer. But india lacks strong leadership which dhoni provided. In morgan's case, We all know how pathetic England team was in 2015!! That team was completely broken. After taking captaincy Morgan has to transform a whole team to win 2019 WC. So basically Morgan's job is much more tougher than Dhoni's role. Both are legends for their team and shouldn’t be compared btw

[@Robrulz666icloud]

And Mitchell Johnson never got favoured by selectors even when out of form 🤷🏻‍♂️ DAMN HYPOCRITE!!!!