Matthew Hayden’s damning thoughts on Australia World Cup exit

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If there was a big red button that would just demolish the Internet, I would smash that button with my forehead. From the BBC, this is the Interface, the show that explores how tech is rewiring your week and your world. This isn't about quarterly earnings or about tech reviews. It's about what technology is actually doing to your work, your politics, your everyday life and all the bizarre ways people are using the Internet. Listen on BBC.com or wherever you get your podcasts.

You're listening to the TMS podcast from BBC Radio 5 live.

Very delighted to see say that we've got on Test match special here for the first time in this tournament, legendary Australian opener and broadcaster who's here with the world feed, Matthew Hayden alongside Artif Nawaz. And we just want to talk about Australia and their woes in the T20 format at the moment. It's stunning the world of cricket at the moment that Australia have had such a poor tournament. But perhaps haydos, it hasn't surprised you.

The hope lies in Ireland. Would you have ever heard in Australia talking about that?

Well.

There'S been some woes. I mean the reactions back home, the mood, if you like, of, of the nation has been rather, rather heavy because I think we've been sort of sold down the stream a little bit in terms of our selection and how we've gone about preparing for this World Cup. It's, it actually sort of smacks, to be fair, a little closer to home, a little shot across the bows closer to home. It sort of smacks of England and their question in the Ashes preparation, this kind of self fulfilling prophecy, that kind of we're okay and things are no, don't worry. It's a healthy mix of denial and maybe even just mismanagement. You know, so if you go right back to a selection case, it's not like these World Cups aren't scheduled ahead of time. Australia have obviously been a little bit gazumped by these late injuries. Cummins obviously an enormous loss and also Hazelwood that you'd have to say is, is right up there in the top five premier fast bowlers across T20 format. In fact, I'd go as far as to say ever since he was managed by Dhoni at csk he's had a real uplift of the way that he's approached T20 cricket. But look, every nation has got these problems and Australia, it's not like their cover of talent is bare. Old Mother Hubbard has produced wonderful cricketers in Australia for many years and we know we enjoy coming to countries like Sri Lanka and we just haven't prepared for, for what we've seen. We've picked, we've picked power hitters in finesse type conditions. We have picked finishes. You know, when I'm looking at these, what do you call this?

Like Tim David at number four, for example?

Well, no, I'm looking at this not a run sheet, it's a team sheet. I'm looking at the team sheet and I'm thinking, okay, we've got Cooper Conley 8 and, and a frontline option with the ball in conditions which Sri Lanka would just relish Someone like Cooper Conley and his inexperience to lengthen our batting. Cameron Green didn't damage the scoreboard again with the ball yet picked as an all rounder. Tim David I think is the best finisher in, in good batting conditions. I don't think there's any better than him. Look at the way that he finished off for RCB in the IPL last year. He was magnificent. But these surfaces, they're way trickier than that. You have to start and you have to be able to manipulate the, the strike in, in conditions which are going to be holding if not just turning a fraction. Marcus Stoinus with the ball is, is not going to have that kind of threat that we know and appreciate Australian bowling lineups to have always. We're full of bowling as a general rule, you know, so it's really who we haven't got here. You know, Smith coming in late to the equation. I would have argued in these conditions had we have started in India. I've got no problems with Steve Smith's handling of this World cup, but because it's here and he does have that ability and we've seen the role of of batting units that have anchored type roles. We saw one last night, Patam Nisanka was brilliant but Kusal Mendes came on and just played kind of more of a sheet anchor role. Smart cricket, good cricket. So there's just so much to unpack and unlock in this sort of self professing prophecy of, of management of, of the Australian cricket team. Similar to the way that, you know, the English team management came to Australia and, and just didn't quite get it right.

Is there a, I mean there's a slight perception hatos outside of Australia that Australia Perhaps don't value T20 cricket as highly as the other formats. I mean obviously they were terrific in the Ashes against England, but prior to that series they play the Chapel Hadley series against New Zealand which they won by a clean sweep, three nil series win. But they didn't play any of the T20 cricket other than the big bash until they went over to Pakistan and were washed in that series 30 by Pakistan in Lahore. That was their only real sort of international prep for this World Cup. Just based on, just listening to you there, you feel like there hasn't been a lot of thought put into it. There hasn't been a lot of preparation and data applied to what it is they need to succeed in these conditions. Is it fair to sort of question how much Australia values T20 cricket?

Look, I think there has been some history in the early startup phases of T20 cricket and I think the country has got well and truly over that. I mean it's, it loves to arrive at ICC tournaments and try and dominate and it has done so very effectively over the years across the formats. The only thing that I'll say is that it, it just feels like we've come with a certain type of play and, and that's what we saw in the Ashes. There's a certain playing ecosystem, if you like, that allows for example, Harry Brook to smash a ball out of the park and the last ball before lunch in Perth and, and, and you're just on a wing in a prayer. So it's almost like a stubbornness or the word's not bully because I think that could be well taken out of context. But there's a plan A, and that plan A is called power. And it's a day and age of power. And that's really been the key. You know, when you look at sides that dominate this World cup in India, that's certainly the case. These conditions though are different. They're not such pure batting surfaces and that requires methodology that if you like almost requires kind of a bit more of an old school approach and way of thinking about the game that allows you to stay in the contest. Because if you're three and four wickets down in the power play, you're not in the context of the game you've wasted as what we're calling in this T20 World cup or your consolidation phase, you set back, then in your acceleration phase and then in your finish. Goodness me. I mean, we saw, you know, what was a magnificent finish from Thikshana last night. In the face of Badarana not being there and just having a shutdown of play with Chimira. Those final two overs were just, they were just icing on the cake to what had been an unbelievable last 10 overs of that match for Sri Lanka. So, you know, lots of things went really right for Australia in the first 10 overs and then everything went wrong from that point.

Well, this is what one of the things I want to touch on because it was completely baffling watching Australia's selection and planning process. Matt Renshaw, when I saw that he was in the squad, I thought this is an intriguing selection. I'd seen him doing well in the big bash. You know, he's got decent form but he's not necessarily someone that you think of, is going to be that like a key batter for them. But actually his top scored previous game, he got 60 odd. In the conditions yesterday, he, he could have been absolutely crucial because having got 104 in 8.3 overs and then to lose 10 wickets for 77 and you've got Cam Green who just doesn't look in great nick with the bat. But Tim David coming in, I'm not.

Looking any nick with the bat. I think you've been way too kind there. I mean, he has just looked awful with the bat. He looks woody, he looks tinny. He looks like he's just a man with no confidence. And I'd be very surprised if actually that's not exactly the case. Matt Renshaw has come with no baggage to this tournament. He actually had a really good series back home in Australia in the ODIs. He's been a man that's been, I believe, very ill treated. There's no doubt that he should be in our test scene either, in my opinion, just because of the weight of performance. I mean, form is temporary, class is permanent, but the reality of it is it matters in cricket. You know, it's a confidence game. It's very difficult to come on shore without any form and then hope that your luck turns around. It just, it just doesn't work that way. So, you know, potential versus form is an equation that is always on the selection table as a contemporary way to look at how an approach should be given the fact that we are and will see in the future high risk cricket. I mean you can't score 10 and over without risk. I'm telling you that right now. It is hard to do, you know, and we expect it from Head and Marsh and we got it, you know, so they're the sort of, they're the sort of cases that people mount. But it's also to do with form. I mean, Marsh himself has showed outstanding form in the short format of the game to the point where his form's kind of been overlooked in the longer formats of the game, which is something again, the selectors have kind of benchmarked and pigeonholed players into, into being. So I think the selection issues have got, you know, some, some real questions around them and, and have left all of Australian cricket fans thinking what happened?

Well, you've, you've drawn a very worthy parallel with England and the Ashes. And I think, for example, Shah Bashir, who is groomed to be the spinner, ended up not playing. Will Jax is then ending up as a part time off spinner batting an 8 at best.

Part time spinner.

Oh, at absolute best. And then we've got similar thing here where Josh Hazelwood is unavailable, he goes out of the team and they go, right, we're going to replace him with Steve Smith. They can't think of a less like for like. I'm not saying Steve Smith shouldn't have been selected, but it hints at a confusion at the heart of what's going on. So the question I want to ask here is because you'll know more about this than we do in England, is this just one of those things that happens to a team where they. It's a transition. So some guys aren't that. There's no Cummins, there's no Hazelwood. Nuts through injury, Starks retired. Is this a transition thing? Those kind of like growing pains of creating a new side and sometimes selectors get a little bit confused, try different people, doesn't quite work out, but give it 12 months and they'll alight on the right solution. Or is this something systemic? Are there players that you think should have been in this squad, should have been in that team yesterday, aside from Steve Smith who actually fielded at the end? Yeah, but that aren't in that squad?

Well, well, I think the selection for a start, I would Have. Yes. I think there's people not only back home in Australia that should be in this team, but I believe there's people in the dugout. The Australian cricket team that should have been in play yesterday.

That's two fails.

Yeah. So, you know, so for me you've got Xavier Bartlett who was dropped in the last game and this is the role of confidence, right. So he's dropped in the last game, comes back in and plays in the evening of this match in what is virtually was going to be the semi final for Australia. And then you've got Sha Abbott also in the dugout and you've got Ben Dius as well. And, and you've got Cooper Conley for example, who's picked as a, as a bowling all rounder in conditions which Sri Lankan players relish. I mean, if you don't have a good, if you don't have a spinner, that can be a frontline spinner. And this is the mistake that England made. And when you think back to your winning campaigns, what did that really look like from an England point of view? And what did it look like from an Australian point of view? I mean, we've got Lime, we've got Warne. Swan was magnificent, wasn't he, when he came out to Australia on the first tour? And these decisions, they're very much based on, on the eternal roles that players over time play. And a spin bowling unit is something that's so critical to this format of the game. Adam Zamper had an off night, a.

Bit of an off tournament, has it? It's just not quite happened for him. He kept. We saw quite a few drag downs of his first ball of overs, that.

Sort of thing in particular. Right. His first over, I think who was on strike was Kusar Mendes and he dragged his first ball down, disappeared out through mid wicket region, tried to come back in the over, did so. Okay. And then dragged his last ball down. So he's gone, our key weapon has gone for eight or more off his first over.

That can happen. I mean, Adil Rashid's had a quite a torrid tournament and he's definitely England sort of gun leg spinner. But are there spinners in Australia that should be there instead? I mean, Kunman's in the squad but I'm not sure. I don't really see the depth of Aussie spinning much like there's no depth in English spinning at all.

So I think that our spinning depth is not too bad. I think it's always going to be hard. You imagine anyone that Came behind Shane Warne. You're going to get compared immediately to those sort of numbers and that sort of pressure. I think Todd Murphy's got a big role to play without any question as well. And Matt Kernan also play a role across the formats as well. And it has actually got a few opportunities and just hasn't, you know, quite got the longevity in, in selection or the trust maybe in selection. So, you know, that's not, to me, that's not really the issue. The issue in this tournament was that we just picked way too many part time all rounders, you know, that, that. And so what that meant is that Ellis and Zamper, our more frontline and consistent bowlers in, in our attack, just didn't have the support. I mean these guys that have such good matchup thinking, you know, so even when I look at for example the, the, the Sri Lankan bowling lineup last night, the matchups are obvious. I mean, you get through Hamata, Walagi and Tikshana and suddenly you've got Dustin Chanaka that's gonna have to bowl his overs and he's gonna get pounded, you know, so those matchups can be the difference in Twenty20 cricket. What we know is that the margins are really small, you know, so if you've got a 10 run shift just because your matchups are in a position that line up according to the game, it's, it's game over. You know, it's not too many times that you see, you know, really compelling victories in this format of the game. It's often, you know, margins, yeah, 10, 15, 20 tops.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Otherwise you've just had a shocking day and it wouldn't matter who you ran out. The TMS podcast from BBC Radio 5 live.

If there was a big red button that would just demolish the Internet, I would smash that button with my forehead. From the BBC, this is the interface, the show that explores how tech is rewiring your week and your world. This isn't about quarterly earnings or about tech reviews. It's about what technology is actually doing to your work, your politics, your everyday life and all the bizarre ways people are using the Internet. Listen on BBC.com or wherever you get your podcasts. Just seems to me just discussing it all and listening to you. Hey dos, is that like sort of depth and sort of the choosing of the talent for the right conditions is a bit of an issue at the moment. The muddling of approach and tactics. There's been sort of, you know, a lot discussed about Indian investment into the big bash and And Australian cricket in much the same way as they've invested in the 100 in England. Do you think that will help in any way in terms of broadening the talent pool or helping to identify who the next big stars for Australia can be that can influence T20 tournaments in, in different conditions? Because, yeah, I think a lot of teams struggle when they go away from home and play in conditions like this is, you know, outside of the, the Asian subcontinent. But other than that, you know, when you're traveling to different parts of the world, you often lose. There's only teams like India who found a way to be consistently successful overseas and even they lose a lot of games as well when they're traveling. So what do you think the role of that investment could be if India does invest into the big Bash and, and sort of make it a privatized thing, a bit like the hundred in England? And do you think that would be a good thing for Australian cricket?

That's a really tricky question to answer in the context of intellectual property. There is and has been this way for quite a long time that there has been a shift in the movement of intellectual property which I would call the product of Australian cricket. Now overseas we, we have Justin Langer, that's coaching lsg, we have Ricky Ponting that's coaching the Punjab Kings, we have Tom Moody, that's head of High performance of LSG as well. We've got players that play across all countries, all codes that are franchise driven alternatives to the cut and thrust of cricket in our country. And that is that our product can and will be retained by cricket Australia. And so we're bleeding and we're almost, I feel, bleeding out in many ways because we've had three decades of extraordinary talent that's come to our shores and stayed on our shores and remains in our game. And where we're really getting challenged, is it at the game development side of it, where, and I'll give you a prime example, Jake Fraser McGurk.

Ah, yeah. Whatever happened to him? We were all really excited by him.

Yes. So that's exactly what can't happen, you know. So there's a talent that has got the potential to play 70, 80, 90 tests. There's a talent that is home grown, that has got hands that are magnificent. That's a beautiful athlete, got, you know, grace and form, you know, something that we saw beautifully last night, didn't we, from the Sri Lankan team. And you know, they just, they just move so beautifully across the surface and that's such a key asset. It's almost a God given asset as opposed to a trained asset. Like I'll give you a great example there, Jamaica. It looks like everyone can run about 9.8 metres a second, let alone that in terms of their 100 metre efforts as well. So what I'm really saying is that I just feel like at the moment cricket Australia need to have a look at their schedule and they need to be able to manage their number one and primary resource, which is cricket talent, and find a way to just be a little more insular, a little more controlled and a little more destined and built towards, towards the purpose of the Australian cricket.

So what has happened to Jake Fraser McGurk?

Well, I mean he's a franchise player, he plays across the world but he's unfortunately he's been, you know, in that, that system of franchise cricket which I believe is just kind of pigeonholed him into one role and that's a power hitter.

Right?

You know, so last night we saw a lot of great hitting. I'm not going to say we didn't, we did. But what we did see is some bloke and his name was Bhatta Masanka that batted and was not out under it. And then we saw another guy, Kusamandas, who manipulated strike and involved himself in a partnership which didn't allow Australia to get back into the game at any stage. Australia have taken four wickets in the last two games. Four wickets.

I mean those two guys you just mentioned, they're all format players, aren't they? And you know, we hear a lot.

About how and shock me, right, because they got cricket sense and sensibility and that's my point. Like I think if you lose control of your youth and they've got money and they've got the destiny of franchise based cricket, I would absolutely say get it, got it, knock yourself out. But unfortunately what we're looking for is an Australian cricket team and unit is to have a lot more say in how it is and where it is that you manage your resources and grow your game. Because if you become a one dimensional player then you're not going to have a role in our ODI sides. You definitely need to be nowhere near the test side and I would question whether your longevity in the short format of the game is noteworthy enough to be retained.

Just before I come to you, it's interesting contrast isn't even Harry Brook, who could so easily have been and end up that kind of player, we all get frustrated by the way in England we get frustrated by the way he gets out in test matches. But he's still playing test matches. He's still captaining 50 over cricket, still playing T20 cricket and actually not playing IPL, which is intriguing I guess. You know, a board like the ECB is able to provide enough of a financial incentive for him to be able to do that.

And so too is cricket Australia. I mean there's only three countries that could really do that, you know, and we're one of them, so. And we're blessed to have that opportunity. And that's my point. It's, it's not, it's, it's a restriction of trade to a degree. There's no doubt about it. It just really depends on where your priorities are and where you want to sit within the world game. I mean everyone, for example, Mitch Stark took a long time to go the ipl, you know, but everyone will remember Mitch Stark in the, in the next 100 years. He will be known as leading left.

Arm fast bowler in test cricket.

Sips. And, and look, is that, but is that something that, that a modern player desires? Because you know, to me you can have another boat, you can have another house, you can have another wellness resort that is coming up in the next couple of days. But there's a bit of a side story, sorry folks, on that one, which we won't go into right now, but it's, you know, you can have all this stuff but the reality is, you know, it's, it's, it's what. And this is what I love about the game. It's heart that matters. You know, when I think of the great players of all time, and you just mentioned one right there, you know, when Wazi Akram, he's got a great big heart. You know, he was a wonderful athlete, he had incredible skills which he acquired over time but, and he'd play across formats and utilise those formats to develop all of his game. And with the T20 game now, it's the hands and the ruck in many ways because the skill sets required to be competitive in T20 cricket, they are not as definite as what you need in the middle format, the ODI cricket and they also nowhere near what you need in test cricket. And it's almost to your point before. It's almost like you need to go, if you're a young cricketer and anyone listening right now to me, I'm telling you if you can be a long format cricketer, you'll be an amazing short format cricketer as well. Because the transference of skills and the transference of technique involved in the Short formats. And I'm going straight away to a guy like Virat Kohli, you know, who still amasses extraordinary numbers of runs in T20 cricket. But he is an amazing test cricketer and there are hundreds of cases like that in my opinion, across all nations. You can just reel them off, maybe even the universe Boss is another great example, right? Chris Gale, you know, he's a 300 club. He lets us all know about it by the hats he wears. But the reality is, you know, due respect, he is an all format game, but he's also a very good test cricketer. So youngsters get out there in the nets and learn and listen about technique in the game because it will not do you any harm. You will develop power as you grow. You will amass this great body position that's required if you want to be a short format cricketer. And that's going to take time. And unfortunately, I think our kids, our fans and certainly the game maybe isn't giving enough cricket credit, you know, to, to exactly those acquisition of skills.

Is there a role that sort of governance and administrations have to take in this as well? Because I think there's this narrative that comes out about players and like you just play, how much money do you need? How many leagues do you want to go and play in? But is this more that, you know, a board like Cricket Australia needs to be doing to incentivize playing for Australia? Overtaking leagues, elite contracts, lucrative contract contracts. Obviously players have a limited shelf life. They might think pragmatically and think, okay, you know what, let me go and maximize my earning potential. You mentioned Jake Fraser McGurk. He last played for Australia in July. Last year in July 2025 against the West Indies in that win again in Kingston. He's still only 23 years of age. So, you know, there's plenty of opportunity for Jake Brazenberg to get back in the mix. But up until now he's only played eight T20 internationals for Australia. You know, he wasn't given an opportunity after that. He's been picked up in the IPL by the Delhi Capitals and played for them. Sorry, yes, the Delhi Capitals. He's also played for the Dubai capitals in the ILT20 and this year he's been picked up in the PSL as well for the first time.

And he plays MLC as well.

And he plays in MLC as well. So Major League for the San Francisco Unicorns. There's, there's a few teams.

How many franchises is that in total franchise it is in each year in.

His Short career so far. He's represented four so far. But, but he's have got long term contracts with him and he's got a fifth coming this year with the psl. Now what my question to you is, is Haydos, is that, you know, you're saying, and quite rightly, you know, go out there, learn the game, play the longest format that will translate to the shortest format and, you know, skills are transferable. It all makes sense. Of course it does. But does the board at that point, point not have to think about how do we incentivize these players? Because there's riches on offer, there's acceptance on offer, there's opportunity on offer and yet you end up prioritizing one style of playing cricket because you want to be effective in these leagues and things like that. A lot of these leagues prepare very flat pitches because they know what broadcasters, advertisers want is lots of runs, lots of fours and sixes. So how do you tell that player that has the ability like a Jake Brazen McGurk. You know what, leave that behind. Come back to cricket Australia. We're going to teach you how to play proper cricket across the formats and turn you into a star and let you do something for your country. You know, we just touched on the investment a little bit earlier that might come from India. I don't know if that reinforces the system of like prioritizing franchise cricket or it actually feeds Australia with, you know, more infrastructure or more stability or more money to offer players in this, in this central contracts, but sort of, what's your take on the role that cricket, Australia and other boards around the world have to play in holding onto their plans?

My father was a very simple man. He was a peanut farmer and we lived out in the bush about seven kilometres away from any other household. So it was a strong bike ride before I get anywhere near a backyard game of cricket at my neighbours. But he always said to me one thing, son, never ask a question, answer a question with a question. But if you can allow me a moment whilst you've got your laptop open and we can get the actual numbers, can you just go to Shubman Gill's profile and just tell our audience how many, how many franchise clubs he's played for?

I can. It's not a very long list. He's played for two teams, both of them in the ipl, Gujarat Titans and Kolkata Knight Riders.

I rest my case. Our audience will work out what my point is very quickly. It's a, it's a look. Cricket is a Warfare, you know, it's. You can fraternize with the enemy as much as you like, but at the end of the day, your resources need to be, you know, enclosed behind enemy lines. And the reality is we have a damn lot of resources in the Australian cricket team. And the setup, I mean, it was the apple of the eye for three or four decades. And yet we are, we are bleeding that intellectual property because it's just allowing us the opportunity to, to not engage within, you know, great minds. Like I mentioned a few before, in Ricky Ponting, Justin Langer came and he was seen off, you know, because allegedly he was a little grumpy and a bit too hard on the players. Yeah, I mean, the thing is, learning's not easy. In fact, learning's damn hard. And so too has changed, you know, so there's very, you know, it mounts a compelling case that I think that it's just trying to just harness our resources a little bit, you know, within nations like England and Australia that have, you know, such enormously proud cricket cultures and traditions. You know, we've seen one of them come and go underwhelmingly this summer. You know, the Ashes was as big a build up as what we saw the Pakistan and Indian game the other night and it was equal to, as dissatisfying.

Yeah.

You know, because the quality and the standard of the game is, is just not allowing us to really enjoy the benefit, the fruits of our labor as cricketing communities.

There might have been a slightly different thing at work there. They might, because, you know, England have got themselves a bunch of players that are committed to Test cricket. You look at someone like Jamie Smith and I've seen a lot of him in county cricket and he's exactly the kind of guy who could have ended up certainly not being a Test wicket keeper. He didn't wicketkeep in domestic cricket hardly at all. I mean, he does has done it, but that's not his primary focus. He could easily have been a Jake Fraser McGurk and go out and be a gun for hire. They've actually got sort of settled Test team like a Duckett Crawley. It's the manner in which they've chosen to play and that seems to have come from coaching and selection at the top, at the saying, right, this is how we're going to beat Australia in Test cricket. But for the most part, ECB has managed to hold on to a core of its players that it wants to play in these formats. To me, the criticism of the way the England team has been going at the moment might be the planning and the execution of what it is that they're trying to do. Because the personnel. I don't think too many people. Look, in England, there'll be a perennial argument about Zach Crawley. Of course they will. Because a guy has averaged 31 and a half for his entire life, averages below Adil Rashid with the bat. He's only got two more first class hundreds in Adil Rashid. Sorry, am I getting something off my chest? But, but, but generally speaking, that is a choice that has been made and those players have been held together. The problem that South Africa have had and the West Indies have had, New Zealand have had are problems that Australia and England shouldn't have have because their players have to kind of be allowed to, to roam free and do what they do. But you're saying that Australia have got the resources, they've got the culture to be able to say, you come in, you be part of this cricket Australia team, this setup, then you shouldn't need to go to the SA20. I mean, I was kind of staggered and maybe you can give me an insight into this. Couple of years ago, wasn't it, when some, quite a lot of players were leaving the big bank bash before it was over to go and join the SA 20 because there was an overlap between. Right.

And I was thinking about Chris, someone.

Like Chris Lynn, who's synonymous with the big Bash, you know.

Yeah.

And actually leave it. And also the overseas players who would be there for the group phase or near to the end of the group phase and suddenly going. And so actually the end of the big bash was all domestic players, some of whom, you know, not even all of the best ones of that.

But surely that's a contractual issue. Right. Like it's something that you'd have to know this, but it should be as all squared away, you know that those players, international and domestic players, prioritise their own tournaments. Just like India are doing very smartly.

Exactly.

And they're reaping the benefits of it as well. I mean, they have so many talented cricketers that just. I mean, can you imagine where. I'll give you one great name, Shman Gill. Would there be a side across this World cup that wouldn't have him as their opening batter?

Well, it depends if he's got any Italian heritage.

Well, if it's maybe Canada, it certainly haven't, but it's full.

If his wife's grandfather was Italian, as we discovered with JJ Smuts, that's how he qualified. Ados, thank you so much for joining us. It's been scintillating hearing your views on Australia and cricket. And for our ABC listeners at home, look, it's not all gloom and doom. With a bit of luck, you know, Australia will come back fighting. A new generation will come through. Thank you to Haydos.

Thanks to artif the TMS podcast from.

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