No Balls: The World Cup debrief!

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Not another one.

And you need to remember that your grandma listens to this.

She does. She also abuses me on social media.

But don't worry, we beep it out.

So your kids can listen.

And Grandma Jean. First ball castled.

Now I'm celebrating. For crossing. That one was for crossing. That was a beautiful delivery. The wobble ball again from Kate Cross. And that is such an important wicket. Kate crossing for the hat. Trick ball. Oh, so wide.

Hello, and welcome back to no Balls of Cricket podcast with me, Kate Cross, and you, Alex Hartley.

Hello. Hello. How are you?

Yeah. Do you know what I love?

What?

We've both got bikinis on.

I know.

How nice is that?

It's holiday season for anyone.

That's weird. We're not doing a bikini episode. It's not like that. It's just that we're both not in England, so we've both got bikinis on.

Yeah, it's the first thing I did this morning. I was like, bikini on to the pool. Cricket is done.

Lovely bit of context. So I'm in Tenerife on holiday with my mum and you are in Dubai on the way back from the World Cup.

Yes, yes, yes, yes. I thought, you know what? I'll stop in for a few days.

Nice. Get a bit of downtime. Decompression time, you said. You. You actually text me a lot this morning, saying you spelt for 13 hours last night. Long night for you, that, huh?

Yeah, yeah, a lot of spelling. A lot of spelling.

Lot of spelling. Gotta get them in. We don't. We don't really concentrate on our spelling too much these days, so it's good you spent so much time on it.

Yeah. 13 hours spelling me mental. Nice. 13 hours sleep and I'm still tired. Crazy what Tor does to you, isn't it?

Tor life. Jet lag. Weird hours as well, isn't it? He said you didn't finish the final till like 1am was it?

We were on air at 1am that's crazy.

I mean, it's not crazy because that's just normal when you're in Asia, isn't it? That games just go on so late. But should we just get into it? I feel like we can't.

I mean, congratulations, India. What?

Mental.

Absolutely mental.

What a weird. Not weird, wonderful. What a wonderful five days that tournament finished in. To say that there were so many, like, damp squids. Squibs. Squids, Squibs, Squibs, Squibs. Damn. There's so many damp squibs of games. Literally. And then the whole tournament finished with those two unbelievable semi finals. And then I didn't watch the final, I must admit, but the celebrations look. And still going on look incredible.

It was honestly like. Do you know how I'm feeling? Like Texas, like, really tough tour. Really tough places. Like really tough place to be. It's just. It's just finished on such a high and in such a good city that you sort of forget about all the. That's come beforehand.

And that's. That's what happens in global tournaments, isn't it? Because you get to the business end and it just. You kind of forget all those.

Yeah.

Less good moments.

But I bumped into one of my mates like yesterday and he was like. We were just. I was just walking to my room as he was walking past and he's like, what a great World Cup. I watched all the games. Like they were all so close. And I was like, that is the context I needed.

Okay. I mean, he's wrong because they weren't all close at all, but.

Well, the ones he must have watched, he watched.

The other ones, the three that he watched, must have been good games. Nice. So. Right, let's take it back. Take it back, take it back. So semi final number one.

Yep.

Laura Wolfhard and Mari San Capp play the two games of their lives in a semi World cup semi final. Obviously it meant England had to go home early, but when you see two players like that have games like that, you're kind of like off you go into the final. Go have a great game.

Yeah, well done. Well played. Good luck. I mean, honestly, it was actually hilarious, wasn't it? Because I was like, nah, England will beat South Africa.

Oh, God, yeah. No, absolutely. No doubt, no doubt.

You said South Africa have only beaten England 10 out of 38 times. I was like, nah, not happening.

Like, most of them will be recent, though, aren't they?

Well, yeah, that's the thing. Most of them are in World Cups and knockout games.

Yeah.

But South Africa, I feel like they've got the reputation of the New Zealand men's team, where they're so much better than people think and let on like that.

I saw Laura Wolfhard done an interview, must have been after the final, and she was saying, like, they're getting to some great positions now and obviously made quite a few semi finals and finals of global tournaments. But then it's just that consistency to be able to get over the line. But then think about it, shoe on the other foot. India have been in that position so many times, have never won a global tournament up until Sunday, and it won't be long until South Africa get there is kind of where my head's going.

Yeah. I mean, South Africa absolutely outplayed England. Like, they were so much better than England and they deserved to get through to the final. It wasn't like. It was a really close game and, you know, England, like, dropped a catch or whatever. They were just completely outplayed by two players. And every time. Yeah, when someone scores 170 and someone takes 5 for. How many times do you win the game? Probably never.

No. Well, think about 20, 22. It was the other way around, wasn't it? Danny Wyatt Hodge scored 120 odd against South Africa in the semi and Sophie took the six first. So, yeah, it's quite synonymous, actually.

Yeah.

Synonymous. Is that the right word?

I don't know. That's a big one.

Too early. Too early to be thinking of big words.

And then the semi final. I can't believe Australia got knocked out.

But I can because I watched Jemmy bat. Yeah. And I watched Australia drop some catches.

Did say India would be the only team to beat Australia.

Can we please talk about Ian Bishop's commentary when Talia dropped that catch and.

The only thing she's caught is fresh air.

What an iconic moment that was. Not for Talia. Sorry, Talia.

If you listen to this podcast, Tmax. Sorry, but we're just gonna laugh about it for the next two minutes because, honestly, it was iconic.

It was. That was such A big moment as well, actually, because they're just the moments in the past or when Australia dominant. They're the moments that you just go, well, that's out. You don't even think about it. There's not a chance anyone's dropping that catch. But it goes to show what pressure does.

And what about a friend of the podcast, Alyssa Healey, dropping another sky?

I felt for her with that, actually. Her and Kingy were gonna clash, weren't they? They obviously couldn't hear each other. And then it was like, oh, my God, they're gonna hate each other. They're gonna hit each. Oh, my God, she's dropped it.

She's done a few of those. She's kind of known for it. And then when it went up and I was like, let King. You catch it hard.

Hard with the helmet though, isn't it? Hard?

Yeah, they are. They are hard. But those are the two moments really, that, you know, Jimmy then was like, perfect.

Yeah. Jemmy, I said this to you. We would. Because I was. I was gonna go out for a room, wasn't I? There was like 15 overs left of the chase and I was like, oh, God, it's getting dark. I need to get out for a run. I was back in England at this point and you were like, what are you doing? Why are you going for a run? Watch this game. It's like gonna be historic. And then I said to you that Jammy's chase in context of World cup. Well, in context of all cricket really, but because it was a World cup semi final, India's history of not winning, that was the best chase I've ever seen a female play. Oh, single handedly.

It was the best chasing game of cricket I've ever. I've ever seen. Like, women's like, it was incredible to watch. I mean, the fact that Jemmy got a runner ball 100, actually just less than. But it was the fact that Richard Gosch came in and smacked.

Yeah.

The way she. She went at a strike rate of like 180. And then deepti did the same. Deepti ran herself out so Jemmy could carry on batting. It was just perfect.

From India, someone tweeted saying it was the best chase they've ever seen in the history of the game. I was obviously, I don't have a Twitter account anymore, but I go on Twitter because of X. Sorry, I got an X because of the Nobles account. And I was like, have we all just really quickly forgotten Glenn Maxwell cramping up and scoring 200, not out in a World Cup. It's quite funny how the cricket memory fades very, very quickly after it's all happened. But no, Jemmy, that was just amazing. And her emotion after it, like, you don't often see that outpouring in, like, games that aren't finals. And I just thought, good on you, girl. Because she got dropped earlier in the tournament randomly. And yeah, to go and produce that for your team was pretty, pretty special.

I'll tell you what was also special. You did your yearly tweet.

Oh, it was a good one, wasn't it?

It was very good. Very good. Because you sent it to me. I was like, what are you talking about? And I really didn't understand until you posted it. I just pretended I knew what you were gonna post.

Oh, well, I did say so, yeah, I sent you the photos. I'm gonna post this. And you're like, okay. Why? I was like, because when Jamie came on the pod, that's what she spoke about. I remember really vividly was being desperate to get hold of that photo because the context for anyone that can't remember the episode I didn't go back and listen was that she was talking about. She'd makeshift. Did this photo that she kept in her bedroom of like a superimposed picture of her in Indian kit. So that when she was a kid going to training and she didn't have the motivation, that was like, what her. Her goal was going to be to play cricket for India. And then, yeah, she goes and does that in a semi final and it's like, amazing.

She absolutely manifested the out of that.

She absolutely did. Maybe. What should we do? Should we. Right, I'll superimpose this yachts. I'll superimpose this on some sunbeds in Dubai and it might happen soon. You've done your 10,000. Tell people you've done your 10,000 every day.

So I set myself a challenge during the World cup to do 10,000 steps per day. And nobody believed in me because it's, you know, you know what I'm like. I set all these challenges and I always fail. I took my trusty Garmin with me and I resurrected it from the dead and. And I completed it.

I did 10, 600 pounds watch.

600 pounds watch.

Again for a bit of. For a bit of context. Me and how are in Dubai? Yeah, I can. I can fluff the edges. We were in Dubai, weren't we? And you. It was after the busing.

World Cup Champions trophy.

Champions. There's always a World Cup. I was just. I was hedging. My bets, champions trophy. And you were moving to meet me because we were having a holiday, so I'd come out to Dubai to see you, and you had woke up a little bit dusty, a little bit hungover, packed your bags quite quickly, get to the hotel with B. And you're like, oh, my God, I've lost my passport. Yeah. I was like, well, it'll definitely be in your room. The situation definitely suggests that you're hungover this morning, you've left it in your room and then you get in touch with the hotel. Long story short, get in touch with the hotel and they're like, yes, ma', am, we've got your. We've got your. You've got your passport and we've also found your watch. And you're like, my watch? And you're like, oh, my God, I left a 600 pound watch in my room. I was like, What? What a 600 pound watch have you got? You're like, my Garmin. My Garmin Fenix. Who calls a Garmin a six or a pound watch, you weirdo?

Because that's what it cost me. But yeah, I resurrected. I've done 10,000 steps a day. And for anybody that is actually, like, wanting to have a little bit of motivation of like slowly feeling better about themselves, I actually am that.

Well, There you go.

10,000 steps a day. Takes an hour on the treadmill, hour and five minutes. It's like, takes nothing out of your day. And I feel so much better.

And if you weren't in India, you wouldn't have to treadmill it. You were obviously restricted with where you could go and walk and stuff.

Exactly. So I'm gonna have like these three days of, like, not doing much and then I'm gonna, I'm gonna do it again. I'm gonna get back to it.

Speaking of not being able to go out in India. So when, like, we talk about stuff like this on the podcast and there's probably a few people out there being like, God, their security's tight, or is this that and the other? Look, what happened to Australia, like, that is exactly the reason why we have these security protocols. So for anyone wondering why you're doing it on a treadmill, that is why.

Yeah, yeah, exactly. You better safe than sorry. I'm going to do a real nobles whiplash from that comment to the next, but Australia as a team Crossy knocked out the last two World Cups in the semifinals, have never got out the knockout stages without Meg Lanning in their team, as in since she retired. Sorry, they've never made it out the knockout stages. Are they as dominant as we think or do they not play under pressure enough?

They are as dominant as we think because their stats. You don't go undefeated in basically two World Cups up until one final on Sunday without being a very, very, very excellent team. But there's obviously something around Meg's captaincy that people kind of either underestimated or have now come to realize that it was better than a lot of people thought it was. So it's interesting because I saw that stat and I was quite blown away by it, actually, because I knew how good she was and I knew how dominant they were with her, but I hadn't put two and two together that they hadn't made the finals since she's retired.

And I also think, like, she was such a calm character that she sort of fed that into the group and so competitive and had that, like, bit between her teeth. Healy has definitely got that, by the way. I'm not saying she doesn't, but I don't know whether, like, I was watching that semi final against India and the drop catch from healy that Tolly McGraw is taking that catch nine times out of ten. Like, I can't believe she dropped it. But I don't know whether they just don't play enough precious situations, enough because they win so much. Do you know what I'm trying to say?

Yeah, yeah, I know what you mean. But then that's never, ever, ever bothered them before. So why is it bothering them now? Like, the differences make or a team's.

Just getting better and they're having their one day out, which seems to be against Australia.

I also think that when you come up against someone like Australia in a final or a semi final, you know, you have to be on your A game. So I almost feel like you, you as a team have to become more excellent than you almost can be to beat them. And then I wonder if then those tiny moments that actually are happening probably throughout the game, throughout the group stages of the World cup, but don't get picked up on as much because they're not as big a moment. I'm sure Australia have dropped catches throughout the group stages, but no one really picks up on it because it doesn't mean that you're out of the tournament. So I'm sure they will be happening. But it. Yeah, it's gonna look very different for Australia now, hasn't it? Because Alyssa's. Sorry, Elisa's announced that she's retiring from one day cricket.

Well, no, she's Played her last World cup game.

Oh. My mum told me that she's done an announcement saying she's retired.

Well, let me just double check.

I didn't see it, I must admit. She was on her phone yesterday and she said that she'd announced it, which.

Let me have a look. She definitely hasn't announced any. What she did say at the press conference was, I won't be at the next World Cup. Yeah.

Which is common sense because you'd be like, 39. To be fair, my mum is not a great source of knowledge when it comes to cricket stuff, so I won't. I won't take her word for.

Well, you did.

No, I did.

Yeah.

Well, I was just like, I'm not going on my phone. I don't really. Like, I'm on holiday. I don't care so much. And then I was like, all right, makes sense.

But this World cup, right, this cycle. I know, it happens all the time. We're gonna. At the next World cup, we're gonna miss some Legends of the Game.

I know, but then in four years time, there's gonna be new people that are big names like Mooney will be. Mooney's only 31. So you presume she'd still be there at the next one.

Healy, Perry, Harmon, pre cap.

Yeah.

Like, nice, Heather. We did our predictions for this World cup, didn't we? In 2022, we decided what our starting 11 would be for this World cup. And I savagely said, you were in my starting 11, but in 8 for some reason.

Savagely.

No, no, no. The savage part was I said your last one, though.

Yeah, well, that was always. That was always gonna happen.

I read that back and I was like, oh, that's sad.

Yeah. But that was. That's similar to Healy. Like, I would be 38 at the next one. There was not. There's no chance I was going to ever try and make that one. Yeah.

So we need to do our 2025. We'll have to do it 2029.

Well, 2029 1. We'll write down an 11 and see. That'll be harder to do, actually, I think. But it will look a lot different. Like, we had a lot of same names from the 2022 World cup, didn't we? And then. Yeah, I think it'll look a lot different for 2029. Yeah.

It's a bit like India's team. From 2017 to today, there's only three players that played Deep T, Harman and Schmitty.

There wouldn't be many from the England team though.

No, that. Oh, no, that's true. I keep forgetting. I keep forgetting. It's nine years ago.

It's eight. Eight years. Yeah. Eight years ago. It's a long time. Hello, it's Ray Winstone. I'm here to tell you about my podcast on BBC Radio 4, History's Toughest Heroes.

I got stories about the pioneers, the.

Rebels, the outcasts who define tough.

And that was the first time that anybody ever ran a car up that.

Fast with no tires on.

It almost feels like your eyeballs are.

Going to come out of your head. Tough enough for you? Subscribe to History's Toughest Heroes wherever you get your podcast. Let's just talk about India for a minute because the photos that I'm still seeing now are just incredible. I've just seen one of Harman Preet and Zhulan Goswami where the hug that Harman gave Julan, the way that they all lifted the as in the X players all lifted the trophy. So Mitali and Anjem all got to lift the trophy and you just forget that they haven't won an ICC World cup ever. And that's how big this is for this team.

Yeah, I know. And I am so frightened of where this team are gonna go. Like I really am. The money that's gonna get pumped into it. You sent me the money, the prize money that they're getting.

Well, the prize money for the tournament is 4.4 million US and then India, BCCI have just thrown in another 5 million 5 crore on top of that. Like it's life changing money but like.

Think of the money that's going to get pumped into the domestic game, into the wpl, all these cricketers that they could potentially unearth, like mental. I mean I'm so happy for India. A lot of people said, who do you want to win before the final? I said it'd be funny if it was South Africa, but for the women's game, India.

I don't think it would be funny if it's South Africa though, because they've, they've got to the final for the last four years now. So yeah, I think I, I think they're not far away from winning. Winning one.

Yeah. You would think the only people, their players they're gonna lose is Cap. She's not making the next World cup maybe.

Which is a big difference that. How do you replace Marisanka?

Because Kaka as well, she's been around a long time, which is how good that you're changing. That was about to. How good that we're having these conversations.

Yeah. It is all changing, isn't it? And it. I'm so. I hate saying this because it's such an easy thing to say, but I'm really glad Australia didn't win it because it would have just been the same conversations, the same boring, like, talks about how good they are and we know how good they are, but people are disrupting them now and that's more exciting for the game than Australia going, being dominant again.

Yeah, it actually absolutely is. Like, I want, like, different names on different trophies. The next T20 World cup, different name, Champions trophy. When that comes around, like, come on, Bangladesh, pull your finger out.

Hey, Bangladesh added us 50 for eight or whatever it was. So. Yeah, yeah. We've not even talked about the fact that Laura Wolfhart scored two centuries in a World cup semi final and then a World cup final. Like, how's that just not been spoken about? That's a big deal. That'd be like getting two Fifers semi finals.

She's been. She's scored the most amount of runs ever in a World Cup. She's like.

She's not far behind significantly as well.

Yeah, not far behind whoever scored the most amount of runs in the history of Women's World Cups. Like this. This girl is still only really young. She's going to break so many records and she's just so elite.

I know. She's so good.

Isn't she so good in the field as well? Shall we. Do we put a little thing on socials or. Jack, do we still go upstairs? If we just go into our DMs.

Then we need something new because no one emails us anymore. So I feel like we probably need. Well, let's have a think about this. When we do our team, we'll have a bit literally have a little shift around in the podcast.

Yeah, We've had an anonymous here.

A what?

Anonymous.

A what?

Anonymous.

There we go.

Anonymous. Love that Oz didn't win or even make the final.

Wonder who that one's from.

There's one here saying unexpected knock from Shefali.

Shefali.

Yeah. Right. So it wasn't an unexpected knock, but what was unexpected is she took two wickets.

Well, it was unexpected that she was there because that was the big news. She'd been dropped from the squad. Not playing, not involved. And then comes in for a semi final and a final and gets player of the match in the final.

Yeah, practical. Rawal twisted her ankle. It was quite nasty, actually. Just before the semi finals and she finally comes in and Looks like she has a point to prove.

She's like broken her foot. It was like Adam Ho's lesser version of that injury without the massive dislocation and the foot facing the wrong way. I read somewhere again, I hope it's not come from my mum, but I read somewhere that practical doesn't get. She's not then like considered to be player of the tournament because she's then been replaced.

Yeah, yeah, she's not in the squad.

What a load of rubbish that is.

Like she technically doesn't get a medal.

Like, oh, a load of crap that is. Who comes up with that rule? Like who that is someone who's never played sport in her life is sat around that table going, yeah, she won't matter anymore. Like just have a bit of heart.

She's like the fourth, fifth leading run scorer of the computer.

Don't get a medal though because she missed out on the semi final in the final.

But there is one, one good thing that happened. Well, there's loads of good things.

Oh yeah.

You are no longer the only international wicket of Shefali Burma.

Do you know what? I'm glad she's. I'm glad she's shown on a world stage in front of a load of people how good a bowler she is because that ball nicked back so far thumped me in the pads. She a good bowler? I've always said it.

When you said nip back, was she. What was she bowling? Because she was definitely bowling some filthy offspin the other day.

She both seem at me.

Did she?

Yeah, she's. It wasn't quick but it's skinny enough that you just kind of just got you on the. Got you in the wrong positions.

Before the other day only ever bowled like 12 overs in international cricket. Comes and plays a World cup final, gets Marasan cap and senior lease out.

Yeah. I told you she could bowler underrated.

Should have opened seven overs. Harmon got out of it. She was actually in the press conference laughing. She went. I was just like, I'll go and have a ball.

They all like, I remember where were when I played in the. Before it was the WPL when it was like the exhibition stuff and I played for velocity. Do you remember I was on Deep T's team. Yeah. And they used to like really consider that using Shefali as a bowler. And I was like, are we really. Are we being serious? And then she'd always do really well for us. Yeah. So I'm not surprised Al. She's had her opportunity. Good on her.

She's got Three world class batters out, aren't you?

Now I know. Exactly. Exactly.

I need to tell you. I didn't know you were her only wicket ever.

Where was that? Were we in? Was that Derby? Probably derby, wasn't it?

Yeah, probably Derby, yeah.

The next one shouldn't be held somewhere really rainy from Hannah. That is a very sensible comment.

Yeah. Yeah. I was talking to an anonymous person from the Cricket association this week and they were like, well, if we were to do it again, we wouldn't change anything. I was like, you're lying. You're just lying because you don't want me to say anything.

Yeah. A comment then, just above that, is that the hybrid model ruined it. If India and Pakistan could sort their issues, neither should host an ICC event. If they can't sort their issues, sorry, neither should host an ICC event.

I know. I mean, that's just never going to happen because of the, the, the impact that India has on world cricket.

Yeah. And there was a bit of rain on the final as well, wasn't there?

Yeah. Oh my God. Yeah. So it rains, so you get an extra. You asked me how much time you get in the game on a final, rain affected and I was like, you get an extra hour. So you get. I explained it really weirdly to you, but basically the game was meant to start.

Let's just tell everyone you said you get an extra hour on top of the extra hour, if that makes sense. I was like, yes, I'll thank you. I've cracked your code. So you get two hours.

So in a normal game, the game starts at three, it rains till four. At four o' clock you start losing overs, but you don't start losing overs till 5 o' clock. In a knockout game. So it gets to like one minute to five and like play starts at five. And we were all like, oh my God, the game, had it have gone the full distance, would have gone on till a quarter to one in the morning.

Saw a tweet that was like, for a T20 to start, it has to begin by eight minutes past nine. Oh, God's sake.

And I was like, I've got a flight at 5am I've got a flight at 5 and everyone's taking the. Look at me calling me Aggas because he gets out as soon as possible. They're like, you've turned into Jonathan Actor. I'm like, I just need to get out.

A lot of people asking us to get Jemmy Harmon Practica on the podcast, but we've had Jimmy on. So go back and listen to that one because it was amazing as well, which was very, very good for. In fact we had to record that twice, didn't we? Because we lost half of it. Oh yeah, Phil Salt, Phil Salt's fault, do you remember?

No.

Phil Salt walked into the room, it was in the hundred. Phil Salt walked into our team room and then from then we just didn't get a recording and we were like, Phil Salt's ruined it.

That was it, that was it. But yeah, there's been a lot of, a lot of rain chat. Emma Lam was done dirty by Charlotte Edwards. That's, that's, that's a take and a half from the World Cup. I'm not sure she was done dirty. She was playing out of position, don't get me wrong, but I don't think she was done dirty.

It's hard, isn't it, as I feel like as a bowler you can kind of bowl not anywhere because I know that the death and the power play are different but I feel like it's easier to adapt as a bowler when you maybe bowl in a position that you're not as used to.

Yeah.

But I do think with Lammy's summer it was always going to be harder for her to adjust to playing in the middle order in the conditions that they had. But she'd done really well leading into, she played that position through the summer. She batted at three a few times when Heather wasn't there and then she had the warm up games batting at six in Dubai and she'd done well against New Zealand. So I don't think we can blame Charlotte Edwards for that necessarily.

No, no. Alistair says this is the end of women's cricket as we know it. Indians dominance will be supercharged in England and Australia won't know what's hit them.

I hope, I hope he's not that wrong. I mean obviously I don't, I don't want it to be, it's not gonna be as big as he says, but it's going to be important for the game, I think.

Yeah, I do, I think, I think the game. I genuinely am a bit worried about how good India could be in like 8 years time.

Good on them. They've thrown the money into it, they've made the wpl. We knew that that was going to be such a huge part of history when that came along. We were crying out for, for it, weren't we? And yeah, now a couple of years later they've, they've lifted their first trophy. So it does go to show that if you put a little bit of cash and a little bit resource into some teams and, and I'd love, I'd love to see that happen in South Africa, like make the SAT 20 for the women's tournament.

I don't know how they haven't done that yet.

I know. And it's, that's, that's the worrying bit for me is that they haven't yet done that and their team is still doing quite well. So actually give these players the opportunity to play in tournaments that are a little bit more pressurized and in front of bigger crowds and then maybe see where your team's going to get to.

Yeah. Kate, how am I living in a new country without you? And I'll be beautiful daughter Kate, I miss you. I miss every second of your. My life with you.

My wife, that, that person messages me quite a lot and they do call me their wife. I'm not married to them and I don't have a child with them. So.

That was the last DM we had.

Right. We've done a lot of chat about cricket, but there's one more thing, cricket base that we need to talk about that came out this week and that is the fact that the hundred is changing.

Yes. Yes, it is. I think it's going to be great, is what I think. It's going to be great. I think there's not as much I'm worried about the women's game in the hundred because let me just put say it straight. I'm worried about where the women's game will be at in a few years time.

That is also slightly my concern. However, there is some good headlines. So they've obviously doubled the women's pot. So it's gone from. I think the purse was like 4, 440. 440, 000 and it's doubled now to 880, 000. So that is. That's big news, isn't it? The men's has gone up a lot more, which we were not daft. We knew that that was going to happen and it's gone to an auction. So again, I don't think that's too big a surprise for many people, which is going to be a spectacle, but it's just all going to look different. There's gonna be different teams, different kit colors, different people playing at different venues, different coaches. I know everyone's moved because of the. A lot of the ipl. What would you call it? Like the, like. Lisa, for example, is the Mumbai Indians head coach. So she's gonna Then go to Oval where Mumbai Indians have bought their team. So it's gonna look different. It's. Yeah. Big name.

Yeah. It's gonna look really exciting. It is exciting. I love an auction and I love what's gonna happen. I'm just worried. I. I think if the women's game, the headlines aren't as exciting as I thought they were going to be. I can't lie. If the women's game had. Had a million put into it and you could sort of go, oh, okay, well, that's actually really good. And I know it's only 220 grand, but that's the point. It's only another 220 grand.

120.

120. Even less. Even less. These blokes earned that in minutes.

Yeah, it. I, I fear that the. Again this happens, it does happen in franchise cricket. So I shouldn't fear it because it happens and it should happen, but the rich get richer because the best players get paid more money to be there. And that is. That is franchise cricket. If you're good or better than everyone else, you should earn more money.

I fully understand that. And the men should earn more money than the women.

Yeah, yeah, definitely. Like, that's what. No one's, no one's fighting for that equal pay thing because no one's, you know, you. If you want Harry Brook in an auction, you're going to put your money in your hand, in your pocket and get a load of money and give it to Harry. So that's not going to be the same in the women's game, but it is different and it's interesting, but those headlines came out this week and I thought, let's just have a little chat about it.

Let's just tell. Yeah, let's just. I might feel different when it's. When it's closer to the time I'm very quiet about it. Yeah.

Yeah. 35 minutes on cricket. All right, we gotta leave it there because that's gonna. People are gonna switch off.

Got one more thing for after the World cup chat from Jack. There's been an update from the video on Insta where you were both called ex cricketers. Really sorry for saying you were both ex cricketers. I was told to keep the video short, so I used the simplest terms I could. Sorry. I did also film a clip with him saying it was terrible you'd not been selected, but I don't think he posted that one.

Oh, that's okay. I get used to being called that.

Yeah, yeah, he's fine. It's fine. It's very cute. Smile through it.

Right, I'll enjoy your decompression. I'll see you on Friday when I'm home.

And then we're both getting our hair.

Done, getting our hair sorted out. And then we'll be off on our little holiday together.

And this is the last podcast episode we're doing.

Yeah.

Yes, ever, ever.

This is it. It's the end. The finale.

This is the end. We might surprise you through the ashes.

Maybe. Maybe.

Enjoy your holiday.

Thank you. Let's not tell anyone how to email us, because they don't, so figure it out yourselves.

We're off.

Yeah? Yeah. See you. Bye.

Bye.

Ciao. I just said ciao. And that's Italian. Welcome to the Team behind the Team, a new podcast series in partnership with the Open University, where we'll be showcasing the people, the tools and the techniques to help athletes and teams reach elite level. Like all elite sports, it's a pyramid and everybody's trying to get to the top. It's not just my vision, it's a shared vision amongst the team. What is this? This is not the way I see the game. The Team behind the Team with Katie Smith in partnership with the Open University. Listen on BBC Sound. Hello, it's Ray Winstone. I'm here to tell you about my podcast on BBC Radio 4, History's Toughest Heroes.

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