Wisden Cricket

Mark Butcher, Jo Harman and Taha Hashim join Ben Gardner to discuss England's fourth-place Commonwealth Games finish, Lisa Keightley's legacy as she steps down as head coach, and the implications of Tahlia McGrath appearing in the final despite testing positive for Covid-19. They also discuss what to expect from incoming ECB chair Richard Thompson, the opening stages of The Hundred and the One-Day Cup, and Jason Roy's continuing poor form. The episode also includes a lengthy lookback at England's 2-2 Test series draw with South Africa, which featured the end of the Nasser Hussain era, the start of Michael Vaughan's reign, two double hundreds for Graeme Smith, South Africa's new captain, and a breakout performance from Andrew Flintoff. Butcher, who made his final Test century in that series, and Martin Bicknell, who returned after a ten-year absence to play a key part in the decider, give their recollections.

Mark Butcher gives his thoughts on England's T20I series defeat to South Africa and assesses the Proteas' chances of challenging at this year's T20 World Cup. He also wonders what the immediate future of international cricket looks and where bilateral cricket fits alongside the growing power of T20 leagues. Elsewhere in the show, Jo Harman, Phil Walker and Yas Rana react to England's Test squad for the first two Test of the South Africa series, the start of the Commonwealth Games and much more. They also preview The Hundred which starts this week. Howzat Travel: https://howzattravel.co.uk/ Wisden Shop: https://wisden.com/shop

Mark Butcher gives his views on England's drawn ODI series against South Africa, including Sam Curran's potential with the bat in white-ball cricket. The panel of Jo Harman, Phil Walker and Yas Rana talk up England's chances at the Commonwealth Games, review the most recent round of the County Championship, discuss the possibilities of England recalls for Ben Duckett and Haseeb Hameed, and run through some of the other headlines from the world game this week, including the recently released report into institutional racism at Cricket Scotland. Sam Northeast, scorer of 410* last week for Glamorgan, joins the show to tell Jo what it felt like to make history Howzat Travel: https://howzattravel.co.uk/

Mark Butcher, Phil Walker, Ben Gardner and Yas Rana react to Ben Stokes' retirement from ODI cricket and discuss whether or not there is actually too much international cricket for the 'Big Three.' The panel also do their best to make sense of England's downturn in form in ODI cricket, talk about a chaotic Finals Day, the omission of Tammy Beaumont from England's Commonwealth Games squad, pick out a few players to watch from the county game and much, much more. Gullivers Sports Travel: https://gulliverstravel.co.uk/events/cricket Zings Bails: https://zings.biz/club/

Author Alex Preston and CEO of the Ukrainian Cricket Federation Kobus Olivier join the show to tell us about the recent history of cricket in Ukraine, how the sport has been affected by war and how next week's decision from the ICC about whether to grant Ukraine ICC membership could change the sport in the country forever.

Mark Butcher, Ben Gardner, Cameron Ponsonby and Yas Rana react to the first five games of the England-India white-ball series. They look back on a string of impressive performances from England seamers, a stunning knock from Suryakumar Yadav and wonder what the future of ODI cricket looks like. There's also discussion on a gripping round of County Championship action, a brief preview of Finals Day, a look at Emma Lamb's first international hundred, discussion on South Africa's series forfeit against Australia and much, much more. The previously advertised special feature for this episode will instead be released as a standalone additional episode early next week. AOK Events Lord's hospitality: https://www.officialcrickethospitality.co.uk/fixtures/package/3011 Gullivers Sports Travel trip to the T20 World Cup in Australia: https://gulliverstravel.co.uk/event/ICC-Mens-T20-World-Cup-Australia Zing Bails: https://zings.biz/club/ Wisden Ale: https://wisden.com/product-category/drinks

Mark Butcher, Phil Walker, Jo Harman and Yas Rana react to England's latest victory under Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes, a thrilling seven-wicket win at Edgbaston. They discuss Joe Root and Jonny Bairstow's form, the logic behind McCullum's philosophy and where India went wrong in Birmingham. There's also discussion on England women's drawn Test at Taunton last week where a number of new faces in the England Test side impressed. The panel also assess the ECB's treatment of the T20 Blast ahead of its knockouts and briefly run through the set of white-ball squads named by England this week. You can enter the raffle for which donations go to Peterborough Unlimited which is fundraising for new Changing Places toilets in Peterborough city centre here: https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=SJSDHPJU72CJ4 Head to Gulliver Sports Travel: https://gulliverstravel.co.uk/

Phil Walker, Ben Gardner and Mark Butcher dissect England's latest ridiculous Test win, which featured 10 wickets for Jack Leach and an extraordinary counterpunch from Jonny Bairstow and Jamie Overton. NZ Herald sports reporter Andrew Alderson joins the show to give the Kiwi perspective on the result, discuss what's next for Kane Williamson and wonder where the Black Caps go from here. They also look at what changes England could make for the India Test at Edgbaston, how the tourists will cope if captain Rohit Sharma is ruled, and pay tribute to Eoin Morgan, set to step down as England's limited-overs captain.

Mark Butcher, Phil Walker, Ben Gardner and Yas Rana react to England's dominance in the opening two ODIs of their series in the Netherlands. They also look forward to Jamie Overton's Test debut at Leeds and discuss what to expect from the Surrey speedster. There's plenty of chat on the T20 Blast, England women's upcoming Test against South Africa, Chris Silverwood's initial success with Sri Lanka and more. Ben, Yas and Phil also respond to your questions, including one about getting into the game as an adult and the difficulties that come with that. You can get 20 per cent off with Charles Tyrwhitt in June with the code WISDENPOD.

Mark Butcher, Jo Harman, Phil Walker, Ben Gardner and Yas Rana do their best to make sense of England's extraordinary win at Trent Bridge, one that saw them bounce back from conceding 553 in the first innings and needing 160 from the final session to make it two wins from two in the new Brendon McCullum-Ben Stokes era. You can get 20 per cent off at Charles Tyrwhitt either in store or online with the code WISDENPOD. The latest issue of Wisden Cricket Monthly – which features Felix White's exclusive interview with James Anderson – is available now at wisden.com/shop.

Matt Parkinson joins the show to tell us all about his Test debut at Lord's, one that saw him go from readying himself for a day trip to the Lake District to padding up at Lord's over the course of a few hours (we apologise for the audio quality for that part of the episode). Another England spinner – Charlie Dean – joins us later in the show ahead of the Charlotte Edwards Cup finals day to talk about her meteoric rise over the past 18 months. Elsewhere, cricket writer Jim Wallace joins Ben Gardner and Yas Rana to talk about the Blast, Mithali Raj's retirement from the international game, the ODI World Cup Super League, Ranji Trophy records and much more. You can get 20 per cent off at Charles Tyrwhitt either online or in store with the code WISDENPOD.

England beat New Zealand at Lord's to give Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes a winning start to their leadership of the Test side after Joe Root's fourth innings hundred helped them chase down 277 at the Home of Cricket. The panel of Jo Harman, Yas Rana and The Telegraph's Tim Wigmore react to the Test and talk about some of the questions that are explored in Tim's new book – Crickonomics: The Anatomy of Modern Cricket – that he co-authored with Stefan Szymanski, such as, why do New Zealand play so few Tests? For the month of June we're offering our listeners 20 per cent off at Charles Tyrwhitt with the code WISDENPOD for use online or in store.  You can purchase Tim's book here: https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/crickonomics-9781472992710/

Phil Walker, Taha Hashim and Yas Rana preview the first Test of the England-New Zealand series that gets under way later this week. Mark Butcher also joins the show to give his views on the upcoming series as well as the County Select XI's victory over New Zealand at Chelmsford. The panel also talk about Eoin Morgan's future as England white-ball captain, the opening rounds of the T20 Blast, the IPL play-offs and the Women's T20 Challenge in India. For the month of June we're offering our listeners 20 per cent off at Charles Tyrwhitt with the code WISDENPOD. You can use the code either online or in store.

Mark Butcher, Jo Harman, Phil Walker and Yas Rana look back at the biggest talking points from the latest round of County Championship action and reflect on the opening block of the competition as a whole. They also preview the T20 Blast that gets under way this week. The panel talk about the IPL, Charlotte Edwards Cup and the ongoing Bangladesh-Sri Lanka Test series as well as their favourite stats on the game. This episode also includes Yas' interview with new England quick Matty Potts that was recorded prior to the Durham youngster's call-up to the Test squad.

Mark Butcher, Jo Harman, Phil Walker and Yas Rana discuss the announcement of England's 13-man squad for the first two Tests of the summer against New Zealand. James Anderson and Stuart Broad are back, Matty Potts and Harry Brook are two new faces in a group that is otherwise similar to those selected over the winter. The panel also react to the appointments of England's two new head coaches, Brendon McCullum and Matthew Mott as well as Tom Harrison's departure from the ECB. Mark and Jo share their memories of Andrew Symonds, the thrilling Australia all-rounder who tragically passed away last week at the age of 46. There's a round-up of all the latest County Championship, Charlotte Edwards Cup and the FairBreak Invitational action while stress fracture expert Dr Pete Alway speaks to Yas about the causes of lumbar stress fractures after both Saqib Mahmood and Matt Fisher were ruled out of the season with the injury.

The panel of Phil Walker, Jo Harman and Yas Rana round up all the latest County Championship action and have a stab at selecting the England XI for the opening Test of the summer. Phil tells us about his recent conversations with Mark Waugh and Marnus Labuschagne, Jo reflects on his interview with in-form Kent batter Daniel Bell-Drummond and Yas gets excited about young Durham quick Matty Potts. Mark Butcher joins over Zoom to add to the selection chat while George Heath joins from Dubai to update us on the FairBreak Invitational, where there have been some eye-catching performances from a whole host of Associate players. The episode ends with Phil, Jo and Yas talking about the aspects of the game they secretly don't care about.

Mark Butcher gives his view on the decisions made by Ben Stokes in his first week as England's full-time Test captain, while Ben Gardner and Yas Rana are joined by CricViz analyst Ben Jones to round up the latest County Championship and IPL action. CricViz Ben also provides an analytical view on the major selection debates around England's top seven heading into the first Test of the summer. Georgie Heath joins the show towards the end of this episode to talk about the FairBreak Invitational, a brand new tournament in Dubai that features 90 women's players – including some of the world's very best – from 35 different countries.

It's been a busy first week in the job for England's new managing director of men's cricket Rob Key. Multiple outlets are reporting that Ben Stokes is set to be named England Test skipper and Key has already outlined that the head coach role will be split in two. The panel of Mark Butcher, Jo Harman, Phil Walker and Yas Rana react to those developments and round-up all the latest action from the County Championship. Later in the show, there's an interview with Kent's in-form opener Ben Compton about his meteoric rise and stellar start to the season with his new county.

The panel of Mark Butcher, Lawrence Booth, Phil Walker and Yas Rana react to a massive week in English cricket, one that saw Joe Root call time on his reign as Test captain and Rob Key appointed to the role of managing director of men's cricket at the ECB. How should Root's captaincy be remembered? What should we expect from Key at the helm? At the 44:30 mark, Wisden Almanack editor Lawrence Booth reveals who this year's Five Wisden Cricketers of the Year are. You can order the Wisden Almanack at https://wisden.com/shop/wisden-cricketers-almanack-2022-hardback There's also a section on the latest round of the County Championship as well as a brief chat on the IPL.

On this week's show, the studio panel of Phil Walker, Jo Harman, Ben Gardner and Yas Rana look back at a run-filled opening round of the County Championship and discuss Rob Key's status as the frontrunner for the vacant England men's director of cricket job. At the end of the show, they pick their 'Uncapped County Championship XI of the Century'. They also celebrate Anya Shrubsole's career after England's 2017 World Cup final hero announced her retirement from the international game at the age of 30. Mark Butcher calls in to give his view on Ravichandran Ashwin's controversial tactical retirement in the IPL.