IPL to resume, Australia name WTC squad, England select ODI and T20 squads and Virat Kohli retires from test cricket

• The IPL will resume on May 17 after a week-long break caused by the conflict between India and Pakistan - but which Aussie and English players will be there?
• Australia names its WTC final squad - but question marks still remain over who opens and whether Josh Hazlewood or Scott Boland gets the nod for the third pace spot.
• England has selected its ODI and T20 squads for West Indies' tour of the UK starting on May 29.
• Virat Kohli retires from test cricket.
• The County Championship continues in the UK as does Marcus Harris' run fest.
• Have you ever seen all 10 batsmen in a side retire out? Well it happened. Hear the story.

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Transcript

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Hello and welcome to another edition of the Ashes to Ashes podcast where we delve into everything related to the Australian and English cricket teams, both men's and women's, as they gear up for another Ashes campaign and they're always gearing up for an Ashes campaign. I'm your host, NewsQuest journalist and avid cricket fan Patrick Glover and it's been a busy week in cricket so there's plenty to get through on today's episode. We're going to look at the latest updates from the IPL, have a look at Virat Kohli as he calls time on his test career the Aussies have picked their World Test Championship squad ahead of the final in June so we'll have a look at that England have picked their one day and T20 squads for the upcoming White Bull Series against the West Indies here in the UK and the County Championship continues to rattle along over here in the UK as well so we're going to have a look at all the latest updates from there as well but before we get started just a quick reminder to like us and follow us on So without further ado, let's get started with today's episode. So there's been a lot happening over in India with the IPL put on hold or suspended for a week last Friday due to the ongoing conflict between India and Pakistan. So it all began last week during the Delhi and Punjab game. That game had to be cancelled midway through after the lights went out. This was due to the power going out after an attack on a nearby city. So that game was cancelled and subsequently off the back of that, the IPL or the BCCI stepped in and made the decision to postpone or suspend the IPL tournament for a week. They've now come out in the last couple of days and said that the tournament will resume on May the 17th, so on Saturday, following the announcement of a ceasefire between Pakistan and India. So the remainder of the IPL will be held at six venues. So there's around about 17 matches left. The final will be held on June the 3rd. So it's going to be a tight turnaround between the end of the IPL and the World Test Championship final, which starts on June the 11th over in the UK. So yeah, as I say, the final will be on June the 3rd. You've got the first qualifier will take place on May 29th, the elimination on May 30th, and the second qualifier on June the 1st. So what the problem is now is following the the shutdown of the IPO last week. There was a lot of international players and officials that went home. So that includes a lot of the Aussie and English contingent. So it now remains to be seen how many of those overseas players will now come back and partake in the rest of the IPO. As I said before, the World Test Championship final, if there was to be some Aussie players in that final, that takes place on June the 3rd. That's going to be a very tight turnaround to get from international India to the UK ready for the World Test Championship final on the 11th. And from an England and a West Indies point of view, they have a white ball series over here in the UK as well. So the schedule is going to get quite tight for a lot of players there. From what I'm hearing, it sounds like a lot of the English guys, so Joss Butler and Jacob Bethel have both headed back over to India to resume their stints with Gujarat and RCB respectively. But the word is that they will miss the playoffs if they're respective sides make the playoffs, which it looks like they will. So it'll be interesting to see what players decide to do. Jake Fraser McGurk is one of the Aussies who's opted out of the rest of the tournament. So he was playing with the Delhi Capitals along with the likes of Mitch Stark. So he won't take any further part in this tournament. He's been replaced by Bangladesh's Mustafa Zahraman. But obviously Jake isn't going to be a part of that World Test Championship Finals. So even if he had opted to go back to India, it probably wouldn't have affected him as much as it would have other players. Some of the other Aussies that are heading back, Xavier Bartlett and Mitch Owen, who are both playing for Punjab, they're heading back over to resume their stints with their respective club for the rest of the tournament, as well as Marco Janssen's heading back as well from South Africa. But it's going to be a big call for blokes like Mitchell Stark and Josh Hazlewood with their sides looking like they're going to make it deep into the playoffs so that's Dele and RCB respectively and Josh Inglis as well as another one with Punjab their sides as I say are probably going to feature fairly heavily in the playoffs so it'll be interesting to see what their decision is because as I mentioned before it's going to be a tight turnaround between if they were to go all the way through to the final and then have to get over to the UK it's going to be a really tight squeeze to do both on top of that from Hazelwood's perspective he's been nursing a bit of a shoulder issue as well which forced him out of RCB's last game so So it'll be a big decision for those guys whether they go back over and play the rest of the tournament. For other guys like Paddy Cummins and Travis Head, the decision might be a little bit more easier. With only a few games to go, Sunrisers are already out of the IPL. So it may be that they go, look, we can't make playoffs, so there's not much point in us going back over. So those two may opt to stay in Australia, but I'm sure we'll find out more in the next couple of days. Cricket Australia have issued a statement earlier in the week saying that Cricket Australia will support players in their individual decisions to return to India or not. Team management will work through preparation implications for the World Test Championship Final for those players who choose to play in the remaining IPL matches. So we'll watch this space with great interest to see what transpires over the next couple of weeks. But speaking of the World Test Championship Final, both Australia and South Africa have announced their squads for the match, which will take place between June 11th and 15th over here in the UK at Lourdes. So the Australian squad features Pat Cummins as the captain. So he returns after missing the Sri Lankan series due to injury and the birth of his second child. Scott Boland is back in that squad as well. Alex Carey. Cam Green returns from injury. Josh Hazlewood is back as well from injury. Travis Head. Josh Inglis. Usman Khawaja. Sam Constance. Matt Coonerman. Manas Labashain. Nathan Lyon. Steve Smith. Mitch Starr. Bo Webster round out that squad there and then you've got Brendan Doggett from South Australia who will be the travelling reserve so fantastic to see him get a go in the squad he's been around the Aussies squad in the last sort of 12 months 18 months but he's had a fantastic season for South Australia with the ball and had a good start over here in the county championship as well fantastic to see him get a crack as a travelling reserve that will all also be the squad that they'll take over to the West Indies. That series will transpire after the World Test Championship final. Australia is still yet to make a public decision on who will open the batting with Usman Khawaja. So they started off the Aussie summer with Nathan McSweeney. He was dropped midway through and replaced with Sam Constance. They then opted to open the batting with Travis Head and Usman Khawaja over in Sri Lanka, which was probably politically pre-planned. But now there seems to be a lot of talk about who's going to open the budding. There's obviously Sam Constance was the pick during the Australian summer. It was communicated to him that he was left out of the team that played Sri Lanka due to the conditions and due to them wanting to open with Trav Head, which was fine. So does he come straight back in? There seems to be a lot of talk around potentially Manas Labashain opening the batting. And George Bailey has come out and said that they're open to all options, which includes potentially opening with Josh Inglis as well, despite neither him nor Manas having opened at test level previously. Obviously, moving those guys up to the top of the order would then open up a position at number four for Cameron Green to come straight back in. And I think the Aussie selectors quite like that thought now that he's fit. He scored 100 in his first game back for Gloucestershire. Hasn't scored many runs since, but obviously they're keen to squeeze him back into the side. So that means that they're probably going to need to either drop Marnus, which I don't think they'll do because... while he hasn't probably been in the form that he would like he's still chipped in with sort of 50s and 60s in sort of every second or third test which has really helped Australia sort of win you look at the Boxing Day test he scored crucial runs in that game and helped Australia over the line in that one against India so I think he'll maintain his spot but then I guess the decision is whether then they move him up to open to slot Cameron Green in or whether they bring Constance back into the side keep Labash Shane at three and keep Green out. Give him a bit more time to get some more match fitness under his belt. It'll be interesting to see what happens either way. They've gone through a couple of openers recently. As I say, McSweeney started the summer, then it went to Constance, then Head. Prior to that, it was Steve Smith as well. So the Aussies are obviously trying to pick their best side and then fitting the players into positions rather than picking players in positions, if that makes sense. So I get that to a degree. but they haven't been patient with it. Like McSweeney had three tests and then they dropped him. Steve Smith said that he wanted to open. They gave him a handful of tests and then opted to change that up again. So... If they're going to do that, they need to stick with the player that they pick rather than chopping and changing all the time or opt to go, okay, Sammy Constance is going to be a future opener for Australia. Let's stick our faith in him, stick with him and open the batting with him. It just means that for now, Cameron Green is going to have to bide his time and come back in a later date. There's going to be opportunities over in the West Indies to get some match fitness into him. They're obviously going to want to see him at test level, I guess, ahead of a big Ashes campaign at home at the back end of this year. In saying that, they've obviously got a lot of cricket, a lot of white ball cricket in Australia against the likes of South Africa and India prior to that series. So he'll get a crack in those. Yeah. Yeah, so there's obviously still a lot up in the air from a batting perspective there, how they sort of move those players around and who fits in where. But then the other batter will be whether they pick Josh Hazlewood or Scott Boland. As I said last week, if you had asked me at the end of the test summer who I thought was going to take that bowling spot, I would have said Scott Boland. He played fantastically well when he came in and replaced Hazelwood when he sort of withdrew due to injury. But Hazelwood's been in fantastic form over in the IPL, and we know what he can do at test level as well. He's arguably one of the best test bowlers, or arguably one of the best bowlers in all formats, really. I think we always forget how good he is at the shorter formats of the game as well. We know he's such a superstar at test level, but he's also... He's also fantastic in T20s and 1Ds as well. Just look at his form in the current IPL. He's been arguably one of the best bowlers so far. So I think he'll probably get the nod over Scott Boland. But again... It'll depend on whether he's fit. As I say, he's been nursing a little bit of a shoulder issue in the IPL recently. So by all accounts, he'll be ready to go for the World Test Championship final. But it's a nice headache to have, I guess. If Hazelwood doesn't pull up and his shoulder is a little bit sore still, they've got Scott Boland, who's an out-and-out star, who can come in and replace him. And the other omission, I guess, from that side, there was a lot of talk about Marcus Harris potentially getting a crack in that squad. He's been in scintillating form over in the county championship for Lancashire. He scored 700 plus runs in the first six games and there was talk to potentially being a one-off game over here in the UK where he's used to those conditions, obviously playing in the county championship at the moment. But he's been left out, as I said last week. I think he's had his time at test level. He probably hasn't taken the opportunities when they've presented themselves. Yeah, so we'll watch this space with great interest in the next couple of weeks and see which way the Aussies decide to go with their side to play in the World Test Championship final. Australia haven't been the only one picking squads this week. England have also announced their one-day and T20 squads for their upcoming White Bull Series against the West Indies over here in the UK. That kicks off on May 29th. The two teams will play three one-day internationals followed by three T20s. The last time these sides met over in the Caribbean at the back end of last year, the West Indies took the honours in the one-day series winning that 2-1 while England won the T20 Series 3-1. So this White Bull Series will be the first under the leadership of new White Bull skipper Harry Brook, who takes over from Joss Butler, who stepped down after the Champions Trophy debacle earlier this year. So the England squads, as they've been picked, so the one-day squad consists of Brook, Archer, Atkinson, Banton, Bethel, Butler, Kass, Duckett, Hartley, Jackson, So I guess to... The talking points from those squads, I think the major one there is Liam Livingston. He has been left out of both the one-day and T20 squads there. For me, I don't think that's much of a surprise. His form... Probably hasn't warranted selection, to be honest. You look at his last seven one-day international knocks. It's been six, five, 41, nine, 14, 10, and nine. And T20, his last eight knocks have been 23, not out, 39, four, duck, 13, 43, and 99. So arguably, you could maybe make a case for him in the T20 squad, but not in the one-day. I just don't think he's shown enough recently with the bat. He's handy with the ball. but you've got one of the best white ball bowlers in the world in Adil Rashid leading that attack as a spin option and now you've got Jacob Bethel who's come in as well so we all know what he can do with both bat and ball so I don't think there's any room for Liam Livingston now in either of those setups so that could potentially be the end of his English career the other interesting one there is Nofil Salt in the one day squad he's been picked in the T20 squad there for England but not for the one day so look we all know what Phil Salt can do and how destructive he is at the top of the order so would have been exciting for English fans to be able to see him at the top of the order but It's good to see Tom Bouton back in both of those squads. He's been in fantastic form or a fantastic touch in the County Championship. He made a triple ton to start the series off this year. So he was called into the England squad for their tour over in India at the start of this year ahead of the Champions Trophy. So obviously continuing to show that faith in him and I'm sure he'll probably get a crack throughout this series at some point. Joffrey Archer as well, he will only fit in the one dayers. They'll be looking to get a little bit more cricket into him. We'll watch this space with great interest to see whether he gets picked in the test squad to play India. He hasn't been picked to play the one-off four-day test against Zimbabwe, which starts on the 22nd. But that's due to him still being at the IPL. So, yeah, it'll be interesting to see whether they pick him against India. But apart from that, not really too many major surprises. There's a few names that have sort of reappeared that have played before. Hartley's been around England squads both in the short form and the longer form in the last couple of years. So he's back in the one-day set-up there. Liam Daw And you've got Matty Potts has come back into those white ball squads as well. We obviously wish Harry Brook all the best in his first series as captain of the white ball team. And Brendan McCullum still fresh into his role as coach, having only taken over as the one day and T20 coach earlier this year ahead of the Indian series. As I say, that'll kick off on May 29th with the first one day at Edgbaston.

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In other big cricket news this week, Virat Kohli has announced that he will be retiring from test match cricket effective immediately, despite reports the BCCI wanted him to play on, especially coming up to such a crucial series against England in England. He follows Rohit Sharma, who retired from test cricket last week. So Virat will now only play in one day internationals, having already retired from T20 cricket after last year's World Cup win. He said the decision wasn't easy, but it just felt right. So yeah, we obviously congratulate Vera on a fantastic career. He will go down as arguably one of the best players to ever play the game. His numbers speak for themselves. So you look at his stats in Test Match Cricket, he played 123 games, scored 9,230 runs and an average of 46.85. He scored 30 hundreds with a higher score of 254 not out he debuted back in 2011 versus the West Indies in Jamaica at the age of 22 so as I say a massive congratulations to Virat probably hasn't been in the form that he would have liked of late had a really lean series against Australia in Australia over the summer He scored an unbeaten ton in the Perth test, so the first test of that series, but that was the first time he'd scored over 100 in 16 months prior to that. I guess it would have been disappointing for him to sort of see his average drop below 50 and for a player of his caliber and how good he's been, not just for India, but for the game in general, the energy that he brought and yeah, he was just fantastic to watch and he deserved to sort of go out with an average over 50, but still 46 is a fantastic average. You would take that every day of the week, especially after 123 tests as well. So yeah, a massive congratulations to Virat Kohli and we look forward to seeing him obviously continue with India in the one day setup and we'll see a lot more of him I dare say in the IPO in years to come as well but off the back of Virat's retirement and also Rohit Sharma departing last week it now opens up a few holes in that test side for India first of all they need to find a new captain and it's not going to be Jasprit Bumrah he has come out and said that he doesn't want as captain the side so it now looks like it's probably Probably going to be Shubman Gill, who seems to be the front runner. Or Rishabh Pant is the other one that could take over that role. So Shubman Gill hasn't always been in the side. But again, I guess it's not down to picking your best player. It's who's the best leader of that side. And he's done a fantastic job with Gujarat in the IPL. So he looks like the front runner there. Batting-wise, they're going to need to find a new opener and someone in that middle order as well. it's going to be some massive shoes to fill, slotting it at number four, following on from Virat Kohli and Sachin Tantulkar before that. So some massive, massive shoes to fill. But Gail Rahul is probably the logical one to open. He did a fantastic job in Australia. So it probably makes sense that he goes to the top of the order there and opens with Jaiswal. And then, look, India aren't going to have any shortage of options to come in and fill that role in the middle of the order. Safraz Khan, was fantastic when he came in against England in that home series. You've got Sri Asai as well. We know what he can do. He's been fantastic in India's white ball sides. And then you've got maybe another outsider option, Karan Nair. He scored a triple century for India back in 2016, but hasn't had a crack since then. But he's been scoring runs in domestic cricket and has been impressive in the IPL as well. So he could be an outside option at 33 to come back into that middle order as well but as I say India have always got such a deep talent pool to pick from and I dare say whoever comes up and fills those spots and takes over from from Coley and Shyamal will do a fantastic job and it's going to be a fantastic series between England and India over here in the UK during the British summer so interesting to see what side the Indian side comes out with because they won't have Ravi Chandra Ashwin as well he retired midway through the through the series against Australia as well so some big holes to fill and only time will tell as to see who comes in and fills those roles. So we move on to the county championship. Round six has just come to a conclusion and round seven is just about to take place. Round six saw wins for Nottinghamshire, Sussex, Northamptonshire and Glamorgan recorded their first win over in Div 2 to get them off the bottom of that ladder. Standout performances, as I mentioned before, Marcus Harris continues his Cincinnati form. He is just making runs for fun at the moment for Lancashire who are really struggling in to at the moment currently sitting bottom of that table now after Glamorgan's win Marcus Harris has already peeled off 749 runs from 10 innings this county championship season at an average of 83.2 his last outing versus Northamptonshire saw him score 121 and 43 and he becomes the quickest Lancashire batsman to hit 6 plus 50 scores for the club reaching that feat in 9 innings The next best was West Indian great Shivran Chandapur, Lewis Rees and Liam Livingston, who achieved it in 11 innings. So as I say, Marcus Harris in some fantastic form there for Lanx, but they are really struggling, as I say, bottom of Div 2 and Keaton Jennings has just stepped down as the captain of Lancashire and Marcus Harris will now actually step up and take over the role as interim captain for Lanx. So congratulations to to Marcus there elsewhere talking about Aussies and we mentioned Cam Green before he had the weekend off with Gloucestershire not playing so he'll get another crack this weekend during round 7 Johnny Bairstow was back in the runs he scored 79 in the second innings for Yorkshire in their draw against Essex while Ben Foulkes scored 174 and went out for Surrey versus Warwickshire in that draw that's That was a run fest there. Tommy Latham from New Zealand, who's playing for Warwickshire at the moment, he peeled off 184. Ed Barnard as well scored 177, not out. Unfortunately for Australia's Bo Webster, he couldn't get it. He wasn't amongst the runs there. He missed out, only scoring 15 in Warwickshire's first innings. Well, as I mentioned before, Glamorgan got their first win, defeating Kent. So good to see Glamorgan off the bottom of the ladder there. Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire both remain top of their respective divs. So Leicestershire in Div 2 and Nottinghamshire in Div 1. Now we're going to wrap up the show with a rather interesting one. The UAE women's side was taking on Qatar in a T20 World Cup Asian qualifier. They Raced to none for 192 from 16 overs and got word there was a bit of rain on the way and decided they wanted to declare so they could give themselves enough time to bowl Qatar out before the rain came. But... they weren't allowed to declare. So they had to think outside the box and work out a way to, okay, how can we get off the field without having to face these last four overs? So they put it up. Every one of the batsmen set them out and then retired them out. So they went from none for 192 to all out for 192. Yeah, so they went on to then bowl Qatar out for 29 in 11.1 overs. So easily winning that match, but definitely something you don't see every day with every batsman So that brings to an end another episode of the Ashes to Ashes podcast. Be sure, as I said at the top of the show, to give us a like or a follow wherever you listen to your podcasts, whether it be Spotify, Amazon Music or Apple Podcasts. We'll be back at the same time next week with more cricket news. So I'll see you then.