IPL resumes with finalists locked in, England name XI to take on Zimbabwe, Jofra Archer injured again, Cam Green peels off another 100 and Australian state contract lists are finalised

• The IPL is back underway after a week-long pause caused by the conflict between India and Pakistan.
• England have named their XI to take on Zimbabwe in a one off test match, while the England Lions squad is named ahead of India series.
• Jofra Archer has pulled out of England's ODI series against the West Indies due to a thumb injury.
• Cameron Green has made another 100 for Gloucestershire, all but cementing his spot in Australia's WTC final side.
• States in Australia have finalised their squads for the 2025/26 Sheffield Shield and Dean Jones Cup seasons - see all the ins and outs.
• All this and more...

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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 England 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. We've got another action-packed show today. We're going to have a look at the action from the IPL as it resumes after its week-long pause. We're going to take a look at what's been going on in the County Championship. England's men's and women's side both start series against Zimbabwe and the West Indies respectively. So we're going to have a look at both of those series before they kick off. There's also a bit of selection news around the England Lions and also England's men's one day team as well involving Joffra Archer. So we're going to suss that out. And also the state squads over in Australia have been announced. So we're going to take a look at them. But before we get started, just a quick reminder to give us a follow and a like wherever you listen to your podcast whether it be Spotify, Amazon Music or Apple Podcasts. So without further ado let's get stuck in. So the IPL is back underway after a week-long pause and already after just a handful of games we have the four finalists that will take part in the playoffs and that's despite there still being seven matches to go in the tournament. So as it stands, Gujarat Titans, RCB, Punjab Kings and Mumbai Indians will be the four teams taking part in the playoffs. The final positions are still yet to be decided as I say with seven But they will be the four teams taking part. The rest are now out of contention. The first game back from the break was supposed to be between RCB and KKR. But in a bit of an anti-climax, that game ended up being a washout. It was absolutely pouring down with rain. So the match was abandoned without a ball being bowled. That result meant that KKR were knocked out of the IPL and are no longer in contention to make the playoffs. Thank you. On the other hand, it meant that RCB secured their place in the playoffs. So the finalists are already starting to take place after that first game back. Following on from that, Punjab had a good 10-run win over Rajasthan. Mitch Owen getting his first crack in the IPL. Unfortunately, didn't manage to trouble the scorers out for a duck in his first match, but he took two catches in the field. So good to see him getting involved and straight into the action there in the IPL. Delhi have lost their last two matches since the restart. going down to Gujarat Titans, who... who underwent a mammoth run chase, managed to chase down 199, no wickets down, led by Sia Sadarsan and Shubman Gill. A fantastic run chase there. That was after KL Rahul had put on 112, not out, batting through the innings for Delhi. Then Delhi suffered a big defeat at the hands of Mumbai, going down to them by 59 runs. Again, that match having a major effect on the standings of the playoffs, knocking Delhi out and letting So all the games sort of since the restart have all been fairly important for the standings. Sunrise has managed to get another win on the board beating LSG. Mitch Marsh has continued his scintillating form in this IPL with another half century which was his fifth of the tournament. He's gone on to make 100 in today's game against Gujarat, which that game's still underway at the moment. So we'll have more on that next week. So Mitch Marsh before today had scored 443 runs at an average of 40.27. So the 10th leading run scorer for the tournament as it stood going into this match. So good to see him back in some form after being dropped from the Australian test side partway through the Aussie summer. And in the Battle of the Cellar Dwellers, it was Rajasthan Royals who took the points there to feeding Chennai Super Kings by six wickets. As we mentioned on last week's show, a lot of the international players, upon the news that the IPL was going to be suspended for a week, decided to go home. And there was a little bit of uncertainty around which players would return. So we have a bit more of an idea now as to which players are coming back. And And as we mentioned last week with England and the West Indies playing a white ball series over in the UK and also the World Test Championship final between Australia and South Africa not too far away as well, it means that with the IPL running a little bit later with the final being held on June the 3rd, it means that there's going to be some players that will only be able to play the rest of the minor round games and not be able to play finals. So we've got the likes. So we're going to just have a quick run. through of which overseas players are going to be available for the clubs and at which point they'll have to head off or at which point they'll be available until for Gujarat you've got Joss Butler he will play he'll be available up until the playoffs obviously heading back over to the UK to be a part of England's white ball series against the West Indies he'll be replaced by Kusel Mendes come the playoffs Kegiso Rabada will also only be available up until the playoffs he'll be heading over to join up with South Africa's squad also in the UK ahead of the World Test Championship final. Shefane Rutherford will be available. He's going to play out the rest of the IPL series and is going to miss part of the England and West Indies series. Then you've got Rashid Khan, Kavim Janat, Dasom Shanaka and Gerald Coetzee as well. So they'll all be available for the full remaining games. Moving on to the Mumbai Indians, you've got Will Jacks who will be available until the playoffs again he'll be heading back to the UK to be a part of England's white ball set up for their series against the West Indies he's going to be replaced by Johnny Bairstow so Johnny Bairstow obviously not selected in the England squad for those one day and T20 games against the Windies in the UK Ryan Rickleton again will only be available until the playoffs due to him being involved in the World Test Championship final with South Africa so he will be replaced by Richard Gleeson. You've got Corbin Bosch, who will also only be available until the playoffs. Bevan Jacobs, Mitch Santana, Trent Bolt, Rhys Toppley, and Mujiba Rahman will all be available for the remainder of the tournament. Over to Lucknow Supergiants, Aidan Markram will only be available until the playoffs. Again, being involved in South Africa's World Test Championship squad. Then you've got Mitch Marsh, Nicholas Puran, David Miller, Matthew Bretzky, And Willow Rourke will come in as a replacement for Mayank Yadav as well. So all those players available for the remaining matches of the IPL. The Punjab Kings, you've got Maka Jansen only available until the playoffs due to his involvement in the World Test Championship final. And he's going to play a very important role in that final, I dare say. Mitch Owen, as I mentioned before, he's back over there. Asmatullah Amaze, Xavier Bartlett. Now, Josh Ingram, Marcus Stoinis and Aaron Hardy have all joined up as well. They were latecomers or late in making their decision as to whether they would go back, but they have joined Punjab, traveling over to India on Tuesday. So they're now back with the squad. And Kyle Jamerson also comes in as a temporary replacement for Lockie Ferguson. So RCB, you've got Jacob Bethel, who will only play two of the minor round games leading into the playoffs. And again, he'll be involved in England's white ball set up so he will return for that series Lange and Gidi will be available into the playoffs again playing in the World Test Championship final for South Africa he will be replaced by a blessing Muzara Barney who is currently involved in the test between Zimbabwe and England then you've got Romario Shepard Phil Salt Tim David Liam Livingston Nuan Thushara will all be available for the remainder of the IPL We're yet to receive full confirmation as to whether Josh Hazelwood will be heading back for the playoffs. There is rumours that he will be. He's obviously been managing a bit of a shoulder niggle. He has been up in Brisbane training with the Aussie squad as they gear up for the World Test Championship final over in the UK. But still no sort of official word as to whether he'll be returning to join RCP as they push deep into the IPL playoffs. KKR, you've got Sunil Narayan, Andre Russell, Quinton De Kock, Spencer Johnson, Gerbaz and Onrik Nokia will all be available fully for KKR. They won't be progressing into the playoffs anyway, so they'll only be available for the next couple of games. Delhi have got Tristan Stubbs, would have only been available into the playoffs, but that's no longer an issue. Faf du Plessis, Dushmantha Chimera, Sedeqal Atal will all be available for Delhi's remaining games. There's no Mitch Stark. He's opted to stay back in Australia. He's getting ready with the Aussie squad gearing up for the World Test Championship final. And Jake Fraser-McGurk, as we mentioned last week, has opted not to return as well. Moving on to the Sunrisers. we already know that they won't be making playoffs. So Paddy Cummins, Travis Haider, both returned, as well as Heinrich Klaassen, Kamindu Mendes, and Eshan Malinga as well, all heading back to the IPL for Sunrisers there. For Rajasthan, again, another team that we knew weren't going to be making it into the playoffs even before the break. You've got Shimron Hitmeyer, Prestorius Faruqi, Mpaka, Hasaranga, and Thikshana as well will all be available While for CSK, you've got Noor Ahmed, Paderana, Brevis and Conway will be heading back as well and taking part in the remainder of CSK's games as well. So still plenty of action to come. As I say, the four finalists have been sorted out, but the positions as to who finishes where, it's still really close to the top, so it could still go anywhere. Anyway, and obviously teams competing to get that double chance at the top as well. So all the top four teams have been in some really good form. Gujarat's been outstanding throughout the tournament as have RCB. Punjab have played some really good cricket throughout as well. And Mumbai Indians seem to be hitting their straps at the right time as well. So it's going to be a really hotly contested and entertaining playoff series. So moving away from India and the IPL and heading over to the UK, England have selected their XI to take on Zimbabwe in the one-off test match at Trent Bridge which got underway today. So the XI or the playing XI is Crawley, Duckett, Pope, Root, Brook, Stokes, Smith, Atkinson, Josh Tung who returns to the Test XI for the first time since 2023, Sam Cook who makes his debut and Shoei Bashir as Well, so not too many surprises in that side and good to see England blooding another quick bowler. They're obviously looking at building up their fast bowling stocks ahead of a really important Ashes series down under at the end of this year, especially with Question Mark still hovering over the likes of Joffra Archer and Mark Wood, but we'll get to Archer later. in a minute. Brendan McCollum's come out ahead of the series and said that the England side needs to be humble and show more humility after some of the comments that they've made in the past couple of years since the introduction of basketball have been labelled rubbish by the director of cricket, Rob Key. There's been a lot of talk about this basketball style of cricket and it's been fantastic. I really like what Brendan McCollum has done done where he's unified the group and he's given them a sort of a no fear attitude which is great but But I think just the arrogance that they've exuded over the past couple of years since he's taken over is unwarranted. Yeah, they've been talking the talk and they've said, oh yeah, we've made cricket entertaining and we've almost created this way of playing cricket, which is completely false. But they haven't been able to walk the walk. Yes, they're up to number two in the test rankings now, but they haven't really been able to manage to knock off any of the top teams. They had, they lost to India over in India a couple of years ago they drew the Ashes series at home against Australia so these next two series coming up against India at home and then against Australia away are going to be really defining series for Brendan McCollum and his era as coach of the England cricket team. So I think that's why he's obviously come out and said, right, we need to be humble. We need to show humility because they need to, knowing that they're going to be coming up against the stronger opposition, they need to show a bit more composure and they need to tone down this basketball style of cricket. I think, yeah, it's all well and good to be attacking and aggressive and that's great but then they need to be able to pick their moments of when to do it they can't just go all that attack and especially against quality attack so Jasper Boomer with the Duke's ball in English conditions is going to cause absolute havoc and to be throwing your wicket away just puts extra pressure on the English cricket team and then playing in Australia as well The bouncy conditions may be a little bit more conducive for a buzz ball style of cricket because the ball comes on a bit more. In saying that, we've seen a bit of a change in the last couple of summers. The kookaburra is a little bit different and so it's doing a little bit more and the decks have... have given a little bit more to the bowlers so they haven't necessarily been as all as batter friendly as they might have previously been and then England have to compete against the arguably the best bowling attack in the world with Stark Hazelwood Cummins Lyon Scott Boland as well if needed so they're going to need to be smart about this. And as Buzz said, they're going to need to be humble and show a bit of humility as well. So they're going to need to be smart about these next couple of series because they're coming up against some quality opposition. And if they put so much as a toe out of line, it's going to be a very one-sided series. So a couple of really big series for them coming up that are going to be really exciting. In other selection news for England, it's not great news. Joffra Archer has been ruled out of England's one day international series against the West Indies due to a thumb injury he's picked up that injury during the IPL apparently picked it up in Rajasthan's match against KKR back on May the 4th it was initially thought to be fairly minor but now it appears to be ligament damage so he has now been replaced in England's one day squad by Lancashire left armer Luke Wood So he comes in as a replacement. So not the news that England selectors and fans would have wanted to hear coming into two major test series. Joffre has really not had a good run of it in the last couple of years. He's been battling injuries since back in 2021, including an elbow injury and then stress fractures in his back. So just hasn't been able to get right. He's obviously been back around the England white ball set up in the past year or so, but just can't seem to crack back into the Red Bull side or squad as of yet so be interesting to see if he can overcome this latest injury set back in and be available for England's test series against India which kicks off over here in the UK on June the 20th. The England Lions have also announced a squad India will come over ahead of their test series against England and play two games against that Lions squad ahead of the first test as I mentioned on June the 20th so those matches will take place in Canterbury and Northampton from May the 30th to June the 2nd will be the first match and then June 6th to the 9th so that squad consists of James Rue who will captain the side he was recently selected in the England squad to replace Jordan Cox for that one-off test against Zimbabwe so I dare say we'll probably see him feature at some point throughout the summer you've got Faha and Ahmed as well Rue Raheem Ahmed, Sonny Barker, Jordan Cox, who will play the second match only. Rocky Flintoff as well, who's been selected despite not having played a senior game for lengths yet this season. Emilio Gay, Tom Haynes, George Hill, Josh Hull, Eddie Jack, Ben McKinney, Dan Morsley, Ajit Singh Dale and Chris Wokes as well who's returning from an ankle injury. There's also word that Ben Stokes may play the second match as well as he looks to get some match fitness in as he sort of returns from a hamstring injury. So as I mentioned that England Lions side will play two matches against India with the first one beginning on May the 30th. Now, moving on to England's women's side, they started their white ball series against West Indies with a win on Wednesday. They will be taking part in three T20s and three one-day internationals over the next couple of weeks. So England won that first game by eight wickets. The West Indies batted first, making seven for one, four, six off of their 20 overs, led by Hayley Matthews, who scored an unbeaten century. England then chased the score down in 16.3 for just the loss of two wickets led by Sophia Dunkley who made 81 not out so this win for the England women's side comes after head coach or new head coach I should say Charlotte Edwards revealed earlier in the week that there would be a minimum fitness standards introduced from next year now the England women's side have been criticized for their lack of fitness in the last couple years and especially by the likes of former player turned pundit Alex Hartley following their exit from the World Cup recently. So Edwards has now said that players will be held accountable for their fitness levels, obviously listening to the outside comments now and hopefully being able to push England's women's side back in the right direction. Staying in the UK, the County Championship continues to rattle along. The most recent round saw wins for Worcestershire over Essex, Hampshire over Warwickshire, Somerset over Sussex, Surrey over Yorkshire, Durham over Nottinghamshire, Leicestershire over Middlesex, Glamorgan winning their second match on the trot, defeating Northamptonshire, Gloucestershire defeated Kent and Lancashire and And Derbyshire could only manage a draw. So some of the key takeaways from the most recent round in the county championships. Cam Green has continued his fantastic run of form. He scored 128 from 184 for Gloucestershire in their first innings and then backed it up with 67 not out to guide them home against Kent in their game there. I think that's all but sewn up his spot in the Aussies side for the World Test Championship final coming up on June the 11th, which makes it interesting because that then squeezes Minus out of that number three spot and puts him in a three-way battle with Inglis and Constance as to who opens the batting with Uzi. Unfortunately for Minus, he was only able to manage scores of 0-4 in his first outing for Glamorgan this county championship season as they went on to, as I mentioned, defeat Northamptonshire. So... The pressure is mounting on Marnus and obviously you've got Constance banging down the door and Josh Inglis made 100 on his test debut against Sri Lanka as well. It's going to be an interesting battle for who opens the batting if in fact the selectors do go with Cam Green to slot back in at number four which after a couple of centuries since returning from injury so far in the county championship it looks like Cam Green's all but so not that spot in the Aussie side even if he can't bowl he obviously adds a little bit in the field as well with those absolute buckets at gully he takes up about three positions with the height of him as well so I'm sure the Aussies will be keen to get him back into the fray but as I say it then means that someone else has to be squeezed out so we'll watch this space with great interest I'm sure we'll definitely know more over the coming weeks obviously the World Test Championship final fast approaching that game taking place on June the 11th Jimmy Anderson made a comeback to County Championship Cricket as well, turning out for Lancashire in their draw with Derbyshire. He took three for 53 and two for 25 in that game there. Bowling beautifully, as always, showing he can still do the business. Peter Hanscom continued his good form for Leicestershire, scoring 87 from 202 balls in their win over Middlesex, and then chipping in with 14, not out, the second innings guiding his side home. Ollie Robertson continues to put pressure on Jamie Smith in the England test side. Ollie Robertson scored 141 from 189 deliveries for Durham in their win over Notts. Haseeb Hameed continues his scintillating form in this county championship. He scored 206 not out from 241 deliveries for Notts. Johnny Bairstow heads over to the IPL in some good form. He was in the runs again for Yorkshire scoring 89 and 77 in their loss to Surrey Curtis Patterson made the trip over from Australia and played his first game for Surrey he scored 85 from 140 in their only innings and they defeated Yorkshire by an innings in that match Ben Foulkes also chipping in with 86 for Surrey in their win there Archie Vaughan scored 80 runs from 134 balls for Somerset against Sussex I'm sure we'll see a lot more of that name in the English set-up in years to come, following in his dad's footsteps. Nathan McAndrew as well continues his great form with the ball, took four for 71 and one for 38 for Sussex in their loss to Somerset. While Bo Webster was amongst the wickets and the runs for Warwickshire in their loss to Hampshire, he took two and four wickets and chimed in with 41 and 18 as well with the bat. So he's been in some good form since joining up with Warwick Shear and I'm sure Aussie fans and selectors will be really pleased to see that ahead of the upcoming World Test Championship final. Okay, heading back over to Australia. Australia A will play three one-day games and two first-class matches against Sri Lanka in the Northern Territory in July. So the three one-day games will take place on July 4th, 6th and 9th, followed by the two first-class fixtures, which will run from July the 13th to the 16th and the 20th to the 23rd. This will be the first time that first-class cricket has been played in the Northern Territory since 2000. 2006. Back then, the Aussie A side featured the likes of Brad Harden, Brad Hodge, Mitch Johnson, Shane Watson, and Sean Tate. So some not bad names there, and we all know what those guys went on to do. The Australia A squad is yet to be named, but you look at the last Aussie A squad that was selected to take on India ahead of the Aussie summer last year. You had McSweeney, Harris, Bancroft, Constance, Olly Davies, Webster, Pearson, McAndrew, Bolan, So, we obviously remember that squad for the bat-off between McSweeney, Harris, Bancroft and Constance for that opening spot, which initially went to McSweeney and then obviously went to Constance and is still up in the air 12 months later. So... We'll be right back. I think it'll be a slightly different looking squad from the one that played India last year. But you've still got the likes of Todd Murphy and Corey Rocacholi who'll still be around the place. Jimmy Pearson, Michael Nisa, Olly Davies. Spencer Johnson will come back from the IPL, so he could be a possibility to slot into that Aussie A squad. Aaron Hardy as well, Xavier Bartlett, Nathan Ellis. Sean Abbott, all those kind of guys around the place. One that I'd like to see get a crack would be Jason Sanger. He's played some fantastic cricket for South Australia in the last sort of 12 months and played a big hand in them winning the Shield and Dean Jones Cup last season. So I'd like to see him get a crack. Fergus O'Neill as well. He's been in fantastic form for the Vics and over in the County Championship as well in his brief stint. I'm sure he'll be sort of around the mark come selection time Jake Fraser McGurk could be another one that could be considered for selection Mitch Owen as well fresh off his stint in the IPL with Punjab Kings and then you've got Cooper Connolly who will be around the place potentially Mitch Marsh could be another one they could consider get some game time into him ahead of a big Aussie summer coming up and it's that's not just the the Ashes series there's a lot of white ball cricket to be played ahead of that as well against India he's been in fantastic form as I mentioned before in the I'm sure they'll want him to continue that into the Aussie summer. Another one, another smoky potentially, Jake Wetherill. He was in amazing form for Tasmania in the Sheffield Shield last year, peeling off runs for fun. So he could be another one that could get a look in in the Aussie A set up as well with a few of those bigger names missing. So we'll wait and see who gets selected in that squad. Now we're going to finish off today's episode by taking a look at the recently finalized Sheffield Shield and Dean Jones Cup squads for the 2025-26 seasons. We'll start with the Sackers. They won both Shield and One Day Cup competitions last year and just played some fantastic cricket. Not too many changes in that squad, only the two ins and the two outs. Hanno Jacobs and Deutsche Hugenbosom coming and Harry Conway and Kyle Brazel go out. Hanno Jacobs comes over from New South Wales. He scored a runner ball 61 versus India for the PMs 11 in December last year before making his first class debut for New South Wales in February. He is returning to South Australia. He was part of the under-19 representative side for the Sackers back in 2019, but then went on to move over to Canberra to To further his studies, Huggen Bosum comes in on a rookie contract. Been playing a bit of cricket for WA's second XI in the past couple of years. So those two are the only two wins. And as I say, Harry Conway leaves after a couple of seasons with the Sackers, having moved over from New South Wales. And Kyle Brazel was on the rookie list, so he drops off as well. Pretty solid line-up there. As I mentioned, won both the Shield and the One Day Cup titles this year. They've got arguably one of the best pace batteries in the competition with Doggett, Spencer Johnson, Nathan McAndrew, Jordan Buckingham, Henry Thornton, Wes Agar, And that's just a pace attack. Then you've got the likes of Ben Manente and Lloyd Pope as well as your spin options. Throw into that Liam Scott, who he's just come on in leaps and bounds in the past 12 months. And he'll continue to improve, I think, over this season. So he'll definitely be one to watch. And then in the batting department, you've got the likes of McSweeney, Henry Hunt, Jason Sanger, Jake Lehman. There's just stars everywhere. And with Ryan Harris at the helm, they're going to be a hard team to beat again next season. And there's every chance they could go back to back in both competitions in the 2025-26 season. We take a look at Victoria. They finished third in the Shield and second in the One Day Cup competition. They've made a few changes to their squad. They've got Harry Dixon, Jay Lemire, who are both upgraded from the rookie list. Blake McDonald, David Moo, Oliver Peake and Callum Stowe all come into the squad while Peter Siddle and Will Pukowski leave due to retirement Will Pukowski as we know due to those head knocks and really sad to see him go would have been an amazing talent for Victoria and for Australia but just really sad with those head knocks so we wish him all the best in the future and his future endeavours I'm sure he won't be completely lost to cricket he's a very cricket wise man and I'm sure we'll see him around cricket circles whether it be in a coaching role or something like that in the coming years John Merlo Josh Brown and Riley Mark also drop out of the contract list for Victoria Harry Dixon is definitely one to watch this season he was rewarded for a really impressive 2024-25 season for both Victoria and the Renegades as well and he's only going continue to get better and definitely higher on as a weight him I think in the years to come so he'll be one to keep a close eye on Ollie Peake as well there's some big reps on this young 18 year old who's jumped onto the rookie contract list for Victoria as well then you've got a few expats from other states David Moody comes over from WA while ex-NSW but Blake McDonald's also made his way onto the contract list they both featured late in the season for victoria last year having changed states playing sort of grade and second 11 cricket last season so they've been rewarded for their efforts uh this season other names to watch in that squad will sutherland and fergus o'neill i think in are in line for higher higher honors very soon they've been really really solid for victoria in in the past 12 months they've got a solid squad the vicks you throw in with those younger guys that we've already mentioned, the likes of Hanscom Harris, who have been in some fantastic form over here in the county championship. If they can bring that over to the Vic setup for the upcoming Shield season, then they'll do some damage. Moving on to Tasmania, they finished fifth in the Shield and in the One Day Cup. A few changes there, you've got Marcus Bean, the Queensland bred quick comes in as well as Jackson Bird and Radha Krishnan gets an upgrade off the rookie contract list as well while Jared Freeman drops off. Jackson Bird returns after a few seasons with New South Wales and we'll Booster, an already quality bowling line-up there with the likes of Nathan Ellis, Riley Meredith, Billy Stanlake and Gabe Bell, along with Matty Cooneman as well when he's not off playing for Australia. Players to watch, I think, for this season for Tassie, Mitch Owen, we've already seen what he can do. He had a breakout season for both the Hurricanes and Tasmania last season and can he back it up again this year and push for higher honours? Caleb Jewell is another one who was a bit hit and miss for Tassie last season But he's been in some decent form over here in the UK in the county championship. So throw in Jake Weatherill as well, who was in fantastic form for Tassie last season. And they've got a fairly well-rounded squad there. Bo Webster coming in and out as well from the Aussie setup. They've got a really good squad building there. So Jake Weatherill is also going to be moving over from the Strikers to the Hurricanes and the Big Bash as well, he's announced. So that brings the only two batsmen to have scored hundreds in a big bash final along with Mitch Owen together. So could we be seeing Smash Brothers 2.0? We'll watch this space with great interest. Moving on to WA, they probably had a season to forget after doing the double the season before. They were looking to back it up again and just couldn't get going. They finished bottom of both the Shield and the Dean Jones Cup last year. So they're going to put some faith in the younger generation this season. So in saying that, you've got Marley Beardman, who has been upgraded from the rookie list. He gets his first senior contract. You've got Joel Curtis, who also jumps onto the contract list while under-19 rising stars Simon Budge, Albert Esther Hewson and Jordan Quiggan also come onto the list while dropping off is Hamish McKenzie, Darcy Shaw, Charlie Stobo who's making the move over to New South Wales, Sam Greer and Josh Vernon as well. Really hope to see Lance Morrison and Jai Richardson back fit this summer. Obviously with an Ashes series coming up we're going to need as many backup options available as possible to sort of support the big quicks in Stark, Hazelwood, Cummins and Boland. So it'd be really good to see those guys fit and firing to jump in with the likes of Doggett. How much WA will see the likes of Josh Inglis and Mitch Marsh as well, whether they'll be playing for Australia or not, or whether they'll be sort of mixing in with the squad. But apart from that, it's a good sort of balance of youth and experience. I think the younger guys mentioned before that have come into the squad. Mix them in with the likes of Ashton Turner, Corey Rocacholi, Sam Whiteman and Cameron Bancroft. You've got a decent squad there. One to watch will be Teague Willey. He's fascinated me since he burst onto the scene a couple of years ago. A young batsman and he's got talent to burn. With the likes of Steve Smith and Usman Khawaja set to retire in the next couple of years and pressure on Marnus Labashane's spot, if he can put some big Big numbers up this year. There's every chance that he could make that leap to the next level in the next sort of season or two. So yeah, hopefully he can do the business for WA and put some numbers on the board for them this season. Queensland, they finished second in the Shield and fourth in the One Day Cup. Not too many changes here. You've got Tom Balkan that comes into the squad for them. And then you've got Tom Straker and Tom Whitney who have been upgraded off the rookie lists. Well, out goes Liam Guthrie, Bryce Street and Connor Sully. Liam Guthrie is actually going to be making use of his English heritage and he's going to be signing on with Northamptonshire as a local. So following in the footsteps of Dan Worrell, they're definitely going to have a bowling attack for the future Queensland with the likes of Straker, Whitney and Vidler, who played a fantastic game in the Shield final against SA. And also good to see Uzzi's put all that fuss from the back end of last season behind him and has signed on again with Queensland. Now, the last one we're going to finish with New South Wales. They finished fourth in the Sheffield Shield and third in the One Day Cup. Again, they're another one that's looking to invest in the future. Into their squad comes Joel Davies, who's been upgraded from the rookie list, along with Lockie Shaw and Will Salzman. Well, Charlie Stobo comes across from WA. Out goes Jackson Bird, Chris Green, Ryan Hackney, Moses Henriques, Daniel Hughes, and Hayden Kerr. Now I hear you say some big names out of that squad and yes, you're quite correct. So Moses Onryx is retired from Shield Cricket but will still be available for selection for the one-dayers while Daniel Hughes is Probably had a 2024-25 season to forget due to injuries. He's currently overplaying counter cricket with Sussex at the moment and doing okay, averaging 40-odd with the bat. So there's every chance that we could see him back in the New South Wales set up as well in the upcoming season. Once to watch for the season, Curtis Patterson, if he can back up his good form last season after he returned to cricket after a bit of a layoff. And Jack Edwards is another one with the likes of Will Sutherland and Fergus O'Neill who could be potentially pushing for higher honours in the next couple of years. So that's it for another episode of the Ashes to Ashes podcast. Thanks again for tuning in. And as always, be sure to give us a follow or a like wherever you listen to your podcast, whether it be Spotify, Amazon Music or Apple Podcasts. And I'll be back same time next week with plenty more cricket news. So I'll see you then.