IPL playoffs begin, Cameron Green continues to dominate County cricket but what does that mean for Marnus Labuschagne, England take on Zimbabwe and the West Indies and India name squad for UK tour

• IPL playoffs are underway and RCB are the first team to make it through to the final. Also, see who impressed in the minor rounds as six teams drop out of the tournament.
• Cameron Green makes another 100 for Gloucestershire, while Marnus Labuschagne fails again for Glamorgan - all that and more from the County Championship along with what it all means for Australia's WTC final team.
• England smash Zimbabwe in their one-off four-day test match, and begin their ODI series against the West Indies with a big win.
• India name their squad to tour England this British summer - find out who made the cut and who could potentially fit into the starting XI.

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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 news quest journalist and avid cricket fan Patrick Glover and once again we've got plenty to get through on today's show. We're going to take a look at all the action from the IPO as it enters the playoff stages of the tournament. We're going to have a look at what's been going on in the We're going to take a look at the result from England's one-off test against Zimbabwe and the start of their one-day international series against the West Indies. And also take a look at India's squad that they've named ahead of their tour of England, which starts in the next couple of weeks. But before we get started, just a quick reminder to be sure to give us a like or a follow wherever you listen to your podcasts, whether it be Spotify, Amazon Music or Apple Podcasts. Now, without further ado, let's get started. Let's get started with today's episode. So I've now hit the pointy end of the IPO as we enter the playoffs and we have our first finalist with RCP defeating the Punjab Kings in the first qualifier yesterday. They had a convincing win by eight wickets. Punjab were all out for 101 within 14.1 overs. Marcus Stoinis top scored for them with 26 from 17 while Josh Hazlewood continued his scintillating IPO form this year with three for from 3.1 overs in reply RCB had no issue chasing that score down they finished with 2 for 106 after 10 overs Phil Salt leading the way there with the bat with 56 not out from 27 deliveries so RCB make it through to the finals Punjab Kings now await to see the result of the second qualifier between Gujarat and Mumbai with the winner of that game playing Punjab and the loser being bundled out of the ice So Punjab and RCB finishing one and two on the IPL 2025 table after the minor round, which meant that they got the double chance. And then Gujarat and Mumbai, as I say, finishing in third and fourth position, respectively. For the rest of the table, it was Delhi finished in fifth position. The Sunrisers, Hyderabad, had a really good finish to the tournament. They finished in sixth in the end. Lucknow Supergiants finished in seventh. KPL, And then Rajasthan and CSK rounding out the final two positions on the 2025 table. A few noteworthy points to take away from this year's tournament pre-playoffs. Mitch Marsh fantastic to see him back in form he probably had a summer to forget for him he got dropped from the australian test team and i dare say there was probably a little bit of a niggling injury that that probably had something to do with that but obviously didn't have the the returns with the bat that he would have liked and and coming off the back of winning an alan border medal he would have been disappointed with those returns but he's had a fantastic ipl So he finished fourth leading run scorer overall after the minor round stages, amassing 627 runs for the tournament. That included 650s and 100 from 13 matches overall. His last three performances after the restart were 65 from 39 deliveries versus Sunrisers. He then scored 117 from 64 deliveries against Gujarat and then finished the tournament with 67 from 37 against RCB. So a fantastic finish to the tournament for Mitch Marsh and a fantastic tournament in general for him. So I think that'll do his confidence a world of good. As I say, after probably an Aussie summer, he'd like to forget And with a lot of white ball cricket coming up for the Aussies in the next sort of 12 to 18 months, they'll want him fit and firing for that side, especially as captain of the T20 side as well. So good to see him back in some form. Paddy Trav and Sunrisers Hyderabad, they finished the tournament with three wins from three after the restart. Prior to the break, they hadn't had the best tournament, but they finished with a bang. And in good news for the Aussie team, Travis Head finished with a fantastic 76 from 40 deliveries versus KKR. So hopefully he can take that form into the World Test Championship final in a couple of weeks' time. Another good sign for the Aussies, Josh Inglis has been in some good touch for Punjab. He didn't fire in the final but none of their batters did really but prior to that he scored a really good 73 from 42 in a crucial win over Mumbai ahead of the playoffs which earned them a spot at the top of the table and that double chance. He also scored a couple of 30s leading up to that knock of 70 as well but 30s in really quick time and batting at number three he was able to sort of get Punjab off to a good start and create a good foundation for for his side going forward. With Inglis in some form, does that create a bit more of a headache for the Aussies going into the World Test Championship Final? They're obviously trying to fit in Inglis, Marnus, Constis and Cameron Green all into one spot at the top of the order there. It all but looks like Cameron Green will... come straight back into the side. He's been in fantastic form for Gloucestershire and pulled off another 100 for them in the most recent round of the county championship. But we'll get to that in a minute. Andrew McDonald has come out and said that Steve Smith is going to stay at number four and said that Green could bat at three, five, six, or he could open in a recent interview on SEN radio on Tuesday. That was before the Aussies flew out to the UK ahead of the World Test Championship final, which begins on June the 11th. He praised his temperament, his skill set, and he said that he's got all bases covered when it comes to batting. So I think that's obviously fairly high praise coming from your coach. And as I say, I think he's all but assured a spot back in the side. But where does he fit in and who takes the other spot? With Inglis being in some good form for Punjab, does that put him potentially in the frame? Marnus is obviously the incumbent. He's batting there at number three at the moment, but hasn't been in the form that he would have liked and since playing at Glamorgan he's only had scores of 0, 4 and 23 and he seems to keep getting out the same way as well. Constance was obviously the pick as opener for the final couple of tests of the Australian summer but then they opted to go with Travis Head over in Sri Lanka obviously for the conditions that they were playing and that was always a preconceived plan I think so does Constance go straight back at the top of the order there? I know that they're obviously, Australia wanting to look for a long-term solution at the top of the order. So Constance is obviously that, but again, hasn't been sort of smashing the door down at state level when he did go back after the test summer. But then again, Marnus hasn't either. He hasn't sort of made any big scores. He made a half century in the Sheffield Shield final, but that's really been about it. And as I say, has had a couple of really underwhelming performances for Glamorgan since he's been here. And I know that he's obviously only had a short period for them and it's obviously been getting used to the conditions. It just... I don't know. It is concerning that his scores are sort of trending the wrong way. And we know that Marnus is a class act and a class batsman. And we're not taking that away from him by any means. And from an Australian point of view, you'd obviously like to see Marnus get back to his best. He was the number one test batsman in the world not that long ago. So we'd all love to see him get back to that form again. But unfortunately, his form seems to be trending in the wrong direction. And if... If Green does come back into the side and doesn't open, Marnus has never opened the batting in an international level before. He's opened 15 times in first-class cricket at an average of 34, including 200s, including one for Glamorgan back in 2024. But do you go with a set opener like Constance or do you go with someone in form like Inglis? But again, Inglis hasn't opened the batting at international level, sorry, at international test level either. So... an interesting one to see which way that the Aussies go there, but we digress. So speaking of the county championships and Cameron Green and Manas Labashain, we'll move over to the action from the UK. The most recent round of the county championships or wins for Sussex, Somerset, Nottinghamshire, Glamorgan, Leicestershire and Derbyshire as well. Worcestershire and Warwickshire, Surrey and Essex and Northamptonshire and Gloucestershire. all played out draws. As I mentioned, Cameron Green finished his stint with Gloucestershire with a fantastic 118 not out in their first innings against Northamptonshire and then a 25 in the second innings there. So in his stint with Gloucestershire this year, he scored 112, 3, 4, 2, 0. 128, 67 not out, 118 not out and 25. So all in all, that's 467 runs and an average of 66.7. So really hard numbers to ignore there for Australian selectors coming into such an important game and in English conditions as well, which is obviously where the World Test Championship final is going to be played. Opposite end of the spectrum for Marnus. Unfortunately, missed out in Glamorgan's win over Middlesex. He could only manage 23 in their first innings and then didn't get a crack in the second despite teammates Sam North East and Kieran Coulson making tons in that game. Matty Cooneman also playing a one-off game for Glamorgan there. Took six for 53 in the second inning. So good to see Matty Cooneman in some form over there in UK conditions ahead of the World Test Championship final. Probably not going to get a go in that final obviously ahead of Nathan Lyon but dare say he'll play a fairly important role in Australia's Test Series against the West Indies in the West Indies following that final. Other Aussies in action Cameron Bancroft scored two 60s for Gloucestershire as well obviously alongside Cameron Green. Well, Harry Conway took four wickets for the opposition side, so Northamptonshire. But Caleb Jewell was definitely the star of the round in the county championship. He made 232 for Derbyshire in their win over Kent. He's now the second-leading run scorer in Division 2 with 693 runs, second only behind Marcus Harris, who's been in fantastic form for Lancashire this season. Unfortunately, he missed out on the runs in the This round as did Peter Hanscom as Leicestershire won that game over Lancs there to continue their poor start to the county championship season. Lancashire still bolted to the bottom of Div 2 in the county championship there. It was good news though for Keaton Jennings who was back amongst the runs with 112 in the second innings for Lancs. Nathan McAndrew took just the three wickets for Sussex in their win over Hamptonshire while Bo Webster missed out with the bat this round for Warwickshire only managing to score two and five in his two knocks while he took two wickets with the ball in the first innings but wasn't able to take any in the second dig. Looking at some of the standout England performers Sam Curran scored 70 and 77 for Surrey in their draw with Essex. He also took three wickets for the match. Well, Dan Worrell also made a return to County Championship Cricket this round after a few weeks off, managing five wickets for the match. Chris Wokes also continued his return from injury with six wickets for Warwickshire, while Dylan Pennington, who was named in England's Test Squad last summer, took five for 106 in the second innings for Nottinghamshire in their win over Yorkshire. Well, in the first innings, Mohammed Abbas from Pakistan took six for 45. While Ollie Robertson continued his recent good form with the bat scoring 52 for Durham against Somerset. The County Championship now takes a little bit of a break while the T20 Blast gets started. That tournament began on a Thursday with wins for Sussex over Middlesex and Lancashire over Worcestershire. There were several Aussies in action already on Thursday night with the likes of Ashton Turner, Chris Green and Ben Dwarcious all being involved in those first couple of fixtures. We now focus our attention to England's one-off four-day test match against Zimbabwe. England won that game by an innings and 45 runs, so an absolute mauling there. England batted first and made six declared for 565, thanks to centuries to Zach Crawley, Ben Duckett and Ollie Pope. In reply, Zimbabwe could only manage 265 and 255. Brian Bennett was the pick of the Zimbabwe batsmen in their first inning, scoring 139, while Sean Williams and Sikandar Raza were the pick of the batsmen in the second dig for them, scoring 88 and 60, respectively. While with the ball for England, Shoei Bashir was the pick of the bowlers, taking six for 81 in the second innings and recording nine wicket in total for the match. But despite England's dominant performance and the run fest at the top of the order, I think it almost presents more questions than it answers. There's been a lot of speculation about Crawley and Pope spots in the side. Both have struggled to find form recently and I think with both scoring runs in that game against Zimbabwe I think that it almost covers over the cracks a little bit especially heading into two big series against India and Australia yeah they've both made runs against Zimbabwe but are they going to be able to do it against quality oppositions You've also got Jacob Bethel who didn't play in that one-off test. He opted to stay in India to play in the IPL for RCB. Does he come straight back into England's best 11? He was argued to be the best player in their series against New Zealand at the back end of last year. So does he slot straight back into number three? If so, then where does that leave Pope and Crawley? I think Pope is better at number six. I think he's better suited a little bit lower down the order, while Bethel, as I say, doesn't. performed really well getting his crack at number three over New Zealand. So I think he needs to come straight back in. So if Pope drops down to six, Bethel comes in at three and you drop Crawley, then who opens? Jamie Smith has opened in the most recent one day or against the West Indies. So could he be the man to come up the order? I think him... along with Root, Brooks, Stokes and Ducker are all locks in that batting order. So it's really just Crawley, Pope and Bethel trying to fit into two spots there. Personally, I think Bethel needs to play. He batted fantastically well in the one-dayer against West Indies, which we'll get to in a minute. He played really well for RCB over in the IPL when he got a crack as well. Plus, he adds another option with the ball. So I think he needs to play. But then who makes way do you drop Crawley or Pope Crawley's obviously just made 124 and Pope 171 so both have made runs I know it's against Zimbabwe but still one of them's going to have to make way if you slot him in so that's obviously the batting conundrum there for them and and the other thing is is who's going to feature in England's bowling lineup their series against India is going to be completely different compared to the one against Australia the English conditions are going to suit the light of your Josh Tongues, your Matt Potts, who don't bowl express pace but move the ball a bit. Chris Wokes is another one who obviously bowls well in English conditions, but those kind of bowlers aren't going to do the job for you in Australia. Since the retirement of Broad and Anderson, England have tried a variation of bowlers. So as I mentioned, Matt Potts and Josh Tongue are among them. You've got Gus Atkinson. Dylan Pennington was named in the England squad last summer. Sam Cook got a crack against Zimbabwe. Didn't really do much in that test. Josh Hull was another one who has recently been injured. Ollie Stone and Bryden Kass as well, who has just returned from injury in the one-day set-up for England. Looking ahead to the Ashes series, you're going to need... out-and-out quick bowlers that are going to be dangerous on bouncy Aussie wickets. So you're going to need blokes like Joffra Archer, Mark Wood, Brydon Kass, and Gus Atkinson as well, who are going to need to be fit. But all have had injury concerns. Mark Wood and Joffra Archer aren't playing at the moment because of injuries. Brydon Kass has only just come back from his own injury concerns, while Gus Atkinson has just played in that most recent test against Zimbabwe, but has dropped out of the one-day series with injuries. So all are going into these two test series under injury clouds. They're going to need... at least a couple of them to play. It doesn't necessarily need to be all five tests, but they need to have them fit and firing for at least two or three of those Ashes tests. You can make do with the other bowlers in English conditions because they're more favorable to swing bowling. But on those bouncier, harder decks in Australia, you're going to need the likes of Wood Archer and Kast with their out-and-out pace to really challenge the Aussie butters in their home conditions. So it's going to be interesting to see how England manage their fast bowling stocks throughout the India series at home and then obviously the Australian Ashes series away. So while we're on the topic of the England-India Test Series, India have named their squad that they will be bringing over to the UK this summer. It's going to be led by new captain Shubman Gill, who takes over the reins from Rohit Sharma, who was recently retired. Rishabh Pant will step in as vice-captain as well. You've then got S. Warren, Jaiswal, Jarrell, Karan Nair, Kale Rahul, Sai Sadasan, Jadeja, Nidish Kumar Reddy, So obviously the two major talking points out of that squad. There's no Rohit Sharma and no Virat Kohli. Obviously both have retired from Test Cricket in recent weeks. So there's going to be some big shoes to fill in that top order. Kael Rahul, you would have thought, will return to the top of the order. He opened the batting against Australia in several of the tests over the Aussie summer, only sort of dropping down to three when Rohit Sharma came back into the team. So you would assume he would return to open with Jai as well. Shubman Gill should slot in at three again. But then who comes in at number four to replace Virat Kohli? Do you put Karan Nair? He's played six tests before three against Australia and three against England the last of which was back in 2017 he scored 303 not out back in 2016 against England so he knows how to play at international level and has been in fantastic form at first class and an IPL level as well so does he get a go back in that Indian side you've got also Sy Sadarsan who's been in some fantastic form in the IPL this season as well the leading run scorer for the comp uh Playing for Gujarat, does he come back in? You've then got the likes of Rishabh Pant. Does he stay at number five? Is that too high for his aggressive style of cricket? Does he drop further down the order? You've got Nidish Kumar Reddy, who had a great series against Australia, who will slot into that middle order as well. So he could potentially move up a little bit higher if needed, if they wanted to drop Pant down the order a little bit. Then from a bowling point of view, you've probably got Bumrah and Siraj will probably take the new rock. But then who's your third quick? Do you hand Ashdeep Singh his test debut? He could potentially be dangerous in English conditions with his ability to swing the ball. Then who comes in as your frontline spinner as well? Obviously, Ashwin retired during the Aussie series as well. So do you have Kuldeep Yadav come in as the frontline spinner? Do you play Washington Sundar who can battle a little bit Jadeja is obviously going to be in the side who can bat and bowl. So do you play for quicks in English conditions where it might suit pace bowling a little bit more, especially if you've got that spinning option in Jadeja there. But then Nidish Kumar Reddy can bowl your overs as well as a medium pacer. India just have such a fantastic squad, such depth, such versatility. They've got multiple options they could go with, which is obviously what you want. It's going to be a really interesting series between England and India. I think India are going to be too strong and they've just got that depth they can call on to really challenge England, even in home conditions. The first test in that series kicks off on June the 20th, which is after the World Test Championship final between Australia and South Africa, which takes place at Lourdes on June the 11th. So lots of exciting test match cricket to look forward to in the coming months. Meanwhile, England have kick-started their one-day international series against the West Indies with a comprehensive 238-run win in their first game under the leadership of Harry Brook. England batted first in that match, making 8 for 400 from their 50 overs and, in reply, knocked over the West Indies for 162 from 26.2 overs overall. All the English butters were amongst the runs. So all top seven scored over 30 runs. Jacob Bethel led the way there with 82 runs. Ben Duckett also scored 60. Joe Root, 57. And Harry Brook, 58. Well, for the West Indies, Jadon Seals was the pick of the bowlers, taking four for 84 from nine overs. And he also top scored from number 11 with 29 not out from 14 deliveries. Well, for England, the wickets were shared around with Both Mahmood and Jamie Overton taking three wickets each. I think one major thing to take away from this first one day international between England and West Indies for England is... The stability in their batting lineup looks much better with the lineup they went into this game with. In previous major tournaments, they've relied too heavily on blokes like Liam Livingston, Moen Ali, Sam Curran as well to make runs at the top of the order. Whereas now, they've had a bit of a rejig. They've put Jamie Smith up to open, which frees up blokes like Joss Butler to drop down to five, Jacob Bethel's coming in at six, and Will Jack's at seven. And then you've got Jamie Overton coming in at eight, who's no slouch with the bat either it just gives them a bit more batting depth and you've got actual specialist batsmen at the top of the order that you're relying on to make your runs rather than bowling all-rounders really in some of those cases so it's They just look a lot more stable in the batting department with that batting lineup, which is going to be really important for them going forward to create a stable team. After such a rough couple of months, Matthew Mott was axed as coach of the white ball team. Joss Butler stepped down as captain as well after the champion's trophy. So this is a team that's currently ranked eighth in the ICC one day international ranking. So they need to find a bit of stability. They need to find a bit more depth and consistency. consistency going forward. And I think this batting lineup will definitely provide that. Bowling-wise as well, they've got a handy bowling attack. Kass, Overton, Adil Rashid and Saqib Mahmood as well in this game anyway. And they've got others that can obviously slot in as well. So a lot more stable team there for England, which is great for their future. There's two more one-day internationals in that series, which will take place on June the 1st and the 3rd. And that will be followed by a three T20 internationals as well. And while we're on England's white ball teams, the women's side have already claimed victory over the West Indies in their T20 series. They won that series 3-0 and start their three-match one-day international series today. So that brings us to the end of another edition of the Ashes to Ashes podcast. Thanks once again for tuning in and be sure to give us a like or a follow wherever you listen to your podcasts, whether it be Spotify, Amazon Music or Apple Podcasts. I'll be back the same time next week with more cricket news. So I'll see you then.