Future aspirations and England test cricket

Yeah, gone! Gone he gets his fairy tale ending! An epic way to go to a test match 100! The London Spear the first time winning! England's captain Ben Stokes while he is there, England have hop e . Well, after a week's break, the sky cricket podcast returns. It's the third week of April. We've already had three rounds of championship cricket. Um, so plenty to talk about on that front. We've got Jacob Bethel as our guest today as well. So we're going to chat to him, even though he's not in playing in the IPL. Uh, we're going to get his thoughts on that competition and how he's going. Ness, how are you? I'm good, Ath. I'm enjoying the weather, to be honest. It hasn't rained in Chelmsford for like a month or whatever. I put I put some grass seed down three weeks ago. I need a little bit of rain, but I'm enjoying some grass seeds. Yeah, I've but I've been away. I've been away all winter so I've had to I have to fire off the gardener and actually do some gardening. So I put some grass seed down and we need some rain in Chelmsford, but loving the weather, loving the county championship. Um we've had what three rounds. Essex didn't get over the line against Warwickshire the other day. I was watching that. What have you made of the county championship? I mean, generally recently the weather has been good and that and the myth that it nibbles around in April. Um actually the pitches have been good if if not obviously slow at this time of year. Well, you say the weather's been's been good. It dry for the most part. I mean, it's been totally inhospitable for cricket, I have to say. I've been to Taunton, Hove, and Birmingham in the first three games, and I really feel for the spectators who are sat there in freezing frigid conditions and you know totally inhospitable for curriculum. I mean the players get on with it manfully, great admiration for the way they crack on. But as you say, it's impossible to get any pace in the pitches at this time of year. So it means the cricket is indifferent, you know, some good cricket, some less good cricket, um slow pitches hide a couple. I sense you're not happy with the schedule. I sense Well we're gonna get get on to that. But um could it be Somerset's year? I mean it's very early days, only three games in some have only play too. But Somerset are leading the Charges There's been a lot of love for Somerset actually. I I was there on the first day of the season. I wrote a piece and I noticed that others have written very glowingly about Somerset, who are really at the moment a model county club, it seems. They produce lots of their own players. They're blessed with a kind of private school network around Tom son, but produce lots of their players through the academy , a well run club uh financially, with little debt, perfect size ground, well located, um, and doing a lot of things right. Hundred percent agree. And actually I was asked the other day, who would you like to win the county championship this season? And without hesitation, I I would love some. So I think it's their fern. I think they deserve it. I think you're right. They produce and always have produced their homegrown players so they do things well down there uh and they are flying at the moment they're well led um a combination of future stars like roo the roo brothers but you know, Abel's playing well for them as well . Um the one thing that always worrying, maybe a reason Lancashire haven't won it, one thing is the weather. If you if you're playing in September and the southwest and the west and always favoured us in Essex. We I used to be a rain watcher and you could see the rain coming in from the west and by so all the games out west, old Trafford, Taunton rained off, and by the time it got to Chownsford we'd still be playing and it would have been fizzled away. And also the new pitch regulations, actually, because historic recent history, Taunt would have made their pitches turn. And I have no problems with that at all. Um, and you know, the point we were making last week about now you get naught points if it's deemed uh uh what was the exact terminology uh substandard or poor below average below average pitch. So I hope that doesn't hit them. But because they've had some really ri uh it may be my imagination, but some really close games, haven't they? I mean there was that one last year where the the camera was shaking as Leech got the final wicket and everyone was s celebrating. So I really hope um it's the yeah. What what did you sense down there when you went? You were very glowing about Summerset. Why do you think they do things so well down there? And do you think I mean that the whole debate of a hundred franchise and do you think they deserve a bit more um franchise cricket down there, or are they not bothered? Well, I chatted to Jamie Cox, who was a very sensible and able chief executive down there, and he said they're basically gonna get themselves hundred ready, I think is the term, in case that competition expands. So obviously they've got an amount of money that's sitting there that's their share as a non house host ground of of the hundred money. And but there are some guardrails around that. You can't you can't just, you know, fritter it away on on salaries and players and y you know you can pay off debt but they've got very little debt, they've used a little bit, I think, to pay off some debt some bad debt, but they've got very little debt now. And then you can use it for things that might bring in growth and revenue. So there's a one end of the stand, the opposite end from where the press area is now that is ripe for redevelopment. And that will give them both uh a little bit more hospitality, but a bit more seating. Um so but but whether that competition expands, who knows? It's not exactly in the current investors' interest to dilute their share. So uh we shall see. Um James Rue, he he is um in the news, getting lots of runs, playing really well. But middle order is well, the middle order is locked up, isn't it? It's Bethel Brook uh Bethel Brook Stokes. You're not gonna get in the middle order. Um so opening, I think there's a gonna be a vacancy there because I don't see Zach Crowley getting picked. Um but if you're batting in the middle order for your county, obviously he's keeping as well. Uh can you open the batting for England? Um, that's really the question. And whether, you know, this balance between what the county wants and needs for its own success and what England maybe want and need and would like for their development is always a tricky balance. It is. I I your mate um and our mate, Steve James, wrote about it, someone who knows a bit about opening the batting and he he said, you know, James Drew should be knocking on the door at Somerset and asking them to open the batting, but he's done so well at four, then they could just turn to him and say, We'll do what's best for us, to be honest. But they they will also um look at that. That's the other thing we have to factor in with Somerset is how many players you, know on,ce the once you start losing players to England, if they start losing players to England. So um I do think opening is a specialist position. Three to open, I'm not that fussed about I butcher used to do it a bit. Butcher, Mark Butcher was three, open. Gaffer used to do it. Uh you used to do it, didn't you? And then you opened for Lancashire and and and everything that followed from that. But um middle order, they tried it with Dan Lawrence it, didn't really work out. But I I just think he's getting so many runs. And you just watch him bat and some of the positions and how late he plays the ball. Um, it's just getting to that stage where you have to find a way of picking him. I just don't Bethel I mean Bethel's one that came in and batted at three and has never never done it before in first class cricket. So could you move we're gonna have Jacob on in a minute. We'll we'll ask him, but could you move him up to open have Rue at three? Um the problem is obviously Root doesn't want to move from four, so it is an interesting um question how they get would you would you definitely pick Rue ? Well, I think you've got to be banning the top three for your county to to open for England. Um so I wouldn't be shoving him from the middle order if that's where he's staying. Um as you say, they did it with Dan Lawrence, it w wasn't a success, but you felt they were just keeping the seat warm there. Um so no I think you've got to be got to be batting in in the top three, um ideally for him. He he would be uh batting in the top three. Uh and maybe that will that maybe that will come to pass. Um but that's if you're a young kid um looking at where you're gonna get in the England side and and everybody has ambitions and wants to play at the highest level. Th'sere only one place at the moment, isn't there? And that's uh at the top of the order. Who else who else has caught your eye at in in county cricket? Well Sonny Baker looks good, uh bowling quick uh and looks lively and getting wickets. Henry Crocom at Sussex, I think, is an improving young fast bowler. Sam Cook. I watched Sam Cook uh last Friday at Edge Baston. He didn't actually get wickets that day. Jamie Porter got wickets. Sam Cook got him in the second innings. But I do think he is a good bowler and shouldn't just be kind of mentally discarded because of that one uh test match where he didn't bowl it bowl at his best. If they're looking for a a line bowler and an English style bowler. I mean he's got competition, Ollie Robinson and M Matt Fisher, I suppose, is his competition . Uh but I I think Sam Cook's a good bowler, twenty eight. Um, you know, should be in his prime yet for for for two or three years. Um and yeah, knocking on the door with wickets. So they're the ones they're the bowlers who who've impressed. And of course Jimmy Anderson in division two, he's leading the way with a bag full of wickets and Lancashire going well at the top there. Um scheduling. Can I ask you about scheduling? I I mean I you know, I made the point at the start of this conversation. You basically uh by the end of April, teams may have played four games, not not everybody will have played four games, but that's essentially, you know, almost a third of your first class season done in conditions where, you know, they're not ideal for first class cricket. I I I've long said this. I do think that counties sh should be playing some first class cricket under the hundred. You kinda have to park the hundred, it's a separate competition, and you have to ask what is best for the eighteen uh counties in terms of scheduling. I I know obviously lots of counties will lose players and the standard may dip. But for spectators as well, just to have some first class cricket in sunny warham conditions would be nice. I think Somerset have got the men's team have got about four days uh cricket at Taunton in August. Summer holidays. You know, it's it's bonkers to me. So play a bit of first class cricket. It is at that time. Everyone wants their piece of the pyre. I mean it's not just county players but England players. Um and hundred seems to take you know, preference over everything. So again we're gonna have Jacob Bethel on Jacob will be playing and captaining the Phoenix and then if they get through to the final literally two days later there's a test series starting so against Pakistan. It's written in the contract that England players must must play. So you're gonna lose England players to the hundred, obviously, then you could lose that next level of high-quality white ball players, of which England have quite a few, to be honest. So your county championship will be diminished. But I do like the story developing. This last three weeks, I'll take the mick about the the the the weather or whatever, but I've enjoyed it. It's a story developing already about sides, and we're talking about Rue, and you you go to see if Rue's getting some more runs. There's a massive gap, and the story goes, and overseas play ers come and go. Players get injured, and you're like you get to September and you go, okay, who's who's top? Who's playing where? Who's that this is a different looking side? So I've enjoyed the fact that we've had um three games in three weeks for some, not all. Um there's already a story developing there. So um the other thing, the story developing, and you've written on it, substitute . I mean, could the ECB have not seen that if you have such a lax regulation on substitutes that counties and captains will just play the system? Surely that this was the most obvious outcome . Yeah, I mean uh y there are two aspects to this. One is the change for life events, you know, um births, deaths, severe family illnesses, and you know you the example of uh Blair Tickner I, don't know whether it was last year or the year before when you know he found out his wife was seriously ill on the morning of again not allowed to substitute. I I'm totally in favour of subs for significant what they call significant life events. But subs for injuries, I'm I'm basically not in favour of it as a principle because the game is moving away or more and more from eleven versus eleven, whether it's the impact rule in the IPL, whether it's subs, whatever it is, the game is veering away from eleven v eleven. And I think the game is about eleven v eleven and there are balances to be made in terms of your selection and indeed the way the stamina and resilience you need to get through a first-class game, whether it's a four-day game or whatever. So fundamentally, I'm I'm not in favour of it in principle. But if you're gonna do it, then you know the, guardrails that Australia have in place seem to me to be sensible. They have a twelve day break after a game. England ECB reduced that to eight. You can only call on a sub by the end of the second day, ECB have allowed a sub at any stage, so you had the game, uh not s Somerset was it, where knots were allowed um that substitute uh Lyndon James on the fourth day. Um and in Australia you're alone only allowed one sub per team per game and it's a free for all here, so you know, you can have as many subs as you like. So th we've made the the the kind of the threshold much lower and as I say I'm not in favour of it as a principle but if you're gonna have it you gotta have the threshold the threshold as high as possible so that there's not just a you know a constant coming and going to and froing of players within games. I I agree completely. I agreed. I I thought that I said it actually last year because we had the two high profile incidents in that India series of Rashad Punt, you know, limping down the stairs having been hit on the foot and a busted foot at where was that old Trafford? Uh, and then Chris Wokes with a sling coming down the stairs at the oval. And it the debate started then why as in football, if you have an obvious injury, why wouldn't you just have a substitute? Just substitute Wokes or Rishab. Um but uh you just know as a captain, as a coach, as a setup, you just know you'll push things any law change, any plain regulation change, you will just push things to the absolute limits because you're trying to win the game. So a and then it's like for like what is like for like he's t Ollie Stone was too quick. You can't have him, he's too quick, but you can have a left armor. So you end up sort of I mean, you know, you're trying to simplify the game for people and then all you and you're having Will Smead go travel from one part of the country to the next, all that'll happened is that Will Smead will end up playing less cricket. I know he's in the side now, but you'd have to have certain players with the squad all the time just in case there's an injury. Are they tightening up on it? I I've read they've tightened up on it. Surely they's it. Well that I mean it it''ss a a year's experiment whether they'll tighten up after the the first kind of tranch of championship cricket we'll we'll wait and see. But the Sme ad um thing was a was a case in point really. Tom Kohler cadmore injured his thumb, uh bruised thumb. So they had Archie Vaughan in the squad but didn't use him as an opening replacement. So Will Smead, who was getting a boatload of runs of double hundred and a hundred against the students in Abigailny, he was called up, but he didn't get there in time to open, so he batted at eight. And then when there was another substitute required in the game, Archie Vaughan went to open. So the man they didn't consider the replacement opener initially ended up opening in the second inning. So that seems to me to be um, you know, make a make a mockery of things. So I mean, you know, people make the perfectly reasonable point that that's the that's why you experiment, that businesses experiment all the time. You you work out what's right, what's wrong, and you make adjustments. But of course it is the premier competition. So, you know, if you're gonna experiment, try and, you know, try and um make sure that it's it that that the experiment is reasonable from the outset. And it it wasn't hard to foresee, for example, if a county has got a break, a buy in the next round of games, that eight day exclusion period then doesn't count. Because if you've got a bye, that player then is still available for the next round of games. So I'm sure there has to be some tightening up of the regulation. Now I've been reading you this month while waiting for me grass seed to grow. I don't know which has been duller, to be honest, reading you or watching grounds grow. But you've you've gone Taunton, Somerset, wonderful ground, wonderful people, wonderful place. You've gone Sussex, Hove, wonderful ground, wonderful people, wonderful place . So I read you again the other day and you have upset the Edge Baston members. What is wrong with Edgebaston? I read you, you made it sound like a car park. You said it's the worst ground in county cricket. I mean it's an it's obviously a difficult place to get a test double hundred, but apart from that, what what is wrong with Edgebaston? Well, my lawyers will be on to you for a staff are completely misrepresenting what I said. I just said it's you know, it was looking a little unlovely on the day I was there. It was a s I mean you know, no ground looks particularly nice when it's slate grey skies and a bit of drizzle and mizzle. Um but edge bastons, part part of their hundred money, they are redeveloping the side of the ground to the left of the press box, opposite the hollies. So that's all there's a massive crane there, yes. I saw that. Giant crane above the work man uh at it and you can see right through to Birmingham. So um splendid view from the press box at Edge Baston. Anyway, it was a it was a good day's cricket actually that I saw and the pitch was uh had a good balance between bat and ball. It's been difficult to force results at edge baston in recent years. Uh but that that looked to be a terrific game of cricket over the course of of the four days and brings us seamlessly, I don't know how we do it on this podcast, but seamlessly to uh Warwickshire's finest, and Barbados is fine. To one of Warwickshire's finest, Jacob Bethel . Miss the postmatch analysis of the big games on Sky Sports, then check out the Sky Sports Premier League podcast. After every live game, top pundits like Roy Keane, Jamie Carragher and Michael Richards chat about the big talking points and we hear what the managers and players have to say as well. That is the Sky Sports Premier League podcast available wherever you listen to your podcasts Jacob Bethel, welcome to the Sky Cricket Podcast. Is this your first appearance on our pod? I don't think you on before, have we? Yeah, thank you guys. Uh yeah, first appearance. Um done a couple of things with you guys away from this, but yeah, first one on the podcast, so happy to be here. And where are you? You're in Bengaluru, presumably. You've been warming your backside on the IPL bench, on the RCB bench. We haven't seen you in action. How are you filling your time ? Um, to be honest, it's pretty pretty chaotic um over here. You know the yeah I've not I've not been playing but it's still plenty of of time to, you know there's training pretty much every day. Um and you know the the beauty of being you know next batter in line is you get just as much time in the nets as everyone else. So I've been keeping myself busy with with trying to get better and and ready for when the opportunity might come. We don't know when that will be. Obviously the team's going pretty well, so yeah . Have you been following your side, Warwickshire? I mean that close win against Mighty Essex the other day. Have you just kept one eye on your boys . 100%. Um, well obviously Jordan Cox is over here with RCV as well, so so he spent most of that game actually posted up in his room, you know, going back and forth as the game kind of ebbed and flows. I was giving it the get in, and then he was going, come on. And then that final day he went awfully quiet. So yeah. Shared a couple of messages with the boys back at him. Would you say Edge Baston's a nice ground, Jacob, because Michael Afferton has been absolutely I can't use the word, has been nailing it in his Times article saying it's the worst ground in England. I I think it's a pretty nice ground, isn't it? Don't listen to him, Jacob. He's's he exactly the worst gun the worst gun in England. I wouldn't quite I wouldn't say that. I love it. Um yeah. What's the what's that look? It wasn't quite looking at its best when I was there, you know, but well that's probably because it's got half the stand missing, because they're voting vote in a hotel. Absolutely. You're you're bang on. Um tell us about life at at RCB then. Um I mean Andy Flower, head coach, w working with him, what what kind of experience is that for you ? It's great. I've I've loved every minute of you know b bothoth the the years I've been involved. Um Andy's pretty relentless with how how he prepares for everything. You know, that it feels like there's no stern, there's no stone unturned. Um and yeah, it's just cool to watch watch someone like that um go about, you know, how to prepare a team for each game, reset after a loss, you know, keep everyone hungry after a win. It's it's pretty cool. Um and yeah, it's it's been an overall good experience with w being around the setup, but you know, the the overarching feeling is, you know, just kind of hunger to, you know, actually get over the other side of the boundary. Um, as as much as it is is cool to be expi it's exposed to you know everything India has to offer both with cricket and then you know the the chaos that comes around it. Um but yeah, it's it's been great to be around. Can I ask you about another one of the coaches, our mate Dinesh Kartik? I I saw a nice bit of footage on social the other day with him with Phil Sol, and Phil talking to him about how much DK cared about the player. DK seems to have a real empathy. Having just retired, he he one of his many retirements, but he just sort of seems to remember what it's like being a player and the struggles a player goes through. Is that right? What what do you make of DK the coach ? Yeah, DK's DK's great. Um I think you know it's it's it's a very different um way of coaching I've realized over here. Um you know it's it's hands-on and and a lot of information all the time. Um and you know that's that's the way that Indian players grow up being coached, um, fed a lot of information, and and I think coming from you, know, England or or the West it's just about trying to um kind of filter that as much as possible because, you know, I the the way of coaching in England isn't as, you know, hands on and um you know telling you everything and and stuff like that so I think there's a happy medium to find but I I love DK you know he he gives great insight and and because he actually is so involved this he helps you spot um patterns in someone's bowling or you know, just little tweaks and plans in the middle of a net depending on the wicket and stuff like that. And then you know, when you when I come up against that in in the future, I I can remember things that things that he said. Um but yeah, I that I really like working with him and you know he's obviously still like you said, got that he's not he's not too much pressure on because he knows how hard it is as a player and you know when the pressures of of actually having to go out there and play you can't you're always not thinking as clearly as you would be from a lens of a coach where difference in approach from from coach is maybe the more relaxed, hands-off um way of doing it with England and under Brandon McCullum and the more hands-on um aspect uh with R C B and in India. Uh which I mean as a as a young player, h how do you how do you balance those wh which do you prefer, how do you balance those approaches? And also um do you have a a kind of childhood coach that you still check in with that you know knows your game inside out, that you you grew up, you know, learning alongside, and then somebody that you still you still use ? Um yeah, well to be honest, I'd I'd I I wasn't really relating it to, you know, the England environment in general. I was kind of saying just everything I've experienced growing up and and coming through the pathway within England compared to them being exposed to over here. Um and I I don't really have a preference to be honest. I'd I like um input, but I also feel that if you can't coach yourself you're gonna be struggling with the way that um the game is going because you're gonna be in so many different environments um under different people and you know different personnel creates different um opinions , and yeah, I I pr I've firmly believe that you know I I'm my best coach at times, you know. Obviously, at at points you need someone else to you know come and have a look and and just spot something that that you might not be feeling. But yeah, I I haven't really had like a personal batting coach ever. The someone that I've done probably my most work with from the ages of 14 to 20 was Ian Westwood at Warwickshire. Um, he he was probably the biggest in terms of you know , especially him being a left-hander putting together a game plan and, you know, just teaching teaching me that kind of stuff. But uh we don't stay in touch that much in terms of actual batting. Um But yeah, it it's it's something that yeah, I I I would like to actually have a personal batting coach that I had from um like when I was 11, but you know, the um circumstances of kind of moving around and and stuff has proved pretty hard to have that happen. Are you not going to give Atherton any credit here? Because every time you get in those hundreds, whether it be the fifty over hundred, the test hundred, the T twenty hundred, I'm in the combox with AF, and AF is saying I taught in that. Acrobat. Josh when we were playing beach cricket on Acrob Beach, I taught him that square cut. He's taken all the credit for your cricket over the last few years. Do not listen to this. I'm sure he is. I'm sure he is. Just on on I mean obviously I I've seen you around um Acrobat and Barbados for for a long time. No you know your mum and dad pretty well. But in that upbringing, was it a very natural style of upbringing in terms of your cricket learning, you know, just by you know the fact that, you know, you've got a beach on your doorstep, um, good weather all year round, you know, a very kind of outdoorsy um bat ball type of existence. And and so was it just a very natural development for you in those very younger early days ? Yeah, definitely. Um you know there's you obviously know my my dad um pretty well. He he played a lot of cricket. Um and then going back further to my granddad . So like the cricket was in my family, um, and you know, the kind of climate and s surroundings of Barbados made it pretty easy to just go and play cricket 24-7. You know, I think I had a a bat and a ball in my hand since I was since I was able to walk and and then it kind of progresses through that most weekends or you know days after school that we'd be down on the beach just me and my dad throwing a ball, diving around, catching it and, I actually think that's that's why I've got kind of the be I'm comfortable with boundary fielding and diving to stop runs and and all that kind of stuff because I've just spent you know, my r really young er years doing that and it's kind of it's so hard to teach someone that that's twenty, that doesn't have the the kind of ability from from when they were younger. Um but yeah in terms of other aspects of the game, definitely like you know, just batting and bowling on the beach or down to I was at Wanderers to start and then Franklin Stevenson, you know, at that when I moved to Franklin Stevenson Academy, I'd get dropped off there at about nine o'clock in the morning and come home at seven, eight at night after you know batting in the nets and then when it got dark we try and hit each other as hard as possible with a tape ball. Um and that's I got pretty comfortable with playing the short b all from that off ten yards. Um so yeah, I think it was just kind of learning by doing, which is is really cool. What um what are mum and dad like as as watchers really? I mean, my dad was a very nervous watcher. I am a very nervous watcher of my lad. I don't know what AF is like with um Josh, but those great scenes are extremely nervous . And he runs. Those great scenes at uh at Sydney when you were just about to get to hundred and mum and dad were in the crowd. Are they pretty relaxed and chilled or are they incredibly nervous ? I think I think they've become less nervous . They used to be very nervous. Um, you know, I remember playing um like under fourteens games and under fifteen games, and I think actually a lot of the nerves came from my granddad who he he sadly he passed away a couple of years ago but he was the most like he was the most tense one my dad would be the one calming him down and then my mum would be the one calming down my dad. So now I think it's kind of he's taken over my granddad's role so he's actually become become a bit more nervous. I remember seeing when I'm watching about the highlights from Sydney like I don't remember what I was on but dad just giving it the old why they were sat? I mean they were I think they were kind of square to the wicket, weren't they? Uh yeah. Yeah they were in the wards and got you a hundred. Did you did you know exactly where they were? Yeah, I could see 'em. It was weird actually because you know the the ground's big and and it was full, but they were front row. I could see my mum, dad, sister and um brother in law all just sat in the floor and I was like one of his horrendous Because they were in Australia. I don't know whether they made it to the World Cup in India, but I've seen them, you know, they're in in England uh last summer as well. It it it looks like it's gonna be uh a nice kind of uh entry into semi retirement for them. Hopefully, yeah. Yeah. My dad loves it. Um well my mum as well, but I think m my dad more. It's but he he came over here um to uh for the f a couple of games last year and you know after a couple of drinks after a game he he was talking us through how to bat you know he was telling me me salty and td how to how to play Sun on the Ryan. And we're like, Yeah, dad, come on. And the boys were loving the boys were loving it, but we're like, the game's gone so far, it's just you playing. He's like, Sun on the Ryan, two steps down the wicket, go on. I might. You don't know he spins it both ways. He's like, ah man, no . But yeah, he he loves it. In Sydney as well, you know, he they started off in um where where they were sat and then I managed to get the hundred and you know, I was going to warm up the next day uh to try and, you know, get us to a target and I just see him down on the on the field doing an interview. I'm like when did this happen? And then all of a sudden he was up in the chairman's box. I was like, Well, you've you've upgraded a little bit here. But yeah, he he loves it. What about yourself? I mean, you said you were watching highlights of that Sydney Test match. How pleased are you? I know cricketers don't stand still at any stage, but the big talk when you were picked for England here's someone with no not a single hundred in professional cricket. And since then you got that hundred at the utility bowl, you got a hundred at two incredible venues at Sydney and uh Mumbai and a T twenty hundred as well. Um are you playing exactly how you thought you would play once you got an England shirt on or you even surprised yourself? No, it's it's it's pretty much what I I believed. Um you know there was obviously a lot of talking around the no first class hundred or what whatever but, I I never really paid that too much attention. You know, um I've I felt like I was I've always played better against better opposition. Um and that's kind of shown a bit in terms of you know I like playing against great teams and and you know taking on taking on good bowlers. But yeah I think it's it's also you can look at the three hundreds and go, it's been great, but there's been some lean patches in there as well. Um you know, I I didn't have the greatest English summer last year and then topped it off with a hundred and then, you know, some low scores in New Zealand um prior to the ashes was actually a bit out of touch going into that series. So to turn it's just you can look at it from the outside and say it's all smooth sailing, but it's it's been nice to actually, you know, go up and down and and actually just learn to deal with that through spending a year on the road pretty much. Um but yeah it's been it's been great to, you know, have those standout moments. But you know, I all it does is is make me hungry for a bit more. Well, a lot more. The obvious question to ask you, and it will what what would England fans and Warwickshire fans ask? And we've talked about your development as a player so far. A Warwickshire fan or an England fan might ask, you mentioned Jordan Cox, two of the brighter, brightest talents in the game for England at the moment, Bethel and Cox. They're sitting on the bench, warming the bench, not playing cricket. Forget the financial side of things. Which is better for your development now? To be doing that or to be playing three, four rounds of county championship cricket in preparation for a test match? Um look, I don't I don't think there's a I'm gonna sit on the fence for the start of this I don't I don't think there's a right or or wrong way to do it, right? Um I think we've seen last year from me personally that by not playing cricket for a little while um I came into the end of that India series a bit undercooked, which was a learning for me to take on board. But actually if you look at where I was last year after coming back from the IPL, I was flying going into that Western E series. Um and I I feel in a similar position now. You know, I feel better now than I was a month ago after the World Cup through just you know getting time around the guys over here and and the pure you know standard of cricket in India and the IPL. And I think you know it's it's something that not many people will understand how cool it is until actually being around a a team or a you know the tournament itself um when you're here and and it just has a completely different feel and it it feels like everyone almost ups their game like subconsciously without even really knowing because of of the calibre of the tournament and I I feel like that even happens when you you're not on the um on the starting eleven or twelve it might be now with the impact player. Um you know, every net session you've got you know, hundreds of eyes on you, albeit you either have your coaches or the other players who are also looking at you going, Is this guy good? Is he not? Like um or you got the people in the crowd with the the phones on. Um so I think it's just it's you get exposed to a lot of stuff. You might not get the amount of time in the middle um as a county championship, playing four rounds of that, but I think in terms of the ability to actually just continue doing what you wanna do when there are loads of eyes on you is is really important for for me personally going forward. And also there's it's it's been scheduled in now where we've had practice matches when we're not playing. I know this not gonna um be the same as you know an actual competitive game, but we're getting time out in the middle from that because there it feels like the whole squad's kind of pulling together to try they know it's gonna be a team effort. Um a squad effort to win win the trophy again. So the pe the peop I'm not and Coxie as well is not being left, you know, just to kind of ponder about what's happening on the sideline. But in short, I think I think there's no there's no right way. And I I think I've I um firmly believe that this is the right thing for for me to be doing right now. You you didn't sit on the fence there at all, actually. I I just want to ask you about Red Bull practice then because I saw some footage from one of those phones in the crowd of you were one of the last to leave nets. I think it was yesterday or the day before. You were doing some reverse leaps into a into a neck. Um will you incorporate any red ball practice before you come back. I mean you you could go all the way through to the final again and come back a few days before that first test. When will you incorporate or you just won't, you just hit white balls or you already started . Um funny you asked that. I think my Duke's balls are actually arriving tomorrow. I've got a back I've got I've got a box coming over from England. Um You'll be out a nick in about five days' time around. Yeah. Yeah. Um yeah, so I'm I'm planning on, you know ramping up that kind of stuff um alongside, you know, white ball training. And I actually think it's a good thing to do um in general because you know sometimes when you're just trying to smack it out of the park you'd you forget your basics a bit so actually by having these red balls come over and and you know focus on that for a bit I think it'll help both sides of the game. But yeah I,' Im'm gonna be working on that for the next I think we got five weeks, um maybe slightly more until until the end. So yeah, I'll definitely ramp that up the next month. Um can I ask you about some of these young Indian batters? I I think uh Surya Vanshi got a big score. Did he against our R C B right at the start of the tournament? Did he get seventy or eighty? He got yeah, he got eighty of both thirty eighty, yeah. Um I mean, you know, you're a young uh you know, bright young thing, twenty-one years of age or something, but you must feel slightly ancient in in comparison. And when you see these um guys coming through, you know, this that that this generation or the next generation. I noticed the lad is it Mokel Chowder saying he tries to hit hundred and fifty sixes a practice session or something . Um and and Suri of Anshu as well. I mean, how when you look at the amount of young talent coming through in in India, is it is it quite eye opening, you know, the level of it and the and the competition for places . Definitely. Definitely. Especially the competition for places, you know, like I watch I watched Surivanchi in in IPO you train uh have split training the day before the game so I actually watched him in the nets and you know the sound off his bat and the I don't think he played one block like they had six or seven net bowlers plus a couple of their guys I. didn't actually see him get to face Joff, but I've watched a video of him facing Joff and he didn't he didn't show any mercy. Um and it just his his mindset just looks so clear. You know, it's all out attack and yeah, and he actually like people have tested him with slow balls and this kind of and he actually just he's not a one pace hitter. He's just clearly from growing up just hitting that many balls with a an aim to just smack it. He's he's produced like already some of the best knocks in IPO. Like I think he got his first three fifties in fifteen balls or less, which is crazy. You know I think twenty f used to twenty feels pretty quick, but then you shave five more balls off of that. It's harder to shave twenty down to fifteen than it is to shave twenty five to 20. Like there's no sighters in a 15 bowl 50. Um and yeah not just through Ivanchi you look at Abhishek Sharma um he's obviously a bit older now he he just got 100 last night which was, incre dible. Um but then Geiswall, you know, Shubman Gild, another top order batter, he'd probably he's a bit more conventional than than the rest of them, but like the the pure depth of actual batt ing over here is is pretty crazy to watch. Are you a watcher? Are you a watcher and learner? Will you sit in your hotel room? There's a game this evening, or are you out and you y you know, you don't you try and switch off in between games ? No, I like watching. I like watching. I might not watch it live, but you know, we've got um an app that it codes everything for you so you can watch ball by ball. You can watch people's overs and you know, every ball that someone's faced. Um and I like watching, but to fit it's it's hard to kind of watch Suri Vanshi and go, I'm gonna try and do that and hit my first ball hundred meters over extra cover. Um I just yeah, I think his mind must be so clear. Um which is it's pretty cool. And it's something that you know I think that's just the way the game's going that you're gonna have to try and do that if not not all the time, but most of the time, if not, you kinda gonna fall behind . Um and um finally from me, I you know I've heard your dad say many times that um it's quite difficult when you ask a young cricketer about their preferred formats because obviously you'll want to do well across formats. Any young player today will want to do well in T twenty, fifty over cricket and test cricket. Um but the way you were talking there about, you know, six hitting and and and w one pace cricket. I mean d do you genuinely still love the the the kind of more varied challenge that the longer form and and test cricket uh gives you? Definitely. Um , yeah, I like I like all three. Um, but you know, the the most satisfied I felt after walking off a cricket pitch was after Sydney. Um that was like a I felt like if I I nailed a lot of things there and and not just technically but mentally as well, you know, going through different phases of the game. Um and I just think you get a bit starved of that when you'd constantly just trying to hit sixes . Um you don't get that feel like when you bat 150 balls you have your hands feel like just you can they could do anything like and it's it's cool to to feel that, but I like I like both. Um but I don't intend on you know choosing one anytime soon. But even like the uh the series in Sri Lanka we just had, I found those pictures really trick y and in fifty other cricket and it's like the Indian brand of cricket is you played T20 cricket on belters and the runs are it's a run feast um bar a couple of pitches which may be a little bit slow. But going to like Sri Lanka and and doing stuff like that to watch someone like Ruti how he went about scoring runs um was pretty cool. It's just completely different to , you know, India or batting in England. Um so I I'm just enjoying, you know, the different experiences that you get. And I I think you get them through playing everything. Um so yeah I don't I don't really have a a preference in terms of actual like like the the feeling you get after doing something great comes in test cricket like that that feeling that I got after Sydney I want to try and recreate that as many times as possible. Not recreate but you know do something similar or better. Um final question . Sorry to interrupt. Final question from me. Your position in the side. Would you want it to be at number three? That's where you got that hundred at Sydney. Me and Af were discussing earlier about James Rue and how England get him into the line up, but would you be completely against moving up to open three to open is not a big change, or would you like just to stay at three and establish yourself at number three for England? I'd I'd love to stay at three. Um if it was up to me. I I I really like the position. Um but you said just there I I don't think there's a a massive difference between, you know, three and the top. Like someone like Routey had to start, you know, and and open a batting and then kind of slid back down into to number four. I think if that's what they want me to do, I'd I'd be more than happy to do it. But yeah, I I think I like I like three and I'd I'd love to cement that spot as mine if if possible. Um well thanks for your time. It's great um that you've joined us. What what's on the radar? What have you got coming up in the next in the next day or two? R C B going well, obviously. Right up near the top. What what's what's next on the We've got a game against Goodrat Titans on Friday, two training days, so training later this evening and and tomorrow and then play on Friday. Well good luck um thanks for joining us. Give our best to to DK. Is he taking you out for a free meal? Yeah. He's he's not a good killer for that. No, he's not. Well, he took me to a fantastic restaurant in Bengaluru where I can't remember the name of it, but it it was absolutely brilliant. Although I remember there were there by the time we'd finished eating, there were about three hundred people outside the restaurant just waiting for DK. They weren't waiting for me, by the way. So we're waiting for DK to autograph some photos. So presumably it's quite tricky to go out, isn't it, during the tournament? Yeah, it is. Bangalore is actually pretty good. Um, there's really nice restaurants and the the chef at one of them is is a great guy and he just pretty much puts us in the corner and no one sees us. We walk in, no one sees us, walk out. It's okay for the the overseas guys, but when we go with someone that's a bit more higher profile in the Indian circles. It's it's chaos . Um, well, good luck for the rest of the tournament. I hope we get to see you actually on the park at at some point. Um and and obviously we'll catch up with you back in England when we hope you arrive here in um excellent form for the start of the test series. Good luck. Thanks for joining us. Perfect. Cheers. Thanks, guys. Go well, J Well, Ness, he seems um pretty switched on kid, doesn't he, for I don't know what he is now. What is he, twenty one or something, but um you can see why uh England have invested so much in him. Yeah, absolutely. And and for all the talk of what England got wrong over the last year or so. Here's uh here's proof of what they got right and and their eye for selection and they have got they have had a very good eye for selection and and here's here's one of them. He's he there's a nice balance between humble but also confident. Down to earth humble lad, but I think he's confident. I spoke to him before that hundred in Sydney the day before the game and I asked him about reaction and social media and stuff, and he said in a not arrogant way, I don't need to go to social media to see how good I am or whatever. I know my how good I am. And he didn't mean that in a I'm a brilliant player. He just has that inner confidence, which I think you need actually, um as a cricketer. Did you always see I mean I took the mick out there uh of you and him on Accra Beach and and Josh growing up? You you've seen quite a bit of him growing up. Did you always think this lad is special or has he surprised you I to be honest I mean I'd not seen that much of him growing up but I just would occasionally bump into him him and his family on the beach and what struck me always was just how n he talked about that kind of natur al upbringing, that kind of um I suppose handball eye coordination that you have when you're just outdoors all the time um you know, play ing 24-7 in the sun, and just a very natural development. So that was always what struck me. And then I I didn't really see him play formal cricket, but the word in Barbados was always watch out for this kid. You know, he's special. Um and it was interesting what he said so far there's plenty of signs that that is the case, but he also said, you know, I've had a few rough patches along the way, which every every young cricketer, indeed every cricketer, will go through, and I think the key to to a career, really, or the key to a long career, is just working out how to deal with failure. The game is as much about failure as success, no matter how good you are, and he may well be, you know may well be w one of the better players we've had in recent years by by the end of his career. But he's still gonna have some rough times. So how you deal with that, how you cope with that, the resilience you need and always trying to put the what's happened behind you and concentrate on the next innings, that's really the the key to it all. And as you say, seems pretty switched on um and pretty pretty level headed so and the debate of and the debate of whether he should I remember he talked saying three yeah I think it's a non oh remember with Andy Flower, uh, you know, poacher turned gamekeeper, and when he was talking about Kevin Peterson at the beginning of the season and how Kevin should be back in England playing and getting ready for Test match cricket and playing Test match cricket and Kevin wanted to be at the IPL and now you have it with this young player in Bethel. I mean, firstly you you it's a lot of money. I mean the young lad who could make a he ck of a lot of money. Secondly, England do play and he will play a lot of white ball cricket. We forget for us red ball cricket is very important. We forget the amount of white ball cricket. You cannot tell me being at RCB it is not improving him as a white ball cricketer. But obviously he's sitting there and as you said, warming the bench. Where do you stand on on that? He has no other option, but like him and Cox? The I mean you're right in what you say about the the England have got a lot wrong in the last year, but plucking Jacob Bethel to bat at number three in that test series in New Zealand two years ago when Warwickshire really weren't giving him that much of an opportun ity um up the order. You have to say well done to the selectors there. They saw it and they went with it. They had the courage to go with their conviction, so well done. I don't think they got it right with him last year , you know, we've talked about this many times, I would have brought him back for that opening test match against Zimbabwe. Um and therefore that might have had him in the team. You never know, these are all all alternative histories. Uh you don't know what would have happened, but he might then have been in the team throughout the summer, might have started the Ashes, who knows? So but that's a choice they made. I don't and and he admitted there that by the time he got into that into the side for the end of the India series, he was totally undercooked and underdone. Um so I felt a bit of sympathy for him in that, trying to play in that high pressure test match with very little cricket behind him. But that's a a lesson no doubt that he and and the selectors might learn along the way. But right now he's g he's got a bat at three after that hundred at Sydney. He's a great hundred. Yeah. They look totally to the mana born and as you know, because you made it look the most difficult position in the world, three is not in a straightforward position. You both gotta, you know, have the technique and the know-how to get past the new ball, but then also take it on if you can. And I thought he did that beautifully. And people talking about move him up the top of the order to accommodate Rue, I just think that's that's crazy. He should be at three um for the s for the opening test match of the summer. Completely agree. Completely agree. And I'm look that's a few weeks off. Looking forward to we're seeing you this week. I might not see you actually, because you're doing the first two days, I'm doing the last two days. Surrey Essex. Um we're we're doing Surrey Essex uh uh and that should be a good game actually. Surrey have not yet quite got going, have they? But they're finding it perhaps difficult to take with the Nora of Essex by the way. Essex Essex are missing some batters, so um they need to get some runs on the board. So um should be a good contest that I'm doing I'm doing f Friday, Saturday of that game. You're doing Sunday Monday Monday. And uh but let's hope for a good a good four days of of championship cricket. So I won't see you then but we'll catch up the week after