Test Match Special

England v Sri Lanka: Root & Atkinson rescue England

Jonathan Agnew is alongside Alastair Cook and Michael Vaughan for reaction to Joe Root’s record equalling 33rd hundred for England which saved the side from a potential collapse on day one against Sri Lanka. They discuss Root’s innings, as well as Ollie Pope’s batting record. Also, Andy Zaltzman gives a stat breakdown of the day.

Root says that he's "in a good place" when talking about his recent batting form.

Plus, Henry Moeran speaks to England head coach Jon Lewis and captain Heather Knight looking ahead to the Women’s T20 World Cup in the UAE in October.

Duration:: 37m
Broadcast on:: 29 Aug 2024
Audio Format:: mp3

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You're listening to the TMS podcast from BBC Radio 5 Live. Hello, I'm Jonathan Agnew. Welcome to the Testmat special podcast from Lords where Root and Atkinson have come to England's rescue. With him now and Root, there it is. He gets the non-strikers in and holds most of his arms in the air and his battle off in his helmet as well is his 33rd Test match 100. And a full-blooded offdrive along the ground for Atkinson to bring up a maiden Test 50 on the ground where he took 12 wickets in the match on Test debut, he's back at Lords and now raising his bat instead of the ball. For Carmel here from Joe Ruto, he called Alistair Cook's Century Record for England and would also have analysis of the day's play from Alistair and Michael Vaughn. And Henry Moran looks ahead to the Women's T20 World Cup with the head coach John Lewis and the captain Heather Knight. You're listening to the TMS podcast from BBC Radio 5 Live. Three 58 for seven I see on the scoreboard to our left as we pass out, Alistair is with me saying half an hour ago we thought England were a little bit under par, how does that look now to you? Yeah, I still think they're a little bit under par, turns a wicket lost on this wicket. However, they're in this game by a long way, Sri Lanka are going to have to back very well to stay in the game and get back ahead of England. England will be a little bit frustrated seven wickets down, but 358 runs is a lot of runs. We're still actually the way Atkinson's playing and Potts and Stone who scored quite a few runs when he's played this year for knots that they'll be hoping to get 4.30, 4.40. Yeah. It's interesting, isn't it, because you look at it from a Sri Lankan perspective and there was surprise this morning when they put England in the bat on a beautiful day and all those stats that Andy Zoltzem was saying about the least movement since the Jurassic period or something. You know, it's been a really good day to bat, hasn't it, and I wonder how they would look back and actually why they did it, because it was like this, it's been a flawless blue sky virtually all day. Yeah, I'm still not sure why they did it, certainly Lort as well, dries out, can go a little bit low, can spin, strength is on a wicket to wicket, Jasser is a good left arm spin as he bowled well at Old Trafford, so it felt again a bit of a defensive move, a defensive move from what happened in their top order at Old Trafford, been 6-3, 2-4-1. So, but they made the decision, they stuck at their guns well, they were decent enough in the field, they didn't drop any chances, so it's not that they had a bad day, I just thought they had an opportunity to win in the toss at Lortz, and if you don't, if you are bad at 150 or you don't deserve to win a test match anyway, but they're batting line up with their experience and their runs, their averages are good, so it would have been quite annoying that they didn't take that opportunity to do it. Joe Root's talking about, as soon as Joe well played, he's going to go and do TV first and then we'll have a chance to chat to Joe and he gave us a big smile there, so I think he's in a good mood, I mean, it was 190 for five or so at one stage, it was in innings that, well, it required some rebuilding and he was quite careful, he wasn't a flamboyant root, it wasn't a basketball root, I mean, it ended as a basketball root, but all the way through, actually up to that point, it was just like Joe Root played. Absolutely, he was risk-free and still stripes at 60 odd, which is what has made him, which is what has made him why a good player as he is, because the margin for error to bowl at him is very slim, he's got all the shots and when he does then play attacking shots they are risk-free attacking shots normally, we'll take the final shot out of it, but that was the old Joe Root, he's very hard to bowl, he finds knocking the singles incredibly easy and then he's good enough to hit the bad ball for four, so I mean just an absolute class act, to bat with, to watch and to play and this won't be his last 100 of England and the hunger he's shown, we keep going back to Burmurs that shot he played in India, because then since that he's got seven, every test match has got 50 and he's got 200 with that hunger at 33-34 to keep on piling on the runs, he's still there and I can't quite see when it's going to slow down. It's a tricky one, because he did play so well and it got us thinking well, you know, because there had been talk, hadn't they, about how Joe Root fitted into that bad ball and the way that he played, sort of strokes that he played and that Burmurs one was, it seemed to be the last one really, but then he got out playing that today and so I don't quite know, I mean is it fair do's to play that when he got 140 on the ball, but then there was a new ball in two over time and there's a batsman, you're pretty driven therefore not to get out aren't you, I mean, it's all a bit confusing. Well there's an element I think with great players that you need an element of stubbornness to, you need some of that self-belief which other players don't have and he has that self-belief and that stubbornness almost to prove us wrong up in the media box and well I can play the shot, so I'm going to play the shot, he'll say the shot was on, I hope today that he was angry when he got out, you saw his reaction getting out, I just hope to say whatever that shot he played to get out, when there was a double hundred on the cards for him, however let's just 3,300 is an unbelievable achievement, it's a bit strange just for me talking about an unbelievable achievement because I was lucky enough to score 3,300's but I just hope today when he has a beer at the end of the play tonight he appreciates that, so ahead of a step. Michael Vaughn's arrived. Good evening, I've got to do my buttern upon my jacket, I spilled some coffee down my wife's shirt. You've got coffee down your shirt, your flies are undone, you're in absolute shandles, what's going on? I'm sorry, my trousers are too small, apart from that I'm doing alright, oh yeah what an achievement, I mean have you been criticising his reverse scoop, have you? We're going to say how confusing it was, the way that he played and the way he seemed to have been to that stuff that he got out like that. I don't mind him getting out playing that shot when he's on 143 and he's kind of dictated the day, he'll probably put that into the locker now for a few more months. He played from the minute that he walked out there, that little clip off the hips first ball for four, he gets to 20 and it was like obviously he's going to go and get three figures on a good pitch against an attack that's got a little bit of something but not a great deal, he's a wonderful player, I said on there I think he's the perfect role model for any player that's setting out to try and play the game, I know we're in an area where the ball flies to all parts and these brutality of strikers go out there and smack it to all parts but give me a Joe Root, you know, across all the formats, you know he's a brilliant T20 player, he's a brilliant 50 over his player and he's a magnificent test match player, I think test match cricket is where I prefer watching him play, I think he is a master of just working out the situation, working out the pitch, working it against all the different types of bowlers, what's on, what's not on and he's up there with the great players particularly against Spin, you know, I think he's England's greatest batter in my opinion across all the formats and I think you can put him in the greatest category against Spin of all the players that have played over many, many years, I just think he's a master at the way that he plays Spin. Do you think he was a bit confused over the last couple of years about how he should play and how he should fit into this team, not least because he was out going captain and that's a difficult position as well, you've got to be seen to be going with the new regime, haven't you, you can't be the grumpy captain complaining in the corner. Absolutely, and I think that's why he played those shots, because he was so aware and I, you know, I suppose was a previous captain who then fitted back into the set up and you're so aware of not stepping on Joe Ruth's toes, not saying stuff in team meetings which was different to the message that the captain was given, when you're captain it's your show, when you're not captain you're, you know, you just buy into what's there and I definitely disagreed certain things that Joe Ruth did as a captain, you're allowed to disagree, like, but I never would have said it in a public meeting, if I would have said it I'd have said it to root over a beer behind closed doors because that was my, there's no way you'd have a thing like that. So when Ben Stokes are saying we want to play like this, he would be, he'd be over conscious about making sure, you know, I don't want to be the person that doesn't buy him. We all know why Ben Stokes did it and it wasn't for Joe Ruth, it was for the other six batters in that side so they could get the best out of their ability and, but Joe saw it, it's like, well, they're doing that, I've got to do that, so that's why he did it and ultimately in journeys he's still average, he's doing it, he just tried it at 70, which is, but there was just, today there was an inevitability back again, when he got past 20 I think we all looked at each other and we thought, unless something happens on 99 or something like he was getting 100 and I think that's, that's the Joe Ruth I remember playing with, where probably in that, that two year period we still scored 100s, he still played match when there's a little bit, is he going to do something a little bit different, but today, pure class and that, that inevitability was back again. Yeah. What about the rest of the batting? My God, I was talking to Alice on the way over about where England are in this game and they've obviously got good runs on the board for a days play, what about the number of wickets lost and, and how they were lost? I mean, yeah, you can look at that, I mean, there would be a light with three fifty eight, I think we saw in the last session that Sri Lanka just tied, you know, the lights of Camaro has not been playing, he bowled that, that opening, but I think he bowled 11 overs inside the first 27 as a quick ball, that's too many, you know, only three seems. I think we saw that in the last session that Sri Lanka just ran out of a bit of gas, you know, you look at Dan Lawrence, an opportunity in this for him, he played at a poor stroke, Ali Pope's a concern, you know, coming at number three, he looks so frantic and for such a good player, I'm just amazed that, you know, the psychologist, you know, and all the kind of background in the thing and have, they can't just calm him down just a little bit just to give himself more of an opportunity to. I'm just going to steal Tim Wigmall's step from the telegraph, who's, what they said is the worst starter in English test history, because he's now been dismissed within twenty balls in thirty eight percent of his test earnings, that's a high number, isn't it? Yeah, it is, and then, you know, you look at that and think, you know, in a year's time, former and co, Cummins and Co in Australia, he has to find a mechanism of calmness, because he can play, you know, we've seen some incredible linings, you know, and I'm looking at him thinking, he just needs a little bit of a composure, I mean, if I was in, I'm sure he does this, he's got the best sitting next to him in Joe Root, Joe Root has the most amazing mentality, he comes down here, he's got an amazing routine, he stretches, touches his toes and then he gets his legs going and then he sprints on, it's Joe Root's routine, I don't know whether I look at Oli Pope and see a routine, you know, a process, you know, I see someone that kind of gets out there, takes God and before you know it, you know, things look a bit too frantic, you know, if I was Oli Pope, as much of the psychologist can help you, this guy Joe Root could help him a huge amount, and I'm sure that's happening, but he can only do it himself, you know, he needs to find that mechanism of a process that calms in down when he first goes out to the middle. Just on that stat, it'd be really interesting to see how many times it's an attacking shot he gets out to. He's actually today in his whatever ball, I don't know, in a ballsy face today, that was a big shot to play, like that is a shot, that's a shot of a guy on 120, because it's just back of a length, he's trying to pull it, now if you know you're not a great starter and those stats are proving it, surely you've got to say right, the first 30 balls are other balls, for me, like Joe is slightly different, other people slightly different, like the great grand thought, he actually attacked, he won his way of method of getting in was actually attacking the first 20 balls, because then once he said he got to 15-20, he actually then settled down because he just fell to ease, well actually Oli poked by being the way he started in his test career, he's been aggressive I think, he's actually got out to it, so maybe he might have to say actually that calmness, whatever, saying right, the way I'm starting to see it best of me is actually trying to soak up and have the courage to do that, have the courage to be two or 30 balls. It has to change, you know, you can't just keep going out there, you look at his first ball today, and it's a length ball, probably four or five inches outside, and his hands have got any bounce, alright there's extra bounce, but most players are leaving, you're just leaving that, he's so anxious to get bat on ball, and I totally agree with Cookie that he needs to try and change a mechanism and a different approach, because for a number three those stats aren't great, they're not good at all and when the attacks get better and they will do in a year's time and potentially in the winter, you just have to have a composure, your number three usually is the calmest player, because you've lost a wicket and your job then is to send the message to the dresser and don't worry, things are fine out here, and usually you're up against a noob, you generally lose an early one, you know that's the nature of test match cricket, usually and inside the first ten overs, and your job is to just calm things down and just play, you look at someone like a Jonathan Trot, he was a calm number three, alright, not all number three's are the same, you want difference, but you know those stats are glaring and Ollie has to work something out inside himself, I don't like him as the captain, I don't think he's you know the kind of personality that I'd want as the England captain, I think he's quite an insecure human, a great great team guy, I think he's a great person, and I think by throwing the captain on him, I think that's added extra pressure, he was doing great at number three, and obviously he's just interim for this series and Ben I'll be back in a month or so, so it's time. I've got many other obvious candidates to be fair on, look at Harry Brooke, I mean I'll keep going, but Harry Brooke for me is in England captain, in the making, I don't see Ollie Pope as that person, so I just wondered if the extra pressure has come on from having the captain see, here he is, look his face, that is one big smile, Joe, Alistair Cook, 33 equal, that's a huge smile, well played, well played, thanks, yeah, it's good, and well you clearly enjoyed it and you're enjoying all of this too, yeah it was a nice day and look at this, selfie in there, I don't know, yeah, from where we're at one stage for us to be in the position of strength that we are now I think it's really pleasing and what an innings from Gus so far, he's struck the ball like Jack Callis today, it is unbelievable, so yeah it's a great way to finish things off and lead into tomorrow, it'd be nice to still be there with him but say it goes sometimes, sometimes you get a good one, sometimes you don't, I wasn't going to talk about that shot, but you've brought it up, right, I want to know that in the basketball era were you a little bit unsure of how you fitted into that and do it that shot there, well because you've played so Joe Root up to that point and you have done since India, you've been very successful at playing the Joe Root way, I just a bit surprised you got out like that, you looked a bit disappointed with it. Well because I've got out, I think you could play any shot again, I think more so we'd got in a position where we brought back the team again before the second new ball and we limited the options for the last hour or so of play, it was more about trying to mentally really put a nail in the coffin going into that second new ball and then be able to really drive home the last hour, we could have ended up getting 30, 40 more runs, if that was the case and then we'd be you know 400 on the board, one less wicked down potentially and in a real position of strength so I think it depends how you look at the game you can, I don't like to be driven by fear and when I'm out there you're looking at opportunities, how you're going to score, how you're going to move the game forward and felt like I didn't the right to do that in that situation. So yeah that was the thought process out there, how can we really having done all that hard work, getting in a position where we could drive the game, how could we do it and that felt like an option that I could utilise to do that. Okay I'm not going to tell you how to back Joe, I can promise you that, it's very easy up there but you are playing beautifully at the moment. Yeah it feels good, I feel like I'm in a good place, I'm not in that perfect state of Nevada where you're just not even thinking and you feel like you're out of your, I think sometimes when you play it at your absolute best you don't even think about anything, it's almost like you're hovering outside of your body and it just sort of does it for you but be able to manage different parts of the game and when it doesn't feel right be able to not let it get to me and just find a way of getting through certain periods that I think that's a nice place to be. This innings to have been about 195 or they're about what I guess a lot of what you'll take away from the innings is really important for the team as well in that situation. Yeah and that partnership at the end as well that's really important too and that shouldn't be overlooked or overshadowed, two lads there to get us to come back tomorrow with two lads set in and on a decent score having knocked a bit of shine off the new ball, I think it's a really good position for us and if we could drive that past 400 then I do feel there was a little bit in that wicket for the majority of the time until that last ten overs into the second eubel so you know if we can, if we can do that we could put ourselves in a really strong position. 33. I thought I'd ask question and even you, were you a little bit nervous or 99? I was telling you. Twelve balls. Yeah once you get three overs in I think you start and the crowd are on your back a little bit. Well that's what it felt like anyway. Is it, is it, no it's not nerves as such it's just the getting over the line is it? Get on with it yeah I think you're sort of, you're feeling everything that everyone else is feeling like getting on with it, get it out of the way but yeah. You got there. You're a stats man, you're a records man, did you know how big this, how big this hundred is? No I'm not massively driven by it apart from beating cookies only something that really bothers me so. It was very magnanimous as I'm sure you'd expect. Yeah. Just a quick one, let's slow heads tomorrow Joe. You see he said he's doing it, he's doing it out there and you know you have got runs on the board but what would be a good score do you think for England to get tomorrow? 700 would be a good score but if we can get up to 400 I think that'd be great but yeah. I think we're in a good position so anything more on what we've done today I think Sabona is missing, it's not doing all sorts, it's pretty good wicked, it's very slow. The stats has done the least here since 2005 but it's not felt like that, it's felt like it has you know the wobble seams have gripped in and it has done enough so I guess we just play what's in front of us we look to utilise what there is there to tomorrow and see if we can do what we've done well for a period now taking 20 more wickets. Family here today? Yeah, it's always nice yeah. Lovely, thanks to him just Joe, well played, there we go, well done, he's one happy chap isn't he? Yeah and so he should be and I'm glad, I mean you're a brave man to ask him about the reverse week but it was a brilliant innings and yeah he, you can just see that little glint in his eye and he should be and he should have it. I'm just delighted and I did like your question because I think this England side are going to be so much better with Rudy playing the route ballway, you know when he plays the way that we know he can and you know he just occupies the crease you ask any opposing player, any team which way would you want Joe Rook to play and you'd want him to play expansively the way that you wouldn't want Joe Rook to play is like he's played today where he just he's just got an amazing ability of just maneuvering the ball into the space into the gap, gains the seams against the spinner and if he can carry on in that vein which I'm pretty sure he's going to, he is that glue, he's that rock that everyone else can bet around so yeah it's always a joy when you see Joe get any amount of runs he's just got that, it's that process and that routine that we've seen for so many years and I'm pretty sure we're going to see it for a few more. Andy Zoltzwin, we said in a sort of semi-joking way during commentary that batswin has scored hundreds, he always say it was doing all sorts as Joe alluded to there, your stats suggested different didn't they, yeah they did so this was a ball tracking stats on the crickfish system suggested that there was less swing for seamers in the first 80 overs of this test match than in any comparable period of a test in England in their database and that goes back as you said to 2005, relatively a little seam movement as well and combined it was the second least movement in the opening 80 overs for seam bowlers in the test in England in that time. So what that doesn't tell you though is that whether individual balls were doing a bit more that's just the average movement from every ball so it doesn't maybe need to dig a little more into those details but yeah roots century as you said his 33rd tied with Alistair Cook, four players ahead of him on 34 test centuries internationally, Sunil Gavaskar, Mahalajer, Wardner, Eunice, Khan and Brian Lara so some pretty tidy names for the aim at in his next innings and then five players, rather ahead with Sachin Tendorka's 51 centuries, still some way off but what has done incredibly well in the last four years is convert his 50s into centuries 16 of his last 31 50+ score since the start of 2021, he's converted into centuries prior to that, he'd converted 17 out of 66 so it had been something that people have talked about a lot with his batting despite being incredibly consistent and averaging the high 40s, hadn't scored maybe as many hundreds as he would have liked but the last four years have really seen him rectify that since that Bumra reverse scoop that you were talking about seven tests at least a 50 in each of those seven tests the third time he's had a run of seven consecutive tests with a 50+ score no other England players had two such sequences in their career so this is roots third, in that time he's averaged 86 with a strike rate of 59, prior to that under basketball he'd averaged 50 so still good, albeit with bit inconsistent passages with a strike rate of 74 and in his career prior to that if you take it from the breakthrough year he had in 2014 his average was 51 and his strike rate 57 so he has basically gone back to playing that classic routine way that we saw through most of his career up to basketball when he became much more aggressive, still effective but perhaps a little easier to dismiss that he was stuck on 99 for 12 balls before scoring off the 13th and that's the most balls an England player has spent on 99 since Graham Hick against Zimbabwe in 2000 and Joe Root himself had never had more than five balls stuck on 99 in his career so a little bit of added drama before he tied Alistair Cook's record. Well thanks to Andy, Michael and Alistair very shortly we'll hear from the England captain Heather Knight and the head coach John Lewis ahead of the women's T20 World Cup. The TMS podcast from BBC Radio 5 Live. Hey I'm Ryan Reynolds. Recently I asked Mint Mobile's legal team if big wireless companies are allowed to raise prices due to inflation they said yes and then when I asked if raising prices technically violates those onerous to your contracts they said what the f*ck are you talking about you insane Hollywood f*ck. So to recap we're cutting the price of Mint unlimited from $30 a month to just $15 a month give it a try at mintmobile.com/switch 45 dollars up front for three months plus taxes and fees promoting for new customers for limited time unlimited more than 40 gigabytes per month slows full turns at mintmobile.com My dad works in B2B marketing he came by my school for career day and said he was a big row as man then he told everyone how much he loved calculating his return on ad spend my friends still laughing me to this day not everyone gets B2B but with LinkedIn you'll be able to reach people who do get a hundred dollar credit on your next ad campaign go to linkedin.com/results to claim your credit that's linkedin.com/results terms and conditions apply linkedin the place to be to be so as well as a busy summer for England's men England's women will soon be beginning their preparations the T20 World Cup in the UAE in October with a T20 and a one day series against Ireland the T20 World Cup was moved from Bangladesh after political unrest made it impossible to host the tournament there and TMS will have commentary of every game of the tournament with England looking to win for the first time since 2009. Henry Moran is speaking to the head coach John Lewis and the captain Heather Knight. Well Heather it's not long to wait until the off for the World Cup but how are things? Yeah good um had a nice week off uh celebrating Daniel Wright's wedding which was really good fun and yeah just recharging the batteries and ready to get going a bit of training in the next couple of weeks and then we head off for a pre-season camp well pre-world cup camp for apologies um on the 13th September so yeah very much excitement levels are starting to build. John it's sort of split into this because obviously as the Ireland series and the World Cup scored I mean from your perspective is that you've got to have eyes all over the place. Yeah you do you know so it's um it's sometimes tricky to keep track of what everyone's doing um but uh we're really confident that the two the two squads we've picked are pretty much back on um the one in Ireland in particular which obviously comes first um is it really exciting squad it's got I think it's got a really nice blend of youth and experience. Kate Cross is obviously one of your one of your commentators is Captain out there and I think she's got a really interesting job on her hands in terms of managing that team and helping and getting Tammy Beaumont as well to to help her through and use the experience that they've got to um to bring on the young players as well and I think that's a really important role for those two players in particular and yeah and then off to the World Cup and we've got it like Heather said we've got training camp in Abu Dhabi and we're excited about getting going for that. Well that's a little bit of a focus on the World Cup because your experience now of ICC events leading England into ICC events Heather you've been to so many of them now what do you learn what what what is the sort of feeling going into at all? I think not to change too much purely based on obviously what's at stake and that you're playing in a big tournament so I think for me it's it's trying to build into it but build into it exactly how you would any other series or competition trying to get yourself in a good place individually and then captaincy wise just yeah trying to get everything together hopefully um trying to get the girls in a really good place get them in form and just be really clear on how you're trying to play and I think probably this World Cup has been one of the most prepared I've felt um not just myself but as a team and just in terms of the squad depth we have it's probably the most we've we've ever had and it feels like pretty much every person in that squad could play a really leading role um during this World Cup and obviously the things we've done around giving opportunity during the summer to some of those squad players has really um left us a few selection headaches but it's a really good place to be as a squad everyone's going into that comp um having contributed at some point to England winning games of cricket so yeah selection's gonna be tough but um yeah now it's all about just getting out there getting the things you need to do with World Cups the media and extra events that come with ICC events as as a captain and then just focusing on the cricket. Does that sound about right difficult selection headaches I mean it's a consistent squad certainly in terms of what we saw earlier in the summer yeah um I think Heather's point there around the depth of squad and also the depth of competition outside the squad has been something that I've been really really happy with we've tried hard over the class I suppose 12 months or so to try and develop the the players that are almost I suppose on the periphery or just outside of our what you could say would be our best 11 um and I think the other thing that we've worked really hard at developing which I think will be really important in this World Cup is um it's time really present and then we've worked hard with the players about living in the moment and making sure that we're able to stay really clear about what we're doing and we've I suppose again over the last 18 months or so we've we've worked really hard on working what we do best and how we play and the way we want to do things rather than worrying too much about the opposition and how they do things so that's the stuff that you know we'll continue like Heather said the themes of stuff that we've been doing for a long period of time and and hopefully the consistency in the backing that we're giving the squad that we've got and the talent we have in the squad will pay dividends and when we come out at the end of the trial end of the tournament so that team psychologist and trying to get the sort of right headspace all those sort of things what are the techniques for making sure the team in the right place I think from my point of view it's really important the team are really connected and they're really honest with each other and we've got a really varied support staff and so um support group of staff that that work continually with players in different areas to make sure that they feel confident going out in the field and from my point of view if we can have players that are really confident when they walk on the field and a captain that's really clear then we're in a really good place to play our best cricket and if we do play our best cricket I think we've got a really good chance in the tournament. It's a tournament Heather that we thought was going to be in Bangladesh then we thought it probably wouldn't be because of the political unrest and there was uncertainty about where it was going to end up the UAE how do you feel about that as of any? Yeah okay I haven't played a huge map of international cricket there so that'll be a bit of a unknown I guess it's a shame for the Bangladesh women's team that they won't ever home well cut but I think it was the right decision obviously with what's been going on. In terms of crowds like it's not going to be as good that's for sure but it will mean probably our families will be able to to come along which is a big positive for the girls and we'll probably have a little bit more freedom in terms of leaving the hotel and things so that's a bit of a positive in comparison to Bangladesh but yeah look there hasn't been a huge amount of chat around it with us it's been something that's been out of control a little bit the conditions will be slightly different not probably as extreme as Bangladesh but not too dissimilar as well so the preparation that we've done over the last sort of 12-18 months around preparing for this competition will stand us in really good stead the skills that we've tried to work on and develop hopefully yeah will be skills that we will obviously need in the UAE as well but yeah it's exciting isn't it any time you get to play in a World Cup it's really special and the tournaments that you mark out in your calendar and you really look to build towards and look to do well in so yeah the team's in a really good place and if we go out and play the cricket that we have been doing and not get too far ahead of ourselves and focus on each game at the time as the big cliche goes we should be in a really good place to compete. Spin has been such a key part of your your side success in recent times John and is there that feeling that though it's not Bangladesh it's the UAE slightly different conditions as Heather says not maybe quite as extreme but that is your your strong suit particularly when it comes to looking to try and put pressure with the ball yeah for sure hospitals have been really successful for us and they they do a really good job for us the bowlers that bowl around them as well I think the variety of bowlers that we have we have left arm left arm swing bowlers right arm swing bowlers and lots of different variety of spin bowlers as well so we're we're in a we're in a good place we got really well rounded attack and I think the variety that those three spin bowlers have more for if you include Lindsey Smith five if you include Heather here and then six obviously if you include Alice Kapsi so we've got a really wide variety of spin bowlers that we can use and so we're we're confident at those the variety of the challenges that they present to the opposition in some extent that's really um stood us in good stead over the last year or so and again the conditions should suit us out by I was gonna say Bangladesh and Dubai this is a thing you need presumably you've got these are all sorts of calculations and plans that do you have to change quite last minute because of this chain I think the stuff that we've been working on particular with the team in terms of the skill development will be quite consistent wherever we go in the world so the accuracy of our bowling you know the range of stroke that our batters can play and the variety of attack that we have and and to be honest the athleticism and a fielding aspect of our game we've been working incredibly hard on that as well so those things will hopefully stand us in good stead across all conditions the bit that I suppose that exacerbates it a little bit as it turns when you go to Bangladesh sometimes conditions get a little extreme and so you might need to just drill down and knuckle down in those areas a little bit more but the stuff that we've been doing um has worked really well in England over the summer it worked nicely in New Zealand and India before Christmas so like we've we we think we've got all bases covered but now we've just got to go and play and play well and what about belief Heather because beating Australia is always seen as the big challenge of course it is with their success but you did beat them in two white ball series here in England last summer does that create a different mentality for you and belief as a squad I think maybe I think like Jon talked about earlier wanting to focus on ourselves has been really key for us the the last couple of years and I think that's going to be no different whoever we play going into a big world event um but yeah I think last summer was was a bit of a turning point in the belief that we can beat that Australian side and really compete and that we have the the players and the the depth to be able to do that I think we've we've 100% always had that but maybe it's been missing that that kind of real belief that that we could beat them and also the depth they've obviously had a rich of talents in in terms of the depth of their players for a long time but we started to build that we started to get that squad depth that that can really compete with them so yeah look whether we face them or not we obviously don't know um but whoever we come up against we we believe that if we play well um play our best cricket that we can be any team on our day thanks to Henry Jon and Heather for that and that's it for this episode of the TMS podcast make sure you've subscribed on BBC sounds so you don't miss a thing from this test series between England and Sri Lanka and while you're there make sure to check out the latest episodes of tailenders and Stumped and on Stumped Ali Mitchell discusses Jay Shah became the new chair of the International Cricket Council and what it means for the sport test match specialist back on air at 10 o'clock on Friday on five sports extra and BBC sounds for the second day of the test match here at laws selling a little or a lot Shopify helps you do your thing however you cha-ching Shopify is the global commerce platform that helps you sell at every stage of your business from the launch your online shop stage to the first real-life store stage all the way to the did we just hit a million orders stage Shopify is there to help you grow Shopify helps you turn browsers into buyers with the internet's best converting checkout 36% better on average compared to other leading commerce platforms because businesses that grow grow with Shopify get a one dollar per month trial period at Shopify dot com slash work Shopify dot com slash work hey i hear you think podcasts are all about true crime huh well wise guy the i-heart radio apps got all kinds of podcasts we got stuff you should know and stuff they 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