Two fantastic Test matches ran side by side for four days this week, one featuring two of the biggest teams in the sport, the other a David and Goliath battle that was expected to be over within a couple of days. Both of them featured teams that were expected to struggle in the conditions, and indeed 24 hours before their respective conclusions those two teams appeared very likely to be soaked in defeat the following day. And yet, through the astounding efforts of two rookie bowlers, one a pace firebrand with a heart as big as Phar Lap’s, and the other a string bean spinner who had been flogged in the first innings of the match, these teams rose from the carpet to snatch victory against their more fancied home team opponents, and in the process remind everyone of how great Test cricket is, and why it is still the only form of the game that matters.
On today’s program, we will take a look back at both matches, and discuss how these results came to pass, and why they are so important – not only for the winning teams, but for the game as a whole. Following on from this, we once again brave the murky waters of the current climate of world cricket, how the threat of T20 domestic competitions still face the health of the international game, and why it is time that the cricket boards of India, England and Australia stopped trying to feather their own nest, and actually do something constructive with both scheduling and money in order to restore Test cricket to the pinnacle it deserves to be, and to help reach an equality with all other cricket nations rather than pretending the world can survive without their help.
That’s the basis of today’s episode of the podcast that would never have believed it would ever cheer on the West Indies defeating Australia in any form of cricket having lived through the 1980’s, The Casual Mankadder.

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