This Week in Cricket #169: Harry Brook does it again, Marnus is back & why can't batters score more runs?

The Top Order Cricket Podcast

In this episode of the show, Baldy & Stu look back with contrasting emotions at the week (or three days) that was after Australia's convincing win against India and New Zealand once again collapsing against England.

We start the show on a happy note for Baldy by discussing a turnaround in fortunes for Australia during the pink-ball Test in Adelaide. Scott Boland picked up where Josh Hazlewood left off, Mitchell Starc's radar was on from ball one and Pat Cummins also played his part in a dominant performance from the Aussie quicks. We also saw valuable contributions from Marnus Labuschagne and Nathan McSweeney, a hundred from Travis Head and Nitish Kumar Reddy continue to look very comfortable at Test level. There's also discussion about why batters are struggling so much at the moment when the ball moves around, and the topsy-turvy nature of Test cricket results all over the world.

In the second half of the show, it was rinse and repeat for England as Harry Brook and then Brydon Carse took centre stage again and the Black Caps crumbled under the pressure. In fact, England were so dominant we didn't even mention that Gus Atkinson took a hat-trick! There's praise for Joe Root, Jacob Bethell & Nathan Smith, Tom Blundell's return to form, a conversation about England winning the tactical battle, and unfortunately more selection questions for New Zealand with Tim Southee and Devon Conway in particular under the spotlight.

We'll be back in your feed again next week with more news and views from both these exciting series. Until then please take the time to give us a like, follow, share or subscribe on all our channels (@toporderpod on Twitter & Facebook, and @thetoporderpodcast on Instagram & YouTube) and a (5-Star!) review at your favourite podcast provider, or tell a friend to download. It really helps others find the show and is the best thing you can do to support us. You can also find all our written content, including our Hall of Fame series, at our website.

You can also dip back into our guest episodes - including conversations Mike Hesson, Shane Bond and Mike Hussey, current players such as Matt Henry, Sophie Devine and Ish Sodhi, coaches Gary Stead, Jeetan Patel and Luke Wright, as well as Barry Richards, Frankie Mackay, Bharat Sundaresan and many more fascinating people from all across the cricketing world.

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Thanks for listening.

0:00 Intro

1:30 Australia's bowlers set the tone for a big win against India

5:00 Scott Boland steps in and doesn't miss a beat

6:45 Why are batters struggling so much in the longer format?

9:35 Key partnership from Marnus Labuschagne & Nathan McSweeney

16:10 Travis Head breaks loose

19:10 Pat Cummins' contribution

20:45 Nitish Kumar Reddy looks ready for Test cricket

24:00 Is India's batting lineup dangerous or fragile?

30:10 Rohit Sharma the middle-order batter

34:35 Test cricket results are all over the place

36:55 Looking ahead to Brisbane

40:15 Black Caps v England reaction

42:25 Harry Brook's performance, along with Ollie Pope

48:00 England winning the tactical battle against NZ

51:05 England targeting Tim Southee

57:20 New Zealand's batting woes, particularly Devon Conway

1:06:25 Tom Blundell's hundred

1:10:10 Changes for the Black Caps?

1:14:45 Jacob Bethell and Joe Root

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