The Top Order Cricket Podcast

In this episode, we look ahead to the World Test Championship final between India and Australia at The Oval.

Around the 39.30 mark, we discuss England's victory against Ireland.

Plenty of content coming up over the next few weeks - we'll have a review of the World Test Championship final, a full preview of the Ashes, and we've also got some Test Cricket Hall of Fame content dropping on Friday. In the meantime, please take the time to give us a like, follow, share or subscribe on all our channels (@toporderpod on Twitter and Facebook, & @thetoporderpodcast on Instagram) 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, and our recent episodes (plus a few from the backlist) are available on YouTube - we're slowly chipping away at populating this channel.

You can also dip back into our conversations with special guests - including Finn Allen, Mike Hussey, Sophie Devine, Rachin Ravindra, Shane Bond, Georgia Wareham, Barry Richards, Dion Nash, Bharat Sundaresan and many more fascinating people from all across the cricketing world.

And if you'd like to reach out to us with feedback, questions or guest suggestions, get in touch at [email protected].

Thanks for listening.

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In this episode of the show, we discuss the IPL final, which saw the Chennai Super Kings defeat the Gujarat Titans, plus the upcoming Test match between England and Ireland.

The IPL 2023 final was a thriller, with Ravindra Jadeja hitting 10 off the final two balls of the match to seal yet another title for CSK - a fitting way to end a fantastic tournament. We discuss the key moments and key players - Mohit Sharma's final over, Devon Conway's greatest win, MS Dhoni's status as a legend of Indian cricket, how to get Stephen Fleming on the Black Caps' coaching staff, Hardik Pandya's leadership and much more.

To round out the show, we look ahead to Ireland's visit to Lord's, where Barnards Green's Josh Tongue will make his England debut and Josh Little is a notable absentee.

We'll be back next week to preview the World Test Championship Final and look ahead to the Ashes. We've also got some Test Cricket Hall of Fame content not far away. In the meantime, please take the time to give us a like, follow, share or subscribe on all our channels (@toporderpod on Twitter and Facebook, & @thetoporderpodcast on Instagram) 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, and our recent episodes (plus a few from the backlist) are available on YouTube - we're slowly chipping away at populating this channel.

You can also dip back into our conversations with special guests - including Finn Allen, Mike Hussey, Sophie Devine, Rachin Ravindra, Shane Bond, Georgia Wareham, Barry Richards, Dion Nash, Bharat Sundaresan and many more fascinating people from all across the cricketing world.

And if you'd like to reach out to us with feedback, questions or guest suggestions, get in touch at [email protected].

Thanks for listening.

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In this episode of the Top Order Podcast, we look back at the final week of the IPL 2023 round robin - then make our predictions about who will win it all.

We start the show by discussing RCB and the Rajasthan Royals - two teams who most likely view this year's tournament as a big missed opportunity. Virat Kohli hit back-to-back hundreds, Faf du Plessis lead the run charts, Yashasvi Jaiswal looks set for international stardom and the smile came back to Yuzvendra Chahal's face, but still these sides failed to reach the playoffs. What went wrong (other than a no ball)?

We then cast our eye over the four remaining teams: Gujarat Titans, Chennai Super Kings, Lucknow Super Giants and the Mumbai Indians.

Can GT ride Shubman Gill's red-hot form all the way to the title? Will Devon Conway and MS Dhoni be wrapped in a big hug after the final ball is bowled? Can Marcus Stoinis pull off two match-winning innings in a row? Or will Cameron Green's long levers be lifting the trophy when all is said and done?

We'll be back next week to wrap up the IPL playoffs and look ahead to the English international summer, including the build-up to the World Test Championship Final and the Ashes. In the meantime, please take the time to give us a like, follow, share or subscribe on all our channels (@toporderpod on Twitter and Facebook, & @thetoporderpodcast on Instagram) 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, and our recent episodes (plus a few from the backlist) are available on YouTube - we're slowly chipping away at populating this channel.

You can also dip back into our conversations with special guests - including Lockie Ferguson, Mike Hussey, Sophie Devine, Tim Southee, Shane Bond, Georgia Wareham, Barry Richards, Rachin Ravindra, Bharat Sundaresan and many more fascinating people from all across the cricketing world.

And if you'd like to reach out to us with feedback, questions or guest suggestions, get in touch at [email protected].

Thanks for listening.

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This week on the show we talk about the runfest at the IPL, which saw Yashasvi Jaiswal, Suryakumar Yadav, Prabhsimran Singh and Shubman Gill post individual scores of 98+ within a span of five days. Throw in impressive performances from players like Glenn Maxwell and Rinku Singh and the question becomes:

Is bat dominating ball too much?

The Rajasthan Royals would argue otherwise, as their epic collapse against RCB reflected their collapse in this tournament as the playoff picture starts to take shape - with the Gujarat Titans now confirmed as a top 2 side.

In the second half of the show, we're back in New Zealand to discuss David White's decision to step down as CEO. On the field, it's been an incredibly successful decade, particularly for the Black Caps, but is NZ Cricket set up well for future success? Or does the road ahead look challenging?

Speaking of challenging, the reported contract offer from the Mumbai Indians to Jofra Archer suggests that international cricket's future is under threat perhaps even sooner than many predicted. Throw in the ICC revenue model for the next World Test Championship cycle and you start to wonder how long before cricket's employment model is completely flipped on its head.

We round out the show by discussing Rory Burns' hair, and Daryl Mitchell's lack of it. Fortunately, though, what Mitchell lacks in the hair department he makes up for with runs - his hundred for Lancashire a notable performance from the County Championship, where Steve Smith is struggling, Michael Neser is on fire and it looks as though Ben Foakes has not done enough to retain his spot in England's Test side.

We'll be back next week as the IPL playoffs and the English international summer take shape, including the build-up to the World Test Championship Final and the Ashes. In the meantime, please take the time to give us a like, follow, share or subscribe on all our channels (@toporderpod on Twitter and Facebook, & @thetoporderpodcast on Instagram) 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, and our recent episodes (plus a few from the backlist) are available on YouTube - we're slowly chipping away at populating this channel.

You can also dip back into our conversations with special guests - including Finn Allen, Mike Hussey, Sophie Devine, Cam Fletcher, Shane Bond, Georgia Wareham, Barry Richards, Rachin Ravindra, Bharat Sundaresan and many more fascinating people from all across the cricketing world.

And if you'd like to reach out to us with feedback, questions or guest suggestions, get in touch at [email protected].

Thanks for listening.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This week on the show, we look back at a host of topsy-turvy results at the IPL and the Black Caps tour to Pakistan, which finished with a New Zealand victory in the final ODI.

For all our jokes about the IPL, the 2023 edition is delivering incredible finish after incredible finish. The only constant is drama - and the Gujarat Titans winning - with all 10 teams still in the hunt for a top 4 spot. The Sunrisers Hyderabad, Kolkata Knight Riders and Delhi Capitals were terrible, now they are the form teams, while the Lucknow Super Giants and Trent Boult's Rajasthan Royals are on the slide.

We discuss impactful performances from Rinku Singh, Andre Russell, Glenn Phillips, Jos Buttler and Wriddiman Saha - plus the arguably less positive impact made by Virat Kohli.

In the second half of the episode, we look at the positives from the Black Caps' ODI series with Pakistan, and ponder the World Cup selection questions that still remain unanswered. Should New Zealand favour specialists like Will Young, Mark Chapman, Tom Blundell and Ish Sodhi? Or lean towards allrounders like Jimmy Neesham, Michael Bracewell and Rachin Ravindra? Has Adam Milne done enough to take Lockie Ferguson's spot as the designated speedster? And does Devon Conway need to pack his wicketkeeping gloves or not?

We'll be back next week with more from the IPL and other news from around the world, including the build-up to the World Test Championship Final and the Ashes. In the meantime, please take the time to give us a like, follow, share or subscribe on all our channels (@toporderpod on Twitter and Facebook, & @thetoporderpodcast on Instagram) 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, and our recent episodes (plus a few from the backlist) are available on YouTube - we're slowly chipping away at populating this channel.

You can also dip back into our conversations with special guests - including Finn Allen, Mike Hussey, Sophie Devine, Dean Foxcroft, Shane Bond, Katey Martin, Dion Nash, Matt Henry, Bharat Sundaresan and many more fascinating people from all across the cricketing world.

And if you'd like to reach out to us with feedback, questions or guest suggestions, get in touch at [email protected].

Thanks for listening.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This week on the show we look back at another busy week at IPL 2023, the white-ball series between the Black Caps and Pakistan, and discuss reports that The Hundred might be coming to an end in the not-so-distant future.

Right when we thought the IPL playoff picture was becoming clearer, Punjab beat CSK in a thriller and the Mumbai Indians came from the clouds to beat Rajasthan thanks to Tim David and his long levers. Then LSG followed up their mammoth 257 with 108, which RCB and particularly Virat Kohli enjoyed quite a lot. KL Rahul got injured, Devon Conway remained awesome, Harry Brook watched a lot of videos of himself, Mitchell Marsh listened to the podcast, Kyle Mayers hit it to the moon and MS Dhoni is still hitting sixes - just another week at the IPL.

Over in Pakistan, Daryl Mitchell has emerged as the front-runner for Kane Williamson's number-three spot in the Black Caps' ODI squad thanks to back-to-back centuries, Mark Chapman's historic T20 series encouraged the selectors to change his return ticket home, but it's been the home side who has had the better week - thanks in large part to the Mumbai Cements Player of the Week: Fakhar Zaman.

We round out the episode with a discussion about The Hundred, which started with a lot of fanfare, but, if you believe recent reports, may not have much longer to run. Has it been a failure? Or has it been the injection of life that English cricket needed? And now that all this talk of franchise contracts is clearly here to stay, do we all need to take a moment to think about what we want our great game to look like in five, ten, twenty years' time?

*Note: apologies for the technical difficulties with Binksy’s microphone - back to normal service next episode.

We'll be back next week with more from the IPL, the Black Caps' tour to Pakistan and other news from around the world. In the meantime, please take the time to give us a like, follow, share or subscribe on all our channels (@toporderpod on Twitter and Facebook, & @thetoporderpodcast on Instagram) 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, and our recent episodes (plus a few from the backlist) are available on YouTube - we're slowly chipping away at populating this channel.

You can also dip back into our conversations with special guests - including Tim Southee, Mike Hussey, Sophie Devine, Dean Foxcroft, Shane Bond, Katey Martin, Barry Richards, Matt Henry, Bharat Sundaresan and many more fascinating people from all across the cricketing world.

And if you'd like to reach out to us with feedback, questions or guest suggestions, get in touch at [email protected].

Thanks for listening.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This week on the show, we take a pause from our regular format to answer listener questions framed around the 2023 edition of the IPL.

We'll be back next week to discuss the Black Caps' tour to Pakistan, the IPL and anything else that takes our fancy from the world of cricket. In the meantime, please take the time to give us a like, follow, share or subscribe on all our channels (@toporderpod on Twitter and Facebook, & @thetoporderpodcast on Instagram) 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, and a few of our episodes are available on YouTube - we're slowly chipping away at populating this channel, including our latest in-studio recordings.

You can also dip back into our guest episodes - including chats with Finn Allen, Shane Bond, Sophie Devine, Mike Hussey, Wasim Khan, Melinda Farrell, Rachin Ravindra, Bharat Sundaresan and many more fascinating people from all across the cricketing world.

If you'd like to reach out to us with feedback, questions or guest suggestions, get in touch at [email protected].

Thanks for listening.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this episode of the show, we start by discussing an action-packed week at the IPL, in which the Rajasthan Royals made their way to the top of the ladder while David Warner's Delhi Capitals remain winless after five games.

There's been runs for Devon Conway, Faf du Plessis, Harry Brook and Shimron Hetmeyer, wickets for Rashid Khan, Mark Wood and Yuzvendra Chahal, plus signs of life for the star-studded Mumbai Indians batting line-up as the teams look to separate themselves from a condensed field.

Attention then turns to the Black Caps' tour to Pakistan, where at the time of recording the hosts led the T20 series 2-1. Mark Chapman, Rachin Ravindra and Adam Milne are putting their hands up, Matt Henry looks a class above, but a full-strength Pakistan side featuring Babar Azam, Shaheen Shah Afridi and Iftikhar Ahmed launching sixes everywhere is putting pressure on a number of Kiwis hoping to stake a claim for a World Cup spot later in 2023.

We also touch on the Brendon McCullum gambling ads and run our eyes over Australia's Ashes squad as the hype begins for what is shaping up to be a fascinating Test series.

We'll be back again next week to discuss more Black Caps v Pakistan and all the goings on at the IPL. In the meantime, please give us a like, follow, share or subscribe on all our channels (@toporderpod on Twitter and Facebook, & @thetoporderpodcast on Instagram) 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, and a few of our episodes are now available on YouTube - we're slowly chipping away at populating this channel, including our latest in-studio recordings.

You can also dip back into our guest episodes - including chats with Finn Allen, Dion Nash, Sophie Devine, Mike Hussey, Wasim Khan, Melinda Farrell, Barry Richards, Bharat Sundaresan and many more fascinating people from all across the cricketing world.

If you'd like to reach out to us with feedback, questions or guest suggestions, get in touch at [email protected].

Thanks for listening.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In a brief departure from our This Week in Cricket episodes, Stu is joined by Abdullah Haider from wicketsandruns.net and the Pakistan Cricket Pod to discuss the Black Caps' upcoming white-ball tour to Pakistan.

We talk about the Pakistan Cricket coaching staff merry-go-round, Babar Azam's captaincy, who has the best chance to break into the Black Caps' ODI World Cup squad following the injury to Kane Williamson, the return of Shaheen Shah Afridi, whether Martin Guptill's performances at the PSL were enough to push for a return to international cricket, an Ihsanullah breakout and much more as we look ahead to the 5 T20s and 5 ODIs.

The Top Order team will be back together again next week to discuss the early part of this tour, plus all the goings on at the IPL. In the meantime, please give us a like, follow, share or subscribe on all our channels (@toporderpod on Twitter and Facebook, & @thetoporderpodcast on Instagram) 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, and a few of our episodes are now available on YouTube - we're slowly chipping away at populating this channel, including our latest in-studio recordings.

You can also dip back into our guest episodes - including chats with Shane Bond, Rachin Ravindra, Katey Martin, Mike Hussey, Matt Henry, Sophie Devine, Wasim Khan, Cole McConchie, Barry Richards and many more fascinating people from all across the cricketing world.

If you'd like to reach out to us with feedback, questions or guest suggestions, get in touch at [email protected].

Thanks for listening.

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On this episode of the show, Binksy, Baldy and Stu look back at an action-packed week at the IPL, which saw plenty of runs, some very fast bowling and, unfortunately, too many injuries. We also discuss the Black Caps v Sri Lanka series, the conclusion of the Plunket Shield and New Zealand's upcoming tour to Pakistan.

The IPL has started with a bang - Virat Kohli sixes, Mark Wood rockets, Jos Buttler catches and incredible crowds - but a serious injury to Kane Williamson looks likely to rule him out of the ODI World Cup later in 2023. We discuss the implications for the Black Caps, whether Hardik Pandya should be seriously considered as India's white-ball captain, if Kyle Mayers has springs inside his bat and whether the Punjab Kings can maintain their impressive start to the tournament.

In the second segment of the show we discuss the white-ball series between New Zealand and Sri Lanka, which has so far been dominated by a largely second-string Black Caps' side. We talk about Rachin Ravindra's composure, tally up the gains from our skyrocketing Will Young stock and discuss the squads for the upcoming T20 and ODI tour to Pakistan.

To round out the show, we touch on the strong finish to the NZ domestic season for Central Districts, a win for NZ A against the Aussies and wonder if Rory Burns running down the wicket is a sign of things to come in the County Championship.

We'll be back again soon to discuss more news from the IPL and the Black Caps' tour to Pakistan. In the meantime, please take the time to give us a like, follow, share or subscribe on all our channels (@toporderpod on Twitter and Facebook, & @thetoporderpodcast on Instagram) 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, and a few of our episodes are now available on YouTube - we're slowly chipping away at populating this channel, including adding our latest episodes, like this one!

You can also dip back into our guest episodes - including recent conversations with Cam Fletcher, Luke Wright and Dean Foxcroft, plus chats with Shane Bond, Finn Allen, Katey Martin, Mike Hussey, Matt Henry, Sophie Devine, Andre Adams, Bharat Sundaresan and many more fascinating people from all across the cricketing world.

If you'd like to reach out to us with feedback, questions or guest suggestions, get in touch at [email protected].

Thanks for listening.

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