Wisden Cricket Weekly

Mark Butcher, Jo Harman, Phil Walker and Yas Rana discuss the announcement of England's 13-man squad for the first two Tests of the summer against New Zealand. James Anderson and Stuart Broad are back, Matty Potts and Harry Brook are two new faces in a group that is otherwise similar to those selected over the winter. The panel also react to the appointments of England's two new head coaches, Brendon McCullum and Matthew Mott as well as Tom Harrison's departure from the ECB.Mark and Jo share their memories of Andrew Symonds, the thrilling Australia all-rounder who tragically passed away last week at the age of 46.There's a round-up of all the latest County Championship, Charlotte Edwards Cup and the FairBreak Invitational action while stress fracture expert Dr Pete Alway speaks to Yas about the causes of lumbar stress fractures after both Saqib Mahmood and Matt Fisher were ruled out of the season with the injury. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The panel of Phil Walker, Jo Harman and Yas Rana round up all the latest County Championship action and have a stab at selecting the England XI for the opening Test of the summer.Phil tells us about his recent conversations with Mark Waugh and Marnus Labuschagne, Jo reflects on his interview with in-form Kent batter Daniel Bell-Drummond and Yas gets excited about young Durham quick Matty Potts.Mark Butcher joins over Zoom to add to the selection chat while George Heath joins from Dubai to update us on the FairBreak Invitational, where there have been some eye-catching performances from a whole host of Associate players. The episode ends with Phil, Jo and Yas talking about the aspects of the game they secretly don't care about. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Mark Butcher gives his view on the decisions made by Ben Stokes in his first week as England's full-time Test captain, while Ben Gardner and Yas Rana are joined by CricViz analyst Ben Jones to round up the latest County Championship and IPL action. CricViz Ben also provides an analytical view on the major selection debates around England's top seven heading into the first Test of the summer.Georgie Heath joins the show towards the end of this episode to talk about the FairBreak Invitational, a brand new tournament in Dubai that features 90 women's players – including some of the world's very best – from 35 different countries. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It's been a busy first week in the job for England's new managing director of men's cricket Rob Key. Multiple outlets are reporting that Ben Stokes is set to be named England Test skipper and Key has already outlined that the head coach role will be split in two. The panel of Mark Butcher, Jo Harman, Phil Walker and Yas Rana react to those developments and round-up all the latest action from the County Championship. Later in the show, there's an interview with Kent's in-form opener Ben Compton about his meteoric rise and stellar start to the season with his new county. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The panel of Mark Butcher, Lawrence Booth, Phil Walker and Yas Rana react to a massive week in English cricket, one that saw Joe Root call time on his reign as Test captain and Rob Key appointed to the role of managing director of men's cricket at the ECB. How should Root's captaincy be remembered? What should we expect from Key at the helm?At the 44:30 mark, Wisden Almanack editor Lawrence Booth reveals who this year's Five Wisden Cricketers of the Year are. You can order the Wisden Almanack at https://wisden.com/shop/wisden-cricketers-almanack-2022-hardbackThere's also a section on the latest round of the County Championship as well as a brief chat on the IPL. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On this week's show, the studio panel of Phil Walker, Jo Harman, Ben Gardner and Yas Rana look back at a run-filled opening round of the County Championship and discuss Rob Key's status as the frontrunner for the vacant England men's director of cricket job. At the end of the show, they pick their 'Uncapped County Championship XI of the Century'.They also celebrate Anya Shrubsole's career after England's 2017 World Cup final hero announced her retirement from the international game at the age of 30.Mark Butcher calls in to give his view on Ravichandran Ashwin's controversial tactical retirement in the IPL. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The panel discuss Australia's dominance in women's cricket and how England and the rest of the world can possibly catch up, after Meg Lanning's side won their third consecutive world title. Mark Butcher brands the domestic schedule "horrendous", explains why producing quality pitches is so hard, and gives his take on the race to be the ECB's managing director of England men's cricket.There's a bumper County Championship preview, featuring an interview with Rory Burns, and title and promotion predictions. The panel also look at Babar Azam, who starred in Pakistan's ODI series win over Australia, and try and work out just how good he is.Wisden Cricket Monthly promotion:Listeners can try Wisden Cricket Monthly for just £9.99.To get your first three print issues for £9.99 and save 39% on the cover price, go to wisdensubs.com and enter offer code POD22.To get twice as many issues but none of the paper, go to bit.ly/wcwpod6 You’ll save a whopping 58% on the single issue price and be all set for the next six months. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

After England's heavy defeat at Grenada extended their winless run, Mark Butcher, Phil Walker, Ben Gardner and Yas Rana ponder what comes next for England and specifically Joe Root's tenure as Test captain. They run through the possible candidates to replace Root should he leave the role.There's also discussion on what went right for West Indies and the women's World Cup after India's dramatic exit from the competition. Taha Hashim joins the show over Zoom to give his thoughts on the final Pakistan-Australia Test. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This week's show comes directly from Barbados. Mark Butcher talks to Yas Rana to give his immediate thoughts on the game from the ground before a panel of Yas, Ben Gardner and freelance journalist Cameron Ponsonby go over the Test, discussing a particular encouraging debut from Saqib Mahmood, Kraigg Brathwaite and Jack Leach's pair of record-breaking displays of endurance, the future of Chris Woakes, a return to form for Ben Stokes and much more.Ben provides an update on the women's World Cup and wonders whether it's the most exciting 50 over World Cup – men's or women's – there has ever been. If you want to hear our reaction to the Karachi Test that saw Babar Azam play one of the all-time great fourth innings knocks, head to our Wisden Cricket YouTube channel where Taha Hashim provides his thoughts on the game from Karachi.Ben and Yas are in Barbados courtesy of sportsbreaks.com, who offer personalised ticket, travel and hotel packages centred around the biggest, most talked about sporting events in the world. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Ben Gardner and Yas Rana review the first Test of the West Indies-England series, one that saw Jonny Bairstow score his second Test hundred of 2022 and Zak Crawley register his second Test century of his career..Yas is joined by Taha Hashim later in the show who looks back at the five days in Rawalpindi that were worth celebrating even if the cricket didn't always thrill.Ben and Yas also talk about the women's World Cup, India-Sri Lanka and the latest updates to the Laws of the game. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices