43. Haydos & Blewie: How to Face Fast Bowling, Plus Marnus, Baz & Sir Garfield.

No Test match talk this week, just a fireside chat while the boys are on a break. With Australia back in South Africa, the boys look back at the tours that shaped them. Hayden remembers meeting Nelson Mandela on the 1994 tour, his Test debut at the Wanderers, Merv Hughes taking on the crowd with a bat, and the story of a heated Cape Town Test that ended with a pistol in the dressing room, as told by Haydos. Blewie relives his 1997 double century and the infamous bus trip to Sun City, and JB tells the story of his very short retirement negotiation and the “can I have your pads?” moment.

The boys are back and joined by respected cricket journalist Peter Lalor, days out from departing for his sixth-straight Test series in South Africa. Lalor calls Nick Maddinson's shock recall to the Test squad "the most astounding selection decision" he's seen in his career and Matt Hayden isn't holding back either, accusing Australian cricket of "piling up this dog sh*t explanation" for why in-form domestic players keep missing out. We dig into Marnus Labuschagne's ongoing form crisis, the chaos engulfing Cricket Australia under interim chair David Boone, and what a famously hostile South African reception has in store for the touring Australians.

Justin Langer joins the show for the first time, fresh off winning the Hundred with the Manchester Super Giants. The boys get into the shortened Mackay Test and whether Australia should just prepare flatter pitches, before turning to the real issue at number three - Marnus Labuschagne's form drought and who might replace him ahead of a brutal tour of South Africa. JL also opens up on the toll of a career full of blows to the helmet, how routine brain scans used to be, and whether he'd have survived in today's concussion era. Plus, JB and JL revisit the night they were caught red-handed drinking Ricky Ponting's retirement Grange and the photo that gave the game away. 🏏 Subscribe for more All Over Bar the Cricket 📱 Follow us on Instagram 🎧 Listen wherever you get your podcasts Watch the show on YouTube www.youtube.com/@AllOverBarTheCricket Instagram https://www.instagram.com/alloverbarthecricket TikTok https://www.tiktok.com/@alloverbarthecricket Contact us: [email protected] Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Travis Head takes home the Allan Border Medal but the night itself has the boys embarrassed for the game. They dig into how cricket's night of nights went from a room full of legends to an afterthought, and why the scheduling mess is bigger than one bad look. Plus: the boys preview the Bangladesh test series and Stephen Fleming's appointment as England's new coach, Haydos tells the story of taking Ricky Ponting fishing on the Tiwi Islands, and a chicken infestation derails Haydos' garden.

Simon Katich fills in for Matthew Hayden and doesn't hold back. JB, Blewy and Katich dissect Ben Stokes' bizarre retirement and England's collapse against New Zealand, rank Stokes against Botham and Flintoff, debate Australia's top six for the Bangladesh tour, and talk India's 15-year-old prodigy Vaibhav Suryavanshi. Katich also opens up on his own Test retirement and coaching in the IPL.