Podcast: Who makes the cut for the first Test team to play England

WELCOME to our new cricket podcast, “Cricket Unfiltered”, home to the best analysis, arguments and banter on the state of Aussie cricket.

News Corp has launched the Cricket Unfiltered podcast

MAYBE we all expected too much from Steve Smith when he took over the Australian captaincy. Fresh from a humiliating defeat in the 2015 Ashes but now free from the polarising Michael Clarke, the Australian cricket public was full of hope.

Smith’s time had come. He had emerged as a world class batsman and there was a feeling of optimism around the team following the frustratingly inconsistent Clarke era.

In this correspondent’s opinion all Smith had to do was whack that baggy green on his head and lead us into a glorious future.

It hasn’t quite turned out like that. Heading into the highly anticipated Ashes summer Smith’s Australia has won just one of its last five Test series, is struggling to achieve any consistency in 50 over cricket and is doing even worse at the T20 game.

The steeliness and grit that Smith displayed as a batsman has morphed into frustration and angst on the field as his charges often fail to live up to the standards he seeks.

Listen to the first episode of CRICKET UNFILTERED below

You can download Cricket Unfiltered from the iTunes store

Just two years into the job and cracks are appearing. Smith’s workload is already being questioned, his selections have come under fire and there is speculation that David Warner should take over the T20 captaincy.

It’s incredible how a sacred little urn can change a team’s fortune.

Australian skippers’ reputations are forged in Ashes summers, home and abroad, and now Smith has his chance. Win and he will be lauded. A loss will bring recriminations, inquests and uncertainty. No one’s job will be safe.

One podcast will be there all summer to take you on this wild, emotional ride.

Starting this week the “Cricket Unfiltered” podcast will be a must listen this Ashes summer.

The Cricket Unfiltered podcast will be a fascinating and entertaining forum for insights, opinions and of course passionate arguments about Australian cricket.

We will be following Smith’s story closely along with the fortunes of the men’s and women’s Ashes teams.

The summer doesn’t end with the Ashes but then propels headlong into the juggernaut that is the Big Bash League and Women’s Big Bash League. We will be there for the whole journey.

I have hosted and produced the Australian Cricket Podcast for the last the four years and have now teamed up with the best sports journalists in the country.

Our first episode features of News Corp’s best sports journalists in chief cricket writer Ben Horne and Swoop editor Fiona Bollen. Have a listen and let us know what you think.

Originally published as Podcast: Who makes the cut for the first Test team to play England