Freelance Cricket Club

Vish, Will and Sam have had another one of their long, unexplained breaks - but they're back! They pick through the details of the brutal debrief of England's Ashes defeat and try to get to the bottom of why it happened. Again x

EMERGENCY POD: Vish and Will – Yorkshire's Sam Northeast was otherwise engaged – get together to discuss a remarkable day in English cricket.

A review of the first two weeks of the season as the County Championship gets off to a flyer. Sam, 63 and 118 under his belt last week, chats to Vish and Will about his and Hampshire's start, controversy and what it's like to go to bed on 99 not out...

It's done - India win! By an innings and 25 runs on the night, 3-1 over the series. England's torture finally ends just as yours begins: Vish is joined by CricViz Analyst Ben Jones to talk about the final day as Will has better places to be x

Rishabh Pant you little genius! One of the best hundreds you'd ever wish to see has India 89 ahead as England nurse broken spirits and a struggling Dom Bess. Vish and Will give you the lowdown on Day 2 of the 4th Test x

Same dismissals, different day. England were bowled out for 205 on the opening day of the 4th Test thanks to Axar Patel (again) and Ravichandran Ashwin (again). Vish and Will mull over India's class, England's XI and embarrassment-saving hands from Ben Stokes and Dan Lawrence... x

The trio of Vish, Will and Sam return to preview the fourth and final India v England Test, mull over player management and have a chat about social media missteps. Enjoy! x

TWO DAYS! ENGLAND LOSE A TEST IN TWO DAYS! BOWLED OUT FOR 81 AND LOSING BY 10 WICKETS! HOW?! Vish and Will with all the gruesome details as India butcher the tourists to go 2-1 up in the series with a pink ball and pitch that spooked England to no end...

Axar Patel cuts down England for 112, the third umpire cops some grief and Joe Root has questions for the match referee. Vish and Will round out as full an opening day as you can get as India grab hold of the 3rd Test on day 1. Enjoy x

Vish, Will and Sam look ahead to the pink-ball Test between England and India in Ahmedabad. How carried away should everyone get about the colour of the ball? Enjoy x

India biff England for 317, the series is tied at 1-1, Moeen Ali's heading home and the ECB's rest-and-rotation policy is coming under heavy fire. Vish and Will wade through it all in a longer-than-usual daily review. Enjoy x

England circle the drain, Ben Foakes' hands take our hearts down the leg side and Ravichandran Ashwin taps in his elite loyalty card on cricket's great gate once more. Vish and Will wax lyrical with India on the cusp of a win in the 2nd Test. Enjoy x

Vish and Will talk through Day 2 of the 2nd Test as Ravichandran Ashwin levels with McGrath, England levelled to the floor for 134 and people get mad at the pitch with India taking a lead of 249... Enjoy x

300 runs, 6 wickets, Rohit Sharma dream weaving, third umpire line-fluffing – Vish and Will assess a thrilling opening day to the second India-England Test in Chennai. Enjoy x

Vish and Will are joined by Sam again to fill the three-day gap between the first and second Tests in India. They get stuck into how England will remodel their team and the art and aesthetics of making a declaration. Enjoy!

Vish and Will chat about James Anderson reversing at 38, Jack Leach doing his fourth-innings thing and England winning by 227 to take a 1-0 lead in the series, India fightback in the offing. Enjoy x

Vish and Will review a day of confusing England batting and Indian perseverance. Milestones for Ravichandran Ashwin and Ishant Sharma, as Joe Root pies off a follow-on and a declaration. Enjoy x

Vish and Will chew over Day 3 in Chennai where England (578 all out) took six wickets and India trail by 321, as Dom Bess takes 4, Rishabh Pant brings bayonets to a gunfight and Test cricket has a full day out Enjoy x

Vish and Will bring you a debrief of Day 2 of the 1st Test in Chennai. Joe Root doubles up (again), England get to 555 without a care to declare and a full day ahead of Shubman Gill *swoon*...

The Two Hacks, One Pro team bring you a debrief of day one of the first Test between India and England. Vish and Will laud Joe Root's 128 not out in his 100th Test, England's 263 for three and warn of strong Indian batting to come. Enjoy x

Vish, Will and Sam get their heads together to look ahead to England's series in India. Channel 4, selection debates, predictions... and Marnus's toastie.

Two Hacks, One Pro is back to pick through the bones of England’s 2-0 win in Sri Lanka. The boys also look ahead to the tour of India, with chat about rotation, the IPL and whether county cricket won it for England. Enjoy!

The name "Darren Stevens" seems to come up on every single episode of Two Hacks, One Pro. So Vish, Will and Sam had to get the great man on for a chat. He did not disappoint. They covered a lot of ground, from how he has managed to last so long and the secret to taking wickets, to being caught up in fixing allegations in Bangladesh in 2013. NOTE: This episode was edited and reuploaded at 6pm, 18 November 2020

After another unplanned break, the gang are joined by Nottinghamshire and England batsman Ben Duckett and discuss dominating the Blast and how tough it is to break into the England side. He also talks to Vish, Will and Sam (mainly Vish and Will) about how journalists should temper how they big players having experienced the highs and lows of being on both sides of the media's whim.

Vish, Will and Sam get back together to discuss the end of the county season. Sam and Hampshire have finished up already but there's plenty to come yet, with the final of the Bob Willis Trophy and the Vitality Blast knockouts.

After a cricket-enforced hiatus, Vish, Will and Sam return to chew the fat on the English game, domestic and international. Sam talks us through life as a county cricketer in this strange summer, while Vish and Will talk about the England bubbles. And they all promise to get a little more prolific with their output in the final weeks of the season...

Cricket is back and so are Vish, Will and Sam. They look back at England's first Test against the West Indies and look forward to the second. Also on the agenda is the return of county cricket next month. Enjoy!

Cricket is very nearly back and the Two Hacks, One Pro team are excited. Sam and other county players are back in training, while England are playing each other, then the West Indies next week. Joining the boys is Lewis Gregory, from the England camp at the Ageas Bowl. He talks them through life in the biosecure bubble. Enjoy!

With England's Test series against West Indies just around the corner, the Two Hacks, One Pro team are joined by Jimmy Adams, the former Windies captain and Director of Cricket. They talk about pulling this series together, the challenges of running cricket in the Caribbean, and the even greater challenge of coaching Sam Northeast at Kent. Enjoy! Jimmy Adams interview - 09:50

On the Two Hacks, One Pro agenda this week is the cricket media with ESPNcricinfo’s George Dobell joining Vish, Will and Sam. They debate whether the media has any influence, and Sam turns the tables on the three journos, offering player feedback and telling them what could be done better, and are they just chances who sit around eating cake all day... George Dobell interview – 21:30mins

On the agenda this week is t20 cricket. Where does the Blast sit in the World game? What makes it different? Harry Gurney, death bowler extraordinaire for Nottinghamshire and countless others, joins Vish, Will and Sam this week to discuss his itinerant life as a freelancer, the development of his bowling, and stoking the fire on social media. Harry Gurney interview - 12:35mins

This week's episode is all about the Kolpak ruling. Hampshire's Kyle Abbott joins Vish, Will and Sam to chew the fat on one of county cricket's most controversial topics. Sam also reacts to missing out on England's 55-man training squad for this summer's internationals, and a county pros' desire to get training again. KYLE ABBOTT INTERVIEW – 35:08

In part two of this week's cricket and mental health special, Luke Sutton joins Vish, Will and Sam. Luke is a former cricketer for Derbyshire and Lancashire who now works as a player agent across a range of sports. Last year he wrote Back From The Edge, a memoir about his alcoholism. He discusses that book, lockdown and the lessons to be learned from his struggles.

Hampshire and Ireland sports psychologist Michael Caulfield joins the team to discuss cricket's unique mental challenges in the first installment of a two-part episode on the sport and mental health. He also spills the beans on working with the inscrutable Sam Northeast, much to Vish & Will's amusement. iTunes – https://apple.co/2z58jWw Spotify – https://spoti.fi/35r5NGi SoundCloud – https://bit.ly/3fiA0vG

On the agenda this week is format specialism. We are joined by Lancashire and England quick Graham Onions to discuss where the game is headed. Is there a future for red ball specialists? Will county squads have to get smaller? Our resident multi-format batsman Sam Northeast weighs in with his thoughts too, while Vithushan Ehantharajah and Will Macpherson share their thoughts on where the game might be in the future.

This week Two Hacks, One Pro tackles the subject of spin bowling with two of England's brightest prospects, Somerset's Dom Bess and Hampshire's Mason Crane. Together with Vithushan Ehanthrajah, Will Macpherson and Sam Northeast, they discuss the state of their craft and what the future holds. Enjoy!

Welcome to Two Hacks, One Pro – a new cricket podcast brought to you by journos Vithushan Ehantharajah and Will Macpherson, and Hampshire batsman Sam Northeast. The aim is to examine the English cricket season week-by-week, while it should be happening, from both sides of the boundary. In the first episode, we catch up with Surrey and England opener Rory Burns to talk about the start of the county season’s narratives and challenges (for batsmen). Enjoy!