Stephen Fleming & Joe Root to combine for England, best international captains & Black Caps round-up

In this episode of the show, Baldy, Raj and Stu discuss Stephen Fleming's appointment as England's Test coach, plus Joe Root's return to captaincy, a bit of Black Caps news and the West Indies taking a 1-0 lead against Pakistan.

We start the show with the news that Stephen Fleming will succeed Brendon McCullum as England's Test coach - although not until the end of their upcoming series against Pakistan. We give our initial reactions, then dive into what changes that might lead to both on and off the field.

As the conversation continues, we talk about how much pressure Fleming will face to immediately deliver results, whether he was the best candidate for the role and how he might put his own stamp on this group. We then detour briefly to talk about great international captains in our lifetimes, before returning to Fleming's first big decision at the helm, which was to appoint Joe Root as captain rather than Harry Brook.

To round out the show, we bounce around a bit of Black Caps news, including some strong performances in The Hundred, whether NZ could be getting more from Finn Allen in the international arena, and the upcoming NZ A fixtures in Darwin. We also make mention of the West Indies' Test win against Pakistan, led by their impressive seam attack even with the curious absence of Alzarri Joseph..

We'll be back again next week with more news and views. Until then please take the time to give us a like, follow, share or !) 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.

You can also dip back into our guest episodes - including conversations with Mike Hesson, Shane Bond and Mike Hussey, current players such as Matt Henry, Sophie Devine and Ish Sodhi, coaches Gary Stead, Jeetan Patel and Luke Wright, as well as Barry Richards, Frankie Mackay, 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 thetoporderpodcast@gmail.com.
Thanks for listening.

0:00 Intro
1:00 England hire Stephen Fleming as Test coach
4:00 Will things be different under Fleming?
10:10 How much pressure will Fleming be under?
16:25 Is this good news for Brendon McCullum?
19:45 Best international captains in our lifetimes?
28:10 Joe Root the right call as captain?
37:45 Will there be changes to England's playing group?
44:40 Rob Key leaves door open for a Stokes return
48:00 Black Caps in the Hundred: Finn Allen
56:40 NZ A to join Top End T20 series
58:15 West Indies win first Test v Pakistan