Greetings from Perth Day #1 of the BGT.

People power has got us here, if you are not onboard now is the perfect time ...

Gideon flew in Thursday night, I’ve arrived a bit earlier to ensure everything is just tickety-boo for him when he touched down, and we were both up before the sun because, well, it’s Perth and there’s that time zone dislocation … and it is the first day of the first Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy!

It is also the first day Cricket Et Al finds itself on the road thanks to those subscribers who have backed us in this little steam powered publishing venture that we’ve stumbled into after years of filing for newspapers.

We’ve also got Sam Perry, one half of The Grade Cricketer juggernaut and one very good writer in his own right, who will be contributing regularly. I’ve been tracking him on the Sam Perry Flight Tracker App and the TGC private jet is making good progress.

A five-Test series between the two sides who battled it out for the World Test Championship last year is at hand. Five Tests in which Australia needs to get its hands on a trophy that has eluded them for the last four series.

If India wins on Australian soil for a third consecutive time they will match a feat few before them have. The West Indies and South Africans both managed it last century.

It’s all so exciting I find myself up at 5am typing away in bed. It’s a habit you develop on the road, especially when you are up against newspaper deadlines from the northern hemisphere. (It’s also the reason Sue never comes on the road with me.)

Cricket Et Al intends to be at every day of every Test, bringing you the sights, sounds, stories and smells of the summer.

Cricket journalism’s oldest boy band: Sam, Pete and Gid

Thank you so much to everyone who has backed us, it is humbling to know so many out there share our love of the game and appreciate our intention to deliver you the highest quality cricket writing we can muster.

God knows we’ve been doing it most of our lives and while every Test series starts with an air of expectation, this one has an added edge.

Team McSween(ey).

If you haven’t converted to paid subscription this is your chance. Cricket Et Al has been churning out “content” (terrible, terrible term) since it kicked off in earnest. The bulk of it has been cricket, but there’s been a fair bit of miscellany too. Not always to everybody’s taste, but we make no apology.

We are, as we have said in the past, reluctant to ask you to pay but getting Cricket Et Al on the road is an expensive episode, even with our modest habits. This is our day job and this is your way to read us without contributing to the paywall of big media companies and their vested interests.

Come on board for the year, or come on for the summer months if you can afford it.

We plan to pod every day of the Tests also.

Gideon’s excellent anti-preview piece, complete with the magnificent Fisher Classics artwork, is the perfect example of what we’ve been delivering to you on an almost daily basis.

We’ve also broken a couple of the biggest stories of the summer so far, not least of them the revelation that Cameron Green’s back injury was far worse than anyone in cricket would admit. The consequences of his trip to the Kiwi surgeon (another story broken here) have had quite the flow-on effect. We were even first with the news about the India A ball tampering story.

The build up to this Border-Gavaskar Trophy has been enormous. The Great Australian Bat Off was something to behold and the debate surrounding it was intense. Pat Cummins and the team’s laid-back approach to preparation has infuriated the old school, but the skipper swears the best way to enter a five-Test series. Rohit Sharma has been home while his wife gave birth but has apparently given himself a leave pass from washing nappies and will be out here soon to prepare for the second Test.  The smiling assassin Jasprit Bumrah will wear the captain’s crown in Perth.

It is going to be great to see two fast bowling captains and you can just tell how it irks the batting fraternity that the blue collar mob have taken the post they believed was their type’s birth rite.

Bumrah was charming in the pre-match press conference and I particularly liked his takes on captaincy:

“You always want to be in the thick of things, you want to be thrown against, you know, tough scenarios. So this is one of them as well, this adds a new challenge to me. I always have been, you know, wanting to add more, and even when Rohit is there, or when Virat was there, that I tried to add inputs, I tried to learn from them, and then when I became a senior player as well, when new guys started coming in, I started passing on what I learnt.

“So I look at it this way, and you know, it feels good. There is no greater honour than this, that as a child, I always wanted to play this format, and you know, leading India in Test cricket, very few number of players have played Test cricket for India, and captains are even less. So yeah, I'm very privileged, and very happy to be in this position.

“My way is, you know, you have to find your own way, you can't blindly copy anyone. Obviously, both of them are very successful, and I've gotten a lot of results, but my way, I've always never followed a, you know, a copybook plan, in terms of my bowling as well, if you can see, that I've never followed a module. I go with my instincts, and I'm, that's how I've always played my cricket, and I have a lot of faith in my instincts and gut.

“So that is what I go with, and tactically, as a bowler, you always make a lot of plans, you're well aware of what to do, what adjustments you have to make, during the game of cricket. So yeah, I look at it this way, and I try to cover all bases as much as I can.  

“I can manage myself the best when I'm the captain, because I know when I'm fresh, when I know I have to push myself, and I know when I have to take extra responsibility.

“Obviously, yes, there are different challenges, but there are advantages as well, that I look at the advantages, that I understand bowling, so you understand whether the wicket is changing, what changes you have to make, what field sets are good at this moment, and obviously bowlers do a lot more research, and data-driven as well, than batters, because that's how the game is headed. So I think I look at the positives more than the negatives. Yes, obviously there will be challenges, and you want to be tested, and you want to have
challenges.”

When we had Pat Cummins on the Cricket Et Al podcast he spoke about how he’d enjoyed for most of his career not having to think about anything other than his own bowling, but how that had changed when the captain’s position came vacant.

We’ve seen across his journey the difference in perspective a bowler brings to leadership. He and Bumrah had a very warm exchange at the photo opportunity ahead of the Test. The confederacy of captains who bowl. Bumrah almost admitted as much in the presser:

“There are many examples in the past as well, in Australia as well, Pat has done a phenomenal job, he's got a lot of success, so I'm saying there are a lot of models that you could follow, you could take inspiration from the past as well, a lot of players who've done really well, for India as well, Kapil Dev did a fabulous job, a lot of other captains are there as well, so hopefully it's the start of a new tradition and many more players will follow that.”

If you are in Perth come and say hello, if you are home watching it on the TV have fun. If you are at work or somewhere else be aware that 7 Plus are now streaming all matches live and free.

Star Sports have joined 7 Cricket and Fox Cricket in broadcasting this series. There’s also a revolution at hand with the game being broadcast in Hindi into the Australian market.

Gideon’s piece on Australia-India relations earlier in the week was old mate at his very best.

I’m going to try and find him outside the ground. We’re due to meet two hours before play because the best time of the day, first ball aside, is when the stadium is empty and the quiet air filled with expectation.