In this episode of the show, we discuss the upcoming retirement of Tim Southee from the Test arena, plus quickly whip around some of the white-ball series going on around the world and the off-field challenges threatening to disrupt the ICC Champions Trophy in February 2025.

We start with Tim Southee's announcement and a potential fairytale finish in the World Test Championship final, before touching on the Black Caps' squad to face England, which looks likely to feature a Test debut for at least one of Nathan Smith or Jacob Duffy.

Then we move to Sri Lanka, Australia, the West Indies and South Africa to talk about Haris Rauf's speed, Adam Zampa's hair, Jacob Bethell's potential and India's T20 dominance in 2024, before examining the unfortunate off-field situation developing in the lead-up to the ICC Champions Trophy.

We'll be back in your feed soon with a separate episode on the upcoming Border-Gavaskar Test series, then again next week with a full preview of the Black Caps v England series, followed closely by a review of the Aus v India Test in Perth. Until then please take the time to give us a like, follow, share or subscribe on all our channels (@toporderpod on Twitter & Facebook, and @thetoporderpodcast on Instagram & YouTube) and a (5-Star!) 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 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

2:00 Tim Southee announces his intentions to retire from Test cricket

14:25 Black Caps name Test squad for England series

16:50 White-ball round up - NZ v Sri Lanka

18:55 Australia v Pakistan

21:30 England v West Indies

24:00 India v South Africa

25:35 Champions Trophy concerns

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