This Week in Cricket #97 - Black Caps build up to Lord's, England's Test side, spin chat and the IPL playoff picture

This week on the show we focus mainly on New Zealand and England, as the excitement builds for the first Test at Lord's starting on 2 June. We talk about what we might have learned from the warm-up fixture against Sussex, which saw two days rained out and a solid hit out for most of the available squad. Is Michael Bracewell in serious contention to play a part in the upcoming series? And who will fill the number five spot if Henry Nicholls isn't fit for the first Test? We stay in England to discuss the first Test squad announced under Brendon McCullum, which included a couple of potential debutants in Matthew Potts and Harry Brook, plus a batting reshuffle that could see Ollie Pope at three. Before we wrap up the show with an overview of the upcoming IPL playoffs, we give a quick shout out to the legend that is Katey Martin, as well as some spin chat prompted by Ish Sodhi's move from ND to Canterbury for the 2022-23 domestic season. Please take the time to give us a like, follow, share or subscribe on all our channels (@toporderpod on Twitter and Facebook , & @thetoporderpodcast on Instagram ) 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 , and a few of our episodes are available on YouTube - we're slowly chipping away at populating this channel. You can also dip back into our guest episodes - including chats with the recently retired Katey Martin, Black Caps' stars Lockie Ferguson, Ajaz Patel and Tim Southee, plus greats of the game like Mike Hussey, Barry Richards, Shane Bond, and many more fascinating people from all across the cricketing world. 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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices