Phil Neale played 369 games for Lincoln City and 354 first-class matches for Worcestershire, and is believed to be the last man to play both professional football and professional cricket at the same time.

But it’s his post-playing role that we’re mostly discussing in this episode, as England cricket’s first-ever operations manager. Appointed to help out Duncan Fletcher and captain Nasser Hussain in 1999, it’s a role he stayed in for over 20 years, encompassing 257 Test matches, 422 ODIs and 110 T20Is. He was also there throughout the tenure of six head coaches and 11 Test captains.

During our chat, the man who became known to England’s top cricketers as Uncle Phil talks about his versatile yet integral role behind the scenes. He recalls his memorable experiences including five Ashes series victories, the 2010 T20 World Cup triumph and, of course, the famous 2019 World Cup win at Lords.

Phil describes being peppered in the nets by Freddie Flintoff, navigating a floundering Michael Vaughan through an Indian airport, and reveals which cricketer’s bag was the only one he lost in over two decades. There are also tales from that infamous Germany boot camp ahead of the 2010 Ashes, and the time he tried his best to keep a lid on post-World Cup celebrations in 10 Downing Street.