The Final Word Cricket Podcast

It's Story Time, our weekly walk through cricket history via your listener quiz challenges. This week Daniel Norcross returns to join Geoff for a long meander through bad beginnings. Plus a south London record, the best No.11, and one of the very best of all time. Your Nerd Pledge numbers this week: 2.03 - Nick Donovan & Andrew Beech 23.75 - Rob O'Neill 4.23 - Chris Lintott 2.60 - Crispn Crunch 2.00 - Alex 5.20 - Ed & Nick Dempsey 1.39 - Jake Cunliffe 21.12 - Chris Dobbins Get on the Lord's Taverners mailing list here. Send us a Nerd Pledge at patreon.com/thefinalword Find other episodes at finalwordcricket.com 20% off primo WoodstockCricket.co.uk bats with the code TFW20 Title track by Urthboy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Season 13, Ep 20: Because it remains very much the cricketing topic de jour, it's time for another visit to the non-striker's end to take off the bails. This week the Marylebone Cricket Club, as custodians of the Laws, updated the relevant clause with extensive additional clarification as to when a bowler could attempt this kind of dismissal. We got hold of the man in charge, Fraser Stewart, to talk through what has changed and why. Join the Lord's Taverners mailing list at bit.ly/tavssignup Send us a Nerd Pledge at patreon.com/thefinalword Find previous episodes at finalwordcricket.com 20% off primo WoodstockCricket.co.uk bats with the code TFW20 Title track by Urthboy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Season 13, Ep 19: The cricket world was teeming this week, and so was our show. Everything from the Cherry Tree's first ever victory in Melbourne pub cricket to $100million for the Women's IPL. Rwanda produced a massive upset in the Under-19s World Cup, Shimron Hetmyer became Dennis Rodman in the most forensic scrutiny of a bridge since the River Kwai, Steve Smith dropped the hammer in the Big Bash and is on his way to Sussex to become a Duke, Ross Adair becomes a fine Irish story, Gary Ballance forms an odd pair with Zimbabwe, South Africa have one chance to dodge World Cup elimination, Ash Gardner says her piece on January 26, cricket has an Olympic Games setback, Shubman Gill makes a one-day double, and Iftikar Ahmed is Pakistan's favourite uncle. Out of breath? Your Nerd Pledge number for this week: 3.16 - Helen Wilson Join the Lord's Taverners mailing list at bit.ly/tavssignup Send us a Nerd Pledge at patreon.com/thefinalword Find previous episodes at finalwordcricket.com 20% off primo WoodstockCricket.co.uk bats with the code TFW20 Title track by Urthboy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Season 13, Ep 18: A special episode. First we speak to Homaira Mershedi, Afghan community leader and veteran of humanitarian work, to get some sense of the current situation on the ground in Afghanistan after the Taliban takeover. Then we talk through the tangled thicket of political ramifications around Australia withdrawing from a series against the Afghanistan men's team, while the women's team remains in exile in Melbourne with no support from the Afghan board or the ICC. You can donate to the Afghan Australian Development Organisation at aado.org.au, or when in Melbourne get a meal at the Afghan Gallery Restaurant, 327 Brunswick Street in Fitzroy. Send us a Nerd Pledge at patreon.com/thefinalword Find previous episodes at finalwordcricket.com 20% off primo WoodstockCricket.co.uk bats with the code TFW20 Title track by Urthboy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Season 3, Ep 6: Reloading lost episodes from the early Final Word. It's the end of December 2016. Happy New Year! Our first year doing Best & Worst. Admittedly it is a short segment at the end of the show, and we only covered our Best things. But before that we had to talk about a wonderful Boxing Day Test. Mitchell Starc has missed a lot of those, but he reserved his best all-round performance for this one against Pakistan, despite the best efforts of Azhar Ali. This ep also contains what must be our first references to Gusatvo Kuerten, Thomas Muster, and Arantxa Sanchez Vicario, some early work on Steve O'Keefe at Revolver, and what may be the inaugural Final Word use of the Dream Dinner Party concept. Plus with Matthew Wade struggling with the gloves, this foresight: "If we want to go really left field, is Tim Paine starting to lurk again?" This season was originally recorded for the ABC. Send us a Nerd Pledge at patreon.com/thefinalword Find more episodes at finalwordcricket.com 20% off primo WoodstockCricket.co.uk bats with the code TFW20 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Season 3, Ep 7: Reloading lost episodes from the early Final Word. It's January 2017, Pakistan have wrapped up in Sydney, and we're spending a moment on the great undersung career of Younis Khan: on the occasion of his 34th Test ton, reaching the rare club with more hundreds than fifties. David Warner made his own in the first session of a Test, and backed it up with the fastest Australian fifty, while we made some wildly inaccurate predictions about his future. Matt Renshaw was trying to get to India, Peter Handscomb had never been dismissed short of fifty, Hilton Cartwright debuted. Plus an early Adam use of "private collection" and a sitcom starring Viv Richards and Misbah-ul-Haq. In T20s, Deandra Dottin was the Terminator, the Beth Mooney and Kirby Short partnership was growing, and we got in early demanding that Michael Klinger captain the Australian side - which he did. This season was originally recorded for the ABC. Send us a Nerd Pledge at patreon.com/thefinalword Find more episodes at finalwordcricket.com 20% off primo WoodstockCricket.co.uk bats with the code TFW20 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Season 13, Ep 17: With the second season of The Test documentary out in the world, Adrian Brown joins the show for a second time to talk through the differences and complexities of repeating the dose while keeping the recipe fresh. Also this week, Kohli's ton run continues, India's Test squad is out, Australia's women play Football Manager against Pakistan, the Women's Under-19s World Cup is underway with Pakistan front and centre, and Peggy Collins has a middle name. Your Nerd Pledge number for this week: 4.89 - Edward Greggs Join the Lord's Taverners mailing list at bit.ly/tavssignup Send us a Nerd Pledge at patreon.com/thefinalword Find previous episodes at finalwordcricket.com 20% off primo WoodstockCricket.co.uk bats with the code TFW20 Title track by Urthboy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It's Story Time, our weekly walk through cricket history via your listener quiz challenges. This week Bharat Sundaresan joins Geoff on babysitting duty, and is the perfect guide through Indian mythology and princely states. Does any of it relate to cricket? You'll find out. We also try to unravel some cryptic clues and the movie Tenet, which are equally confusing. Your Nerd Pledge numbers this week: 1.30 - Mark Dixon & Daniel Price. 8.16 - Ramaswamy 3.76 - Dan O'Sullivan 5.78 - Jack Rule 2.56 - Ajay & Simon Ward 5.67 - Jon Rees & Bala Sivaraman 2.12 - Mike Brader & Alan Edgar Get on the Lord's Taverners mailing list here. Send us a Nerd Pledge at patreon.com/thefinalword Find other episodes at finalwordcricket.com 20% off primo WoodstockCricket.co.uk bats with the code TFW20 Title track by Urthboy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Season 13, Ep 16: Ok, that's not really her middle name (yet) but we're working on it. The Final Word family has grown by one. Who knew when we told that great story about 1930s leg-spinner Peggy Antonio on Story Time 100 that Rachel and Adam would have a Peggy of their own? Well, they probably did, but it's a nice surprise for the rest of us. Also this week, squads for the next women's World Cup and the Australian men's India tour, farewell to Norma Whiteman as she was when she played for Australia, umpiring on low catches, bad light problems, and a lot more action with run-outs at the non-striker's end. Your Nerd Pledge number for this week: 4.46 - George Pearson Join the Lord's Taverners mailing list at bit.ly/tavssignup Send us a Nerd Pledge at patreon.com/thefinalword Find previous episodes at finalwordcricket.com 20% off primo WoodstockCricket.co.uk bats with the code TFW20 Title track by Urthboy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Australia v South Africa, Sydney Day 5: It's all over! We watched the rain for four days but it was all worthwhile for this thrilling... draw. Oh well, what do you do? Luckily there were many fun moments for us to tell you about. Go on. And the sun came out. Win, win, win. (Draw.) 20% off primo WoodstockCricket.co.uk bats with the code TFW20 Send us a Nerd Pledge at patreon.com/thefinalword Find us at finalwordcricket.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Australia v South Africa, Sydney Day 4: After a full day of rain, we got back on the field again. Meaning we recorded the show again: on the politics of declaring near milestones, umpiring consistency, and some otherworldly bowling spells. 20% off primo WoodstockCricket.co.uk bats with the code TFW20 Send us a Nerd Pledge at patreon.com/thefinalword Find us at finalwordcricket.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It's Story Time, our weekly walk through cricket history via your listener quiz challenges. This week, Adam's baby may be arriving before the end of the show, but podcasting has to be done. We have important facts about Teddy Hoad and the 1911 Test in Adelaide to relate! Some triumphs and disasters, some bookends, and a long-pursued answer is run to ground. Got any baby names? Your Nerd Pledge numbers this week: 1.49 - Jason Wilkins & The Real Patch Clapp 1.55 - Bill Apter 16.10 - James Ralston 2.79 - Scot Munroe 16.43 - Francis Keepfer 17.70 - Ben Woolgar Get on the Lord's Taverners mailing list here. Send us a Nerd Pledge at patreon.com/thefinalword Find other episodes at finalwordcricket.com 20% off primo WoodstockCricket.co.uk bats with the code TFW20 Title track by Urthboy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Australia v South Africa, Sydney Day 2: Steve Smith day! Yet another one of them. The guy who just kept making hundreds has started being almost as relentless as he once was. Here was another, on the day that Usman Khawaja sauntered towards a double, and Travis Head cut sick. 20% off primo WoodstockCricket.co.uk bats with the code TFW20 Send us a Nerd Pledge at patreon.com/thefinalword Find us at finalwordcricket.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Australia v South Africa, Sydney Day 1: Lots of rain, but a fair bit of cricket, and two life's constants were on show: Labuschagne runs, and Labuschagne luck. And eventually some bad luck too. The wind tunnel that we plunged into in the second half of this episode was to show you what conditions were like outside the SCG when we recorded. (Also the primary audio failed.) 20% off primo WoodstockCricket.co.uk bats with the code TFW20 Send us a Nerd Pledge at patreon.com/thefinalword Find us at finalwordcricket.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Season 3, Ep 8: Reloading lost episodes from the early Final Word. Stop us if this sounds familiar: it's January, around Sydney Test time, there's a tour to India coming up any minute, and we're wondering whether Mitchell Swepson is good enough to feature. Matthew Renshaw is coming into the side, Glenn Maxwell is vying for a spot with Travis Head. But this was 2017. Were we on the mark with anything? Will we say the same things in a couple of weeks in 2023? Also on this episode: Minty Panesar, the first TFW mention of Javed Miandad and his I Love New York hat, Kim Garth arrives in the Big Bash, and the most runs you could score and wickets you could lose in the same Super Over. This season was originally recorded for the ABC. Send us a Nerd Pledge at patreon.com/thefinalword Find more episodes at finalwordcricket.com 20% off primo WoodstockCricket.co.uk bats with the code TFW20 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Season 13, Ep 15: It's New Year's Eve! And as per Final Word tradition, we gather for a look back at the year that was. The good, the bad, the highs, the lows. It was an eventful one. Also this week we wrap up the many Test matches that were happening round the world, and give you an explainer of the Australian cricket broadcast rights negotiations and their ramifications, as well as the scenarios that could happen in the World Test Championship. Your Nerd Pledge number for this week: 11.32 - Fake Patch Clapp Send us a Nerd Pledge at patreon.com/thefinalword Find previous episodes at finalwordcricket.com 20% off primo WoodstockCricket.co.uk bats with the code TFW20 Title track by Urthboy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Australia v South Africa, Melbourne Day 4: It's all over, and so is the result of the series, with one match yet to play. Temba Bavuma had what you could call a mixed day, and at least South Africa made more than 200. Just. 20% off primo WoodstockCricket.co.uk bats with the code TFW20 Send us a Nerd Pledge at patreon.com/thefinalword Find us at finalwordcricket.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Australia v South Africa, Melbourne Day 3: Some more Nortje snorters to start the day, but it turned into another long one for South Africa. A Test century for Alex Carey and some real surprises on the injury front, but on we go into day four. 20% off primo WoodstockCricket.co.uk bats with the code TFW20 Send us a Nerd Pledge at patreon.com/thefinalword Find us at finalwordcricket.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Australia v South Africa, Melbourne Day 2: David Warner Day. Under pressure, stinking hot day, unbeaten double hundred. Just David Warner things. Also Nortje bowling fire, very few wickets but very many batting injuries, and other peculiarities. With Geoff Lemon and Bharat Sundaresan. 20% off primo WoodstockCricket.co.uk bats with the code TFW20 Send us a Nerd Pledge at patreon.com/thefinalword Find us at finalwordcricket.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Australia v South Africa, Melbourne Day 1: Big day, big occasion, and an effort that wasn't up to it. South Africa's batting fell over once again, but it was a special day for Cameron Green. With Adam home in England, Geoff Lemon and Bharat Sundaresan have you covered. 20% off primo WoodstockCricket.co.uk bats with the code TFW20 Send us a Nerd Pledge at patreon.com/thefinalword Find us at finalwordcricket.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices