98 Not Out - The Cricket Podcast

Amid reports of a drop on viewing figures and matches becoming less interesting, we ask, "Is the Hundred losing it's shine?".

The Grumbler (aka Richard Clarke) has had a difficult conversation with his teenage son. No, not what you are thinking with your dirty mind, a conversation about why his son has embraced The Hundred, otherwise known as "the Tournament That Shall Not Be Named", as opposed to the more traditional formats of cricket that Richard has tried to introduce him to. This will surely strike a chord with cric...

In a wide-ranging conversation, Johnny Barran talks about getting back on the field and captaining the Lord's Taverners XI, who recently had great success at the Barry Hearn Sixes. Next up is a game against the House of Commons & Lords, where Matt Hancock will be demonstrating his allegedly great skills as a cricketer. We also talk global franchise cricket and Johnny talks about the countries...

This week, over social media, we asked our followers the question, "Who or what got you into cricket?". We got many replies and on this podcast we read out the responses and give our own account of getting into our wonderful game. For the full show, head to https://www.phoenixfm.com/2022/07/28/8-not-show-159/

The Lord's Taverners six-a-side tournament was hosted by Barry Hearn at East Hanningfield & Great Burstead Cricket Club, deep in the Essex countryside. We grabbed a word with Barry, along with the new Lord's Taverners CEO Mark Curtin and the President of the charity David Gower. Make sure you support the cricketing charity and come along to their excellent events over the summer and into the a...

Reece Topley took nine wickets in the last two ODIS against India. He followed 6-24 at Lords - England's best figures in ODIs - with 3-35 at Old Trafford. Is Test cricket now in his sights? On the back of this outstanding achievement, we spoke to proud father Don Topley, once of Essex and Surrey, about his son's incredible journey, having nearly quit the game altogether three years ago after a suc...

Ahead of the PCA England Masters match at Brentwood CC on Friday 22nd. July, Alex Tudor tells us about what the PCA means to him and explains the good work that it does. He also looks forward to the T20 Blast Finals Day this Saturday, where he will be in the commentary box for Sky and notes how it has become one of the biggest occasions on the English cricketing calendar. We also talk about his in...

Former England player, now Sky Sports commentator Mark Butcher assesses the immense turnaround in fortunes of the England Test team, who have returned to winning ways with four straight victories, breaking a miserable run of just on win in the previous seventeen games.

 This week, we bring you "Best of the Guests: Vol 2", the second in a series, where we are looking back at some of the star guests we have had on the show over the three years we have been running. In this episode, we feature our chats with Graham Gooch, Gordon Greenidge, Daryl Mitchell, Chris Woakes, Steve Harmison, Chris Lewis, Mark Pougatch, Monty Panesar, Ebony Rainford Brent, Isa Guha an...

Leading cricket writer George Dobell from "The Cricketer" magazine has written a great piece in the July issue about Kevin Pietersen's proposals to revive the fortunes of county cricket in England; is his idea of doing away with the counties and replacing them with franchises going to work? 

Fresh from a jaunt to the Caribbean to cover the u19s World Cup, Charles Dagnall returns to cover the white ball summer on Sky Sports. Entertaining and forthright as ever, he doesn't hold back on his views and gives his unique perspective from the commentary box. He also tells us about a gig he is doing with TMS commentator Henry Moeran to raise money for the Teenage Cancer Trust in September at T...

 We mark our third birthday with a look back at some of the amazing guests we have had on the show - we have had to pinch ourselves recalling some of the great moments we have had. In fact there have been so many highlights, that we may well have to do a Volume 2, but in the meantime, here is "The Best of The Guests" featuring memorable moments with Rob Key, Allan Lamb, Sir Clive Lloyd, Daren...

There is a lot of discussion currently about the cost of attending top class cricket matches. In a time dubbed as "the cost of living crisis", is charging £35 to watch a Vitality Blast match, up to £160 to attend the Test match at Lord's and even worse, £100 for u16s to enter the home of cricket sending the right message. We discuss the issue with cricket bloggers Debbie Knight and Richard Clarke...

Unbelievably, it's already five years since legendary commentator and national treasure Henry Blofeld retired from the BBC TMS box. Here, we find out what "Blowers" has been unto since and get him to recount some wonderful recollections including doing Jaegerbombs with Shane Warne, driving a vintage Rolls Royce from London to Bombay, dinner with The Queen and Prince Philip, as well as being caught...

We caught up with Monty to talk mental health and life after cricket, including his participation in the recent BBC2 series "Pilgrimage", which is available to watch on BBC iPlayer.

With the announcement of Ben Stokes, we spoke to former England captain David Gower about the highs and lows of being the England test captain. A fascinating chat he recalls some of the moments from his illustrious career and speaks about his transition to the commentary box and also his current position as President of the Lord's Taverners.

One of South African cricket's most exciting prospects Grant Roelofsen has arrived in the UK to take part in the English summer season. Less than 24 hours after touching down at Heathrow Airport, Grant was in action for Billericay Cricket Club and hit an impressive 177 on debut. He joined us in the studio to talk about this amazing performance and how much he was looking forward to playing in Engl...

New ECB Managing Director of Cricket Rob ey has announced the appointment of Ben Stokes as the New England Men's Test captain. On this week's show, Dazza and Webby ask if this is the right choice and weigh up the pros and cons of him being in the role.

Daren and Paul discuss Wisden's criticism of the ECB and Tom Harrison and ask if it was right that an alleged £2.1 million bonus was handed out. Should it have been handed back and could more have been done to help the domestic game, righting some of the wrongs of the last couple of years? We also question the merit of awarding Sky a new ten-year deal to cover cricket and was there a missed opport...

Johnny Barran has been in Kathmandu covering a trip-series tournament and the first thing we learn is that we have all been pronouncing Nepal all wrong?!?! He talks about the rise of cricket in the region and how Nepal are climbing the ICC rankings with the aim of taking a place at cricket's top table. Johnny tells us about his adventures on a remarkable tour to a country that was high on his Wish...

We caught up with TMS commentator and lover of sashimi Daniel Norcross on his birthday!

Richard Clark aka "The Grumbler" joins us to talk about the first round of County Championship matches that got underway last week. 

The ICC Women's World Cup reached a thrilling climax, with the holders England meeting the tournament favourites Australia in the Final. In a thrilling climax, Australia ran home winners, but not without England putting up a tremendous fight. The fact that England made it so far after looking don and out after losing their first three games is an incredible achievement in itself. GEORGIE HEATH cov...

As England conclude another disastrous red ball tour and their miserable run of winning only one of their last seventeen Tests continues, we caught up with Paul Newman to try and get a sense of what keeps going wrong and ask about the possible solutions. He also previews the domestic season, which begins next week, and says a few words about the late Shane Warne.

Ahead of the Barbados Test match between West Indies and England, we caught up with the former West Indies fast bowler Ian Bishop. He spoke about playing alongside legends such as Viv Richards, Brian Lara and Curtley Ambrose and remembers the moment he found out he was first selected for the West Indies. Of course, these days, he is a familiar voice in the commentary box and he revealed the story...