The Final Word Cricket Podcast

It's Story Time, our walk through cricket history via your listener quiz challenges. This week, Adam and Geoff are back together and heading back to Italy in the 1940s, via a detour to Spain in the 2020s. A couple of long-running clues are finally broken down, piece by piece, as we discover some Mary Poppins history, dual-sport families, and place a great of the game in a different space and time....

Season 18, Episode 26: It is true: The Final Word has turned 10. Technically our first episode was released on July 23, 2015, but July 23 this year was in the middle of a rather busy Test match and Test series, so we thought we'd wait for a quieter moment. It's a good chance to sit and take stock of what has happened, as a quiet side project done for the fun of it has become such a big part of our...

Season 18, Episode 25: Top End cricket is happening with Australia and South Africa in Darwin, but our attention is on Leicestershire league cricket where the umpiring controversy of the millennium has blown up. That also leads to the story of how Bharat got banned from a local tournament. In other news, the idea of separate divisions in Test cricket is gathering steam, as is the possible sale of...

It's Story Time, our walk through cricket history via your listener quiz challenges. This week, an unexpected detour into the World War II battle for the Gothic Line in Italy, via a search for a captaincy Bannerman. Also, the Hindu bridge between India and Indonesia, an underappreciated bridging of an era, and a battle of the slowest slow men. Bharat Sundaresan joins Geoff Lemon. Your Nerd Pledge...

Season 18, Episode 24: The Hundred is here – a competition that divides opinion and likely always will. But what do the players think? Especially those who’ve made careers in the shorter forms? Benny Howell is one of them. At the start of his journey he was an opening bat, but over the last decade or more he’s been the man with a million slower balls. The pioneering 36-year-old begins another seas...

England India Daily, 5th Test, The Oval, Day 6: It's all over bar the podcast reviews. A intense few weeks with 25 days of Test cricket, much of high quality, some of it less so, but all of it entertaining. Daniel Norcross has been your steadfast guide through those weeks, and joins Geoff Lemon for an outside view of what has been a truly memorable contest. Support the show with a Nerd Pledge at ⁠...

England India Daily, 5th Test, The Oval, Day 5: A series as good as this deserved a finish as good as this. It should have been a stroll for England on the final day, needing 35 runs with four wickets in hand - even if one of those wickets was Chris Woakes with his arm in a sling. The fact that Woakes had to walk out to bat will tell you that things didn't go that smoothly. India's tour hero Moham...

England India Daily, 5th Test, The Oval, Day 4: So we go to Day 25 of the series, with 35 runs or 3 wickets to decide the fate of the series. Unless Chris Woakes can bat? For most of Day 4 it looked like another England miracle was panning out, thanks largely to Harry Brook and Joe Root, as Mohammed Siraj and company toiled. But with wickets falling near the end, India’s bowlers will get one last...

England India Daily, 5th Test, The Oval, Day 3: It was Yashasvi Jaiswal’s day at The Oval, as India pressed home the advantage of a weakened and inexperienced England attack. What a knock from the opener. 50s from Akash Deep and Ravindra Jadeja, and late fireworks from Washington Sundar kept the foot on the throat of the weary hosts. And to top it off, a Mohammed Siraj yorker to castle Zak Crawley...

England India Daily, 5th Test, The Oval, Day 2: An emotional day at The Oval, honouring recently departed legend Graham Thorpe, saw some of the most riveting passages of a gripping series. Momentum swung back and forth as runs came quickly and wickets fell in clusters. But which team has the upper hand? And will the tension boil over on what should be the decisive day of the series on Saturday? Ca...

England India Daily, 5th Test, The Oval, Day 1: Rain threatened to spoil the party, then an extended final session saw plenty happen for both teams before the close, but what is a good score on a pitch offering plenty? A wild but rewarding return for Josh Tongue, but a concerning end for Chris Woakes, who was in significant pain from a shoulder injury. Meanwhile, our man Karun Nair earned the chan...

England India Daily, 4th Test, Old Trafford Review: They're dropping like flies after 20 days of Test cricket in this series. Ben Stokes had his arm fall off, Jofra Archer and Brydon Carse won't bowl for England, Rishabh Pant will miss for India, and Jasprit Bumrah will be a morning-one decision. Adam and Daniel Norcross look at all the permutations, and give you the inside track on The Oval's unc...

Season 18, Episode 23: With each meeting of the ICC board, the direction of travel becomes clearer. Two tiers of Test cricket, with less time to play it, thanks to the return of the Champions League, the likely sale of the Big Bash, and the upcoming focus on Olympic qualifiers - all of that is now more likely, as the reports come in and the working groups keep meeting. The canaries in the coalmine...

England India Daily, 4th Test, Old Trafford Day 6: The reactions to the final hour of play at Old Trafford have been plentiful and wild. We take a deep dive into what this means for the upcoming fifth Test on Thursday. Firstly, who shook whose hand and when? What could have been done differently to end yesterday’s game? And who will England choose in their bowling lineup? Josh Tongue, Gus Atkinson...

England India Daily, 4th Test, Old Trafford Day 5: How did India turn this around? After losing two wickets in the opening over, only two more were lost across five sessions and 143 overs. Why is England so ineffective with the old ball? And will it be three new quick bowlers for The Oval? And will the bitter ending, as Ravindra Jadeja and Washington Sundar crawled towards centuries, add spice to...

England India Daily, 4th Test, Old Trafford Day 4: KL Rahul and Shubman Gill dug in after the series looked over when losing two immediate wickets in their second dig. Can they keep India’s series hopes alive tomorrow? Ben Stokes scored a typically pugilistic century, but at what cost to his fitness? Will he be able to bowl tomorrow? With the series on the line, an intriguing Day 5 in Manchester a...

England India Daily, 4th Test, Old Trafford Day 3: Joe Root moved into second spot on the list of all-time Test run-makers on a day where India’s bowlers toiled. What has changed in England’s batting mindset this series? And how do you explain the diminishing returns of Jasprit Bumrah against the top-order? The day belongs to Root, with his 150 taking him past Jacques Kallis and Ricky Ponting. Can...

England India Daily, 4th Test, Old Trafford Day 2: Zak Crawley continued his love of the Old Trafford pitch as he and Ben Duckett set up a potential first innings lead for England, but can they arrest their aversion to centuries? India’s bowlers shook off a sleepy start to finish the day strongly, however, and Jasprit Bumrah (who else) caused trouble as stumps drew near. It was the worst possible...

England India Daily, 4th Test, Old Trafford Day 1:  A return to the more familiar slate skies of cricket in England, but will India’s mood be made greyer by the foot injury to their talisman Rishabh Pant? A hard-fought day, but who ended up on top? It was a rewarding one for Sai Sudharshan and Liam Dawson, and tomorrow shapes as pivotal with Ravindra Jadeja and Shardul Thakur facing the new ball....

England India Daily, 4th Test, Old Trafford Preview: How is the better team down 2-1 in this series? This Test is massive, and India has reinforced the point by selecting Jasprit Bumrah for the third time this series. We mythbust the Old Trafford pitch and wonder if that means India revert to Ravindra Jadeja as the sole spinner. And what about the weather forecast? It’s all set up not only for an...

Book Club 11: Max Bonnell - Brick by Brick: the Australian Cricketers in England 1964 The Ashes series of that summer gets a pretty bad rap. That’s understandable given one of the five Tests had a winner, and the Old Trafford batathon is an emblem of where that decade was less than captivating. But off the field, it was transformative. Specifically that summer, with Beatlemania at its peak and the...

It's Story Time, our walk through cricket history via your listener quiz challenges. This week, an ever-lively Daniel Norcross tells us all about a Surrey star scuppered by internal politics and an England stumper who kept on keeping on way into the night. Between times, Adam drops in to go back to a belter of a Test on Australia's marathon tour of 1964 before reflecting on when Virat Kohli was at...

Season 18, Episode 22: It's the end of our Caribbean trip, so Geoff and Bharat convene in the hammock one more time to look over what happened here, and what has been happening in the world more broadly. It has been a pleasure to cover a Test tour here, even if we fear that it may be the last chance to do so. On our last night, the moon is setting. Support the show with a Nerd Pledge at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠...

England India Daily, 3rd Test, Lord’s Review: It was a hot one at Lord’s, with the old-fashioned ebb and flow Test match returning. After what was essentially a two-day shootout, the result was a new record for Lord’s. Jofra Archer also broke records, but what is his career trajectory? As for longevity, will Ben Stokes’ herculean efforts come back to haunt him? For India, will Ravindra Jadeja regr...

West Indies Australia Daily, 3rd Test, Kingston Day 3: It's hard to put this one into words. Not often that you witness an utter sporting annhiliation, but today West Indies honestly hit the lowest ebb in a century-long and deeply proud cricket history. They're in the 27 Club, and they might not be coming back. On the other hand, we saw a hat-trick! Support the show with a Nerd Pledge at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠...