The Final Word Cricket Podcast

New Zealand England Daily, 2nd Test, Wellington Day 2: England's day. England's match. England's series. Day two finishes with England 533 ahead and showing no signs of stopping. Atkinson takes a hat-trick. Is Bethell England's next No.3? And what on earth has happened to New Zealand. Cameron Ponsonby and Jeremy Coney have it all. Come to our live shows! Brisbane December 12 Melbourne December 22...

Australia India Daily, 2nd Test, Adelaide Day 1: Goodness. Australia came into this game with an advantage in pink-ball cricket, and they needed somebody to take it. Well, Mitchell Starc did. But that was only half of the equation. Could the Aussies withstand Bumrah with the ball? Well, kinda. Meanwhile, we love Nitish Reddy more with each knock, Scotty Boland was back in action, and there was Hal...

New Zealand England Daily, 2nd Test, Wellington Day 1: Have England already won the series? On a day where only three batters made above 20, Brook got 123 and was amazing. England looked in all sorts of trouble at numerous points in time, but somehow, a late Brydon Carse burst has them on the brink of victory. Come to our live shows! Brisbane December 12 Melbourne December 22 Sydney January 7 Tick...

Australia India Daily, 2nd Test, Adelaide Day 0: After India battered Australia in Perth, there has been a 10-day break for the home team to get their breath back. They're down one bowler in Josh Hazlewood, and we know who the replacement will be. India, meantime, could pick just about anybody. And is Jaiswal enjoying his final months of low-profile living before stepping into Kohli's spotlight? C...

Season 17, Episode 14: Before taking off for Adelaide, Adam and Geoff reflect on an Australian attack that might be in transition earlier than we thought. Beyond the BGT, we farewell Ian Redpath, who has passed away at age 83, celebrate the Renegades, who have won the WBBL for the first time, and congratulate the incoming CA boss - he has a big job ahead. Plenty more, from WTC implications to the...

It's Story Time, our walk through cricket history via your listener quiz challenges. This week, in the Sherrin Stand at Victoria Park in Melbourne, we back to Napoleonic times to discuss whether we have newly encountered one of the most unpleasant characters in the history of the game. Later, some tales of things that might have been, ranging from Imran Khan to Mike Hussey to the magic of Ben Holl...

New Zealand England Daily, 1st Test, Christchurch Day 4: England cruise to an eight-wicket win to go one-nil up in the series. New Zealand had their chances at the start, but eight drops later and England had a comfortable win. Should Tim Southee play in Wellington? Should Ollie Pope keep the gloves? How good are Brydon Carse and Jacob Bethell? All this and more from Cameron Ponsonby and Jeremy Co...

New Zealand England Daily, 1st Test, Christchurch Day 3: Turns out if you drop eight catches, it's hard to win. England dominate day three in Christchurch and finish close to securing a win. Only a near-miracle will save New Zealand now. Runs for Ben Stokes. Gus Atkinson and Brydon Carse are good and Chris Woakes had a good day overseas. Who'd have thunk it. Cameron Ponsonby and Jeremy Coney have...

New Zealand England Daily, 1st Test, Christchurch Day 2: Use your hands New Zealand. What are you doing!? Harry Brook is very good at batting, so the Kiwis let him ton up and England get ahead in the game. Should Ollie Pope have actually scored runs or is that silly? Nathan Smith was good on debut. Come to our live shows! Adelaide December 5 Brisbane December 12 Melbourne December 22 Sydney Januar...

New Zealand England Daily, 1st Test, Christchurch Day 1: New Zealand chuck it away. From 199 for three to 319 for eight, it's level, but England are happier. Kane Williamson is back and in the runs, Shoaib Bashir takes 4fer on a day one green top. But, was it good bowling or did the Black Caps just get it wrong after tea. Cameron Ponsonby is joined by Jeremy Coney to discuss it all. Come to our li...

Season 17, Episode 13: Okay, we didn't get the dots on, but we did record at Perth's gorgeous campus where for two decades bowlers with suspect actions visited from everywhere. Aaron Chin, a biomechanist who worked on the project, tells us all about it. Earlier, it is everything-other-than-the-BGT on our agenda, including a trip over to Christchurch with Cam Ponsonby. There's also a light-touch IP...

Australia India Daily, 1st Test, Perth review: With the Test done in four days, the dust has not remotely settled. Australia got smashed, the people want change, and the McDonald-Cummins management team wants calm and stability. Those things don't align. Adam and Geoff run over some of the things Australia need to consider, and the good selection problems in India's future. Come to our live shows!...

Australia India Daily, 1st Test, Perth Day 4: It happened, not exactly in the way we thought it might, but it happened. There was plenty of fun on the fourth and final day for Travis Head and Mitchell Marsh, time for a little more artistry from Jasprit Bumrah, and some fine backup work from Mohammad Siraj and Harshit Rana. A result in Perth that will live long in Test annals. Come to our live show...

Australia India Daily, 1st Test, Perth Day 3: The way things seemed to be going was the way they continued, as India made Australia work in the way that Australia usually makes visiting teams work. This match could have huge ramifications within the sport, but let's focus on the here and now: a day for Jaiswal first, Kohli second, and Bumrah third, with its dramatic denouement. Come to our live sh...

Australia India Daily, 1st Test, Perth Day 2: This match was spiralling out of control, and now it has been dragged back to an even keel. An abrupt gear shift in Test cricket, featuring one of the longer and slower last-wicket partnerships you're likely to see, then one of the longer and slower opening stands that modern cricket is likely to produce. Day 2 ends with India with a great chance to sh...

Australia India Daily, 1st Test, Perth Day 1: Whooo was expecting that? Was it a good bowl-first day? We still don't know, because everybody got out, on both teams. A fast-bowling clinic from across the world united, in a day full of thrills and not very many spills. Come to our live shows! Adelaide December 5 Brisbane December 12 Melbourne December 22 Sydney January 7 Tickets at linktr.ee/thefina...

Australia India Daily, 1st Test, Perth Day 0: We're about to start! Five Tests to come, and Adam and Geoff are together at a very windy non-WACA. Come to our live shows! Perth November 21, Adelaide December 5, Brisbane December 12, Melbourne December 22, Sydney January 7. Get tickets at linktr.ee/thefinalword Support the show with a Nerd Pledge at patreon.com/thefinalword Maurice Blackburn Lawyers...

Season 17, Episode 12: It's Test season, it's Perth, and the band is almost back together. Geoff will join Adam tomorrow for the preview day and the Final Word live show, but before that we need to get a read on the BGT, and Josh Hazlewood's pre-game thoughts. A lot more to cover, including the end of India's dominant T20 International year via Sanju Samson, more chaos in Pakistan with Jason Gille...

The Greatest Season That Was - The Final Frontier episode 4 – Adam Gilchrist: During the last Border-Gavaskar Trophy series in Australia, the pulsating summer of 2020-21, The Greatest Season That Was pod focused its attention on the relationship between the cricketing giants over the decades, some 20 years from the staggering 2001 encounter in India. When Australia arrived in Mumbai, the stakes we...

Some news. Due to Maxi's playing schedule being a bit unclear after the Pakistan series, we've decided to play it safe and push back our Melbourne show to the 22nd of December. Sorry to those who booked for the earlier date - ultimately, we didn't think it was right to run the gauntlet with the possibility he would need to pull out of his own book launch. In the process of making this shift, we've...

It's Story Time, our walk through cricket history via your listener quiz challenges. This week, the little-known twist of how cricket's most famous mathematicians nearly ended up with a Hawaiian feel – one we’re determined to embrace from this point forward. We then get into WA’s remarkable first Shield season and the characters who made it so. Later, the rarity and oddity of a very unusual ton, b...

Season 17, Episode 11: Eating disorders are not something associated with cricketers, especially opening bowlers. But this was the lot of in life for Ethan Bamber during the pandemic: trying to exert control, for a time he lost it entirely. This is far from the whole picture when it comes to a very capable seamer who is on the move from Lord’s to Edgbaston after seven seasons at Middlesex – the 25...

Season 17, Episode 10: Geoff and Adam are back together at last, after 5000 miles on American roads and a lot more distance in the psyche. After catching up on events there, we have big announcements for our live shows, thoughts on the many unlucky Australian openers, the suddenly inflated worries facing the touring Indian Test side, Michael Neser's terrible luck, and the World Test Championship m...

The Greatest Season That Was - The Final Frontier episode 3 – Damien Fleming: During the last Border-Gavaskar Trophy series in Australia, the pulsating summer of 2020-21, The Greatest Season That Was pod focused its attention on the relationship between the cricketing giants over the decades, some 20 years from the staggering 2001 encounter in India. The previous time the sides met was in Adelaide...

It's Story Time, our walk through cricket history via your listener quiz challenges. This week, how did Warney nearly become the PM’s XI captain? Via texts with the PM, of course. It’s a fixture we spend some time on, including going back to Bradman and Lillee’s final Australian fixtures. But what about the tie The Don was captained just before his mighty First Class career ended? This is riveting...