The Final Word Cricket Podcast

2024 T20 World Cup, Day 24.1: India v Australia What a performance from India’s captain. With Australia needing to win to realistically keep their hopes alive, he never let them settle with a bombastic display of power play hitting. From there, everything needed to go right for Mitch Marsh’s team and it didn’t. Geoff watched live it in the flesh at St Lucia; he’s with Adam who has a fever. Fun! Su...

2024 T20 World Cup, Day 23.2: South Africa v West Indies It was effectively a knockout, so the spectre of a South African choke was always on. They bowled well, restricted the scoring, then saw the rain come down and change the equation. Andre Russell wasn't letting the game go, nor was Alzarri Joseph, but could Marco Jansen flip the script? Support the show with a Nerd Pledge at patreon.com/thefi...

2024 T20 World Cup, Day 23.1: England v USA Despite it being not even eight days ago, it feels an eternity since England were on the brink of being bounced out of this tournament early. Well, they're now the second team qualified for the semi-finals and hitting the best form as we enter the games that matter most. Which isn't to say there wasn't plenty riding on this: not only did Jos Butter's sid...

2024 T20 World Cup, Day 22.2: Australia v Afghanistan After their all-timer in Mumbai at last year's one-day World Cup, and the boycotting of bilateral series, this encounter was always going to have some extra interest. And on a difficult track in St Vincent, Afghanistan showed up to the party ready to dance. Gurbaz and Ibrahim started it, Gulbadin finished it off, but along the way they had to c...

2024 T20 World Cup, Day 22.1: India v Bangladesh After a polished performance against Bangladesh, this increasingly feels like the question – can anyone match India when they are close to their best? What’s certain is they have every base covered and are hitting their high notes at just the right time. Adam and Geoff are back together to review the favourites and reflect on another poor showing fr...

2024 T20 World Cup, Day 21.2: West Indies v USA We have seen signs over the last week that the Windies are emerging as one of the biggest contenders for this World Cup, a suggestion that will grow yet further after becoming the first team to beat up the USA. In a first for Final Word Daillies, it's Daniel Norcross as the solo host (blame Ben Jones' wifi) and he does a terrific job of explaining wh...

2024 T20 World Cup, Day 21.1: England v South Africa It was back to Group 2, for the unbeaten South Africans taking on the newly awakened English. Quinton de Kock was a coaled-up train, but the rest of his heavy hitters found it hard to ride along. Jofra Archer was bad, then great, then better. Harry Brook and Liam Livingstone had the game in their hands, but the breeze kept ruffling those palms....

2024 T20 World Cup, Day 20.2, Super 8s, Australia v Bangladesh Bangladesh scraped into the second stage of this tournament after a poor group stage, and had an opportunity to show that they could lift to the next level in Antigua. They didn't do it. Australia, meanwhile, produced one of the most quintessential Australia performances you can imagine. At least we saw a big snail. Henry Moeran joins...

2024 T20 World Cup, Day 20.1: India v Afghanistan Not everything is going easily for India. Rohit and Kohli are having their troubles at the top. Dube isn’t making an impression. But with Rishabh Pant and Suryakumar Yadav in your side, there is always some fun to be had, and that’s before Jasprit Bumrah comes on. Afghanistan, meanwhile, brought back a heavy hitter in Hazratullah Zazai, but they do...

2024 T20 World Cup, Day 19.2: West Indies v England After England scraped through the group stage and West Indies battered Afghanistan on the same ground two nights prior, the stage was set for some heavy hitting on the first day of the Super 8s. But some parts were not as heavy as anticipated, and the biggest influence might have been down to the spinners like Akeal Hosein and Adil Rashid, before...

T20 World Cup Daily, 2024, Day 19.1: South Africa v USA The Americans are the story of this tournament. And sure, they weren't good enough to get over the Proteas at Antigua to begin this Super 8s stage, but they came ever so close, showing again why they really do belong at this level. Bharat Sundaresan was at the game and he's with Adam Collins. Support the show with a Nerd Pledge at patreon.com...

T20 World Cup Daily, 2024, Day 18: West Indies v Afghanistan The game happened on Day 17, but we talked about it on Day 18, after the pool stage came to an end. It was all about the flexing in the final group game in St Lucia, as West Indies' top order created mayhem through the first six overs, Nicholas Pooran did more at the end, and Gulbadin Naib tried to match them with his wardrobe choices. A...

Season 16, Episode 20: The research is clear: the effects of the climate emergency on cricket will be significant and the horrible floods and storms in Florida last week, ruining three World Cup games in the process, is but one example. It's not a fun topic but one that demands ongoing attention. In happier news, how does Scotland go about making the next step to Full Member status? We take a clos...

T20 World Cup Daily, 2024, Day 17: New Zealand v Papua New Guinea, Netherlands v Sri Lanka Baseball has the shut-out. Ten-pin bowling has the perfect game. Cricket never really has, but perhaps that will change. Far more rare than a hat-trick was Lockie Ferguson's world record feat, as Trent Boult announced his NZ retirement. In the double-header the night before, Nepal once again nearly pulled of...

T20 World Cup Daily, 2024, Day 16: Pakistan v Ireland; Australia v Scotland A shocker of a game ends the Group A adventure, Pakistan doing marginally less worse with the bat than Ireland to take the points in Florida. Far more interesting was the stoush last night in St Lucia where Scotland couldn’t quite get the job done against Australia, desperately unlucky to be going home having so nearly top...

T20 World Cup Daily, 2024, Day 15.2: England v Namibia, Uganda v NZ The rain came, the rain stayed, but with little time to spare the rain eventually left. England's campaign was not washed out, they had the chance to decide it themselves with an 11-over match that soon became 10. Meanwhile, Uganda's triumph in making it to this tournament came to its end against a similarly homeward bound New Zea...

T20 World Cup Daily, 2024, Day 15.1: India v Canada, Nepal v South Africa More rain in Florida washed out another game, the flood mixing with the tears of TV broadcasters at losing an India match. But while it was lower billing, the Nepal and South Africa game from the night before ended up with the best finish of the tournament. Cameron Ponsonby and Daniel Norcross report from Miami. Support the...

It's Story Time, our walk through cricket history via your listener quiz challenges. This week, a Dusty Old Bastard with a twist - an ideas man with fast hands who loved his state. Or did he love a dead queen? We also go near and far for milestones just missed in women's Tests, take more than an initial look at the longest name in first-class cricket, and hear the most satisfying ringtone cricket...

T20 World Cup Daily, 2024, Day 14: USA v Ireland, Afghanistan v PNG As the rain falls in Florida, the USA go through! Into the Super Eights thanks to an extra point from the no result, along with Afghanistan who towelled up Papua New Guinea to go top of their group. We reflect on a momentous night and day in World Cup cricket. Support the show with a Nerd Pledge at patreon.com/thefinalword Enter t...

T20 World Cup Daily, 2024, Day 13: England v Oman, West Indies v NZ, Sri Lanka v Nepal, Netherlands v Bangladesh. After all of those days of talking about England's net run rate, it turns out there was nothing to worry about. The equation changed sharply after today's game in Antigua. No such luck for New Zealand, Sri Lanka, or Nepal, though Bangladesh have helped their chances and Netherlands sta...

T20 World Cup Daily, 2024, Day 12: India v USA The last day on Long Island came down to this. Group leaders India versus surprise packet the USA. And it was another close-fought contest. Support the show with a Nerd Pledge at patreon.com/thefinalword Enter the Westfield UK competition: win gift vouchers or your own T20 World Cup final party at Sixes. westfield.com/united-kingdom/tfw Find previous...

T20 World Cup Daily, 2024, Day 11: Pakistan v Canada As far as must-win games go, this was very must and not very win for Pakistan, who once again had to wade into the fray at New York's new cricket stadium, and faced another cricket upstart with big energy in Canada. Aaron Johnson smashed a bunch, and it took all of Pakistan's fast-bowling wiles to keep things under control. Then, it was once mor...

Season 16, Episode 19: David 'Bumble' Lloyd was one of our most entertaining guests way back in the early days of the pandemic. He's back with us today to check in after making 88 not out on debut for the Lancashire Over 70s last week and he has his eye on some unfinished business from 1974-75... a return to the England team? The voice of associate cricket, Andrew Leonard, is also on the show afte...

T20 World Cup Daily, 2024, Day 10: South Africa v Bangladesh, Scotland v Oman Another New York day, another last-ball thriller, another low-scoring run chase. Once again South Africa struggled early before The Wolf cleaned up the scene. Once again a run-a-ball chase ended up being far tighter than it had any right to be, and once again Anrich Nortje among others was unhittable. In last night's gam...

T20 World Cup Daily, 2024, Day 9: India v Pakistan The Big Bertha of cricket matches came around at last, with the Nassau Stadium on Long Island packed to capacity. The pitch was better than other games at this ground, but the contest was no less tight, with every run a struggle for both sides. As it came down to a close finish, the question was whether Pakistan's nerve would hold where it has fai...