The Final Word Cricket Podcast

World Cup Daily 2023, Day 34: MAXWELLBALL. What else can we say? Is this the greatest night of our lives? Perhaps it is. The most extraordinary innings in the history of one-day cricket was played tonight in Mumbai, something that we will never forget. Come for a stroll with us. Support the show with a Nerd Pledge at patreon.com/thefinalword Find out what's fun at Westfield London and Westfield St...

Season 15, Episode 8: Imagine someone dynamiting the Louvre. The cricket equivalent has happened, with the magical YouTube channel Robelinda2 being brought down by some vandals with spurious copyright complaints. We speak to Rob Moody about his life's cricketing work, the last fortnight, and what comes next. Plus next year's World Cup qualifiers, a supposed makeover for Perth Test cricket, and a N...

World Cup Daily 2023, Day 33: Sri Lanka and Bangladesh already hated each other before, so they really hate each other now. In Delhi late in a frustrating campaign for both teams, Angelo Mathews became the first player ever to be dismissed "timed out" in an international match. How did it happen and what does it mean? Plus we'll look at, you know, the game, which was a good one. Support the show w...

Episode 1 - Why 99? In 2019 on The Greatest Season That Was, Adam made a 12-part series exploring whether the 1999 ODI World Cup swas the most interesting global tournament. With Dan Brettig (The Age) and Shannon Gill (Code Sports), they spoke with many of the key players and administrators across seven weeks. On the basis that you'll probably enjoy what was pulled together back then, we are re-re...

World Cup Daily 2023, Day 32: Has a team ever bossed the group stage of World Cup to the extent India have this one? Cam Ponsonby and Adam consider this question after the men in blue handed out their latest hiding, the Proteas thrashed by 243 runs in the top-of-the-table clash at Eden Gardens. Setting it up, it had to be Virat Kohli - on his 35th birthday, the modern great pulled level with Sachi...

World Cup Daily 2023, Day 31.2: Pakistan kept England alive for a couple of hours, but then they had to do their own work to stay there. Australia battled early, Smith and Labuschagne took us on holiday to Spain, Adam Zampa had some fun and then some more fun, and Ben Stokes kept trying to get up that damn mountain with Dawid Malan for sombre company. A big night at the mausoleum in Ahmedabad, as...

World Cup Daily 2023, Day 31: Pakistan make half the runs and win the game? Cricket, it's a beautiful thing. The poor old Black Caps, meanwhile, have smashed 401 and lost. The difference: Final Word fave Fakhar Zaman, with a 62-ball ton. And with that, the race for fourth spot is well and truly alive. Cam Ponsonby is with Adam, recorded at his local pub in North London before they head to the foot...

World Cup Daily 2023, Day 30: A match that a few weeks ago looked uneventful ended up with a lot riding on it. The two unfancied teams of the tournament had their most realistic shot at points against one another, to go with their less likely victories from earlier in the tournament. But it was a bizarre period of running that really decided the match, plus another clinical chase from a pair makin...

It's Story Time, our weekly walk through cricket history via your listener quiz challenges. This week, Adam has Bharat Sundaresan in the co-hosting chair and they settle into a theme: fathers and sons. Some of the stories, like a couple of Australia/West Indies ODIs from the glory days, are lovely. The passing of Final Word fave Johnny Won't Hit Today, alongside his old man, is tragic. Between tim...

World Cup Daily 2023, Day 29: There are thrashings. There are bashings. Then there is this. Kohli, Gill, Shreyas. Shami, Bumrah, Siraj. Everyone got in on the act, on a statistically historic night at the Wankhede. Support the show with a Nerd Pledge at patreon.com/thefinalword Find out what's fun at Westfield London and Westfield Stratford City – More extra, less ordinary! https://www.westfield.c...

World Cup Daily 2023, Day 28: The third tough assignment in a row for the Black Caps, and a chance for South Africa to continue winning ways and beat a team with a strong record over them in World Cups. There was a surprising decision at the toss in Pune, and more national records falling to the blade of Quinton de Kock, while Jimmy Neesham had another night in the wars. Support the show with a Ne...

Season 15, Episode 7: We've reached the stage of the World Cup where very few teams have been eliminated yet it is the four who are currently in the semi-final positions who would need to trip up badly to not feature in the big games in a few weeks from now. England are one of those - their last week was even worse than the one before, which really took some doing. After all that, we take a look s...

World Cup Daily 2023, Day 27: After dropping four on the trot, Pakistan are alive again. Well, they'll need everything to go right to make the semis, but they have easily accounted for Bangladesh, who are the first team formally eliminated. And for the green machine, it's Shaheen and Fakhar looking the goods - a couple of matchwinners who can beat anyone on their day. Cam Ponsonby joins Adam, as G...

Book Club 2: Lawrence Booth & Nick Hoult - Bazball, The Inside Story of a Test Cricket Revolution. The Bazball era demanded a book, and there’s nobody better for the task than two senior reporters who have been on our show many times. Drawing on years of close experience with England teams, and with the insight from speaking to the key players, they’ve done a brilliant job. When the book hit shelv...

World Cup Daily 2023, Day 26: They've done it again! Every time we think that Afghanistan's tournament of beating more established teams is done, they knock off another. Three excellent wins now, this the most clinical of the lot. Sri Lanka would have backed themselves at the innings break but were nowhere near it - and neither Rashid Khan nor Rahmanullah Gurbaz even had to star. Support the show...

It's Story Time, our weekly walk through cricket history via your listener quiz challenges. This week, the best yarn we've ever happened upon? For the characters involved, and the sheer madness of it all, Sydney's 1879 riot now has a claim to that title. Earlier, we welcomed a new Tich to fold, discussed the beauty of being a cricket-loving kid during the summer of 1992-93, and then made the case,...

World Cup Daily 2023, Day 25: We know that England's campaign has been a disaster, but this was a final exclamation mark. What looked like it would be a thrashing in one direction became a thrashing in the other. Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami turned on some fast-bowling brilliance, after Chris Woakes and David Willey did something similar. With Rohit Sharma the only player to pass 50, a remark...

World Cup Daily 2023, Day 24.2: What a performance from the Dutch. Bouncing back from an Australian hiding and early trouble with the bat, they’ve gone on to dish out a thrashing of their own to the battling Bangladesh, securing a second excellent win in this tournament. Adam has Vithushan Ehantharajah with him for the second part of the Saturday double-header. Support the show with a Nerd Pledge...

World Cup Daily 2023, Day 24: A stone cold classic! Two in two days for this World Cup, as Australia racked up a huge total before New Zealand were set fair pursuing an impossible chase. Rachin Ravindra is a genius. Travis Head returned with a bang, a crash, and a wallop. Nobody can stop David Warner. Glenn Phillips was NZ's miracle man. Pat Cummins made the big calls. Jimmy Neesham was a wonder....

World Cup Daily 2023, Day 23: At last, after 23 days of the tournament, we finally had a close finish. Nine wickets down, drama and nerves as a chase unfolded. Rizwan, Babar, Shadab and Saud Shakeel did their bit. Tabraiz Shamsi came in for South Africa and bowled well. Aiden Markram continues to operate at a higher level, and Haris Rauf combined with Shaheen Afridi to rattle the final stages. Thi...

World Cup Daily 2023, Day 22: England, it's been wonderful. They've been the best white-ball team for the better part of the last eight years, dual world champions and all the rest, but that ended once and for all at Bangalore with Sri Lanka handing Jos Buttler's side their biggest beating yet in a tournament where nothing has gone to plan. As for Kusal Mendis' men, they now look the most likely t...

World Cup Daily 2023, Day 21: Is this the best day of our lives? Anyone who has heard this show knows that we love Glenn Maxwell. Today, as part of a stunning Australian performance in Delhi, he stole the show. Records were set, broken, and blasted into space. Come along for the ride. Support the show with a Nerd Pledge at patreon.com/thefinalword Find out what's fun at Westfield London and Westfi...

Season 15, Episode 6: From world champions to the cusp of elimination with a month to go in this tournament - England are, by any measure, under the pump. Vithushan Ehantharajah jumps back in the co-hosting chair alongside Adam to work this through before running the rule over the new round of contracts. They also acknowledge the passing of a true champion in Bishan Bedi. Later in the show, Laura...

World Cup Daily 2023, Day 20: How do you stop Heinrich Klaasen and David Miller in the final ten overs? That's going to be the question on the mind of all other contenders in this tournament after the Proteas did a job on Bangladesh at the death, hammering 144 of the best in the final ten overs. From there, despite another Mahmudullah World Cup ton, the Tigers were never in the hunt. With Geoff on...

World Cup Daily 2023, Day 19: Afghanistan and Pakistan at Chennai, and it was spin time - four of them picked by Afghanistan, who went into a slow-bowling battle with Babar Azam and Abdullah Shafique. Near the end it was IFTIMANIA, which pushed the score along. Then it was down to Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Ibrahim Zadran to produce another of their opening specials. Could Rahmat Shah and Hashmatullah...