The Final Word Cricket Podcast

The Ashes, 1st Test at Edgbaston, Day 0: We're almost ready. The day before the action starts, Adam and Geoff get together in the Hollies Stand - quiet now, but not for long. Support the show with a Nerd Pledge at patreon.com/thefinalword Find previous episodes at finalwordcricket.com Title track by Urthboy Visit westfield.com/united-kingdom/London to see everywhere you can eat, shop and play in E...

Season 14, Episode 19: It's only been 18 months since the last time the urn was played for but it feels like an eternity. For England, everything really has changed since Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes took over a broken side. Now, for the series this has all been leading up to - The Ashes. And they take this with Moeen Ali back in the team after having not touched a red ball for the better part...

It's Story Time, our weekly walk through cricket history via your listener quiz challenges. This week, a lot of different threads lead us back to a certain European autumn over a century ago. There is also a dusty week in Sydney, the 1008 names of Lord Shiva, one of the most forgotten domestic competitions ever, a pioneering slip catcher, and the biggest day in Birmingham. All recorded on a hot su...

World Test Championship, India v Australia Day 5: It started with expectation but it ended expeditiously. Scott Boland and those short bursts of time, hey? Find out how everything came together on the last day of the WTC final. Support the show with a Nerd Pledge at patreon.com/thefinalword Find previous episodes at finalwordcricket.com Title track by Urthboy Visit westfield.com/united-kingdom/Lon...

World Test Championship, India v Australia Day 4: You'll hear a lot about controversy today, so let's rip into it first. The catch that was, from Cameron Green off Shubman Gill. Also, more important work from Carey, and some fire and ice from Kohli and Rahane. Support the show with a Nerd Pledge at patreon.com/thefinalword Find previous episodes at finalwordcricket.com Title track by Urthboy Visit...

World Test Championship, India v Australia Day 3: A classic day at The Oval as India came back into the contest, throwing the bat and then delivering with the ball, while Australia went blow for blow at times but lacked the polish at key moments. Compelling, even though India remain behind in the contest. Ajinkya Rahane, Shardul Thakur, Pat Cummins and Scott Boland were all prominent. Support the...

World Test Championship, India v Australia Day 2: It started in a hurry with a Steve Smith hundred, but the game changed several times from there. India's bowlers did some hard work, Alex Carey combined the classy and the comical, then Australia's bowlers found something extra. Don't miss a packed day from The Oval. Support the show with a Nerd Pledge at patreon.com/thefinalword Find previous epis...

World Test Championship, India v Australia Day 1: It was long awaited, then it was here. A high-octane morning session from Mohammed Shami and Mohammed Siraj, then a spectacular riposte from Travis Head, and the anticipation was deserved. Find out all about day one from London. Support the show with a Nerd Pledge at patreon.com/thefinalword Find previous episodes at finalwordcricket.com Title trac...

WTC Final, India v Australia - preview: Two years after India slipped up in the decider against New Zealand they've made it again, this time up against Pat Cummins' Australians in a true heavyweight bout. The first Test Match to ever be played at The Oval in June, there's a lot to consider at the selection table, especially for Rohit Sharma's side - are they really going into this with Ashwin? Ada...

Season 14, Episode 18: Three years after his first appearance, Cricket Ireland chief executive Warren Deutrom returns to the show for a conversation at Lord's, looking at the structural challenges as they now stand, and the possible impact of the new ICC revenue deal. Also this week, after your hosts played their own match at Alleyn Cricket Club, England's key spinner is out of the Ashes, Josh Haz...

It's Story Time, our weekly walk through cricket history via your listener quiz challenges. This week, a show that could also have been titled Wally Grout is Grouse. Where did that word go? Before we ponder that big question, a true sensation of a tale that we had never heard before, about a player trying to take his place in the middle against all medical sense. Plus a couple of the most extraord...

England v Ireland, Lord's Day 3: The Irish had some real fun at last. The match is over in three days but not before Mark Adair and Andy McBrine got to have one of their more enjoyable days with the bat, as the sun shone munificently on a lovely Lord's Saturday. Sometimes cricket just makes you feel good, and this was one of those days. Support the show with a Nerd Pledge at patreon.com/thefinalwo...

England v Ireland, Lord's Day 2: Catch your breath after that one. More than 350 runs in two sessions of batting, most of them off the blades of two players, each of whom set a record in his own way. Ollie Pope and Ben Duckett had a carnival at Lord's on day two of the Test. Support the show with a Nerd Pledge at patreon.com/thefinalword Find previous episodes at finalwordcricket.com Title track b...

England v Ireland, Lord's Day 1: With very little surprise, we announce that it was a Stuart Broad Day. Not that the Irish didn't show some resistance, especially at the top with McCollum v McCullum. Then it was time for a light dusting of Baz things and a Rorshach Test innings from Zak Crawley. Support the show with a Nerd Pledge at patreon.com/thefinalword Find previous episodes at finalwordcric...

Season 14, Episode 17: Running the ECB is one of the toughest gigs in cricket and one that Richard Gould signed up for when returning to the game this year. With a long history as CEO at Somerset and Surrey, he knows the terrain as well as anyone. But the challenges he's inherited - at home finding a resolution to the ongoing debate around The Hundred, or on the international stage with Indian cap...

England v Ireland, Lord's Test 2023: It's almost upon us. The one-off Test at Lord's will repeat the fixture played before the Ashes of 2019, with Andrew Balbirnie's team ready to tackle England fresh off his interview with The Final Word a few weeks ago. We have a new sponsor, and the ground signage is getting very creepy. Eight Test matches in eight weeks begins... now. Support the show with a N...

Season 14, Episode 16: Geoff has landed in London and he's straight to Lord's to join Adam, who has just returned from Edinburgh where The Final Word runners did a brilliant job over the long weekend - on and off the track. When the conversation moves to cricket, Bharat jumps on to explain how the Dhoni Touch keeps touching after another CSK triumph at the IPL. There's Test cricket at HQ this week...

It's Story Time, our weekly walk through cricket history via your listener quiz challenges. This week, a chance diversion takes us to Dr Erica Larson's work on insects. Adam's childhood dreams of Bob Cowper are realised, three times over, while Andy Whittall keeps bobbing up as well. Eddie Barlow pulls a cool trick, Wisden is scathing about some timid New Zealanders, and we confirm that Harold Lar...

Season 14, Episode 15: Ahead of his seventh tour to England, Gideon Haigh has been collecting his writings on the rivalry for a new book, On The Ashes. It's a good time to sit down in Melbourne with one of cricket's most respected thinkers and look over everything, from 1877 to today, and wonder where the game is going next. Gideon's book is out on June 6: pre-orders are through Allen & Unwin here...

Season 14, Episode 14: Another week, another Ashes bowler in trouble: Josh Hazlewood only has "side soreness" according to CA, but we know how that has panned out for him lately. In the meantime, Michael Neser continues to do everything he could do in county cricket to fill that berth. And there's Ollie Robinson for England, in a moon boot after another bag of wickets. Will anyone be fit come June...

It's Story Time, our weekly walk through cricket history via your listener quiz challenges. This week, Geoff and Bharat put their Serious Historian hats on to go trawling through Victorian public records from the 1800s. There's a literal giant of the sport who had a lasting influence on Association football, an Australian spinner who played at the top level with the oval ball, and a Victorian visi...

Season 14, Episode 13: Cricket is getting rich, which means the BCCI is getting richer. Over the last week a huge yet unsurprising story broke that India's board is angling to take a huge share of ICC revenue for itself, putting one administration above everywhere else in the world. So what? Don't they bring in that cash? Well, it's never that simple. As senior editor of ESPNcricinfo, Osman Samiud...

Season 14, Episode 12: England's fast bowlers are going down. One by one, and all at once, in a familiar story ahead of the Ashes. What does Archer's future hold, four years on from his furious debut? Amidst this, England have named a squad for their Ireland Test that gestures at their plans for the five Tests beyond it - bad luck Ben Foakes - while Australia have released their next summer schedu...

It's Story Time, our weekly walk through cricket history via your listener quiz challenges. This week, it's hat-tricks, the state upper house, and the Centenary Test... a couple of times. It's a true north talking about that week in March 1977, the date of which happens to be a clue in one case when digging for some iconic commentary. Is Anil Kumble sexy enough? Let's find out. To finish, a revisi...

Season 14, Episode 11: Go back 20 years, and Irish cricket was considered a contradiction in terms. Now Ireland is one of the game's success stories, rising to Full Member status and trying to grow in all directions. Lucky then that Andy Balbirnie isn't afraid of hard work. Since taking over as men's captain in 2019 he has had plenty of it, needing to combine being a batting lynchpin with being a...