The Final Word Cricket Podcast

Season 9, Ep 29: It's that time again: the new Wisden Almanack time. In what has now become a tradition – three years makes a tradition, right? – we've sat down with Almanack editor Lawrence Booth to go through the pages of The Good Book and get his explanation of all that lies therein. A fascinating year in retrospect, with all of the uncertainty and improvisation that was so unlovely to live thr...

We're busy recruiting for our tours to Brazil and Pakistan when (hopefully) the planet allows for such a thing in 2022: on The Final Word, we Dera to Dream. From there, straight into our work on Story Time for another weekend, looking at an unexpected captain then a peculiar omission following a Test double ton. We finish off with a trio of our favourites: Simon Katich, the Wild Thing and one of P...

It happened. Since the IPL is a biosecure fortress in 2021, we've got a contact on the inside. Glenn Maxwell, who is bunkered down at the Royal Challengers Bangalore hotel with his fiancee Vini, will be giving us that window in. First up, the escape from quarantine and the chaos of pre-tournament week, where capitalism matters more than cricket. Send us a Nerd Pledge at patreon.com/thefinalword  F...

Season 9, Ep 28: Tiger Tim of Ireland has quite the story. From bowling the first ball in Irish Test cricket, to triumphs with Middlesex, to missing out on World Cups by agonising margins. On the eve of his final contracted season, with his 40th birthday approaching fast, he sat down with us to talk through it all. Also this week: the IPL approaches along with our new Glenn Maxwell plan. Australia...

Light and shade, in cricket as it is in life. So, on Story Time this weekend, learn about the batsman who spent three days presumed dead in no-man's-land only to become an unexpected Test cricketer 15 years later. Stick around to hear about WG's highest Test score and one of Jack Hobbs' finest hours. A classic Scottish name comes later, likewise a 1984 thriller. We also mark a place for a double t...

Season 9, Ep 27: Steve Smith wants back in as Australian captain. Over in New Zealand, is it Jeff Jeff or Microwave Jeff? A West Indies classic plays out in Antigua, and there's last-ball luck for the Kiwi women. Final Word fave Suwanji Madanayake needs a groundswell of support. Queensland notch a first in the WNCL. Cricket South Africa manage to screw things up again, with Karen Smithies in the s...

(Language warning near the end of this show.) From deep inside the spreadsheets of cricket's past comes another edition of Story Time. This weekend, settle in to hear about when the USA fronted up against the might of Ricky Ponting's Australia, the tale of one of Hampshire's greatest sons, and what could be the first century ever made in first-class cricket? You tell us. And there's still time to...

Season 9, Ep 26: In the early years of the colony, Irish politics were very much Australian politics. Ned Kelly wrote the Jerilderie Letter, Catholics and Protestants brawled into the Bradman era. Now comes a modern intervention. CA chair Earl Eddings plays William Wallace in this version, calling in the Irish as reinforcements. Are they coming? Also this week, all the happenings in the Shield, in...

Our weekly walk through cricket history via your listener quiz challenges. Today: what happens when Boony's biggest secret is revealed? Who slides into the Old Spinner category late in the piece? And a week after the most ridiculous scorecard we've yet discovered, a Bannerman that gives it a run for its money. We'll uncover the true story of Milo, the link between Steve Waugh and Paulan Umrigar, a...

Season 9, Ep 25: You may not associate Brazil with cricket. You may not know that 14 women recently won the country's first central contracts. But the game has been afoot in Brazil for some time, using innovative ways to help cricket take root rather than being transplanted from overseas, and in the process helping young Brazilians from disadvantaged places. It's one hell of a tale, and we're join...

Here is perhaps the greatest tale we have yet told on Story Time, our weekly walk through cricket history via your listener challenges. Get ready to learn about the disco to end all discos, and a grand plan for next year. We'll feature the hottest vigil, some cryptic clippers, the longest gun in the West, the best in women's Tests, more mathematics clues that we're not qualified to solve, another...

Season 9, Ep 24: At least one England cricketer came back from India with reputation enhanced: Mark Butcher, who was noticed for an excellent couple of Tests behind the microphone. His life before commentary included 71 Test matches, with a series of dramatic highs and drastic falls. Beyond cricket, he's a musician, a considered thinker, and someone who believes in the moral obligation to speak up...

Our weekly walk through cricket history via your listener quiz challenges. Today we'll visit a walk-up start for the Clem Hill Defenestration Club, one Charlie Parker. Go via the president of the Internet Cricket Club, as it was in the beginning. Check the weather conditions on Kunanyi. Do a medical check on the Boer War, while finding another totally different club that Clem was part of. And trac...

Day 3 of the Fourth Test at Ahmedabad – The Final Word Daily with Adam Collins and Geoff Lemon will wrap up each day’s action, decide the Player of the Day, and sort the nominations for the Final Word Hall of Fame, all throughout the four Test matches for the coveted Anthony de Mello Trophy. For a discount on a digital subscription for Wisden Cricket Monthly, the magic key is bit.ly/wcmtfw Check o...

Day 2 of the Fourth Test at Ahmedabad – The Final Word Daily with Adam Collins and Geoff Lemon will wrap up each day’s action, decide the Player of the Day, and sort the nominations for the Final Word Hall of Fame, all throughout the four Test matches for the coveted Anthony de Mello Trophy. For a discount on a digital subscription for Wisden Cricket Monthly, the magic key is bit.ly/wcmtfw Check o...

Day 1 of the Fourth Test at Ahmedabad – The Final Word Daily with Adam Collins and Geoff Lemon will wrap up each day’s action, decide the Player of the Day, and sort the nominations for the Final Word Hall of Fame, all throughout the four Test matches for the coveted Anthony de Mello Trophy. For a discount on a digital subscription for Wisden Cricket Monthly, the magic key is bit.ly/wcmtfw Check o...

Season 9, Ep 23: NSW win the 50-over comp every bloody year, but just for a moment the Breakers are fifth. Enjoy the novelty. This week we go back and forth over the Tasman for a range of formats, with some Shield corkers and some T20 madness, some men's games and some women's, some England and New Zealand and India and Australia, as well a detour to Abu Dhabi for Afghanistan and Zimbabwe and thei...

Our weekly walk through cricket history via your listener quiz challenges. Today: Rob Quiney, healer of seagulls, was there anything he couldn't do? How are 229 and 257 the first and second record holders in two completely different categories? What kind of player took completism to unrivalled levels? Plenty of Tony Greig, for some reason, and Percy Holmes, for others. The most fun you can have at...

Day 2 of the Third Test at Ahmedabad – The Final Word Daily with Adam Collins and Geoff Lemon will wrap up each day’s action, decide the Player of the Day, and sort the nominations for the Final Word Hall of Fame, all throughout the four Test matches for the coveted Anthony de Mello Trophy. For a discount on a digital subscription for Wisden Cricket Monthly, the magic key is bit.ly/wcmtfw Check ou...

Day 1 of the Third Test at Ahmedabad – The Final Word Daily with Adam Collins and Geoff Lemon will wrap up each day’s action, decide the Player of the Day, and sort the nominations for the Final Word Hall of Fame, all throughout the four Test matches for the coveted Anthony de Mello Trophy. England won the toss, elected to bat, and that’s about as good as it got. India’s spinners once again domina...

Season 9, Ep 22: A busy cricket week, aside from the final match in the Yarra Pub Cricket Association for the storied DOCCC (est. 2007). We also look at the mess of messaging from England around resting players that stitched up Moeen Ali, the lead-up to two simultaneous tours of New Zealand, a couple of remarkable results in the Sheffield Shield, a bit of Nerd Pledge and the latest from our Banner...

It's time for some spicy group action, on our weekly walk through cricket history via your listener number challenges. This week we have the Jones-Off of '88, a bunch of Test dads, the 10-day match and how close it came to a win, how far Belinda Clark was ahead of her time, the cumulative size of various Peters, the most delightful day out for a recent guest, and what show would be complete withou...

Season 9, Ep 21: Now the dust has settled in Chennai, we try to strip the parochial from the practical on the broader subject of pitch preparation, and figure out what the various positions of argument are actually about. Also this week some Glenn Maxwell time, a bit of West Indies and Ireland, more stories from our Bannerman Search, then a great chat with Angela Pippos about her new documentary T...

India v England, 2nd Test, Chennai Day 4: The Final Word Daily with Adam Collins and Geoff Lemon will wrap up each day’s action, decide the Player of the Day, and sort the nominations for the Final Word Hall of Fame, all throughout the four Test matches for the coveted Anthony de Mello Trophy. Find previous episodes at finalwordcricket.com  Title track by Urthboy  Support the show: https://patreon...

India v England, 2nd Test, Chennai Day 3: The Final Word Daily with Adam Collins and Geoff Lemon wraps each day’s action, decides the Player of the Day, and sorts the nominations for the Final Word Hall of Fame, all through the four Tests for the coveted Anthony de Mello Trophy. Find previous episodes at finalwordcricket.com  Support the show: https://patreon.com/thefinalword Title track by Urthbo...