The Final Word Cricket Podcast

Season 8, Ep. 24: The great MSD has put the cue in the rack, for India at least. In the circumstances, there was nobody better to get back on the show than Bharat Sundaresan, author of The Dhoni Touch.  Earlier in the show, we got our light-meters out to measure the debate after a frustrating second Test between England and Pakistan at Southampton. That's where Australia's men are heading, their w...

Hanif Mohammad! Brian Lara! We advance from 499 to 501 patrons and we couldn’t be happier. Your support has been quite outstanding. We celebrate in the usual way on Story Time with a long Nerd Pledge session. After that, we go back in time to Perth in December 2017 when we interviewed former England spinner, esteemed journalist and radio commentator Vic Marks. Appropriately so - he’s a man of stor...

Season 8, Ep 23: Comebacks don’t get much more stylish. England's memorable turnaround in Manchester came when Woakes and Jos Buttler produced a partnership that will be long celebrated. Sleep deprived at both ends of the show, we run a half-closed eye over the Test that was, as well as Ireland’s one-day win over England just beforehand. The Women’s World Cup has been shunted back a year for reaso...

It's our new show! Or, same show, new name. STORY TIME will be the weekend wander through the weeds, where we get into some of the more obscure and less obscure corners of cricket history to find the stories therein. This weekend, boxers and communists who were not jazz saxophonists, what really happened on Adam's 21st birthday, more info on which cricketers have punched selectors, and plenty more...

Season 8, Ep 22: As Ireland, one of cricket’s green machines, prepare to leave England, the other, Pakistan are ready to start their Test series at Old Trafford. We speak to Zainab Abbas, journalist and television presenter, about Azhar Ali’s men before looking at her own remarkable rise to fame in recent years. Earlier, we look at the comings and goings at both Cricket Australia and the WBBL whil...

One of our most heartfelt interviews with the man behind the music of The Final Word, and pioneer of the Australian hip hop scene, Urthboy. Of course, being a weekend edition of the show, you better believe we have a massive round of correspondence and Nerd Pledge to get us in the mood.  What should we call our second show each week? Jump into our Patreon DMs and let us know!  Your Nerd Pledge num...

Season 8, Ep 21: The Irish are coming, and what better time than before their games against England to sit down with their CEO Warren Deutrom to tell us their story from St Patrick’s Day at the 2007 World Cup to the present day as a Test nation. The problems and challenges though are as steep as they have ever been.  Before that, Stuart Broad takes his 500th Test wicket as England bounce back to b...

"I certainly want to win this World Cup, but I can live with myself if we don’t," said Jimmy Neesham a few weeks before that famous final. One of the funniest and sharpest minds in cricket, he was also beautifully honest about his perfection and the unhappiness he had put himself through. "It started a downward spiral for me where my expectations were so far beyond reasonable that it wasn't possib...

Season 8, Ep 20: It’s 1-1 and the Wisden Trophy is the series that keeps on giving. Another last-day finish, another good fight, another fine bit of comedic timing from Stuart Broad. We go through the best and and rest. An ICC meet has finally taken place, and it’ll be WorldCuppapalooza in the next three years now the 2020 edition has been delayed. India’s women can’t get to England with travel ba...

This time last year, we sat down with Kate Cross before a T20 International and she shared with us the details of some of the toughest moments of her sporting life. As part of our relationship with Lord’s Taverners, who are focussed squarely on mental health during this particularly challenging time, we thought this would be a good weekend to pop that conversation up again. Before coming to that, ...

Season 8, Ep 19: Exactly a year from that famous day at Lord's we're joined by Nick Hoult to discuss his new book that gives all the detail you didn't know about England’s triumph. We also, thankfully, get to talk about the first Test match of the covid era, as the West Indies rallied gloriously to knock off the hosts late on the final afternoon at Southampton. What a joy to have it back.   Your N...

Season 8, Ep 18. The end of the 2019 World Cup will remain inseparable from Ian Smith's description of it. He explained in depth to the Calling the Shots documentary how he has tried to prepare for and deliver the big moments, and his interview was too good not to share. Here is the full conversation, after some cricket history at the start to get us going. Our Nerd Pledge numbers this week are:
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Season 8, Ep 17: Shout it from the rooftops! This week, England host West Indies in the first of three behind-closed-doors Tests and we couldn’t be happier on The Final Word. Vithushan Ehantharajah joins Adam and Geoff to discuss the Southampton Bio-Dome he’s about to enter and the most unusual series he’s about to cover. Back in Australia, the road ahead is a less clear after a troubling week on...

This is Calling the Shots, a six-part documentary podcast with Adam Collins and Daniel Norcross telling the story of a century of cricket commentary. In this, our final episode, we bring you up to date as we explore how the commentary box has become a more inclusive domain over the last decade. We also investigate how advances in data capture are influencing broadcasters like never before then clo...

Season 8, Ep 16: Amidst ongoing fighting that predates the virus crisis, South African cricket writer Telford Vice joins the show to explain the conflict in South African cricket. A long investigation into the suspended CEO will soon have a result while a carload of high-ranking staff have been sacked. The divisions are deep but as ever, it's complicated. Meanwhile Covid continues to confuse matte...

In February 2018, we spoke to Dave in Durban a couple of days ahead of a Test series that would prove to be fateful in so many ways. This was an interesting and positive time in his cricketing life, before the world changed in the weeks that followed. In this weekend edition, we also take a look at Kim Garth’s decision to leave Ireland for Australia and get stuck into some excellent Nerd Pledges. ...

Season 8, Ep 15: As promised, here it is – our chat with one of Australia’s favourite sons, William McInnes. You know him as an actor and a writer, but before that he was a cricket obsessive and remains one to this day. But our long and winding conversation went to more than simply why he cites Rick McCosker in the acknowledgement section of each book he writes - we also canvassed fatherhood, lead...

This is Calling the Shots, a six-part documentary podcast with Adam Collins and Daniel Norcross telling the story of a century of cricket commentary. In previous episodes we’ve tracked cricket’s journey on TV and radio. They are stories that have been told before, albeit perhaps not quite in the same way. Today, we’re bringing you a story that has never been told about the disruptors; the men and...

Season 8, Ep 14: That happened fast. At the start of the corona crisis, all looked rosy at Cricket Australia with the women winning the World Cup in front of a packed MCG and the men’s Test team getting back to the top of the world. But was this always destined to be the new CEO's fate given the baggage he brought to the role? And how did he misread the room so badly over the last couple of months...

Season 8, Ep 13:Geoff is back with Adam for a little bit of Nerd Pledge before hopping into the second part of the extensive Calling the Shots interview with Mark Nicholas. The discussion this time focuses on the era where Mark was the front man for Channel Four’s innovative coverage before becoming a permanent member of the Nine team. He also gives his impression of how commentary has evolved sin...

Season 8, Ep 12:Daniel Norcross steps in for Geoff this week, reflecting with Adam on the Calling the Shots documentary project they have been working on through the lockdown period. As part of that research, they have recorded a number of long interviews – none more detailed than their conversation with Mark Nicholas; too good not to release in full. The extensive chat, broken over two parts, beg...

This interview with Jason Gillespie, recorded on the Adelaide Oval boundary edge at the day after the Ashes Test in 2017, was a turning point for show. Until then, we would talk to the occasional guest but only ever briefly. Because this conversation coincided with a rain delay, and Dizzy didn’t fancy helping with the covers in the game where he was playing in, we kept the tape running. It was wel...

Season 8, Ep 11: The BCCI is fuming after some sensitive correspondence found its way to the Times of India newspaper. Things the BCCI don’t want you to Be See(ing) with your See(ing) Eye. What got leaked, and why are they mad? Plans for the T20 World Cup still haven’t been finalised after an ICC meeting got cancelled in the aftermath. The detectives are on the case. Want to know more? Join us in...

This is Calling the Shots, a six-part documentary podcast with Adam Collins and Daniel Norcross telling the story of a century of cricket commentary. Over the last two episodes, our attention was squarely on the development of radio commentary. Here, in part four, we shift gears to explore the television revolution in England, Australia and India.  To help tell that story, we have with us four gue...

Season 8, Ep 10: It is one year since the start of the 2019 World Cup – the time of our cricketing lives. To mark the anniversary, we talk to a funny man we spent a lot of time with each Monday morning of the tournament, RadioX’s Toby Tarrant. Back in the present day, momentum continues to build for international cricket to return midyear and might even see Australia touring England again in Septe...