The Final Word Cricket Podcast

It's Story Time, our weekly walk through cricket history. This week, we stumble by many coincidences onto the story of Australian Test cricket's WWII commando, and his connection to a Japanese POW camp, in a poignant week for Geoff to link these things together. If you're interested, look up the poetry of Chris Wallace-Crabbe. Your Nerd Pledge numbers this week: 5.48 - Geoff Price 3.39 - Lee Gelda...

The Ashes Daily 2025, 4th Test, Melbourne Day 3 wrap: The whole country is fixated on one thing: 22 yards of grass in the middle of the MCG, and how it came to influence an Ashes series. Head curator Matt Page had to turn out for a post-match press conference with the head of the MCC, Stuart Fox, such was the need for damage control. Was it really the pitch's fault? And either way, what does this...

The Ashes Daily 2025, 4th Test, Melbourne Day 2: Once again, we are left to survey a field of smoking wreckage and ask, what the hell was that? Another two-day Test, another bowler-fest, and a closing flurry of some of the most insane attempts at shot-making you will ever see in the long form of the game. How do we make sense of that? But among the chaos, history was made. Get your copy of Bedtime...

The Ashes Daily 2025, 4th Test, Melbourne Day 1: What a ridiculous day. For years Melbourne was the most boring pitch in the country, but there will be plenty of questions after it saw an even more chaotic opening day than the Test in Perth. Blame the surface or the batting? That's up to you. But in this ten-pin-bowling Test match, both teams are well in it. Get your copy of Bedtime Tales for Cric...

The Ashes Daily 2025, 4th Test, Melbourne Day 0: It's been four years since Jhye Richardson stood at the top of his mark in a Test match but that looks set to change on Boxing Day, on a grassy MCG surface Steve Smith has deemed fit to use without a spinner. It's one of many pieces of selection news for both teams, including the premature end of Jofra Archer's series, that Adam and Bharat get into...

Season 19, Episode 16: Merry Christmas to all. In carrying on our tradition of a festive interview with a much-loved contributor to the game, not many people create more smiles and fewer enemies than Andy Zaltzman. But beyond the cricket stats lies a vast career in comedy, from the stand-up circuit of the previous millennium through the Edinburgh fringe and pioneering days of podcasting to his hug...

It's Story Time, our weekly walk through cricket history. This week, we're still in Adelaide as we discover by tangent the tale of one of the 20th century's biggest overachievers, New Zealand physician and athlete Arthur Poritt. You've probably never heard of him, but you'll be glad when you have. Also this week, an ancient rugby crossover and a little remembered record. Your Nerd Pledge numbers t...

The Ashes Daily 2025, 3rd Test, Adelaide Day 6: Quiet settles on the Adelaide hills, as Geoff Lemon and Daniel Norcross take a beat to consider the end of the Bazball foray to Australia, and where we might go from here. Get your copy of Bedtime Tales for Cricket Tragics: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠linktr.ee/tfwbook⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Support the show with a Nerd Pledge at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠...

The Ashes Daily 2025, 3rd Test, Adelaide Day 5: The expected result came in, but not in the expected way. For some periods of time on the final day, the game wasn't exactly on, but it wasn't far away from being on, first via Jamie Smith and Will Jacks, then Will Jacks and Brydon Carse. Australia, though, have Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins, and the new streak of lightning at slip, Marnus Labuschag...

The Ashes Daily 2025, 3rd Test, Adelaide Day 4: We're going to make to a fifth day! Not, admittedly, one with a whole lot riding on it, but if there's an unexpected day of storms or an all-time rearguard from a couple of unlikely cats, who knows. Kemar Roach showed us anything is possible. Meanwhile, another absurdly attractive day of bowling from Pat Cummins had the swoon factor high, before Nath...

The Ashes Daily 2025, 3rd Test, Adelaide Day 3: Sometimes, Test cricket offers the chance for rare resistance. We saw that through the morning session on day three. Sometimes, it offers the chance for rare skill to overcome resistance. We saw that too. And sometimes, it offers feelgood stories for one side that feel much less good for the other. So it became, on the peak day ever of South Australi...

The Ashes Daily 2025, 3rd Test, Adelaide Day 2: The hottest day of the Test by far, and somehow the bowling side were not the ones who wilted. An astounding performance really, of accuracy and hostility despite the conditions rather than because of them, is well worth reflecting on regardless of what team you follow, as Pat Cummins and Nathan Lyon came back into the Australian team and led the way...

The Ashes Daily 2025, 3rd Test, Adelaide Day 1: It's blazing hot in Adelaide, although the oracles say it will only get hotter, and the Test match is off to a warm start. Jofra Archer heated up his opening spell, Josh Tongue had his moments, and Australia gave out some Christmas gifts. Among the chaos, a remarkable comeback for Usman Khawaja and a huge hometown day for Alex Carey. Get your copy of...

The Ashes Daily 2025, 3rd Test, Adelaide Day 0: We are down to England's last chance to stay in the series, and they've elected to take on Adelaide Oval and a 40-degree forecast without a specialist spinner. Are they secret geniuses? Meanwhile, for Australia, Usman Khawaja's career is now finished without injury intervention, as the XI continues without him, while Pat Cummins and Nathan Lyon come...

Season 19, Episode 15: This week, from Brunswick Street Oval in Melbourne during our TFW XI match, more Ashes chatter and chunter with Usman Khawaja stepping up to the press conference mic, Pat Cummins and Nathan Lyon to come back for Australia, England to deal with their batting problems in time-honoured fashion by picking the same top seven and dropping bowlers, NZ spank West Indies second time...

It's Story Time, our weekly walk through cricket history. This week, Adam and Geoff get together at Stomping Ground Beer Hall to watch our TFW ale come off the canning line. After that, it's time for a tale about how a crooked priest blew his cash on one of the earliest notable first-class matches, and how the first of the first in another category arrived. What does that have to with 1979? You'll...

Season 19, Episode 14: The Ashes players keep on dropping, with Australia and England each losing a vital bowler for the rest of the Ashes, while a backup ball-striker in Mitch Marsh retires from first-class cricket. The England team though are hanging in Noosa, where some onlookers will find that being a prankster is not as easy as most participants think. Also this week, Emma John has landed in...

It's Story Time, our weekly walk through cricket history. This week, an extraordinary figure whose efforts spanned two sports, four jobs, and the Federation of Australia. Also, a number puzzle that leads us neatly from one of the greats to one of the great moments. Your Nerd Pledge numbers this week: 5.00 Pat McKeon 7.08 - Stephen Elliott-Nicholls 5.09 Jamie Doe 40.00 - Josh Get your copy of Bedti...

The Ashes Daily 2025, 2nd Test, Brisbane Day 5: We're wrapping things up from Brisbane the day after the Test, down by the church to say a prayer for England's campaign. The captain says they were weak at key moments, the coach says they tried too hard, and now they're off for more golf. How to decode this England effort? In the meantime, what does success mean for Australia, especially five-wicke...

The Ashes Daily 2025, 2nd Test, Brisbane Day 4: Something strange happened on the fourth day at the Gabba. Test cricket broke out. Quality defensive batting met quality probing bowling, and as the day wore on, the slight glimmer of a contest began to glow like a coal. As for the chaotic final session, let us walk you through it. A podcast from underneath an imminent thunderstorm. Get your copy of...

The Ashes Daily 2025, 2nd Test, Brisbane Day 3: England got the start they wanted, but then Australia played the perfect day of pink-ball cricket. Sometimes having much more experience in something really does make the difference. Mitchell Starc is finding new ways to torment the visitors, even after England's openers finally find some mojo. Tune in to find out how it all happened. Get your copy o...

The Ashes Daily 2025, 2nd Test, Brisbane Day 2: It's a tight one in Brisbane, with England not just soiling the bed but throwing it out the window in the first session, only to haul it back in the window and do the laundry in the third, before starting to tip things back out the window by stumps. Weatherald and Head had fun, Jofra Archer bowled some hot spells, Will Jacks did one spectacular thing...

The Ashes Daily 2025, 2nd Test, Brisbane Day 1: This whole series has been set up to see Joe Root face down one giant hoodoo: can he make tons in Australia? Today, it was a familiar tale after early wickets, but the chance got closer and closer... another wild Ashes day with more Starc jaffas, some pulverising late batting blows, remarkable stupidity, and the best run out and catch you may ever ha...

The Ashes Daily 2025, 2nd Test, Brisbane Day 0: Is that Pat Cummins' walk-on music? Is he running into the ring? It had a wrestling feel to it at the Gabba as Steve Smith hasn't at all ruled out Australia's skipper making a shock return to the Brisbane XI from outside of the original squad. But what about Josh Inglis? Or the opening position? Or Beau Webster? These decisions are all to come. As fo...

Season 19, Episode 13: With Usman Khawaja's back injury keeping him out of the Brisbane Test, that may be it for Australia's opening bat. Not that we knew this when we recorded two hours before the announcement. Stand by for some chat from another universe when he was still in the team. Also this week, India's drubbing by South Africa, Kohli's return to century-making, and a milestone for Amanda-J...