The Final Word Cricket Podcast

Season 19, Episode 12: The decisions made about international cricket over the next couple of years are likely to have a major influence on how the game is played for decades to come. With much on the line and much up in the air, Paul Marsh decided it was time to come back to the sport that was his first love, returning to again lead the Australian Cricketers Association. Needless to say, there wa...

It's Story Time, our walk through cricket history via your listener quiz challenges. This week, we're looking at shit brothers: one who genuinely was terrible, and one who might have been hard done by in the long term. Also this week, a note of appreciation for a player who is currently under the cosh, because two things can be true at the same time. Your Nerd Pledge numbers for this week: 50.00 -...

Season 19, Episode 11: For years, people have asked about the BEEF between us and The Grade Cricketer. The reality is, for a decade now, we've all been in this together. So, sure enough, here's the collab ep hosted by Sam Perry and Ian Higgins in their Melbourne studio as we both forget to talk about our new books. Instead: back stories, politics, Saudi money, the future and everything else you mi...

Season 19, Episode 10: No, that's not true, they're back driving on the golf course. But we're not going to talk too much about Ashes wash-up... ok, only a little. The wider world is still waiting, where South Africa are dominating India in the second Test of their series, where there are comebacks for Final Word faves Kemar Roach and Dane van Niekerk, and where another tasty Shield round has take...

It's Story Time, our walk through cricket history via your listener quiz challenges. This week, we're looking at one of the great fourth-innings players, and a player whose marks of greatness were early enough that some of the milestones have been less acknowledged. Also this week, a wild start to a belated Ranji career, Geoff's favourite subject of all, and a tribute to a dancer. Your Nerd Pledge...

The Ashes Daily 2025, Perth Day 3: A two-day Test brings many questions to consider. For the winners, is Travis Head up top for Brisbane after his all-timer? If so, what does that mean for Usman Khawaja's career? And for the defeated, are they capable of the introspection many believe they require to evolve into a fighting force on lively pitches? Bharat Sundaresan joins Adam to ponder this, recor...

The Ashes Daily 2025, 1st Test, Perth Day 2: We thought the first day in Perth was crazy, but the second was perhaps even more so. England continued on their merry way, in terms of game style and in terms of the regular shedding of wickets, but things still felt fairly close given the nature of the scores to date. Scott Boland had his comeback, Mitchell Starc completed his set, but eventually the...

The Ashes Daily 2025, 1st Test, Perth Day 1: Hooley dooley! We thought that things were going in one direction when Mitchell Starc went on a rampage through the first half of the day, but then Ben Stokes went on one himself through the back half. We are into this series with a bang, and everybody will be turning to Perth for the second day. Pre-order your copy of Bedtime Tales for Cricket Tragics:...

The Ashes Daily 2025, 1st Test, Perth Day 0: We've all been hearing about the Green Monster, but it looks a bit more like a cricket pitch now that we're one day out from play. Geoff and Adam are back together at Perth stadium in an unseasonably cool week, ready for the preliminaries to end. Pre-order your copy of Bedtime Tales for Cricket Tragics: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠linktr.ee/tfwbook⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ The Melbourne laun...

Season 19, Episode 9: Adam and Bharat come to you from the back row of Perth Stadium, for the Ashes of 2025-26 has nearly arrived. From their vantage point, they catch a lovely moment with two proud Indigenous men set to represent Australia on Friday. It's one of many talking points from the west before drifting to India's Kolkata capitulation, Roger Twose expanding World Test Championship, and a...

Book Club 14: Steven Finn - The Ashes Files: Inside Cricket's Most Intense Series So much of Steven Finn's story is wrapped up in Ashes cricket, from his first trip to Australia in 2010-11 through to playing a major hand in regaining the urn for England in 2015. Already one of the game's best pundits in retirement, this book, written with occasional TFW host Matt Roller, is drawn from diary entrie...

It's Story Time, our walk through cricket history via your listener quiz challenges. This week, we're recording 50 years to the day since the Whitlam Government was sacked by the Governor-General... but what was happening that day in the Sheffield Shield? Also this week, a wild coincidence leads us to the story of another famous sacking, and there's always time to loop back for another tale from t...

Book Club 13: Geoff Lemon & Adam Collins - Bedtime Tales for Cricket Tragics One for those who couldn’t make the launch of our history book, Bedtime Tales for Cricket Tragics (out now; links below). Take a listen as regular co-host Daniel Norcross steers a Q&A session with Adam and Geoff on the genesis and popularity of Story Time. The audio is recorded live from a busy South London pub where a mi...

Season 19, Episode 8: Adam and Geoff are in London this week, where it's freezing and awful, and the dream of Perth summer beckons like a mirage. But this vision is real, as England are learning after arriving there themselves. We'll be not far behind. The new TFW book is launched, there's more Ashes squad intrigue, and a lap around the world takes in Paul Stirling making runs in the Ireland Test...

Season 19, Episode 7: We left our conversation in part one at the South American Championships, reflecting on where Brazil has been over the last quarter of a century. This time, recording at Poços de Caldas - the remarkable home of cricket in the country - it's time to cast ahead to the decades to come. For that, England legend Claire Taylor, with her MCC hat on, leads the ep. She's followed by J...

Season 19, Episode 6: When the game was looking for good news stories during the Covid pandemic, we found one in Brazil. Five years on, Adam has spent the week there, and what a week. In this first of two eps, he speaks with great friend of the pod Roberta Moretti Avery - now the President of Cricket Brasil - then later chats with her husband Richard, who is coach of the men's team, who have recen...

Season 19, Episode 5: At last, the speculation is over. At least, Geoff and Bharat think that it is, because they think this Australian Ashes squad leaves no doubt about what the final XI will be. Also this week, Kane Williamson is not bringing the snacks, James Anderson goes along with conformity, England create some weird tension on the contract list, and we farewell young Ben Austin. Pre-order...

Women’s World Cup 2025, Day 34, the final, India South Africa: After two iconic semi-finals, the double underdogs that triumphed in those contests moved to the final chapter of the tournament. And if you thought the Jemimah Rodrigues story was a good one, the Shafali Verma comeback tale gives it a run for its money. A starring influence with bat and ball saw her give Harmanpreet Kaur's team the ad...

Women’s World Cup final preview, South Africa India: It’s the big one, and it’s the matchup that nobody expected. Both of these teams pulled out astonishing semi-final performances, but who can repeat the dose? Will India ride the hometown wave, or will it all be too overbearing? Can South Africa, after such a disastrous opening to the tournament, make this the greatest cricketing year in their pr...

Women’s World Cup Semi Final 2, India Australia: Two duelling hundreds between Phoebe Litchfield and Jemimah Rodrigues lit up an already electric atmosphere at a sold out semi final in Navi Mumbai. It was a night for breaking records, thrilling batting, and jaw-dropping cricket as both teams left it all out on the field. Firdose Moonda joins Geoff Lemon. Learn about Lacuna Sports - bespoke female...

Women’s World Cup Day 30, 1st semi-final, South Africa England: After England humiliated South Africa to open the tournament, this knockout rematch was always going to be spicy. What nobody anticipated was an innings for the ages by Laura Wolvaardt, one that will never be forgotten. Firdose Moonda joins Geoff Lemon. Learn about Lacuna Sports - bespoke female cricket wear, created by women for wome...

Season 19, Episode 4: The women's World Cup semis are around the corner, so first up it's time to run the rule over the four remaining teams, and get a sense of what might happen and what might not between England, South Africa, India and Australia. Also this week, Pat Cummins is confirmed to miss the first Ashes Test, Bharat Sundaresan joins Geoff Lemon to offer informed theories about what might...

It's Story Time, our walk through cricket history via your listener quiz challenges. This week, an inadvertent detour into just how distant the 1990s version of Australia feels from today, in maturity and tone and the possibility of change. The reconciliation journey that stalled, the television broadcasts that foundered, and the scope that narrowed. Also this week, the first burst of many from a...

Women's World Cup Day 27, England New Zealand & India Bangladesh: Not a day they will be making a commemorative DVD from, it is fair to say. Appropriately enough, it ended in yet another washout after England did as you might expect to New Zealand who were already eliminated, sad as that will be for Sophie Devine playing her final ODI. It's Daniel Norcross and Firdose Moonda with you as we now loo...

Women's World Cup Day 26, Australia v South Africa: What a performance, what a bowler. Alana King’s 7 for 18 defined Australia’s annihilation of South Africa, making sure the best team in the world will qualify in top spot for the pointy end of the tournament. Firdose Moonda and Daniel Norcross watched the magician at work. Learn about Lacuna Sports - bespoke female cricket wear, created by women...