The Final Word Cricket Podcast

Season 3, Ep 6: Happy New Year for 2017! Our new NYE segment is Best & Worst. Admittedly it is a short segment at the end of the show, but before that we have to talk about a wonderful Boxing Day Test. Mitchell Starc has missed a lot of them, but reserved his best all-round performance for this one against Pakistan, despite the best efforts of Azhar Ali. Also this week: Gusatvo Kuerten, Thomas Muster, and Arantxa Sanchez Vicario, a night for Steve O'Keefe at Revolver, and the first Dream Dinner Party on The Final Word. And with Matthew Wade struggling with the gloves, this question: "If we want to go really left field, is Tim Paine starting to lurk again?" This season was originally recorded for the ABC. Send us a Nerd Pledge at patreon.com/thefinalword Find more episodes at finalwordcricket.com 20% off primo WoodstockCricket.co.uk bats with the code TFW20 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Season 3, Ep 5: It's the Gabba just before Christmas in 2016, a match in which Pakistan get set 490 to win... and damn near run it down. Asad Shafiq, Yasir Shah and Mitchell Starc play the defining hands in the first pink-ball match played in Brisbane, including the first appearance of a swimming pool in the stands, and one of the most joyful fifth days in Test cricket. Experience the magic. This season was originally recorded for the ABC. Send us a Nerd Pledge at patreon.com/thefinalword Find more episodes at finalwordcricket.com 20% off primo WoodstockCricket.co.uk bats with the code TFW20 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Season 3, Ep 4: David Warner is on one of the hottest batting streaks in one-day cricket history. After saying that it was his worst format, he has finally cracked the code - and we wonder what his character would be like in anime. Our ABC colleague Brittany Carter joins us to talk WBBL in its second season, and we work out how to measure the relative numerousness of 637,000 people, using snacks. This season was originally recorded for the ABC. Send us a Nerd Pledge at patreon.com/thefinalword Find more episodes at finalwordcricket.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Season 3, Ep 3: Glenn Maxwell exiled from the one-day team for answering a question about batting higher up the order? Yep. It's the middle of the Steve Smith era as cricket supremo, while making a squillion runs in every format. Also this week , Amanda-Jade Wellington debuts for Australia to take a wicket with her first ball. Matthew Mott is played this week by Emilio Estevez, Travis Head makes a case in the one-day middle order, and we give a detailed team-by-team WBBL preview. Ah, granular. This season was originally recorded for the ABC. Send us a Nerd Pledge at patreon.com/thefinalword Find previous episodes at finalwordcricket.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Season 3, Ep 2: After the Hobart debacle and the Australia's Got Talent round of the Sheffield Shield, a new-look Australian team takes the field in Adelaide. Faf du Plessis plays smarter, not harder, to set an all-time Test record, Usman Khawaja demonstrates that him opening the batting might just be a great idea, Adam suffers from a case of delirium, we talk about "hardness" and Handscomb subverting cliches of masculinity, and The Quiney Nine is joined by the Renshaw Ten. This season was originally recorded for the ABC. Support the show with a Nerd Pledge at patreon.com/thefinalword Find previous episodes at finalwordcricket.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Season 3, Ep 1: What a week this was. Early November, 2016, Donald Trump has just been elected US President, Geoff returns from following the circus in the US, and we go straight into Hobart where South Africa demolish the home side in seven sessions. We wondered if it was the lowest point for the Test team in our lifetimes. At the time, maybe. Get all the wash-up with The Final Word. This season was originally recorded for the ABC. Send us a Nerd Pledge at patreon.com/thefinalword Find more episodes at finalwordcricket.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Season 2, Ep 9: It's February 2016. Brendon McCullum is playing his last Test match, and decides to sign off with the world record for the fastest century of all time. Up to the front of the Titanic with him, where he and Steve Smith can decide who gets to play Kate Winslet. Meanwhile, Joe Burns goes long, and Neil Wagner produces one of his inimitable bouncer marathons. The Final Word from the second Test of Australia's tour of New Zealand. This season was originally recorded for the ABC. Send us a Nerd Pledge at patreon.com/thefinalword Find more episodes at finalwordcricket.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Season 2, Ep 8: To end the 2015-16 summer, Australia head to New Zealand. With the one-dayers done it's time for the first Test at Wellington. Would it be defined by the bat? By the ball? No, by the umpire's arm, calling Doug Bracewell for a no-ball that wasn't, and reprieving Adam Voges who would go on to a double century. It was the beginning of the eventual move to no-ball automation via the third umpire. Also, another Fake Green Mamba, some Trent Boult fun at No.11, Khawaja purrs with the bat and goes flair in the field, an argument about 'strangling' and the worst dismissals in cricket, the best return catch we've ever seen, Voges went past Bradman, Tim Southee kept hitting sixes, and we were puzzled by the notion of a two-Test series. Innocent times. This season was originally recorded for the ABC. Send us a Nerd Pledge at patreon.com/thefinalword Find more episodes at finalwordcricket.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Season 2, Ep 7: Reloading lost episodes from the early Final Word. In its second season in early 2016, The Final Word got spicy - it covered white-ball cricket. Having only been about Test matches to this date, Australia's tour of New Zealand for Brendon McCullum's farewell series was enough to make us change our style. The Big Bash was at its peak, the first WBBL had been played, the World T20 was approaching, Shane Watson captained his country again, Virat Kohli had another crazy Australian tour, and a young leg-spinner named Adam Zampa made an impression. Meanwhile, Shane Warne was on reality TV complaining about Steve Waugh. This season was originally recorded for the ABC. Send us a Nerd Pledge at patreon.com/thefinalword Find more episodes at finalwordcricket.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Season 2, Ep 6: In January 2016, we spend a wet Sydney Test match thinking of songs involving rain rather than watching cricket. West Indies refuse to cook up a run chase, concentrating instead on making 300 in an innings, while James Pattinson gets clobbered by Carlos Braithwaite - remember the name. Nathan Lyon has to go to India, and of historic importance is the moment Steve O'Keefe gets out the glowsticks. Not to mention another major achievement: the week when Geoff wins Dan of the Day in Melbourne pub cricket. This season was originally recorded for the ABC. Send us a Nerd Pledge at patreon.com/thefinalword Find more episodes at finalwordcricket.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Season 2, Ep 5: It's the end of 2015! Cue the streamers. Australia have just beaten West Indies at the MCG. Usman Khawaja is making bulk runs, but not as bulk as Adam Voges: averaging 542 against West Indies, moving towards 20 innings batted, averaging 86, over a thousand runs in half a year since debut. Could James Pattinson survive injury? Can Peter Siddle get back in the team? Can Peter Nevill not bat through an entire series? Is this our first tilt at Nathan Lyon passing Murali's 800 wickets? Mitchell Marsh is bowling heat, carrying the burden of being the only Mitchell and the only Marsh in the team. Then it's the inaugural TFW Best & Worst of the year. This season was originally recorded for the ABC. Send us a Nerd Pledge at patreon.com/thefinalword Find more episodes at finalwordcricket.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Season 2, Ep 4: It's December 2015. West Indies have just been blown off Bellerive Oval as Adam Voges and Shaun Marsh pile on 449, within a whisker of the record for the biggest Australian partnership. We have more mad stats for Voges, who has bettered Mike Hussey's first ten Tests. Also doing their thing were some up-and-coming bowlers named James Pattinson, Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood. There was Wobby's World versus Warner's World, with Little Davey close to becoming Australian captain. And Grace Harris made the first Women's Big Bash ton. This season was originally recorded for the ABC. Send us a Nerd Pledge at patreon.com/thefinalword Find more episodes at finalwordcricket.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Season 2, Ep 3: Reloading lost episodes from the early Final Word. Proof of concept. That's what it was all about in 2015, when Australia hosted New Zealand in Adelaide for the very first day-night Test. The pink Kookaburra survived, then prospered, in a contest that was suffocatingly close from start to finish. The bowling was hot, the batters had to survive, and an all-time umpiring mistake had an outsized influence. Peter Siddle, Mitchell Santner, and a couple of Marshes were prominent. It was over in three days and nights, but it started something new. We also had time to discuss a bit of Olympic archery, the lost chance of a seven-Test summer, some top-level condescension, and even back then, the gold standard for opponents who annoy supporters was Stuart Broad. This season was originally recorded for the ABC. Send us a Nerd Pledge at patreon.com/thefinalword Find more episodes at finalwordcricket.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Season 2, Ep 2: In 2015, the deadest WACA track in history made Mitchell Johnson retire on the spot. Dave Warner belted a million while wearing a WWII moustache, then Ross Taylor went back before WWI to take down the ancient record of Reginald Tip Foster. Kane Williamson was perfect, Brian Lara was in touch with Usman Khawaja, and if Mitchell Starc really bowled 161 kilometres an hour, does that mean Tim Southee clocked 146? Also... oh Christ... of course they announced bringing back Shaun Marsh. This season was originally recorded for the ABC. Send us a Nerd Pledge at patreon.com/thefinalword Find more episodes at finalwordcricket.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Season 2, Ep 1: To start their visit in 2015, New Zealand got first use of a Gabba pitch against a new-look Australian batting order, and fluffed it. That Test also marked the start of the first home season for The Final Word podcast, after its debut season during that year's Ashes: this was a new show designed to review each Test the day after it ended. Born and bred in Brisbane, John Harms and Cate McGregor joined the show for a local view, taking us back to their early days of the old Gabba and early Queensland rugby league. This season was originally recorded for the ABC. Send us a Nerd Pledge at patreon.com/thefinalword Find more episodes at finalwordcricket.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Season 1, Ep 6: At the end of Australia's 2015 tour of England, after the one-day series to follow the Ashes, it was great to be joined by our friends Jesse Hogan from the Fairfax papers and Stephan Shemilt from the BBC. At the top of the order - I can't stand it, I know you planned it - are there shenanigans afoot with Jason Roy and Alex Hales? Or will Moeen Ali get a Test job ahead of both? John Wayne Hastings was in the right place at the right time to make telling contributions with bat and ball. Plus we innocently speculate about Australia's upcoming Test tour of Bangladesh. This season was originally recorded for the ABC - this is the extended edition, restoring removed material. Send us a Nerd Pledge at patreon.com/thefinalword Find more episodes at finalwordcricket.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Season 1, Ep 5: Partway through a busy Australian tour of England in 2015, it's time to take stock of the short format. We started in The Cricketers pub in Cardiff, recording with Melinda Farrell after the Women's Ashes had just finished with three T20s. Two new women's T20 competitions were soon to start in Australia's Big Bash and England's Super League. So we spoke about the start of men's professional T20s in 2003 with Paul Robertson, the man who led that charge. Then we dropped in on journalist Peter Miller to talk T20 evangelism and look at the upcoming 50-over series between Australia and England men. On new recruit Jason Roy: "I think he'll do a pretty good job at the top of the order." This season was originally recorded for the ABC - this is the extended edition, restoring removed material. Send us a Nerd Pledge at patreon.com/thefinalword Find more episodes at finalwordcricket.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Season 1, Ep 4: The 2015 Ashes came to a close, after a series of batting collapses and bowling blowouts. Australia out for 60 in Nottingham and 136 in Birmingham, England out for 103 at Lord's - no Test was competitive, even if a 3-2 scoreline looked it. After a final belting of England by an innings at the Oval, Geoff and Adam got together in London with the BBC's Alison Mitchell and Cricinfo's Vithushan Ehantharajah to run the rule over the series, talk through best and worst moments, assess departing Australian captain Michael Clarke, and ponder what might be next for his unproven young replacement Steven Smith. This season was originally recorded for the ABC - this is the extended edition, restoring omitted material. Send us a Nerd Pledge at patreon.com/thefinalword Find more episodes at finalwordcricket.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Season 1, Ep 3: This is the show's first engagement with women's cricket, and you can hear how much we've learned since. Down in Canterbury, amid a men's Test series of batting collapses, the only women's Test of their 2015 Ashes series ended similarly. It wasn't one-sided until then though, with Australia staging a major fightback via Jess Jonassen before England gave up trying to win. Izzy Westbury and Anna Lanning join the show as current domestic players, while Adam swoons over swing bowling and Geoff tries not to rap. This season was originally recorded for the ABC - this is the extended edition, restoring omitted material. Send us a Nerd Pledge at patreon.com/thefinalword Find more episodes at finalwordcricket.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Season 1, Ep 2: Our second episode ever comes after Australia got shot out of the sky in Birmingham during the 2015 Ashes, for England to take a lead 2-1 with two to play. Geoff was joined by writers Will Macpherson and Subash Jayaraman, with Adam absent at a wedding or something. Will: "If you can't enjoy watching Mitchell Johnson bowl at his best you don't actually understand this sport." This season was originally recorded for the ABC - this is an edited and remastered edition. Send us a Nerd Pledge at patreon.com/thefinalword Find more episodes at finalwordcricket.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Season 1, Ep 1: London 2015, with our new Ashes podcast project not signed off in time to cover the first Test in Cardiff, we got started after the second Test at Lord's. Australia had been beaten badly in the first match, only to dominate the next when Mitchell Johnson went on the last of his magical sprees with the ball. Emma John, then of the Observer, and Phil Walker, then of All Out Cricket, were our guests in a conversation that sprawled way past our instructed running time, and was a lot of fun on the way. A style was set... This season was originally recorded for the ABC - this is an extended edition restoring original material. Send us a Nerd Pledge at patreon.com/thefinalword Find more episodes at finalwordcricket.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices