The Final Word Cricket Podcast

It's Story Time, our weekly walk through cricket history via your listener quiz challenges. Today: a number that has nothing to do with Stumpy Laird, and a number that has nothing to do with either of the Nawabs. As for the principality of Pataudi, where is it now? We'll find that KISS does not stand for Knights in Satan's Service, and that Jarrod Kimber isn't the only one to remember Ben Dunk. Plus Boonie, Bargearse, Borthwick, and a partnership that we prayed and prayed would end. Your new Nerd Pledge numbers: 4.49 – Shane Fitzgibbon & Sarah Vaile 4.44 – Shyam Sundaraman & Crispn Crunch 2.76 – Michael Holden 3.06 – Slim Johns & Peta Dowling Plus revisits and confirmations. Send us a Nerd Pledge at patreon.com/thefinalword  Find previous episodes at  finalwordcricket.com  Get 20% off Woodstock kit with code TFW20 at woodstockcricket.co.uk Check out the Lord's Taverners programs to help kids at lordstaverners.org CBUS Super is at cbussuper.com.au/thefinalword  Get Geoff’s new book The Comeback Summer The Final Word is part of the Bad Producer Podcast Network Title track by Urthboy Support the show: https://patreon.com/thefinalword See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Disregard the parts about St Kilda hoping to win a match – that soon went a different way. But otherwise it was a great day to hear from Glenn Maxwell after two influential innings to help win RCB's first two matches of the season. We also got more updates on the advertising shoot schedule, which obviously takes priority over cricket, as well as the pastoral care focus of those running the team, and what it's like in the middle with the intensity of Virat Kohli. Send us a Nerd Pledge at patreon.com/thefinalword  Find previous episodes at  finalwordcricket.com  Get 20% off premium Woodstock kit with the code TFW20 at woodstockcricket.co.uk Support the show: https://patreon.com/thefinalword See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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 through, but will make absorbing history. Also, click here to participate in the Sunshine Coast University survey on The Final Word. Your new Nerd Pledge numbers: 7.28 – Hugh Moorhead 2.78 – Sami Dowd Send us a Nerd Pledge at patreon.com/thefinalword Find previous episodes at  finalwordcricket.com Check out the satellite legend of Zoleo at zoleo.com Save heaps on the Wisden Almanack at wisdenalmanack.com/2021   In Australia or the USA use code WA30 for 30% off. In the UK subscribe to get the book for £25 instead of £55 CBUS Super is at cbussuper.com.au/thefinalword Get Geoff’s new book The Comeback Summer The Final Word is part of the Bad Producer Podcast Network Title track by Urthboy Support the show: https://patreon.com/thefinalword See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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 Pakistan's finest century-crushers.  Your new Nerd Pledge numbers: 2.56 – Harry HHH Howard 5.44 – Joe Reinhard 2.17 – Hamish Stares and Richard Casamento 2.46 – Christopher Byrne 3.84 – Will Day & Kris Swales Plus revisits and confirmations. Send us a Nerd Pledge at patreon.com/thefinalword Find previous episodes at  finalwordcricket.com Order the 2021 Wisden Almanack now and save big at wisdenalmanack.com/2021   In Australia or the USA, plug in code WA30 to get 30% off the RRP. In the UK, subscribe to get the book for £25 instead of £55 CBUS Super is at cbussuper.com.au/thefinalword Get Geoff’s new book The Comeback Summer The Final Word is part of the Bad Producer Podcast Network Title track by Urthboy Support the show: https://patreon.com/thefinalword See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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  Find previous episodes at  finalwordcricket.com  Get 20% off premium Woodstock kit with the code TFW20 at woodstockcricket.co.uk Support the show: https://patreon.com/thefinalword See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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's women set a world record winning streak. The Sheffield Shield finalists are decided after a busy final round. And there's a dash of Nerd Pledge and Bannerman Watch. Your Nerd Pledge number this week: 5.51 – Andrew Tuttle Send us a Nerd Pledge at patreon.com/thefinalword Find previous episodes at  finalwordcricket.com Check out our new friends at Woodstock Cricket with 20% off full-priced kit. Enter the code TFW20 at woodstockcricket.co.uk Check out CBUS Super at   https://www.cbussuper.com.au/thefinalword Get Geoff’s new book The Comeback Summer The Final Word is part of the  Bad Producer Podcast Network Title track by  Urthboy Support the show: https://patreon.com/thefinalword See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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 that'll never be forgotten at Tallangatta CC.  Your new Nerd Pledge numbers: 5.01 – Mark Henderson 2.58 – Abhilash Singh 3.85 – Ethan Morgan 3.52 – Pat McKeon 1.70 – Cameron Allen 7.27 – Elia Andrews 4.10 - Bernie Prins Plus revisits and confirmations. Send us a Nerd Pledge at patreon.com/thefinalword Find previous episodes at  finalwordcricket.com Save heaps on the Wisden Almanack at wisdenalmanack.com/2021   In Australia or the USA use code WA30 for 30% off. In the UK subscribe to get the book for £25 instead of £55 CBUS Super is at cbussuper.com.au/thefinalword Get Geoff’s new book The Comeback Summer The Final Word is part of the Bad Producer Podcast Network Title track by Urthboy Support the show: https://patreon.com/thefinalword See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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 shrapnel zone. Plus there's Nerd Pledge, Bannerman, and our most informative Zoleo adventure yet. Your Nerd Pledge numbers this week: 4.21 – David Crock 6.14 – Peter T. 1.49 – Ash Parajuli Send us a Nerd Pledge at patreon.com/thefinalword Find previous episodes at  finalwordcricket.com Message from anywhere on earth with your ZOLEO, at zoleo.com Check out CBUS Super at   https://www.cbussuper.com.au/thefinalword Get Geoff’s new book The Comeback Summer The Final Word is part of the  Bad Producer Podcast Network Title track by  Urthboy Support the show: https://patreon.com/thefinalword See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

(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 revisit masterclasses from Imran Khan, Harmanpreet Kaur and the man who goes by the name of Bulbul.  Your new Nerd Pledge numbers: 1.66 – Bryan R. Caine 3.00 – Mrs. Sorby 5.34 – Matt 5.52 – Fred Cowen  1.36 – Andrew Turner 6.63 – Nick O’Connell 7.23 – Cam Again 1.71 – John Leather Plus revisits and confirmations. Send us a Nerd Pledge at patreon.com/thefinalword Find previous episodes at  finalwordcricket.com Check out the Lord's Taverners programs to help kids at lordstaverners.org CBUS Super is at cbussuper.com.au/thefinalword Get Geoff’s new book The Comeback Summer The Final Word is part of the Bad Producer Podcast Network Title track by Urthboy Support the show: https://patreon.com/thefinalword See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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 India, and the results that we recently pleaded for in the WNCL. Your Nerd Pledge numbers: 5.54 – Jono Baruch 4.16 – Sebastian Goldsmith 2.02 – Harrison Payne Send us a Nerd Pledge at patreon.com/thefinalword  Find previous episodes at  finalwordcricket.com  Get a discount Wisden Cricket Monthly subscription at bit.ly/wcmtfw Check out CBUS Super at cbussuper.com.au/thefinalword  Get Geoff’s new book The Comeback Summer The Final Word is part of the Bad Producer Podcast Network Title track by Urthboy Support the show: https://patreon.com/thefinalword See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices