thefinalword posts
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The Best & Worst of 2022
A bit hard to make plans at the moment, because we have a Collins baby pending any moment, but we'll move with the breeze. We're aiming to make up some Story Time ground through January, and just recorded one that will go out in the next couple of days. Meanwhile, over the past week...Season...
Thanks for 2022
Another year comes to an end. Shortly we'll be recording our traditional Best & Worst show for New Year's Eve, and then it will be into the massive 2023 that lies ahead, including Australia's Test tour of India, the World Test Championship, two Ashes series, a women's T20 World Cup a...
The Final Word Boxing Day Eve
Merry Boxing Day Eve! Tomorrow we will back at a well-grassed MCG to see if we can complete a one-day Test match. The two-dayer in Brisbane was so much fun. See the Daily above.Once again we haven't managed to send the Wednesday email on a Wednesday, so there are even more episodes to tell you a...
Updated Brisbane meet-up: Monday 7pm
That's Monday as in tonight, to keep some semblance of attachment to the Test match that just blew past us. Adam had a chance to get a ride back to London after play finished so he has skipped town, but Ben Jones and Bharat will be there with Geoff.We'll stick to the Pineapple Hotel, for sim...
This might be unexpected, but, want a job?
A short-term one, anyway. Our website is more or less defunct and we want to give it a boot up the digital date. It occurs to us that there may be some shit-hot web designers among our Patreon people, and it would be cool to work with someone who already knows and likes the show.If those things appl...
Dipper, the Windies, and the Story Time curse
What a week that was. Getting back to Perth for the first time in years, reconnecting with the other side of the country. Meeting WA listeners, ducking down to Fremantle, finding a top-notch Japanese izakaya eating house - who knew? (Hifuniya on Murray Street if you're wondering). Not to mention...
The Australian Test summer begins
Hello from Perth, for the first time in several years. It's nice to be back by the Swan River, wandering over the footbridge, seeing the old WACA light towers, and getting some mild evenings after a couple of wet and freezing months in other parts of Australia. We're underway for the five Te...
The Final Word with Sam Billings
Another big week in the endless run of big weeks. So big that we're sending last Wednesday's post out on Sunday. Whoops.Let's start with our trip to the MCG last Monday.Season 13, Ep 8: The day before the Melbourne ODI, England batter and sometime keeper Sam Billings sits down with us in...
The triumph of the Pomborneit Bulls
This week has been huge, even by our standards. After two World Cup semis and getting back to Melbourne for the final, we were back in a rental car the next morning and driving to Adelaide, making plenty of stops on the way. We also shot a lot of video.One of those is the main one above, from Port F...
Who exactly is mad at the Australian cricket team?
Season 13, Ep 6: As the Australians went out of the T20 World Cup last week, it was the chance that some former players and other pundits media jobs had been waiting for. Daniel Brettig of The Age joins the weekly show to talk through why a certain chunk of the population is so pissed off in general...
World Cup gathering in Melbourne tonight
We’ve just arrived back in Melbourne, and we’re recording a preview Daily for the World Cup final tonight at Johnny’s Green Room. That’s a rooftop bar above the famous King & Godfree deli on Lygon Street - as Melbourne as it gets. Visit Victoria have helped arrange this, and they’re puttin...
Final Word live on tour
We have one date locked in - The replacement Melbourne show after lockdown torpedoed us last January. That feels like a very long time ago. On Wednesday November 23rd we will be back at the Mission to Seafarers building at 717 Flinders Street, in the Melbourne CBD just on the far side of Spencer Str...
The Final Word with Ryan Campbell
We've done a lot of interviews by now. There are times, once in a while, when you sit down with someone and just know that they're ready to speak. They have things to say, and we just need to invite it.Ryan Campbell was one like that.Not many cricket people have a more varied story. A wicket...
Cricket sells out to Saudi oil
We're both in Australia at last. Back home in the brisk but beautiful bosom of Victoria, just down the coast from Melbourne as we cover the T20 World Cup qualifying stage in Geelong. On the days when matches are played in Hobart, we are wandering around the nearby regions to find nice places to ...
The Final Word with Mark Steel
If you don't know who Mark Steel is, then you should. A lot of our listeners who didn't know who Mark Steel was have agreed. On Season 13, Ep 3 we hung out with the knowledgeable and garrulous historian / comedian / chat-merchant and cricket enthusiast. He has delved into the history of the ...
It's lucky Season 13!
The southern hemisphere's season is underway, and that makes this The Final Word Season 13. It's been a busy three or four years since we went full time. Over 500 episodes now in the feed, over 100 Story Times, and dozens of cricketers have evolved into Final Word favourites. None more than....
Non-Striker Run Out II: The Quickening
It finally happened! A bowler's run-out of the non-striker between major cricket nations, the first since Sri Lanka and Jos Buttler if memory serves. That match also marked a series sweep for India's women, and the end of the summer romance between Adam and Daniel on the daily shows. The vid...
Lucky nothing happened in the last three weeks
Yep, it was a quiet one. If you didn't catch this on the audio show last week, up top is the video interview that Adam had with Jamie Cox about slow over rates, a personal passion of ours on TFW.Season 12, Ep 31: After three weeks in the desert, Geoff is back to find the outside world completely...
Dave Warner to captain Australia? It might just happen.
Season 12, Ep 30: Who saw this coming four and a half years ago in Cape Town? Well, the world has turned a number of times since then. With Aaron Finch hanging up his ODI pyjamas after a distinguished career. and in the absence of a perfect alternative, the Bull might just be back in the ring. Adam ...
An extraordinary morning at the cricket
That's the only word for the minutes before the belated start of the decider between England and South Africa at The Oval. Adam and Daniel came together at the close - after 17 wickets were taken; Test cricket in fast forward again - but this is where they drifted. Our daily shows will continue ...
Zimbabwe special, with Sikandar Raza
Season 12, Ep 26: Let us level with you: we have done a poor job of covering Zimbabwean cricket. The easiest reason for that, however unsatisfactory, is that they haven't been as present as they should be, for a whole host of complicated reasons. So, with The Chevrons currently in Australia for ...
Back to the Future (Tours Program)
Season 12, Ep 25: Schedule geeks unite: the FTP for men's and women's cricket were released since the last time we recorded, and there is a lot to take in. More Test cricket for the usual suspects, less of it for most countries, though more matches in other formats overall. Some bright spots...
Everything's a culture war if you want it enough
Season 12, Ep 24: The month of August is maddening for some in English cricket, yet for others, it's a chance to bankroll the rest of the year. Phil Walker of Wisden Cricket Monthly has written sensibly about this and joins us for a chat. As for Adam - on his birthday! Also, Chappelli retires fr...
Story Time 100!
Yes, we got there. Raised the bat for 100 episodes of historical nonsense. According to Michael Holden, the leading statistician on Final Word related numbers, we have solved almost 800 Nerd Pledges in the process. Why not celebrate? Thanks to everyone receiving this message, you've all helped m...
The Final Word with Katherine Brunt
Another extensive week in Final Word land, with a weekly show, an extra interview, a Story Time, and the Commonwealth Games dailies. We also recorded next weekend's Story Time 100 with a live Zoom audience, and that show will be released on the pod feed this coming weekend.Season 12, Ep 20: Two ...
Story Time 100 - Join us live very shortly
Yes, we're doing the milestone show from Edgbaston cricket ground in Birmingham with some of you joining us via video call.Here is the Zoom link to access the show. Log on anytime after midday UK time, or 9pm AEST, or your local equivalent.If the link in your email doesn't work, click throug...
Graham Gooch and quadruple tons
Getting us up to date, it has been another giant week in Final Word land. No bigger than someone who made 67,057 runs in the top flight. Talking to him could only be a show in its own right, and even then we could have taken another hour.The Final Word with Graham GoochSeason 12, Ep 19: More runs in...
Laura Wolvaardt, and the hottest day in British history
What's doing? We've been busy in the UK. With a series of big interviews over recent and upcoming weeks, we're de facto up to three shows a week just for the time being, all captured as usual in one Patreon post per week. Even if occasionally that post is late, like this one.Season 12, E...
The Final Word with Jeremy Coney
Season 12, Ep 14 & 15: This was one we had been wanting to do for ages. Someone who is always up for a chat, and who is a lot more interesting people to listen to than most. It's Jeremy Coney, who has a much bigger story beyond his time as New Zealand captain in their most successful era of the ...
Glenn Maxwell did not, in fact, get to play
For a beautiful sweet moment on the day before the second Test at Galle, we thought it might happen. It did not happen. We were led through a garden of lies. Who said that Pat Cummins is a nice guy? Fine, he's pretty nice. But all that we can do now is regroup, rebuild, try to carry on. While th...
