The Greatest Season That Was - The Final Frontier - Harsha Bhogle: During the last Border-Gavaskar Trophy series in Australia, through the pulsating summer of 2020-21, The Greatest Season That Was pod focused its attention on the relationship between the cricketing giants over the decades, some 20 years from the staggering 2001 encounter in India. There was nobody better to call upon than Harsha Bhogle to paint the bigger picture to begin, speaking here with Adam, Shannon Gill and Dan Brettig. With India soon to in Australia again for the next instalment of this great rivalry, we will be re-releasing the eight parts of this series on The Final Word feed over the next couple of months Enjoy. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The 2024 England West Indies Daily, Lord's Test, Day 1: Well how about that! It was Jimmy's Day in the script but Gus Atkinson's in reality, snaring 7/45 on his Test debut as the Windies were skittled for 121. Cam Ponsonby is at Lord's with Adam Collins talking about the success of his club teammate on a day that won't be forgotten by England fans in a hurry. Support the show with a Nerd Pledge at patreon.com/thefinalword Check out Westfield London and Stratford City. Download the app: westfield.com/united-kingdom/app Find previous episodes at finalwordcricket.com Title track by Urthboy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It’s appropriate that this conversation with Greg James took place at The Oval, the ground he grew up visiting with his dad – the place where he developed an unbreakable bond with the game. He explains how he fell in and out of love with playing without ever really leaving. And how that’s turned into finding a place for it professionally through the Tailenders podcast and all that's evolved from it, but not so much of a place that it eats away at the boyhood joy that started it all. A delightful guest. Support the show with a Nerd Pledge at patreon.com/thefinalword Get down to Westfield London and Westfield Stratford City! More extra, less ordinary. westfield.com/united-kingdom/london Get your 10% discount on top-notch kit from Serious Cricket. Use FINALWORD24 at checkout --> seriouscricket.co.uk Get that sweet Nord VPN discount - nordvpn.com/tfw Donate to support our Edinburgh Marathon runners for the Lord's Taverners All links at linktr.ee/thefinalword Find previous episodes at finalwordcricket.com Title track by Urthboy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Australia v Pakistan, Melbourne Day 1: It was damp, it was drizzly, and that still didn't stop 62,000 people and their friends from coming down on Boxing Day. Pakistan chose to bowl, and while they didn't dominate on a dark and cloudy day, maybe it was still a tactical win. David Warner made some interesting decisions, Umpire Gough did as well, and Steve Smith didn't believe his. Also, do you know anything about John Glenn? Support the show with a Nerd Pledge at patreon.com/thefinalword Get Sydney live show tickets for for 7 January: linktr.ee/thefinalword Sort your super with CBUS on their 40th birthday: cbussuper.com.au Find previous episodes at finalwordcricket.com Title track by Urthboy

Australia v Pakistan, Perth Day 4: The wait was all about Nathan Lyon's 500th wicket, and eventually it came around. Not before Pakistan challenged Australia with the ball one more time, Steve Smith furious with yet another dismissal, before Khawaja and Marsh kept on as they have been going. After that it was time for Starc, Hazlewood, Cummins, and Pakistani running between the wickets to have an influence, before Lyon's final say. Support the show with a Nerd Pledge at patreon.com/thefinalword Get Sydney live show tickets for for 7 January: linktr.ee/thefinalword Sort your super with CBUS on their 40th birthday: cbussuper.com.au Find previous episodes at finalwordcricket.com Title track by Urthboy

Season 15, Episode 9: In a way it's not a surprise, she's been around forever. And in a way it's a total surprise that Australia's captain of five World Cup wins is done by the age of 31. She has other things to do. Also this week, Sri Lanka Cricket arranges its own expulsion from the ICC, French cricket is under investigation for being too ooh la la, England plans become clearer with squads for the next men's and women's tours, and a feller took a quadruple hat-trick. Read it and weep. Plus some WBBL and Shield. Your Nerd Pledge number this week: 11.80 - Simon Tamblyn Get your Final Word / Glenn Maxwell shirt re-release from League Tees. For a huge discount off your NordVPN plan, go to nordvpn.com/tfw You'll also get 4 months free on a 2-year plan, and no risk with a 30-day money-back guarantee. Support the show with a Nerd Pledge at patreon.com/thefinalword Sign up to learn about all the Lord's Taverners projects at bit.ly/tavssignup Find previous episodes at finalwordcricket.com Title track by Urthboy

World Cup Daily 2023, Day 38.1: Australia are purring their way into the business end of this tournament, easily accounting for Bangladesh, even after the Tigers posted what looked to be a half-decent score. But Mitch Marsh never let it become a contest, completing a monster unbeaten ton... South Africa awaits. Adam has Cam Ponsonby with him in his back yard. Support the show with a Nerd Pledge at patreon.com/thefinalword Find out what's fun at Westfield London and Westfield Stratford City – More extra, less ordinary! https://www.westfield.com/united-kingdom/london https://www.westfield.com/united-kingdom/stratfordcity Find previous episodes at finalwordcricket.com Title track by Urthboy

World Cup Daily 2023, Day 37: A closer game than it looked it would be at different points, the Proteas getting there in the end. But have they answered any of the outstanding questions about their ability to chase under pressure? Unclear. As for Afghanistan, they go home now but what a brilliant campaign. Adam has Vithushan Ehantharajah (and Winnie) for company. Support the show with a Nerd Pledge at patreon.com/thefinalword Find out what's fun at Westfield London and Westfield Stratford City – More extra, less ordinary! https://www.westfield.com/united-kingdom/london https://www.westfield.com/united-kingdom/stratfordcity Find previous episodes at finalwordcricket.com Title track by Urthboy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

World Cup Daily 2023, Day 36: Barring something totally ridiculous, the Black Caps are into a fifth World Cup semi-final in a row. To make sure of it, they had to knock Sri Lanka over after losing four on the trot and did so with ease, chasing down the 172 set for them in just 23.2 overs to get some more of that sweet Net Run Rate - the measure that will see them through to the final four. Support the show with a Nerd Pledge at patreon.com/thefinalword Find out what's fun at Westfield London and Westfield Stratford City – More extra, less ordinary! https://www.westfield.com/united-kingdom/london https://www.westfield.com/united-kingdom/stratfordcity Find previous episodes at finalwordcricket.com Title track by Urthboy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

World Cup Daily 2023, Day 31: Pakistan make half the runs and win the game? Cricket, it's a beautiful thing. The poor old Black Caps, meanwhile, have smashed 401 and lost. The difference: Final Word fave Fakhar Zaman, with a 62-ball ton. And with that, the race for fourth spot is well and truly alive. Cam Ponsonby is with Adam, recorded at his local pub in North London before they head to the football. Support the show with a Nerd Pledge at patreon.com/thefinalword Find out what's fun at Westfield London and Westfield Stratford City – More extra, less ordinary! https://www.westfield.com/united-kingdom/london https://www.westfield.com/united-kingdom/stratfordcity Find previous episodes at finalwordcricket.com Title track by Urthboy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

World Cup Daily 2023, Day 28: The third tough assignment in a row for the Black Caps, and a chance for South Africa to continue winning ways and beat a team with a strong record over them in World Cups. There was a surprising decision at the toss in Pune, and more national records falling to the blade of Quinton de Kock, while Jimmy Neesham had another night in the wars. Support the show with a Nerd Pledge at patreon.com/thefinalword Find out what's fun at Westfield London and Westfield Stratford City – More extra, less ordinary! https://www.westfield.com/united-kingdom/london https://www.westfield.com/united-kingdom/stratfordcity Find previous episodes at finalwordcricket.com Title track by Urthboy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Book Club 2: Lawrence Booth and Nick Hoult - Bazball, The Inside Story of a Test Cricket Revolution. The Bazball era demanded a book, and there’s nobody better for the task than two senior reporters who have been on our show many times. Drawing on years of close experience with England teams, and with the insight from speaking to the key players, they’ve done a brilliant job. When the book hit shelves, you might have noticed it generated plenty of headlines in England and Australia.  Copies from Bloomsbury Publishing: bloomsbury.com/uk/bazball-9781526672087 Support the show with a Nerd Pledge at patreon.com/thefinalword Sign up to learn about all the Lord's Taverners projects at bit.ly/tavssignup Find previous episodes at finalwordcricket.com Title track by Urthboy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

World Cup Daily 2023, Day 6: England in the board with a thumping victory over the Tigers, Dawid Malan continuing his absurd run as an ODI opener - that's six tons in 23 hits, the quickest ever to that mark. They didn't go as huge as what they might've hoped in the final ten, but 364 was plenty to turn the screws on Bangladesh, Reece Topley starring upon his return to the side at Dharamshala. Support the show with a Nerd Pledge at patreon.com/thefinalword Find out what's fun at Westfield London and Westfield Stratford City – More extra, less ordinary! And go ice skating! Grab a ticket icerinkwestfieldlondon.co.uk https://www.westfield.com/united-kingdom/london https://www.westfield.com/united-kingdom/stratfordcity Find previous episodes at finalwordcricket.com Title track by Urthboy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode 5 - Today The final revisited episode of our multi-part audio documentary on the 100-year history of cricket broadcasting brings us up to the modern day. To do so, Adam and Daniel Norcross looked at the evolution and revolution inside commentary boxes, where women were welcome on a regular basis for the first time. Also important to that tale: the thirst for deeper statistical analysis as a result of the T20 surge. With them to tell the story are Isa Guha, Adam Mountford, Lisa Sthaleker and Andy Zaltzman. Thanks for listening - we've really enjoyed going back to these. Support the show with a Nerd Pledge at patreon.com/thefinalword Sign up to learn about all the Lord's Taverners projects at bit.ly/tavssignup Find previous episodes at finalwordcricket.com Title track by Urthboy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode 4 - The Disrupters The penultimate episode in our multi-part audio documentary, charting the century of cricket broadcasting, was an awkward one to prepare because it told our stories. Not only those of Adam and Daniel Norcross, but many others too who, in one way or another, messed with the usual system - from cricinfo and beyond. To help us tell the tale for this, our guests were Andrew Miller, Jarrod Kimber, Nigel Henderson and, of course, Geoff. Support the show with a Nerd Pledge at patreon.com/thefinalword Sign up to learn about all the Lord's Taverners projects at bit.ly/tavssignup Find previous episodes at finalwordcricket.com Title track by Urthboy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode 3 - On TV In the third installment of our revisit of the documentary series made by Adam and Daniel Norcross during the first Covid lockdowns of 2020 we shift medium, from radio to television. With guests Harsha Bhogle, Jim Maxwell, Mark Nicholas and Dan Waddell, the episode explores how TV broadcasts evolved from humble beginnings into the mega machines they are today. Along the way, it becomes clear how the relationship between the game and vision has enjoyed an interesting evolution, with the sport challenged and influenced in unexpected ways by what is transmitted into the living rooms of viewers around the world. Support the show with a Nerd Pledge at patreon.com/thefinalword Sign up to learn about all the Lord's Taverners projects at bit.ly/tavssignup Find previous episodes at finalwordcricket.com Title track by Urthboy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode 2 - Test Match Special: Our revisited documentary series began between the World Wars, where radio and cricket started their beautiful relationship. The next logical step was to chart the game's most enduring broadcast, Test Match Special. To tell a tale more complicated than one might assume are three guests who have spanned decades with the programme: commentator Jonathan Agnew, summariser Vic Marks and producer Peter Baxter. Calling the Shots is by Adam Collins and Daniel Norcross. Support the show with a Nerd Pledge at patreon.com/thefinalword Sign up to learn about all the Lord's Taverners projects at bit.ly/tavssignup Find previous episodes at finalwordcricket.com Title track by Urthboy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It's Story Time, our weekly walk through cricket history via your listener quiz challenges. For the non-milestone episode of 150, we got everybody together, recording this in front of a live online audience. They heard another update about new fave Maurice Kellerman and the shipwreck of the Viking, an incredible Dutch story from World War I thanks to a guest contributor, the blazing start of a teenage prodigy, and some recounting of the meanest scorelines ever visited by one team upon another. Your Nerd Pledge numbers this week: 1.46 - History of the Netherlands 48.50 - Simon Wallace 6.00 - David Adamson 10.70 - Rafael Szumer 2.22 - Deener Support the show with a Nerd Pledge at patreon.com/thefinalword Sign up to learn about all the Lord's Taverners projects at bit.ly/tavssignup Find previous episodes at finalwordcricket.com Title track by Urthboy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode 1 - How it all Began In March 2020, the world stopped as a human tragedy unfolded. This was the backdrop to a lockdown project that started small and got way out of hand, as Adam and Daniel Norcross set about telling the story of 100 years of cricket broadcasting over a series of audio documentaries - a series they still keep getting asked about on a regular basis. So, three and a half years later, we are re-releasing the episodes but with some detailed narration about how guests were selected, the obsessive processes they implemented behind the scenes to meet their deadlines, and reflections on what they learned along the way about their topics. This first cut started where cricket on the radio began, in Australia in the 1920s, crisscrossing between there and England, then finishing where John Arlott signed off on the end of the Bradman era in 1948. Whether you're returning to Calling the Shots or finding it for the first time, we hope it hits the spot. Support the show with a Nerd Pledge at patreon.com/thefinalword Sign up to learn about all the Lord's Taverners projects at bit.ly/tavssignup Find previous episodes at finalwordcricket.com Title track by Urthboy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Season 14, Episode 38: A huge week of international men's white-ball cricket, with the Asia Cup complemented by Australia's tour of South Africa and New Zealand in England. If only West Indies had engaged Zimbabwe and Ireland in a tri-series. Mitchell Marsh is having a great time captaining Australia. There's sad news as Heath Streak dies at 49. Sri Lanka's women produce a huge upset of England, and Tanya Aldred joins the show to update us on cricket and climate change. Your Nerd Pledge number this week: 18.81 - Luke Reynolds Support the show with a Nerd Pledge at patreon.com/thefinalword Sign up to learn about all the Lord's Taverners projects at bit.ly/tavssignup Find previous episodes at finalwordcricket.com Title track by Urthboy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jeremy Coney, our newest co-host, is thrilled that New Zealand are back in the series but isn't best pleased at spilling something on his new shirt. He's with Alex Hartley at Edgbaston after the Black Caps got one back, their batting finally clicking. Support the show with a Nerd Pledge at patreon.com/thefinalword Sign up to learn about all the Lord's Taverners projects at bit.ly/tavssignup Find previous episodes at finalwordcricket.com Title track by Urthboy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Ashes, 1st Test at Edgbaston, Day 5: What a finish. What a day. One of the all-time great Test matches, one of the closest results. The rhymes of history were all there, but we didn't think it could be as good. We were wrong. Don't read any more, just listen. Support the show with a Nerd Pledge at patreon.com/thefinalword Find previous episodes at finalwordcricket.com Visit westfield.com/united-kingdom/London to see everywhere you can eat, shop and play in Europe’s largest shopping centre. Westfield London and Westfield Stratford City – More Extra, Less Ordinary! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Season 14, Episode 5: Cricket farewelled someone truly special this week, Faith Thomas, who played a Test match in 1953 as Faith Coulthard when she became the first Indigenous woman to represent Australian in any sport. Her friend and biographer Tyson Baird joins the show to talk about her personality and legacy. Also this week, the Australian men's Ashes squad is announced, and a Saudi Arabia T20 league could have drastic ramifications for cricket's structure. Your Nerd Pledge number this week: 19.80 - Clint Send us a Nerd Pledge at patreon.com/thefinalword Find previous episodes at finalwordcricket.com Donate to support our Edinburgh Marathon runners here to raise funds for the Lord's Taverners. Or learn about other Tavs projects by joining their mailing list at bit.ly/tavssignup. Title track by Urthboy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices