1,008 episodes

Cricket for everyone – your friendly guide to the world's strangest sport. Geoff Lemon and Adam Collins combine match analysis with irreverence, politics, interviews and history as they follow the game they love around the world. You can support the show at patreon.com/thefinalword.

The Final Word Cricket Podcast Adam Collins, Geoff Lemon

    • Sports
    • 4.9 • 67 Ratings

Cricket for everyone – your friendly guide to the world's strangest sport. Geoff Lemon and Adam Collins combine match analysis with irreverence, politics, interviews and history as they follow the game they love around the world. You can support the show at patreon.com/thefinalword.

    This is The Final Word - ONE THOUSAND

    This is The Final Word - ONE THOUSAND

    Season 16, Episode 12: Our 1000th episode! A serious number. From the 2015 Ashes to now so much has changed, but we’ve kept hitting record and talking to each other – in a week where Geoff has moved to Portugal and Adam has seen Peggy start to walk. Into the show itself, English cricket mourns the loss of young player Josh Baker. Australia’s decision-makers have explained their JFM T20 omission as Jake Fraser-McGurk continues to light up the IPL. Will Pucovsi tentatively has a state contract for 2024-25 but his future is less certain than ever. A massive win for Scotland’s women to qualify for the T20 World Cup, and we wrap county cricket and the IPL.

    Your Nerd Pledge number for this week:
    6.00 - Osman Bahemia

    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
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    Use FINALWORD24 at checkout --> seriouscricket.co.uk
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    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
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    • 1 hr 23 min
    Archive ep: Canterbury tales, the Women's Ashes Test of 2015

    Archive ep: Canterbury tales, the Women's Ashes Test of 2015

    Season 1, Ep 3: Reloading lost episodes from the early Final Word. This was 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 earlier 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 in England and Australia respectively, 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
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    • 34 min
    Story Time 181 – Threads of the Caribbean tapestry

    Story Time 181 – Threads of the Caribbean tapestry

    It's Story Time, our walk through cricket history via your listener quiz challenges. This week, Bharat Sundaresan joins the show for what is coincidentally a great week to be an expert on West Indies teams meeting India. Famous uncles, less famous young nephews, and one of the most underrated batting greats of all. Join the dots on Story Time.

    Your Nerd Pledge numbers this week:
    5.60 - Bala Sivaramanan
    16.24 - Dom Griffiths
    4.73 - Chris Dobbins
    1.17 - Ash Jayaraman
    2.71 - Eric Parnis
    2.00 - Toby Guyatt
    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 10% off kit from Serious Cricket with FINALWORD24 at checkout:
    seriouscricket.co.uk
    And 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

    • 1 hr 26 min
    Vanuatu’s Women, an extraordinary tale

    Vanuatu’s Women, an extraordinary tale

    Season 16, Episode 11: On this episode, as promised, we shift focus to Vanuatu. Specifically, to their extraordinary women’s team, currently in action at the T20 World Cup qualifier in Abu Dhabi. To be one step away from the World Cup with a side that barely existed until a decade ago is a story that, in a way, speaks for itself.
    Their rise was confirmed when knocking off regional giant PNG to win a spot at a tournament that includes three full member nations. Then last week, they thrashed Zimbabwe to begin this most important competition they’ve ever participated in – a scarcely believable result. Joining us to help tell this great modern tale, Selina Solman, the captain of the team, and Tim Cuttler, an Australian who has been chief executive of Cricket Vanuatu over the last few years, and also happens to be a spinner in their men’s team.

    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

    • 40 min
    English cricket sells the family silver

    English cricket sells the family silver

    Season 16, Episode 10: Just what is The 100 worth? It's a question that has vexed English cricket, on various levels, since it was first dreamed up some six years ago. Now, we are up to the inevitable moment for the controversial competition as it is prepared for a day at the market. Will Macpherson, from the Telegraph, joins as this week's co-host to go into depth about a story he's been covering as closely as anyone. It leads our busy agenda, which also includes the announcement of T20 squads on the men's side and upsets at the qualification tournament for the women. Later, it's domestic cricket aplenty and Cricket Australia's new blueprint for the women's game.

    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

    • 1 hr 23 min
    The Final Word with Greg James

    The Final Word with Greg James

    Season 16, Episode 9: 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

    • 1 hr 1 min

Customer Reviews

4.9 out of 5
67 Ratings

67 Ratings

A Good 14 ,

Hands down the best cricket podcast

Geoff and Adam are simply the best when it comes to talking all things cricket... with the occasional Australian cultural reference thrown in for more mirth.

Ochtapas ,

Love the podcast, small suggestion.

This is one of my favorite cricket podcasts. Very insightful and super funny. One small suggestion is that you could devote a couple of minutes each podcast or perhaps every other podcast providing some explanations for us that are new-ish to the game. Cricket is a game that has such a steep learning curve, and beautifully odd terminology, that I think this would help to grow the fan base for the game, particularly here in the US. Specially useful would be information on the state of the pitch, and why it matters, as well as bowling lengths and lines. For instance, a mini-lesson on the state of the pitch could have been sneaked in during the discussion of whether Australia should have batted first on the first day of the fifth test at the Oval. Obviously you don’t want to spend too much time and bore the knowledgeable listeners, but just a couple of minutes would do.

Pulv30 ,

Very good stuff!

I love their cricket podcasts. Two very good, knowledgeable, and astute minds of the game. They bring the game in a different way, Adam has done work in politics while Geoff was prolific in poetry. This new perspective is fantastic to listen to. They never say anything without good reason, and they are unbiased. I love the longer version, and I love the daily pods. I enjoy the interviews a lot because I can go back when I’m bored and listen to Harsha Bhogle, or Davey Warner, or Ian Chappell. They seem to put a lot of thought into their words and that’s what I enjoy!

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