Women's Ashes Daily, 1st T20, Sydney: England talked up their chances in the 20-over segment of the tour, and Australia had a couple of big omissions with injury, so it was time for new players to do their thing. Phoebe Litchfield certainly did hers, Alana King came back for her first match in the format in nearly two years, and Sophia Dunkley returned to England colours with a blazing bat. A run-fest at the SCG. Isabelle Westbury joins Geoff Lemon.

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It's Story Time, our walk through cricket history via your listener quiz challenges. This week, the third of our Sleuth Group episodes, with historian Pat Rodgers joining us at an empty Comedy Store in Sydney, recorded a few hours before our last live show of the national tour. Can't stop, won't stop. Back to the start of the Sheffield Shield, to the gradations of which cricket terminology means what, to a little-mentioned world record, and a listener's beloved player who dug in hard for little success.

Your Nerd Pledge numbers this week:

11.00 - Nick Ibis

85.00 - Amanjeet

11.30 - Nigel Browne

26.94 - Sanjay Nitran

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Women's Ashes Daily, 3rd ODI, Hobart: Ash Gardner has been a superstar for a while, but one thing has eluded her. A century for Australia. Not any longer, after her massive repair job when England made the early running. And let's throw in the best catch of her career. Bharat Sundaresan joins Geoff Lemon.

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The Greatest Season That Was - The Final Frontier – Colin Miller:

During the 2020-21 Border-Gavaskar Trophy series in Australia, 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. After the home side came back from the dead at Kolkata, it was all to play for in Chennai. Could Steve Waugh’s men now respond, or had the tide been irreversibly turned by VVS, Dravid and Harbhajan Singh? One call made by the visitors was to bring in a second spinner – a man they called Funky. Fresh from being named as Australia’s Test player of the year, the versatile veteran put in a fine performance in another thriller, which came ever so close to getting the job done. Adam Collins, Dan Brettig and Shannon Gill spoke with Colin Miller where he was living at the time, Las Vegas.

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Women's Ashes Daily, 2nd ODI, Junction Oval, Melbourne: Endings don't come much more ridiculous than this. England bowl brilliantly, field well, falter with the bat but still have the chance to tie up the series on level points after two games. And then... that. What the hell just happened? Alex Malcolm from Cricinfo joins Geoff to try to break it down.

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Season 17, Ep 19: For the first time in who knows how many years, we missed a weekly show amid the Sydney Test, live show, and travel. So there's a fortnight to catch up on, starting with the Women's Ashes commencement and structure, then into Australia's picks for the Sri Lanka Test tour and the Champions Trophy. Also this week, Shakib is still chucking it, the Big Bash hots up, Glenn Maxwell hits 10 sixes as you do, South Africa are late-night texting the Irish, a vintage shirt hunter finds his white whale, and we hear about the retirements of Tamim Iqbal and Marty Guptill.

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Women's Ashes Daily, 1st ODI: One series ends, another begins, at Final Word Towers. The biggest bilateral series in the women's game is up and running in the multiformat structure that plays ODIs before T20s and a Test. At North Sydney Oval, England started off with some promise, but ended fighting Australia no more than they were fighting themselves.

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The Greatest Season That Was - The Final Frontier – Mike Kasprowicz:

During the 2020-21 Border-Gavaskar Trophy series in Australia, 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. Of all the moments in that riveting series, none live in the memory quite like the Kolkata Test, where Australia were bossing the hosts and enforced the follow-on. What happened goes down as one of cricket’s great partnerships, decisive in turning in the tide against Steve Waugh’s men. One of them was Mike Kasprowicz – a man who became his generation’s subcontinental specialist. He joined Adam Collins, Daniel Brettig and Shannon Gill to recall the Eden Gardens epic.

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It's Story Time, our walk through cricket history via your listener quiz challenges. This week gradually builds into one of our more absurd episodes, as we get sunburnt on the south bank of the Yarra River with Nerd Pledge Sleuth Group member Glenn Finkelde. Glenn brings the tale of one of first-class crickets most substantial and poignant anomalies, among some appropriate loops back to previous MCG high points, and the tale of an original anti-fascist agitator who was very much our kind of guy a century ago.

Your Nerd Pledge numbers this week:

2.22 - Tom Sloan

26.00 - Glenn Finkelde

2.00 - John Leather

19.19 - Michael Cooney

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Australia India Daily, 5th Test, Sydney review: A five-Test series comes to an end, as India and Australia extend their contest back to the size it once was in the 1970s. It was quite a ride, from the stunning opening day at Perth until the crash-bang finish in Sydney. Adam and Geoff run the rule over the series and think about the future for both teams.

Come to the last show of our national tour!

Sydney January 7 - with SIMON KATICH and GLENN MAXWELL

Tickets at linktr.ee/thefinalword

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