Season 9, Ep 25: You may not associate Brazil with cricket. You may not know that 14 women recently won the country's first central contracts. But the game has been afoot in Brazil for some time, using innovative ways to help cricket take root rather than being transplanted from overseas, and in the process helping young Brazilians from disadvantaged places. It's one hell of a tale, and we're joined by national captain Roberta Moretti and Cricket Brasil head Matt Featherstone to tell it.

Also this week: Afghanistan work hard to win a Test against Zimbabwe, while also becoming an unlikely bargaining chip between Channel Seven and Cricket Australia. South Africa's women and England's men put on a stirring display in limited-overs matches in India. And our humble show passes the 2 million mark.

Your Nerd Pledge numbers this week:

4.00 – Andrew Gilbertson

2.47 – Jono Haylen

5.71 – Sukrit Munjal

The Cricket Brasil fundraising link is gogetfunding.com/cricketbrazil

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