It's holiday time and the cricket season is in full swing. We recap memorable moments in the first year of the podcast, remember our special guests and send out a big thank you to you, our listeners, for joining us in our first year. A happy and healthy Xmas to all and we hope you get to enjoy a lot of wonderful cricket. See you in 2020 for our second season of Twist In The Tail!

Our special guest Ben Mercuri brings in a one-sided but memorable game with contrasting debuts - Ricky Ponting and Stuart Law. Sri Lanka suffered a big loss, despite bowling Murali into the ground and having an opener called Mahanama. Ponting went on to a famous career whilst Law never played a Test match again, although he had an amazing first-class record. Surely he was hard done by? Law had some bitter years but eventually came to terms with his fate. The boys ponder the role of timing and luck  and the Sliding Doors in the lottery that we call life.   

Today's game - Australia vs Sri Lanka, December 8th-11th, 1995

The 2007 ODI World Cup was marred by controversies, poor planning and the mysterious death of Pakistan coach Bob Woolmer. Shourov remembers travelling around the Caribbean, partying with the locals and the excitement of seeing Brian Lara bat. But the game was played in a soulless new stadium built by the Chinese which was miles from town, instead of the historic old stadium, and had small crowds as a result. There are many times in cricket and life when change is imposed from the top for all the wrong reasons. When is it justified to trash tradition? The boys discuss eleven day Test matches, The Hundred, geopolitics and our obsession with the new.

Today's game - Australia vs West Indies, 27-28th March 2007, Antigua 

Abhik picks another obscure game but this time with a notable feature, the highest ever tenth wicket partnership in ODIs, led by the Trinidadian Ravi Rampaul. This leads to a series of segues about camping, dodgy flights on Caribbean Airlines, The Art of War and genetics, before reviewing some memorable rearguard performances from our own cricketing lives. All of which just goes to show that people perform extraordinary feats when they have nothing left to lose.   

Today's game - West Indies vs India, December 2nd, 2011, Vishakapatnam

Shourov takes us back to a Test match between Australia and India in 1992, a game he had to follow via the radio from a flat in Kolkata. Australia had just gone through a moment of political drama, a precocious kid called Tendulkar hit a century, and another kid with a blonde mop made his debut as a leg spinner - the great Shane Warne (though he was outbowled in this match by India's debutant Subroto Banerjee, who never played a Test again). Despite his poor figures, there was something about Warne that marked him out. The boys muse over the indefinable "je ne sais quoi" that makes for a memorable first impression.

Today's game - Australia vs India, January 2-6, 1992, Sydney

This week we discuss a moment in cricketing history larger than the game itself - the infamous underarm ball bowled by Trevor Chappell at the behest of his brother and team captain Greg Chappell. Australia won the game - but at what cost?  And what were they thinking?  Our podcasters explore the ethics of winning in cricket and in other arenas. Is an attitude of "whatever it takes" ever justified? As always, the conversation takes a twist into religion, history and even a story about eating your own dog (?!).

Today's game - Australia vs NZ, February 1st 1981

On November 25th 2014, Australian cricketer Phil Hughes was hit in the head by a short ball in a Sheffield Shield game, rushed to hospital and died. This week we review the tragic event and how it made us feel and reflect on our own time on the field. Cricket requires rare physical courage - in no other sport is a ball aimed at the head a legal part of the game. But are there higher forms of courage than the physical? Is courage the absence of fear or the overcoming of fear? As always the boys explore some of the deeper questions and finish up on a philosophical note.

Today's game - South Australia vs NSW, November 25th, 2014

This episode harks back to the first Indian Tour of Australia in 1948. The legendary Vijay Hazare scores twin centuries against Bradman's invincibles at Adelaide. The boys discuss an unusual record from the Don, a surprising relationship between Hazare and an Aussie great and the link between self-discipline and success. Do we prefer the stoic work ethic of a Steve Waugh or the free and easy swinging style of Richie Richardson? With segues into history, childhood memories and the sex life of Mahatma Gandhi, this is perhaps the most obscure and eclectic show yet.

Today's game - India vs Australia, January 23rd-28th, 1948

A special episode in memory of our dear friend Vamsi Krishna Budige - a gentleman, connector, entrepreneur and a great lover of cricket as a player, sponsor and especially as an Indian fan  - and as an original founder of the now-famous Swami Army. The boys remember the iconic Melbourne Test match of 2003 and weight the memories of half a lifetime spent in love of our great game. After all the good times we remember Vamsi as a man who brought people together. No wonder, then, that he was a fan of cricket, which like no other sport creates bridges between people and cultures. Vamsi is back in the pavilion, but we know that someday we'll see him again when the match is over.

Today's game - Australia vs India, December 26th-30th, 2003

Australia and Sri Lanka followed up a fiery Aussie summer with a classic clash in the final of the 1996 World Cup at Lahore, Pakistan. After umpiring controversies and boycotts, the bad blood between the teams gave the game a particular tension. The siege mentality of the Sri Lankan team worked in their favour as they pulled off a spectacular victory against Taylor's Australians (a spectactor experience scarred only by Tony Greig's slightly sexual commentary). A victory for the underdog, but do all underdogs deserve our support? Shourov leads a discussion into the morality and psychology of going for the little guy.   

Today's game - World Cup Final, Lahore, March 17th 1996