Season 15, Episode 26: In Wellington ahead of the First Test between New Zealand and Australia, Adam and Bharat are frustrated by the fact that they're there for only for two matches and not three - a view you're finally hearing more from players and administrators alike. The teams have already duked it out across three T20s, the visitors learning a bit about their World Cup Best XI in the process. There's plenty going on in India, as well as two domestic finals in Australia with Tassie's women and the WACA men both completing three-peats in one-day cricket. 

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Two Test matches is not a series

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.

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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.

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6.00 - Osman Bahemia

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This is The Final Word - ONE THOUSAND

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.

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

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.

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5.60 - Bala Sivaramanan
16.24 - Dom Griffiths
4.73 - Chris Dobbins
1.17 - Ash Jayaraman
2.71 - Eric Parnis
2.00 - Toby Guyatt
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Story Time 181 – Threads of the Caribbean tapestry

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.

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Vanuatu’s Women, an extraordinary tale

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.

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Get down to Westfield London and Westfield Stratford City! More extra, less ordinary. westfield.com/united-kingdom/london

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Find previous episodes at finalwordcricket.com
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Two Test matches is not a series

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