World Test Championship final is go

It's Wednesday. Right on time, as the WTC final unfolds in front of us at Kennington Oval after our first huge week in London.

The preview video with Adam and Bharat is at the top of this message, or the audio is here. We'll be in the groove with TFW Daily shows from the ground for the next few days. 

That follows on from our Dailies from the Ireland Test at Lord's. They're all in your feed, or the videos are here.

Ben, duck it. 

More Ashes injuries, and Irish cricket's obstacle course

As a companion to that Lord's match, we spoke with Cricket Ireland chief executive Warren Deutrom for Season 14, Episode 18. Three years after his first appearance on TFW, we look at the structural challenges as they now stand, and the possible impact of the new ICC revenue deal. Also this week, after your hosts played their own match at Alleyn Cricket Club, England's key spinner is out of the Ashes, Josh Hazlewood is out of the WTC final, and we have some very good news pertaining to a Test match that happened in 1977.

Your Nerd Pledge number for this week:
3.15 - Ben Connor

The episode is here.

Adair to dream, Adair to fly.

The Final Word with ECB boss Richard Gould

Then as a double-up with CEO interviews, we had Season 14, Episode 17. Running the ECB is one of the toughest gigs in cricket and one that Richard Gould signed up for when returning to the game this year. With a long history as CEO at Somerset and Surrey, he knows the terrain as well as anyone. But the challenges he's inherited - at home finding a resolution to the ongoing debate around The Hundred, or on the international stage with Indian capital dominating the sport in ways unimaginable 15 years ago - he's got his work cut out for him. We had the better part of an hour with Richard at ECB headquarters at Lord's.

The audio is here, and there is also video of the full interview here. 

Story Time 139 – Here comes the injured No. 11

A show that could also have been titled Wally Grout is Grouse. Where did that word go? Before we ponder that big question, a true sensation of a tale we had never heard, about a player trying to take his place in the middle against all medical sense. Plus a couple of the most extraordinary revisit solutions for stubborn unsolved numbers, including more Ramaswamy than even Ramaswamy would have expected. Of all episodes, this week you must stay to the end.

Here's the ep.

Your Nerd Pledge numbers this week:
2.50 - Chris Arkle
11.40 - Chris Dobbins
8.81 - Haylee Fuller
8.90 - Ramaswamy
2.15 - Joel Emonson
3.67 - Stephen Baxter

Revisits
2.93 - Graeme Innes
5.67 - Bala Sivaraman

This is the kind of work we can do with the support from all of you - good going. There are lots of chats afoot on the Discord page about Final Nerd meet-ups at the various matches coming up, so do get in there. 

Right, back to the cricket...