Ashes warm-ups are for squares

Season 14, Episode 10: Who needs to play tour matches before a major Test engagement, anyway? Its not like Australia's most recent tour was affected by a team taking time to adjust. Time to play other sports instead. On another note, it was a major week in the women's game with two of the game's iconic fast bowlers, Katherine Sciver-Brunt and Shabmim Ismail, retiring from international duty. India has squad changes for the World Test Championship final, a familiar voice will be the new MCC president at Lord's, Ireland take a curious attitude to their Test match at that venue, and Jofra Archer leaves the IPL still troubled by his limited injury recovery. Your Nerd Pledge number this week: 5.65 - Jake Cunliffe Support the show with a Nerd Pledge at patreon.com/thefinalword Find previous episodes at finalwordcricket.com Help our Edinburgh Marathon runners raise funds for the Lord's Taverners at bit.ly/eddiemarathon, or learn about other Tavs projects with bit.ly/tavssignup. Title track by Urthboy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices