The home pause

He's good at photos, that Phil Brown. He has been back and forth between England and Australia for so long that he doesn't have a distinct idea of what home is, but he can still look up at a New South Wales sky and see some magic.

For us, there is something very special about getting back to Australia, and especially back to Melbourne. Stopping into some of the old bars, seeing familiar faces without having to arrange it, catching scents or bits of sunlight or rolls of rain on the roof in ways that are so innately familiar. 

It is a rare five-Wednesday month, so that makes this Week 5 in TFW land, a slight pause in between playing our TFW XI game this weekend and preparing for the Melbourne live show the next. Which has, we're told, sold out. We're finding out whether we can work the configuration of the room to get some more people in, if you haven't got tickets yet.

Sydney is selling well too, and still has seats available. All the links are here.

And with some time before a Test series, it's of course time for selection chat...

The Green Marsh showdown

Season 15, Episode 12: So it comes down to Mitchell Marsh vs Cameron Green - but does it make sense for David Warner to get his preferred farewell instead of making space in the Test XI against Pakistan? It's one question with Australia's Test summer around the corner. The T20 side is still in India instead of having a ticker-tape parade at home, where WBBL finals are about to start. Meanwhile, it's silly season in the IPL, the next England summer has started taking shape, and the most important cricket this week is being played in Namibia, where Zimababwe are likely to miss next year's T20 World Cup.

Your Nerd Pledge number this week:
7.04 - Sheahan Arnott

Here's the episode.

Story Time 160 – Who is in the Story Time XI?

This week, we look at one of Test cricket's rarer team feats, plus a man celebrated as one of the game's best captains. Modern England didn't invent nothing that Cyril Washbrook didn't already have covered, and there's the path from Blocker Wilson to Chucker Wilson. Plus who would make it into our all-time Story Time team?

Your Nerd Pledge numbers this week:
2.55 - Jonathan Potton
4.65 - Peter Lenaghan
3.79 - Dave Williams
2.05 - Tim Henry

Listen here.

England botches it – Greatest Season, ‘99 World Cup

Greatest Season That Was, Episode 3 – Alec Stewart: Back  to the 1999 World Cup, this is the sorry story of the home team.  England’s captain of the day, Alec Stewart was our forthright guest, who  didn’t miss targeting what went wrong when they failed to make it out  of the group – famously, eliminated before the official tournament song  was officially released. Doco made with Dan Brettig (The Age) and Shannon Gill  (Code Sports).

Click away.

TFW XI at Brunswick Street Oval, December 3

Some of our more dedicated and rusty players have been in the nets, tackling asphalt run-ups and low crossbars and errant bike frames. It should be a fun game against the Reds, who have much more practice than us at actually playing cricket, but we have unbreakable joie de vivre. Come down on Sunday for a chat, a drink, or an afternoon perusing sporting excellence.*

November done. TFW out.