And so we face the final curtain

The Ashes. That whole thing. We never know whether to use the word "it" (for the series) or "they" (for the plural Ashes). The Ash would also have worked back in 1882, as a compound noun. Anyway, the contest is over, a little shouting continues, and we have made it with you to the other side.

This is Week 1 of August on TFW Patreon. If you're new to the biz, we don't treat "per creation" as per episode, because that would get out of control, but per week of episodes, however many that may be. For example...

Since June 1 it has been nine weekly shows, six Story Times, six Test previews, three aftermath shows, 24 daily shows for the men's Ashes, 11 for the women, five for the WTC final, three for Ireland, two for West Indies-India, farewell specials for Stuart Broad and Cheteshwar Pujara, standalone interviews with ECB chief exec Richard Gould, living legend Enid Bakewell, Colin From Accounts actor Patrick Brammall, and Lord's curator Karl McDermott, one Adam's Wedding Daily, and a sold-out live show with Steven Finn in Soho.

What a ride. Could not and would not have done it without you all.

If you missed anything over the last week, here it is.

The Final Word Daily

Sign off from Daily shows for a minute with the episodes from The Oval: the preview, days one, two, three, four, five, and the post-match series review. 

Stuart Broad also dropped his retirement on us while we were shooting the Day 4 ep, so we had to do a follow-up just for him. 

How to fail to organise a World Cup

Season 14, Episode 28: There are World Cups coming out our ears, with details of the schedule for the men's T20 version next year starting emerge even while the BCCI is still changing the 50-over schedule that is due to start in two months. "Relax!" they're saying. "Go with the flow!" We also check in with our USA correspondent Cam Ponsonby about Major League Cricket and the mysterious New York stadium - is it too much to hope that it's in Flushing, Queens? The Bangladesh women's team eyes off Test cricket, Australia's women tour Ireland, and the County Championship rolls on.

Your Nerd Pledge number for this week:
4.31 - Michael Fallon

Audio is here.

Story Time 143 – The fastest hundred ever

It's Story Time, our weekly walk through cricket history via your listener quiz challenges. Fine, it hasn't exactly been weekly in the middle of the Ashes, but we didn't manage to put together this episode. Featuring an innings that left everybody speechless, a detour back to some very early Ashes stories, prodigious feats on a first visit to foreign soil, and another regular six-hitter tallies up.

Your Nerd Pledge numbers this week:
19.04 - Matthew Chapple
14.90 - Brett Birkenstock
2.43 - David Honeyball
10.00 - Nigel Browne

Here's the episode.

The Final Word with Patrick Brammall

Season 14, Episode 27: Someone  from the creative world tweeting up a storm during the cricket gets our  attention. So it has been over the Ashes with Patrick Brammall, one of  Australia's most recognisable and talented actors. His show Colin From  Accounts, which he writes and stars in with his wife Harriet Dyer, has  enjoyed success at home and in the UK as one of the most-watched  comedies of 2023. He's been nominated for two silver Logies. With that  event and the final Ashes Test in the same week, there was no better  time to speak with him from Los Angeles.

The interview is here.

Thanks all. We're both on holiday for a few days now, but we have a massive interview coming up on Thursday as well as Story Time scheduled for the weekend.

See you soon.