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Kane Williamson’s face summing up the mood of the cricketing public (Getty Images)
Kane Williamson’s face summing up the mood of the cricketing public (Getty Images)

Cricket World Cup 2019July 15, 2019

The Offspin: Grasping at straws after the greatest ever cricket game

Kane Williamson’s face summing up the mood of the cricketing public (Getty Images)
Kane Williamson’s face summing up the mood of the cricketing public (Getty Images)

The Offspin podcast tries to make sense of the greatest cricket game of all time, at the same time as not seeing the Black Caps win it.

Perhaps our guest Sam Flynn Scott has the right approach to this one – immediately upon arrival at the studio he decided to focus on how the Black Caps didn’t actually lose the Cricket World Cup final. After all, it was tied on the field not just once but twice.

But really, after a game like that, what else is there to do but hopelessly grasp at straws – when after six gruelling weeks of cricket fandom, it came down to the absolute last possible ball, and the result went the other way?

Along with ample chances to unload on the things that went wrong or were just plain unlucky, there’s also a chance to look at the positives. We pick some of them out and lavish praise on the players who played their hearts out when it mattered. And for the fans, there’s a very simple question: could we ever ask to have been taken on a more total emotional journey than what the Black Caps have given us over the tournament? And was it all worth it?

Probably. Wow. What an amazing game. Sport at it’s finest. The best game we’ve ever seen. It was so tense. So much skill. So much pressure. It was a beautiful vision of the most beautiful game. We feel like we’ve just left a five-day festival. Thanks for being there with us.

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For the last weeks of the Cricket World Cup, hosts Simon Day and Alex Braae, and a rotating squad of sloggers, change bowlers and outfielders put out The Offspin The Spinoff’s Cricket World Cup podcast. With the Black Caps playing all their games at wildly inconvenient overnight times, Simon and Alex will be swapped sleep for cricket, then rolled into the studio to drink Coffee Supreme (proud sponsors of The Offspin) and offer their expert analysis of the World Cup.

Like, share and subscribe to The Offspin, and drink Coffee Supreme to keep you alive after long nights of cricket this World Cup.

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