UAE Series, Cricket Writing and whatnot

## The UAE Series

Australian TV (like most countries) will generally neglect away Test series and has done for decades. ABC Radio used to (mostly) cover this gap, but since the internet, cricket tragics have occasionally had to rely on ball by ball updates or guerilla internet radio coverage.  In 2018, Adam realised that no-one was covering the UAE Test series, despite it being Australia’s first Test since Sandpapergate… so he and Geoff bought the rights. Read more here. The podcast episodes covering those Tests are Series 5, episodes 1 and 2.

Final Nerd Thomas Miles has collated some of the audio commentary and matched it with TV footage. You can find a link to it here. Even by TFW Nerd standards this is outstanding nerdage by Thomas. We doff our collective hats to you good sir.

## Geoff’s Injuries

Geoff regularly injures himself which either interferes with recording or is updated on the podcast. Recent injuries include:

* Stacking it while carrying equipment through a dark area in Sri Lanka as told at the start of Story Time 97.
* Falling off his bike MANY times, including during the Women’s T20 World Cup - referenced in https://www.patreon.com/posts/t20-world-3-34262310 and just before “Story Time 70 - Geoff fell off his bike again” in November 2021
* Geoff is Very Sick for the very hot Sydney Ashes Test of January 2018 and writes a piece from hospital
* When covering the 2011 Rugby World Cup in his first professional sporting trip, Geoff crashed a dirt bike and broke his shoulder (Story Time 51 – Geoff learns algebra, 13th June, 2021).
* Geoff (and Adam) falling ill while covering the second Pakistan Australia test in Karachi (Season 11, episode 21 – The many marvels of digestion, 18th March, 2022).

## Adam’s Writing

Both Geoff and Adam have written A LOT about cricket, but Adam also branches out into other sports, and both have written for The Guardian’s coverage of the Olympics. You can search Adam’s Guardian pieces here, or Wisden here.  A few particular favourites are linked below.

* Adam’s obituary for Deano
* Adam on Perry’s Test 213\* (yes, it’s only specially linked because it’s 213, but also because Ellyse Perry)
* What led me to buy the gigantic blue Batmobile from the 1991 AFL grand final (let’s just say Adam has a history of impulsive decisions)

## Geoff’s Writing

Geoff is a published poet, with a number of poetry slam competition wins and published poems. He has held various roles in Melbourne’s literary scene, including editor of *Going Down Swinging*. Some of that is harder to find these days, but here are some highlights of his cricket writing.

* The 2015 excoriation of Nine’s cricket coverage that went viral and circulated for a number of years afterwards. At least one of the people involved in that coverage still has massive sooks on Twitter about Geoff and Adam, which they probably don’t notice. This is an absolute “must read”. Seriously - if you haven’t read it, click on the link now. You can return to TFW wiki later.
* Geoff’s apology to Shane Watson, a bloody lovely piece as Geoff finally appreciates the tenacity and resilience of Watto playing through injury, underappreciation, and outright mockery. Also, *Pretty Hate Machine* is a perfect title which is not even referenced in the piece. Geoff’s apology is perhaps best appreciated as the bookend to Geoff’s 2013 YouTube Ashes Diary entry “Hey Watson”, where Geoff pleads with Watto to gain a fuller understanding of both the LBW rule and DRS.
* Ode to Shaun Marsh (January 2019, season 9, episode 5): read at the live recording in Fitzroy’s Commercial Club Hotel. Jump to 51:55, or find the recording on the Patreon page (17 May 2017).
* *Steve Smith’s Men* (book): you can hear the seeds of this in the Sandpapergate episode, but there’s also a lot of thought, research, sneaky pop culture references, word play, and sensitivity layered into it. Get the hard copy so you can fully appreciate the sandpaper texture of the front cover — brilliant design areas. It won most of the cricket writing awards there were that year.
* *The Comeback Summer* (book): Smith, Stokes, sport as redemption, existential musings - the usual really.