The Final Word, World Cup 2019 Podcast: Listen to Geoff Lemon and Adam Collins as they preview New Zealand vs England final

Day 45 at the World Cup: England face New Zealand in the World Cup final on Sunday knowing years of planning come down to a single day at Lord’s. When England exited the 2015 edition with an embarrassing defeat by Bangladesh, few were tipping them as potential champions in four years’ time. As England captain Eoin Morgan put it: “If you had offered us the position to play in a final the day after we were knocked out of the 2015 World Cup, I would have laughed at you.” One person not laughing was Andrew Strauss, the former England director of cricket. Drafted into the newly created role, Strauss set about an overhaul that saw the former England captain appoint Australia’s Trevor Bayliss as coach, and place greater emphasis on white-ball cricket. The worth of all that work showed when Morgan’s men, now top of the one-day international rankings, thrashed reigning champions Australia by eight wickets in the semi-final at Edgbaston on Thursday. On the World Cup Daily, Geoff Lemon and Adam Collins are following the Cup all around England and Wales. Their long weekly podcast The Final Word has been going for five years, but now it has changed into a short daily form for cricket’s biggest tournament. Every day, The Final Word will team up with Firstpost to bring you a new episode from wherever they are on the road. On trains and buses, in pubs, on the street, in parks, on barges floating down rivers, and anywhere else that they might end up. They are also watching an awful lot of cricket, and can summarise all the matches that you didn’t have time to see, or can bring you into the discussion about the ones you did watch. They will nominate their player of the day, who will probably not be the official man of the match, and will pick one moment or person or incident to go into The Final Word Hall of Fame, with an overall winner to come at the end of the tournament. Tune in to The Final Word World Cup Daily on Day 46. With inputs from AFP. For all the latest news, opinions and analysis from ICC Cricket World Cup 2019, click here