Cricket is the best sport and has the best cliches. In Ahead of the Eight Ball, failed sports journalist Dave Tickner and failed comedian Mick Tickner dissect every single one of those clichés, from behind the eight ball to tracer bullets via heavy balls and big bats, in painstaking detail whether you like it or not.
Episode 17 - Yeah well, basically I've checked all other possibilities and it's come down to being rattled. I don't know, The Ashes? Sorry, who is this I'm talking to?
We are back with another episode about the Ashes but because it is 10 months out and not a lot is going on, we mainly talk about our favourite jokes from Viz, proboscis monkeys and pitches.
Stuff we talk about;
All run 7 from our friends at Wisden
Darren Lehman on Joe Root
5 Sept 2024
Episode 16 - Lower Order Runs
Some handy, useful, bonus, frustrating and irritating podcasting from Dave and Mick as they negotiate their way through the fascination with lower order runs.
Follow us on X, the social media platform formaly known as Twitter and inform us of the daft commentary you hear.
@Aheadofthe8
Dave - @tickerscricket
Mick - @Tickersgrins
3 May 2024
Episode 15 - Cricket is Turning into Baseball
Dave and Mick are joined by Peter Miller aka The Cricket Geek as we go deep into why cricket isn't turning into baseball because both sports have always been very similar. We talk fastball, pitch runners and bunts. Pete namedrops and Mick does an impression. Standard stuff.
18 Jan 2024
Episode 14 - Cricket Needs A Strong West Indies
We do talk about the topic but also about Brian Lara being great, Ben Duckett's bat's axis of abscissa and Steve Smith (Dave is still rattled).
Follow us on X, the social media platform formaly known as Twitter.
@Aheadofthe8 (https://twitter.com/Aheadofthe8)
Dave - @tickerscricket (https://twitter.com/tickerscricket)
Mick - @Tickersgrins (https://twitter.com/Tickersgrins)
24 Nov 2023
Episode 13 - Politics (not really)
We sort of talk about cricket and how politicians use it for their lazy references. Loads of World Cup chat, stare out champinships and the new feature CBWP (Cricketers Bad Wikipedia Photos). CBWP #1 - Damien Martyn (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Damien_Martyn).
28 Sept 2023
Episode 12 - The Rattled Ashes Part 68
Dave's rattled. #Ulon
6 Jul 2023
Episode 11 - Ashes Hypocrisy
A slightly different episode in which Dave is let loose to rant for an extended period of time about why England and Australia are both just dreadful whinging hypocrites.
Send your appeals to the Dave Review System to @aheadofthe8 (https://twitter.com/aheadofthe8) on Twitter.
14 Jun 2023
Episode 10 - Test Cricket is/isn’t Dying
We have nudged and nurdled our way slowly to double figures. In this episode we introduce the DRS (the Dave Review System) and we discuss how test cricket might actually be dying. Test cricket is dead, long live test cricket.
27 Apr 2023
Episode 9 - Root Maths
Dave and Mick talk about stat noncing and why Joe Root had a golden period which coined the phrase, Root Maths.
15 Feb 2023
Episode 8 - Nighthawk
The latest Ahead of the Eight Ball discusses an exciting recent addition to the language of cricket. It's mainly associated with a seasoned cricket comedy operator despite/because of the fact he has never actually performed the role. Dave and Mick talk about what a Nighthawk is and, far more importantly, what it isn't. Because people are already getting this wrong.
7 Feb 2023
Episode 7 - Mankads
Finally, there's a podcast willing to talk about mankads, as Dave and Mick bang on for a bit about whether they're okay, why they're happening now, whether they should be called mankads at all and the pleasingly forthright MCC stance.
16 Aug 2022
Episode 6 - BAZBALL!
With the England men's Test team back in action this week, Dave and Mick discuss the word on everyone's lips apart from those of Dean Elgar who definitely hasn't given it a second thought, actually. It's time for more BAZBALL!
29 Jun 2022
Episode 5 - Loves their Cricket
A lot has happened in cricket over the last few weeks, much of it very on brand for previous episodes of Ahead of the Eight Ball which means it is itself ahead of the eight ball, in a way. Dave and Mick discuss all these matters as well as the phenomenon of famous people who aren't cricketers but nevertheless Love Their Cricket.
26 May 2022
Episode 4 - Highest Successful Fourth Innings Run-Chases ft. Tom Evans
Dave and Dave's brother Mick come dangerously close to actually fulfilling their promise of delivering a fortnightly podcast as they are joined by Cricket Twitter stalwart Tom Evans to finally answer the very biggest question in the sport - Highest Successful Fourth Innings Run-Chases: harmless, vaguely interesting stat or scourge on the game to be eradicated at all costs?
10 May 2022
Episode 3 - Deserved a Century ft. Dan Liebke
Australian podcaster, humorist, author and doyen of Funny Cricket Dan Liebke joins Dave and Dave's brother Mick to discuss cricket's obsession with round numbers, the daft idea of deserving a century and pay their own small tribute to the great and ridiculous Shane Warne.
3 Mar 2022
Episode 2 - The Spirit of Cricket ft. Peter Miller
They said it would never happen but Dave and Mick are back with Episode 2 and this time they've dragged along author, twitter nuisance and Caribbean enjoyer Peter Miller to discuss the Spirit of Cricket and why, precisely, it doesn't actually exist.
You can find Peter on Twitter @TheCricketGeek (https://twitter.com/TheCricketGeek).
12 Feb 2022
Episode 1 - Behind the Eight Ball
Only one place to start, and that’s where every England captain finds themselves sooner or later. Behind the eight ball. An all-conquering titan of cricket clichedom that has spawned a nonsensical series of variations including the title of the podcast after we picked after realising someone had already done one called Behind The Eight Ball, which was annoying. We’ve decided “Ahead of the Eight Ball” is actually a better name, but are probably only fooling ourselves.
Reach and audience
Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.
Spotify
4.9 / 5
27 ratings
Podcast Authority Score: 17 / 100
A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.
Quality
14
Social presence
0
YouTube
0
Engagement
51
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