Big-hitting podcast

A fast-paced podcast this week with the next few weeks being dominated by Twenty20 action. Click here.

We've got Andy Flower on the art of placement in the 20-over affair, Goochie explores the benefits of the tournament and there's also a feature on Kerry Packer, the billionaire magnate who instigated night cricket, coloured clothing and cash in the pocket's of the world's best cricketers in the late Seventies.

Where de fans?

Catch the latest podcast which can be heard here. There seems to be a regular theme in recent weeks: namely negative thoughts on West Indian cricket. Lack of fast bowlers, fielding and now the decline in West Indian fans have all been covered.

This week I explore the association between West Indies and the Kennington Oval in south London. Once a spiritual home to the London Caribbean fraternity, now there isn't even the traditional last Test in the Wisden Trophy. Blame the convoluted fixtures calendar as India play there later in the summer. Anyway, I'm on the case of Alec Stewart and Rodney Hinds, the Voice newspaper's sports editor, for reason.

Know of any positive Caribbean stories before the tourists go home?

Podcast mayhem continues

Another podcast is up and running: click here.

This week, there's part two of the great West Indian fielders of the past. And it wouldn't be the same if an Englishman wasn't featured so I get the views on Derek Randall - that eccentric madman in the field. Also find out what Julian the Old Trafford worm and former Lancashire and India wicket-keeper Farokh Engineer had in common.

When laziness was a bad word

Another West Indies podcast is up: click here.

This week, I'm on the case of former greats of the game to discuss the great Caribbean tradition of churning out brilliant fielders. Now, you wouldn't have thought that fielding is a West Indies trademark by looking at the current West Indies lot, but there have been some fine fielders in the past. Panther, stealth and electric have been just some of the words to describe the likes of Lloyd, Richards, Logie and Harper.

And in the 1930s, Lord Constantine, perhaps the pioneer of Caribbean fielding, even made crowds turn up before the game had even started after they heard of his ability to knock stumps down from 30 yards and catch balls behind his back.

Podcasting summer

Nutley's podcasting summer got under way today. Listen to the first airing at history website sportasylum by clicking here.

There's Sir Garfield Sobers talking about Headingley and Gatt, Nasser and Gooch on the great Caribbean fast bowlers of old. Listen out for more audio over the coming weeks as I explore the great West Indian fielders from the past: Learie Constantine, the panther Roger Harper and Clive Lloyd.

That's it for now

The Nutley is resting its weary typing hands until next week and is going back to my wife. In the meantime, why not scroll down and relive some memories of the 2007 World Cup or peruse the Caribbean photo library (as above). Or you could even boost my future career as the podcast man for the Daily Mail by clicking and listening to the collection here.

I highly recommend St Lucia as a holiday destination but I would aslo combine it with Barbados. Hire a car, get lost and experience island life in one of the most relaxed environments in the world. And if you experience an old Bajan laugh, remember to tell me about it sometime.

India v Pakistan?

Sunday was supposed to be earmarked as one of the biggest games in cricket. India v Pakistan in the Super 8s at Kensington Oval. But two of the few positives this World Cup has seen scuppered that. Instead, it's Ireland v Bangladesh.

And my new podcast centres around Mike Gatting on Bangladesh, before I speak to Ireland's 6'7 Boyd Rankin. I also bump into Antigua's fervent fan Gravy and speak to the Kensington Oval's head groundsman. Listen to the lastest one by clicking here.

Podcasts; supplements

So what are you making of the World Cup warm-ups?

New Zealand losing to Bangladesh then posting a decent total against Sri Lanka; England romping home against Bermuda before a thrashing against the Aussies; the West Indies performing calypso collapso... and the minnows performing, well, admirably.

With the tournament proper just days away, the Nutley is preparing for its imminent departure to the Caribbean. I will be doing some (actually a fair few) podcasts for the Daily Mail over the coming weeks do get in there and start subscribing to get a flavour of island life throughout the tournament.

And Patrick Kidd over at Line and Length has been busy this week putting together a World Cup guide for The Times, which is out on Tuesday.

Two shameless bits of advertising, but well worth it!

Podcast: Lee suited and booted

It's relentless cricket for England at the moment. The Commonwealth Bank ODI Series is under way and it's back to the same hotels in the same cities.

For the Aussies, a few of the Ashes winners have been granted a rest, including paceman Brett Lee.

Lee is the subject of my final Ashes podcast which you can listen online now. I spoke to Lee's business partner Richard Bowman about the pair's growing suit clothing business and what he thought of the bowler's Bollywood introduction.

Lee still works in the shop to get away from the stresses of international cricket and sources material for the range. He's come a long way since he got stitched up by a mate of Bowman's who came into the shop one day as a customer looking for a suit. Throwing Lee some trade-talk lines, Lee was totally bemused but like a true pro managed to see it through as if he was bowling the last over.

Beefy: Double-0 Ashes

You know it's getting close when Ian Botham is in town. Golf courses, restaurants, wineries and fishing boats are all vying for His Beefiness' business over the coming months. And it just wouldn't be the same without a newspaper quote: "This is the oldest Australian side I've ever seen," Botham said in his latest Dad's Army jibe.

I will have the pleasure of interviewing Beefy (or at least trying to) this Winter for a series of weekly podcasts. I don't expect an easy time of it either - just follow the Ian Botham tag below for a series of adventures tracking down the former Ashes giant.

In a storyline not too dissimilar from Daniel Craig's double-0 efforts, I have attempted to track Beefy down when he has been: on a speedboat to Ravi Shastri's abode in Mumbai; in a helicopter on his way for a round of golf with Dean Jones in Delhi; filming a Weetabix advert in Australia when I thought he was still in Sri Lanka and losing mobile contact on a mountain pass in Pakistan. (A far cry from playing himself in Emmerdale in 1995, right). It even went as far as trying to order some fish in a Sri Lankan restaurant, only to be told that a table (Beefy's) had eaten the lot earlier that day.

So when I heard that Beefy would be doing an Ashes walk Down Under, I resigned myself to hiring a van for an Outback expedition. Luckily his walking exploits were consigned to raising thousands last month in the UK, but I'm still taking my speargun and wetsuit out if I'm having difficulty on the Gold Coast.