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This day, that year: The birth of ball-by-ball cricket commentary
It was today, May 14, in 1927 years ago that ball-by-ball cricket commentary took place for the first time.
Over the years, some voices of cricket have become immortal. Thanks to the great Richie Benaud, Tony Grieg, Tony Cozier and many more, cricket was injected with an element without which the game today is incomplete. Ball-by-ball commentary today goes hand-in-hand with cricket, and it was today, May 14, 93 years ago that the practice was used the first time, all the way back in 1927.
A visiting New Zealanders were to face Essex for a match at Leyton, the home team lead by Johnny Douglas. And the match went on to become a historic one when Reverend Frank Gillingham, who was a former Essex player himself broadcast cricket live on BBC. In order to catch some of the crowd noise, Gillingham went as far as perching next to the secretary’s office on the pavilion balcony.
How did cricket become a part of ball-by-ball broadcast? It was on April 1 that it was announced on The Guardian about BBC’s proposal of adding cricket to its list of radio sports. It was a debatable call as Daily Herald challenged the popularity of the sport and instead believes that chess and billiards promised to appeal the masses, and more importantly, the broadcaster himself. More than three weeks later, it was revealed that Gillingham would in fact deliver the first cricket commentary from Leyton.
As per the initial plan, Gillingham was supposed to be on air for only 10 minutes, between 2:10pm to 2.20pm, followed by a four to five-minute bursts in between before eventually capping off with a summary at 6:45pm. Since radio was considered a direct competition to print, its coverage was pretty quiet. Most papers did not present it in the best of lights, but when the Broadcasting House decided to cover more matches, the practice was considered a success.
Soon, even though the papers resisted, the popularity of cricket broadcasting grew. Gillingham died soon after, but what he started echoed in the hearts and minds of many cricket fans, who later decided to become players themselves. And as those cricketers retired, the work they did as commentators prolonged their success stories.
On that note, we’d love to know who remains the top name/names in your list of cricket broadcasters.
