Jonathan Agnew has been involved in the professional game for over 45 years. ‘Aggers’ first came to note as a seam bowler of genuine pace. In a first-class career spent entirely with Leicestershire, Jonathan took more than 650 first class wickets, with a best of 9 for 70 and represented England in three Tests and a further three one-day internationals. He took 101 wickets in the 1987 season.
After retiring from playing in 1990 aged just 30 he began to pursue a career in broadcasting and joined the TMS team in 1991. Jonathan learnt his craft under the tutelage of Brian Johnston, emerging from the notoriety of the gloriously funny 'leg over’ incident to become BBC Radio’s voice of cricket. Since then he has gone from strength to strength and arguably become the leading voice of cricket on the radio.
His peers in sports journalism have frequently commented on Agnew's skills as a broadcaster and writer. Michael Henderson, in the aftermath of the Stanford cricket controversy, wrote of Agnew as a "master broadcaster ... the pick of the sports correspondents at the BBC ... Agnew's is a sane, reasonable voice in a game that is going potty. Fair-minded, even-tempered, he has become one of the finest specialists the BBC has ever had. In his understated way he speaks for the game: not the people who play it.’’
Peter Baxter joined Test Match Special in 1966, producing the show between 1973 and 2007, and also presenting it on many occasions. During this time he had the privilege of working with many of the great characters of the TMS commentary team including Brian Johnston, Christopher Martin-Jenkins, John Arlott, Jonathan Agnew and his great friend, Henry Blofeld, with whom he recently appeared at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. He has presented from all parts of the cricketing world, getting to know many of the top players in his travels. He is also a well-known author of cricket books and has edited many titles including "Test Match Special - 50 not out".
Michael W Gatting is an English former cricketer, who played first-class cricket for Middlesex (1975–1998; captain 1983–1997) and for England from 1977 to 1995, captaining the national side in twenty-three Test matches between 1986 and 1988. He toured South Africa as captain of the rebel tour party in 1990. He replaced John Buchanan as the county coach, serving during 1999 and 2000.
He is currently an elected member of the Middlesex C.C.C. Executive Board and the M.C.C. Committee. He has previously served as the ECB managing director of Cricket Partnerships and President of Marylebone Cricket Club His highest Test score of 207 was scored in Madras.Gatting later captained England to an Ashes series victory in Australia in 1986/87.
During a one-day match in 1986, Gatting's nose was shattered by a ferocious delivery from West Indies fast bowler Malcolm Marshall. Marshall later found shards of the nose embedded in the ball's leather. The incident set the tone for the series as the West Indies' fearsome pace attack spearheaded England's thrashing 5–0. Another mishap for which Gatting will be remembered is being caught by Australian wicketkeeper Greg Dyer, after trying to play a reverse sweep off opposing captain Allan Border's first ball during the 1987 World Cup final. In 1987, Gatting also gained notoriety in the "Shakoor Rana affair" when he argued with umpire Shakoor Rana in Faisalabad.
Mike retired from first-class cricket in 1998 and has since worked as a coach and commentator. He is also a Past President of the Lord's Taverners for 2005–06 and the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) for 2013–14. He is currently in his second term as an elected member of the MCC committee and is also a co-opted member of the Middlesex C.C.C. Executive Board. Since October 2017 he has been the chairman of MCC's World Cricket committee.
Derek is a former Test and One Day International cricketer and is now a cricket journalist. He went on to play 30 Tests, the last of which was in 1992, scoring 695 runs and taking 70 wickets. He also played in 44 One-Day Internationals between 1982 and 1993. He appeared in two World Cups and was a member of England's 1992 World Cup Final team.
He eventually became a cult figure late in his career. His always popular warm-up routine before coming on to bowl involved him lying on his back and apparently wrestling with an invisible octopus. He once damaged his back when his chair collapsed, forcing him to withdraw from a Test match, although the story usually (but wrongly) told is that he sustained the injury whilst writing a letter.
After his playing days he became a cricket correspondent, firstly with The Independent and then The Daily Telegraph. In 2004 Pringle was threatened with deportation by the Mugabe administration in Zimbabwe during an England cricket tour of the country.
Vic Marks is a sport journalist and former professional cricketer. An off spin bowler, Marks played in six Test matches and thirty four One Day Internationals for England. His entire county cricket career was spent with Somerset, spanning the period between 1975 and 1989.
As a cricketer he was popular and well-liked; Wisden editor, Matthew Engel, labelled him "a mild, nervy, self-deprecating farm boy with an Oxford degree and no enemies". This was an unusual distinction in the Somerset side of the 1980s, where three explosive personalities, Viv Richards, Joel Garner and Ian Botham, had a dispute with captain Peter Roebuck, which resulted in Somerset (under the influence from Roebuck and new club Secretary Tony Brown) opting not to renew Richards' and Garner's contracts in 1986, and Botham leaving the club in protest.
