5 best cricketers turned journalists

Over the last few years, it has become increasingly common for cricketers after retirement to get into the media as it keeps them in touch with the game they love, in addition to giving them good remuneration. In earlier generations, a majority of cricketers once they gave up the game used to find it quite difficult to stay relevant and provide for their family, but that is no more the case with the cricket broadcasting and journalism industry thriving as it is. Here are 5 cricketers who have gone on to become great journalists:

#5 Mark Nicholas

Mark Nicholas, who was an attacking middle-order batsman for Hampshire in the 1980s, was perhaps unfortunate to never play for England, with an England A trip to Zimbabwe as captain being the closest he ever got to national honours. His media career, however, I dare say, has made up for his disappointments as a player. He joined Sky Sports as their anchorman in 1996, in addition to working as a journalist for The Daily Telegraph, before moving on to Channel 4 three years later.

Nicholas, who just very recently joined ESPNCricinfo as a columnist, has also become a permanent fixture on Australian television in recent years, serving as commentator and anchorman on Channel Nine’s coverage of Australian cricket. He comes across as a sharp and astute thinker of the game in his writing and commentary, and has impressed Australian listeners so much so that he is being widely anticipated to replace Richie Benaud, the doyen of cricket broadcasting, as the face of cricket on Channel Nine in the coming years.

#4 Jonathan Agnew

Jonathan Agnew, who played 3 Tests and ODIs each for England and took the wickets of Gordon Greenidge and Vivian Richards, no less, in his first ever Test, retired from professional cricket at the age of just 30 after realizing that his chance of appearing for England again had well and truly gone.

Following retirement in 1990, he started his journalism career as the chief cricket writer of Today newspaper, and covered England’s 1990-91 Ashes tour of Australia. Soon after, he joined BBC Test Match Special (TMS) due to editorial disagreements with the newspaper. Working at close quarters with the likes of Brian Johnston and Henry Blofeld at TMS, Agnew learnt the ropes of the job very quickly, and his career has only been on an upward trajectory ever since.

In 2007, Christopher Martin-Jenkins, his TMS colleague and a respected journalist himself, named Agnew when asked which sports journalist he had the most respect for, adding that he "combines astute journalism with apparently effortless communication skills."

#3 Peter Roebuck

Although the late Peter Roebuck enjoyed a long-standing career with Somerset in county cricket, it was as a cricket journalist and writer that he truly made his name. His writing skills first came to the fore when he wrote a behind-the-scenes journal, It Never Rains, of Somerset’s progress during the 1983 county season. After finishing up with his playing career, he moved to Australia, and wrote columns for The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and ESPNCricinfo, in addition to commentating on radio for the ABC on Test matches in Australia.

What shone through about Roebuck’s writing on cricket was the fact that he was one of the few non-partisan voices on the game, a refreshing and rare quality amongst today’s cricket writers, but he felt it was the bare minimum he could do in his job as a journalist and writer.

#2 Michael Atherton

Former England captain Mike Atherton made a seamless transition into the media after retiring from the game due to perennial back problems, at the age of 33, in 2001. He started out his journalism career with The Sunday Telegraph before succeeding Christopher Martin-Jenkins as The Times’ cricket correspondent in 2008.

In March 2010, he was recognized for his work as a journalist by being named Sports Journalist of the Year at the British Press Awards. The judges, talking about the decision, remarked that this was “a unanimous choice” and praised Atherton for “tackling subjects way beyond cricket”.

Going back to Atherton’s cricket career, he played 115 Tests for England after making his debut against Australia in 1989, and scored 7,728 Test runs, at a respectable average of 37.69, in an era of truly great fast bowlers like Glenn McGrath, Curtly Ambrose and Wasim Akram.

#1 Richie Benaud

Richie Benaud’s illustrious career as a journalist and broadcaster can often make you forget the fact that he was also a terrific cricketer for Australia in the 1950s and 60s. Benaud made his Test debut for Australia against West Indies in 1952, and played a total of 63 Tests, in which he took 248 wickets with his leg spin apart from scoring 2201 runs with the bat at an average of just below 25.

Interestingly, Benaud was preparing for eventualities once he finished playing long before he retired. After the 1956 England tour, he stayed back in London to undertake a BBC presenter training course and also did a few commentary stints on radio for the BBC. After his retirement in 1964, it was natural then for him to become a full-time cricket journalist and commentator, dividing his time between England and Australia, where he was doing commentary for BBC and Channel Nine, respectively, in addition to being a columnist on several newspapers.

Although the 2005 Ashes series was his last as a commentator in the UK, bringing an end to his stint with BBC and Channel 4 after 42 consecutive summers, he has continued commentating in Australia, and, to this day, there are few whose thoughts on the game of cricket are as incisive and respected as Benaud’s.