Jonathan Agnew

Jonathan Agnew
MBE DL

Agnew at the Adelaide Oval in 2006
Personal information
Full name	Jonathan Philip Agnew
Born	(1960-04-04) 4 April 1960 (age 57) Macclesfield, Cheshire, England
Nickname	Aggers, Spiro
Height	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)
Batting style	Right-handed
Bowling style	Right-arm fast
Role	Bowler, commentator
International information
National side	England
Test debut (cap 508)	9 August 1984 v West Indies
Last Test	6 August 1985 v Australia
ODI debut (cap 77)	23 January 1985 v India
Last ODI	17 February 1985 v Australia
Domestic team information
Years	Team
1979–1992	Leicestershire
Career statistics
Competition Tests ODI FC LA Matches 3 3 218 147 Runs scored 10 2 2108 335 Batting average 10.00 – 11.51 9.30 100s/50s 0/0 0/0 0/2 0/0 Top score 5 2* 90 26 Balls bowled 552 126 35388 6813 Wickets 4 3 666 158 Bowling average 93.25 40.00 29.25 29.26 5 wickets in innings – – 37 2 10 wickets in match – n/a 6 n/a Best bowling 2/51 3/38 9/70 5/30 Catches/stumpings 0/– 1/– 39/– 19/–
Source: Cricinfo, 5 August 2008

Jonathan Philip Agnew, MBE DL (born 4 April 1960) is an English cricket broadcaster and former professional cricketer. He was born in Macclesfield, Cheshire, and educated at Uppingham School. He is nicknamed "Aggers", and, less commonly, "Spiro" – the latter, according to Debrett's Cricketers' Who's Who, after former US Vice President Spiro Agnew.

Agnew had a successful first-class career as a fast bowler for Leicestershire from 1979 to 1990, returning briefly in 1992. In first-class cricket he took 666 wickets at an average of 29.25. Agnew won three Test caps for England, as well as playing three One Day Internationals in the mid-1980s, although his entire international career lasted just under a year. In county cricket, Agnew's most successful seasons came toward the end of his career, after his last international match, when he had learned to swing the ball. He was second- and third-leading wicket-taker in 1987 and 1988 respectively, including the achievement of 100 wickets in a season in 1987. He was named as one of the five Cricketers of the Year by Wisden Cricketers' Almanack in 1988.

While still a player, Agnew began a career in cricket journalism and commentary. Since his retirement as a player, he has become a leading voice of cricket on radio, as the BBC Radio cricket correspondent and as a commentator on Test Match Special. He has also contributed as a member of Australian broadcaster Australian Broadcasting Corporation's Grandstand team. Agnew's on-air "leg over" comment on Test Match Special, made to fellow commentator Brian Johnston in 1991, provoked giggling fits during a live broadcast and reaction from across England. The incident has been voted "the greatest sporting commentary ever" in a BBC poll;Michael Henderson, one of Agnew's peers and rivals, has described him as "a master broadcaster ... the pick of the sports correspondents at the BBC."