Ian James Ward (born 30 September 1972) is a British broadcaster and former professional
cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by str ...
er. A left-handed batsman and occasional right-arm medium bowler for
Surrey and
Sussex, Ward was capped 5 times by
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
. Since retiring from professional cricket in 2005, he has worked for
Sky Sports
Sky Sports is a group of British subscription sports channels operated by the satellite pay television company Sky Group (a division of Comcast), and is the dominant subscription television sports brand in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It ...
as a cricket commentator and presenter.
Playing career
Ward made his professional debut for Surrey in 1992, but was released by the county at the end of the
1992 season
Year 199 ( CXCIX) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was sometimes known as year 952 ''Ab urbe condita''. The denomination 199 for this year has been used since the ...
, aged 20. Without a county for the following five years, he worked as a petrol station attendant, barman and aircraft cleaner, while continuing to play club cricket. In 1997, Ward rejoined Surrey, becoming part of the side that won the
County Championship
The County Championship (referred to as the LV= Insurance County Championship for sponsorship reasons) is the domestic first-class cricket competition in England and Wales and is organised by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB). It bec ...
three times between
1999
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and
2002. His form for Surrey earned him a call-up to the 2000-01
England A tour of the
West Indies
The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greate ...
where he scored 689 runs at an average of 68.90, including three centuries.
He made his
Test
Test(s), testing, or TEST may refer to:
* Test (assessment), an educational assessment intended to measure the respondents' knowledge or other abilities
Arts and entertainment
* ''Test'' (2013 film), an American film
* ''Test'' (2014 film), ...
debut against
Pakistan
Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-lar ...
at
Lord's in
2001, scoring 39 runs in an England victory by an innings and 9 runs. Ward struggled in his second Test, scoring only 12 and 10 runs in a 108 run defeat to Pakistan at
Old Trafford. He retained his place, however, for the beginning of the
2001 Ashes series against
Australia. Ward made 23 and 3 runs in the first Test of the series at
Edgbaston
Edgbaston () is an affluent suburban area of central Birmingham, England, historically in Warwickshire, and curved around the southwest of the city centre.
In the 19th century, the area was under the control of the Gough-Calthorpe family a ...
, before scoring 23* and a
duck
Duck is the common name for numerous species of waterfowl in the family Anatidae. Ducks are generally smaller and shorter-necked than swans and geese, which are members of the same family. Divided among several subfamilies, they are a form ...
in the second Test at Lord's. His final Test appearance came in the third match of the 2001 Ashes series at
Trent Bridge
Trent Bridge Cricket Ground is a cricket ground mostly used for Test, One-Day International and county cricket located in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England, just across the River Trent from the city of Nottingham. Trent Bridge is also ...
, scoring 6 and 13 runs. England lost the Test by 7 wickets, which meant Australia retained
The Ashes
The Ashes is a Test cricket series played between England and Australia. The term originated in a satirical obituary published in a British newspaper, '' The Sporting Times'', immediately after Australia's 1882 victory at The Oval, its first ...
with two Tests to spare.
Having scored 6,923 runs for Surrey at an average of 40.01, including 17 centuries, Ward left the county for a second time in 2003, opting to join Sussex for the
2004 season. After scoring a further 6 centuries across two seasons, he announced his retirement from professional cricket in 2005, in order to pursue a career in broadcasting.
Broadcasting career
Ward first worked for Sky Sports during its coverage of the 2001 England tour of
Sri Lanka. Yet to make his Test debut at the time, he was employed at short notice upon the recommendation of
Mark Butcher
Mark may refer to:
Currency
* Bosnia and Herzegovina convertible mark, the currency of Bosnia and Herzegovina
* East German mark, the currency of the German Democratic Republic
* Estonian mark, the currency of Estonia between 1918 and 1927
* Fin ...
, the England batsmen and teammate of Ward at Surrey.
After his retirement from professional cricket in 2005, Ward sought to forge a full-time career in broadcasting. A brief stint as an anchor on
Sky Sports News
Sky Sports News (SSN) is a British paid television sports news channel run by Sky, a division of Comcast.
History
Since 1992, Sky Sports had broadcast sports news, initially a brief ''Football Update'' and later this was expanded into a ...
followed, as did increasingly frequent appearances on Sky Sports' cricket coverage. By the
2013 Ashes series
The 2013 Ashes series (known as the Investec 2013 Ashes Series for sponsorship reasons) was a series of Test cricket matches contested between England and Australia for the Ashes. It formed part of the 2013 Australian tour of England, which al ...
, Ward had become an integral part of cricket coverage on Sky Sports. During that series, he anchored coverage from the 'Ashes Zone', which, drawing upon his professional cricket experience, saw Ward and guests perform detailed technical analysis.
Following the 2013 Ashes series, Ward's prominence on Sky Sports' cricket coverage continued to increase, with Ward regularly presenting
One Day International and
Twenty20 International
A Twenty20 International (T20I) is a form of cricket, played between two of the international members of the International Cricket Council (ICC), in which each team faces a maximum of twenty overs. The matches have top-class status and are the ...
matches, as well as overseas tours, in lieu of
David Gower
David Ivon Gower (born 1 April 1957) is an English cricket commentator and former cricketer who was captain of the England cricket team during the 1980s. Described as one of the most stylish left-handed batsmen of his era, Gower played 117 Te ...
, the primary presenter of
international cricket
International cricket matches are played between teams representing their nations, normally organised by the International Cricket Council (ICC). The main forms are Test matches, One-Day matches and Twenty20 matches.
Most games are played ...
on Sky Sports. In 2019, Ward presented coverage of the
2019 Cricket World Cup
The 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup was the 12th Cricket World Cup, a quadrennial One Day International (ODI) cricket tournament contested by men's national teams and organised by the International Cricket Council (ICC). It was hosted between 30 May ...
on Sky Sports, and was one of only six British commentators to be heard on global broadcast coverage of the tournament.
In 2020, Ward succeeded Gower as the primary presenter of international cricket on Sky Sports.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ward, Ian
1972 births
Living people
England Test cricketers
English cricketers
Surrey cricketers
English cricket commentators
Sussex cricketers