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Alison Mitchell (born 17 January) is an
English-Australian cricket commentator and sports broadcaster, working for the BBC, Australia's Channel 7 and the Australian Open among others. She was the first woman to become a regular commentator on the BBC's ''
Test Match Special
''Test Match Special'' (also known as ''TMS'') is a British sports radio programme, originally, as its name implies, dealing exclusively with Test cricket matches, but currently covering any professional cricket. It broadcasts on BBC Radio 4 LW ...
'', and has been commentating on men's and women's international cricket around the world since 2007. She also spent many years reporting and commentating on a variety of sports for
BBC Radio 5 Live and
Five Live Sports Extra, including Olympic and Commonwealth Games, Wimbledon, Australian Open, French Open and Open Golf. In March 2014, she was voted SJA Sports Broadcaster of the Year 2013 by members of the
Sports Journalists' Association. She is also the first woman to have called men's
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 ...
ball-by-ball on
ABC Radio Grandstand
ABC Sport, formerly ABC Radio Grandstand, is a live radio sports focused commentary and talk-back program which runs on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) local radio network across Australia and on one digital-only station.
History
Fr ...
in Australia.
Early life
Born to an Australian mother and English father, Mitchell began her broadcasting career with the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
as a part-time broadcast assistant at
BBC Radio Northampton while studying for
A-levels
The A-Level (Advanced Level) is a subject-based qualification conferred as part of the General Certificate of Education, as well as a school leaving qualification offered by the educational bodies in the United Kingdom and the educational au ...
at
Wellingborough School
Wellingborough School is a co-educational day independent school in the market town of Wellingborough in Northamptonshire. It was established in 1595 and is one of the oldest schools in the country. The school today consists of a Prep school ...
, where she is a committee member of the Old Wellingburians. She played many sports at school, captaining the school tennis, netball and athletics squads.
She played
hockey
Hockey is a term used to denote a family of various types of both summer and winter team sports which originated on either an outdoor field, sheet of ice, or dry floor such as in a gymnasium. While these sports vary in specific rules, numbers o ...
competitively, representing Northamptonshire, being selected for Midland Developments squads, playing for the
University of Nottingham
, mottoeng = A city is built on wisdom
, established = 1798 – teacher training college1881 – University College Nottingham1948 – university status
, type = Public
, chancellor ...
1st XI and captaining the club.
She took a degree in
geography
Geography (from Greek: , ''geographia''. Combination of Greek words ‘Geo’ (The Earth) and ‘Graphien’ (to describe), literally "earth description") is a field of science devoted to the study of the lands, features, inhabitants, an ...
at the University of Nottingham (dissertation entitled "The Impact of Television on the Cultural Geography of English Cricket" 1995–2000) and then trained in broadcast journalism at
Falmouth College of Arts. She gained her first experience of live reporting on cricket, football and rugby at
BBC Radio Cornwall before freelancing for
BBC Radio Leicester
BBC Radio Leicester is the BBC's local radio station serving the counties of Leicestershire and Rutland.
It broadcasts on FM, DAB, digital TV and via BBC Sounds from studios at St Nicholas Place in Leicester.
According to RAJAR, the station ...
.
BBC career
Mitchell has worked across all BBC networks, including
Radio 5 Live,
Radio 4,
Radio 1, the
Asian Network and the
World Service
The BBC World Service is an international broadcasting, international broadcaster owned and operated by the BBC, with funding from the Government of the United Kingdom, British Government through the Foreign Secretary, Foreign Secretary's o ...
, and has presented sport news for the
BBC News Channel
BBC News (also known as the BBC News Channel) is a British free-to-air public broadcast television news channel for BBC News. It was launched as BBC News 24 on 9 November 1997 at 5:30 pm as part of the BBC's foray into digital domestic telev ...
. She was Britain's first female cricket commentator
[Happy commentary on our times]
Daily Telegraph, 2 August 2007 calling games ball-by-ball.
Mitchell specialises in cricket as part of the ''Test Match Special'' team, but she also covers major events for
BBC Sport
BBC Sport is the sports division of the BBC, providing national sports coverage for BBC television, radio and online. The BBC holds the television and radio UK broadcasting rights to several sports, broadcasting the sport live or alongside flag ...
such as the
Olympics,
Commonwealth Games
The Commonwealth Games, often referred to as the Friendly Games or simply the Comm Games, are a quadrennial international multi-sport event among athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations. The event was first held in 1930, and, with the exce ...
and
Wimbledon. She also presents sport on
the ''Today'' programme on BBC Radio 4. She spent many years as a sports news presenter for 5 Live, and has also presented the sport for Radio 1's ''
Newsbeat
''Newsbeat'' is the BBC's radio news programme broadcast on Radio 1, 1Xtra and Asian Network. ''Newsbeat'' is produced by BBC News but differs from the BBC's other news programmes in its remit to provide news tailored for a specifically yo ...
'', including a stint on ''
The Chris Moyles Show
''The Chris Moyles Show'' is the title given to two differing versions of a radio programme hosted by Chris Moyles, originally broadcast as Radio 1 Breakfast from 5 January 2004 to 14 September 2012 before transferring three years later on 21 ...
''.
In January 2015, Mitchell took on the role of lead presenter of ''
Stumped
Stumped is a method of dismissing a batsman in cricket, which involves the wicket-keeper putting down the wicket while the batsman is out of his ground. (The batsman leaves his ground when he has moved down the pitch beyond the popping creas ...
'', the weekly cricket show on the
BBC World Service which is also broadcast on and produced in partnership with
All India Radio
All or ALL may refer to:
Language
* All, an indefinite pronoun in English
* All, one of the English determiners
* Allar language (ISO 639-3 code)
* Allative case (abbreviated ALL)
Music
* All (band), an American punk rock band
* ''All'' (All ...
and
ABC Grandstand
ABC Sport, formerly ABC Radio Grandstand, is a live radio sports focused commentary and talk-back program which runs on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) local radio network across Australia and on one digital-only station.
History
Fr ...
.
BBC Radio
Mitchell joined the BBC Asian Network as staff in 2002, mainly covering international cricket, and did her first broadcast for Radio Five Live in 2003.
She has covered
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 ...
Winter cricket tours to Australia,
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
,
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 ...
,
Sri Lanka,
New Zealand
New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...
and South Africa; World Cups in
Australia,
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
and 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 ...
; World Twenty20s in
Bangladesh 2014, Sri Lanka 2012, West Indies 2010,
England 2009 and South Africa 2007, the
ICC Champions Trophy, four
Women's Cricket World Cup
The ICC Women's Cricket World Cup is the sport's oldest world championship, with the first tournament held in England in 1973. Matches are played as One Day Internationals (ODIs) over 50 overs per team, while there is also another champion ...
s, the
2012 London Olympics
The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...
,
2008 Beijing Olympics,
2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow,
2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, the
Wimbledon, the French Open, Australian Open, four
World Gymnastics Championships
Gymnastics World Championships refers to a number of different world championships for each of the disciplines in competitive gymnastics. The International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) organizes World Championships for six disciplines: acrobatic ...
and two
World Snooker Championships
The World Snooker Championship is the longest-running and most prestigious tournament in professional snooker. It is also the wealthiest, with total prize money in 2022 of £2,395,000, including £500,000 for the winner. First held in 1927, it ...
.
She commentated on
Ireland's historic victory over
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 the
2007 Cricket World Cup
The 2007 ICC Cricket World Cup was the ninth Cricket World Cup, a One Day International (ODI) cricket tournament that took place in the West Indies from 13 March to 28 April 2007. There were a total of 51 matches played, three fewer than at the ...
, and was the last person to interview Pakistan coach
Bob Woolmer
Robert Andrew Woolmer (14 May 1948 – 18 March 2007) was an English cricket coach, cricketer, and a Sportscaster, commentator. He played in 19 Test cricket, Test matches and six One Day Internationals for the England cricket team and later coach ...
before his sudden death in the
Pegasus Hotel in Jamaica. She reported on his death for all BBC Networks, and was the only BBC reporter in
Kingston when police announced a murder investigation.
She made her full England commentary debut at the
2007 World Twenty20 in South Africa with
Jonathan Agnew
Jonathan Philip Agnew, (born 4 April 1960) is an English cricket broadcaster and a former professional cricketer. He was born in Macclesfield, Cheshire, and educated at Uppingham School. He is nicknamed "Aggers", and, less commonly, "Spiro" ...
for Test Match Special (she seemed to get on well with summariser
Ian Chappell
Ian Michael Chappell (born 26 September 1943) is a former cricketer who played for South Australia and Australia. He captained Australia between 1971 and 1975 before taking a central role in the breakaway World Series Cricket organisation. Born ...
when she mentioned that her mother is Australian). She then flew on to
Sri Lanka to commentate on her first ODI series there.
She commentated for both
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
and