Jarrod Kimber (born 7 January 1980) is an Australian

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 striki ...

writer and film-maker. He came to prominence as the founder of the cricketwithballs blog, before working as editor of ''SPIN Magazine'' and then as a writer for ''

ESPNCricinfo ESPN cricinfo (formerly known as Cricinfo or CricInfo) is a sports news website exclusively for the game of cricket. The site features news, articles, live coverage of cricket matches (including liveblogs and scorecards), and ''StatsGuru'', a ...

''. He has written five books on cricket and was jointly responsible for the award winning film ''

Death of a Gentleman ''Death of a Gentleman'' is a 2015 documentary film about the takeover of the governance of cricket by International Cricket Council, ICC's 'Big Three'. It was directed by Sampson Collins, Sam Collins, Jarrod Kimber and Johnny Blank, and features ...

''.

Early life

Kimber was born and raised in

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

and attended

Epping Secondary College Epping Secondary College is a secondary school located in Epping, Victoria, Australia. Education is provided for years 7–12 on one campus and offers VCE, VCAL The Victorian Certificate of Applied Learning (VCAL) is a 'hands-on' option for stude ...

. He studied film at

Footscray City College Footscray High School is a multi-campus educational institution in Melbourne, Australia. Footscray College has formed a network with the University of Melbourne which gives students a better chance of getting into the University after they leav ...

before moving to London in 2008.

Journalism

Kimber first came to prominence as the founder of the ''cricketwithballs'' blog, which according to ''Cricinfo'': "invented a style that spawned an army of imitators who could never quite match him." He was the editor of ''SPIN Magazine'' in 2011, and went on to work for ''

'' as global writer. For ''ESPNcricinfo'' he created many online video shows, such as ''The Chuck Fleetwood-Smiths'', On the Road, #PoliteEnquiries and Two men out (with

Andy Zaltzman Andrew Zaltzman (born 6 October 1974) is a British comedian and author who largely deals in political and sport-related material. He has worked with John Oliver, with their work together including '' Political Animal'', '' The Department'', ...

). For a time he co-hosted Cricket Week a show on TalkSPORT 2. He was nominated for Best New Writer in the National Sporting Club Book Awards 2010 for his book '' Ashes 2009: When Freddie Became Jesus''. In relation to his 2011 book ''Australian Autopsy'', ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' described him as "one of the most original cricket writers around." He also provided the cover photo for

P Diddy Sean Combs (born Sean John Combs; November 4, 1969), also known by his stage names Puff Daddy, P. Diddy, Puffy, or Diddy, is an American rapper, actor, record producer, and record executive. Born in New York City, he worked as a talent directo ...

's album ''

Last Train to Paris ''Last Train to Paris'' is a 2010 studio album by American rapper and record producer Diddy and American R&B and hip hop duo Dirty Money, billed collectively as "Diddy – Dirty Money". It was released on December 14, 2010, by Bad Boy Records an ...

''. Kimber has been also been published in ''Wisden'', ''Dawn'', ''The Ringer'', ''The Independent'', ''The Cauldron'' and many other publications worldwide. In 2020 he started hosting his own general sports show on ''talkSPORT'' called “The Dive”. On May 16, 2018 he announced via his Twitter feed that he was taking a

sabbatical A sabbatical (from the Hebrew: (i.e., Sabbath); in Latin ; Greek: ) is a rest or break from work. The concept of the sabbatical is based on the Biblical practice of ''shmita'' (sabbatical year), which is related to agriculture. According to ...

from ''ESPNCricinfo'' to work as an analyst for the

St Lucia Stars Saint Lucia Kings (formerly known as St Lucia Stars and St Lucia Zouks) are the representative team of Saint Lucia in the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) of cricket. It is one of the six teams created in 2013 for the 2013 Caribbean Premier Leag ...

. Later he would work for several other cricket teams, including being analyst for the Scotland Men's team.

Film-making

Along with Sam Collins, he co-directed and co-wrote the documentary film ''

'' (2015) which had theatrical release throughout the cricket world and now appears on Netflix. The film details what the film-makers see as the short-sighted governance of cricket by the leaders of the

International Cricket Council The International Cricket Council (ICC) is the world governing body of cricket. Headquartered in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, its members are List of International Cricket Council members, 108 national associations, with 12 List of Internation ...

, in particular that the sport was being run for the benefit of its richest members:

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 ...

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 ...

and

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. The film won the creators a Sports Journalists award for Best TV documentary.

Commentating

Kimber was a regular guest on online cricket commentary show '' Test Match Sofa''. He was a member of the

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 ...

radio commentary team for the Australian 2013–14 tour of South Africa and India's tour of Australia in 2014–15. He has commentated for talkSPORT 2 for the Champions trophy, IPL and various England tours.

Books

*''Ashes 2009: When Freddie Became Jesus'' (2009) *''The Year of the Balls 2008: A Disrespective'' (2010) *''Australian Autopsy: The Gory Details of How England Dissected Australia in the 2010/11 Ashes'' (2011) *''Test Cricket: The Unauthorised Biography'' (2016) *''The Lillee of Campbellfield'' (2018)

References

External links

*
List of articles
at ESPNcricinfo {{DEFAULTSORT:Kimber, Jarrod Cricket historians and writers Australian sportswriters Living people 1980 births