Jim Maxwell (commentator)
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James Edward Maxwell AM (born 28 July 1950) is a
sports commentator In sports broadcasting, a sports commentator (also known as sports announcer or sportscaster) provides a real-time commentary of a game or event, usually during a live broadcast, traditionally delivered in the historical present tense. Radio was ...
with the
Australian Broadcasting Corporation The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) is the national broadcaster of Australia. It is principally funded by direct grants from the Australian Government and is administered by a government-appointed board. The ABC is a publicly-own ...
best known for covering cricket.


Playing career

Maxwell played cricket in Sydney at the Cranbrook School and toured with an Australian Old Collegians team in 1972.


Broadcasting and publishing

In 1973 Maxwell joined the ABC after two unsuccessful attempts. Initially working as trainee, he later moved on to sports commentary and is best known for his coverage of 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 ...
. He has provided radio commentary for 317 Tests Matches (as at 4th Test, Australia v India Brisbane 2021) and numerous
One Day International A One Day International (ODI) is a form of limited overs cricket, played between two teams with international status, in which each team faces a fixed number of overs, currently 50, with the game lasting up to 9 hours. The Cricket World C ...
s, including seven
World Cups A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...
. Since the 1983 World Cup in England, Maxwell has been a frequent member of the
BBC's #REDIRECT 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 ex ...
''
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 ( ...
'' team and first commentated on an overseas Ashes tour in 2001. This became a regular fixture in 2005 and his description of England's dramatic win in the Second Test 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 an ...
that year was both highly memorable and much-admired by colleagues. A sound clip of Maxwell depicting the dismissal of
Sir Andrew Strauss Sir Andrew John Strauss (born 2 March 1977) is an English cricket administrator and former player, formerly the Director of Cricket for the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB). He played county cricket for Middlesex, and captained the Engla ...
by
Shane Warne Shane Keith Warne (13 September 1969 – 4 March 2022) was an Australian international cricketer, whose career ran from 1991 to 2007. Warne played as a right-arm leg spin bowler and a right-handed batsman for Victoria, Hampshire and Australia ...
in the first innings of same match was one of five selected to play over the theme music of Test Match Special podcasts during the 2019 Ashes series. In his youth, Maxwell grew up listening to celebrated cricket commentators such as Australian
Alan McGilvray Alan David McGilvray (6 December 190917 July 1996) was an Australian cricketer who played several first-class seasons for New South Wales in the mid-1930s before becoming the doyen of Australian cricket commentators. He became identified as the ...
and Englishman
John Arlott Leslie Thomas John Arlott, OBE (25 February 1914 – 14 December 1991) was an English journalist, author and cricket commentator for the BBC's ''Test Match Special''. He was also a poet and wine connoisseur. With his poetic phraseology, he bec ...
, both of whom he greatly respected. His own unique style – at once inflective and laconic – is built upon the authoritative approach of the former with poetic touches reminiscent of the latter, displaying also a wry sense of humour. He has covered a number of sports in addition to cricket, including
rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...
,
rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...
, golf,
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 ...
and
table tennis Table tennis, also known as ping-pong and whiff-whaff, is a sport in which two or four players hit a lightweight ball, also known as the ping-pong ball, back and forth across a table using small solid rackets. It takes place on a hard table div ...
. He has been involved in radio coverage of at least three Olympic Games and also provided commentary for the
EA Sports EA Sports is a division of Electronic Arts that develops and publishes sports video games. Formerly a marketing gimmick of Electronic Arts, in which they tried to imitate real-life sports networks by calling themselves the "EA Sports Network" ...
games Cricket 2004 and Cricket 2005 alongside fellow broadcaster
Richie Benaud Richard Benaud (; 6 October 1930 – 10 April 2015) was an Australian cricketer who, after his retirement from international cricket in 1964, became a highly regarded commentator on the game. Benaud was a Test cricket all-rounder, blending l ...
. Maxwell has edited the '' ABC Cricket Book'' since 1988 and has written or compiled several cricket books: *''The ABC Cricket Book : The First 60 years:' (1994). *''Stumps : Sledging, Slogging, Scandal, Success – The Way I See It'' (2001), an anecdotal account of experiences following the Australian cricket team in 2000/1. *''The Ashes from Bodyline to Waugh : 70 Years of the ABC Cricket Book'' (2002). ''The Sound of Summer'', a memoir, was published in 2016. He was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award by Sport Australia in 2020.


Personal life

Maxwell has two sons from his first marriage, Hamish and Oliver, which ended in 2007. He is a keen amateur photographer. On BBC ''
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 ( ...
'' on 25 August 2013 it was announced that Maxwell had proposed to his girlfriend during the fifth Test of the 2013 Ashes. He married Jennifer Kirkby in March 2014. The wedding was held at the SCG. Since 2009 Maxwell has been the president of the Primary Club of Australia, a cricketing-based charity providing sporting and recreational facilities for people with disabilities. Since 2013 he has also been President of Eastern Suburbs Cricket Club. In 2016 Maxwell was taken to hospital after becoming ill during a broadcast of the Rio Olympic Games. In a subsequent conversation with BBC ''Test Match Special'' cricket commentator,
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" †...
, Maxwell stated that his voice is fine but as a result of a stroke, the usage of his right hand has become a problem. He has a lifetime interest in horse racing and has been a part owner of various thoroughbreds, including, Mr Hurley, Kind Heart, The Big Bomber, Our Mantra, Poldark, Innisbrook and Diana Rocks.


See also

*
List of cricket commentators __NOTOC_is a list of notable media commentators and writers on the sport of cricket from around the world. A number of famous players have had a second career as writers or commentators. However, many commentators never played the game at a prof ...


References


External links


ABC bioBBC Test Match Special bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Maxwell, Jim 1950 births Australian cricket commentators Living people Sportspeople from Sydney Golf writers and broadcasters Members of the Order of Australia People educated at Cranbrook School, Sydney