I’ve just listened to Henry Blofeld’s last commentary stint, as England wrapped up the Lords test match within three days. To the other commentators, pundits and members of the Twitterati, he’s “the guvnor”, apparently, but I can’t say I was a big fan. With his wearisome catchphrase “my dear old thing”, his bow-ties and his pathological need to point out buses, cranes and pigeons, he was a bit too mannered for my taste.
For me, the doyen of cricket commentators was John Arlott. He didn’t make a fuss about retiring. In 1980, at the end of his time behind the microphone, he described the last ball of an over, said “After Trevor Bailey it will be Christopher Martin-Jenkins”, and was gone… back to Alderney, and his wine cellar, and into retirement.
As for Geoffrey Boycott, I can’t listen to him any more…
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