Back جوناثان أغنو Arabic جوناثان اجنيو ARZ জোনাথন অ্যাগ্নিউ Bengali/Bangla Jonathan Agnew German Jonathan Agnew French जोनाथन ॲग्न्यू Marathi ஜொனத்தன் ஆக்னியூ Tamil جوناتھن اگنیو Urdu
 Agnew at the Adelaide Oval in 2006 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Full name | Jonathan Philip Agnew | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | 4 April 1960 Macclesfield, Cheshire, England | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Nickname | Aggers, Spiro | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Batting | Right-handed | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bowling | Right-arm fast | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Role | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| International information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| National side | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Test debut (cap 508) | 9 August 1984 v West Indies | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Last Test | 6 August 1985 v Australia | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ODI debut (cap 77) | 23 January 1985 v India | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Last ODI | 17 February 1985 v Australia | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Domestic team information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Years | Team | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1979–1992 | Leicestershire | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Career statistics | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Source: Cricinfo, 5 August 2008 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Jonathan Philip Agnew, MBE, DL (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" – the latter, according to Debrett's Cricketers' Who's Who, after former US Vice-President Spiro Agnew.[1]
Agnew had a successful first-class career as a fast bowler for Leicestershire from 1979 to 1990, returning briefly in 1992. In first-class cricket he took 666 wickets at an average of 29.25. Agnew won three Test caps for England, as well as playing three One Day Internationals in the mid-1980s, although his entire international career lasted just under a year. In county cricket, Agnew's most successful seasons came toward the end of his career, after his last international match, when he had learned to swing the ball. He was second- and third-leading wicket-taker in 1987 and 1988 respectively, including the achievement of 100 wickets in a season in 1987. He was named as one of the five Cricketers of the Year by Wisden Cricketers' Almanack in 1988.
While still a player, Agnew began a career in cricket journalism and commentary. Since his retirement as a player, he has become a leading voice of cricket on radio, as the BBC Radio cricket correspondent and as a commentator on Test Match Special. He has also contributed as a member of Australian broadcaster Australian Broadcasting Corporation's Grandstand team.
Agnew's on-air "leg over" comment on Test Match Special, made to fellow commentator Brian Johnston in 1991, provoked giggling fits during a live broadcast and reaction from across the UK. The incident has been voted "the greatest sporting commentary ever" in a BBC poll;[2] Michael Henderson, one of Agnew's peers and rivals, has described him as "a master broadcaster ... the pick of the sports correspondents at the BBC."[3]
- ^ Sproat, Iain, ed. (1980). Debrett's Cricketers' Who's Who (1980 ed.). Debrett's Peerage Ltd. p. 10. ISBN 0-905649-26-5.
- ^ Culf, Andrew (20 August 2005). "The incident which led to the greatest sporting commentary of all time (according to 5 Live listeners): 'He just couldn't get his leg over'". The Guardian. London. Archived from the original on 21 May 2014. Retrieved 4 November 2011.
- ^ Henderson, Michael (24 February 2009). "Aggers puts Radio Halfwit in its place". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 6 September 2013. Retrieved 25 January 2011.