Test Match Special
Created | Updated Jan 28, 2002
Work in progress
Welcome to the Test Match Special (TMS) Guide entry. This is a big topic, so will take some time to write and fine tune. Whilst this is in progress, please feel free to add constructive criticism, suggestions, encouragement and advice.
The greatest summer entertainment
Even if you do not have the faintest clue about cricket, you must listen to Test Match Special (TMS) at least once. As a commentary it really communicates the atmosphere, action, tension and elation (and if you’re English, despair). As a comedy it really surpasses much that is on television and rivals other radio comedy.
A selection of the finest and funniest extracts is at Champagne Moments. Giggle at the ones you’d forgotten and suggest you own favourites for inclusion.
Please note that the history of the programme, biographies of the commentators and experts and other facts and figures can be found at the TMS website.
They’ve got (ooh) personality…
The commentators really put the Special in Test Match Special. Their use of nicknames make us humble listeners feel part of the banter. A few of the regulars:
Aggers – Jonathon Agnew – formerly a bowler by trade, now the BBC cricket correspondent. A practical joker, other commentators have been caught out with his spoof “listeners letters”. Even now, he sometimes manages to catch his long suffering colleagues out!
Blowers – Henry Blofeld – a veteran of the team, who was missed in TMS programmes in the summer of 2000, when he had heart surgery. A contributory factor may have been the cakes that are frequently devoured in the commentary box. Blowers is famous for his public school accent and his side commentaries on the activities of pigeons, trams and buses (depending on which ground is in use).
CMJ – Christopher Martin-Jenkins – the level-headed one, is rarely distracted from the matter in hand, but his love of the game can be in no doubt at all.
Expert Summaries
The experts are cricketers or cricket lovers from all over the world, generally TMS brings in experts with links to the side opposing England, to counter any bias
