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The Best...cricket commentator

Henry Blofeld
  • Posted at 4:07pm
  • 13 August 2007
  • by RhodriMarsden-RT
  • 3 comments

Despite salvaging some pride in the recent one-day internationals, England's Test side had a horrible winter of discontent. But did this national catastrophe dampen the spirits of our British commentators? No, sir. They soldiered on impartially, offering non-partisan and carefully weighed assessments of the action on the field...

I'm joking, of course. Geoffrey Boycott greeted each England error with the wail of a ravenous man whose Yorkshire puddings had been burnt to a cinder; Jonathan Agnew mumbled "oh dear, oh dear" into his chocolate cake; over on Sky Sports, Ian Botham called for some kind of military coup to beseige Lord's and restore order; and David Lloyd coped with the fiasco by lapsing into giggling hysteria.

Amid this melée sits Henry Blofeld. Henry notices a seagull swooping over the crowd, and decides that to describe the arcing parabola of its flightpath would soothe the listener far more than another analysis of the second innings batting collapse. So he does. And we sigh, contentedly.

If you don't know Henry by name, you'll know him by sound. Following in the footprints of John Arlott's gruff tones and the squeaking buffoonery of Brian Johnston, Henry has become the voice of cricket on BBC radio. He has the kind of cut-glass accent that makes anarchists bristle with anger and, if deployed in deprived neighbourhoods through a megaphone, could probably kick off a full-scale class war.

But, to a huge swathe of middle England, Henry's voice is the soothing soundtrack to summer. During the gaps in the action - and anyone who has watched cricket will know that there are way, way more gaps than action - he gives colourful, languid descriptions of birdlife, cars, cake and local scenery.

He once described the cranes around Kennington Oval as "stooping like subservient wine waiters" - but this is the kind of broadcasting gold that you get from Henry every day. "That takes the score to 43 for 1, and in the distance a plume of smoke drifts slowly skyward, coiling, now, in circles, resembling a somewhat lazy and unmotivated boa constrictor." He didn't actually say that, but he might have done.

Oh, and I suppose there's the cricket, too. While other commentators might congratulate the batsman on a "great innings", Henry would commend his "splendidly heroic effort". Others might bemoan a batsman's bad luck, while Henry would muse philosophically on "the cruelty of life, the cruelty of cricket".

He's getting on now, is Henry. He might accidentally refer to Monty Panasar as Monty Python, or Yasir Hamid as Yasser Arafat, but he's far more than just an eccentric uncle with a battered thesaurus. His knowledge of the game is as colossal as is his passion for it, and anyone who has read his journalism will know that he holds some caustic opinions on the state of the game.

But Henry knows that listeners don't want politics, or posturing. As he takes the commentator's chair, he'll refer to his colleague as "Dear old thing", but it's a phrase that describes no-one better than Henry himself. Marvellous.

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Comments

  • Posted on 06 October 2009
  • at 3:45pm
  • by BLA007

Harsha is the best commentator around...He is indeed the best of the lot....He has a great voice,good vocabulary,excellent humour & above all he is a thorough gentleman...He would never bore a cricket fan anytime...HARSHA is the BEST...!!!

  • Posted on 11 September 2008
  • at 7:08am
  • by Sports

Geoffrey Boycott is a good commentator.

  • Posted on 31 August 2007
  • at 8:26pm
  • by Loadsmorefun

Henry Blofeld's commentary brings you to the cricket. It does not impose the cricket on you. Anyone watching a live cricket game, be it at Lords or the village green, is occasionally distracted by other goings on. So is Henry. So he generously shares these distractions with us; strangely dressed spectators, planes, birds, buses and, especially, helicopters.

Everything is done with charm and kindness.

This is perhaps surprising and shows something of the real charachter of this special man.

In his early life Henry was a player and, sparing his blushes, an extremely gifted one. However an accident robbed him of the absolute edge that marked him out as exceptional. Under these circumstances a lesser man might have become angry and resentful. We are lucky it didn't because we can now benefit from him sharing his lifelong passion for cricket with us all. He is still exceptional but nowadays off the field of play.

A joy to spend a summer's day with, rain or shine.

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