# Jonathan Agnew

By [Horace Terry](https://paragraph.com/@potplayer) · 2022-07-03

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**Jonathan Philip Agnew**, [MBE](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Order_of_the_British_Empire), [DL](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deputy_Lieutenant) (born 4 April 1960) is an English [cricket](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cricket) broadcaster and a former professional cricketer. He was born in [Macclesfield](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macclesfield), [Cheshire](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheshire), and educated at [Uppingham School](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/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](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spiro_Agnew).[\[1\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_Agnew#cite_note-1)

Agnew had a successful [first-class](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First-class_cricket) career as a [fast bowler](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fast_bowler) for [Leicestershire](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leicestershire_County_Cricket_Club) from 1979 to 1990, returning briefly in 1992. In first-class cricket he took 666 [wickets](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wickets_taken) at an [average](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bowling_average) of 29.25. Agnew won three [Test](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Test_cricket) [caps](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cap_\(sport\)) for [England](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/England_cricket_team), as well as playing three [One Day Internationals](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_Day_International) in the mid-1980s, although his entire international career lasted just under a year. In [county cricket](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/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](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swing_bowling). He was second- and third-leading wicket-taker in 1987 and 1988 respectively, including the achievement of [100 wickets in a season](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/100_wickets_in_a_season) in 1987. He was named as one of the five [Cricketers of the Year](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wisden_Cricketers_of_the_Year) by [_Wisden Cricketers' Almanack_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wisden_Cricketers%27_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](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BBC_Radio) cricket correspondent and as a commentator on [_Test Match Special_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Test_Match_Special). He has also contributed as a member of Australian broadcaster [Australian Broadcasting Corporation](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_Broadcasting_Corporation)'s [_Grandstand_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ABC_Radio_Grandstand) team.

Agnew's on-air "leg over" comment on _Test Match Special_, made to fellow commentator [Brian Johnston](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/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;[\[2\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_Agnew#cite_note-legwin-2) [Michael Henderson](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Henderson_\(writer\)), one of Agnew's peers and rivals, has described him as "a master broadcaster ... the pick of the sports correspondents at the BBC."[\[3\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_Agnew#cite_note-Hend-3)

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*Originally published on [Horace Terry](https://paragraph.com/@potplayer/jonathan-agnew)*