This is Calling the Shots, a six-part documentary podcast telling the story of a century of cricket commentary. Welcome to episode two, where Daniel Norcross and Adam Collins go right back to the origins of cricket broadcasting, to the very first commentaries between the wars when radio was the only way to keep up and television is a pipe dream. 

To help us tell that story, we have David Frith, the masterful Anglo-Australian historian and archivist, Jim Maxwell, the voice of cricket on the radio in Australia, and Peter Baxter, who spent four decades working as a producer and broadcaster on BBC’s Test Match Special Calling the Shots is produced in partnership with The Pinch Hitter, a fabulous new initiative from the same people who bring you The Nightwatchman. The digital mag comes out once a fortnight, chock-full of contributions from some of the best freelance writers in the world. It is being made on a pay-what-you-can-afford basis, with all financial contributions going back into commissioning more brilliant cricket writing. Subscribe at thenightwatchman.net.

Thanks to Jay Mueller at Bad Producer Productions for making this show possible. Calling the Shots is another proud member of the Bad Producer family. For more of their shows, jump on badproducerproductions.com.

And thank you to our partners. To subscribe to the Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack, visit www.wisdenalmanack.com/subscribe. The excellent 2020 edition is on sale now (including in audiobook!) at www.wisdenalmanack.com/2020.

And to learn more about the Lord’s Taverners vital work in the community, take a look at www.lordstaverners.org.