Jim Maxwell (commentator)

James Edward Maxwell AM (born 28 July 1950) is a sports commentator with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation best known for covering cricket.

Playing career

Maxwell played cricket in Sydney at the Cranbrook School and once toured with an Australian Old Collegians team in 1972.[1][2]

Broadcasting and publishing

In 1973 Maxwell joined the ABC after two unsuccessful attempts.[3] Initially working as trainee, he later moved on to sports commentary[4] and is best known for his coverage of Australian cricket. He has provided radio commentary for 306 Tests Matches (as at 5th Test, Australia v England, The Oval, 2019) and numerous One Day Internationals, including seven World Cups.

Since the 1983 World Cup in England, Maxwell has been a frequent member of the BBC's Test Match Special team and first commentated on an overseas Ashes tour in 2001. This became a regular fixture in 2005 and his description of England's dramatic win in the Second Test at Edgbaston that year was both highly memorable and much-admired by colleagues.[5] A sound clip of Maxwell depicting the dismissal of Sir Andrew Strauss by Shane Warne in the first innings of same match was one of five selected to play over the theme music of Test Match Special podcasts during the 2019 Ashes series. In his youth, Maxwell grew up listening to celebrated cricket commentators such as Australian Alan McGilvray and Englishman John Arlott, both of whom he greatly respected. His own unique style – at once inflective and laconic – is built upon the authoritative approach of the former with poetic touches reminiscent of the latter, displaying also a wry sense of humour.[5] He has covered a number of sports in addition to cricket, including rugby union, rugby league, golf, hockey and table tennis. He has been involved in radio coverage of at least three Olympic Games and also provided commentary for the EA Sports games Cricket 2004 and Cricket 2005 alongside fellow broadcaster Richie Benaud.

Maxwell has edited the ABC Cricket Book since 1988 and has written or compiled several cricket books:

  • The ABC Cricket Book : The First 60 years:' (1994). ISBN 0-7333-0406-0
  • Stumps : Sledging, Slogging, Scandal, Success – The Way I See It (2001), an anecdotal account of experiences following the Australian cricket team in 2000/1. ISBN 1-74064-038-1
  • The Ashes from Bodyline to Waugh : 70 Years of the ABC Cricket Book (2002). ISBN 0-7333-1192-X

The Sound of Summer, a memoir, was published in 2016. ISBN 978 1 74237 082 8

Personal life

Maxwell has two sons from his marriage, which ended in 2007.[6] He is a keen amateur photographer. On BBC Test Match Special on 25 August 2013 it was announced that Maxwell had proposed to his girlfriend during the fifth Test of the 2013 Ashes.

Maxwell is the president since 2009 of the Primary Club of Australia,[7] a cricketing-based charity providing sporting and recreational facilities for people with disabilities. He is also President since 2013 of Eastern Suburbs Cricket Club

In 2016 Maxwell was taken to hospital after becoming ill during a broadcast of the Rio Olympic Games.[8] In a subsequent conversation with BBC Test Match Special cricket commentator, Jonathan Agnew, Maxwell stated that his voice is fine but as a result of a stroke, the usage of his right hand has become a problem.[9]

gollark: Possible contamination of the noösphere. Or issues with the field systems, in fact.
gollark: The words are composed genderlessly within facilities but unfortunately gain gender through poorly understood gender field interactions after exit.
gollark: At GTech™ there are in fact memetic fields removing the concept of gender from all GTech™ facilities, which cannot* go wrong.
gollark: Unfortunately, being linked to reproduction and whatever, it seems to be wired into lots of random brain features.
gollark: Anyway, ideally, for some purposes, we wouldn't associate gender with tons of weird things as is currently done.

See also

References
  1. "Jim Maxwell". Test Match Special. British Broadcasting Corporation. 17 October 2002. Retrieved 15 November 2011.
  2. "Jim Maxwell". CricketArchive. Retrieved 15 November 2011.
  3. "Peter Cundall and Jim Maxwell". Conversations with Richard Fidler. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 2 June 2006. Retrieved 15 November 2011.
  4. "Jim Maxwell". ABC Grandstand. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 15 November 2011.
  5. Collins, Adam. "Jim Maxwell Tribute : The Aussie in the Pack". The Nightwatchman – The Wisden Cricket Quarterly. Wisden. Retrieved 13 September 2019.
  6. Lewis, Daniel (11 November 2012). "At home with Jim Maxwell". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 27 August 2013.
  7. http://www.primaryclub.com/about
  8. Levy, Megan (16 August 2016). "Jim Maxwell in hospital after falling ill during Rio Olympics broadcast". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 16 August 2016.
  9. "Legendary Australian commentator Jim Maxwell in conversation with Jonathan Agnew". bbc.co.uk. 22 November 2016. Retrieved 21 November 2016.
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