Jonathan Agnew Quotes

I am not very good at putting on a front.

A disciplined, patient, defensive period in a Test match is not old fashioned and boring – it’s essential.

Fairness matters.

The bouncer shouldn’t be banned. Hitting batsmen, I’m afraid, is part of the game. But it’s the histrionics, the nonsense, the prancing, the in-your-face nastiness. It’s become accepted, and actually it’s not acceptable at all.

Flying my own small plane is my escape. I learnt to fly in 2006 and share ownership of a Socata TB10.

No matter how bad your hotel is, take a deep breath, because if you can get through a night, it won’t seem quite so bad the following morning.

The absolute key difference between television and radio is the ability of radio to communicate. With television you can watch the screen and your mind can be anywhere. On radio it requires a certain amount of discipline from the listener to follow what’s being said.

I’m not much of a reader; I’m more of a laptop person. I would never consider travelling without it.

Some people get the wrong idea about what the job of a cricket correspondent involves – it’s not all laid-on luxury travel.

The first day I worked with Brian Johnston was very daunting.

I always wanted to be a professional cricketer, which meant I didn’t work as much as I should have done at exams. But, happily, it came off.

Test cricket might seem to be slow and ponderous at times, yet it is capable of conjuring great drama from nowhere.

Word can spread quickly around the international circuit if a player is perceived to have a fault, particularly if it is against short bowling.

When you think of the great eight-wicket bowling figures in Test history, the names of Michael Holding, Shane Warne and Stuart Broad spring to mind.

I love Rome and the way that you can wander around and find something interesting around every street corner. You can smell the history.

I’m not a huge fan of South Africa. I always feel a bit worried security-wise.

In one-day internationals, the batsman is under pressure to get on with run-scoring and does not have the luxury of leaving too many deliveries.

You do not want cricketers who are cowed by adversity, waiting for someone to tell them what to do.

No one means to drop catches. Everyone has done it.

It is one thing to err on the side of caution. Equally, Test wins have to be earned. They are seldom handed to you on a plate.

It’s easy to throw mud at coaches because we don’t see – nor often understand – everything they do.

Bowling on English pitches is not rocket science. If you bowl a good length on off stump, the ball just has to do a fraction, up or down or side to side, and you get someone out.

In any international sporting career an opportunity comes along that you have to grab. Mine came at Old Trafford in 1985 when I was recalled to the England team to face Australia. It was a huge chance to prove I belonged in the Test side but I failed to take it.

I spend too much time away from home. I love travelling, but we can be away for as much as four months during the winter.

A bowler should be allowed to point out to an umpire that a batsman is backing up, leaving the officials to watch what is going on.

It is not difficult to come up with a long list of cricketers who like to have a good time – from the village green to the Test arena, it is a sociable sport.

The old player in me can certainly sympathise with how your targets change because you simply do not know what is around the corner.

Call me traditional, but Test cricket is the most important thing.

I played at school then signed up with Leicestershire when I was 18, for £20 per week. In those days cricket wasn’t a full-time job; in the winter you had nothing to do.

On your debut, you just want to get into the game. I remember when I played my first Test, we bowled first and I went wicketless in the first innings. I felt like I was searching to make a contribution.

Test cricket is about respecting the opposition, the conditions and the circumstances.

In Test cricket, you have to be adaptable.

My dad was a keen cricketer – he played at school and club level – but it was hard for him to find time for it because he was a farmer, so he encouraged me and my brother.

As lots of us ex-pros know, you are a long time retired and there comes a stage when you would give anything to be back out there playing.

The art of coaching is to give a player freedom to bring out his talent. It is the player’s responsibility for what happens once they are on the pitch.

This is Test cricket. Being positive is not far away from being reckless. For all that the sport has become more fast-flowing and entertaining, you still need batsmen whose first instinct is to be patient.

When you are at the top, teams raise their game to play against you, breathing down your neck because they want what you have.

We don’t cover too many draws in Test cricket and its great: it means the cricket is more interesting, more exciting.

Preparation is not just about batting and bowling. You have to consider lots of things – the travel, the weather, the heat, the light, the sounds. You have to be comfortable with everything.

By empowering players – not just players, but grown men – to think for themselves outside of the game, you hope that they will be more likely to adapt to a situation and seize the moment in a sporting contest.

Without ambition, drive and the willingness to make sacrifices, I don’t think you get anywhere.

Archer has an incredible talent. He is one of those fast bowlers who makes it look easy.

I love winding up Geoffrey Boycott.

As a batting captain, you do have to earn bowlers’ trust, especially when it comes to fields.

Without television, cricket would be a poorer place;the two have to coexist.

Adelaide is terribly underrated. There are lovely wide streets, beautiful parks, one of the most scenic cricket grounds, wonderful beaches, and vineyards nearby. The food and the people are lovely, and it’s not too big and sprawling.

When you are captain at the same time, that’s when it gets difficult and when your own game starts to decay because you have other worries and pressures.

I look at some young commentators who sit down with piles of notes, and of course, what are you going to do if you’ve spent hours preparing all this stuff? You’re going to bloody well read it out. Boring!

It is nothing new for the management of an international cricket team to wrestle with the amount of freedom afforded to players.

I don’t think cricket will ever have the same sort of money as football.

I played in Sri Lanka, so I know how hard it is to come here and win. The weather is baking hot and the conditions are alien to English cricketers.

For me, Test cricket at its best is all about ebb and flow of initiative, and it’s always a fascinating moment of the match for me when one sides snatches it from the other.

Roland-Jones is a good, old-fashioned English seamer. He’s not especially quick, but he pitches the ball up and swings it away, which is always dangerous.

I fly a light aircraft.

Usually a captain will allow his bowler to set the field, while exercising overall control and maintaining the authority to step in if he sees fit.