The current COVID-19 outbreak has brought life as we know it to a halt. One of the many noticeable absences has been the lack of personalities and voices that we associate with sport on our TVs and radios, and among those voices, there can be none more distinct than that of the veteran Australian broadcaster, Jim Maxwell. Having joined the ABC in 1973, Maxwell has commentated on over 300 Test Matches and seven World Cups, describing cricket with the straight-talking tone that has been a mainstay of British and Australian airwaves during the summer. During lockdown, and using the wonders of Zoom, he gave me some of his valuable time earlier this month.
Australia has been no less affected by the outbreak, with the interesting exception of horse-racing. “It’s distinctively Australian”, Maxwell explains with a chuckle. “I have no idea how it’s still going on. I think everyone in the sport is astonished that they’re still racing, especially given that they’ve got rid of everything except the horses, the jockeys and a couple of cameras”. For Maxwell, whose professional life depends on there being live sport, the pandemic has provided a rare gap in his near 50-year career in the media box, the other significantly coming in 2016, when he suffered a stroke. Unsurprisingly, the veteran commentator questions the impact of the virus on the world of cricket.
“It’s hard to read what’s going to happen out of this particular crisis. With what we’ve got at the moment with the Coronavirus pandemic, the financial constraints on sport are going to be difficult to deal with. I know in my own [cricket] club, you’re looking at some sort of financial recession. Will we get businesses supporting us with sponsorship like they have in the past? There’s so many factors here that you can speculate about, but the knock-on effect is bound to be damaging to every aspect in our society where money capital is required, in general, for continuation.”
Maxwell’s broadcasting career has included its fair share of difficult moments, including the death of Philip Hughes in November 2014, which he later described as Australia’s “Diana moment” in his memoir The Sound of Summer. In 2019, Steve Smith was hit by a Jofra Archer bouncer, concussing him, raising further questions about safety in cricket.
“We’ve always seemed to have a bit of a cavalier attitude to our safety and wellbeing”, he said. “I suppose we do have helmets and there’s those wings that have been added for extra safety. The game in that regard is pretty safe, but there’s still always danger – if you take the danger out, it’s a bit like having motor racing with a speed limit of 100mph!”
The question of safety within cricket has led to numerous suggestions about how it should be solved, including the suggestion that bouncers (short balls that bounce up to the batsman’s head) should be outlawed completely.
“It’s not going to be the same spectacle. It’s come through our whole history – since Bodyline; John Snow and Frank Tyson, some of the best Test cricket has been when batsmen have been under the cosh from missile hurlers who are quick, hard to play.”
However, the underlying message remains Maxwell’s priority. “It is very much part of the game, and long may it persist, but yes, it’s important that the safety of the players comes first.”
In 2018, a ball-tampering scandal rocked the world of cricket. During the third of a four-Test series against South Africa, Cameron Bancroft was spotted by television cameras trying to rub one side of the ball with a piece of sandpaper in his pocket, which would in turn make the flight more unpredictable – giving an advantage to the Australians who were bowling. As the captain, Steve Smith admitted full responsibility, while vice-captain David Warner was found to have instructed Bancroft on the cheating technique. All three were handed lengthy bans as a result.
Maxwell described the incident on air as “blatant, immature and naive”, and on the following day, it was visibly difficult for him to commentate. “I think the main thing that came of it that was important was that [Darren] Lehmann was falling on his sword, because it happened under his watch more than anyone else’s”, Maxwell tells me. “It had all been brewing during the series, this bad blood. Smith to this day would kick himself going out after lunch knowing that Warner and Bancroft were getting up to something, and turning a blind eye.”
After Cape Town, the rebuilding process for Australian cricket was monumental. After the incident, Cricket Australia had just over a year to turn the team around and prepare for a gruelling summer of cricket in England, with the Cricket World Cup and the Ashes looming.
“That was a mess. But, in many ways it’s done a lot for the reputation for Australian Cricket – it gave us a chance to say ‘Hold on, let’s have a look at things here’. Tim Paine, by accident, coming in as a leader has turned out to be a very mature and reasonable, fair captain. He’s done a great job.” Maxwell pauses, nods and continues. “To a large extent, Australia’s reputation has in fact been restored in many ways thanks to the change that took place in the captaincy and the coach.”
Looking back, Maxwell muses “of course it was made to be an issue on the whole from the Australian perspective, with Malcolm Turnbull, a Prime Minister who knows bugger all about sport, just jumping in. I didn’t know what he did. I still have, on my phone, the reaction from another of all our most well-known Prime Ministers, John Howard, who I contacted. He was pretty strong in how he said ‘Warner should never play again’ and ‘Smith should never captain again’. As he said, what the incident made all of us realise is how much Australians appreciate how they have such a high respect and regard for the game of cricket”.
As a broadcaster and writer, Maxwell has witnessed numerous changes in sports coverage. However for Australians, the radio will remain a core sporting institution.
“In terms of the medium, audio is getting to people and I think that’s very significant. That’s the advantage of local radio in this country, it gives access to things like Test match cricket to everyone, because here in Australia there’s such a gap between city and country, and all the decision makers live in the city, not the country! We’ve got the tyranny of distance, which you don’t have.”
Maxwell goes on to mention, “For me, one of the more disappointing aspects of what the ABC does with cricket is that they don’t ever go looking for an audience survey to find out who’s listening. These days, we’re putting out so many other things on digital… the attitude to what we send out can vary on a whim from the management”.
Over the last 45 years, Maxwell has seen numerous ‘developments’ in the sport, from the introduction of Twenty20 cricket to adding names and numbers to Test whites. Although he acknowledges that the lawmakers will continue to chop and change the formulae, he assures me that Test cricket will remain a key part of the Australian game.
“It’s the one thing you can hold on to that’s got some substance about it that the other forms of game probably haven’t, as entertaining as they might be”, he explained. “That is the great strength of cricket. Unlike other sports, you’ve got T20, 50 over, Test match, first-class cricket…. and God knows what the Hundred’s going to be like, if it ever gets off the ground! It’s basically a sop to the punters because all [the UK’s] sports channels are subscription only.”
Jim Maxwell is a radio cricket commentator for the ABC and BBC. I would like to offer my greatest thanks to Jim for his words and time to allow this interview to be carried out.
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