England in Pakistan: Jonathan Agnew on one last collapse from the tourists in his final Test as BBC cricket correspondent

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England in Pakistan: Jonathan Agnew on one last collapse from the tourists in his final Test as BBC cricket correspondent

And, with that, my 33-plus years as the BBC’s cricket correspondent come to an end.

There have been two aspects to my job. One is presenting Test Match Special, the other is being responsible for news coverage.

There’s been a little bit of confusion. I am not leaving TMS and will carry on as normal with that programme. It’s the news I’m handing over and it’s definitely the right time to do so.

The game has changed. It is so much more about franchise leagues. I like T20 cricket, but find it hard to get excited about leagues that are simply the same players shuffled into a different shirt from the one they were playing in two weeks prior.

TMS means the world to me. I feel like the bridge between a bygone age of Brian Johnston and Fred Trueman, to a new era involving the likes of Steven Finn and Alex Hartley.

Looking back, it was just a bunch of middle-aged white blokes, or even a bunch of late-aged white blokes. Now the modern TMS team is nothing like that. I’m very proud of what we have achieved.

As correspondent, the biggest story I covered was South *******’s readmission to world sport, with cricket leading the way. I got to interview Nelson Mandela. People say sport and politics shouldn’t mix, but sometimes they do. When it works, it can be such a force for good.

Allen Stanford was a huge story, as was the fallout from the Kevin Pietersen row. The KP saga felt so divisive, at a time when social media was really starting to take hold.

My favourite moment, without a doubt, was the end of England’s victorious 2010-11 Ashes campaign in Australia.

We had won down under for the first and only time in my life working for the BBC. There was a spare pass in the commentary box and I was able to slip it around the neck of my wife, Emma, and take her on to the pitch with me.

She was there as I was talking to the England players, drinking in the celebrations and seeing the delight of the travelling fans in the crowd.

Mine has been a very selfish job, yet in that moment I was able to show Emma just why I do it. It was the absolute best.

Jonathan Agnew was speaking to BBC chief cricket writer Stephan Shemilt.

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