Test Match Special
Test Match Special (known as TMS) is a radio programme broadcast on BBC Radio 4. TMS provides ball-by-ball coverage of Test cricket matches involving the English cricket team.
History of TMS
BBC Radio was the first broadcaster to cover every ball of a Test match in 1957. Live cricket had been broadcast since 1927, but it had been thought that Test match cricket was too slow for ball-by-ball commentary to work.
TMS became a fixture on BBC Radio 3 on AM medium wave, and later moved to Radio 4 medium wave. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, with the move to FM, much controversy was aroused by the amount of time carved out of the usual radio schedule to be devoted to TMS. In the end, TMS moved to its present home on Radio 4 long wave (198 LW).
TMS commentators
The voices of the TMS commentators have become part of the sound of an English summer. Past TMS commentators include:
Contemporary TMS commentators include:
In addition, retired cricketers (usually players who had played for the opposing team) join the TMS. For example, Barbadian Tony Cozier often summarises when England plays against West Indies.
The TMS team also includes a scorer. From 1934, the BBC scorer was Arthur Wrigley. On his death, he was replaced by
