Sir Alastair Cook joins BBC Radio 5 Live’s cricket team

BBC Radio 5 Live has signed Sir Alastair Cook to be part of the team reporting from England’s 2019 tour of the West Indies.

Sir Alastair retired from international cricket with a century in his final Test match against India in September 2018, and will now join Jonathan Agnew for the second and third Tests in the West Indies, providing updates and analysis for BBC Radio 5 Live, the BBC Sport website and the TMS podcast. He will also feature regularly on BBC Sport’s online magazine show, The Cricket Social.

He joins the team ahead of a big year of cricket. BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra has radio commentary rights to all of England’s home internationals and the cricket World Cup next summer.

The BBC also has exclusive rights to the next three men and women’s Ashes series, both home and away. The 2019 Ashes in England follows the conclusion of the Cricket World Cup.

Test Match Special will broadcast live ball-by-ball commentary of the summer’s tournaments on BBC Radio 5 live Sports Extra, Radio 4 Long Wave and the BBC Sport website.

Sir Alastair Cook said: “I’m really looking forward to joining the BBC in the Caribbean and having Jonathan Agnew as my new teammate. This England Test side played some great cricket in Sri Lanka and it will be fascinating to see how they get on in the West Indies”

Ben Gallop, Head of BBC Radio and Digital Sport, said: “I’m sure all cricket fans will be as excited as we are to hear Sir Alastair’s expert take on the action in the West Indies. This promises to be a brilliant year of cricket, so it’s great for us to be able to welcome England’s record Test run-scorer and newest cricketing knight to the BBC team for the Caribbean.”

ir Alastair, England’s highest Test run-scorer, was knighted in the 2019 New Year’s Honours list in recognition of his outstanding contributions to cricket.