The host of the Radio 1 Breakfast Show sat down with Wisden Cricket Monthly features writer Felix White at The Oval to see history being made.
A version of this article originally appeared in the October 2018 issue of Wisden Cricket Monthly. Click here to subscribe to the magazine
It is the morning of Monday September 10 in South London. Alastair Cook, in his last ever Test innings, is 46 not out overnight. Evidently every cricket lover in the capital has called in sick or skipped school to witness his final, ultimately inevitable block, nudge and push to three figures. The atmosphere is one of bone-chilling focus across the ground.
One of those frozen to their seat is the new host of the Radio 1 Breakfast slot, Greg James. The significance of the moment is such that James, in the fledgling weeks of the most sought-after broadcasting job in entertainment radio, has blocked out his day to race across London, strewn with huge billboards saying ‘DON’T BLOW IT GREG’, to be here. “I cancelled everything,” he says, hushed between overs in the Bedser Upper. “I couldn’t miss this. I know something is going to happen.”
As the ground becomes more hushed, we dial in to our earpieces, knowing that we might be missing something iconic on Test Match Special that paints the story. “Test Match Special was the first radio show I ever listened to,” says James. “It was always on and part of the house.” When forming the framework of the new show, he referenced it a lot. “It’s the perfect radio show. It’s about something. It reflects the moment and it’s not exclusive, it’s a very welcoming club. They make a massive show feel intimate, which is a really hard thing to do.”
And talking of massive things feeling intimate, there is no other moment in cricket that will do it more poignantly than the one we’re witnessing now. The entire crowd falls deadly still and silent, as if moving might jinx fate. We daren’t further discuss anything non-Cook-related. He is on 96 and nudges one to creep closer. Wait. It’s overthrows. The ball races back past the stumps. Captain Root, in a symbolic passing of the torch, sees it cross the boundary first and celebrates as if the hundred were his own. Then Cook and 20,000 people. The place stands for what must be the longest applause the ground has ever held. “I’m so glad I was here,” James says. “I couldn’t have missed this for anything.”
