Isa Guha interview: 'I like cake and cardigans, too — I just look different'
The BBC’s new face of cricket on TV knows her rise will be framed by some as the end for cakes and cardigans in the commentary box. Isa Guha says: “I like cake and cardigans, too — I just look different.”
Guha’s ability to excel across playing, academia and broadcasting has led her to what used to be the most prestigious role in cricket broadcasting: one filled by the great Richie Benaud for 30 years. On her first day in the new job, the opening up of the commentary booth to non-white males is an obvious first discussion point.
“Right through my life I’ve always wanted people to see me for who I am, not necessarily what I look like, and I feel very much the same in regards to this,” Guha, 35, says. “Obviously it’s not lost on me that it will be a conversation. But all I try to do is do the best that I can and hopefully one day people will recognise the job that I do more than what I look like.”
The BBC’s return to televised cricket starts this weekend with a series of retrospective films. England v West Indies in 1984 is a nice taster for the summer’s three-Test series, highlights of which Guha will present at 7pm each evening, alongside Michael Vaughan, Sir Alastair Cook, Carlos Brathwaite and Alison Mitchell. Guha will also continue on Test Match Special, where Jonathan Agnew remains as cricket correspondent.
The prestigious heritage of the BBC TV role was evident to Guha when she agreed this latest step in a global tour of broadcast jobs. She says: “Prestige is an excellent word to use because there is so much history with the BBC and cricket. Richie Benaud is the don of broadcast, isn’t he? Everyone who goes into cricket broadcasting - the first thing they get taught is to let the coverage breathe. He was very much the master of that.”
Floating BBC viewers may know less about Guha than cricket aficionados, but her story is one for these times. In 2002, at 17, she became the first woman of south Asian origin to play for England in any major sport and seven years later won two World Cups in a career of 113 caps. In retirement she earned a masters in neuroscience, joined the Wisden editorial board and became a journalist and public speaker while sitting on the ECB’s South Asian strategy panel.
Cricket in England and Wales regards her as a link to parts of society that may have been discouraged by cricket’s predominantly white, male, middle-class, public school tone. She says the ECB’s initiative to attract more Asian players, is “a long-term goal and really thorough in approach.” It asks “why there aren’t more Asians playing cricket, can we improve the pathways?” and tries “to encourage people to understand more about different communities. You’re not just bundled into one background. There are many different traditions and cultures within the British Asian population. It shouldn’t just be about the Asian community. It should be about the black community as well.”
Guha’s parents moved to the UK in the 1970s and she began playing cricket aged eight. She says: “It’s something I’ve thought about in the last few years. When I’m asked that question — why aren’t there more Asian girls coming through the system? — I look back to when I first started playing with the boys at the local cricket club in High Wycombe.
“I copied my brother in everything he did. Played with him in the back garden. Mum eventually persuaded dad that I should go down to the local club. I think he was initially reluctant about me playing with boys. At eight years of age I was the only girl in the team and the only player of an Indian background playing with boys of a British or Pakistani background.
“In some traditional families that may have been frowned upon. My parents never saw it as an issue. It was more that fact that I was a girl. It was quite a multicultural set-up. I would turn up to games and the opposition would be upset because there was a girl in the team. That’s something that’s true of a lot of female players who’ve gone on to play for England or at high-level: playing in a boys’ team.”
Of her BBC role she says: “That’s the positive side of things — the BAME community feeling represented. And if there’s a young boy or girl out there from an Asian or ethnic background and is growing up and sees someone like myself on television and it inspires them to go on and do a similar thing, that’s where I am really proud of it.”
Underpinning all this is her expertise and mellifluous delivery, which maintains a commentary box tradition of warm lyricism. A BBC Two highlights package is not the same, however, as talking to Wisden-reading diehards. “In my head I’m always thinking very analytically about the game: why has somebody done that, looking tactically at what should be done,” she says. “This I guess will allow me to go into a different mode of trying to bring cricket to the masses and explain cricket in a way people can relate to. I’m really excited about that challenge.”
The current England men’s side is one she feels she can identify with. “What I love about this team is that you can see they’re interested in each other and each other’s cultures,” she says. “That’s undoubtedly contributed to their success. It’s like us, in 2009, when we became the best team in the world, and there was a mix of personalities and people from different backgrounds. Sometimes it just happens that way. But if that image inspires people to go on and watch cricket it can only be a good thing.”
The BBC’s highlights series is a lift for cricket at a time when the game has disappeared (so far) from the traditional British summer. Guha says of the documentaries: “The message I’m trying to give to people is that if you don’t like cricket do please try to tune into those historical matches between England and the West Indies and you’ll get to see some of the greats of the game.
“Some of that footage is incredible. I’ve had the pleasure of looking at some of it and been reminded of the swagger of Sir Vivian Richards and the charisma of Sir Ian Botham. There is everything there is to love about sportsmen in those cricketers and in that contest. The Gordon Greenidge double century, Bob Willis and his run-up, Foxy [Graeme] Fowler and his century, and you’ve got Richie Benaud presenting. People will absolutely love it.”
Her own career is a testament to how she sees life: “Always looking for the next challenge, to make yourself a better person and at the same time a better cricketer or better broadcaster. So you seek opportunities based on what’s going to make you better.”
