Radio and cricket is an eternal partnership – Aslam Khota.

My earliest recollections of radio was my late dad tuning in at odd hours of the night to listen to cricket commentary and hear the dulcet tones of Allen McGillivray on Australia’s ABC, Chakrapani and Devaj Puni in Hindi on All India Radio (AIR) and in Urdu with Ifthikaar Ahmed and others from Pakistan Radio.

Dad would react loudly at the fall of a wicket or a missed chance. With a cup of tea in one hand and the dreaded cigarette in the other, he enjoyed a wise-crack or comment from the commentary box. This was much to our annoyance of course and we turned under the duvet, begging to get in a few more minutes of sleep! My father sat with his ears close to the radio because the coverage on short-wave would ‘wax and wane’. He would turn up the volume only for the sound to suddenly return and blast us out of our slumber – again!

Before television, cricket was transmitted around the world by the miracle of the wireless. It was an unhurried and romantic period when traditions and conventions were respected and sportsmanship, not gamesmanship was the byword in the middle.

My two brothers and I slept in the same room that had the old Pilot Radio that was bought in downtown Jo’burg. It was a huge radio, the size of today’s bigger Microwave oven and although powered by electricity, the half-a-dozen valves needed to warm-up enough so that we could then tune in to the world. The radio was bought specifically to listen to cricket, the Hindi movie songs and ‘Listeners choice’ and ‘Geet Mala’ on Tuesday nights on AIR with the inimitable Amin Sayani. For my parent’s and sisters, it was many hours of unbridled entertainment! All this via short-wave! BBC World Service for its news and Sports Roundup were preferred to the propaganda fuelled SABC radio.

When teams toured South Africa, it was the descriptive and timeless voice of Charles Fortune that kept us all enthralled and entertained. On BBC it was John Arlott that gave poetry to cricket and painted pictures with words! Brian Johnstone brought an air of joy and wit to his commentary.

Saturday afternoons was great fun on BBC, the superb and best sports host on radio was the irrepressible Paddy Feeny and he would take a listener to all corners of the globe to bring fans as close to sport as one could get. These voices brought joy and beauty to sport on radio. They fired my passion and imagination and my mind was set for broadcasting.

My late brother Mohamed Naseer (Nas) was a brilliant impersonator and he mimicked Charles Fortune to perfection. Team mates used to ask him to commentate during matches and soon I was doing the same. Radio was a great source of entertainment and I always desired to become a cricket commentator. It was a wishful dream until democracy dawned. I made various attempts to get on radio via a few auditions. It won’t surprise you to know that three demo tapes went missing over a period of 2 years! I was disillusioned but always knew that my time would come.

Radio was an elusive dream so I attended an audition for TV with the SABC. I beat seven candidates but with a few racist bosses still in control, they rejected to view the demo videotape even though the recommendation was made by their own production company! I was still disillusioned and felt that nothing had changed in the new South Africa.

Imtiaz Patel took up a position at Supersport and my request to commentate was accepted with open arms. Whilst doing commentary at the stadiums, I offered my services free of charge to Radio2000 and the producer having noted the manner in which I took to radio, soon offered me a contract. I enjoyed seven glorious years at Supersport and much of my grooming was due to that professional environment.  Some six years later many retirees from the international scene arrived at Supersport and I was getting fewer shifts. In 2005 Radio2000 sent me to the West Indies. I never looked back as radio offered me the opportunities to travel the world and visit countries and grounds that I only dreamed about. I have met and broadcasted with commentators I had admired over the years. I made my vocation my avocation! In the end my persistence and determination paved the way to live my dream.

I returned to the West Indies for the 2007 World Cup, been to India for Talk Radio702, covered the record breaking series in Australia in 2008/09 and continue to travel the length and breadth of South Africa with the Radio2000 team. I have shared the commentary box with, Clive Lloyd, Wasim Akram, Ian Chappell, Sunny Gavaskar, Kepler Wessels, all former captains as well as Simon Doull, Ian Bishop, Herschel Gibbs, Jonty Rhodes, Peter Kirsten, Barry Richards, Geoff Lawson, Justin Langer, Damien Fleming, Peter Roebuck, Roger Harper and Wayne Daniel among others.

I started as a writer way back in 1979 to report on non-racial provincial matches in the Howa and Booley Bowl. I learnt the rudiments under the late Yusuf Nazeer at the Lenasia Times and later with Ameen Akhalwaya at The Indicator. My articles have been published in the Sunday Times, The Star, The Weekly Mail, The Cricketer in Pakistan, India Today, a magazine published in India and the South African edition of The Wisden and in Cricket South Africa’s (CSA) official cricket tour brochures.

In 2002 the Gauteng Cricket Board commissioned me to write the history of non-racial cricket in the Transvaal before democracy. ‘Across the great divide – Transvaal crickets joys, struggles and triumphs’ was published on the eve of the 2003 World Cup in South Africa.

 I have indeed been blessed and privileged to have worked with many great commentators. Many have been there for over 30 and even 40 years I have shared the mike with Jonathan Agnew of the  BBC, Fazeer Mahomed and Simon Crosskill on the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC), with Jim Maxwell the famed voice on Australian Broadcasting Corporation and Prakash Wakankar of India. They are all masterful on radio!

My work on Radio and television prompted former Proteas coach Mickey Arthur to recruit me to join a panel of ex-cricketers to help plot a path for the team’s campaign at the 2007 World Cup. That came to an abrupt halt in the semi-finals. I have also served on CSA’s panel of judges for the annual cricket awards for the past ten years.

It is no doubt that radio is the only medium that allows the commentator to give full description to the event, to elaborate on the subtle sideshows to bring that special touch to the game, such as what made Fortune loved by so many.

Finally, that Pilot Radio has been refurbished and still has a special place in my sister’s house! She refuses to part with it!! It is 60 years old and still works!