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By Stuart Hess 
7h ago
A common South African summer voice fell silent on Christmas Day.
Robin Jackman’s death left many in the cricket fraternity shocked and saddened. From the players he coached, the teammates he played with, the colleagues he shared the comment booth with, and the players whose actions on the field he described, they paid homage to one of the game’s most brilliant characters.
Jackman was the soft voice of cricket in South Africa, circulating in living rooms, around braais and in bars when the game was played. Upon the country’s return from isolation, his comment became the sound associated with sports and the national team.
He had a deep love and knowledge for the sport. His ability as a fast pitcher made him a legend at the Surrey County Cricket Club in England, and saw him play four Trials for England, along with 15 Internationals in one day.
It was the summers he spent playing cricket in South Africa in the 1970s that almost saw him fail to win a test limit. It was a late call-up for England’s tour of the Caribbean as a replacement for Bob Willis, and he was due to play the second test in Guyana. When the government of that country objected to his presence in the eleven of game, the Test was finally canceled.
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However, the other Caribbean nations gave England the go-ahead for the remainder of the tour, Jackman had a chance to win his first trial limit in the third trial in Barbados.
To many South Africans, however, he was best known first as the Western Province coach during the 1980s, and then especially for his comments, first to the SABC in the mid-1990s and then Supersport.
Jackman wasn’t the type to talk all the time. He learned at the BBC in the late 1970s working alongside Richie Benaud, among others. “Times have passed,” he said in an interview with the Saturday Star in 2011, following the release of his book, Jackers – A life in Cricket. “That was the old BBC way, which was less is more, but the modern way of commenting is that people talk a lot more on television, wall to wall, I still try to avoid that because it is not me. Whatever reputation I have, it has been built over a period, I don’t want to have to change now to keep up with everyone. Honestly, I think maybe there are people sitting in his living room saying ‘oh it’s Jackers again, because he’s not that talkative’ and I don’t want to change that. “
Perhaps the moment at the microphone that resonates the most with South Africans is one that Jackman has as a favorite.
“(The Jacques) Kallis double hundred was one,” Jackman said in that same interview in 2011. “Early in my career as a commentator I used to go through the charts and see what time it was, I saw a guy in the 90s and I hope he don’t get your 100 in the next 10 minutes because you wanted to be there to describe it and depending on the person, be prepared for exactly what you were going to say. As it was, with Jacques, I didn’t actually prepare anything, I think I just said ‘ the monkey is off his back. ‘
Jackman was 75 years old.
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