Having taken on the role of main presenter for the BBC’s return to televised cricket coverage this summer, Isa Guha has spent most of the past two months in biosecurity settings, helping bring closed-door internationals from England to those who are still at home on TV and radio. Ahead of Sunday’s second men’s T20I between England and Pakistan, the first free live game on the BBC in 21 years, Guha talks about life in the bubble, her status as a role model and her hopes for women’s football in the Kingdom. United.
It has been an unusual summer of cricket, for many reasons. How did you find life in the bubble?
It’s been great working in cricket and it’s great to see everyone again after a few months without seeing anyone. It’s different, it can be challenging at times, but we’re all as professional as we can be. Basically what we are trying to do is bring cricket to the people as best we can. It has been amazing to see how the players have handled it and how professional they have been, a huge credit to the West Indies and Pakistan. The West Indies were in a bubble for 51 days in a row. I think what these guys have done has been just amazing.
He has just moved to Manchester from Southampton, after the completion of the Pakistan trials. Have you had any time away from the “biosecure environment”?
I’ve been home for a couple of days. To be honest, I don’t count, but since the beginning of July I’ve been in the bubble, more or less, aside from a trip or two home. We have been very isolated, all our thoughts have been on cricket and it has been difficult to keep up with what is going on outside. But I realize that people are struggling and we are lucky to have jobs and do what we are doing.
How have you managed away from cricket? Have you started playing golf?
I went to the golf course for the first time in two years and a stray ball hit my finger. So that was the end of my golf days. But in places we have had table tennis, billiards and so on… Part of my problem is that I get FOMO, so I feel like I have to join or I am missing it. But it’s also good to get away at night and go relax in your room. There have been things that have kept us busy. Anyway, I never struggle with it, there are always books to read or TV to watch, not that I’ve been watching TV, and there are always people to catch up with. Yes, it has been good and there are many different ways to stay sane.
When you first imagined yourself in front of BBC coverage, it probably wasn’t entirely under circumstances like this …
No. I was really excited about the opportunity, it was a great honor and privilege to be asked to do this, but yeah, it was kind of weird. Everything has been a bit condensed. As a presenter, you are always trying to find different ways to bring coverage to the audience, otherwise it will probably get quite boring for them. There have been so many moments to get excited about. The cricket has been really good, it has been fought very well, there has always been something to talk about, apart from the rainy days when it really gets longer. And that culminated in Jimmy Anderson’s 600th wicket was truly moving. Here’s a guy who’s been working for 17 years, that’s just amazing. Think about how many overs you have done in your career and get to this point and we were all hopeful that it could happen on the series. But having it happen that last day was just a nice little touch at the end of what has been a pretty exhausting summer for everyone.
How important is it that cricket is back on free-to-air television in the UK? Presumably, do you remember the terrestrial coverage on the BBC in the 1990s and then on Channel 4?
Yes, Richie Benaud, definitely on Channel 4, but the BBC I think I caught the last few years of that. I would have been 8 or 9 when I watched cricket on television, Dad always wore it, Mom was also an avid observer. We always watched England play. Everyone remembers Richie because he was the gift of broadcasting, essentially. Certainly, with my comment I started wanting to let the coverage breathe a little more, and as the world evolves, things change and different stations want different things for their audience.
“It will be interesting to see if the individual players [from South Africa] will be able to travel to franchise tournaments like the IPL Challenge and WBBL – I hope that’s the case. ”
I am very excited for Sunday, the first time we will have a live game on the BBC again. We have a great team, and I know it’s not test cricket, but it will be a lot of fun with the T20 cricket guys. It can be weird for gamers, even broadcasters, because you’re so used to commenting with noise on T20, and having that behind you to help you when there’s a great time. Then that will be very different. But at the same time, I look forward to the fast-paced nature of it.
Do you see yourself as a trailblazer, being a young British-Asian woman leading the BBC’s cricket coverage? Can that help cricket reach communities that it may not have done in this country?
That is something that has really evolved as I get older. When I first played for England, a lot of importance was placed on the fact that I was the first Asian woman to participate in the England women’s team. Later I found out that I was the first to play any team sport for England of Asian descent. So that made me realize how weird this really is, and why is that happening, why isn’t there more? So it has always been one of my passions, trying to encourage more Asian girls to participate in sport.
I have recognized that responsibility more as I get older. On the one hand, I like that people recognize the work that I am doing, but at the same time I also realize that there is a girl or a boy who will see me on television and will feel that they can go ahead and do something. similar, and there are opportunities available to them.
The Black Lives Matter movement and the discussion about racism in cricket have also been prominent: her former teammate Ebony Rainford-Brent spoke very movingly of her experiences at the beginning of the West Indies Test series. Have there been cases in your career that you now look back on and wish you had faced at that time?
Ebony and I had different upbringings: she was raised in Brixton and I was raised in a very westernized community. I guess he really didn’t know who I was back then. I talk a lot with one of my best friends, Fiona, whose family is from San Vicente. When you’re younger, you just try to fit in with everyone around you, so you almost suppress your roots in order to fit in. In the last few months I have come to realize that you shouldn’t have to change who you are. They are to fit in, you just have to be appreciated for who you are. I didn’t talk much about my background when I was in school, or about the experiences I had in India or with my family. Just because you didn’t think that was what people wanted to hear. My upbringing focused on fitting in and integrating myself into society. Now as an adult, I’m so interested in my background and my roots and I go back to Kolkata once a year and I’m really proud of the culture, and I’m confident enough to talk about it and be proud of it. that. And that’s something that maybe I should have done when I was younger as well.
While cricket has come together to tackle the pandemic, the women’s game has been particularly hard hit. The ECB announced this week that the West Indies will go on a tour of England in September, which is good news, but is there a fear that women’s cricket will be further delayed by this?
I think just because the World Cup has been postponed, everyone was waiting for that and preparing for it and naturally there will be some disappointment there. But the PCA and the ECB have been working incredibly hard to ensure that girls who were to receive professional contracts, which was going to be a big step for women’s football in the UK, continue to receive advances and the contracts go into place. correctly in October. The ECB’s plan was to invest in women’s football for the next five years and they are still delivering on it. They don’t want to step back. The fact that they have demonstrated their commitment by forming the West Indies team highlights how valued women’s cricket is in this country.
Yes, it may seem that things were happening slowly, but it has been difficult trying to fit everything together. I’m sure everyone wanted to play women’s cricket in the first few months, but the priority was always going to be England. Men, from an income point of view, because this summer a lot of money is being lost on gambling. Will for girls: received a pay cut at the beginning of the pandemic. That was her decision; they wanted to be in line with the staff they are working with.
We are all continually trying to promote women’s football and it is frustrating at times. You look at South Africa, for example, where their women’s team can’t travel, but men’s players can go to the IPL. It will be interesting to see if individual players will be able to travel to franchise tournaments, such as the IPL Challenge and WBBL, and I hope that will be the case. But it really is a great group of people trying to push the women’s game forward and if we can get as many voices as possible talking about women’s sport and women’s cricket, it can only get better.
Looking ahead, he has spoken out in favor of the Hundreds as a vehicle for both men’s and women’s cricket. The tournament launch was delayed until 2021, but are you still convinced that it is the right way to go?
I definitely understood the value in him and the reasons behind wanting to try to reach a new audience and mobilize them through the Hundreds. People can always be scared of something new, but I think a lot of conversations need to happen over the next six months, and people need to be open-minded. I still think it will be fantastic, but there is so much up in the air, in terms of drawing crowds, will we be in a position next year where we can move on? And people should be open to conversations about whether this is the right way to move forward next year, depending on the situation. There are so many things that need consideration at this time. But I still understand the merits and the reasons why they wanted to go in that direction.
The second T20I of England v Pakistan will air live on BBC One on August 30 starting at 1:45 p.m. BST.
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