Ian Ward: It is not my job to give opinions, why would anyone want to hear them?

Telegraph

22-07-2025

Late one evening in March 2001, Ian Ward was about to go to sleep when he received an unexpected phone call. A producer from Sky Sports was scrambling to fill a gap in their punditry team for the following day's Test between England and Sri Lanka.
'They asked if I'd fill in,' Ward recalls. 'I meant to say no – I was knackered – but somehow 'yes' came out.
'They said: 'Oh, great. We'll send a car for you in about four hours.' I'm looking at the watch going: 'What?' I didn't realise it was overnight.'
Ward had never considered a media role before. As pundit, he was in a delicate position. Ward was on the threshold of the England Test team – he would win five caps the following summer – yet was now being asked to critique it.
'That was weird,' he recalls. 'I was sat in a bloody chair giving my expert opinion on Nasser [Hussain] facing Murali [Muttiah Muralitharan]. People at home probably thought – probably still think – who is this bloke?
'I'd never seen a TV studio. I just thought, 's---, look at this'. The amount of people, the amount of screens, the technology it takes to get the pictures back from Columbo. I thought, this is pretty cool.'
From playing to presenting
In between playing engagements for Surrey, where he was an integral part of the side that won three County Championships from 1999-2002, Ward started to commentate during the summer. In the winter of 2002-03, he moved into a different chair: from pundit to presenter.
Ward's first engagement could hardly have been less glamorous: presenting South Africa's ODI against Bangladesh in Potchefstroom.
'Gus Fraser was my guest for a five-minute build-up, which just scared the c--p out of me – and it was over in a flash,' Ward recalls.
'It's amazing how nervous I was then. Barney Francis, my first boss at Sky Cricket, came and said: 'You will never watch any television programme again in the same way.' He was absolutely right.'
As his broadcasting career developed, Ward often watched footage of himself back 'to try and learn and improve'. He particularly admired Steve Rider and Des Lynam as hosts, especially the way that they brought out the best of their guests.
'I remember someone saying about another presenter: 'He commands the studio.' I thought: 'I don't want to command the studio. That's a load of old c--p. I should be there asking the questions and facilitating.''
Another phone call, this time far less unexpected, sealed Ward's new career. In 2006, Vic Wakeling, then the managing director for Sky Sports, called up Ward asking if he wanted to join full-time; Sky had gained the exclusive rights to home England Tests. Ward requested that Sussex release him from his contract two years early. He retired from professional cricket aged 33.
Such a playing career almost eluded Ward. After playing a solitary first-class game for Surrey aged 19, he was released by the club. While playing club cricket and coaching at East Molesey, he cleaned planes at Heathrow.
'When you say you're cleaning planes, people assume you're wiping the windshield. No, I'm cleaning the detritus that people leave behind. And believe me, people leave a lot of horrible stuff.
'When you get up out, and you walk to the door and you're looking left to get off the aircraft, you never look back. Look back. You'll see what people leave behind. It's vile.'
Ward retains an uncomfortable relationship with planes: he is 'petrified' of being in the air. Returning from the Champions Trophy earlier this year, he exchanged messages with Mark Wood, another nervous flyer.
'Woody was in business class, and I'm back in wherever. And, of course, it helps if I have a couple of drinks, to calm the nerves.
'Woody texted me saying: 'I'll send you a little present back later.' And just after we'd taken off one of the pursers from the business class cabin came back with what looked like a latte. He said: 'Present from Mr. Wood.' I opened it up and it was full of champagne. Woody, you absolute star.'
'End of an era?' 🤔
'Mixed messages haven't helped!' 💬
'Wise not to make any rash decisions!' 💭
Ian Ward, Eoin Morgan and Michael Atherton discuss what went wrong and what's next for England after their early World Cup exit... ❌ pic.twitter.com/gwzJ6mmpBM
— Sky Sports Cricket (@SkyCricket) November 4, 2023
Life behind the microphone
For most people, retirement from professional cricket means life slowing down; for Ward, it has meant life speeding up. On Test mornings, Ward arrives at the ground around 8am, and even earlier on day one. Really, though, his preparation begins several weeks earlier. The pre-match show before the first Ashes Test in 2023 was 'a month in the planning', he recalls.
During match days, 'I've always got something in my ear, somebody talking in my ear, or the commentary is on,' Ward explains. 'You take your earpieces out at the end of the day, and then you walk down the street, and it's noisy and loud. You get into the room, you shut the door and you can just shut the outside world out for a couple of minutes, because you're constantly bombarded with information. That's your first peace and quiet of the day.'
Ward's work does not end when he concludes Sky's on-pitch coverage at 7pm. Then, either on WhatsApp or at the bar, the conversations about the next day's coverage begin.
At the end of the Headingley Test, which ended late on day five, Ward and Nasser Hussain willed Michael Atherton, their colleague who conducts the post-match presentations, to hurry up.
'Nasser and I look at our watches going: 'We ain't making this train.' We ended up with myself, Nasser and Ravi [Shastri] sprinting through Leeds, dragging our suitcases, trying to get the last train home,' Ward says with a chuckle. 'It's not glamorous.'
In a commentary box brimming with men who enjoyed glittering playing careers, Ward sees his role as asking questions more than answering them.
'I've got opinions on techniques and games. It's just not really my job to voice them.
'We've got four international captains in there, and Stuart Broad. Why would anyone want to hear from me? So I understand that, and I agree with that, because I wouldn't want to hear from me. But I should be able to at least ask a question that is absolutely relevant.
'I very much see my role as asking the questions and just letting some of the brilliant cricket brains we've got explain the game. It's about them, not me.'
To Ward, a series of abusive messages on Twitter were evidence of a job well done.
'A guy a few years ago now didn't like how I did it and kept sending me abusive tweets. I never replied, just chuckled, but I couldn't bite my tongue any longer. He said: 'What is the point of Ian Ward, other than to hold a microphone to let others speak?' And I replied saying: 'Thank you, that's the biggest compliment I've ever had.''
The master of masterclasses
Sky's masterclasses do not only show the best of the great players interviewed; they also show the best of Ward as a broadcaster. His favourite masterclass remains the first that he ever did, with his long-time colleague Shane Warne in an indoor school at Durham.
'We got going and Warnie absolutely delivered. And it was like: 'This bloke is different gravy.'
'We are very lucky that we have time, and also some very good tools, which makes it easier to explain things and also to show whoever it might be. Warnie was the first one we ever did. We can go back and show deliveries, and then you can explain them. Warnie, being the genius that he was, could then go and bowl them.'
While Channel 4 pioneered the masterclass, Sky's resources allow for far broader depth. 'They take an inordinate amount of work from the real hard-workers, the people behind the scenes, to get the footage. Because I want something from years ago, they've got to go back into the archives.
'They spend months digging it out. They get the 20 clips and I probably end up using five of them. They probably sit there swearing and throwing things at me.'
While doing masterclasses, 'your brain's working 1000 miles an hour', Ward explains. 'Live TV can get challenging because things might be going on in your ear or changing, but you've got to listen to what the person you're interviewing is saying, because otherwise you don't ever react.'
As well as making for compelling TV, the masterclasses also serve a broader purpose. After Ward did a masterclass with Ricky Ponting at Lord's, 'pretty much all of the county academies came round and said: 'We want a DVD of that.' So hopefully they're educational.'
The masterclasses have given Ward a deeper appreciation of the game's very best, too. Never was this truer than when visiting Brian Lara at Queen's Park Oval in Trinidad & Tobago.
In a warm-up, before filming, Ward gave Lara 12 throwdowns.
'He didn't even remotely hit the middle once. Then he took his gloves off. He laid his bat up against the net. He looked up at the mountain. He said 'okay let's go'. Put his gloves back on, that mindset change, and he was fabulous. He kept middling it. He would say 'I've got four shots I can play to this particular delivery' – absolutely incredible.'
Ward cherished his playing days. But he now belongs to a rare category of cricketers, better known for their lives after playing.
'I only played five Test matches. Put it this way, I don't know how many Test matches I've presented – it'll be well over 100.' And Ward has helped to illuminate each game, one question at a time.