Alison Mitchell is an English sports broadcaster. She is a reporter for Test Match Special, and a reporter and commentator for BBC Radio 5 Live and Five Live Sports Extra.Alison began life with the BBC as a part-time Broadcast Assistant at BBC Radio Northampton while studying for A-levels at Wellingborough School, where she is a Committee Member of the Old Wellingburians. She played all sports at school, captaining the school tennis, netball and athletics squads.
She played Hockey seriously, representing Northamptonshire, being selected for Midland Developments squads, playing for the University of Nottingham 1st XI and captaining the club.She took a degree in Geography (dissertation entitled "The Impact of Television on the Cultural Geography of English Cricket" 1995-2000) and then trained in Broadcast Journalism at Falmouth College of Arts. She gained her first experience of live reporting on cricket, football and rugby at BBC Radio Cornwall before freelancing for BBC Radio Leicester.
Alison Mitchell is a sports reporter/presenter/commentator, working across all BBC Networks, including Radio 5 Live, Radio 4, Radio 1, the Asian Network and the World Service. She also works in television, presenting sport news for the BBC News Channel.She is Britain’s first and only female cricket commentator,calling games ball by ball.She specialises in Cricket as part of the Test Match Special team, but she also covers major events for BBC Sport such as the Olympics, Commonwealth Games and Wimbledon.She is a sports news presenter for Radio Five Live, and has also presented the sport for Radio One’s Newsbeat, including a stint on the Chris Moyles Show.
Alison joined the BBC Asian Network as staff in 2002, mainly covering international cricket, and did her first broadcast for Radio Five Live in 2003.She has covered England Winter cricket tours to Pakistan, Sri Lanka, New Zealand, South Africa and India, the World Cup in the West Indies, World Twenty20s in South Africa 2007 and England 2009, the ICC Champions Trophy, two Women's Cricket World Cups, the 2008 Beijing Olympics, 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, two World Snooker Championships, the World Gymnastics Championships and Wimbledon.
Alison was a boundary commentator at the momentous Oval Test when England regained the Ashes in 2005.She commentated on Ireland's historic victory over Pakistan at the 2007 Cricket World Cup, and was the last person to interview Pakistan coach Bob Woolmer before his sudden death in the Pegasus Hotel in Jamaica. Alison reported on his death for all BBC Networks, and was the only BBC reporter in Kingston when police announced a murder investigation.
She made her England commentary debut at the 2007 World Twenty20 in South Africa with Jonathan Agnew for Test Match Special (she seemed to get on well with summariser Ian Chappell when she mentioned that her mother is Australian). She then flew on to Sri Lanka to commentate on her first ODI series there.John Inverdale called it a "radio first" when Alison commentated on the Pommel Horse at the Beijing Olympics.
She was part of England's winter tour to India, which was interrupted by the terrorist attacks in Mumbai. When the tour resumed, Alison got locked in the toilet during the tea interval of the Chennai Test.She commentated for both BBC and ABC radio for the 2009 Women's Cricket World Cup Final in Sydney, which was won by England.
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