A View From The Comms Box: Celebrating the people who make cricket broadcasting special

On the the list of recipients, next to the Christopher Martin-Jenkins Broadcaster of the Year Award, was my name, Aaron Viles. 

Ironically, as a cricket commentator who can talk for days on end, I’ve found it tremendously difficult to properly convey the emotions felt by receiving an award of that magnitude.

I never entered this career path for individual accolades – sports broadcasting is an amalgamation of hard work from multiple departments after all – but I’d be lying if I said that the messages I’ve received from friends and family over the past 24 hours haven’t left me feeling rather more proud and emotional than usual.

And it’s to those very people who today’s article is dedicated to.

Instead of boring you with my life story and making it all about me, I thought I’d take this opportunity to recognise and show appreciation to the countless people who have shaped my journey in the cricket broadcasting landscape so far, dating back to 2020 when I first started talking about the great game on Instagram live.

At the conclusion of one of those livestreams, I received a very kind message from a man by the name of Rivelino Simmons, who at the time just so happened to be producing a show called ‘IPL Daily’ on FLOW Sports. 

During my time on the show, I got my first taste of live TV broadcasting alongside the likes of Barry Wilkinson – a leading voice on cricket in the Caribbean – former West Indies and Hampshire seamer Tino Best and an up-and-coming commentator from Barbados called Nikhil Uttamchandani, an individual who, in my opinion, lays the blueprint for what well-informed and passionate sports broadcasting should be all about.

I had an absolute blast with those guys, and I’ll always look back on those times with Barry, Tino, Nikhil and Riv with great fondness, even if my predictions about RCB winning the IPL wouldn’t come to fruition until 2025.

Around the same time, I was also doing written and visual content for Cricket Fanatics Magazine, a South African publication spearheaded by founder Khalid Mohidin. Working with the likes of Khalid, Mpho, Dan, Ravi, Tim, Lubabalo, Aditya, Abhai, Tshepo and Ashwani – among many others – the aim was to bring more attention to the fascinating stories of the cricketers who represented the Proteas as well as those who played for the various domestic teams across the country.

Whilst I sadly don’t have the time to appear on the YouTube shows anymore, I still keep in regular contact with a number of the team from CFM and continue to read the monthly magazine with great interest whenever it hits my inbox. Furthermore, the sheer number of hours that they've devoted - and indeed continue to devote - to covering the game has been a real inspiration for my own projects over the years, and I’ll always wish them nothing but the absolute best, whether that’s in their cricketing endeavours or indeed in their wider life as a whole.

Speaking of inspiration, during the Covid-shortened English Summer of 2020, myself and Joe Nuttall - a long-term friend of mine from Lancashire - had the idea of creating a podcast focused around the 18 First-Class counties that make up the domestic scene here in England and Wales.

Aptly named 'The County Cricket Podcast,' we wanted to showcase the fascinating journey taken by those who make the circuit tick, from current and former players, to coaches, analysts, broadcasters, media personnel and members of the ground staff who dedicate their lives in order to ensure that the game remains in as healthy a state as humanly possible.   

Over the years, we’ve since turned our podcasting duo into a quartet, with two terrific fellas in Matt Whiley and Ciaran McCarthy becoming integral parts of the furniture at TCCP HQ and the likes of Kiel van Vollenhoven, Lucy Rees, Matt Howes and Harry Everett all helping out as regular contributors at various points throughout the last 5 seasons.

The creation of the podcast also made us eligible to commentate at the Cricket Content Creators Cup at Derbyshire CCC in 2025, an unforgettable day – spent in the company of four top guys in Andrew, Ian, Jay and Charlie - that was brought to a premature end on my side by a mad dash to the station to catch the last train to Scarborough!

With over 300 episodes in the bank, and well over 100 guests having appeared on the platform to date, it’s difficult to list everyone’s names in a single article but to all of those who have joined us over the years, and of course to our amazing listeners who continue to tune in, this is addressed directly to you, and I’d like to place on record a massive thank you on behalf of both myself as well as everyone else involved with the podcast.

It really does mean the absolute world to us.

From those humble beginnings at the podcast with a basic set of earphones and a free Zoom plan, our project began to generate a little bit of traction, and I was kindly invited to do my first in-person commentary during Warwickshire’s visit to Somerset in the 2022 County Championship. At the time, I distinctly remember a conversation about cricket commentary that I had with the Garrard family during a bitterly cold day at Edgbaston in the season opener against Surrey, but I didn’t expect my livestream debut to materialise less than three weeks later!

Needless to say, I absolutely loved my stint during that game at Taunton, and whilst we won’t discuss the final result from that fixture, working alongside Sam Dalling and the rest of the livestream team at the CACG – as well as the incomparable Paul Edwards in the press box - was an absolute pleasure and really motivated me to pursue my commentary dreams a bit more seriously.

The first regular breakthrough from a broadcasting point of view however would come to fruition the following season.

Having helped out Guerilla Cricket with a couple of their YouTube commentaries, as well as creating some example snippets at the recommendation of numerous established broadcasters, I was offered a role as a stats-focused third voice for Warwickshire County Cricket Club on their in-house T20 livestreams.

Given the fact that I was born in the county town of Warwick, and have visited Edgbaston religiously ever since I was 8 years old, this was the opportunity of a lifetime, and one which I’ve unsurprisingly held incredibly near and dear to my heart in the years that have followed.

During yesterday’s presentation at Lord’s, eagle-eyed Warwickshire fans may have noticed that I was wearing my member’s tie in the photos, something which I wanted to include as both a fitting nod to my roots in Shakespeare’s County as well as the incredible team that works both on and off the camera at Bears TV. As far as I’m concerned, this award was just as much about their contributions as it was about mine.

From the commentary team itself – which has featured the likes of Adam Bridge, Mel Farrell, Aatif Nawaz, Georgie Heath, Brian Halford, Recordo Gordon and Chloe Brewer in recent seasons – to the plethora of people who have toiled away behind the scenes such as Fabian, Chris, Jesse, Rida, Hass, Josh, Tom and Matt, we’re tremendously lucky to have such a hard-working collective of individuals at Edgbaston and I can’t wait to get going again once the Blast returns in late May.

I’d also like to mention the quartet of Mike Taylor, Phil Britt, Richard Wilford and Clive Eakin for their many words of wisdom over the years.

We’re fortunate to have such a high standard of radio coverage here in the West Midlands and to learn first-hand from those broadcasters who kept me company over the airwaves as a teenager tuning into Warwickshire matches via BBC Radio WM and CWR has been amazing to say the least.

In fact, the BBC Radio commentators that I’ve met so far have actually been very supportive of my personal journey – especially the likes of Ed Seabourne, Dan Whiting, Adrian Harms, Andrew Radd, Mark Church and Scott Read - so I wish them nothing but the very best as we head into another action-packed summer of cricket here in the UK.

Keeping with the Midlands theme though, that takes me nicely onto the next county that I’d like to thank, and that county in question is Northamptonshire.

I’ve alluded to it on the podcast before, but when I couldn’t make a Warwickshire away game in the north or the south, I’d tend to visit Northants or Gloucestershire as a means of watching some county cricket.

Therefore, when the opportunity arose to do some County Championship comms for the Tudor Rose in September 2024, I was absolutely over the moon.

Unsurprisingly, the club have been brilliant since those first couple of games as well, with Dan Jadzevics providing excellent company and insight on the microphone and Tobey, Dan and Bill all contributing to an enjoyable broadcasting environment that makes me want to give nothing but my utmost best for this fantastic county.

It was also a pleasure to share the comms box with Sam Turner and Harry Butler (formerly of the Bears pathway) at various points during the MBODC last season, so to say that I’m excited to return to Wantage Road in 2026 would be the understatement of the year.

Finally, heading up a bit further north, it’s only right to mention the latest county streaming service that I’ve worked for, with that service being Yorkshire Cricket TV.

Learning from the likes of Michael McCann – who has been an exceptional mentor and friend over the years - as well as Dr Jane Powell, Maroof Khan, Graham Hardcastle, Rachel Slater, Grace Hall and Noah Kelly was an absolute privilege last season and I’m really looking forward to being back in Leeds for the white ball competitions from mid-April onwards.

It would also be amiss of me not to give a tremendous shoutout to the various people behind the scenes who gave me such a warm welcome to Headingley in 2025 as well, so to Charlotte, Connor, Nathan, Matt, Matt Holtby, Richard, Ellie, Ben and Adrian, I’d like to say a massive thank you for all of your hard work and dedication to the White Rose as well as the kindness that you’ve shown to this particular Midlander, it really is appreciated more than you’ll ever know.

And on that topic of appreciation, that leads me onto the last group of people who I’d like to thank; my family and my girlfriend.

Whilst I don’t come from a sporting background, my Mum has always been incredibly supportive of my endeavours in commentary, and my Dad and Brother try their best to keep up with my various sporting broadcasts whenever they can, even if they’ve never been truly converted by the wonderous appeal of the greatest game ever invented.

Then of course, there’s my Aunt who took me to my first Warwickshire game at Edgbaston back in 2009, as well as my Grandparents who would let me camp in front of the TV whenever I was in Birmingham and watch whatever helping of cricket was on offer from Channel 5 or ITV 4. 

Sadly, my Grandad, and my biggest inspiration for that matter, Fred Fraser, never got to see my journey into the world of cricket broadcasting come to fruition after he passed in 2019, but I hope to have done him proud so far and I’ll always carry his memory wherever life takes me.

Grief isn't a topic that I bring up very often, and that's for good reason, but that loss continues to hit me like a tonne of bricks even to this day. More than anything, I just wish that I could have him back in my life for a single day to show him how far I've come in these last 7 years, but as difficult as it's been to come to terms with, unfortunately I've had to accept that it'll never happen.

One thing that does provide me with some semblance of solace however is the lasting impact that he had, and continues to have, on everyone who knew him. My Grandad absolutely adored his family, always approached life with a smile on his face, and treated everybody as an individual worth listening to and learning from, and in that capacity at least, I like to think that I've carried on his legacy in a rather befitting manner.

In the latter stages of 2022, following a typically busy Summer of sport, I hopped on the train to Manchester to meet Paige Caunce, a fellow county cricket fan from Blackpool.

Fast forward 3.5 years later to 2026 and she was by my side at yesterday’s awards presentation, as she has been throughout every stage of my sports broadcasting journey ever since we met, providing nothing but support and encouragement along the way.

She doesn’t know that I’ve added in this bit about her, but I’ve been tremendously fortunate to have her company during these early years as a cricket commentator and for that, along with a whole lot else, I’m an extremely grateful individual indeed.

And on that note, I’ll bring today’s article to an end.

To all of the other award winners, as well as those who were highly commended in the respective categories, I’d like to offer my warmest congratulations and wish you all the very best for the exciting summer of cricket ahead.

And for all of us as fans of this great sport, here’s hoping that the 2026 season turns out to be an unforgettable one both on and off the pitch.