This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Pjmc (talk | contribs) at 10:39, 13 August 2006 (removing the most blatant opinions, but this generally sounds quite oppinionated.). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.
Revision as of 10:39, 13 August 2006 by Pjmc (talk | contribs) (removing the most blatant opinions, but this generally sounds quite oppinionated.)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)Christopher Dennis Alexander Martin-Jenkins, known as CMJ (born 20 January 1945), is a cricket journalist and commentator for Test Match Special (TMS) on BBC Radio 4.
Martin-Jenkins was a student at Marlborough, and then Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge. He joined the TMS team in 1973, aged 28. While captain of cricket at his school, Marlborough, 11 years earlier, Martin-Jenkins wrote to Brian Johnston asking him how to become a cricket commentator.
At various times, CMJ has been cricket correspondent for the BBC, the Daily Telegraph and The Times. He was also editor of The Cricketer. As a player, he made 99 for Marlborough against Rugby School at Lord's and was later in the Surrey second XI.
CMJ has also been known as "Jenkers" (see Test Match Special, Peter Baxter (ed, 1981); see also Oxford '-er'). There are suggestions in The Alderman's Tale (1991), the memoir of fellow commentator, Don Mosey (1924-99), that CMJ's presence in the commentary box was an occasional source of friction to some of his colleagues (though equally Mosey seems to have had a chip on his shoulder regarding the operation of what he saw as an old boy network within the BBC).
His commentary is marked by a particular prissiness, continually inveighing against the activities of supporters (particularly West Indian, Pakistani and the "Barmy Army"). He continually harks back to the days of country house cricket, public school matches etc. He never misses an opportunity to extol the virtues of the Church of England. Clearly regarded by his fellow commentators (most of whom have played cricket at Test level, unlike CMJ whose greatest achievement has been captaining Marlborough, which he loves to refer to as "The House" without explaination)as something of an embarrasing anachronism (his fellow commentator Henry Bloefeld provides a splendid counterpoint, who despite being an Old Etonian and Cantabrigian loves the game too much to be snobbish about modern innovations and the multi-culturalism which is so important to English cricket). He has no knowledge of the demands on the modern player, most recently (August 2006) being vociferous in his criticism of players leaving the field for "bathroom breaks", not acknowledging that dehydration is generally recognised as a serious condition. He is a symbol of a dying attitude to cricket in which the titled, the rich and the English are more important than the vibrant, the talented and those who have the true interests of the game at heart.
Martin-Jenkins' son, Robin Martin-Jenkins, plays county cricket for Sussex.