Ravi “The Heavy Roller” Reddy shares the experience of his maiden stint as a commentator at Guerilla Cricket SA.
I’ve always wanted to be a cricket commentator. It wasn’t the most inspirational one liner that I’ve ever used in a bar and only seemed to catch the attention of the barman that was serving me (as opposed to my date). Lets start again…
There have been many occasions in my parents’ living room where we would all be watching the cricket. On one particular occasion, South Africa were touring England (2003 tour), which was led by Biff himself. I would often mute the television and pretend to be Michael Holding or “Athers” and give an in depth analysis of the game at hand.
This was absolutely displeasing to my family and resulted in many catapulted pillows being thrown in my direction (thankfully, the Reddy family aren’t gifted athletes).
Thanks to the growing Twitter cricket community in South Africa, it led to following various thought leaders and experts in the game. By hosting and engaging in difficult conversations within the game of cricket it resulted in mass interest particularly from my friends at Guerilla Cricket SA.
Guerilla Cricket was founded in the UK by a group of working professionals in many industries that loved and adored the game to extent that they too wanted to showcase their skills in “the commentary booth”. They have their own YouTube channel and Twitter page in which they can be engaged with in real time. I was fortunate enough to be contacted directly by Simon Gear, who runs the Guerilla Cricket SA operation. If the name sounds familiar or rings a bell, you may recall Simon from his tenure as the Weatherman for SABC 3 News. Simon, a devout cricket fan saw potential in yours truly and figured there was value in incorporating a Caribbean national into the “Commentary booth”.
South Africa will be touring the West Indies from July 23rd to August 15th 2020. At this juncture its uncertain as to who will be leading the Proteas team and which players will be joining the Test side particularly.
However, I am delighted to announce that I will indeed be part of the commentary team and hope to add to the festivity and flamboyance that’s regularly showcased by Simon and his highly talented team.
The Guerilla Cricket SA operation is hosted in the Belair shopping centre in Randburg (10km from the Multi-choice building) and shares an office space with “1485 Radio Today”.
The digs is a humble yet functional location, befitting for a “Guerilla operation”. The team is a composition of volunteers that is very passionate as they are knowledgeable about the game of cricket.
For those of you (particularly Cricket Fanatics) that are interested in pursuing a volunteer commentary gig, you are welcome to reach out to the lads at @guerillasa or @simongear himself.
Feel free to mute the Supersport or SABC commentary and tune in to 1WSR.com during the Test match.
Most importantly sound off your comments and thoughts of the match to @GuerillaSA on Twitter.
Yours in Peace, Love and Cricket
