Jonathan Agnew

Flying my own small plane is my escape. I learnt to fly in 2006 and share ownership of a Socata TB10.

When you know that batting will be tough, that the ball might move around and your technique will be tested, you have to make sure that you don\'t give the bowlers any more advantages.

Any decent coach can make more than enough money just doing three or four T20 leagues.

The first day I worked with Brian Johnston was very daunting.

I\'m not a huge fan of South Africa. I always feel a bit worried security-wise.

Being a stepfather is a huge challenge.

I was a professional cricketer from 16.

Adelaide is terribly underrated. There are lovely wide streets, beautiful parks, one of the most scenic cricket grounds, wonderful beaches, and vineyards nearby. The food and the people are lovely, and it\'s not too big and sprawling.

Cruising on the old rice boats in Kerala, southern India, with my wife was amazing.

Rather than influence the media, I hope that my progress from player to correspondent shows that there is a role for former cricketers in the media, despite the intolerant views of some of my colleagues in the press box.

In Test cricket, you have to be adaptable.

I played in Sri Lanka, so I know how hard it is to come here and win. The weather is baking hot and the conditions are alien to English cricketers.

I cannot believe that people really sit and devote hours of their lives watching reality TV like \'Big Brother.\'

That is what Test cricket is about, adapting to different conditions around the world.

I did three winters at BBC Radio Leicester while playing cricket in the summers.

It\'s easy to throw mud at coaches because we don\'t see - nor often understand - everything they do.

My dad was a keen cricketer - he played at school and club level - but it was hard for him to find time for it because he was a farmer, so he encouraged me and my brother.

I really enjoy politics.

Without ambition, drive and the willingness to make sacrifices, I don\'t think you get anywhere.

I played at school then signed up with Leicestershire when I was 18, for £20 per week. In those days cricket wasn\'t a full-time job; in the winter you had nothing to do.

I always wanted to be a professional cricketer, which meant I didn\'t work as much as I should have done at exams. But, happily, it came off.

I spend too much time away from home. I love travelling, but we can be away for as much as four months during the winter.

Bowling on English pitches is not rocket science. If you bowl a good length on off stump, the ball just has to do a fraction, up or down or side to side, and you get someone out.

The absolute key difference between television and radio is the ability of radio to communicate. With television you can watch the screen and your mind can be anywhere. On radio it requires a certain amount of discipline from the listener to follow what\'s being said.

I love the individual characters that cricket produces and, more than most other sports, the unlikely heroes.

The bouncer shouldn\'t be banned. Hitting batsmen, I\'m afraid, is part of the game. But it\'s the histrionics, the nonsense, the prancing, the in-your-face nastiness. It\'s become accepted, and actually it\'s not acceptable at all.

I love winding up Geoffrey Boycott.

It\'s all you hear on a cricket field - \'Knock his head off, knock his head off.\' Cricket has gone too far. It shouldn\'t be posturing, abusing.

I don\'t think cricket will ever have the same sort of money as football.

I look at some young commentators who sit down with piles of notes, and of course, what are you going to do if you\'ve spent hours preparing all this stuff? You\'re going to bloody well read it out. Boring!