Test Match Special: Tall Tales

Martin Chandler | 9:33am GMT 21 December 2025

Published: 2023
Pages: 320
Author: Agnew, Jonathan and Tufnell, Phil
Publisher: Penguin Random House
Rating: 3 stars

I feel obliged to participate, but always feel a little sorry for whoever gets me in the office Secret Santa draw – after all what do you get for the bloke who sits in the corner, who is at least 30 years older than you are and who you have very little, if anything, in common with?

Naturally my poor colleague seeks advice, and inevitably gets told that the only help available is that I have some sort of weird cricket obsession and, lo and behold, the problem goes away – get the old boy a cricket book!

That has happened three times in a row now, which at least shows a degree of thought has gone into the choice. I can’t say any of the books I’ve received have enthused me in any way, although at least this year it was one I didn’t already have.

I didn’t start with any intention of actually reading this, but it has one big advantage, that being that the lack of a continuous narrative means that you can dip into it for a few minutes at a time and, doing that occasionally, I actually started to rather enjoy it. I suppose that’s hardly surprising really. After all I do enjoy listening to Agnew and, particularly, Tufnell on those occasions I do tune in to TMS, so it follows from that they should produce an entertaining book.

Which is probably the point at which to mention that there are other members of the TMS team involved, Carlos Brathwaite, Ebony Rainford-Brent, Isah Guha, Alison Mitchell and Aatif Nawaz all adding their thoughts. Their observations are not without interest, but I am not convinced that their contributions really add a great deal in circumstances where it is always Agnew and Tufnell who start and then dominate the dialogue.

And the contents? There is some ‘autobiography’ as the authors talk about how they were introduced to the game itself, and describe some episodes from their playing careers. There is generally some humour involved, so Tuffers tells us how to annoy Wayne ‘Diamond’ Daniel, and I do hope that Aggers tale of David Gower declaring a Leicester innings closed 20 short of avoiding the follow on in order to shelter Les Taylor from having to face Sylvester Clarke is true.

But it isn’t all fun and games. Both authors reflect on their Test debuts. The difference is of course that Aggers only played for England three times, and paid 93.25 each for his four wickets albeit that is no reflection of the ability of a man who was certainly a much better bowler than that number suggests. Tuffers’ Test debut in Australia brought a heavy defeat and a personal contribution of zero wickets, runs or catches, but things did get much better for him over a 42 Test career.

Much of the book is taken up with reminiscing about players and matches from the recent past, with an emphasis on the moments from the Ashes that have spellbound the nation. There aren’t too many surprises, although Agger’s response to the best fast bowler watched question certainly took me by surprise, his choice being the performance at Lord’s in 1972 from Australia’s Bob Massie.

The best part of the book? I suspect many of my vintage will choose the chapter that is a solo from Aggers, his impressions of the men he worked with when he began. His memories of Johnners, Fred, The Alderman, Bearders, CMJ and Blowers fully justify the title Commentary Box Legends.

The best advice I can give though is to ignore the front cover and its proclamation that the book is the good, the bad and the hilarious from the commentary box – it’s a better read than that suggests.