Cricket gets global radio run in new programme Stumped

On Saturday 17 January the BBC World Service launched Stumped, a new programme dedicated to exploring the global world of cricket. The programme brings together three of the hubs of world cricket - the UK, India and Australia - in a programme made by the BBC in co-operation with All India Radio and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC).

The Stumped team will be made up of presenters from all three broadcasters who will drive lively, informative, irreverent and humorous debate. Alison Mitchell - the BBC's first female cricket commentator - will host, assisted by the voice of cricket on ABC, Jim Maxwell, and the lead cricket commentator for All India Radio in English, Prakash Wakankar.

The first series will coincide with the start of the 2015 World Cup and aims to entertain and inform cricket and non-cricket fans alike. Each week, the programme will examine key talking points as well as look at some of the lighter stories in sport from around the world while on location in World Cup host countries Australia and New Zealand.

Renowned cricketing raconteur Henry Blofeld will also appear each week with his 'tales from the test'. With almost 40 years of cricket travels behind him, Henry has stories to tell from right around the cricket world.

Hard-hitting questions on Stumped will include,

Why did penguins once stop play?

Why do so many cricket terms find their way into everyday language?

And which international team score highest in the fashion stakes?

Steve Titherington, Senior Commissioning Editor for BBC World Service, says: "Cricket is a game with huge international appeal, but is understood fully only by some. It's a game where the heroes can be as popular as pop stars and the facts and figures studied as much as mathematical equations. Most of all it's a game which has attracted some of the best conversation and the best writing around the world. Stumped will concentrate this heritage into a programme that will delight the hardcore fans in any continent while appealing to the rest of us."

Listeners can tune in to Stumped weekly. The first edition airs Saturday 17 January from 0030 GMT around the world on the BBC World Service; in India at 1130 IST on All India Radio; and on Sunday 18 January in Australia at 1130 EST on ABC News Radio and ABC's Grandstand DAB Sport network. It will be available as a listen again at bbcworldservice.com and with extra content as a BBC podcast.

(BBC Press Release)