About

Alison is an award winning journalist and broadcaster, aNd a trailblazer in The field of Sports commentarY.

Alison has led the way as a female sports commentator, particularly in cricket. She was the first woman to forge a career as a commentator on the BBC’s Test Match Special, and for many years she was the sole woman commentating year round on ICC Cricket World Cups across the globe, and on international cricket in the UK and abroad. She expanded to tennis Grand Slams, Olympic sports and others with the BBC, and continues to be highly sought after, with current high profile roles as a lead commentator for the BBC in the UK as well as the Seven Network and the ABC in Australia. Through earning the respect of the industry, Alison normalised the female voice in commentary, which led to many of the opportunities offered to women today.

Ali reported on her first Test match in 2003 at Lord’s for BBC Asian Network radio, before going on her first England men’s tour to Pakistan in 2005 and touring every major cricketing nation in the years that followed for bi-lateral tours and ICC World Cups. In 2007 she established herself as a trailblazing female career commentator by becoming a regular part of the ball by ball commentary team on the iconic BBC radio programme, Test Match Special.

All the while, journalism has been to the fore, with story telling and incisive interviewing a key component of Ali’s work. Other sports Ali has excelled in commentating on include tennis, hockey, netball, golf and Olympic sports such as artistic gymnastics for the BBC, Sky Sports and BT Sport among others.

In 2014 Ali’s standing in the industry was reflected in her being voted Sports Broadcaster of the Year by the Sports Journalists Association (SJA).

It was a year when she again led the way, becoming the first woman to commentate on men’s international cricket for ABC Grandstand in Australia. That was followed in 2017 by being a key part of the Ashes series coverage on BT Sport - the first time a woman had commentated on a men’s Ashes series for television. 2018 saw Alison appointed as a lead commentator on Channel Seven’s men’s Test coverage in Australia as part of their new broadcast deal, whilst 2019 saw new ground broken again with Ali one of three women appointed to commentate on the global host TV broadcast of the ICC Men’s World Cup.

Ali has commentated on Wimbledon, the Australian Open and French Open for both TV and radio, she was an original commentator on Sky Sports’ coverage of the domestic Netball Super League in the UK, and has played key roles at the Beijing, London and Rio Olympics as a presenter and commentator for BBC Radio Five Live, as well as for Channel 4 at the London Paralympics. In golf, she has covered two Open Championships for Radio 5 Live. She has also combined her skillset with her love of animals to become part of Channel 4’s broadcast team at the UK’s famous dog show, Crufts.

Ali presents the weekly cricket podcast ‘Stumped’, which airs on the BBC World Service, All India Radio and ABC Grandstand.

For a full run down of Ali’s experience please browse linkedIn.