Jack Bannister

For the footballer, see Jack Bannister (footballer).

Jack Bannister

Personal information
Full name	John David Bannister
Born	(1930-08-23)23 August 1930 Wolverhampton, England
Died	23 January 2016(2016-01-23) (aged 85)
Batting	Right hand
Bowling	Right arm medium
Role	Bowler
Domestic team information
Years	Team
1950–1969	Warwickshire
First-class cricket debut	26 August 1950 Warwickshire v Glasmorgan
Last First-class cricket	31 August 1968 Warwickshire v Leicestershire
List A cricket debut	22 May 1963 Warwickshire v Northamptonshire
Last List A cricket	6 July 1969 Warwickshire v Surrey
Career statistics
Competition First class List A Matches 374 20 Runs scored 3142 12 Batting average 9.43 4.00 100s/50s 0/4 0/0 Top score 71 4 Balls bowled 68633 1148 Wickets 1198 25 Bowling average 21.91 22.44 5 wickets in innings 53 0 10 wickets in match 6 0 Best bowling 10/41 3/14 Catches/stumpings 167 3/0
Source: CricketArchive, 4 October 2012

John David "Jack" Bannister (23 August 1930 – 23 January 2016) was an English cricket commentator and former first-class cricketer who played for Warwickshire. He was, for many years, a BBC television cricket commentator and later the Talksport radio cricket correspondent.

Early life

Bannister was born in Wolverhampton, Staffordshire, England.

Playing career

He played professionally on the county scene for Warwickshire as a fast-medium bowler, taking 1198 first-class wickets in a career that lasted from 1950 to 1969. Against the Combined Services cricket team for Warwickshire at the Mitchells and Butlers ground in Birmingham, Bannister took all 10 Services wickets in an innings for 41 runs. These remain the best bowling figures in an innings for Warwickshire.

After cricket

Following his cricket career, Bannister worked as a bookmaker in Wolverhampton. During this time, he was instrumental in setting up the Professional Cricketer's Pension Scheme.

Media career

He was a familiar voice on BBC TV's cricket coverage from 1984 through to 1994 firstly as a summariser then moving on to commentating in 1988. David Gower joined the team in 1994 and eventually replaced Bannister the following summer, but Bannister continued to commentate on Natwest Trophy and Sunday League games until 1999, and had a full role at the BBC's coverage of the 1999 Cricket World Cup.

In later life, he provided commentary on and summaries of England international cricket matches on talkSPORT.

During the 1995 South Africa vs England test match series in South Africa, he promised he would eat a newspaper if South Africa won. He eventually did, when South Africa won.

For many years he wrote the highly regarded cricket column in the Birmingham Post