'This was something that blew my mind. It's made my career being asked to do it'

Cricket fans have queried TNT Sports' plan for the Ashes, but the broadcaster's voice of cycling, Rob Hatch, explains why he's ideal to helm the coverage

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It is fair to say that when TNT Sports announced its broadcast plans for the upcoming Ashes series, they weren’t met with universal delight by cricket fans. TNT revealed it will send a team of analysts, including Sir Alastair Cook and Graeme Swann, to Australia, but their lead commentators will be watching on TV screens 10,000 miles away in the UK. What's more, they will not necessarily be familiar voices: Alastair Eykyn is better known for his coverage of rugby union, while cycling commentator Rob Hatch has voiced many memorable moments of the Tour de France in recent years.

Social media critics were not hard to find, while the Daily Mail described TNT Sports' “half-baked plan” as a “dumbed-down insult to long-suffering England fans”, and questioned Hatch and Eykyn's commentating from TV screens with an “inability to see anything other than what their monitors are showing them”.

Hatch rejects those points. For one, it is hardly unusual in the modern age for commentators to be watching from afar. He cites the 2024 Tour de France, when his voice was the soundtrack to Mark Cavendish's record 35th stage win. The clip has amassed more than one million views on YouTube, and his words still produce a tingle down the spine.

"This is history! This is history! First there was Merckx, now it's Mark Cavendish, standing on the shoulders of giants ... One record breaker now stands alone. Mark Cavendish has 35 stage wins, more than anybody that ever came before. Most doubted. He believed. A day he, and we, will never, ever forget."