The Voice Behind the Kent Cricket Microphone – Steve Watts

When cricket supporters arrive at the ground to watch a days play one of the first things they are waiting to hear is all the news they can get about the match, including the relevant information regarding the teams, the toss, facilities available and everything that will contribute to their enjoyment.

The voice behind the microphone at Kent Cricket, providing supporters with everything they need to know is Steve Watts, one of the most experienced Presenters and Announcers on the County circuit.

There have been justified criticisms in the past about Kent’s public address system, where in parts of the ground it was impossible to hear any announcements, but this has thankfully been rectified this season and supporters are now able to hear Steve loud and clear wherever they are.

Steve’s background working in radio makes him the ideal communicator and he also works for the England and Wales Cricket Board as a presenter and interviewer at televised Sky matches around the country as well as at England under-19 games and Women’s Cricket internationals.

His career has gone full circle since he started reporting on Kent Cricket 20 years ago for Radio Kent. He also covered sport for Commercial Radio stations and for Clubcall, where we were colleagues. Radio Kent’s current commentator Matt Cole also worked there at the same time.

When he is not working at cricket, Steve spends around a hundred days a year as the Race Day Presenter at Lingfield Park and previously at Folkestone Racecourse and he also occasionally does voiceovers for commercials.

But cricket is Steve’s first love and he gets pleasure and satisfaction from watching the game from his privileged position behind the microphone. The most important aspect of his role is to have all the correct relevant background information at his fingertips to relay to the public in a friendly and concise form and especially at the appropriate moments.

“You obviously need to know when to speak and when to shut up when play is in progress”, said Steve. “One thing not to do is to talk whilst play is in action or when a bowler may be on his run-up.”

Concentration is a vital part of the role, especially in one day games when it is instant action all the time. Steve has got to know all the Kent players well and has interviewed most of them at some stage and he is a familiar figure out in the middle at one day games interviewing the two captains after the toss has taken place,

His link to the scorers on match days is vital as they are on the opposite side of the ground and he needs to get information about bowling figures, batsmen’s scores, possible fielding substitutions and he also uses his laptop and smartphone to get scores and news from other matches being played around the country to relay to supporters.

If there is one thing Steve would like to change it is a move from what he describes as the “Green Oven” where he operates from at the Nackington Road end of the ground. It is unbearably hot when the sun comes over the top of the Frank Woolley stand.

When the wicket is pitched towards the Les Ames stand he only has a birds eye view of the cricket which sometimes makes it difficult to distinguish visiting players especially when they are fielding on the distant boundary.

Being the voice behind 50 over cricket which starts shortly will be a new experience for Steve and he is interested to see how the public take to the new competition with Kent’s home games starting at 2pm and going on until late evening.

Living in Beckenham, just a few minutes from Kent’s ground there, supporters will not be surprised to know that Steve feels that more county cricket should be played in West Kent and hopefully that will happen next season when the redevelopment at Beckenham is advanced enough to allow a return.

“There are many Kent supporters who live in West Kent and who have a round trip of 120 miles to make every time they want to watch cricket at Canterbury”, said Steve “but it does make me chuckle a bit when the guys grumble about the journey to the other side of the county for one week of the year. Some of us do that journey the other way round all summer”.

“Seriously though we have to address Surrey getting the benefit of people from all over Kent working in London. I have many mates who go to watch T20 cricket in particular at the Oval because they can’t get to Canterbury for a seven o’clock start. Or they are not inclined to. There is a large and affluent population in West and North Kent that many counties would kill for. Hopefully Beckenham will be the solution to that once it is back in action next year”.

Probably the scariest moment of Steve’s Kent announcing career was last season when he was cut off in his prime when the floodlight failure curtailed the 40 over match against Warwickshire.

The crowd were kept completely in the dark not knowing that the public address system had also been disabled as the electrical feed came off the same pylon.

“Everything went haywire”, said Steve, “All our equipment went down and everything was completely dead and we lost contact with everybody, including the public. People eventually found out what was going on by word of mouth but we initially got plenty of flak until supporters realised our dilemma.”

Steve especially enjoys Canterbury Week as there is so much going on with interviews and information on the various activities connected with this historic Festival occasion.

Interviewer Peter Burrowes