June 03, 2007	Sunday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 17, 1428

LONDON, June 2: Adam Mountford has been appointed the new producer of BBC Radio’s Test Match Special, replacing the legendary Peter Baxter, who has spent 34 years in the role and is set to leave after the fourth Test against the West Indies at Chester-le-Street on June 20.

“I feel privileged to have been given this opportunity,” said Mountford, 35, who has been involved with the programme since 2003. “When I first covered a match at Lord’s in 1994 I met Peter and thought he had an amazing job. I never dreamt I’d have the chance to follow in his footsteps.”

Mountford joined the BBC in 1994 as a reporter with the BBC Coventry and Warwickshire Radio, and commentated on five county one-day finals at Lord’s before moving to London in 1998. Since then he has worked as a producer with Five Live and took charge of the station’s cricket coverage after becoming Baxter’s assistant in 2002.

His first overseas assignment was the 2002 Boxing Day Test at the MCG and he has also worked at the last two World Cups and toured Sri Lanka, India and Pakistan.

Test Match Special celebrated its 50th anniversary earlier this month.

“It has become one of the BBC’s most cherished and iconic programmes,” said Gordon Turnbull, the BBC’s head of radio sport. “Adam is the ideal person to take over at the helm and steer it forward over the coming years, while maintaining the values that Peter has so successfully instilled over the past 34.”—Agencies