By Charles Randall

1 January 2013

The death of Christopher Martin-Jenkins from cancer at the age of 67 has left a void in cricket journalism. As the cricket correspondent at the Daily Telegraph -- we were colleagues on the cricket staff  -- and at The Times, he would gladly write about 'dry' or less glamorous subjects such as funding in club cricket and stories stemming from the recreational game.

He loved the game itself and was proud of his roots in club cricket at Horsham CC. His son Robin played there before turning professional at Sussex. CMJ's rise to heights in the newspaper industry and to fame as a Test Match Special commentator did not change this attitude.

Very little is written about cricket outside the professional circuit in the national press these days, and even county cricket has suffered. So for that reason the club game has lost a champion with the passing of CMJ. Many people will know him best through his after-dinner speaking at club gatherings. The Major, as he was nicknamed, was in the top grade and rarely would have disappointed.

CMJ was a warm, eccentric man and well respected in cricket around the world. Mike Selvey, his long-term press box colleague, wrote a moving tribute in The Guardian and mentioned the time when CMJ mixed up a television remote control with his mobile phone. Selvey wrote: "Stories of the Major have become embellished over the years, but almost all have their root in fact rather than the apocrypha. The most famous is certainly true. He and I were due to drive from Montego Bay to Kingston and, of course, he was running late.

"Eventually he rushed out of the hotel, crammed his bags into the boot, climbed in and we left. Mobile phones were in their relative infancy then, but he announced the need to make a check call to his office on his, which he attempted, repeatedly stabbing the number into the keypad. That he was having no success was no surprise as he had in his hand the remote control from the hotel television, and, it transpired, had left his mobile neatly parked back in the room."

Jonathan Agnew, BBC cricket correspondent, said: "With modern media now preferring the views and experiences of former Test match cricketers, Christopher's authority and respect was not gained from a high-profile playing career, but a deep-rooted love of the game linked to a strong protective instinct which helped him earn the most coveted position of president of the MCC. Listeners to Test Match Special were all too familiar with CMJ's eccentricities -- like going to the wrong ground for the start of a Test match. His legendary, chaotic time-keeping was very much part of his charm.

"Considering the years he worked as editor of the Cricketer magazine and as correspondent for the BBC twice, the Daily Telegraph and the Times, and 40 years commentating on Test Match Special and the many books he wrote, it is doubtful that anyone has contributed more in a lifetime to the overall coverage of cricket than Christopher Martin-Jenkins."

CMJ was a useful schoolboy cricketer at Marlborough and played matches for Surrey second XI. He received an MBE in 2009 and served as the MCC's president in 2010 and 2011.