MBE for Martin-Jenkins

Michael Vaughan presents Christopher Martin-Jenkins with a commemorative bat to mark his retirement from the Times this year

Christopher Martin-Jenkins, the Test Match Special commentator and former Times cricket correspondent, has been awarded an MBE in the Queen's New Year's honours list.

Martin-Jenkins, has been part of the TMS commentary team since 1973, and stood down from his job at the newspaper in May, although he continues to write occasional columns.

A former Sussex second XI player, he was the BCC’s cricket correspondent from 1973 to 1980 and 1985 to 1991 and also served as the Daily Telegraph’s cricket correspondent before moving to the Times.

“It has been a great privilege to go round the world writing about cricket," said Martin-Jenkins, who turns 64 next month.

“The older one gets, the requirement for England to win becomes less important than the needs of the game as a whole, but nonetheless England's rare successes in Australia have been the most exciting.

"One concern for me is the contraction of cricket coverage towards the England team alone," he added.

"We should not forget the county game and the grass roots, without which you couldn't have an England team. Nor should we overlook the fascination of the world game generally."

Martin-Jenkins is the only representative from the world of cricket in this year's honours list, which is dominated by the British medallists from the Olympic Games in Beijing.