Jagger's new job: Web cricket commentator

January 30, 1998

LONDON (Reuters) -- Mick Jagger went into bat on the Internet Thursday, offering ball-by-ball coverage in cyberspace of the England-West Indies cricket test series.

But the 54-year-old singer, currently halfway through a world tour with the Rolling Stones, won't be giving up the day job yet. The cricket-mad Jagger has no plans to abandon his singer's microphone and hip-swiveling stage antics for the sedentary life of a sports commentator.

"That job is far more difficult than people realize," Jagger told Reuters in a telephone interview from Vancouver, Canada, the latest stop on the Rolling Stones' "Bridges to Babylon" tour.

Jagger, brushing up his batting and bowling for charity cricket matches this summer, finds watching cricket on the Internet a perfect way to unwind after performing in front of 50,000 fans.

So he set up Jagged Internetworks on www.cricket.org for cricket fans around the world.

He said his company received 8 million hits on its Web site when it was launched last December for the Sharjah Cricket Cup in the United Arab Emirates. "The feedback was extraordinary from people all over the world from the United States to Bangladesh," he added.

"We hope to build on the amazing results from our launch. England's matches with the West Indies have always been a must for cricket fans," he said.

England have not defeated the West Indies in a Caribbean test series for 30 years but Jagger believed this might just be the big year. The first of the five-test series starts later on Thursday in Kingston, Jamaica.

"It is very open this time and they have every chance. (West Indian captain) Brian Lara's batting has in the past always suffered when he has been captain," Jagger said.

Jagger, an avid cricket fan since his childhood near London, clearly believes there is no contradiction between the wild world of sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll and his addiction to the thwack of leather on willow.

"I plan to fly to Guyana to go and watch one of the West Indian tests when we have a break in the tour," he said.

Jagger also has ambitious plans to expand the coverage on his Jagged Internetworks. "We will be going into other sports and also into music. But of course we have got to improve the technology. These are early, pioneering days on the 'Net."

The audio is excellent but they are still working hard to improve the picture quality.

"Click it for cricket" is his motto for fans who can listen to every ball and enjoy 30-minute video packages of highlights.

As the global communications village shrinks, he is first and foremost eager to slake the thirst of cricket fans in distant corners of the world who can't get no satisfaction from their passion.

He forecast that the information superhighway would be a huge player in sports broadcasting across the globe in a few years from now.

Meanwhile he shows no sign of slowing down. Enthusiasm for touring is as great as ever.

But who will take over the Jagger dynasty? Would his newborn son Luke be ready to swivel in father's footsteps?

Jagger, who flew home in mid-tour to see the latest addition to the family, laughed and said: "He certainly has got a loud enough voice."

Copyright 1998 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.

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