If you've been tuning in to watch world cricket's biggest moments over the past few years, you've probably heard the dulcet tones of Kiwi commentators calling matches.
Ian Smith played 63 Tests and 98 ODIs for New Zealand in the 1980s and 1990s, scoring two Test centuries for champion bowler Sir Richard Hadley as a wicketkeeper.
However, since retiring from cricket, Smith has become one of the world's preeminent cricket callers, slowly emerging from the shadow of the great Richie Benaud.
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When historic moments happen on the cricket field, expect Smith to be behind the microphone. And at 67, he may be in the prime of his commentating career.
Smith's masterpiece remains the 2019 ODI World Cup, where England famously won a super over with a boundary countback, but the ICC later removed the technique as a way to decide drawn matches.
England's victory tore New Zealanders' hearts and created a sense of injustice, but few could have imagined that the man behind the move would have been equally heartbroken by the result.
Smith's 'last minute' call will go down in cricket history.
“This is the moment. Archer to Guptill. Two to win. Guptill is going to push those two. They have to go. It's…the throw has to go to the keeper's edge. No! He understands that! England won the World Cup by a narrow margin. At the last minute. Absolute ecstasy for England, agony, agony for New Zealand…”
More recently, Smith praised Glenn Maxwell's historic double century in last year's ODI World Cup, when the Australian ran through sweltering weather to score his first double century since 1991 with seven wins. ensured victory.
“He only has hands and will,” Smith said as Maxwell went down with cramping pain throughout the inning.
As Maxwell clinched the victory, making his double century and six, Smith exclaimed: Can it be done? It can be done. Glenn Maxwell, unbelievable! Probably the most remarkable thing I've ever seen in cricket.
“Astounding. Just shocking. What a victory. And he shouldn't have walked out of the park, he should have been taken! What a performance.”
And this summer, Smith was once again brilliantly successful, with Shamar Joseph single-handedly leading West Indies to their first Test win in Australia since 1996.
“All right! I bowled him! And off he went,” Smith said as Joseph bowled Josh Hazlewood for an eight-run win.
“West Indies have produced some of the greatest things here in the world of cricket. They're all running around the Gabba unbelievably.”
Do you have a favorite Ian Smith commentary?
“I benefit from being in the right place at the right time in a lot of things,” Smith told news.com.au.
“Commentary rosters are sometimes created the night before or the morning of a game, but you never know at what stage something great will happen.
“It's all about being in the seat at the right time and I've been lucky a few times, going back to the 2019 World Cup final.
“There were so many moments. I was sitting in Brendon McCullum's 300 chair at Basin Reserve. No New Zealand cricketer had ever achieved that before.”
Of all the “historic moments” he called, the 2019 World Cup is the most memorable, but Maxwell's double hundred may be cricket's most astonishing feat.
“The drama of the 2019 World Cup will always be with me. I don't think there's any doubt about that,” Smith said.
“I love Maxwell because it came out of nowhere. In the situation Australia were in (in the match), no one expected that to happen. That's something very special. thought.
“The Maxwell incident was an anomaly. You always see tight finishes, you always see super overs. But when you're down and out so many times in an innings, you don't have to use your legs and you're straight.” I don't know if we'll ever see players who play with such emotion and belief.
“I said we should carry him away. Basically he couldn't walk for the last hour of the inning, so he didn't have to walk away. I think Maxwell's stuff is going to last a long time. Masu.”
Smith summed up West Indies' Test victory at the Gabba without sounding scripted, overblown or jaded, before handing over the reins to an emotional Brian Lara.
He recalled: “The passion of what happened in West Indies – one of the great joys of it for me was sitting next to Brian Lara, who has put so much effort into West Indies cricket, but on that glorious day… You must have thought you'd never get to a situation like “beating Australia.''
“It was also bloody special to see the tears swell in his eyes and drip down the side of his face.
“The difference between that moment and the one involving New Zealand is that you're neutral. I try to be neutral most of the time anyway.”
So how does Smith continue to capture the moments that matter?
Smith says a surefire secret to success is being willing to share your opinions with expert commentators and not going into the game with preconceived notions.
“My philosophy about commentary is that when you're in the lead role, you're not just there to drive the action, but to get the most out of the expert sitting next to you and get the benefit of their knowledge and experience. It’s about being there,” he said.
“And when the action heats up and you get into a situation like Shamar Joseph, put everyone on the front seats and make it very clear what the picture is so no one is left guessing. If you can do that, you can increase the excitement.
“That's what I'm going to do. It's fun to do. It's work that I really love. I'm almost 67 years old, and I'm as excited about that as I was when I started sitting 33 years ago. I want to sit in a chair.
“I still get nervous in important situations. I hope I get it right. There's only one crack. If I make a mistake, I can't go back and repeat it.”
“There's always a sense of tension, and that's what makes it so exciting. It was fun.”
The best exposition is intuitive and doesn't necessarily rely on one line of scripted dialogue.
“To be honest, I don't know where some of this stuff comes from,” Smith explained.
“I don't write things down. I just go into the commentary box, put on my headphones, and walk away. There's nothing written in front of me. I'm not a statistician.
“I never go into the field with preconceptions. I never comment over with preconceptions. Maybe it will help.
“There's always going to come a time when I'm definitely going to make a mistake, or identify the wrong player, or fall flat on my face. To be honest, it's just where it came from. I don't know. As long as it lasts, I'm happy. .”
