Oval-Gate - Covering the aftermath
The at the Oval will always be remembered as one of the saddest days in the history of Test Cricket.
It has also presented quite a challenge for the ´óÏó´«Ã½ Radio Cricket team.
As always it has been vital throughout to maintain impartiality and accuracy despite the range of strong emotions surrounding the issue. Anyone who heard the Victoria Derbyshire Five Live phone-in on monday morning will be in no doubt of the passions raised by accusations of cheating.
So far I believe our coverage of the events has been very impressive. Test Match Special and Five Live Sport brought all the twists and turns of that amazing afternoon, and there has been some top journalism helping to stay on top of developments since.
Pat Murphy's broad shoulders and excellent contacts helped secure some fantastic live interviews amongst the scrum at the Oval as the Pakistan team left on Monday morning.
Jonathan Agnew secured an exclusive interview with ICC Chief Executive Malcolm Speed before any other outlet. And then on Wednesday morning, Garry Richardson broke the story on the Today programme that the crucial hearing against Inzamam-ul-Haq was facing delay.
Five Live Breakfast was broadcast live from outside the Pakistan team hotel on Monday morning, including a live interview with coach Bob Woolmer.
Our sports news correspondent Gordon Farquhar has spent several days chasing the Pakistan side over London and I can tell you that behind the scenes our reporters have been speaking to many of the main parties involved in the heart of the story.
We have also developed over the past few years an amazing array of experts, who work with ´óÏó´«Ã½ Radio and being able to call on the likes of Alec Stewart, Rameez Raja, Geoff Boycott, Angus Fraser and Mike Gatting helps bring great knowledge and experience to our coverage.
When you work in live sports broadcasting you get used to having a pretty good idea of when things start and when they finish - a Test match will last a maximum of five days and things will be done and dusted at some point before a Monday evening.
But with this story we have no idea when it's going to conclude, if ever. Also, it's one of those stories where as a producer, I'm never sure at the start of a day where I'm going to end up.
As a cricket lover, the events of "Oval-Gate" are very very sad ... but to be totally honest as a producer covering this story, it is a tremendous professional challenge. What I hope is that throughout we have fairly represented all the views and helped explain the issue concerned.
