Former St. George’s opening pair Wendell Smith and Allen Richardson will be back to face the new ball in Cup Match . . . but from more than 50 yards away.The pair, who once formed an outstanding opening partnership in Cup Match and Eastern Counties, have joined together for the first time to provide the commentary for Bermuda Broadcasting Company with former Somerset and Bermuda spinner Dwayne (Sluggo) Leverock adding the colour commentary.Smith and Richardson were together in the commentary box for the first time in the Eastern Counties recently and Smith, whose presentation style resembles that of former ZFB commentator Winston (J.R) Jones, is looking forward to the two days of Cup Match.“When the game is exciting it is fun and enjoyable and I really do like it,” said Smith, a keen student of the game whose Cup Match Legends series of articles appearing in The Royal Gazette has proven to be very popular with cricket fans. He could easily be considered a legend himself, having made his debut at age 16 in 1976 before going on to become the first player to score 1,000 runs in the Classic.“Last Saturday, Allen and I purposefully said let’s do the County game as a warm-up for Cup Match. Like anything, the more you do it the better you are going to get at it. There’s a gift to the way you bounce off each other and also that you not talk over the other person but chime in at the right moment. There’s kind of a chemistry and I really like working with Allen because he likes to bring out some humour in things and we reminisce about the old days, but we’re very cognisant of the fact that people want to hear the game.“They may like some of the stories but there is a time and place for that. For instance if the match is at an important point then they don’t want to hear people talking about other stuff. It’s a balancing act, for instance if the ball is hit over the boundary for six and they are two two minutes to find it, or you’ve got a long water break or somebody is hurt, then that is okay.”Smith and Richardson only played together in Cup Match for four years but it was in the Eastern Counties where they played together longer as St. David’s openers.One particularly long innings will always be remembered, the year (1991) the pair put on a record 232 for the first wicket in a match against Flatts, Richardson scoring 161 and Smith adding 141 as Flatts used nine bowlers before St. David’s declared on 335 for four.“We were right and left (handed) and we complemented each other,” said Smith of the chemistry between the two former players.Smith actually found his way into the commentary box at the age of 15 when he did the scoring for Winston Jones and Joe Brown the year before making his debut.Long after his playing days have ended he has found himself back there, as have many former players, including former Somerset pair Randy Horton and Colin Blades who also worked together on the ZBM commentary team.Overseas it is common for former cricketers to go into broadcasting as are former West Indies players Michael Holding, Ian Bishop and Jeffrey Dujon, along with the likes of David Gower, Mike Atherton, Sir Ian Botham, Nasser Hussain and David Lloyd from England.“I love listening to Ian Bishop and Michael Holding somewhat but my favourite is the Australian Richie Benaud,” Smith admitted. “He’s very insightful and that’s what I hope to bring, some insight into what the skippers and bowlers are trying to do. Winston Jones gave me a lot of nice compliments on the radio on Monday which was nice to hear.”Smith captained St. George’s between 1985 and ‘92, never losing as a captain but getting only two wins, including in 1987 when he declared at a pre-determined time in order to go for the victory and left Charlie Marshall not out on 87, just short of what would have been his second Cup Match century.“Back then the match was two hours shorter, they have since added an hour on each day and I think that makes a big difference, it helps the skippers now,” Smith stated.He expects this year’s match to be an exciting one, with both teams containing plenty of potential match-winners.“What I’m pleased about this year is the number of players on both teams who have just started to hit form at the right time.Malachi Jones, he’s bowling exceptionally well for Somerset and Chris Douglas is making runs, and of course Stephen Outerbridge. If I was having to vote the Cricketer of the Year the only other person who would come close is Lionel Cann.“He’s (Outerbridge) had two centuries already and nearly got a century in the Eastern Counties. The thing that he is doing is something ‘Champ’ Hunt told me. I remember visiting ‘Champ’ in hospital just before he died and he said ‘Wendell, it’s not so much how many runs you make but when you make your runs. Are you making them when your team needs them?’“And that’s what Stephen Outerbridge is doing. Bay were in trouble on Saturday and he came to the wicket when, had he gotten out, they could have lost. The one time they have lost at Somerset this year, he failed with a three-ball six and Bay were all out for 116.“Besides that, up at Rangers, Bay had to pull down 308 and that’s the game that made Janeiro Tucker retire. For St. George’s you have Lionel who started the season in a blaze, Treadwell Gibbons, Jason Anderson, Fiqre Crockwell and Allan Douglas just got a century last Saturday.”Smith uses an interesting statistic to support his belief that there will be a result this year. “In the last 15 years I would venture to say there have been twice as many wins at Somerset than St. George’s,” he noted.“Somerset’s wicket tends to produce a lot of results, if you look at 1996 when Clay (Smith) lost when Somerset had Albert Steede.”