The presenter has returned to leading Wimbledon coverage alongside Clare Balding on the BBC
Isa Guha is a former cricketer and BBC Sport presenter (Image: Popperfoto via Getty Images)
Wimbledon has returned to BBC screens, with a whole host of familiar faces fronting the BBC ’s coverage.
Once again joining Clare Balding in leading commentary, Isa Guha will be presenting, having made her Wimbledon debut on the BBC in 2022.
The following year, it was confirmed The Celebrity Traitors star Clare would be replacing Sue Barker as the BBC’s face of Wimbledon, with Isa praising Sue, saying: “She’s got an incredible warmth. When you watch her on television she feels like a friend.
“She was someone I certainly watched when I was younger, never imagined that I’d even be in her company so to be sat there with her and see how she goes about her business, her offering me advice and so forth, it was a little bit surreal but at the same time we’re just watching her in awe because she’s been the face of the BBC for such a long time and we absolutely respect and admire everything she’s done for sports broadcasting as a female.
“It was just an incredible time last year. The ability to be there with Sue, see how she operates, the doyenne of sports broadcasting, and to be in Clare Balding’s company and all these legends. It was a pretty amazing experience.”
Inside Isa Guha’s career
Born in Buckinghamshire in 1985 to parents who emigrated from Calcutta, India, to the UK in the 1970s, Isa is a former England cricketer.
She fit her sporting career around her academics, graduating with a degree in biochemistry and molecular biology from UCL, and later gaining an MPhil in neuroscience.
At the same time, Isa played world class cricket, later recalling to The Telegraph that “a phase” led her to studying.
“I went through a phase after we won the World Cup of ‘what am I going to do with my life?’” she said.
“I would spend three or four days a week training in the morning and then going to university. It took seven years [attempting to do a PhD] and I wanted to quit after the second year because it was just too much.”
She played in the 2005 South Africa World Cup and the 2009 Australia World Cup, and made history as the first South Asian woman to represent England after making her international cricketing debut at the age of 17.
In 2009, Isa was named the ICC number one ranked bowler in the world.
She announced her retirement from international cricket in 2012, and has since moved onto presenting and commentary.
Isa joined ITV Sport in 2012, co-presenting cricket coverage, and later moved on to work for Sky Sports and Fox.
In 2020, she became the lead presenter of the BBC’s test match and ODI highlights show.
Who is Isa Guha’s husband?
Isa married her long-term partner, musician Richard Thomas, in 2018.
Hailing from Cornwall, the singer was a member of acoustic-led, alternative rock band Brothers and Bones.
After ten years together, the band broke up at the end of 2020, having opened tours for the likes of Ben Howard and Bastille.
In September 2018, Isa took to X to share pictures from her gorgeous wedding in Cornwall, writing: “It’s been a challenging year but with this incredible human by my side I know I can get through anything. So lucky to have him in my life – these two pics pretty much sum up our amazing day, with so many of our best friends and family.”
She also previously spoke about the difficult time it had been for her family, after her mother received a cancer diagnosis not long before the wedding.
Speaking of her wedding, she told The Telegraph in a 2019 interview: “We got her out of hospital and did a small, intimate ceremony, then the following week in Cornwall, Ebony [Rainford-Brent – Guha’s former teammate] was on FaceTime to her throughout the whole wedding. She did get to see us get married.”
Praising her husband for his support, particularly after her mother’s death in January 2019, she added to the publication: “He was just incredible. I am super lucky to have him in my life. He was just amazing, the last six months or so.”
Wimbledon airs on BBC One, BBC Two and iPlayer.