James Brayshaw

James Antony Brayshaw (born 11 May 1967) is a former state cricketer and now Australian radio presenter. As a cricketer he was known as Jamie Brayshaw. He is the son of former Western Australian cricketer and Australian rules footballer Ian Brayshaw and the brother of Mark Brayshaw, a former player for the AFL club North Melbourne. James is Angus Brayshaw's uncle. He has recently relinquished his position as Chairman of the North Melbourne Football Club, in accordance with its constitution, and was the Chairman of the Melbourne Renegades cricket team from 2011 to 2015.

Playing for South Australia and Western Australia, he had a career spanning almost a decade. In that time he was a consistent fielder, with 43 catches. Not only is James a two time Sheffield shield winner, this achievement is more remarkable as he completed the feat with two states, that happened to occur on the team's respective home grounds. In the 1987/1988 final, James won with Western Australia at the WACA and in the 1995/1996 final James won with South Australia at Adelaide Oval. James would continue to play domestic cricket for one more season, before retiring at 30 years of age.

Playing in the 1995/1996 Sheffield Shield final (South Australia v Western Australia) at Adelaide Oval, James performed solidly with the bat, scoring 87 (run out) in the first innings and 66 (caught and bowled off Brad Hogg) in the second innings. Both teams in the final, fielded high quality players and who represented Australia at various levels, and some would go on to coach at state and national levels. West Australia fielded players including Michael Hussey, Justin Langer, Tom Moody, Damien Martyn, Adam Gilchrist, Joe Angel, Brad Hogg and Brendon Julian. While South Australia fielded players inlucding Greg Blewett, Darren Lehmann, Tim Neilsen, Tim May and Jason Gillespie. Unfortunately, for the West Australian side the match ended in a draw, with a respectable performance from Adam Gilchrist 189 (not out) in the first innings, and as a consequence James and his South Australian teammates were the 1995/1996 Sheffield Shield premiers.

James also played in the 1987/1988 Sheffield Shield win for West Australia, but it should be noted his performance with the bat was less spectacular. Scoring 24 off 104 balls (first innings) and 4 off 8 balls (second innings) and having the rare achievement of being caught off two international test captains, with Allan Border in the first innings and Ian Botham in the second innings

Early career

In the 1990s, Brayshaw worked for the Seven Network in Adelaide. This included being a substitute sports anchor for the Seven Nightly News bulletin and working on local football discussion programs, such as Footy Plus. In early 1998 James was teamed up with Amanda Blair and Paul Gale on Adelaide's SAFM, which eventually became that city's number one rating breakfast show. One memorable on-air incident at SAFM saw him covered in Adelaide bodypaint after the club he supports, North Melbourne, lost the 1998 AFL Grand Final to them.

2000s

In 2001 his big break came as the host of the Seven Network's Ashes (cricket) action with Jeff Thomson, but later moved to the Nine Network when the AFL was transferred. He became the nightly anchor for the National Nine News sport report, as well as contributing to other sports programs on the network, eventually becoming a regular commentator in both football and cricket coverage. In 2005, Brayshaw co-hosted Any Given Sunday with Garry Lyon and Sam Newman.

In 2006, Brayshaw (along with Garry Lyon) replaced Eddie McGuire as host of The AFL Footy Show, a position he currently holds. Additionally, he co-hosted the morning sessions of the 2006 Melbourne Commonwealth Games with Lyon. Apart from his television commitments, he works for radio station Triple M, as a host and commentator of their Australian rules football coverage. He also worked as a full-time co-host on breakfast program The Cage before it was axed in 2007 and replaced with Pete & Myf. Previously he has been part of the Melbourne-based show via his home studio in the Adelaide Hills.

Brayshaw was installed as Chairman of the North Melbourne Football Club on 6 December 2007 after the club rejected the AFL's deal to permanently relocate to the Gold Coast.

In September 2007, Brayshaw announced that he will be leaving The Cage to spend more time with his family – just before the program was cancelled due to high costs and poor ratings.

Brayshaw also hosted the Sunday Footy Show, alongside panelists Dermott Bereton, Nathan Brown, Shane Crawford and Billy Brownless. He has also hosted the Australian version of Wipeout with Josh Lawson.

For the duration of the 2010 Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver, Brayshaw took on a commentary role for various skiing events alongside Michael Kennedy, former international moguls skier, dual Winter Olympics coach and current CEO of Ski & Snowboard Australia, in calling the moguls competition. Brayshaw teamed up with three-time Australian snowboard champion, Jay Onley, to call the action from the Olympic snowboard competition.

Brayshaw currently Co-hosts The Rush Hour on Triple M Melbourne with Billy Brownless. The show is broadcast weekdays in the drive-time slot. In 2011, Brayshaw resigned from 'The Sunday Footy Show' and was replaced by fellow ex-cricketer Simon O'Donnell. In addition, Brayshaw commentated on events of the 2012 London Olympics of which, Nine has broadcast rights to as does Foxtel.

Brayshaw has also been involved in golf and cricket coverage for Nine.

In December 2016, it was announced that Brayshaw had left the Nine Network after contract negotiations broke down.

In an accident on 20 September 2006, his sister Sally was killed instantly after the facade of her garage collapsed on top of her.

Brayshaw and his wife Sarah have four sons. On 23 October 2014, the couple announced their separation after 23 years of marriage.