Your dream commentary team

[Francis]

Six men in a commentary team...

1. Richie Benaud
The easiest of picks. He is the Bradman of broadcasting and an absolute encyclopedia.

2. Michael Holding
I like his little tidbits of information and his cool voice. I think it's the fact that the West Indies are such a part of cricket history that makes it essential to have one in the commentary team. He's the Gary Sobers of commentating in that he's a clear and easy number 2.

3. Mark Nicholas
What do you think of Mark Nicholas? He seems to annoy a lot of people and one said he's "laminated in his own self-regard." Always sounding poetic and noble etc. He honestly doesn't bug me... but now that C4 lost the cricket rights, I doubt we'll see him much these days. He's now a member of the 9 network team I think on a full time basis. I enjoyed him on C4 when he was commentating with Benaud... they complement each other. Without Benaud I don't think he's as great. I smile remembering the time he said to Mark Taylor "You like the AC/DC?". My parents couldn't sound so dorkish if they tried.

4. Geoff Boycott
You need an insane irrational biast character in the commentary box. Australia has Bill Lawry and England Boycott. I could've picked either. Boycott is so silly it defies description. In the Ashes when Gilchrist kept on saying "'bowled Shane' Boycott went on a rant that some may remember saying stuff like "when is it a bad delivery when England are blocking him well etc." Him mocking Michael Slater's reaction to Shane Warne bowling Andrew Strauss with neato as well. Which leads me to...

5. Michael Slater
I like the bloke and he and Boycott made a neat little team in the Ashes. He's a biast Australian, but also has constructive things to say. Anybody who can make New Zealand commentators sound tollerable deserves to be on the list. New Zealanders should not commentate!

6. Tony Greig
For many, Tony Greig is what's most annoying about Australia's channel 9 team. But I like him, he's an antogonist. I love Greggy, the way he'd annoy guys like Lillee and Thompson on the field with his antics. He annoys Bill Lawry and provokes him and it makes for good TV. Always the first the say something provoking aboiut the Australians like "who's choking now!"

Adding Greggy makes me wanna put Bill Lawry in. Lawry is such a nut, I remember when Murali nearly got an edge of Gilchrist and Lawry said "well bowled and well played" before Ian Healey was like "no not well played Billy, surely, not well played!" He's the type of guy to say "nice leave" to his favorite Aussie players when they're nearly bowled.

Thought about Botham since he's another biased provoking comentator. He's not as good as Greggy in annoying people, but he is a powerful personallity and mainstream character.

[aussie]

For me you would have 3 techinical commentators good & analysing stuff & 3 action commentators for when the game is at a climax:

1. Mark Nicholas
2. Richie Benaud
3. Geoff Boycott
4. David Hookes
5. Greg Chappell
6. Tony Greig

[Francis]

Someone here complained about commentators these days being just ex players with no real broadcasting experience. One of the reasons I like Mark Nicholas is that he's not that well known by some, yet knows the science of cricket and has tremendous experience in the field of broadcasting. It's just a matter on weather you like his nature.

[steds]

Originally Posted by aussie

4. David Hookes

Don't think he's really in any fit state to commentate.

[steds]

Richie Benaud
Bumble Lloyd
Tony Cozier
Michael Holding
Michael Atherton
Tony Greig

for me.

[Francis]

Tony Cozier

Totally forgot about him. Top bloke and very similar to Richie - has a wealth of knowledge.

[howardj]

Best Commentators:

Slater - Just signed with Channel 9, and will go on to be regarded as the doyen of TV commentary. So fresh and entertaining.

Atherton - Says interesting things, rather than just describing what everyone can already see. Offers insight.

Honourable mentions: Geoff Boycott, Tim Lane



Worst Commentators:

Bill Lawry - How stale, biased etc is this guy? Peaked in about 1985. Cuts the opposition team to ribbons, and just describes what everyone can already see. Offers no insight whatsoever.

Richie Benaud - I liked him when he was naturally witty, but now he just tries to force it. Always trying to make 'clever', smart remarks/one-liners. Should have retired five years ago.

Dishonourable mentions: Ian Botham; Michael Holding

[honestbharani]

Atherton is a decent commentator but he is so "holier than thou" that it is not even funny... He actually left the broadcasting booth for a bit when they displayed that he has been dismissed by McGrath 18 times in Test cricket... And he is an idiot when he is talknig about teams apart from England, because, unsurprisingly, he knows very little about them...


For me, the basic requisite for a commentator is to be unbiased. For that, I think we should have someone like Robin Jackman in the team.


For me, the team would be:

Richie
Slats
Boycs
Robin Jackman
Ravi Shastri
Nasser Hussain.

[Goughy]

Originally Posted by Francis

Six men in a commentary team...
4. Geoff Boycott
You need an insane irrational biast character in the commentary box. Australia has Bill Lawry and England Boycott. I could've picked either. Boycott is so silly it defies description. In the Ashes when Gilchrist kept on saying "'bowled Shane' Boycott went on a rant that some may remember saying stuff like "when is it a bad delivery when England are blocking him well etc." Him mocking Michael Slater's reaction to Shane Warne bowling Andrew Strauss with neato as well. Which leads me to...

Wildly innaccurate statement. Boycott has been unpopular with many England players for being overly critical of them. He has always had thoughts on the game being played and for many years they were heavily critical of England.
He has mellowed a bit in his old age but is still proud to follow the strong tradition of his countymen of "calling a spade a spade"

[FaaipDeOiad]

Benaud
Boycott
Slater
Holding
Hussein
Atherton

[silentstriker]

Srinath.

Commenting alone.

[Francis]

Wildly innaccurate statement. Boycott has been unpopular with many England players for being overly critical of them. He has always had thoughts on the game being played and for many years they were heavily critical of England.
He has mellowed a bit in his old age but is still proud to follow the strong tradition of his countymen of "calling a spade a spade"

Huh? Did I say he was popular etc?

All I said was that he's biased toward English players. Which he is. Does he criticise them? Yep. But he's all happy when they're winning and was brimming during the 5th test with belief England would win.

Botham's a bit like that. He was criticising Geriant Jones on Sky time and time again in the 1st and 2nd tests when he missed crucial stumpings and dropped many catches. Yet Beefy felt obliged to complement him later on in the Ashes. One minute he's criticising him, the next he's loved.

Bill Lawry talks about droppings and criticises his team. Yet when they're winning the player he criticises is the best thing since sliced bread.

In all cases, both men love their team and will show bias toward them... when they're winning.

[honestbharani]

I have heard a lot of Boycs as he was contracted to ESPN here. I never found him to be overly biased about the England players. If anything, he was overly critical of them. I suppose the Ashes fever just got to him, esp. with blokes like Slats and Benaud around. I mean, Benaud is hardly unbiased these days anyways.

[Sanz]

I dont want any commentator, all I want is a Cricket match on 60 inch tv, with no commentator. All commentators now a days are biased and say crap most of the time. It is simply not worth listening to any of them.

Anyways, since I cant have that way, I would like Michael Slater to do the commentry all day with Michael Holding backing him up when he(slats) goes for ****.

[Scaly piscine]

Originally Posted by honestbharani

Atherton is a decent commentator but he is so "holier than thou" that it is not even funny... He actually left the broadcasting booth for a bit when they displayed that he has been dismissed by McGrath 18 times in Test cricket... And he is an idiot when he is talknig about teams apart from England, because, unsurprisingly, he knows very little about them...

Atherton doesn't know much about the England team either, look at bad he was as England captain and selector.

Not sure what the exact team would be, but Boycott would be first pick and I'd stick people in with him that he royally take the mick out of (like Greig). Slater and Benaud would be other choices of commentator that immediately spring to mind.

Oh and I don't think Boycott is particularly biased towards players, obviously he wants England to win and I don't see a problem with that.