Cricket commentary: Has its standard gone down?

[sreeku7]

Has the standard of Radio and TV cricket commentary deteriorated with the advent of a lot of former Test cricketers who have no expertise in the field?

As a listener of cricket through BBC,Radio Australia,All India Radio and Radio Pakistan from the early sixties to the present day TV commentary ,I feel that the present crop of commentators are well below standard when compared with the likes of John Arlott,Alan Mcgilvray,Brian Johnston,Henry Blofeld,CMJ,Jim Maxwell etc.

Former Test cricketers as expert commentators are all right as long as they are the likes Trevor Bailey,Fred Trueman or Geoff Boycott.But as regular commentators most of the present crop are crap
Any thought on this?

 

[Spikey]

if you don't like it hit the highway imo.

 

[sreeku7]

like what?

 

[benchmark00]

I guess the problem is that people have access to so much information on cricketers these days, that the learned fans know most things about most players in the world, so when a commentator (shock horror) doesn't know something about a player from another country everyone has a cry.

At the end of the day, commentators are there for the greater number. And most people who watch cricket don't follow international cricket close enough to know every little thing about every player. Gets tiresome when posters on here in particular get pwn thirsty and sweat on every little mistake a commentator will make.

Healy is a chump and needs to go though ftr.

 

[TT Boy]

Test Match Sofa = pure ****.

 

[sreeku7]

It is not the factual mistakes but the lack of the correct perspective while commenting on the game which is the curse of many of the present day commentators.Commentators like John Arlott and Alan Mcgilvray used their adjectives judiciously and never exaggerated.That cannot be said of the present day Test cricketert-turned commentator,probably because they were too much involved with the game in the past

 

[benchmark00]

Test Match Sofa = pure ****.

Correct.

 

[HeathDavisSpeed]

Thread needs more Russel Arnold.

 

[smash84]

lol @ demands for more Russell Arnold and Jayasuriya........I thought it was difficult to find somebody worse than Amir Sohail but there they are

 

[HeathDavisSpeed]

Will Navjot Sidhu satisfy you, Smiley?

 

[Burgey]

Test Match Sofa = pure ****.

Correct.

(Y)
z

 

[smash84]

Will Navjot Sidhu satisfy you, Smiley?

haha....I knew that you proposed Russel Arnold's name in jest but tbf Sidhu is much much better than RA as a commentator

 

[HeathDavisSpeed]

haha....I knew that you proposed Russel Arnold's name in jest but tbf Sidhu is much much better than RA as a commentator

I don't know. I think there's something quite funny about Russel Arnold to be fair. And in comparing him to Sidhu, I think it's significantly in Russel's favour that he hasn't been convicted of culpable homocide.

 

[smash84]

I was speaking only in terms of their presence in the commentary box.

 

[sreeku7]

Will Navjot Sidhu satisfy you, Smiley?

Sidhu is a typical specimen of the lot mentioned in my post

 

[Howe_zat]

I'm fairly sure there's always been crap commentators who either don't know much about cricket or offer obviously partial commentary. That doesn't bother me much.

What's really bringing modern commentary down is when you can see the paycheck being formed by literally what's being said, either through toeing the board's party line or having to advertise the cricket rather than report on it. I'd love to be corrected by our older members but it looks like this is relatively new and getting worse.

 

[andyc]

I guess the problem is that people have access to so much information on cricketers these days, that the learned fans know most things about most players in the world, so when a commentator (shock horror) doesn't know something about a player from another country everyone has a cry.

At the end of the day, commentators are there for the greater number. And most people who watch cricket don't follow international cricket close enough to know every little thing about every player. Gets tiresome when posters on here in particular get pwn thirsty and sweat on every little mistake a commentator will make.

Healy is a chump and needs to go though ftr.

Agree with this mostly - only point is that it is frustrating when Channel Nine commentators clearly know nothing about international cricket games/players/rule changes outside of what they cover themselves. It's just sloppy and it really wouldn't take too long for them to do some research before each season so they can hit the ground running when the summer rolls around.

But yeah, at the end of the day, the average CricketWeb member isn't their main demographic given that we're going to be watching regardless of what's being said.

 

[robelinda]

Its 100% dire really. ch 9 have been bad ever since pat tv arrived in this country, and fans could see overseas broadcasts and see what the standard is like everywhere else. Commentary is very busy now, 3 guys on at a time, its just not necessary. The whole feel is totally different to even 15 years ago.

 

[smash84]

yeah, really hate the 3 man commentary team.

 

[robelinda]

Gold, and old. Glorious cricket.

Malcolm Marshall PART TWO vs Australia 5th test Adelaide 1988/89 - YouTube