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Channel 4's UK cricket coverage

Barney Rubble

International Coach
I want to get some people's views on this after watching the C&G Final today - C4's coverage is good but I feel it needs some work.

Nicholas - intolerably smug, not funny - get him off my screen!!
Atherton - insightful, knowledgeable, funny.
Reeve - insightful, but not v funny, ineloquent, thinks he is capable of very astute judgements but they normally fall flat.
Boycott - straight-talking, knowledgeable, yet slightly out of touch with the modern game.
Benaud - genius.
Hughes - the Analyst is more insightful than anyone else, and his shirts are always a source of amusement.
This summer's "opposition" commentator, Ian Bishop - insightful, eloquent and a clear head amidst West Indian confusion.

And the two new additions for today's game:
Graham Thorpe - uneasy behind the mic, but some good quips and fairly knowledgeable, a good start.
Nick Knight - comfortable, calm, knowledgeable and a sure bet to head to the "combox" when he retires in a few years.

The montage at the end of the show showing "out-takes" and highlights from this summer to the tune of Mambo No.5 was great - the bit where Michael Vaughan tried to throw his bat up and spin it round but dropped it, plus the interview out-takes from Matthew Hoggard and Steve Harmison were great. Also good to see Freddie's taunting of Tino Best before he got out at Lord's - priceless.

Thoughts?
 

Bas

Cricket Spectator
I hate Simon Hughes. I can't see the point in him sitting in his little office like a nerd and pointing out stuff he could easily say in the commentary box as a normal commentator. Some of his points are good but he doesn't need the label "the analyst" like a loser. I actually don't mind Mark Nicholas
 

Tom Halsey

International Coach
Nicholas is an idiot.

I don't know how he ever got into the 'combox' because he doesn't know a thing, and his voice is annoying, and he is an idiot.
 

DocHead

School Boy/Girl Captain
I love SA tours to England, your commentators are so entertaining. I don't even listen to the TV guys most times, Test Match Special does it for me. Blower's and the chaps waffling over Mrs. Johnson's Chocolate cake, brilliant. David Lloyd's & Micheal Holding are good as well on TV, but I think they're on SKY, not 4.

Usually SA's a bit drab these days. Supersport's commentators are so anonymous I can't even remember their names. Robin Jackman adds some spice, Jack Bannister used to come down, but not so much any more. Haysey's good, but he can't do it on his own, his handbags at 20m with Aamir Sohail last year was tops. Gerald de Kock's good as well, I don't know why he's not on TV more. The less said about the 'analysis' the better. Start of the day, 10 mins talking about the day/match before, a pitch report, another 10 regurgitating whatever the commentators said the day before, and 5 minutes at the end of play's about it. 'Expert' analysis from John Doe, who was reserve keeper for Transvaal 'C' in 1984 and now coaches the Tukkies 'B' team or someone just as qualified.

For rain delays, let's just show yesterdays whole day again. We used to show highlights from previous test series, have music video packages, track down players for interviews, etc. Nothing like that nowadays.

Navjot Sidhu & Geoff Boycott would be my dream teamup.
 

luckyeddie

Cricket Web Staff Member
There a number of areas where Channel 4 have improved in leaps and bounds over the last year with respect to their cricket coverage, and I feel that Mark Nicholas is one of them. I used to hate listening to him - he really was what watching the tv with the sound turned off and TMS playing on the radio was made for, but with the advent of satellite communication and things being out of synch now by a second or more, that no longer works.

Last year, Dermot was little short of an idiot on occasions - or should that be "On occasions last year, Dermot was a little short idiot" - yes, that's better - and has improved somewhat.

I like Boyks - but that's probably because I agree with just about everything he says (Yes, Barney - I'm probably out of touch myself too).

Horse-racing is a denture-gnasher, and is almost as unforgivable as last year's Hollyoaks repeat which they went to after a test match went past 6.00 (and no, it was nothing to do with Adam or the late Ben) - luckily I have satellite so Film4 comes in handy.

Getting better, but still massive room for improvement.
 

imranrabb

U19 Debutant
Benaud is the most boring commentator i have ever seen.He talks about the 1940s half the time and the other half about bradman.
 

sledger

Spanish_Vicente
Evil

reeve need s to be sacked

i belive that boycot tmust take over full time and be supported by mike gatting and phil tuffnell.

and of course we will have no room for the likes of benuad he is not interlecctual enough
 

sledger

Spanish_Vicente
Evil

reeve need s to be sacked

i belive that boycot tmust take over full time and be supported by mike gatting and phil tuffnell.

mr boycott will be accompanied by his good friends michael parkinson and dickie bird for an excellent dsplau
 

steds

Hall of Fame Member
I like channel 4. All they need is some more northeners, hopefully starting with Bumble.
 

Langeveldt

Soutie
Athers - A bit dour, although talks a good game
Nicholas - Pompous, Tries to hard, over exuberant, attention seeking.. Get off my screen.. You can't stay on when soo many people dislike you, you tw**...
Boycott, Bishop - Two quality commentators who's time would be far better spent at a proper sports broadcasting outfit like Sky..
Reeve - Not a fan, can't really lay a finger on why though :(
Benaud - He would be a very bland boring commentator if it wasn't for the nouse gained over the decades.

Come back beeeb, all is forgiven :(


And as for the highlights packages...

Really hope Supersport is aired in the UK when the SA tour is, and not a C4 mission..
 

luckyeddie

Cricket Web Staff Member
steds said:
I like channel 4. All they need is some more northeners, hopefully starting with Bumble.
Bumble is my leader.

The coverage Sky did from Blackpool last year (when Ed Smith went ballistic) was utterly wonderful - Bumble on the pier, narrating 'The Lion and Albert'.

For those of you who used to be fans of DD's column (which WILL be returning I hasten to add) - here's what I wrote about it at the time.... (second piece)

Credit Where Credit's Due
 

Langeveldt

Soutie
Bumble is incredibly funny... Did anyone watch the Twenty20 finals day where he was doing the "mascot race"?

"EEE, EEE' werre is one ov em'' aaah thaats right 'ees run off wi' one of the Npower girls!!"
 

luckyeddie

Cricket Web Staff Member
Langeveldt said:
Bumble is incredibly funny... Did anyone watch the Twenty20 finals day where he was doing the "mascot race"?

"EEE, EEE' werre is one ov em'' aaah thaats right 'ees run off wi' one of the Npower girls!!"
And the cheating filthy dirty scum Surrey mascot 'Lord Moneybags' (aka Rikki Clarke) was disqualified. Great day.
 

steds

Hall of Fame Member
luckyeddie said:
Bumble is my leader.

The coverage Sky did from Blackpool last year (when Ed Smith went ballistic) was utterly wonderful - Bumble on the pier, narrating 'The Lion and Albert'.

For those of you who used to be fans of DD's column (which WILL be returning I hasten to add) - here's what I wrote about it at the time.... (second piece)

Credit Where Credit's Due
Where is DD anyway? There's usually some quacks in your posts.
 

SpaceMonkey

International Debutant
Langeveldt said:
Bumble is incredibly funny... Did anyone watch the Twenty20 finals day where he was doing the "mascot race"?

"EEE, EEE' werre is one ov em'' aaah thaats right 'ees run off wi' one of the Npower girls!!"
Bumble is a great and funny man / commentator but it worries me that this guy was in charge of England at one time :)...although i do remember he really improved englands fielding during his time there!
 

Langeveldt

Soutie
SpaceMonkey said:
Bumble is a great and funny man / commentator but it worries me that this guy was in charge of England at one time :)...although i do remember he really improved englands fielding during his time there!
Hmm, thats a point..

The results were hardly glam though, save for the ritual bok trashing :(
 

PommieMacGill

State Regular
Personally I'm not a fan of C4's coverage, and the time-share thing with the Horse Racing is shocking in my opinion.

I'd much rather Sky had the coverage. A quality broadcaster with a brilliant set of Commentators. I mean let's compare the two, Channel 4 comprises of mostly-average county cricketers (Nicholas, Reeves, Hughes). Only Benaud, Boycott and Atherton have a "been there, done it, got the.." Tee-shirt. All the rest had very average first-class careers and have now moved on to being fairly-average commentators. Dermot Reeves tries to analyse everything and is too in-depth for my liking. I just have to mute the TV when Nicholas is commentating. He really is very, very over enthusiastic and an idiot for me. He is okay as an anchor, or a presenter but not as a commentator.

Now, lets look at Sky. You have David Lloyd, David Gower, Ian Botham, Nasser Hussain, Bob Willis and Michael Holding. All extremely good cricketers with vast amounts of experience. All own a "been there, done it..." t-shirt with Lloyd, although he did not play a lot of International Cricket, he should have played a lot more. Bumble is especially entertaining to listen to, he brings a lighter side to the role as well as knowing what he's on about. All of them are insightful, knowledgable and good to listen to. They actually commentate on the game itself and since they have all been there and done it I can relate to them more than some bunch of average county cricketers.

Roll on Sky getting the coverage back!
 
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