Rate: Ch.9 commentators

[Nemesis27]

Richie 10/10- The best, the voice and brain of cricket. Isn't on air enough in my opinion. Hope he continues to call until he can no longer do so.

Nicholas-8.5/10- Not an entertaining commentator, but a very professional one. Calls the game as he sees it, seems quite collected, and has a nice voice for the job. Second best.

Slater-7/10- Seems a bit excited at times, but is quite entertaining overall. Brings a very
modern spice to the panel, which is a relief when Ian and Bill rave on about something which happened umpteen years ago every second over.

Taylor-6.5/10- Alright, but just needs to collect himself a little bit, needs to think before he
speaks. Moderately entertaining. All that was said about Slater can be applied to Taylor as well.

Lawry-6/10- Bill has got a great enthusiasm for the game, which transcends through his voice.When something happens, raw excitement comes out, which is terriffic. However, he often seems in the past, and his stories have none of the enchantment which Richie's has.
Also seems just a little negative with his comments, growling about something every over. At his best when there is a lot happening on the field, one of the worst to listen to during a boring passage of play.

Greig- 4/10 His commentary is littered with Anti-Australianism and dumb comments, but some comments are quite good. The commentary box needs a taint of foreign injection, but he is too blatant for my liking. I don't mind his pitch reports though.

Healy-3/10- Can be awful at times. Greigy isn't even half as blatant as Healy is Australian. Some of the comments he says are so biased, you cringe. Is alright when the action is a bit sluggished, but when it is thick and fast, the words don't come out very well and his bias sticks out like a sore thumb.

O'Donnell- 3/10- No charisma what so ever. Has a fairly decent knowledge of the game and is a good bloke, but not really the type to fire up a commentating team.

Chappell-2/10-The worst of the lot IMO. Has that "Things were better back in my day" attitude which I don't like at all. Move with the times. Also has the same grumpiness of Lawry, only worse. Only redeeming points are his sound knowledge of tactics and the game itself, which can provide useful insights.

 

[Jono]

Ian Chappell absolutely ****s on Mark Nicholas.

Tactics > a man with a thesaurus in front of him, creaming himself over Lee, Clarke and other blondies.

 

[sideshowtim]

Chappell is a bloody idiot. Stopped being relevant the day he retired and just loves to find the negatives in absolutely anything. A foreign batsman could crack a beautiful run a ball hundred and Chappell would criticise him for batting too quickly and being reckless, or remind everyone about how he was put down on 8 or edged one through slips on 24. There's nothing wrong with critique, but there is something wrong with just being a downright **** for no reason. I agree that he suffers from the "things were better" complex, and it annoys the hell out of me.

 

[BoyBrumby]

Nem's overrating Healy with 4/10 IMHO. He's improved a wee bit of late, but is the worst of the lot. As one-eyed as a trouser snake, but without Lawry's redeeming love of the sport. 90% of the time he just sounds chippy & supercilious.

I actually don't mind Nicholas too much as, once you get past the frothy homoeroticism, he does know his onions. It's just a wee bit unfortunate that, as possibly the only pommie cricketing voice a lot of Aussie kids hear, there's going to be a(nother) generation thinking we're all a bunch of effete closet-cases. Would like to see Nasser get a gig on 9 to give a more balanced representation of us down under.

 

[Nemesis27]

Nem's overrating Healy with 4/10 IMHO. He's improved a wee bit of late, but is the worst of the lot. As one-eyed as a trouser snake, but without Lawry's redeeming love of the sport. 90% of the time he just sounds chippy & supercilious.

I actually don't mind Nicholas too much as, once you get past the frothy homoeroticism, he does know his onions. It's just a wee bit unfortunate that, as possibly the only pommie cricketing voice a lot of Aussie kids hear, there's going to be a(nother) generation thinking we're all a bunch of effete closet-cases. Would like to see Nasser get a gig on 9 to give a more balanced representation of us down under.

Healy's rating is now fix'd

 

[pasag]

Have always been a fan of Nicholas, don't get all the hate really. Above all I like the fact that he's passionate about the sport, whereas some of the other commentators come across as being in it for the money and just there for the day job. Chappell's ok, knows his history, drones on about some inconsequential stuff at times though. Love Lawry because he's a bias Victorian, seems to be aging badly though.

Healy is the pits but he's there to cater to a certain average-Australian crowd and not to us cricket tragics. He's very much the Donna Symonds of Australian cricket commentating and I reckon he'll be there for many years to come.

 

[LongHopCassidy]

Nem's overrating Healy with 4/10 IMHO. He's improved a wee bit of late, but is the worst of the lot. As one-eyed as a trouser snake, but without Lawry's redeeming love of the sport. 90% of the time he just sounds chippy & supercilious.

I actually don't mind Nicholas too much as, once you get past the frothy homoeroticism, he does know his onions. It's just a wee bit unfortunate that, as possibly the only pommie cricketing voice a lot of Aussie kids hear, there's going to be a(nother) generation thinking we're all a bunch of effete closet-cases. Would like to see Nasser get a gig on 9 to give a more balanced representation of us down under.

Would sooner see Boycs, in the interest of an even spread of stereotypes!

Personally I'd say each commentator's quality comes down to circumstance. For all their faults, there really is nothing better than Lawry and Greig bickering during the last 5 overs of a tight one-dayer, while Richie's tales (save the Symonds re-run) are more apropos during duller passages of a Test. Equally, Slater and Taylor provide the best analysis during testing times for Ponting's captaincy skills, while Nicholas is great if one's doing a school project on Brett Lee.

Healy? Could be flotsam for all I care.

If Gilchrist carves out a spot (God willing) I can conceive him being the best of the lot.

 

[river end]

Lawry, Greig, Slater and Taylor should be kept.

The rest can be put in the dustbin.

 

[Matt79]

I rate Chappell. He's not brilliant, he has two major faults - first, once he makes an observation about a tactic a captain should employ or that a batsman should try, he worries at it and worries at it in his commentary, to the exclusion of anything else going on in the game. I think its the former captain in him (and let's face it, he was decent at the job) getting frustrated. Second, for a person with presumably so many anecdotes, he seems to trot out the same ones over and over. He's much better than Taylor, Lawry, or Greig however. 6/10

Richie's losing it a bit. Still great but he's not what he was. My main gripe with him these days is his inability to watch Symonds bat without relating the story of him batting in the 03 WC with Ponting in the Pakistan game. EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. Word for word. I have it pretty much memorised. "Its funny to think that for a long time Symonds wasn't able to make it in international cricket. He had enormous potential, but wasn't able to turn it into performance. All that changed of course, after he played what I think might be one of the best one-day innings I've ever seen. It was in the 2003 World Cup, and there had been considerable disagreement as to whether Symonds should even be there. Australia had been reduced to 4/87 when Symonds came to the crease to meet his captain Ricky Ponting. And Ponting said something to him which changed Symonds - in the middle of all the hubbub and noise, Ponting took Symonds by the arm, and leant in and said (in a breathy whisper) "Be here at the end". Symonds scored 143*, and Australia won the match. And he's never looked back from that moment." Does my head in. 8/10 regardless.

Bill is Bill. He seems to be making less excitable errors of the "got him, gone, plumb lbw, no the umpire signalling four leg-byes there" variety. A cliche, but his love of the game is apparent in his commentary. 5/10

Tony is mellowing a bit these days, and seems to be getting drawn into making some more insightful commentary and relating interesting stories by the younger commentators these days.

Mark Nicholas is quite good in my opinion. The supposed homo-eroticism of his commentary and his accent don't even register with me when I listen to him commentate - I'm constantly bemused that they annoy others so much. Seems to know his stuff and be fairly balanced. 6/10.

Slats is a puppy on a polished wooden floor, all action and energy going everywhere. He actually makes Taylor listenable for me, I like the niggle they do with each other about the days when they batted together, and I do like the fact that he is a fair bit less stuffy, and amusing than some of the other commentators. He is always happy to have a laugh at himself and keep things rolling along, and he also asks quite good questions of the older commentators and seems to actually get them thinking, and therefore saying more interesting things, than otherwise happens. 6/10

Taylor is alright. I just find him very forgettable and I can't really remember him ever saying much that was insightful or interesting, which is a shame because he obviously has a superb tactical feel for the game. 4/10

Healy is just a dire embarrassment. Sometimes he's interesting talking about the technicalities of wicket keeping, but otherwise he's a muppet. 1/10.

 

[Matt79]

Personally I'd say each commentator's quality comes down to circumstance. For all their faults, there really is nothing better than Lawry and Greig bickering during the last 5 overs of a tight one-dayer, while Richie's tales (save the Symonds re-run) are more apropos during duller passages of a Test. .

Haha, got in before me while I was typing the bugger out.

 

[sideshowtim]

Richie's losing it a bit. Still great but he's not what he was. My main gripe with him these days is his inability to watch Symonds bat without relating the story of him batting in the 03 WC with Ponting in the Pakistan game. EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. Word for word. I have it pretty much memorised. "Its funny to think that for a long time Symonds wasn't able to make it in international cricket. He had enormous potential, but wasn't able to turn it into performance. All that changed of course, after he played what I think might be one of the best one-day innings I've ever seen. It was in the 99 World Cup, and there had been considerable disagreement as to whether Symonds should even be there. Australia had been reduced to 5/47 when Symonds came to the crease to meet his captain Ricky Ponting. And Ponting said something to him which changed Symonds - in the middle of all the hubbub and noise, Ponting took Symonds by the arm, and leant in and said (in a breathy whisper) "Be here at the end". Symonds scored 147*, and Australia won the match. And he's never looked back from that moment." Does my head in. 8/10 regardless.

Haha. Commented on that in the 'What grinds your cricketing gears' thread. Was the 2003 WC against Pakistan too I believe

 

[Matt79]

If Gilchrist carves out a spot (God willing) I can conceive him being the best of the lot.

Can't really see him being interested tbh, but would be good if he was.

I'd like them to get Damien Fleming on board - I think (as I said in the thread about him) he's a good commentator as a fast bowler, something the current team lacks, he offers a different perspective from the predominantly top-order batsmen in the current team.

I'd also like them to revive the practice of having a visiting commentator for whatever team is playing. For instance, Hasha Bogle (sorry, I'm probably screwing up the spelling of that) was good on ABC radio.

 

[Matt79]

Haha. Commented on that in the 'What grinds your cricketing gears' thread. Was the 2003 WC against Pakistan too I believe

**** - I caught myself doing that, and thought I fixed it.

Fixed now

 

[The Sean]

And he actually got 143*, not 147*.

My name is the The Sean, and I am a pedant.

 

[Jono]

LOL! He does say it a lot. (Richie regarding Symonds at the WC)

And I definitely agree with you regarding Chappell Matt. He can go on about something he spots being incredibly wrong, but the thing is, most of the time he's completely right about that move. Its just that he refuses to understand that its not as simple for the captain on the field to spot that everytime.

He's still my favourite commentator on 9 comfortably, and I'm more than willing to lead the Chappelli bandwagon on CW.

 

[sideshowtim]

Can't really see him being interested tbh, but would be good if he was.

I'd like them to get Damien Fleming on board - I think (as I said in the thread about him) he's a good commentator as a fast bowler, something the current team lacks, he offers a different perspective from the predominantly top-order batsmen in the current team.

I'd also like them to revive the practice of having a visiting commentator for whatever team is playing. For instance, Hasha Bogle (sorry, I'm probably screwing up the spelling of that) was good on ABC radio.

Gilly is MASSIVELY interested in a media career IMO. You can just tell it by his willingess to don the mic during the T20 games and how into it he got. He was bloody hilarious too, so I think we'll see him in the box within the next few years.

 

[Matt79]

And he actually got 143*, not 147*.

My name is the The Sean, and I am a pedant.

Look - that was typed in one go, off the top of my head, alright!

 

[Matt79]

LOL! He does say it a lot. (Richie regarding Symonds at the WC)

And I definitely agree with you regarding Chappell Matt. He can go on about something he spots being incredibly wrong, but the thing is, most of the time he's completely right about that move. Its just that he refuses to understand that its not as simple for the captain on the field to spot that everytime.

He's still my favourite commentator on 9 comfortably, and I'm more than willing to lead the Chappelli bandwagon on CW. :cool

Oh, agreed, he's normally right, but it just gets annoying to hear him dwell upon it for forty minutes at a time, and to draw every event that occurs back to that.

 

[The Sean]

Look - that was typed in one go, off the top of my head, alright!

Meh, don't shoot the messenger who simply performs the service of pointing out your abject lack of cricketing knowledge. The world deserves to know.

 

[Matt79]

Meh, don't shoot the messenger who simply performs the service of pointing out your abject lack of cricketing knowledge. The world deserves to know.

I've always said you were a ****.