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The Ultimate Commentator Hall of Shame

Howe_zat

Howe_zat

Audio File
wpdavid said:
Did you ever hear Trueman? Epitome of mean-spirited miserable old git behind the mic.
There is a theory that there's an inverse relationship between individuals' greatness as a player and their listenability as a commentator. It certainly holds true with Trueman and Botham when compared to, say, Hussain and Atherton. See also Boycott vs Agnew and Tufnell.
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Think there is some truth to this, it stands to reason that those who are predominantly known as commentators got there by mostly being good at it (Agnew, Dagnall and more recently Norcross) whereas those who are in the commentary box by virtue of being the only cricketer most people have heard of (Botham, Warne, Boycott) tend to be terrible. Especially true when the way the industry functions is to fawn over the latter group rather than allow any sort of feedback.
 
a massive zebra

a massive zebra

International Captain
wpdavid said:
Did you ever hear Trueman? Epitome of mean-spirited miserable old git behind the mic.
There is a theory that there's an inverse relationship between individuals' greatness as a player and their listenability as a commentator. It certainly holds true with Trueman and Botham when compared to, say, Hussain and Atherton. See also Boycott vs Agnew and Tufnell.
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Bit harsh on Benaud who is possibly the GOAT commentator and a borderline ATG cricketer.

Boycott is probably over the hill now, but going back a decade or two, his commentary was excellent. He was superbly professional and made the job interesting for himself and the viewers with his intelligent, astute, objective and highly analytical style. He could be tongue in cheek at times, and if you listened carefully, you were bound to learn a thing or two about the game. The best of the old Channel 5 commentary team for sure.

Jim Laker and Ian Bishop are two further examples of world class players who were also outstanding in the commentary box.
 
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wpdavid

wpdavid

Hall of Fame Member
a massive zebra said:
Bit harsh on Benaud who is possibly the GOAT commentator and a borderline ATG cricketer.

Boycott is probably over the hill now, but going back a decade or two, his commentary was excellent. He was superbly professional and made the job interesting for himself and the viewers with his intelligent, astute, objective and highly analytical style. He could be tongue in cheek at times, and if you listened carefully, you were bound to learn a thing or two about the game. The best of the old Channel 5 commentary team for sure.

Jim Laker and Ian Bishop are two further examples of world class players who were also outstanding in the commentary box.
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Completely agree about Benaud, obviously.

I've always found Boycott a mixture. Mostly fine until he gets a bee in his bonnet about something and simply repeats it ad infinitum. Or when England are on top against Australia and he gets into completely unfunny taking the piss mode.


Not sure about Laker. Obviously highly knowledgeable but did sound rather bored for me. Perhaps that was just his understated manner. A bit like his muted 'celebrations' when taking those 19 wickets against Australia, I suppose.
 
wpdavid

wpdavid

Hall of Fame Member
A bit before most people's time here, but TMS in the 1980s really wasn't pleasant listening. Post-Arlott, it was dominated the Trueman/Mosey/Bailey chips on both shoulders misery parade. Brian Johnstone provided welcome relief from time to time, and CMJ must have been there too, but there was a heck of a lot of unlistenable stuff from the afore-mentioned trio.
 
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B

Bolo

State Captain
Bishop was one of my favourite commentators. But he doesn't fall into the group of commentators who had a successful stint because he was a world class player. He's a great commentator, but he isn't like the proper legends (mostly captains) who got shoes into commentating regardless of if they were any good at it
 
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