Worst Commentators

[Precambrian]

Ian Healy and Sunil Gavaskar are the most biased and arrogant commentators on the face of the planet. Sir Ian Botham perhaps the most clumsiest (not necessarily stupid or bad)

 

[Zinzan]

May I suggest a new category - worst producers. First nominated is whichever pratt it is that succeeded Peter Baxter at TMS, who repeatedly puts Aggers and Geoff Boycott on together despite the blatant friction between the two of them. I might be mistaken as I don't listen to TMS all session every session but I don't remember Aggers and Boycs ever sharing a stint during Baxter's days.

Second is whichever stupid dumbaess Packerite it was that arranged Nine's 1998/99 Ashes coverage and allowed Botham and Ian Chappell to be on air together. Whoever it was was lucky full-scale warfare didn't break-out. I only have one day's highlights of that series but it contains Chappell saying to Botham "edge, caught, out - read the book" in an accordingly dismissive tone.

It's the most awkward thing as a listener to hear two people with such friction live on air to the entire country and beyond. Really, really poor publicity for the program and channel. Amazed whoever is responsible a) got their jobs ITFP and b) kept\keeps them.

Interesting......I have heard them together on a few occasions throughout the summer and didn't pick up any friction tbh, in fact throughly enjoyed the combination.

 

[Uppercut]

Yeah, but added to his bias is his general lack of tact, knowledge or insight. Healy is, IMO, the worst commentator I've even heard, and to bracket David Lloyd with him is an insult to Bumble.

Indeed. But if you're going to say "too biased" with regards to Healy you have to make the same criticism of Lloyd, even if he is the better commentator. As someone who isn't English but lives surrounded by the freakishly blinkered English media, horrid pro-English bias is something i can't bear at all.


..Mind, it was the reason i got odds of 13/8 on Safrica to win this series.

 

[pasag]

I don't see how Lloyd is particularly biased, he always praises the opposition where praise is due. He might cheer a bit harder for his home side, but most commentators do. Healy is out of this world though.

 

[sanga1337]

Ian Healy and Sunil Gavaskar are the most biased and arrogant commentators on the face of the planet. Sir Ian Botham perhaps the most clumsiest (not necessarily stupid or bad)

I disagree to an extent with a lot of people saying Ian Healy is biased. He makes a lot of biased comments sure but most of the time he is just joking and not really taking himself seriously. Heck TBH whenever Healy commentates I don't really get the impression he takes the game seriously most of the time.

 

[Uppercut]

I don't see how Lloyd is particularly biased, he always praises the opposition where praise is due. He might cheer a bit harder for his home side, but most commentators do. Healy is out of this world though.

David "Panesar>Vettori" Lloyd.

 

[pasag]

David "Panesar>Vettori" Lloyd.

Big deal, he made one comment which I'm sure could be argued anyways. There's not much in it, it's not like saying Monty>Warne. I've listened to hundreds of hours of him and to say he is relatively biased especially in the class of Healy would be misinformed to say the least. In this regard, England are by far the best in the world.

 

[Uppercut]

Big deal, he made one comment which I'm sure could be argued anyways. There's not much in it, it's not like saying Monty>Warne. I've listened to hundreds of hours of him and to say he is relatively biased especially in the class of Healy would be misinformed to say the least. In this regard, England are by far the best in the world.

Hmm, there's a hell of a lot in it really. But that was just one example. Here's one you'll have a lot more trouble disputing.

"England are now the best side in the world and they will prove it in 18 months' time when they go to Australia and retain the Ashes."
David Lloyd, September 2005

 

[zaremba]

Big deal, he made one comment which I'm sure could be argued anyways. There's not much in it, it's not like saying Monty>Warne. I've listened to hundreds of hours of him and to say he is relatively biased especially in the class of Healy would be misinformed to say the least. In this regard, England are by far the best in the world.

I agree with this. Are the Sky team (Lloyd in particular) puerile and incompetent? Yes. But biased? Not particularly.

 

[pasag]

Hmm, there's a hell of a lot in it really. But that was just one example. Here's one you'll have a lot more trouble disputing.

"England are now the best side in the world and they will prove it in 18 months' time when they go to Australia and retain the Ashes."
David Lloyd, September 2005

Getting caught up in the moment and making the odd silly comment doesn't make one a biased commentator. He's in there for hours and hours a day for five days at a time and on the whole he's quite good. A quote here or a quote there doesn't mean much. Compare that to someone like Healy who talks **** by the minute.

 

[Precambrian]

I disagree to an extent with a lot of people saying Ian Healy is biased. He makes a lot of biased comments sure but most of the time he is just joking and not really taking himself seriously. Heck TBH whenever Healy commentates I don't really get the impression he takes the game seriously most of the time.

It's a job that's he is getting paid for, and he'd better give a bit of head to it.

 

[sanga1337]

It's a job that's he is getting paid for, and he'd better give a bit of head to it.

Agreed. Im just saying that I don't think Healy's biased comments should be taken too seriously as he's a joke.

 

[GIMH]

May I suggest a new category - worst producers. First nominated is whichever pratt it is that succeeded Peter Baxter at TMS, who repeatedly puts Aggers and Geoff Boycott on together despite the blatant friction between the two of them. I might be mistaken as I don't listen to TMS all session every session but I don't remember Aggers and Boycs ever sharing a stint during Baxter's days.

Second is whichever stupid dumbaess Packerite it was that arranged Nine's 1998/99 Ashes coverage and allowed Botham and Ian Chappell to be on air together. Whoever it was was lucky full-scale warfare didn't break-out. I only have one day's highlights of that series but it contains Chappell saying to Botham "edge, caught, out - read the book" in an accordingly dismissive tone.

It's the most awkward thing as a listener to hear two people with such friction live on air to the entire country and beyond. Really, really poor publicity for the program and channel. Amazed whoever is responsible a) got their jobs ITFP and b) kept\keeps them.

Nasser & Both weren't the best of friends before Nas joined the team, itbt, sometimes still get a bit of a tense feeling when they disagree on stuff

 

[Uppercut]

Getting caught up in the moment and making the odd silly comment doesn't make one a biased commentator. He's in there for hours and hours a day for five days at a time and on the whole he's quite good. A quote here or a quote there doesn't mean much. Compare that to someone like Healy who talks **** by the minute.

I didn't mean to compare Lloyd to Healy, his bias obviously doesn't reach anywhere near the same level. He is guilty, however, of letting what he wants to happen cloud his judgement. To take yet another example, his love-in with Stuart Broad (although it isn't exclusive to him). Here's a bowler so obviously out of his depth, averaging almost 50 with 5 of his 8 tests played against an extremely weak NZ team. Yet somehow Lloyd manages to make him look like a genius because he occasionally bowls with a poor seam position on purpose.

 

[pasag]

I didn't mean to compare Lloyd to Healy, his bias obviously doesn't reach anywhere near the same level. He is guilty, however, of letting what he wants to happen cloud his judgement. To take yet another example, his love-in with Stuart Broad (although it isn't exclusive to him). Here's a bowler so obviously out of his depth, averaging almost 50 with 5 of his 8 tests played against an extremely weak NZ team. Yet somehow Lloyd manages to make him look like a genius because he occasionally bowls with a poor seam position on purpose.

Yeah, a couple of examples here or there doesn't bother me though. He's a bit of a cheerleader at times as I mentioned but he does it as well for the opposition which makes him not particularly biased in my books. I'm sure you could find snippets on any of the best commentators on earth which can make them look one-eyed but for the vast majority of time on air you just wouldn't call him terribly biased.

 

[Napier16]

I don't think I've ever seen Lloyd pick against England when predicting a series or test outcome.

If they happen to win their last international game before the next Ashes or something, that will be the "momentum" and "High" needed for him to pick them for that too.

 

[Uppercut]

I don't think I've ever seen Lloyd pick against England when predicting a series or test outcome.

If they happen to win their last international game before the next Ashes or something, that will be the "momentum" and "High" needed for him to pick them for that too.

Remember him before Edgebaston. "I'm really, 100% confident that England will win this match. They have the right lineup, the momentum is with them and they've won a crucial toss on a good wicket."

He'll probably use this dead rubber to show that England have what it takes to win the ODI series.

 

[Langeveldt]

May I suggest a new category - worst producers. First nominated is whichever pratt it is that succeeded Peter Baxter at TMS, who repeatedly puts Aggers and Geoff Boycott on together despite the blatant friction between the two of them. I might be mistaken as I don't listen to TMS all session every session but I don't remember Aggers and Boycs ever sharing a stint during Baxter's days.

Second is whichever stupid dumbaess Packerite it was that arranged Nine's 1998/99 Ashes coverage and allowed Botham and Ian Chappell to be on air together. Whoever it was was lucky full-scale warfare didn't break-out. I only have one day's highlights of that series but it contains Chappell saying to Botham "edge, caught, out - read the book" in an accordingly dismissive tone.

It's the most awkward thing as a listener to hear two people with such friction live on air to the entire country and beyond. Really, really poor publicity for the program and channel. Amazed whoever is responsible a) got their jobs ITFP and b) kept\keeps them.

The Boycott/Agnew thing sounds more like banter really.. Why would there be any genuine friction?

 

[Richard]

I have Aggers' book, and according to that their constant digs at each other are all in good spirits. Additionally, I can certainly remember at least one instance of their being on the air together, though granted it may not have been common.

Really? That's interesting, I initially presumed that was the case, but in some of the more recent things made me presume otherwise.

All we can hope then is that most TMS listeners have read Aggers' book, else, as I say, it's damn awkward to listen to.

 

[Richard]

I don't see how Lloyd is particularly biased, he always praises the opposition where praise is due. He might cheer a bit harder for his home side, but most commentators do.

If Lloyd has ever out-and-out criticised a Lancashire player I'm Tom Bowman. His bias in county if not country terms is appalling.