The American All-Stars matches are turning back the clock, but in the commentary box and not through the on-field action.
It is tempting to think of the phrase ‘He’s turning back the clock’ when one of the past legends is performing well, and those were the words uttered during Shane Warne’s three-wicket haul in New York.
But if the clock had turned back in that spell, it was a much dimmer version of a clock that had once burned so brightly.
Obviously that is to be expected and not meant as a reflection on the merits or otherwise of the American matches, which isn’t the concern of this article. No fair observer would expect Warne to bowl as well at age 46 compared to when he was playing for Australia.
However, the All-Stars matches have been an educational experience for Americans, as it was to be expected. Aside from being, if one may whisper it, something of a junket, cracking the American market is the point of the series, even if it is largely preaching to the converted.
But it was also instructive for Australian viewers, because it helped give a glimpse of how the audience was seen by Channel Nine during World Series Cricket.
And that is where the clock has not only well and truly been turned back, but burning bright, in how the cricket has been promoted for a general audience deficient in cricket knowledge.
After the first match, The Roar‘s Daniel Gray wrote a piece in which he rightly praised Alan Wilkins and the commentary team. That praise was in order because the commentary has been relevant. The commentary has been putting the game in context, explaining the relevance of Warne’s clashes against Sachin Tendulkar or Brian Lara, and what Shoaib Akhtar’s reply to a six would have been 10 years ago.
There is more effort to explain the game than what one may find on Channel Nine. This is where the idea of the audience becomes important to understanding why there is a marked difference in the commentary.
Bill Lawry has recalled, multiple times, a famous telephone call at the start of World Series Cricket after a bland start to the commentary by himself and Richie Benaud. The most important words from the story to remember are these words from Kerry Packer: “Ninety-five per cent of people don’t understand the game.”
Many laments can be found on the internet about Channel Nine‘s commentary, because in competing for a general crowd, the commentary has been dumbed down. Indeed, a key theme of many of the complaints is stupidity: “How stupid does (insert name of most disliked commentator here) think we are?”
When World Series Cricket began, Packer’s aforementioned comment to Lawry showed that the average member of his target audience didn’t understand the game of cricket. The novice viewer needed to be educated about the game, the novice viewer that had ignored what was, at least perceived to be, stale commentary from the ABC.
So explaining basic things about the game was of paramount importance. What does it mean to describe the ball as having ‘been in the blockhole’? Why did the bowler bowl a slower ball? What is a ‘good length’ and why? Why is fielding important?
Why is the game of cricket interesting? Isn’t it a snoozer’s game? Describe what is so good about player Joe Bloggs. Why is the commentator critical about the field set by the captain?
It wasn’t perfect. There has been reason to criticise every one of Channel Nine‘s past commentators. You’ll never get a consensus on perfect commentary. Standards are continually being adjusted. But Packer’s idea of the target audience during World Series Cricket meant that the small talk, which should only be for slower periods in the game, were rarer and therefore more palatable.
When I watched the second American match, the above reasons were why the commentary immediately reminded me of the fragments of World Series commentary that I’ve heard – it hasn’t been perfect.
For example, in the second match, the introduction of Lance Klusener to the batting crease was the understatement: “He can smack ‘em.” This was followed by silence for a few seconds, before brief elucidation. But generally, the commentary has been impressive.
Meanwhile, back to the Australian audience, decades have passed since World Series Cricket. The small talk has become more constant and unedifying. The fact Channel Nine sees irrelevant antics as not only acceptable but necessary suggest that, in one respect, they believe the Australian consumer of their product has become more informed.
Since they know more, the less the more obvious points about the game need to be explained, leaving a commentary vacuum. To use Roar parlance, the Australian consumer has progressed from the novice to the rookie stage.
It can be filled with deeper analysis or expertise. You can find places where that desire is filled, not just on TV channels but on radio and online. But an appealing path to take for a commercial TV network is to make the product – the cricket – seem even more exciting.
One of James Brayshaw’s favourite catch cries, and catch cries are a feature of any commentator, is to describe a six that goes into the grandstand thus: “It’s gone into the people!”
When examined unemotionally, this remark doesn’t tell us very much at all that we can gain from other sources, such as our own eyes or logic. Superficiality, by definition, implies a description lacking in thoroughness.
In the case of Brayshaw’s catch cry, even a ball that goes onto a grandstand roof could be described as being within close proximity of people. It does, I guess, sound exciting. It is instant. It is not, emotionally, dull or lacking. But they are insufficient when used for the main diet as well as the lead-in.
The clock has been turned back in commentary for the American matches. Since Channel Nine‘s mass audience does understand more about the game of cricket than in the late 1970s, it wouldn’t be the best course of action to revert purely to the World Series Cricket days of commentary for Australian viewers. But it should be remembered that it is more appreciated than the current model for good reason, not simply because people look at the past with rose-tinted glasses.
Expanding the descriptions of cricket matches, of the stories within the stories, not limiting them in favour of entertaining yet empty remarks and irrelevant small talk, is a viable option for Channel Nine. The American example is staring them in the face, provided that dirty rotten pizza that Warne was talking about in the most recent Boxing Day Test isn’t obscuring their view.
For Channel Nine to ignore the American example, which has been shown on their own network, would be to risk broadcasting a progressively lower standard of commentary and undermining the technical excellence of its coverage.
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