What a delight it was to pick up Sky Sport New Zealand’s coverage of the Basin Reserve Test.
A balanced bunch of local commentators were complemented with contributions from Allan Border and Brendon Julian.
A notable absence of hysterics and, given the Richard Illingworth umpiring howler, very little evidence of outrage and ‘we wuz robbed’.
What was particularly refreshing was the absence of the self-indulgent, tedious diatribes from the Channel Nine ‘greats’ covering cricket in this country.
More cricket:
» The Liebke Ratings: New Zealand vs Australia first Test
» Raw Australian Test team exceeding expectations
» Australian bowlers show the Kiwi attack how it’s done
» Adam Voges, batting ugly but sitting pretty over Bradman
» Watch: Aussies down Kiwis by an innings and 52 runs
» Scorecard: New Zealand vs Australia first Test
I for one am really not the slightest bit interested in hearing how ‘Tubby’ scored 78 in the second innings of the 1854 Test match versus Mongolia at outer Oodnagalarbie before being bowled by a Jaffa from good old [insert near dead former Test bowler].
All the while there is actually a current Test match on my screen, and it is a nuisance to have the seven-second delay of the ABC radio coverage.
While Mark Richardson, Simon Doull and even Ian Smith may not qualify as cricketing legends (a seriously over-used term), they rarely exhibit the excessive hubris and boorish behaviour of their Australian counterparts.
Is it just me or does the quality of the Channel Nine coverage seem to have plumbed new depths with the absence of Richie Benaud – a master of low-key coverage, largely letting the pictures on the screen tell the tale of the match.
Bakkies
Guest
The same Geoff Lemon who posts article on here?
Bakkies
Guest
Don't you mean butter
troyboy
Guest
err is this a joke? All they did after the voges incident was whinge about it or talk for an hour straight about how they apparently weren't going to focus on the voges incident, was painful to listen to.
Alexander Clough
Roar Pro
Better than the Harvey Norman/KFC/Have you met the Habibs/Spearmint Rhino replay.
VivGilchrist
Guest
They're fantastic.... If you like listening to whinging.
Lancey5times
Guest
The seagulls was a massive highlight for me
Broken-hearted Toy
Guest
For one of their slowmos between overs, they had Flock of Seagulls playing. God, that took me back.
Cadfael
Roar Guru
They aren't to though their rugby commentators are better. I did find find bias in their commentary, probably as much as ours but they were better. The English cricket commentators are still the best.
Gus Paella
Guest
I listened to TalkSport NZ and I found the commentary to be almost passive aggressive at times. I recall them stating that Glenn McGrath had a boring career. For mine they still have the Channel 9 commentary team covered though. What a feather in the cap.
SP
Guest
Except Brian Waddle. An Olympic class whinger. The rest are great.
Bill Chapman
Roar Rookie
Paul D many thanks for the link to the excellent Guardian article. Articulated way better then I could and captures the complete inane performance of the Channel 9 crew. All rather sad really. Bring back Alan McGilvray and John Arlott I say (really showing my age).
matth
Guest
Brian Waddle spent the entire fourth morning going on about the Voges dismissal at every opportunity.
Ian
Guest
No, it's not just you-Nine's commentary is appalling and that's being nice. How Taylor, Healy, Slater and Brayshaw continue to be used by Nine is an absolute disgrace. The NZ commentators were so much better, as were the commentators for the SA-England series!
R2D2
Guest
Some of the commentary from NZ can be very poor to say the less, but Channel 9 with Warne and co , now that is at another sub level altogether.
Don Freo
Guest
I took to reading CA ball by ball. That told me less. Every ball was "pitched to leg" even when it got an outside edge and caught behind..."fielded by Nevill". The only bearable alternative was Cricinfo for a written ball by ball or the Roar live blog for a discussion about the playing of the game.
The Bush
Roar Guru
It is by design. Channel 9 is deliberately asking them to behave this way. As others have pointed out on this thread, almost all of these guys have demonstrated an ability to commentate properly when not working for 9.
Matthew
Guest
Really? We must of been listening at different times. I found the NZ radio guys great. I just wish their didnt have so much advertising. (and its always the same radio advert)
Riccardo
Guest
Alan Border was excellent Chris. Insightful and calls a spade a spade, respectfully. Same with Julian. He was critical of some of our batsmen but backed it up with technical knowledge. Their take is refreshing...
Riccardo
Guest
Sorry you feel that way Don, Humorous description of your interpretation though :) No mate, what's embarrassing is listening to Nine's cheerleaders since the demise of the Beige one, his mate Tony and the less present Bill Laurie ("He's a Victorian hero" "Wendy"). To be fair they leaned that way too but I grew up listening to them and their dulcet tones were part of my summers. Actually really enjoy the frank and knowledgable output from Radiosport's guys generally.
Lancey5times
Guest
I thought it was perfect. And the highlights soundtrack was outstanding!!