BoyBrumby
Englishman
Quality all round here. Like Bailey a lot; his voice seemingly the result of a mouth and lower jaw that were absolutely immobile in speech. A by-product, presumably, of the public-school ethos that emotions, and worse yet the demonstration of them, are vulgar. His laconic pronouncements leavened Blofeld's somewhat more florid commentary on TMS too. One occasion that's always stuck in my mind was a particularly winding discursion between Agnew and Blowers about how Gus Fraser wasn't as effective since his back issues had cost him a bit of zip. When Agnew finally turned to Trev all he said was, "Oh, he's a quality bowler." Less being more sometimes.
Slats is one of the very best young commentators around. He clearly has a genuine enthusiasm for the sport with (what I think of as) that typical ocker joie de vivre. Has a keen cricketing mind too; he spotted Gilchrist's squash ball straight away when commentating for Sky on the ODI WC final and was able to explain to us punters the significance of it.
Which brings me to Sir Geoffrey. Whatever one thinks of the man (and it's fair to say he does have his detractors), the one thing that is indisputable is that the man knows his cricket and isn't afraid to call a spade a spade. He's intelligent and articulate (with a voice that is an impressionist's gift) and, as he's never knowingly sought to curry favour, doesn't skimp on criticising what he's seen. If he sounds as if he sometimes thinks he could do better, he's probably right. He's a fair minded man too; famously saying Waqar & Wasim could've bowled England out "wi' an orange" when other English pundits were lining up to stick the boot in during the ball-tampering row of the early 90s & also giving evidence on Inzi's behalf "That's a good ball, is that" after Ovalgate.
On balance I probably should go for Boycs, but as he deserves at least one vote I'm going for Bailey.
Slats is one of the very best young commentators around. He clearly has a genuine enthusiasm for the sport with (what I think of as) that typical ocker joie de vivre. Has a keen cricketing mind too; he spotted Gilchrist's squash ball straight away when commentating for Sky on the ODI WC final and was able to explain to us punters the significance of it.
Which brings me to Sir Geoffrey. Whatever one thinks of the man (and it's fair to say he does have his detractors), the one thing that is indisputable is that the man knows his cricket and isn't afraid to call a spade a spade. He's intelligent and articulate (with a voice that is an impressionist's gift) and, as he's never knowingly sought to curry favour, doesn't skimp on criticising what he's seen. If he sounds as if he sometimes thinks he could do better, he's probably right. He's a fair minded man too; famously saying Waqar & Wasim could've bowled England out "wi' an orange" when other English pundits were lining up to stick the boot in during the ball-tampering row of the early 90s & also giving evidence on Inzi's behalf "That's a good ball, is that" after Ovalgate.
On balance I probably should go for Boycs, but as he deserves at least one vote I'm going for Bailey.
