Which commentators irritate the pits out of you?

[pup11]

Nasser Hussain
Charles Colville
Mark Nicholas
Ian Botham
Ian Healy
Michael Slater


Not necessarily bad commentators, just the annoying ones IMO.

Hussain is class, i know his voice can sound a bit irritating at best of the times but i find his commentary pretty insightful and spot on most of the time, he is easily one of the best commentators going around atm.

Nicholas is also pretty good most of the times, its just when he starts to drool over the muscles of Symonds, Watson, etc that it really gets annoying, i think same can be said about Slater too, but unlike Nicholas, he seems to very faithful towards Michael Clarke...

My list of worst commentators goes like this:

1.Ian Healy (he has to be the worst ever)
2.Sunil Gavaskar (especially when he is commentating in an Ind v Aus game)
3.Geoff Boycott

 

[honestbharani]

Hussain is class, i know his voice can sound a bit irritating at best of the times but i find his commentary pretty insightful and spot on most of the time, he is easily one of the best commentators going around atm.

Nicholas is also pretty good most of the times, its just when he starts to drool over the muscles of Symonds, Watson, etc that it really gets annoying, i think same can be said about Slater too, but unlike Nicholas, he seems to very faithful towards Michael Clarke...

My list of worst commentators goes like this:

1.Ian Healy (he has to be the worst ever)
2.Sunil Gavaskar (especially when he is commentating in an Ind v Aus game)
3.Geoff Boycott

Mark Nicholas is so far and away the worst that it is unbelievable...



He thinks he knows his cricket when he doesn't... He thinks he knows the players when he doesn't... And he thinks people like his style of commentary when no one actually does.


I think Gavaskar is a very average commentator but I absolutely loved it when he was sticking it up to him and pulling his leg with every other comment during the recent BG series... Was worth watching just for that.


I especially remember India racking up 600 or 650 at Delhi and then Australia batted through for something like 50/0 and Nicholas summed up the day as "what a marvellous performance by Australia"..........




The guy is a doofus...

 

[Furball]

And it's probably not Tony Cozier's fault, but the whole time he was here as guest commentator for the WI tour I couldn't help but be disappointed that he wasn't Michael Holding.

It's the voice. Not everyone can sound as ***y as Michael Holding.

 

[Furball]

See, I also think the Sky team is the best, but its generally quite disliked on these boards, right?

AFAIC, Sky's commentary is a mix of the sublime and the ridiculous.

Holding and Atherton are guns (Holding in particular during domestic games), Hussain is decent, as is Willis - the only downside to Willis is that he could make a Tendulkar-Lara partnership tearing apart a bowling attack of McGrath-Pollock-Murali-Warne on a minefield sound like the most boring thing ever. By contrast, Holding could make 2 utterly average batsmen cashing in on a batsmens paradise sound like the best thing ever. Nick Knight suffers from something similar to Willis, and it's unfortunate, as he's a commentator I really want to like.

Botham and Lloyd are morons. Paul Allot is ok, not great, not ****.

Basically, Sky should keep Holding, Atherton and Hussain, tell Willis to liven the **** up, keep Polly (loved his commentary in the Eng-SA series last summer), hire Warne (never heard him commentate, but he's someone you just know would be gun) and hire a couple of the subcontinentals - who I don't know by name, but I know they're not Sunil Gavaskar. I know the ones I like by voice, but I couldn't tell you their names. Tony Cozier's ok as well.

edit: just remembered Channel 4's lineup for the 2005 Ashes.

Didn't mind Slater, though he was fairly decent for the most part. Got a bit partisan for Damien Martyn's dismissal at Old Trafford, but given the circumstances was fair enough.

Mark Nicholas - had managed to erase him from memory until the recent India-Australia series. God the man is dire.

Richie Benaud - gun.

 

[R_D]

AFAIC, Sky's commentary is a mix of the sublime and the ridiculous.

Holding and Atherton are guns (Holding in particular during domestic games), Hussain is decent, as is Willis - the only downside to Willis is that he could make a Tendulkar-Lara partnership tearing apart a bowling attack of McGrath-Pollock-Murali-Warne on a minefield sound like the most boring thing ever. By contrast, Holding could make 2 utterly average batsmen cashing in on a batsmens paradise sound like the best thing ever. Nick Knight suffers from something similar to Willis, and it's unfortunate, as he's a commentator I really want to like.

Botham and Lloyd are morons. Paul Allot is ok, not great, not ****.

Basically, Sky should keep Holding, Atherton and Hussain, tell Willis to liven the **** up, keep Polly (loved his commentary in the Eng-SA series last summer), hire Warne (never heard him commentate, but he's someone you just know would be gun) and hire a couple of the subcontinentals - who I don't know by name, but I know they're not Sunil Gavaskar. I know the ones I like by voice, but I couldn't tell you their names. Tony Cozier's ok as well.

edit: just remembered Channel 4's lineup for the 2005 Ashes.

Didn't mind Slater, though he was fairly decent for the most part. Got a bit partisan for Damien Martyn's dismissal at Old Trafford, but given the circumstances was fair enough.

Mark Nicholas - had managed to erase him from memory until the recent India-Australia series. God the man is dire.

Richie Benaud - gun.

Ravi Shahstri and Harsha Bogle are 2 of the indian commentators that are ok to listen to.


Hate Ian Healy.....
followed by Arun Lal. Not a fan of Nocholas either

Don't mind Bill Lawry for some reason even though he can be quite bit biased at times...

 

[Smudge]

Mark Nicholas - If he spouted any more man-juice in deference to a stock-standard cover drive, he'd be drowning in the commentary box.
Ian Healy - pathetic ****wit whose childish bias is bordering on the comical. Actually, strike that - it IS comical.
Danny Morrison - thankfully barely used these days because - well - he adds absolutely nothing.

 

[_Ed_]

Danny Morrison - thankfully barely used these days because - well - he adds absolutely nothing.

That's true, but in the NZ-Bangladesh series Bruce Yardley made him sound quite good in comparison.

 

[TT Boy]

It was 'funny' hearing Mark Nicholas on SuperSport. The seemingly salivating pro-Aussie, Nicholas was positively cheering every South African run and in Melbourne when JP and Steyn were batting he was lauding every ball that Dale survived (“Onya Dale”, “You beauty”). Just showed what a knob he is.

 

[Evermind]

Mark Nicholas - If he spouted any more man-juice in deference to a stock-standard cover drive, he'd be drowning in the commentary box.
Ian Healy - pathetic ****wit whose childish bias is bordering on the comical. Actually, strike that - it IS comical.
Danny Morrison - thankfully barely used these days because - well - he adds absolutely nothing.

Slater is as bad as Healy.

 

[Precambrian]

It was 'funny' hearing Mark Nicholas on SuperSport. The seemingly salivating pro-Aussie, Nicholas was positively cheering every South African run and in Melbourne when JP and Steyn were batting he was lauding every ball that Dale survived (“Onya Dale”, “You beauty”). Just showed what a knob he is.

Or when he was commentating in the Border Gavaskar trophy. An edged drive would be "Fantastic", and a good piece of bowling which he didn't pick really, would be "What cricket!". Real pretentious tool.

 

[KiWiNiNjA]

Mark Nicholas - If he spouted any more man-juice in deference to a stock-standard cover drive, he'd be drowning in the commentary box.
Ian Healy - pathetic ****wit whose childish bias is bordering on the comical. Actually, strike that - it IS comical.
Danny Morrison - thankfully barely used these days because - well - he adds absolutely nothing.

What Volty said, plus Nasser.
Aslo, Ian Smith has started to get on my nerves of late. He used to be a decent commentator, but now he's just a grumpy old man.

 

[sanga1337]

John Howard and Kevin Rudd. Shouldn't let both of them anywhere near the commentary box.

Out of the "proper" commentators it would have to be between Healy and Nicholas for the reasons everyone has already stated. Lawry is also a pretty bad commentator but at least he can be funny sometimes due to his exciteable nature.

 

[BoyBrumby]

The best commentary team is Sky in England. Pretty solid across the board aside from Lloyd, who is dismal. England's Healy.

See, I also think the Sky team is the best, but its generally quite disliked on these boards, right?

See, I far prefer 9's team to Sky's. Maybe it's because I don't hear them as often as anyone based in Oz. I still find Lawry & Greig's connubial squabling amusing (12th Man probably has a lot to do with this), but (say) Botham's ****-witted disgust or Nick Knight's aural wallpapering make me want to scream now. Familiarity breeding contempt & all that.

 

[jainy25]

i hate listening to Mark Nicholas and Boycott. Both of them look lame.

The best I like hearing to are Ravi Shastri, Ian Chappell, David Llyod.

 

[PhoenixFire]

Generally I like opinionated people liek Bob Willis, Boycs and Sidhu to name a few. The people that really annoy me are people that just state the obvious all the bloody time. It does my head in.


Also, not sure how people can say that Boycott is a 'bad' commentator. Sure I can understand how he can be very annoying to some people, but he is obviously very knowledgable about the game, especially batting.

 

[Pothas]

Boycott is entertaining for a short period of time and he is always better to listen to when he is with Agnew but when he does radio commentary for the whole day I get tired of him pretty quickly as he likes to make the same point about 100 times.

 

[Precambrian]

Surely TMS commentators would take the cake here? I wish I could listen to them live but BBC UK won't permit because I am from outside UK. Darn.

 

[Evermind]

Ravi Shastri, Ian Chappell

Godawful, both of them. Shastri is histrionic and Chappell is inarticulate.

 

[Precambrian]

Godawful, both of them. Shastri is histrionic and Chappell is inarticulate.

Ravi is pretty good and he is a no-nonsensical person. Though he doesn't have the technical expertise or insight as Ian Chappell, he keeps the listener engaged. Ian Chappell is one of my favorite commentators because he approaches it with all sincerity and offers fresh insights based on his vast experience on many issues.

 

[Evermind]

Shastri never keeps me engaged. He always gushes like a schoolgirl when India are doing slightly above average - it's irritating. Same case as Healy, Slater, etc. There's no analysis whatsoever, no wit, nothing.

Chappell will state the obvious in the most boring manner possible. The guy could play a mean game of cricket but he has little to offer as a commentator IMO.