The Ashes Commentary Thread

[howardj]

Warnie will be joining SKY from Lords onwards.

ANd how utterly dire is MacGill on SBS.

Compare him to Nick McArdle hosting on Fox

You don't appreciate how difficult it is to host one of those things until you see a clutz like MacGill try to sound natural while talking to the camera.

 

[Pothas]

Any idea why Bob Willis seems to have been demoted from his commentary position with Sky? I always liked listening to him more than most of the others

As for the Sky Commentators, I think they are all for the most part pretty good, Channel 5 on the other hand is a different matter entirely, I can't stand Mark Nicholas, Simon Hughes is awful as well, and Boycott is indeed very irritating.

Best commentary however in my opinion is on the radio, wish we got Jonathan Agnew on TV.

Shame about Simon Hughes because he is a very interesting person to listen and read about cricket, he is just pretty poor at commentating. Much better when he was just the analyst.

 

[frey]

Stuart McGill has progress from awkward to just slightly awkward on the SBS coverage. I thought Simon Hill did a top job last time round, even if he did support the wrong team!

Agree. Also, Greg Matthews provided quite an interesting analysis of play during the lunch and tea breaks of the SBS First Test television coverage. As I tend to switch back and forth between Fox Sport and SBS, it should be noted that Mark Waugh (Fox) is great value. As a recent player I guess, he provides quite a strong understanding of the state of play, and the strengths and weaknesses of players in each side.

 

[zaremba]

Shame about Simon Hughes because he is a very interesting person to listen and read about cricket, he is just pretty poor at commentating. Much better when he was just the analyst.

Very true. Great "analyst", but quite surprisingly it turns out that he's completely out of his depth as a commentator.

 

[Richard]

Boycs has a point in a situation like this, but in general I think he just damages English cricket from the roots up with his insistence that it's somehow better to get out playing a defensive shot than an attacking one.

Well it does mean you're less likely to have done something wrong TBH, but given that you can only make the choice of which shot to play based on what ball you receive it's pretty moot either way.

Seriously though, have you read from some people who've been coached by him? The insistence that he understands and believes in the virtues of only the forward-defence is quite wrong. Boycott is an excellent understander of the art of batting.

 

[Richard]

I take it you're not serious.

They should get some tips off Australia if that's the case, they seem to have chosen a 'good ball' twice. If they were using Gabba balls they'd have some reason to complain.

I've personally never been involved in a game where a ball did nothing at all for the whole innings. Although it would be strange if bowlers of that caliber got nothing out of it.

I've been involved in several - in fact one was just last Saturday. And no, it wasn't because I was doing anything different - I bowled exactly as I always bowl, and it did sod-all, where usually it'll do plenty.

It's not a case of getting tips, just about whether you pick lucky. There's no way of knowing how much a ball is or isn't going to do until you bowl with it. Really, bowlers should just be allowed to try a delivery or four with a ball before choosing whether they're going to use it.

 

[Richard]

Best commentary however in my opinion is on the radio, wish we got Jonathan Agnew on TV.

I'm not sure if the likes of Aggers, CMJ and Henry would be suited to TV TBH. The reason they're so good is that they can build a picture of the scene with words - something TV alleviates the need for.

 

[Richard]

Very true. Great "analyst", but quite surprisingly it turns out that he's completely out of his depth as a commentator.

On (I think) his first tour as an actual commentator, in Pakistan in 2000/01 (where Dermot Reeve and himself did the entire series, as well as the next one in Sri Lanka, as well as the accompanying ODIs on both tours), I thought as much.

One such moment was "I think there's only Thorpe and our cameraman know where that shot went!"

 

[four_or_six]

Well it does mean you're less likely to have done something wrong TBH, but given that you can only make the choice of which shot to play based on what ball you receive it's pretty moot either way.

Seriously though, have you read from some people who've been coached by him? The insistence that he understands and believes in the virtues of only the forward-defence is quite wrong. Boycott is an excellent understander of the art of batting.

He's also given plenty of praise for the way KP plays in the past. I think all he's trying to say is that players should be able to adjust their games according to the situation, not that they should block all the time. And that seems fair enough.

 

[Uppercut]

Well it does mean you're less likely to have done something wrong TBH, but given that you can only make the choice of which shot to play based on what ball you receive it's pretty moot either way.

Seriously though, have you read from some people who've been coached by him? The insistence that he understands and believes in the virtues of only the forward-defence is quite wrong. Boycott is an excellent understander of the art of batting.

I don't doubt his knowledge of the game, but I think his attitude is either a cause or a symptom of severe negativity that damages English cricket. I don't think it's a coincidence that your undisputed best batsman is not English, is the most attacking one in the team, and is also (somehow) the one who draws the most criticism.

There's an attitude here that if you get out trying to score runs you've "thrown your wicket away" or "played a silly shot and let the team down" and that's not good for business. You're much better served stonewalling and waiting for the bowler to nick you out.

 

[GIMH]

I don't doubt his knowledge of the game, but I think his attitude is either a cause or a symptom of severe negativity that damages English cricket. I don't think it's a coincidence that your undisputed best batsman is not English, is the most attacking one in the team, and is also (somehow) the one who draws the most criticism.

There's an attitude here that if you get out trying to score runs you've "thrown your wicket away" or "played a silly shot and let the team down" and that's not good for business. You're much better served stonewalling and waiting for the bowler to nick you out.

?

James Michael "Jimmy" Anderson (born 30 July 1982 in Burnley, Lancashire) is an English cricketer. He plays first-class cricket for Lancashire County Cricket Club and since bursting onto the scene in 2002/03, before his first full season of county cricket, Anderson has represented England in 30 Test matches and over 100 One Day Internationals.[2]

 

[Richard]

I don't doubt his knowledge of the game, but I think his attitude is either a cause or a symptom of severe negativity that damages English cricket.

I think unfounded talk of severe negativity damages English cricket more than any negativity does TBH. Some people believe that negativity is the cause of all evil in cricket - it just isn't true. A good batsman has as much chance of succeeding playing expansively as playing circumspectly - it just depends on what style comes best to him.

I don't think it's a coincidence that your undisputed best batsman is not English, is the most attacking one in the team, and is also (somehow) the one who draws the most criticism.

Pietersen draws criticism when he's out to good bits of bowling without - in that shot - trying to play particularly expansively. See the Headingley second-innings last summer for instance.

Pietersen is just one of those unfortunate souls who people like to criticise. Doubtless to some extent it's self-inflicted. But it happens just about all the time. Pietersen is the sort of batsman who people expect 150 off every time he walks to the crease.

There's an attitude here that if you get out trying to score runs you've "thrown your wicket away" or "played a silly shot and let the team down" and that's not good for business. You're much better served stonewalling and waiting for the bowler to nick you out.

As much in the other direction in my experience. Players criticised for not looking to impose themselves hard enough.

 

[zaremba]

gimh

 

[zaremba]

On (I think) his first tour as an actual commentator, in Pakistan in 2000/01 (where Dermot Reeve and himself did the entire series, as well as the next one in Sri Lanka, as well as the accompanying ODIs on both tours), I thought as much.

One such moment was "I think there's only Thorpe and our cameraman know where that shot went!"

Blimey. Must have been knackering. I wonder where Dermot Reeve got all the energy from?

 

[Richard]

But you don't wonder where Yoz got it?

 

[zaremba]

Pietersen is the sort of batsman who people expect 158 off every time he walks to the crease.

Fixed (predictably)

 

[GIMH]

Enjoying Warne, just like listening to him tbh, brings a bit of balance as well as he is unashamedly biased, but fair at the same time

Also, Charles Colville just labelled Mitchell Johnson's bowling as "tosh"

 

[zaremba]

Enjoying Warne, just like listening to him tbh, brings a bit of balance as well as he is unashamedly biased, but fair at the same time

Also, Charles Colville just labelled Mitchell Johnson's bowling as "tosh"

I've rarely seen such a lot of tosh from a non-English frontline bowler as I've seen from Johnson in the last Test and a half. The good wicket-taking balls notwithstanding.

Colvile isn't as crap as he used to be. One cricket fanzine in the early 90s used to refer to him as "That Dickhead Colvile" or TDC for short which always struck me as entirely apt. But since then I've come to accept him, much as one might, I suppose, learn to live with a chronic social disease.

 

[irfan]

Sky is soooooooo much better than C9 that it makes me cry thinking about having to listen to Bill, Tony and Healy.

AWTA Bumble, Nass and Holding **** all over the C9 crew

 

[howardj]

my god, macgill is painful to watch.

it's like looking a train wreck - you know you shouldn't, but there's a macabre thing that makes you.