Commentary thread

[theegyptian]

Well they did lose most of the time. It's typical British self deprecating humour.

 

[91Jmay]

I don't know that I can buy it from Strauss.

 

[Biryani Pillow]

Listening to TMS for the first time in ages........how the **** can anyone enjoy Blowers?? He's hurting my ears!!

I agree.

I rarely listen to TMS now The time difference between the radio and TV signal stops the old habit of 'radio on, TV sound off' when John Arlott, Johnners or Aggers came on mike.

Blowers used to be quite good but now he seems much louder and, quite frankly, a caricature of himself.

Bumble has to be careful not to do this - I like his work, even when he goes down some strange roads he can still talk a lot of sense andd conveys great enjoyment.

Boycott is OK but does tend to get on his hobby horses. A Boycs Drinking Game where you had to imbibe at the mention of rhubarb, his grandmother, Fred Trueman, Len Hutton, defensive shots or Brian Close would have youdrunk pretty quickly.

Warne is one who can bring up good points but can also spew a fair amount of rubbish - and he can be wound up very easily.

I'm generally not a fan of Hussain but he brings up the odd good point.

Of the TV commentators I think Michael Atherton is truly outstanding. An excellent analyst who never gets in to the "in my day" attitude, looks for the reasons behind field placings, bowling changes etc and has a gentle sense of humour.

I think Strauss will be good when he settles in. For now they could keep in 'in studio' for post match analysis and gradually feed him into live match coverage. Mind you, having an Ashes winning captain the temptation to put him in the commentary box was probably just too much.

 

[superkingdave]

Wtf was holding just talking about when he said something about England bowlers thinking the pitch in Barbados was flat but then Fidel Edwards bowled on it? Didn't we score 600-6 and 200-2 or something? Unless he was talking about the previous tour but then we bowled them out for 200 odd and 80 odd so we would have harldy thought it flat

 

[burr]

Someone needs to hire Butcher. He's great on cricinfo.

 

[Furball]

Mark Butcher? Sky have him.

 

[burr]

Oh do though, I don't have sky but I thought it was all Hussein, Atherton etc. Anyway, much less Botham and more Butcher.

 

[morgieb]

Mark Butcher? Sky have him.

Then why aren't they using him for the Tests?

 

[Cabinet96]

Because they think the other people are better...

He does most county games though, and is in the studio for many international games. Pretty good.

 

[Furball]

Then why aren't they using him for the Tests?

Because he mainly does county cricket/studio work in series where Sky's main team blatantly cbf.

 

[MW1304]

Key and Butcher together have been a great combo for a while.

 

[BoyBrumby]

Have to say, Channel 5 with Boycs, Hughes, Nicholas, Martyn and (to a much lesser extent) Vaughan has been good value this year.

 

[uvelocity]

which hughes? depending could be 2 worth listening to in that lineup along with martyn

 

[Cabinet96]

Simon.

 

[Arachnodouche]

Holding is boring to listen to now and keeps fumbling over his words.

I've started liking Strauss, though. Guy makes sense and those net sessions are awesome. Hasn't let retirement get to him either, very fit still.

Warne just needs to stfu. He's great and his tactical nous, at least where spin is concerned, is quite unparalleled - immediately sighting Cook playing in front and around to leg against Lyon. I love that sort of insight but god he talks nonstop.

Don't mind the rest on Sky.

 

[Maximas]

Strauss is valuable because he provides a recent insight into the England team, particularly into Cook's captaincy, but I don't particularly enjoy his analysis. Warne is good because the team needs an Australian voice, someone who has insight into the Australian way of playing cricket, he is also the spin guru, love his commentary. the rest of the sky team are OK, Athers and Nasser probably the best.

 

[Furball]

Strauss is good because he's not yet slipped into the "if I was captain I'd have 7 slips and would've declared 300 runs ago" mindset that seems to infect ex-captains when they hit the commentary box.

 

[Daemon]

Strauss is good because he's not yet slipped into the "if I was captain I'd have 7 slips and would've declared 300 runs ago" mindset that seems to infect ex-captains when they hit the commentary box.

So true. I just wish he had a better voice though

Really enjoy Nasser these days, and I'm starting to dislike Holding a bit. He was spouting some seriously unresearched rubbish about the DRS the other day, was speaking so confidently when anyone with half a brain knew he was wrong.

 

[Maximas]

Yep, Holding only good with the fast bowlers

 

[Furball]

So true. I just wish he had a better voice though

Really enjoy Nasser these days, and I'm starting to dislike Holding a bit. He was spouting some seriously unresearched rubbish about the DRS the other day, was speaking so confidently when anyone with half a brain knew he was wrong.

Yeah, I've gone off Holding quite a bit this series, although I can't really pinpoint why.

The other thing about Strauss I like is his insight into the dressing room. It's something I've always thought of Nasser Hussain as providing but it's only when I actually stop and think about it that I realise that actually, Hussain stopped being captain 10 years ago and only captained Jimmy Anderson (for all of 3 Tests) of the recent dressing room, and only really played alongside Strauss (1 Test) and Collingwood (couple of Tests and maybe some ODIs).