Rank your country's commentary team

[Carn_the_pies]

Slats and Heals the finest callers in the country by a country mile

And if you think I'm serious then you are a flog.

 

[karan316]

I wouldn't say a lot of negative stuff about Bhogle's commentary tbh. He speaks from the point of view of a cricket enthusiast(which is refreshing for a change) rather than trying to sound like a veteran cricketer. And he is allright, much better than Gavaskar, Shastri or Siva.

 

[OverratedSanity]

I wouldn't say a lot of negative stuff about Bhogle's commentary tbh. He speaks from the point of view of a cricket enthusiast(which is refreshing for a change) rather than trying to sound like a veteran cricketer. And he is allright, much better than Gavaskar, Shastri or Siva.

Yeah I've never found him terrible. And you're right that he speaks like an enthusiast. He never really tries to speak like an expert of the game at all, which I appreciate. That said, he's just bland, and safe. Nothing really to loathe but no big positives either

 

[Spark]

I'm actually finding this year especially that Nicholas is, every now and then, deviating from his usual hyperbolic style to talk about some really interesting technical points (before reverting to norm).

 

[sledger]

I'm actually finding this year especially that Nicholas is, every now and then, deviating from his usual hyperbolic style to talk about some really interesting technical points (before reverting to norm).

I've found that about him for quite a while to be honest. He's invariably at his best when he's not trying to be himself.

When he's being sensible he actually discusses things in a very interesting way, but sadly most of the time it's just "oh yah, crackerjack shot over thar, I'm the funny Englishman har har".

 

[Spark]

Yeah he's always someone who's struck me as actually knowing a hell of a lot about cricket, but never letting the audience see that fact.

 

[mullarkey]

I move all over the place but I have watched and listened to cricket on all the networks.. I think the standard of commentary is decreasing.. I guess as the game sells out to T20 and AFL we don't need quality any more, but thats another discussion.

The Best
Victor Marks (UK) - The best summariser in the business. Nice soft Somerset twang, nothing is over the top, and oozes knowledge and class 10/10
Jonathon Agnew (UK) - BBC's cricket correspondent, the frontman of their coverage. Knowledgeable, friendly, concise. Does often labour points however and gives women's cricket more time than it deserves, given that not even women really watch it, but he is probably told to do that by people higher up. 9/10
Jeremy Coney (NZ) 10/10
Richie Benaud (AUS) 10/10

The Middle
Jim Maxwell (AUS) - 7/10
Mark Nicholas (UK/AUS) - Used to really dislike his work but he has some decent things to say. Just goes over the top a bit 5/10
Robin Jackman (UK/RSA) - 5/10

The Bottom
Henry Blofeld (UK) 4/10 - Was probably good about 20 years ago, but now embarrassingly inept at getting things right. Probably a hoot over a glass of Veuve-Cliqout
Mpumelelo Mbangwa (ZIM) 1/10 - Nice guy, but just cant take his simple, laboured, stating the bleeding obvious style
Shaun Pollock (RSA) 1/10 - See above
Danny Morrison (NZ) 0/10 - The only way Ashes Cricket 2013 could have been any worse, was if they hired this buffoon to commentate. Go home

I always mute the BCCI commentary so I have no opinion on them, but they probably are nowhere near as good as their cricket team..

Glad that Vic Marks got a mention I could listen to his voice all day.

 

[ohnoitsyou]

Doull-6.5 Generally has a good analysis of the game, especially regarding bowling but he just doesn't have a clue about team selections.

Richardson 5- Generally alight but can come of as a bumbling idiot.

Cummings-5 Seems alight but is still in the newbie don't talk to much or debate anything mode.

McMillan-4 The way he views the game is very similar to the way he played it.

Morrison-1 Whatever you say about him, he is enthusiastic.

Smith-0.1 A bumbling idiot. Doesn't even try to create proper sentences as opposed to Morrison who is simply unable to do so. Mohammed Yousaf Drops Catch after seeing bikini girl. - YouTube being a prime example of his incompetence.

 

[karan316]

If you want to start HATING cricket, than you should listen to Rohan Gavaskar's commentary.
M sure most of you haven't heard him. And it is clear that its something that he isn't comfortable with.

Yesterday in a Ranji trophy match, when a batsman got out he said "he is a gonzo". Now what does that mean.

 

[smash84]

If you want to start HATING cricket, than you should listen to Rohan Gavaskar's commentary.
M sure most of you haven't heard him. And it is clear that its something that he isn't comfortable with.

Yesterday in a Ranji trophy match, when a batsman got out he said "he is a gonzo". Now what does that mean.

 

[Daemon]

If you want to start HATING cricket, than you should listen to Rohan Gavaskar's commentary.
M sure most of you haven't heard him. And it is clear that its something that he isn't comfortable with.

Yesterday in a Ranji trophy match, when a batsman got out he said "he is a gonzo". Now what does that mean.

Yeah he did that in the last game too. "He is a gonzo. Ohh he is an absolute gonzo". Did it twice in half an hour.

 

[Jono]

Harsha Bhogle- the most annoying commentator in world cricket- trys to show off all the time about how good his english is and actually pokes fun at some of the players despite never being a professional himself- is bad enough when boycott overly criticises but at least he played at the highest level- what gives this idiot the right to talk- the sooner he is removed from Tv the better 0/10

The fact he's (a) being paid to do it, and (b) many people are listening and care what he says.

I'm not his biggest fan by any stretch, feel he was good on radio a decade ago and now sucks. But just because he didn't play doesn't mean he doesn't have the right to criticise hacks.

 

[Beamer]

Just thought I'd rate the West Indian commentators as nobody else seems to have done:

Ian Bishop - Simply brilliant and utterly professional. My favourite by far. Has a close relationship with the players still so has a good insight into what they and the West Indies camp is thinking. He provides brilliant analysis of fast bowling actions (as you would expect given his experience). He has also been right on a number of occasions recently which helps. Most notably the T20 WC final when he said our 140 total was extremely competitive and might even be a winning one when all the other comms thought it was just under par.

Tony Cozier - Seen it all and thus has an amazing wealth of experience to call upon. I have thoroughly enjoyed his commentating over the years. Has a bit of a reputation amongst West Indies fans for taking a West Indian wicket as soon as his commentary stint starts...a tad unfair considering the quality of our batting over the last decade, anyone could be accused of that! I do think 15 years of demoralising defeats have finally taken its toll on him and he tends to be overly negative these days which is both depressing and unpleasant to listen to.

Michael Holding - I like him mostly, he has a good cricket brain and never sits on the fence with his opinions. Non West Indians seem to like his Jamaican accent. I couldn't possibly comment on that. He has had a few annoyingly stubborn performances over issues that upset him (e.g Carl Hoopers return as captain, Marlon Samuels banning, Chris Gayle not being selected etc).

Jeffrey Dujon - Really don't like him as a commentator. Makes lots of mistakes, gets confused about basic cricketing rules like the ball 'pitching outside off' for an lbw decision. Also says the same thing everytime someone gets out palpably lbw ..'a man fixing a pipe couldn't be plumber than that'. Snore!

Fazeer Mohammed - Overly aggressive, disparaging of current players and incredibly negative. He is an excellent speaker and I used to enjoy his commentary. But now he is another one who has allowed all these defeats to make him overly negative. Like a Harsha Bhogle who has woken up on the wrong side of bed.

Darren Ganga - Early days but I really like him as a commentator so far. Passionate but fair to the opposition and very knowledgeable. You can see why he was such a good captain.

I'd like to put a word in for the New Zealand commentary team for the first test. I really enjoyed listening to them, they came across as a friendly bunch, had some good banter but were ultimately pretty fair to both teams. Was pretty refreshing tbh, I think you guys are lucky to have such a solid group of commentators. They also chose to invite the correct West Indian commentator in Ian Bishop.

 

[smash84]

Jeffrey Dujon - Really don't like him as a commentator. Makes lots of mistakes, gets confused about basic cricketing rules like the ball 'pitching outside off' for an lbw decision. Also says the same thing everytime someone gets out palpably lbw ..'a man fixing a pipe couldn't be plumber than that'. Snore!

that was soooo corny that it was funny

 

[Beamer]

that was soooo corny that it was funny

The first time I heard it I s******ed slightly. When it's used for every lbw that is clearly out though, it gets a bit annoying.

Edit: I guess I'll have to change this word to giggled......

 

[salman85]

Ramiz 8/10.
I like him.,but he tries so awfully hard to sound not biased when Pakistan play,it's appalling.It's fair to say that he is biased towards being biased.Other than this,he's pretty good IMO.Never dull, always sounds fresh and makes the match pretty enjoyable.

Amir Sohail -1/10
Yes.That's a negative 1.Worst commentator ever.Needs a new set of vocal chords, a new brain, and a LOT less hate towards every cricket administrator in the country to become even remotely good.

Wasim 6/10
Poor english grammar.Makes some glaring errors at times,which IMO is a complete no for any commentator.He generally talks sense, and his insight is always interesting, but the grammatical errors ruin it for me.

Chishty Mujahid 6/10.
Very knowledgeable,knows Cricket,knows history,but he gets into every tedious detail in the field which is obviously down to his days as a radio commentator.He was an excellent radio commentator, but i don't think he's fit for TV.

Waqar Younis 6/10
Same as Wasim.Problems with Grammar.

Imran 5/10.
Only commentated a few matches,and i couldn't help but feel that he is more suited for the post and pre match analysis (which he did quite a few off in the last few years,and they were very enjoyable), not someone commentating on the live action.

Shoaib Akhtar has become a regular on the media these days,and it's pretty safe to assume that he will start commentating soon.However his English accent is pretty poor,and the grammar is worse than Wasim.If he can work on these two things,i think he'll make a very good commentator.Till then,he should stick to commentary/analysis in Urdu.

 

[smash84]

I see that your stint with the column writing seems to be rubbing off in your writing

 

[Camel 56]

The channel 9 commentary team in Australia has been going steadily downhill IMO. Now that Tony Greig is gone their performance can only be described as lifeless.

 

[OverratedSanity]

8 for Ramiz?

I've found him worse than Waqar and Wasim tbh... Atleast the W's ate extremely knowledgeable about swing bowling and several times can provide interesting technical insights. Ramiz just has better grammar but says nothing interesting. He suffers a bit from Bhogle syndrome... Speaks a lot, says very little

Agree with the rest though

 

[Senile Sentry]

Once you have been in a position for long it is assumed that you are very good thus although everyone else around the world can see how terrible you are. Conversely, those who are dropped by the wayside are quickly forgotten and no one amongst the masses wants to bat for them. This again applies at all levels, in cricket most of all to the players themselves. Power, position and money in our country are synonymous with quality and class. .

I don't think that's unique to India per se.