DoG's Top 100 Test Batsmen Countdown Thread

[Logan]

c u m m i n g?

Haha

 

[ataraxia]

Have you put > instead of < ?

Yes, thanks. Edited appropriately.

 

[TheJediBrah]

He was literally put on commentary suspension by the BCCI for being critical of Indian cricket.

Sycophant - no.

being critical of Indian cricket and being sycophantic to the players aren't mutually exclusive, and him being banned isn't proof of either being true or not

 

[honestbharani]

Jeez that rich coming from Bhogle, a bloke who basically gets on his knees and unzips every Indian player’s fly whenever he’s on commentary. The definition of a sycophantic non-expert.

Nah, that is you about the Aussie cricketers here.

 

[TheJediBrah]

Nah, that is you about the Aussie cricketers here.

do you have to?

 

[honestbharani]

But I can understand the hatred for the WC commentary. It is one thing to be like that for a home season like Channel 9 have been for ages but in a world tournament, you gotta be better.


That said, I don't think Flem had seen the 1999 WC semi-final and the absolute drivel we had to sit through from the likes of Bill Lawry. I was so happy that for the finals, Star Sports brought its own commentary team and we had Boycott, Dravid, Bhogle, Ian Chappell and a few others.

 

[honestbharani]

do you have to?

Its closer to reality than his statement, so yes.

 

[mr_mister]

Mate Bill Lawry lost his **** when Razzaq hit McGrath for five boundaries in an over

If you can't lose your mind in the '99 SF when can you lose your mind?

 

[honestbharani]

2019 WC final?

 

[mr_mister]

Rhetorical question pal

I have no issue with any Indian commentator fyi

 

[honestbharani]

Sure, but I agree with Flem though. There should be a difference between a home season host broadcaster commentary team and a global event commentary team. I believe there are usually instructions, direct or implied, with respect to bigging up the game and the home team and players for commercial reasons and certainly, I have seen it happen with both the Indian and the Aussie commentary teams. But for an ICC event, there should be some level of neutrality or at the very least, you should have enough representation so the bias can be from both sides.

I mean, as much as I hate that 99 WC semi, it did have Mike Procter shouting equally biased stuff about RSA, although to a much lesser antagonistic degree than Lawry was doing for Australia.

 

[TheJediBrah]

Channel 9 commentary team in Australia was always very one-sided. That was kind of their schtick, and they'd bring in 1 commentator from the touring country. They'd know next to nothing about the touring players unless they were huge names like Laxman, Tendulkar, Lara, Walsh etc. Wasn't as bad recently but I remember only a few years ago 1 or 2 of them had real trouble with Kane Williamson because they kept mistaking his name for the better known local player Kane Richardson lol

Would have looked worse if the Aus team didn't win nearly every game but still

 

[mr_mister]

It made it better imo. The passion came through with Procter and Lawry

And people praised Ian Smith for being impartial in that super over but imo I didn't get the vibe. He let off a very snarky 'it's in the rules look it up' or something similar when one commentator suggested the wide call on Archer was harsh

But yeah honestly it doesn't bother me I don't want robots

 

[TheJediBrah]

don't get me wrong, I didn't hate it. Bill Lawry was my boi

 

[honestbharani]

While they differ in degrees, all home broadcasters do that. Australia is usually the worst but others can be and often are, bad too. But there should be no way an ICC event should have that kind of one country centric commentary, especially at the KO stages. The commentators themselves should take that responsibility and at least try to maintain neutrality.

 

[honestbharani]

Never liked or cared for Bill Lawry's commentary. He was like the Channel 9 LS.

 

[mr_mister]

While they differ in degrees, all home broadcasters do that. Australia is usually the worst but others can be and often are, bad too. But there should be no way an ICC event should have that kind of one country centric commentary, especially at the KO stages. The commentators themselves should take that responsibility and at least try to maintain neutrality.

You'd have to be a very boring person to stay calm at the climax of either the '99 SF or the '19 final

These people aren't umpires or politicians why does it matter if they let their colours show

 

[honestbharani]

Again, no one is asking for calm. Just asking for some commentary without complete and unadulterated bias. You can surely try to bring in some amount of maturity when you are a professional.

 

[stephen]

So about Hutton...

Who do we have left?

Bradman
Smith
Lara
Sobers
Tendulkar
Hobbs
Sangakkara
Grace?
Kohli?

I've kinda lost track.

 

[TheJediBrah]

Surely Kohli can't be in the top 10?