commentators

[anthonyalba]

brendon julian is knowledgable about the game from personal experience at the highest level.
he also has a pleasant personality.
he is a good commentator.
mel jones,danny morrison, harsha bogle - all set my teeth on edge.
They are bad commentators.

mel jones is next in line.
She drones on like an overbearing mother.
Just when you expect her to finish a sentence, she has another thought and drones on again.
And she commentates every womens game, the entire game without a break.
So i have to turn the volume off.
Worse still she also commentates mens games.

Gilchrist and okeefe and mark waugh are good commentators too.
mark 'howie' howard has no top level cricket experience.
thus his words are worthless and he shouldnt be a commentator. Noone cares what he has to say about cricket.
His one skill seems to be calling players by their nicknames as if theyre close personal friends of his.
They arent . They have to talk to him


commentators are supposed to describe the action but there is a modern trend for commentators to coach the teams playing.
As if the players on the field are listening instead of me the viewer.

i dont want or need to be coached. And its painful to listen to.
Commentators who coach me are bad commentators

once you notice this trend of commentators coaching its extremely irritating.
They arent even good coaches.

ive noticed mark waugh staying silent when another commentator tries to draw him into coaching.
I suspect mark waugh is alot smarter than he's given credit for

 

[Adders]

i dont want or need to be coached.

Quite right. That was your parents job and clearly they failed dismally.

 

[ashley bach]

Not saying Mark Howard is my cup of tea, but don't think you need to have been a great player to be a very good commentator.
Bring Bill Lawry back from retirement would be good.

 

[Shady Slim]

mark 'howie' howard has no top level cricket experience.
thus his words are worthless and he shouldnt be a commentator. Noone cares what he has to say about cricket.

lol you can count on one hand the people on this site who have top level cricket experience it's not a prerequisite buddy

 

[anthonyalba]

i forgot isha guha who is a good commentator but for one thing, she has to say EVERSO SLIGHTLY every 5 minutes.
i disagree about not needing tobe an explayer, ashley. Their technical knowledge is nonexistant as is their insightl
You might aswell listen to my opinions

 

[ataraxia]

You might aswell listen to my opinions

*shudders*

 

[ashley bach]

i forgot isha guha who is a good commentator but for one thing, she has to say EVERSO SLIGHTLY every 5 minutes.
i disagree about not needing tobe an explayer, ashley. Their technical knowledge is nonexistant as is their insightl
You might aswell listen to my opinions

Some people can have an almighty passion and knowledge for the game, and while being a player surely helps no doubt, it's not entirely impossible
to have great commentators without having actually been any good as a player.

 

[GoodAreasShane]

My biggest problem with Howard by far is that tendency he has to overpronounce pretty much any two syllable word. Hearing him talk about some guy apparently called Jonny Bair-Stow was especially dire. So too any BBL game he is on comms for between what he calls the Hurri-Canes and the Rene-Gades

Other than that I am largely ambivalent to him, but christ that habit he has is annoying

 

[Fuller Pilch]

i forgot isha guha who is a good commentator but for one thing, she has to say EVERSO SLIGHTLY every 5 minutes.
i disagree about not needing tobe an explayer, ashley. Their technical knowledge is nonexistant as is their insightl
You might aswell listen to my opinions

Not true at all. Professional media people are often better commentators than ex players. Veteran radio commentators such as Jim Maxwell and Bryan Waddle were a million times better than Brendon Julian, Isa Guha, Mark Waugh, and Mike Hussey will ever be.
The late great Tony Cozier was the best commentator I've ever heard (better than Benaud) and he didn't play much cricket.

 

[peterhrt]

Not true at all. Professional media people are often better commentators than ex players. Veteran radio commentators such as Jim Maxwell and Bryan Waddle were a million times better than Brendon Julian, Isa Guha, Mark Waugh, and Mike Hussey will ever be.
The late great Tony Cozier was the best commentator I've ever heard (better than Benaud) and he didn't play much cricket.

Agree. Professional broadcasting is a difficult job and very few ex-players are good at it.

Television companies seem to believe that their viewers want an “expert” with the credentials of having been there and done it. There is some truth in that, but not at the expense of good communication.

The perfect commentator does not exist. They will be knowledgeable but modest, articulate but understated, personable but not excitable. They will not be cheerleaders for their own team or try to be the centre of attention. They will have a sense of humour without indulging in tiresome in-jokes with their mates,

With no agenda of their own, or of their producer, they will be rounded personalities with an interest in the world beyond their sport, embracing other cultures. Above all they will appreciate the value of silence, and be aware that irritated viewers can easily turn off the sound and still understand pretty well what is going on.

A subjective view is that it is generally a pleasure to listen to Test commentary from New Zealand, South Africa and West Indies. The small crowds contribute towards an informal atmosphere which the commentators pick up on. Somehow the game there comes over as more important than the result.

 

[AndrewB]

Not true at all. Professional media people are often better commentators than ex players. Veteran radio commentators such as Jim Maxwell and Bryan Waddle were a million times better than Brendon Julian, Isa Guha, Mark Waugh, and Mike Hussey will ever be.
The late great Tony Cozier was the best commentator I've ever heard (better than Benaud) and he didn't play much cricket.

Similarly John Arlott (AIUI) wasn't even particularly good by club cricket standards.

 

[FBU]

mel jones,danny morrison, harsha bogle - all set my teeth on edge.
They are bad commentators

Agree with those 3.

 

[SillyCowCorner1]

An impartial Indian commentator these days is an oxymoron

 

[Burgey]

Veteran radio commentators such as Jim Maxwell and Bryan Waddle were a million times better

Bryan Waddle with not so much a chip as a seven storey building on his shoulder every time he commentates an Aus-NZ game. It's like @SteveNZ has been given a mic.

 

[honestbharani]

An impartial commentator is an oxymoron

ftfy

 

[TheJediBrah]

your face is an oxymoron

 

[Zinzan]

Bryan Waddle with not so much a chip as a seven storey building on his shoulder every time he commentates an Aus-NZ game.

Yep Waddle grates & has always had an enormous inferiority complex with Australia.

Coney was the best on radio for insights & rhetoric.

 

[ashley bach]

Bryan Waddle with not so much a chip as a seven storey building on his shoulder every time he commentates an Aus-NZ game. It's like @SteveNZ has been given a mic.

This is so on the money regarding Waddle, he bitched and moaned about anything he could think of, which is probably why I enjoyed listening to him
rave on, just for the laugh of it.

 

[thierry henry]

Always remember Waddle's commentary when Shoaib Akhtar was destroying NZ in Pakistan circa 2002 (possibly the test before the tour was abandoned). Akhtar would clean bowl some sucker and Waddle would say in a mocking, sarcastic way something along the lines of "and Akhtar has taken another meaningless wicket with a blatant chuck, can't wait until this test is over, what a farce". Was like me commentating on an England match.

 

[Aidan11]

Michael Vaughan put in his place.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1748809529595224185