Best(current) commentators

[Pothas]

If we include radio then Vic Marks is easily the best, after him then Nasser and Athers as everyone has said.

Butcher and Key are both really good but still largely confined to the studio. Love Bob, Sky have really found the perfect role for him.

 

[weldone]

Among Idians, I like Gavaskar, Ganguly and to an extent Bhogle.

 

[Pothas]

I have actually liked Nicholas this series, it might be because the rest of Ch9 is so unrelentingly Australian but have actually started looking forward to his stints.

 

[dermo]

i enjoy bhogle on the radio out here, dravid was good also

 

[weldone]

i enjoy bhogle on the radio out here, dravid was good also

Ya Dravid is not bad, but a bit boring sometimes.

 

[duffer]

What happened to Kasper in the Foxtel box? Give me the Foxtel guys over the C9's any day of the week.

 

[duffer]

Ya Dravid is not bad, but a bit boring sometimes.

Heh, sounds like a critique of his whole career.

 

[Dan]

I was listening to ABC Grandstand this afternoon, and they had Jarrod Kimber in with Jim Maxwell. Very good combination. Then Danny Morrison came in for Kimber and was actually pretty good.

 

[Athlai]

I was listening to ABC Grandstand this afternoon, and they had Jarrod Kimber in with Jim Maxwell. Very good combination. Then Danny Morrison came in for Kimber and was actually pretty good.

Danny Morrison is just elaborately trolling us all.

 

[morgieb]

Call me crazy but I genuinely believe most commentators at least know something about the game....they just often don't show it.

 

[Dan]

Danny Morrison is just elaborately trolling us all.

Like his start threatened to be a bit IPL/TV-y in nature, but he reigned himself back and had a pretty decent overview discussion of the NZ Test with Maxwell. Probably helped that Maxwell called the boundaries being hit, not Danny.

 

[vic_orthdox]

Yeah, Morrison was handle-able on ABC today.

 

[GotSpin]

Answer is obvious. the great kerry o keeffe

 

[andmark]

Best: Gower, Athers, Nasser, Nick Knight, Warne (when there is a spin bowler bowling)

Worst: Dravid (boring and struck me as being stuck-up), Bob Willis (boring, aggressive old man on a par with Victor Meldrew), Michael Holding (WI's answer to Bob Willis, acted as if Stuart Broad was the first person ever to not walk- seemed to ignore England needing to review a Brad Haddin edge to dismiss him)

 

[Arachnodouche]

Broadcasters take the easy way out by dumping ex players into the commentary box. But commentary requires a somewhat different, more literary skillset, in addition to knowledge of the game. Having players do guest spots for their insight is great but having to sit through subcontinental players drone on in their second, often third, language is painful. Unfortunately, it seems like a natural career progression for former cricketers these days.

Even studio presenters have gone potty over time. I remember people like Bruce/Brian Langley at Star Sports (then Prime Sports), John Dykes, even Charles Colville at Sky. They weren't astute readers of the game but they were low key and unabrasive with control over voice modulation. Subtlety has just gone out of the window over time.

 

[honestbharani]

Yeah.. John Dykes and Brian Langley were all kindsa awesome.. Think Dykes just moved back to the UK and hosting football shows, which he seemed to love more than cricket anyways...

 

[anil1405]

John Dykes hosts football shows for Indian viewers (and few other Asian countries I guess). He isn't the same as he used to be.

 

[BeeGee]

I can barely stand any of them. To me the question "who are the best current commentators?", is like asking me which are the best maggots on the rotting corpse of a dog.

These days I watch cricket almost exclusively with the mute on. If I had to pick one it would be Coney. Very intelligent, genuinely witty and with a deep knowledge of the game.

 

[SteveNZ]

Don't think Brayshaw's style is suited to TV. For mine he's just not very interesting to listen to, doesn't really add anything to the box and it's hard to be a play-by-play commentator in this sport.

This is probably right. I'm sure he could become good if he wasn't stuck amongst morons, and wasn't instructed by television execs to sprinkle adjectives broadly across every sentence. He's very good on the Footy Show and as I previously said, play-by-play radio. The Rub on Triple M is also consistently the funniest and best show on any format - and I don't even particularly like AFL.

 

[Spark]

This is probably right. I'm sure he could become good if he wasn't stuck amongst morons, and wasn't instructed by television execs to sprinkle adjectives broadly across every sentence. He's very good on the Footy Show and as I previously said, play-by-play radio. The Rub on Triple M is also consistently the funniest and best show on any format - and I don't even particularly like AFL.

See, the thing is that I'm pretty sure this applies to every single commentator in the C9 box. There's just something about the place which makes otherwise sharp cricket brains turn to guffawing children, and a lot of us think we know what that something is.

Can't get people calling Dravid boring, though.