commentary complaints thread

[Burgey]

Radio is much harder to do, and a lot of the guys who are on TV would fill the "expert" chair on it rather than the ball-by-ball stuff, which is where the real skill is - painting the word picture and, as Alan McGilvray used to say, never be beaten by the roar of the crowd when a wicket falls or a boundary is hit.

 

[Smudge]

Warney just gets the basics wrong.

For example there were a bunch of guys in the crowd at the Gabba wearing pink halter tops and he described them as mankinis, FFS. That's worse than not knowing the LBW law.

 

[Uppercut]

In part its because most modern commentators are petrified of 'dead air' imo and so aim to convey as much as possible to the audience to keep them 'engaged'. Paradoxically, this comes across as forced and is often peppered with cliched-ridden 'bants', which any viewer/listener with any semblance of intelligence can detect a mile away and tune out

Yeah I mentioned the dying art of silence in Holding's retirement thread. It's the biggest thing setting the last generation of commentators apart from this one IMO.

On radio dead air is jarring, so hardly a surprise that some people who are terrible on TV are fine on radio.

 

[Shady Slim]

the only worse thing than a bloke who spouts nothing but cliches is someone who spouts cliches he came up with himself and he thinks are cool.

why you gotta do me like that

 

[Spikey]

In american sports they have moved away from ex players to ex major league coaches. And would like to see the same thing in Cricket. Ex players are athletes first and foremost and have no analytical capabilities. Listening to ex athletes/players dissect sports is poor. Ex coaches have fascinating views and are far more cerebral individuals. The average IQ of the ex players commentators would be 100 to 110 at most which is the average IQ for a human being. The average IQ for a coach would be 130 plus and would have far more interest in listening to their views. Any comment the ex players make is usually a huge captain obvious comment. That is my rant on commentators.

well yeah but the new coaches getting hired nowadays are just ex star players too

 

[Hurricane2]

Warney just gets the basics wrong.

For example there were a bunch of guys in the crowd at the Gabba wearing pink halter tops and he described them as mankinis, FFS. That's worse than not knowing the LBW law.

I want to have my say about commentators getting things wrong

nothing irritates me more
1) calling the batsman by the wrong name
“Swann defends pleasantly” when the batsman is actually Michael Vaughan and Swann is at the non strikers end
2) using the word timing or specifically bad timing when the batsman miss hit the ball badly but may have timed it well
3) saying the wrong score

Other pet peeves
1) when mark Waugh criticises a dasher for being impetuous on his dismissal.
“I liked all his shots and how he got to 26 runs off 17 balls in this test match but his final shot where he got out was injudicious and he should have blocked that one
2) commentators going ballistic when the new ball isn’t taken right away
3) commentators getting bored and agitated by how slow the batting is when a team is trying to draw
the game

 

[mr_mister]

He's sort of like Spark. His jokes have less of a chance of landing than a passenger airliner on 911.

My word. Somebody put this boy in the naughty corner!

 

[karan_fromthestands]

Warnie: "Pitch it up Pitch it up Pitch it up "

And every time the bowlers pitch it up they get hit for runs on this deck .

 

[SteveNZ]

1) when mark Waugh criticises a dasher for being impetuous on his dismissal.
“I liked all his shots and how he got to 26 runs off 17 balls in this test match but his final shot where he got out was injudicious and he should have blocked that one

This one gets me every time. It's incredible when they launch one into the stands, yet every time someone gets out it was the wrong ball to do it from and they should be ashamed of themselves.

I also enjoyed Warney yesterday when he tried to add together the balls hitting the stumps and those that weren't, and got a number that wasn't even close to what the actual figure was.

And he thought he was hilarious with the 'Daniel san' bit over and over for Broad. Jeepers he knows cricket but he's a woeful TV commentator.

 

[RossTaylorsBox]

3) commentators getting bored and agitated by how slow the batting is when a team is trying to draw
the game

Are there comms who still do this? We've had a bunch of great drawn blockathons.

 

[Uppercut]

Ian Chappell was always terrible for confusing ‘it bores me’ with ‘it’s bad cricket’. They all do it occasionally.

 

[Line and Length]

Damien Fleming talking rubbish again. You don't avoid no-balls by taking smaller steps. You adjust your marker (move it back 10cm) but maintain your normal run-up.

 

[Starfighter]

Damien Fleming talking rubbish again. You don't avoid no-balls by taking smaller steps. You adjust your marker (move it back 10cm) but maintain your normal run-up.

I reckon a lot of people stretch a bit when they do that. That said changing your stride length is a horrendous idea.

 

[Adders]

I'd quite like to do physical harm to Mark Waugh

 

[GotSpin]

I'd quite like to do physical harm to Mark Waugh

Mark Waugh is a great commentator

 

[Adders]

Ok

 

[Teja.]

Are there comms who still do this? We've had a bunch of great drawn blockathons.

Basically every Australian 90s-00s gen commentator including the half decent ones like Ponting were whinging about Pujara's scoring rate while he won match after match in Australia over the last few years. It was embarrassing from a second hand perspective to see them not adapt in the least by the 20/21 tour considering he made about 3000 runs in the 18/19 series in Australia.

 

[Stefan9]

Most tv commentators aren't appointed because they are any good. They get the gigs cause they are part of that nations national team old boys club.

 

[GotSpin]

Most tv commentators aren't appointed because they are any good. They get the gigs cause they are part of that nations national team old boys club.

Hmmm that doesn’t sound right. You sure?

 

[burr]

Listening to 7 yesterday there is a lot of dead-weight: Botham, Fleming, Mitchell, Hayden, Blewett, Brayshaw.

I have always loved Tim Lane since his ABC days. Such a good commentator. A bit wasted on tv though.