Rank your country's commentary team

[archie mac]

ABC Radio

Agnew = 7.5 - chatty style and unbiased makes him a quality commentator
Jim Maxwell = 7 - has been around since the early 70s, can become excited when there in no need. 'he smashes that ball, what a shot. and the batsman take a single'.
Kerry O'Keefe = 7 - funny, which is entertaining but makes some big statements writing off players who then score a ton or take a Michelle
Geoff Lawson = 6 - knows his stuff but can be too negative on occasions
Border = 7 some good insights and more than happy to talk about his own career and experiences

Channel 9 - commentators seem to be more an more over the top trying to make everything exciting. I like Ian Chappell though

 

[OverratedSanity]

He doesn't do commentary much, does he? I do remember in 1996 world cup he was in the box during the famous Prasad/Sohail incident. It was hilarious how Imran went from "he's very good competitor" to "quite unnecessary" in space of one ball.

.

That was hilarious!
It was actually I'm the space of about two seconds or so. When the replay showing Sohail pointing the bat at Prasad came on he was practically giggling at the situation.
He wasn't that good even apart from that though

 

[OverratedSanity]

Just heard Wasim Akram refer to the drinks break as a water break.
"Everyone was anticipating the water break"
Oh dear

 

[Prince EWS]

Just heard Wasim Akram refer to the drinks break as a water break.
"Everyone was anticipating the water break"
Oh dear

You're watching cricket? Which game?

 

[SeamUp]

SuperSport

Mpumelelo Mbangwa : 9/10 - Clean pure voice, his moments of excitement are good value. Knows the game well.
Robin Jackman : (7/10) - Old Jackers getting on a bit now. Enjoy his stories from his Surrey days, Rhodesia days and WP days but the smokes and whisky has effected his health and in turn the scratchy voice. But still worth a good listen.
Kepler Wessels: (7/10) - Might be a big biased c**t to some but the bloke says what is on his mind and doesn't hold back. Can make for some good listening. He was a shrewd captain and knows the game inside out.
Shaun Pollock: (9/10) - My personal favourite. His jokes can be corky but love his bowling analysis. Think a lot of people respect his comm work already in a short space of time.
HD Ackerman: (8/10) - All round good guy. Can overthink things possibly and the negative jokes about himself can be a bit much. But loves the game, knows the game well and generally speaks a good game.
Mike Haysman: (6/10) - Used to like the guy and used like his comm work. Maybe the time in States has dropped him off a bit. Not sure what it is but he gets irritating sometimes listening to him now.

 

[OverratedSanity]

You're watching cricket? Which game?

Masterclass session with Akram on star sports explaining conventional and reverse swing. Pretty good

 

[OverratedSanity]

SuperSport

Mpumelelo Mbangwa : 9/10 - Clean pure voice, his moments of excitement are good value. Knows the game well.

Mbangwa's a solid 2 imo.

 

[SeamUp]

Mbangwa's a solid 2 imo.

Tbh, never had any hate for his work.

 

[Agent Nationaux]

Out of all the commentary teams the most biased is RSA. Kapler Is a ****.

 

[nightprowler10]

I do remember in 1996 world cup he was in the box during the famous Prasad/Sohail incident. It was hilarious how Imran went from "he's very good competitor" to "quite unnecessary" in space of one ball.

As much as I try to forget, I remember that well.

 

[sledger]

Dermot Reeve is the best commentator.

 

[dhillon28]

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

Sunil Gavaskar- one of my favourite commentators as he's willing to make the tough comments for and against india, has reputation for being biased but is actually quite fair and gives credit where it is due. Also helps that he is a living legend and has great stories to tell- bit like India's answer to Ian Chappel 7/10

Ravi Shastri- used to be really good and enthusiastic- but now is just an obvious BCCI puppet that his commentary has lost credibility- still better than most though and is generally very fare 5/10

Laxman Shivaramakrishan- really excellent analyiss of game, especially on technical tips against spin bowling as he is a great reader of the game- unfortunately his hideously annoying accent just wipes out any good that he does 5/10

Sourav Ganguly- quite boring but fair 5/10

Rahul Dravid- solid commentator who gives useful technical and mental insight 6.5/10

Sanjay Manjrekar- gives good technical insight but is biased towards India and cant help but orgasming on screen when India bat well

Navjot Sidhu- talks too much 5/10

VVS Laxman- the less said the better 3/10

 

[BeeGee]

I'll have to take your word for it on the comparison, but when Coney has been on TMS he has been superb

He is that rare combination of an ex-player who is very intelligent, well spoken, genuinely funny and has a deep knowledge and understanding of the game.

Listening to him right now on radio sport, calling the WI v NZ test.

 

[hendrix]

How you can give Sourav Ganguly and Navjot Sidhu the same score is beyond me.

 

[smash84]

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

Sunil Gavaskar- one of my favourite commentators as he's willing to make the tough comments for and against india, has reputation for being biased but is actually quite fair and gives credit where it is due. Also helps that he is a living legend and has great stories to tell- bit like India's answer to Ian Chappel 7/10

Ravi Shastri- used to be really good and enthusiastic- but now is just an obvious BCCI puppet that his commentary has lost credibility- still better than most though and is generally very fare 5/10

Laxman Shivaramakrishan- really excellent analyiss of game, especially on technical tips against spin bowling as he is a great reader of the game- unfortunately his hideously annoying accent just wipes out any good that he does 5/10

Sourav Ganguly- quite boring but fair 5/10

Rahul Dravid- solid commentator who gives useful technical and mental insight 6.5/10

Sanjay Manjrekar- gives good technical insight but is biased towards India and cant help but orgasming on screen when India bat well

Navjot Sidhu- talks too much 5/10

VVS Laxman- the less said the better 3/10

My assessment of your country's commentary team would be very very different to yours

 

[Daemon]

dhillon28 - the most annoying poster on cricketweb- trys to show off all the time about how good his knowledge is and actually pokes fun at some of the commentators despite never being a professional himself- what gives this idiot the righ to talk- the sooner he is removed from cw the better 0/10

 

[Athlai]

Solid early signs from Chris Cairns. Any word on how Cumming went didn't get too much of him when I was watching.

I personally rate Doully and Richardson as being an enjoyable combination but I don't really rate any other current Kiwi commentators.

 

[Langeveldt]

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..

 

[burr]

I think all commentators these days are far too open with their biases. This includes radio, where I think it has noticeably increased with people like Vaughn and Boycott's hugely irritating and incessant use of 'we' in reference to England. I don't accept the argument "you can't pretend not to support your country" either. They can support a team/players all they want off air but on air they're paid to do a job and I don't want them irritating me with their subtle/not so subtle barracking.

And I've said it before but someone needs to employ Mark Butcher more regularly. He's great on cricinfo.

FInally, I agree with people who have said Coney is excellent.

 

[Burgey]

I used to enjoy the old ABC radio days when all the commentators except for Alan McIlvray had names which were both first names. Tim Lane, Neville Oliver and Jim Maxwell were sometimes all on during Tests

Agree with Burr that the single most irritating thing in cricket comentary these days is the cheerleading. It's real lowest common denominator stuff. I acknowledge one of my faves, Bill Lawry, has always done it, but he was the exception to the rule for years before the likes of Healy, Tubby and Slats got into it.