Sky Sports commentry

[Beny]

Greg, we do lose the occasional match mate... I never 'groan' then. The Poms were virtualy calling the Aussies a bunch of washed up old cricketers. They made sure to compare the ages of the players for no particualr reason... Something which only the Poms ever do. That was just the tip of the Ice Berg, if you were hearing that commentry having never followed the game before, they might wonder why these silly Aussies were challanging the 'resurgant England'... It's rediculous. As I said I dont have any problems with a bit of bias in an international broadcast but this is getting to the point where the commontators are cheering on the English side and taking any chance possible to attack the Aussies.

[Seamer]

Originally Posted by greg

Your only moaning because you lost.If you had won you wouldn't even notice what the commentators were saying.

Not true. What about when Botham started carrying on about the England batting lineup when they looked like they might go down?
In any case, i detected little bias personally. David Gower is one of the true gentlemen of the game and one of my all time favorite cricketers - no bias there. While you can tell that Willis wants England wants to do well, his comments are pretty balanced. Holding does'nt care one way or another who wins and just comments on the game. Hussien has respect for Australia and does'nt seem to hold any bitterness.
Ian Botham - well i can't stand that guy because of his out of proportion ego and he just bags whichever team is playing poorly, be it England or Australia
All in all, i have no complaints to date

[Teatime FatCat]

Originally Posted by Beny

Greg, we do lose the occasional match mate... I never 'groan' then. The Poms were virtualy calling the Aussies a bunch of washed up old cricketers. They made sure to compare the ages of the players for no particualr reason... Something which only the Poms ever do.

No, wrong there I'm sure. Back in the early nineties when England took out Gooch and Gatt to tour OZ, I'm positive that the Aussie press and players touted the rather crap 'Dads Army' routine out then - so I guess that makes the commentary teams as bad as each other.

However, I would agree with Seamer that people like Gower, Benaud, Holding and even Mogodon Willis are pretty good about getting a balanced viewpoint over.

[Occasional Fan]

Originally Posted by Beny

Is anybody else getting really anoyed with the bias and often stupid commentry of these guys.

Beny - I haven't heard the Sky commentary, but if it's getting as one-eyed as Channel Nine does () you might want to try listening to the BBC commentary online. All the ODIs featuring England and all the tests are being broadcast on the web, and maybe also the Aus v Ban games. You'll find commentary at www.bbc.co.uk/fivelive, and you follow the links to Five Live Sports Extra. Just don't gum up the site so much that I can't get on, OK?

[Paoli]

As OF said, all commentators are biased. Try listening to Heals, Tubs, Bill Lawry (especially) on Channel 9. Of course they want Australia to win. So it's natural for Sky commentators to want England to win. The only thing is, I don't think the commentary is that good. I don't like Hussain's continual use of military terms and things you can't understand. In the 2nd test in Durban, this is what I heard: "Play ends 'bout half six, now at HQ 'bout half five probably 'bout 10-15 left". What the hell? Gower, on the other hand, his voice is just magic so whatever he says doesn't matter. It is extremely smooth. Botham isn't too bad, Holding's immortal and I took little notice of Willis. Lehmann absolutely killed it for a beginner.

[Victor Frankenstein]

lehmann was doing some commentary on the fivelive radio broadcast, they made him squirm a bit because of his "5-0 easy win" comments before the series started but other than that i thought he was quite interesting to listen to.

riche benaud would have to be my favourite commentator, like all commentators he comes out with some daft things occasionally but 99% of the time what he says is worth listening to. Most english fans hate him, but i always thought michael slater gave an interesting commentary when he was working for channel 4, i quite like it when they have a balance of recently retired players and old players though.

[greg]

I like Slater he is very good but the one i wish would come over and do Channel 4 is Bill Lawry.I think that Lawry is better than Benaud now who seems to have dropped his level in the last few years.

[Paoli]

Michael Slater was commentating for Ten Sport in India for the series against South Africa and Australia. Slats was absolutely brilliant. That is where the Channel 9 mix is wrong. Apart from Tubby Taylor and Healy, all of the players have been retired 20+ years; Chappelli, Richie, Bill, Tony etc...

I'd like to see Lehmann brought in to do some commentary, but I think one nail we've hit on the head is Mark Nicholas. Extremely good commentator if you ask me; definitely knows what he is on about. Rumour has it that Mark is going to be the next Richie Benaud- of course, he'll never match the monotony or the "dream to wear the cream" of Richie.

I think we'd all be in agreeance in saying that the best part of Richie's commentary is the effortless monotony. Instead of "OHHH HE'S BOWLED HIM", it's a simple "Brilliant ball, that"

[DaveGillespie]

Pay no mind to the Sky commentators. With few exceptions (ie. Holding, Lloyd, Botham when actually offering some reasoned analysis) they are a load of rubbish and are constantly either praising England as the best thing since Kevin Pietersen's coiff or denigrating them to the level of schoolboys. Willis' commentary is one of my pet hates in life, and sadly Hussain has fitted in perfectly.

[vvvrulz]

I too feel there is a little too much bias towards England in the commentary, but to be honest its not all that bad. Its much worse down here in NZ with Martin Crowe and Ian Smith, and the likes..

Theyre just plain awful, never seem to get excited unless the Black Caps are on fire. If we're getting creamed, it becomes like snooker commentary over here.