Great line-up - a good mix of the considered and the opinionated, the insightful and the witty. Only really missing Bumble for my money. Shall be looking forward to many a day with the paper, the sofa and the TV…

tony grieg is the worst. At times you don’t even know if he is looking at the cricket. He seems to reading from mug notes made pre-match.

For once I have to agree with Peter Roebuck. Mark Nicholas - “the unacceptable face of English cricket”. Far too many wowees and crickeys for my liking. And as for the Gaffers elevation to the commentary box?!? Why does every statement sound like a question? Almost as classy as the Jack Bannister heavy breathe at the end of each sentence! Boycs and Benaud are the masters of course. Not afraid to call it like it is but not an “in my day” merchants.

No, not at all. Are you old enough to remember ‘Doctor’ Neville Oliver, or Tim Lane? Both of them were/are magnificent broadcasters who are sadly missed.

Lane is still working in Melbourne but his wife has ordered him to retire from cricket.

Thommo is a bit of a ‘things were much better in my day’ school, which I find hard to take.

The problem I have is that there’s a fair gap between the radio broadcast and the television pictures, of about three seconds which does not sound like much, until you are watching.

Not Bill Lawrie? May be with a lot of luck, channel will get him on with A.J. Greig who’s never half-hearted with is pitch reports.

How about Ray (Rabs) Warren - he’s fair dinkum! I’m sure he’d be dead-set chuffed to be part of the commentary team, with RB CTC. Also Darrel (Dazza) Eastlake would be great. He’s always pumped up!

It’ll be HUGE!

=P

Marlene Cases Zorn (Photo: The Sun Herald)

Stick to Cricket, Tony

Cricket recently attracted the attention of Filipinos in Australia for the wrong reason. The one-day clash between Victoria and New South Wales on the 10th of October found Channel 9 cricket commentator Tony Greig batting on a sticky wicket of his own making.

Greig fails to bowl maiden over

Doing his usual day job with former cricket captain, Mark Taylor, Greig and his crew panned their camera to the church opposite the North Sydney Oval. At the steps of St Mary’s Church people were milling around the newly weds, Marlene Cases and Mark Zorn. Unknown to the couple, Greig made what apparently was an “innocent” comment about their wedding and specifically about the bride.

The image of an Asian woman marrying a white Australian triggered Greig to make an offensive and malicious ‘leap of thought’. Talking to Taylor in their privileged booth, he blurted: “Lovely little bouquet there and have a look at the carnation in his lapel…” Referring back to the bride, Greig continued, “Do you think she’s been flown in?”

For the many avid cricket fans accustomed to Greig’s verbal antics, such comment is nothing out of the ordinary. He is often heard “joking” about the Pakistani and Indian players, so why not if it’s a Filipina this time.

However, Marlene Cases Zorn is not laughing.

Filipina Bowls a Googley to Channel 9 Cricket Commentator

Two viewers of the cricket program were concerned enough to contact The Panel, a celebrity chat show on another channel which replayed Greig’s remark. Marlene had heard from friends that she had been part of the cricket telecast, but it was not until she and some girlfriends happened to catch a glimpse of The Panel as they were sorting the wedding photographs, that she heard the remark.

“The gist of it was that I was just flown in. I’ve lived here for nine years. What if people see me walking down the street with my new husband and think, ‘That’s the mail-order-bride we saw on TV’?”

Born in the Philippines, Marlene Cases, 37, arrived in Australia because of her computing skills and was granted permanent residency. She and Mr Zorn met in 1994 when they worked together as computer programmers in a bank.

Marlene said the reference to her was an insult. She however made it clear that she has nothing against ‘mail-order-brides’: “What is disturbing is that there are people out there who refer to Asian women as ‘mail-order-brides’ if their partners are Australian. A lot of Asian women are here in Australia because of skills not because they got married to an Australian.”

“Mr Greig is in a very public position. People listen to him and some might accept his views. It makes me so angry. Just because there is an Australian guy with an Asian girl, the girl is assumed to be lower, that she is only in this country because of him.”

Marlene demanded a personal on-air apology from Greig. However, it did not materialise as he was apparently away on an overseas trip. As a damage control measure the Nine Network instead issued a press release on behalf of Greig.

The network’s brief statement said: “The Nine Network apologises for any offence taken to a remark made by Tony Greig during last Sunday’s Mercantile Mutual Cup broadcast. The remark was made off microphone and not intended for broadcast. The network and Tony Greig will also be making a personal apology to Ms. Cases”

Stick to Cricket, Tony

When the story broke in The Sun Herald, the Filipino Women’s Working Party based in Sydney and individuals and groups in other states sent letters to the media, the NSW Ethnic Affairs Commission, and the Ethnic Communities Council, asking them to make a comment and take action. The letters say: “The next time Mr Greig works as cricket commentator for Channel 9, he would be well advised to stick to cricket.”

Later, Tony Greig and the Nine Network through executive Gary Burns made an apology on Oct 19th to Marlene and her husband, not in person and not on air as she had demanded, but over the phone.

Mr Zorn, a cricket fan, said he may continue to watch the Channel 9 coverage but hoped Greig will not be part of it.

The Weekend Australian newspaper on Oct 23rd reported that Tony Greig had been suspended and would face an internal inquiry for his racist remarks.

Compiled by EMERE

If Australia lose then I expect Greig will seek asylum with Robert Mugabe and ask for a farm in exchange for some coaching. Nothing would surorise me - Cheers and up yours Traitor Greig

How will you deal with FIVE NIL McGrath

I am not English but would have liked to see their team win. Cannot understand the antipathy of some fans to Tony Greig’s comments. Any time I have heard him he solidly supported the team he played for and captained so proudly and well.
I would have much preferred a live TV commentary team comprising Benaud, Boycott and Greig to the ones we have suffered in the early hours of the morning describing England taking a drubbing.
Could anyone who wishes to be informed about the game prefer Gower, Botham and Atherton to the ones (BBG) I named above? They could at least have kept me awake.
Bring back the big three with King Richie in control!
Regards,

David