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Broadcast Views
By Scott 2 years ago, at the start of December Leave a comment on this post
Reverse Swinging Mark has his say on Sky’s broadcast roster.
The classic sports arrangement consists of a commentator who actually describes what’s going on out in the middle, alongside a ‘colour’ man who, well, adds the colour to the picture the commentator has described - effectively providing deeper analysis of what’s going on.
Every other sport seems to recognise this - football commentary is left to the professional commentators (Motson, Davies, Tyler) with ex-pros like the exemplary Andy Gray, just providing the ‘colour’ - the same with Rugby Union where Miles Harrison and Stuart Barnes have developed a level of understanding that rugby hasn’t witnessed since Gareth Edwards and Phil Bennett were strutting their stuff.
Sky Cricket’s problem is that they have too many ‘colour’ guys and not enough commentators - in fact, they haven’t actually got any at all. You need balance to ensure that the commentary flows with the game - but instead, with Sky, we get a series of ex players who feel that they have to continually justify their presence with elaborate analysis of every thought, word and deed of the players in the middle - plus a whole lot more beyond that, without realising that all we actually need is some sort of insight into what is actually happening, and why. No one is doing orthodox commentary, because no one has been asked/told to - so the Sky product is fundamentally flawed.
As it happens, I tuned in my television to watch the New Zealand vs Sri Lanka Test match, and to my surprise the first voice I heard was that of the veteran West Indies commentator, Tony Cozier. Whether or not he’s emigrated to New Zealand, or doing some freelancing, I have no idea, but it was a delight to hear him.
Cricket in New Zealand is broadcast by Sky NZ, and it suffers from almost the opposite problem to that described by Mark- too much commentary, and not enough colour. I’m not sure where Jeremy Coney has got to, but the rest of the local commentators are too descriptive and.. boring.
Unfortunately, there’s not a great market for Test cricket in New Zealand. Shane Bond is giving the Sri Lankans a royal grilling before a nearly empty stadium, and so when broadcasting in this sort of environment, it is important to ‘pep it up’ a bit. You do not need the ‘Barmy Army’ to create atmosphere but you do need to have more then 15% of the seats sold.
This isn’t meant to be an attack on Sky NZ, who are doing a great job- the camera work is as good as anything Nine in Australia can come up with. The graphics are smart and professional. They just need to think ‘outside the square’ somewhat to liven things up. If they hired Tony Cosier to this end, then they have made a good start.
Tags: commentators, cricket-commentary, jeremy-coney, new-zealand, reverse-swing, shane-bond, sky, sky-nz, sri-lanka, tony-cozier |
11 Responses to “Broadcast Views”
December 7th, 2006 at 1.18 am
December 7th, 2006 at 1.29 am
There’s a thing. I just linked to that blog, Wicky, it’s a beauty.
December 7th, 2006 at 2.39 am
Trouble with NZ cricket is that it’s a bit of a personality-free zone. Ian Smith — snore. Martin Crowe — arrogant and sef-obsessed. Mark Richardson isn’t bad though he’s better at doing a humorous sports show where he’s actually on camera. I know his nickname Rigor is short for rigor mortis — but is that because he never moved his feet?
December 7th, 2006 at 8.50 am
Something like that. Actually the Dilmah Tea Party segment at the tea break was pretty good.
December 7th, 2006 at 12.45 pm
To be honest I think the Sky commentary is very good…
December 7th, 2006 at 2.24 pm
Why don’t New Zealanders go to Test cricket then?
December 7th, 2006 at 10.55 pm
I enjoyed both the Sky TV and the Radio New Zealand commentary yesterday. Got the radio feed via internet going right now since the Sopcast TV feeds are currently off-line.
December 7th, 2006 at 10.57 pm
Dunno, Harrowdrive, laziness? TV coverage too good? I guess it’s just like the subcontinent where people ignore the Tests and flock along to the one-dayers. NZ-Aus one-dayers always the most popular.
Oh no, a Kiwi batting collapse! Always pays to bat right down the order, eh Fletcher. 
December 8th, 2006 at 4.31 am
And now a 2nd Sri Lankan collapse! Just awful test match batting, although it must said the wicket is really green, the ball is moving a lot, and the NZ seamers are right on the money. I wonder if SL had the same team caterer as England?
December 8th, 2006 at 6.24 am
Fabulous seeing Shane Bond back at full speed. Hope his body holds together till the World Cup!
Crappy batting all round though.
April 24th, 2007 at 3.27 am
TONY COSIER ( COZIER ?) is the best cricket commentator on radio. If you can get the recordings of his commnetary on Australia Vs India test series in India a few years ago , you’ll love it. Specially how he summed up the Chennai Test. Fabulous.
