Posts
Loading ...Articles tagged as: dean-jones
Yeah, but what was he doing in the broadcast box in the first place?
By Scott 2 years ago, mid-August, 20 Comments »
I was only mildly surprised to hear that Dean Jones had shot himself in the foot and shot his commentating career to Hell by making an outrageous remark about Hashim Amla.
Cricket watchers know Deano is not above making stupid remarks. His commentating career has demonstrated that he is an inexhaustable fund of imbecilic remarks. He covered Australia’s 2004 tour of India and drove me to distraction with his inanities. He mostly talks in cliches. In fact, he can talk in cliches till the cows come home.
In truth, he’s always been a self-centred and rather thoughtless individual who has a poor record of putting his mouth into action before engaging his brain. As a player, he alienated his team-mates with Australia, Victoria and even with Derbyshire. His file as a player, for all his brilliance as a batsman, was undoubtedly scarred with his ‘poor team player’ reputation.
I only needed one day of hearing Dean Jones as a commentator to understand that he was patently unsuitable for the position. He is constantly inflicted on Asian audiences, I guess because of his supposed credibility gained by playing 52 Tests for Australia. However, in those 52 Test matches, he learned nothing about what is required to be a broadcaster.
Quite rightly a lot of the focus of this controversy will fall onto Jones, for his disgraceful remarks. However, his employer, Ten Sports, also deserve a full measure of disapproval, for hiring someone who had a demonstrated inability to perform the fairly important job of cricket commentator with an appropriate degree of professionalism.
No doubt it is helpful to have played the game at at least first class level. However, playing ability is not broadcasting ability. The doyenne of television broadcasters, Richie Benaud, made a point of staying in England after Australia’s 1956 tour of England, to undertake a sports broadcasting course conducted by the BBC. He was also a trained newspaper journalist, in an era when Australian cricketers had to have a separate career. No million dollar salaries back then. So Benaud, who became the model of the player broadcaster, came to the microphone with a thorough and thoughtful understanding of the television industry. Few of his successors as player-broadcasters have had such a background, and it shows.
The appropriate model is perhaps the old fashioned radio model, where a professional journalist does the ball-by-ball comments, and the old player provides the expert commentary. On radio, the old pro has time to gather his thoughts, and thus (hopefully) sparing himself the embarrassment that Jones has put himself though. In one way, I suppose it is sad that Jones has self destructed in this way. But I ask you, what was he doing in that broadcast box in the first place?
20 Comments »The Dean Jones ‘terrorist’ remark
By Will 2 years ago, at the start of August, 33 Comments »
This struck me as the most stupid, irresponsible comment I have heard from a TV analyst on the game since, well…since for ever.
Dean Jones - an aggressive batsman turned chirpy, excitable commentator - said the following (which I put on CI…too tired to rewrite it, sorry)
Dean Jones, the former Australia Test batsman turned TV commentator, has been sacked by his employers, Ten Sports, after being heard calling Hashim Amla a ‘terrorist’ on live television during the fourth day’s play between Sri Lanka and South Africa at Colombo.
When Amla, who is a devout Muslim, took the catch to dismiss Kumar Sangakkara, Jones was heard to say “the terrorist has got another wicket”.
Even if this was said in jest, and there is no indication that it was, you can’t offer such flippant, racist remarks on live TV. Those that know Jones, and I’m not one of them, will no doubt argue that he is not a racist - and, to be honest, such a statement does not make him one either. It’s just bloody stupid, upsetting for Hashim Amla’s family and not something you would expect anyone in the public eye to get away with.
And he hasn’t. He’s been flown back to Australia immediately and has lost his job. Can’t see him ever coaching India, if indeed he wanted to, or working in cricket again.
Scott is going to follow this up in a separate piece some time in the morning. Your thoughts in the meantime are very welcome…I imagine this could go on for some time.
33 Comments »70% of the Lord’s crowd will be Australian?
By Will 3 years ago, mid-July, 4 Comments »
Dean Jones, writing for the BBC, says 70% of the Lord’s crowd will be Australian, and that it’ll feel like playing at home for Australia. I know there are a lot of Aussies in Britain these days - they might bash us poms, but they love Britain! - but I think 70% is a little OTT. 40% perhaps.
4 Comments »