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Test Mach Special
By Will 1 month ago, 2 Comments »
There was a frivolous and fun game on Twitter a few months ago, the hashtag being #radio4minus1letter, and they produced some gems.
“lose ends” an invited panel have to find the end of the sellotape roll ·
A look at Judeo-Roman history through one woman’s obsession with a charioteer: Woman’s Hur
The Shipping Forecat – a daily nautical report from a feline stowaway
But this is particularly good. Because it’s about cricket.
Geoffrey Boycott and Blowers travel supersonic in the world\’s fastest planes – Test Mach Special !
Suggestions welcome…
2 Comments »Duncan Fletcher shows a new side
By Will 2 months ago, 2 Comments »
Ah. Maybe not then. Go on, Dunc – cheeeeeeeeeese.
From Test Match Special on Flickr.
2 Comments »TMS online for overseas expats
By Will last year, at the end of December, 2 Comments »
Wraye wrote in with this rather good news. Don’t expect it to last, though:
“Learned something yesterday you might well find handy. Of course I have the same TMS listening issues, so I was pretty shocked to find out that, if you go to the bbc.co.uk/iplayer page, and go to 5Live Extra, they have been keeping the previous days’ play, during overseas test matches. Don’t know if it is an error, but the past days’ broadcast are not geocode limited. Last test was up until this one started. Having listened to it, I was pretty surprised that neither the website or TMS ever mentioned it! Seems odd to “advertise” the podcast but not mention that the whole broadcast is there. Who knows the mind of Auntie Beeb… ”
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer or http://www.bbc.co.uk/tms
2 Comments »Duncan Fletcher on TMS
By Will last year, mid-November, No Comments; be the first!
On Friday I happened to be sat in the bar where I interviewed Duncan Fletcher two years ago, when his autobiography caused such a flapping, and it reminded me firstly of how uncomfortable he seemed to be – arms in his jacket pocket or folded defensively – yet how impressively dogged he remained. He had his opinion, he’d made his choices, and he stuck by them. It may not have come across in the piece I wrote, but by the end of the interview I came to admire his bloodymindedness. It helped bring England a lot of success.
Anyway, Duncan’s back and is making an appearance on Test Match Special this winter. He’s since defected to the Boks as a consultant coach, whatever the fuck that means, so it’ll be interesting to hear Agnew and co attempt to prise any blood from that famously stoney stone.
No Comments »Move over Blofeld: Lily Allen wants your job
By Will last year, at the start of August, 3 Comments »
Possibly the most tabloid headline I’ve ever written, yet it’s true. Well, I say true; tabloid true.
Lily Allen has admitted that she has a crush on England cricketers Andrew Flintoff and Graham Onions.
The pop singer has been updating her Twitter blog with comments about the current Ashes series, offering her support to the England team.
One early message described Flintoff as “f**king fit”, but she has now switched her attention to Durham fast bowler Onions.
“I think I fancy Graham Onions more than Freddie now,” she said. “I’ve heard he goes for days.” Later, she asked her Twitter followers: “Is Onions married? Anyone?”
Meanwhile, Allen also expressed an interest in cricket commentary, claiming that she may take it up when she finishes her singing career.
“Come on Onions! Commentator just described him as ‘tall dark haired and pigeon toed’. Cricket commentary is another world,” she joked.
BBC cricket correspondent Jonathan Agnew responded to her Tweets, saying: “If you want some cricket commentary lessons, give me a shout!”
And this, hot on the heels of TMS losing its lustre. Difficult times, these, for Test Match Special.
3 Comments »TMS: analog in a digital age
By Will last year, at the end of May, 7 Comments »
I listened to bits of yesterday’s one-day international on the radio, perched high on the cliffs in a little nook carved into the rocks, sheltered from the wind on a nearly-summery day in south Devon. There was no phone reception, and therefore no temptation for me to check Cricinfo for the scores, or the myriad of other alternate online distractions.
Test Match Special doesn’t need to move with the times, and I don’t even think radio as a medium needs to either. There is talk of DAB productions becoming more “visual”, which is a witty oxymoron, but there’s little that necessitates having pictures/video alongside audio on the radio. That is its charm and appeal, after all; being immersed in the spoken word and allowing your mind to conjure up the images. It’s far more enjoyable, what we produce in our own heads. Paul Collingwood, in my own mind, bats much less crabbily than his real-life persona and Chris Gayle even smiles at first slip.
Yesterday was the first time in months, possibly a year or more, that I listened to an international on the radio and I’ve not enjoyed a match so much for years. Cutting off one or more senses can heighten the others: less really can be more.
7 Comments »Selvey dropped from TMS
By Will 2 years ago, mid-August, 11 Comments »
I’m confused by the apparent sacking of Mike Selvey from TMS. I’ve always found him an analytical, generous figure in a box often containing some loud and abrasive characters. He’s been broadcasting for nearly my entire life, and is one of the voices I instinctively trusted to be quietly witty and unfailingly accurate. But he’s clearly not part of Adam Mountford’s grander plans:
Firstly I would again like to thank Mike for his outstanding contribution to the programme. The decision was not an easy one, but we felt that the time was right to introduce some more recent Test cricketers into the commentary mix.
Over the 51 years of the programme TMS has always evolved and occasionally a new voice has arrived. It is important for the commentary team to have a blend of experiences, backgrounds and voices.
The mix is the crucial part of the success of the programme and we felt that a couple of more current names would bring listeners a different viewpoint.
A spokesman from the BBC said last week that “we’re constantly evolving and refreshing the team. People come and go all the time, to provide a balance of voices.” Really? That might well be the plan, but – borrowing a cricketing cliche – hasn’t the bedrock of TMS been the consistency of selection? And do the public really want an ever-changing lineup instead of trusted voices?
Selvey and others have hit back very strongly indeed.
“Once upon a time Test Match Special was part of a great tradition of BBC radio,” Mr Selvey, who provided ball-by-ball description for the programme for 24 years until he was dropped, said.
“But they are bringing in commentators with little knowledge of the game, especially of the cadences of Test Match cricket.”
And there’s more…
“They must sit there with reference books on their laps, they just don’t know enough about the game,” one source close to the programme said.
“Some of the one-day internationals have been perfectly dreadful, very much B Team.
“They are coming from the shop floor of the sports room, we need two or three really top flight commentators, that is all that Test Match Special needs to get by, they have got to be the best.
Where do you stand on it, and who would you have in your lineup?
11 Comments »Is 50 the new 40?
By Will 2 years ago, at the end of March, 7 Comments »
I don’t listen to TMS nearly as much as I used to, as we’re usually plugged into Sky (for obvious reasons), so it’s been like welcoming back an old friend this Test, flicking it on for the first session. One statistically-minded listened just wrote into Aggers and co wondering why they (and the media in general) gripe and moan about our batsmen when each of them averages 40 – the benchmark of a fine player. Or is it?
My colleague and I have debated this for some time, and agree that 50 is now the new 40. Flatter, covered pitches; big, powerful bats and, most importantly of all, the standard of bowling nowadays is not what it once was. Vic Marks made a good point, that averages can’t be compared cross-generation…and I agree, to an extent. But look at someone like Mike Atherton who averaged 37.69. Had he made his debut ten years later, would he have averaged under 40? Unlikely.
But the most intriguing angle of all this is to wonder how the likes of Ian Bell (averaging 43.15) would have coped a decade or 20 years ago…
7 Comments »Test Match Special at 50
By Will 3 years ago, mid-May, 6 Comments »
Is it not time for more female voices on TMS? “I hoped Claire Connor might be the one, but I don’t worry too much about not having a female,” said Baxter.
“The audience have to be comfortable with the commentators and most female voices need to be pitched a bit lower. You need an alto, not a soprano. Clare Balding has a perfect voice for radio.” And what advice would he have for his successor?
“I hope he (Baxter presumes it will be a man) doesn’t lose sight of the fact the commentary is the main thing,” he said.
So says Peter Baxter, Test Match Special’s producer since time began. Interesting comments, and not something I’d ever considered. Personally, I find Balding’s voice almost indistinguishable from a man’s. Indeed, listening to her and Willie Carson speaking, it’s difficult to determine who exactly wears the trousers. So to speak.
Anyway, well done TMS. I don’t listen to it these days as we’re glued to the screen, for obvious reasons, but it remains the best of British. But for how long? With Baxter hanging up his microphone, he sounds an ominous warning note to his successor
“Five Live have people who are in charge of things called “station sound†and that rings a few alarm bells. The whole point of TMS is that it doesn’t sound like other commentaries.”
Station sound? I shudder at the thought. There’s every chance that some shallow-sighted media freaks could ruin a British institution, turning it into a brash (and by proxy, dull) service. Come on BBC: leave it alone. Change is not always for the best. There will be quite a few TMS pieces on Cricinfo tomorrow and over the week, starting with Andrew Miller’s interview with Baxter, so keep your mince pies peeled.
Who were your favourite commentators? What do you make of the current crop? Favourite TMS moment? etc. Not that I listen nearly as much as I’d like, but I think Mike Selvey is particularly brilliant and works well with Vic Marks.
6 Comments »Petition to enable ex-pats access to BBC overseas
By Will 3 years ago, mid-April, 4 Comments »
Crafty Leak writes:
It is SHOCKING that the BBC (and I guess ABC in Australia) do not allow an “international” tournament (with half empty cricket grounds!) to be broadcast on-line “outside the UK”! Do they want to help cricket grow as a sport or not?
So what if you are a UK TV license fee payer who lives abroad? You pay for the BBC, then they deny you rights to their services because you are outside the UK – IT’S DAYLIGHT ROBBERY!
There is a campaign on the 10 Downing Street website to allow non-UK users access to BBC services:
http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/BBC-4-Expats/
Check it out and SIGN it! All it involves is entering your passport number – simple really, as the technology is there!
Worth signing. I have friends overseas who are continually frustrated by the lack of access to TMS while still holding their UK passport. I don’t doubt it’s technically possible, but there is no doubt a whole mile-long length of red tape to go through first. So…sign up.
4 Comments »Super jacket, that
By Will 4 years ago, mid-December, 4 Comments »
The cream, the bone, the white, the off-white, the ivory, or the beige? It’s Richie Benaud from the 1974-75 series
Courtesy of TMS.
4 Comments »Technology of covering and following cricket
By Will 4 years ago, mid-December, 3 Comments »
Technology has moved on massively even in the short time I’ve followed the game. Back then, in the familiar gloom of the 1990s, few people bothered with Sky. It required a “dish” which implied a small and unobtrusive space-age work of genius. In fact, they were the size of a small car and were concreted onto the sides of flats which almost collapsed under the weight. They were also bright white, or they were until the pigeons took aim.
All change. The dishes are now properly unobtrusive – digital, even – and are sucked onto the walls of every estate in Britain. And here is the BBC’s Test Match Special producer, Caroline, with their own version.
I miss the old days sometimes. Ceefax, waiting for the colours to change (not out batsmen were in white, I think, and those dismissed turned green. Appropriately.) Can’t remember what blue meant. But there was a thrill in watching the screen, if the radio was knackered, waiting for it to change. And there was usually (but not always) a delay in updates if a wicket had fallen…so you’d sit there, sweaty palmed, and wait for the batsman to turn green.
This was all before Cricinfo came along. Now that we’re doing ball-by-ball commentary editorially – with more of a voice, colour, interesting facts etc – the response has been incredible. We even get emails from fishermen at sea…in the middle of the bloody sea, reading our website and following commentary. It’s ridiculous.
So I don’t miss the old days that much. There is too much cricket being played; the game is played at a new, frenetic pace (except when Collingwood’s batting); Zimbabwe are, well, whatever. But the coverage, and access of cricket news for the fans, is unprecedentedly broad. It’s pretty damn good.
What do you miss from the dark old black-and-white (or white and green) days and what modern marvels do you like the most?
3 Comments »Get in the mood for the first Test
By Will 4 years ago, mid-November, 10 Comments »
What better way (for an Englishman at least) to get in the mood for Wednesday night than to listen to the BBC cricket theme tune, Booker T and the MG’s Soul Limbo. Listen, loop, and enjoy.
10 Comments »Rediscovering Test Match Special
By Will 4 years ago, mid-August, 8 Comments »
At work we obviously have to watch every ball, not simply listen to it. And down here in Devon, without Sky for some reason, I’ve just turned on the radio for the past hour which has brought memories back of listening to TMS in my youth. It really is a brilliant way of following a Test. You miss the pictures of course, but somehow feel even closer to the action.
One thing I can’t work out is who the heavy-breather is. It’s not Boycott or Agnew…anyone else hear it?
Here’s Salcombe this afternoon where I’ve been supping pints overlooking the sea
Competition from the BBC
By Will 4 years ago, mid-August, 4 Comments »
Well, I suppose it was inevitable. TMS have finally broken into the 21st century with their first blog. Doubt they even read this one but, whatever…well done them. Let’s see if they can keep it regularly updated though.
I was being churlish when I wrote the title, of course. You can’t compete with eachother on blogs; they are personal and characterised by the writers. Some people will like them, and your style, and some won’t. BBC have one rather large thing in their favour in that a) they have a bit more money than me and b) employ half the western hemisphere. Anyway, rock on. If any of the BBC chaps are reading, drop me a note – I’d be interested to talk.
If you must leave here, to go there, then click here (if that makes sense).
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