By Brian Thomas
TV commentary on cricket and a commentary on Radio are miles apart. Sadly in the ongoing domestic tournament , the match commentary team have their wires mixed up.
In the current era Channel 9 from Australia and Sky sports from England are the best in business. Their coverage is not only soothing to the eye, the men in the com box are easy on the ear , and the viewer gets a double treat not only the insight on the live proceedings but the bonus of a free cricket technique, to keep in mind if you are a young hopeful.
Nazzer Hussain , Mike Atherton, Kumar Sangakkara, Nick Knight , David Lloyd and Dinesh Karthick are way beyond compare in their expertise. They add to the picture, views that matter, they speak facts on tactics adopted and non adopted, and give you a correction lesson in all three departments of the game. All these Gentlemen have played competitive Cricket, hence the public accept what they say , because of their credibility as former players.
Take Channel 9. Ian Chappel , Bill Lawrey, Mark Nicholas, late Richy Beauno and Tony Greig are the same , they are soothing to the ear.
The Indians too are very good at listening to Sunil Gavaskar and Ravi Shastri had similar style of Commentary, but they made sure to stay within the corporate broadcasting norms even though critics state they were biased when India was on show. Harsha Boghle became a world figure because he added spice by being a good story teller. Indian and Sub continental viewers like a bit of spice , told by people like Harsha who know the game well enough. He never comments on the technique of a player, being a lead voice in the box , he leaves it for the color commentator, who is the expert to add his views in those areas.
I must state that Roshan Abeysinghe in Sri Lanka is close to Harsha in that area as a lead , but not a colour commentator. The colour commentator is the man who has the credibility to comment on views that matter.
Saurav Ganguly was an exquisite commentator India had, wishing Rahul joined the box , speak to him on Cricket, and you will learn more than you bargained for. Out of the Pakistani commentators Ramiz Raja has an excellent rating.
Sadly we do not hear the voices of Barry Richards, Greig Chappel, and even the critical Sir Geoffrey Boycott.
Michael Holding now with Sky Sports is rated highly with Ian Bishop who are guides to the live pictures that we see on our screens.
The most important thing for young hopefuls, if you want to join an international broadcaster as a commentator , let the picture breath, don’t state the obvious, because we can see it , add to the picture, like what experts in Sky, and Channel 9 , or the names I mentioned do.
Radio is different. The listener can not see the match, you must practice your radio commentary by speaking to a blind man. You must be descriptive, but know your cricket. You must read the field placing, state about the type of ball being delivered, in example, what way it spun, whether it was an out swinger or in swinger , the length of a delivery etc, etc.
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