I think the old model of cricket commentary was better. We’d have one professional commentator who is good with not only stringing together sentences but has voice control to bring the intensity of the game and the excitement of the moment in his commentary. Remember Chishtie Mujahid and Iftikhar Ahmad?
With them we used to have a retired cricketer, who provided expert comments, personal anecdotes and generally a wisened approach to the game (e.g. Geoff Boycott, Viv Richards etc).
Now, with both mikes being dominated by ex-cricketers we are losing out on the quality of commentary. Both guys generally go on and on about their personal history or keep on harping about expert advice, many times totally ignoring the action going on right then.
And the worst casuality is the excitement. Good as they may be, Rameez Raja, Nasser Husain and Sanjay Majrekar just can’t get to the voice command of a really professional commentator and can not convey the excitement of an historic moment in cricket game. Plus, invariably they are rooting for their teams instead of being an impartial commentator of the game.
Just think if it was Aamer Suhail or Mike Atherton sitting in the commentary box when Wasim Akram clean-bowled Lewis in the WC '92 final or when Miandad hit that historic six in Sharjah (1986), we’d have lost an immense part of the excitement of those moments just by the drab commentary. We’d not have heard classic phrases like “… scratch Lewis from the list”; or “oh my god! its a huge six, and Pakistan has Wonnnnnnnnnnn…”.
I think these media companies should revert back to the model of a highly trained and charismatic professional commentator sitting with a former cricketer, and abandon this experiment of having only former cricketers with the mike.
I have listened to Chishtie Mujahid and Iftekhar Ahmed and they were as biased towards Pakistan as much as a person can. Game has changed a lot from those days. When watching the game on TV, I am more interested listening to personal experiences and incidents of players (both on and off field) too. I don't wana listen "there are 5 fielders on the off side and 3 on leg" or "McGrath came in and bowl to Gayl...good ball, what do you say about this Michael?" because i can see that!!
X-Cricketers have added another dimension to the commentary which was missing before and expert used to wait for commentator to say "Whats your opinion" to open his mouth.
Having said that I am not talking about Sidhus, Kapils or Waqars as commentators but Manjnakar, Ramiz, Holding etc are decent onces and should go on.
We'd not have heard classic phrases like "... scratch Lewis from the list"; or "oh my god! its a huge six, and Pakistan has Wonnnnnnnnnnn....".
First things first...that was not a "huge six" by any means. Miandad got a nice juicy full toss...and he did what almost any batsman would have done in the given situation....cross-batted it...and the ball crossed the boundary line.
Now that we have got the above out of the way....lets get back to the topic at hand. Yes professional commentators are probably better in speech delivery, voice modulation etc....but they can also be VERY VERY REPULSIVE...for example some of them tend to give every little detail like in radio commentary even about small things that viewers can see and interpret by themselves....Akram walks back to his runup.......Tendulkar defends, No run....
...etc...etc or they can say obvious things like ..."batting team would like to score as many runs as possible while the bowling team would like to get them out for as less as possible" (a Yashpal Sharma gem by the way - not to mention that he is an ex-player).
Finally when you have a Professional Cricketer combined with an ex-player (who is assuming the role of expert commentator), you will notice that the professional commenatator will just be there to "milao haan-mein-haan" with the expert commentator. After all, the ex-player can never be wrong.
Reminds me of the following commentary incident : Professional Commentator --Aur Pataudi nein ball ko flick kar diyaa hai square leg boundary ke baahar...chaar run. Khoobsurat shot...Lala aap kyaa kahenge is shot ke baare mein ? Expert Commentator (Lala Amarnath) -- Jee haan...yeh kaafi wristy shot thaa Professional Commentator -- Aapne bilkul sahi farmaaya Lala, yeh kaafi risky shot thaa, Pataudi ko yeh shot nahi khelnaa chahiye thaa Expert Commentator (Lala Amarnath) -- Maaf kijiyee...maine "wristy" bolaa.."risky" nahi !!
There you go..
The above said, some people do happen to like Harsha Bhogle...though he rarely gets into the technicalities of the game and speaks more "angrezi" than "cricket" in my opinion.
I hear you Decent, but Faisal does have point on excitment and voice control.
I think they can come up with a solution, have these ex-players attend some workshop to overcome the ever-flat mode and infuse some excitement with their vocals.
Have you guys heard Tony Greig. He is an ex-player...but the excitement he brings when describing a SIX or a WICKET...cannot be matched by many professional commentators.
Or Manjnakar "and Afridi flicks it for four. Not many people are now bothering to cheer 4s they are looking for sixes by afridi"
Or Naseer Hussain "Its very shameful for a top order batsmen to have his middle stump cart wheeling"
and when 2 ex-cricketers are talking they do talk about other little technicalities that are often over looked by Professional Commentators.
Now as smooth is suggesting, ex can go through some kind of short course in commentary and improve but it professionals commentators can not play top level cricket...
A one element which I agree upon based on the facts presented is that commentators from the sub-continent lack that natural aptitude in their voice, that command; it’s one-dimensional really. The likes of Rameez and Sohail (latter being the worst of the lot) not only call the action as they see it, but they do it rather so passively and with such ineptness that it turns an excited viewing audience into a disgruntled party. Most do remain as an impartial in their observations, but the support of their home side does kick in from time to time, and that is okay, as long as they do it in an objective manner, whether criticism or admiration is being presented.
Sky Sports, for example, have a separate line of these expert ex-cricketers-turned-commentators, and they do absolutely nothing but analyze the home team to death. Some of them are sometimes so elegant that it makes it seem like their lives are dependent on their part of their character. They are very intense, so focused, and most importantly, they bring in this added flavor for all the teams on the table; and not just their own team. This is the reason why it is so pleasing to just hear them.
Wasim Akram, I think, comes out marginally better than most of the sub-continental experts. Not only he has that flair in his voice, but he lets himself go (in the form of a polite laughter) from time to time, which is so good to see. A few games ago, Rameez was caught on camera and he started laughing with a hand over his mouth → . It was terrible to watch him for all that seven eight seconds.
I think professional commentators are great for the radio - where they need to create the "picture" for their listeners.
For TV, since the viewers are already looking at the "picture", somebody who can see things beyond the obvious (like well regarded ex-players) are preferable.
Far be it that I hold a person's past profession against him.. so if a former cricketer can bring some excitement to cricket commentary, I am all for it. My comments stem from watching many WC games going on right now and almost all commentators I am listening to are a big yawn. You can put the volume down to zero and still won't miss anything. They yip yap about their personal lives, laugh at inside jokes that no listener ever gets and comment in a mono-tone that is fantastic therapy for an insomaniac.
Whoever decided that ONLY former test cricketers can make good cricket commentators should be shot. Anyone who has knowledge of cricket and has a great voice should be added to the commentary team. We need some excitement back in cricket commentary.
Cricket is a game that is boring to watch without any exciting commentary, I agree with Faisal we should have ball by ball commentary it keeps you in the game. The media companies would get many viewers off of it.
People should learn from David Lloyd. Brings excitement and humour. Like in a pak vs england ODI in karachi, razzak was hitting 6 after 6, David Lloyd goes.. Englands gotta somehow place fielders in the air now..
Some more commentary gems. check out the dialogue between Ian Botham and Nasser Hussain at around 1:57.. and then David Lloyd a few seconds later.
No one beats the Aussie Channel 9 lineup. Tony Greig, Michael Slater, Simon O'Donnell, Mark Taylor, Ian Healy, Bill Lawry, Richie Benaud and Ian Chappell.
I understand not all of these guys are exciting, but Tony Greig, Michael Slater, Mark Taylor and Bill Lawry and good at what they do!!
They are half the reason why the Ashes is fun to watch.
I agree. The commentary has been terrible so far in this World Cup. Most of all, I hate Aamir Sohail with an absolute passion. I don't know why he keeps on getting the opportunity to call matches but he is horrible. The man has no business whatsoever to be in the commentator's box. Everyone has to agree with this.
I prefer the modern day commentary style on TV. My favorites are Ian Chappel, Michael Slater, Mark Taylor, David Lloyd, Nasser Hussain and Ian Healey. I need more than just what's on the tube. I love listening to anecodtals from ex captains and insiders of the game. I would definitely mute it if I had to listen to Chishti or Bhogle. I am not saying that all modern day commentators are good. I really don't like Ian Bishop, Ian Smith, Amer Sohail and company.
There are several excellent ones, and no one is better at conveying tactics and what might be taking place in a fielding captain’s head than Nasser Hussain. On the other hand, there are some so-called expert summarisers, mostly with a delivery like the Speaking Clock, who specialise in thebleeding obvious. In this field, leading by a short head from Ramiz Raja is Ranjit Fernando. Batsman plays and misses. “He nearly hit that ball, but he really didn’t make contact.” Batsman hits just short of fielder. “That ball was in the air for a while, but it didn’t quite reach the fielder.” Much more of this and there’ll be no one watching on the TV either.
. It was terrible to watch him for all that seven eight seconds.
