Re: Quality of Cricket Commentators
Try to tell the same thing when half of your screen is patched up with commercials. Nice comparison 
have you watched NFL game recently? have you watched Hockey (ICE/ North American) recently? and if this seems distant then have you seen australian cricket commentry during a ODI or Test game recently?
My point is simple, old time or present, they have their ways to keep the interest of viewers, either by using triva, providing stats (significant to the teams/players playing).