Sky Sports since the start of the season....

DMC

I'd like to get people's thoughts on the coverage Sky Sports give now that the summer is in full swing. (to those who have it, I might add.)

Firstly, the theme... its always a rehash of Dreadlock Holiday's chorus, but it is truly awful for test matches, mock theatrical and all, slightly better for the one-day games, but its totally inadequate.

Then the commentators. What interests me most, is the apparent demotion of Bob Willis and Paul Allott. They only seem to do the domestic game nowadays, neither has been heard on test matches and ODI's. Yes, Allott has his own programme (Cricket Writers on TV, an imaginative title...), but for the man at the heart of Sky's coverage over the last 13 years, Willis must be sickened. No problem with Charles Colville presenting the evening test highlights, that’s ok, its his niche, nor Ian Ward presenting the live domestic one day stuff.

For the test team, I think that Nasser Hussain is getting better, but he's marginal. Atherton and Whispering Death are grand, but I think Gower leaves a lot to be desired. He left his flair at the wicket when he took up the presenters chair. Bumble is dying to let rip. He's the natural jump-out-of-your-seat supporter. In reality, he should've been on Test Match Special or Channel 4 at the time, rather than Sky, as really, its a dour group. Don't get me started on Botham.

Sky do a job in hyping a sport to the nines, but why such a group of grumpy old men to call the game? Look at Channel Nine in Australia, all their commentators can be restrained or unleashed when they need to. I hope during the Ashes this winter an interactive option will be for Nine's commentary.

Camera work and other sundries are good, interactive is always handy, graphics are clear.

In summary, there is still a lot wrong with the coverage. Could do better.

RuggieBear

good summary. Spot on tbh. I hate the bloody theme...but perhaps i just got too used to Channel 4's!!

As for Willis, well i met him, he treated me disdainfully.... i won't lose any sleep!

WellyJ

Beefy is a great pundit tbh,

Not sure why you dismiss him

DMC

Just to clear up matters, I'm no Bob Willis fan, just pointing out that he has been chucked off the top team on Sky Sports. I'd prefer silence to him, tbh!

Someone once compared two pundits.

One was a flamboyant medium-fast all-rounder, whose larger than life character was written about in the tabloids for years. Englands last great cricketer, some might say.

The other was a Yorkshire and England blocker, who never gave up his wicket without the bowler strangling himself first, and, normally, not for the good of his team. Prone to feats of pure selfishness.

Out of those descriptions, who would you reckon would be the dour one, and who would be the more entertaining and informative in a commentary box?

An Tarbh

Not been that big a fan of their test match coverage tbh, Atherton and Hussein really irritate me especially Atherton, bit of a media whore imo, works for any and every company he can. It's his smarmy, patronising style of commentary that really irks me.

Don't understand why Willis was booted off the test coverage he's clearly superiour to both Hussein and Atherton. Gower, Beefy and Bumble are the best of the lot, massive knowledge and easy to listen to. Just a shame that Richie Benaud has a problem with working for Satelite tv.

Quite often they're not quick enough in using the replays and hawkeye or you'll have them waffling about something when they could be showing a replay and confirming whether someone is out or not.

I don't understand why they restrict themselves to just 6 commentators, bring in 2 more, have a bit more variety, a day at a test match is long enough and they need a bit more variety than they have at the moment, also just having 1 commentator from Pakistan makes the coverage a tad lopsided.

DMC

You would find that in most commentary boxes, they have one token away team commentator. TMS have almost always done this, so did the BBC in the dim and distant past. In the early years of the Channel 4 commentaries, they always kept on their overseas commentators, Ian Bishop of WI, Ian Smith of NZ, Michael Slater of Aus, they kept them on for years even though their teams were long on the boat back home!

JSK 252

Channel 9 is always a laugh if you are fortunate to watch cricket on it. Probably wont happen but i would like channel 4 to broadcast the ashes this winter. Sky sports doesnt do it for me.

DMC

Channel 9's commentary is always used on Sky Sports over the winter months with Australia's home series carried live, and its beyond compare on TV anywhere.

Sky Sports have the Ashes live this winter, but I do hope we will get the chance to press the red button for the Channel 9 commentary.

leopraces

what they need to do is rob TMS's intro music (a classic) and poatch Henry Bloefield - the man is a genius. I have been listening to him on TMS at work online for the pakistan test and he gets so excited by the prospect of the bowler approaching the wicket!

DMC

LOL, he did work for Sky in the early nineties, though.

As for approaching the wicket, who can remember Peter Such? Arms up in the air, ready to appeal, even before the ball reached the batsman. Ever the optimist

TrueDub

Blofeld on radio - mildly diverting, because he can rabbit on about all sorts of sh*te without it impinging too much on the cricket

Blofeld on TV - foot through the screen time...

I don't think the Sky coverage is that bad, although it is a little staid. They do a good job of covering the actual cricket, but their "added extras" aren't as good as C4.

Mind you, I can put up with that just so we don't miss half the day's play on a Saturday because C4 insisted on going to the racing.

leopraces

whatever happened to mark nichols (i think thats his name), the front man for channel four. He is leaps and bounds ahead David "Dull & Boring" Gower...

TrueDub

leopraces wrote:

whatever happened to mark nichols (i think thats his name), the front man for channel four. He is leaps and bounds ahead David "Dull & Boring" Gower...

Mark Nicholas is now presenting the test highlights on Channel 5, and is one of the very few English commentators to be accepted on Australia's Channel Nine commentary team.

county

i actually quite like the way sky sports show the cricket,tons of info,channel4 is just bog standard imo

An Tarbh

Nicholas is a class act alright, hopefully the interactive will give us Channel 9 commentary for the Ashes, he's wasted on Five, pity Sky didn't try and get him back.