Sadly missing Tony, Bill, Richie

Hello, you either have JavaScript turned off or an old version of Adobe's Flash Player.

Last year, it was all so reassuringly familiar. The Channel Nine cricket commentary had remained pretty much unchanged for decades, with only the occasional newbie blooded to the fray.

In 2013, the game has changed. When we turned on yesterday morning, there was no Richie Benaud (car accident), Bill Lawrie (semi retired) or Tony Greig (sadly departed).

In their place is one inspired choice, several brilliant Poms and an upstart who will never live up to the standards set by the Nine team over so many years.

Mr Cricket, Mike Hussey, might sound like a jockey but his commentary is insightful, technically superb and as enthusiastic as his batting. His English friends, Michael Vaughan and David Lloyd are witty, quick on their feet and passionate about their team.

The only downer is the new co-anchor, James Brayshaw. How this former shield player from Bleak City has managed to hurdle Michael Slater and Ian Healy for the right to anchor the broadcast each day is beyond me.

Brayshaw has been around the edges for years, featuring in the one day commentary and dipping in with the Footy Show in Melbourne. He rarely says anything original and his out and out blokiness is way out of place in the 21st century. Head of Nine sport, Steve Crawley says he will grow on us, but I can already tell you he is no Richie Benaud.

The other game changer is the new television deal recently signed by the Nine Network, which was obviously much more than an exchange of cash.

The first sign of that was during the lunch break when the very first guest of the year was head of high performance at Cricket Australia, Pat Howard.

Aside from the fact that he is not a cricketer, Howard was wheeled out because he is under huge pressure to keep his job. He answered a few Dorothy Dixers from Slater and Brett Lee which were as unconvincing as his performance in the job in recent times.

The second ominous sign was a 'world exclusive' preview of Toyota's new television commercial featuring Steve Waugh. This was not paid commercial time. It was during a 30 minute cricket program. There should be no more of that nonsense for the rest of the summer.

Nine's actual coverage is the best in the world, with camera angles and graphics unmatched anywhere else in the sport.

Bring back Richie for a cameo, ease Brayshaw out, don't panda to CA and Nine's summer of cricket might just become as comfortable and brilliant as it has been for 30 years.

Anda sedang membaca artikel tentang

Sadly missing Tony, Bill, Richie

Dengan url

http://sportlivestyle.blogspot.com/2013/11/sadly-missing-tony-bill-richie.html

Anda boleh menyebar luaskannya atau mengcopy paste-nya

Sadly missing Tony, Bill, Richie

namun jangan lupa untuk meletakkan link

Sadly missing Tony, Bill, Richie

sebagai sumbernya