Cricket

Putting the limited back into ‘limited overs’

1 Like

Richie Benaud will be elevated to legend at the Sport Australia Hall of Fame dinner in Melbourne next Thursday, only the third cricketer to receive the status after Sir Donald Bradman and Keith Miller.

2 Likes

I wonder if he was still with us whether he would have retired once Channel Nine lost the cricket broadcast rights

Didn’t Richie Benaud have a reduced role in Nine’s cricket coverage from around 2009/10?

Yes, but was still an active member of the commentary team until he had his bingle in 2013 in his vintage 1965 Sunbeam Alpine. He initially wasnt going to do anymore commentary except in an emergency. He did from time to time slip into the commentary box from 2009/10 Summer onward until the aforementioned incident. At the time, Australia was the only place he was commentating.

I was just posing the question as he was the face of Cricket at Channel Nine, even though from 2009/10 they started putting Mark Nicholas out there

Also noting that except maybe most recent coverage of Nine’s cricket from England - Richie Benuad can be heard saying at the end of each cricket telecast - “This has been a presentation … of Nine’s Wide World Of Sports”

Anyone enjoy both the T20 Women’s trio of matches and the initial coverage from either Seven or Fox? I didn’t tune unto many women’s matches in the past, a lot of which had to do with nobody broadcasting it and/or the quality in the early days, I did try and watch some WBBL that Ten did. But I watched a bit last Saturday and last night, good events.

Pretty sure Nicholas began to be the ‘face’ of the coverage from the 04/05 summer.

Should make them cheaper then!

Sounds a lot like what was used for the domestic one day series around 2010ish. The game was 45 overs from memory and was split as two innings, one of 20 overs and one of 25 overs for each team.

Richie was with him at the start of the coverage until the start of 2009/10 season - yes I think the intention was to have him take over and be the “face of the next generation”, but viewers didnt warm to him so that’s why I think Nine had either Mark Taylor or Michael Slater with him at the start of very telecast when Richie didn’t

1 Like

Is it a workable format though in the era of Made for television sporting telecasts?

It’s too long. ODIs survive through a historical factor and there’s been questions about their relevance for a long time. Your change in format does nothing to reduce this, you may as well stick with the status quo.

2 Likes

I accept your criticism, but if it was a “test”, then limited overs bowling rules wouldn’t apply. The only limited over “bowling rule” that would apply is the length of each innings. Theoretically, one bowler could bowl 12 or 13 overs per innings. My idea is to do what Twenty20 has done - speeds up the game with higher scores.

However, if the idea is thought not to be viable, then thats fine.

I think they could also investigate 7 a side games, possibly a variation to the T20 format

It has been played before, I think the UK has a crack at it and some matches in New Zealand.

I know the networks will always pay big dollars for sports, but I also think they need to not just rest on their laurels and continue to make Cricket more attractive to networks and sponsors. Remember when Australia had the Kerry Packer promoted tri-angular one day series where teams met 4 times each across preliminary games (so each team would play 8 preliminary games) then a best of 3 final series, then test matches (5 or 6) were included in the package. Yes I know we have T20 these days, and no domestic games, BUT now Cricket Australia want a lot more money - so should be delivering more bang for their buck

Viewers didn’t want to watch the games not involving Australia though. They probably play about the same number of games.

I am not sure I totally agree with you there. Viewers preferred to watch games with Australia, yes, but back when teams like West Indies were more competitive was when people didnt mind as much as they did once Australia seemed untouchable. Perhaps they could have replaced the games without Australia in them with say Prime Minister’s XI and Australia A games.

I will concede they are starting to air the womens games, which is a positive for womens sport

Yes, maybe when the concept was first set up but certainly not towards the end. A shame as it was a great part of summer.

It would still be a potentially viable option - more so for the cricket fanatics - such as those that subscribe to Foxtel sports packages. Games not featuring Australia could have been screened on secondary channels. Admittedly that is speculation and there is so much competition for the advertising dollar and spectators attending matches (or watching at home), I guess that’s why we only really see games featuring Australia on FTA which is a shame, especially where you have Cricket World Cup tournaments where Australia may or may not make the World Cup Final.

I don’t mind watching the final in World Cup, no matter who is playing - what is better than watching possibly the best 2 teams in the world playing for the World Cup title?

are you advocating the return of cricket max?

Yes please!image

3 Likes