My point exactly. Extremely undervalued by Fox (but valued enough to keep her under contract).
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Isn’t she a freelancer? She’ll be part of Nine’s Ashes coverage next year.
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No she’s signed for Fox:
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That’s not correct, as she was part of Nine’s coverage for the Ashes in 2019.
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Yes I’m aware. My assumption is that that was a) a legacy contract from her Nine days or b) because the broadcast wasn’t competing with Fox.
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Which makes me think it’s either a freelance contract, or a 4mths contract. So when it’s not summer in Oz she is free to cover any sport.
Isn’t the World Cup different too, as it’s contacted through India and not fox.
It will be interesting to see what Nine do with the Ashes. Who they take over to England, last English Summer Mark Taylor did the Shane Warne game at Lords on Sky.
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Essentially yes.
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That would be pretty stock standard though. When not needed she’s free to work overseas. Most just-cricket commentators do this. Much like the players they can globe-trot and come back home during the summer.
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Full list of the commentators used on the English world-feed this World Cup:
Adam Gilchrist, Athar Ali Khan, Bazid Khan, Brian Murgatroyd, Carlos Brathwaite, Dale Steyn, Danny Morrison, Dirk Nannes, Eoin Morgan, Harsha Bhogle, Ian Bishop, Ian Smith, Isa Guha, Mark Howard, Mel Jones, Michael Atherton, Michael Clarke, Nasser Hussain, Natalie Germanos, Niall O’Brien, Pommie Mbangwa, Preston Mommsen, Ravi Shastri, Russell Arnold, Samuel Badree, Shane Watson, Shaun Pollock, Simon Doull, Sunil Gavaskar
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Wow didn’t realise they were using THAT many commentators.
Makes some of Seven’s and Nine’s teams over the years look a bit puny!
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They rotate the duos through after 5ish overs, calling twice a game. Then the ball-by-ball of two rotations ahead is their “on-ground commentator” (basically sideline but also calls while they are on).
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Most of the main Test commentary team in action tonight at the Adelaide Oval for the first of three ODI’s between Aus and England, most sound disinterested in being there, Skull keeping it real!
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This is the issue I had with them during the pre WC games. They sounded disinterested, boring, no energy.
Not good when you’re going for rights with CA.
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It’s a tough one. You obviously feed off the crowd that’s there and their excitement, when that’s not there it feels hollow.
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No one can dare complain about “Pizzagate” anymore. I’ve just sat through a good 30 minutes of Marks Howard and Waugh debating with the statistician and audio truck (neither of which we can hear) about what you call a group of bats (a colony in case you were wondering).
EDIT: and for those wondering, they did mention the wickets that fell. But only as if they were something they were forced to do. Very Triple M Rocks Cricket (just some guys having a chat while watching cricket), but that’s not what they’re there for.
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Good point, but using the K. Packer philosophy, the game is never over.
Remember the commentators are the advert for the game, if the viewer thinks it’s boring cause a commentator can’t bring it to life, then they’ll switch off.
This article explains it perfectly, ruthless, but Kerry was in the busy to sell the game to advertisers and to do that the public needed to be awake.
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Oh I completely agree - but ODIs never used to be played in front of a couple of thousand people. It’s on the broadcasters to elevate above that.
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For games at Adelaide Oval, in Nov this is the average crowd.
So it’s nothing new, but the question should be asked to CA why is this series being played now and on a random Thursday.
When will they learn?
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Packer would have fired all of these commentators other than Gilchrist, and also arguably sacked the producer who was responsible for all the hiring decisions. Can’t even imagine the horrendous bullying the mediocre Mark Howard would have been subjected to if he was unfortunate enough to work for Packer.
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