I think sometimes the broadcasters over engineer it for the sake of being different….There was nothing wrong with the way Ch 9 used to do it… 2commentators. It is not radio where there needs to be a description of what is happening.
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These 2 are the best commentators who can actually call the play currently on either network.
I think Mitchell is good for 7 but definitely has the BBC & ABC style commentary.
I think Mitchell probably needs to go. Too radio. (Where I really enjoy her)
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I’m surprised Fox haven’t used Whateley with cricket yet since he’s calling AFL for them now.
I think Fox callers for Tests are pretty good. Isa, Gilly & International visiting caller, that’s a pretty good list.
If they any changes then it’s Mel Jones, she is good and should be doing tests, replacing Howie, who has too much yelling with his style
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I gave up on Fox’s commentary this year - its progressively got worse and it really feels like there are some really strained relationships in the box
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The Fox coverage suffered this year because of Howard and Warner primarily, but I still preferred watching on Fox more than in previous years, because the 7 coverage was stale and humdrum, even though they have the two best analysts in Ponting and Broad. The rest of the coverage was too big a downgrade, while I thought I could somehow survive listening to Howie and Davey.
I don’t mind Howie but if they could transition Healy (when she retires) or another of the team into the lead role they may not have any need for him.
Not sure whether Hussey has fallen out of favour or chosen to step back a bit but I think he’s better than Warner or Brett Lee.
Warner is the weakest link in that outfit - by some distance.
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Also they have Usman Khawaja coming into the team presumably as early as next summer too…
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Bit disappointing that Ian Smith didn’t make it this summer. Really bolsters the pbp line up. He did the last few summers in a row from memory even without NZ featuring
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Didn’t do last summer either in the end.
Will be interesting to see if he goes over next summer with NZ playing four tests.
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Probably will. Aren’t Sky getting domestic NZC rights from next summer? If so he’ll be working those you’d think over there.
Unsure - he and Sky parted ways a couple of years back (he did a lot of rugby union sideline reporting too) but there might be a desire to get him back.
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What a painful call tonight’s game has been. Talked about England more than the match at hand I think. They just sound like they don’t want to be there. The old BBL on Ten team (of which two of these were main parts of) just seem like they’ve got better things to be doing.
Massive issue when you’ve got such weak commentators and they don’t have ad breaks. At least with that they have to cram anything into each ball. No excitement tonight, compared with the Stars-Sixers game the other night (on Seven) where, while green (pardon the pun), those analysts felt like they cared about what they were watching.
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Unfortunately symptomatic of this year’s BBL as a whole - there hasn’t been nearly enough close games and the fact every team that wins the ‘flip’ bats first is making for a fairly one-note comp. There have been some standout individual showings but as a whole I think the cricket has been lacking
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*bowls but yes
That’s the one lol
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At least Huddo can sound like he’s excited. Howie on the other hand…
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Fox themselves haven’t shown much commitment to the competition by providing second rate off-tube coverage for most of the matches. Not that it’s an excuse for the broadcasters to not be fully engaged with the match that they are supposed to be working on. Fox’s coverage has been more half-hearted than usual this season.
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In a weird way, I kinda feel like Fox treat the tests an event and the BBL as just another white ball game. While 7 is almost the reverse - there was no test match ‘feel’ to their broadcast to elevate it from a flat feel, Whereas they do a pretty good job with the BBL.