Growing up with cricket commentary
Thoughts of a cricket follower on the impact of commentators
Some of the greatest joys for a cricket watcher have been etched in memory, thanks to the associated commentary of the moment. Most have gone onto assume cult status such as Shastri’s calling of both the 2007 and 2011 world cups, and more recently, the emergence of Ian Smith over the course of World Cup 2019. I don’t know about the rest of you, but I have been gloriously ignorant of the fact that Ian Smith has been around for a long time in the commentary arena. I recently also came to know that his record of 173 at #9 is still the highest by any player at that position in tests.
From the hype train in Danny Morrison, to the cheeky Bumble, all the way to the gentle whispering death of Michael Holding, I have been in awe of the people behind the mic for a very long time. So much so, I even used to mimic them and upload them on sound cloud several years back. Alas, I lost access to that sound cloud account and most of it is gone now.
In this piece, I have reflected on the impact the game’s voice has had on me in the 2 decades I have been following it. I have also taken a stab at noting recent trends that are marrying fan engagement and the comm-box.
First impressions: The Channel 9 cricket commentary team
Growing up, the team of Tubby (Mark Taylor), Ian Healy, Mark Nicholas, Richie Benaud, Michael Slater calling the action of the Aussie summer, captivated me in a profound way. The following of the Aussie test summer was never complete without this.
CA has always been a pioneer when it comes to adapting itself to the nuances of the game. I noticed certain things this Channel 9 team did that piqued interest for the fans. I might be wrong, but I feel that this team was one of the first pioneers of using on-screen annotations. To give an example, here is a small sample. This is a screen-grab from a funny clip, but it illustrates the point I am trying to make about on-screen annotations.
I also think, this broadcast team was the first to map the field out for the viewer, telling them exactly what is the current field the batsman is playing for. It may sound very intuitive and common now, but this surely was a revelation then. They used to produce quality content even during session breaks, such as explaining the Fremantle doctor and the effect of it at the WACA.
Recently, the switch to the seven network has been seamless, with notable additions of a few Poms such as Vaughan and Isa Guha. With the next Ashes in Australia, this should spruce things up.
“Hello, I am Mark Nicholas, and with me, is Richie Benaud”
I think the impact of this team only grew more on me with the in-game commentary in EA Cricket’07 featuring Richie Benaud and Mark Nicholas from this channel 9 team.
Special shout out to the Trans-Tasman commentary neighbours of Martin Crowe, Simon Doull and Craig McMillan, and more recently, Brendon Mccullum for providing that soothing overlay when I wake up early to watch Cricket in NewZealand, which undoubtedly looks like a beautiful place for cricket.
Commentary in the rise of the Women’s game
It is clear that the followers for the women’s game are picking up in recent times. Efforts are being made across boards such as Cricket Australia, who did a commendable job in hosting the recent T20 Women’s world cup and getting a historic 80K audience at MCG.
But, certain fundamental issues regarding fan involvement still exist. Case in point, I was trying to find highlights of Harmanpreet Kaur’s scintillating 171 against Australia and returned empty handed on Youtube. This, happening in an age of video deluge and copyright tangles between cricket boards and private Youtube hosts, is a significant evidence, that there is a lot of room to be covered.
And one bridge which can help address this can be putting together a solid commentary team for tournaments. This, I say based on observations from recent ICC events which have had notable names such as Bhogle, Manjrekar, Ian Bishop and Nasser Hussain. Also, having versatile commentators such as Alan Wilkins who can go from speaking in the Under 19 world cup about the next big talent, to the Wimbledon, is one way to recharge batteries.
I was listening to this podcast from the Final Word Cricket Podcast team. Here, along with Ian Smith, sharing his experience on calling the super over of the 2019 World Cup, Allison Mitchell reveals an interesting moment in her early days as a commentator for the BBC. In short, little did she know on that morning of 17th March 2007, that she would be calling one of Cricket’s biggest upsets, by Ireland over Pakistan. Fast forward to 10 years down the line, she shares her delight at being centre-stage during the 2017 Women’s world cup finals. My belief in commentary being that engine for the game’s growth was certainly reaffirmed after hearing this.
Reaching the grassroots through regional content
With the increase in T20 leagues, both in India and in general, the Cricket world, new forms of fan engagement have arrived. Examples of platforms such as Disney+Hotstar, Willow are playing a tremendous role in reaching the masses, especially in the shorter form of the game.
I am not sure about the rest of the world, but in India, certainly regional commentary is picking up steam as a result of this boom. For tournaments such as the TNPL, KPL, we now have dedicated commentary teams and channels bringing content in the local language. I believe, this is a very healthy step forward in reaching the grassroots. Tailoring to regional audience has always existed in some form and shape, it is just that it is more visible today.
I will elaborate a bit more by zooming back a bit to the whole subcontinent. Commentary stalwarts from each of the subcontinent cricket countries have been successful in breaking down the adulation and action in a way which is directly relatable to the local fans. In this regard, I have high praise for commentators such as the Late Ranil Abeynayake, Ramiz Raja, Aamer Sohail and Athar Ali Khan for the roles they have played in driving fan engagement in the respective subcontinent countries.
Harsha Bhogle is no doubt an inspiration for many, in paving a way forward, against all odds. My early memories of Harsha was through the dedicated highlights packages, and some sports quizzes which used to be telecast on ESPN. I remember seeing a hair transplant ad on a magazine, with Harsha’s photo, and going…
“Hey this is the same guy who came on ESPN yesterday with the highlights”
If I were to explain, “Hey, so who is this Harsha Bhogle fellow ?” to a layman, I will take this tweet of his, and say these lines.
Harsha Bhogle is a voice of cricket, who with his own way of words, can make the audience relive that drama of live sport even in a highlights package. All this, while cleverly balancing intrigue with a sound analysis of the game.
Cricket commentary evolving post Covid-19
In recent broadcasting advances, footage from inside the comm-box has started to appear, including this famous clip of Ian Smith calling that fateful run out of MS Dhoni in the WC 2019 semis. With this whole Covid-19 pandemic being about minimising contact, especially reducing droplet transmission, how will the future of these people behind the mic be? How will cricket commentary evolve into the new normal? Will the experience be diluted due to social distancing of the 2–3 commentators?
We do not know the answers yet, until then I suggest the reader to listen to this clip featuring the commentary of both the late Richie Benaud and Tony Cozier, brought to you by a cricket Youtube legend.
Please leave your comments below.
— Kishan
A sneak peek into a dashboard for analysing DRS in Cricket
A few months back, I set off on a study to understand how teams and players were using the Decision Review System. In the time between the publication of part 1 ( https://medium.com/kishan19/decoding-the-drs-331e8d7d0426) and now, I came across a few more traction towards this area on Cricinfo. I decided to scrape more data, and collect them towards building a sample interface that can help general cricket enthusiasts and DRS pundits alike to slice and dice on three levels below.
- On a format/tournament overview level, the user can get insights on success rates of referrals for each team. This can give metrics such as total review events a team has been involved with, how many decisions of this were taken during batting vs bowling, how many of them were the right move (i.e. they didn’t end up losing the review)
- On a player level, to assess across formats, what has their success been. If player is a captain/keeper, additional drill down to more metrics of success.
- An umpire view to see who has got their decisions overturned as a ratio of overall review events that they were involved in.
Trying to work actively on this, fingers crossed, and it should be live soon..
