Cricket commentary on television, as we all will agree, must as far as possible be neutral, professional and free from prejudice.Cricket commentators every now and then lose the professional focus and slip into moments of partisan or opinionated drivel. As reasonably smart viewers we overlook these indiscretions. After all most of them would have represented their countries in the past and patriotic emotions will surface every now and then. They are only 'human'. But watching the SKY Sports coverage of the second day of the 1st test match between England and India at lords was a rather unpleasant experience. Not because I was rooting for India and Kevin Peterson was beating India to pulp- infact like most good cricket fans I love watching good cricket even at the expense of my country being hammered -but because of the abysmally partisan and at times cringe-worthy commentary, mostly from Ian Botham, David Gower and Nasser Hussein.
Ian Botham - Commentator & Former England Allrounder
England challenge India in a 4 match Test series
Ian Botham - Commentator & Former England Allrounder
Before going into specific examples let us get a few things out of the way. Coming into the series, India are ranked the #1 test side and deservedly so through consistent performances home and abroad. England look the best side they have had in at least 15 years! So a cracking contest in the offing. England want to push for the top spot and good on them to have the ambition. Neither side compares to the great Windies and Aussie sides of yesteryear's. Ranking does not equate greatness. So both sides have a long way to go for such a quest. Having said that it is good for world cricket if the number #1 spot is challenged often. Another important hot topic of cricket that is in every cricket followers head is the whole set of issues surrounding BCCIs domination of world cricket and ofcourse DRS. I cannot sum up the situation and the general mood better than Harsha Bhogle did on Cricinfo. To sum up BCCI are not entirely wrong their stand on Hawke Eye's predictive ability. They are just not taking the effort to package the explanation with better articulation and grace.
England challenge India in a 4 match Test series
Lets look at some quotes from the 1st test day 2 SKY sports commentary (some paraphrased); "England will win the match and series." Incredibly presumptuous and bordering on arrogance, for Botham to say this halfway into day 2 of 20 days of test cricket! India did ok with three bowlers on a flat pitch. India's 1st innings batting should reveal how the English bowling stacks up. There were plenty of India bashing with quotes like " ICC is bending the DRS rules to accommodate India". Glass is still half empty for the English commentators, never once conceded there is now a minimum DRS requirement across the board for all countries. Picking up from a technical discovery from Michael Holding, David Lloyd suggested "Praveen Kumar has a fat hip and hence cannot rotate it fast enough to get off the pitch" Oh yes, he didnt notice the unfit guy bowled 40+ overs in a day. There were plenty of others like " Indian bowlers bowl Dibbly Dobblers", "The whole Indian team is unfit and cant last the series", "India has to get used to this sort of leather chasing throughout the series with such a strong English batting lineup". The one that takes the cake was from Botham when Morgan got out, he assumed the batsmen thought it was an LBW decision and walked off and did not know it was given caught behind. The hotspot did not show any evidence of a nick and Morgan did not challenge the caught behind decision. "See what has happened because of the DRS rule changes, Morgan thought he was LBW and walked off because it cant be referred in this series, clearly he did not get the edge, its all because of the watered down DRS". It takes an unprejudiced mind to think there is a possibility that Morgan did nick it and Hotspot might not have picked the faint edge. Didn't the Hotspot CEO say it was not 100% accurate? Eoin Morgan later confirmed he thought he edged it.
Hope as the series gathers steam, the commentators don't let their hate filled prejudice against BCCI steam up their vision, skew their voice and make it difficult for the viewers to enjoy good cricket on TV.
Dunno about "hate filled prejudice".........I think you're being a little oversensitive. Sports commentaries are ALWAYS biased in favour of their own country, I'd bet the ones in India are just as bad. Anyone who has watched Australian coverage will know what I'm talking about.
ReplyDeleteAs for the BCCI, a lot of folk outside India just don't trust them very much. Whether thst's fair or not I don't know but just deal with it.
Botham is a terrible commentator though I'll grant you that.
Relax, if Sky offends you so much don't watch it. Or watch it with the sound off.
excellent writeup. iam an indian living in the states and have been following cricket for the last 17 years of my life. although i find the BCCI to be arrogant and bullies, i cant help but feel but Hot Spot erred in the morgan replay as morgan himself has admitted. Also i dont understand the reason why KP's decision off dhoni was overturned. when there is no definite proof to overturn the original decision, the original decision must stand and the original decision was out. i dont understand how the DRS works neither do a lot of people.
ReplyDeleteComing to the sky commentary, Ian botham was a great cricketer but is one one of the most partisan, senseless commentators around (not that shastri or gavaskar are any better). i have seen botham time and time again over the years stupidly predict prematurely many times and eat humble pie. lets hope we see a good series and the sky team shuts up.
Stu you are right, commentary in india is bad too most of the time. harsha bhogle is always a welcome change. but is it too much to ask for to hear both points of view. it would be a refreshing change for once
ReplyDeleteHi Red Devil, I'm an English expat in Japan, when I watch cricket it is always via whatever internet feed is available (no cricket on TV here ever) so I've seen coverage from various countries.
ReplyDeleteIt's always a bit of a shock to hear how biased other nations can be. I watched some of the Ashes here with an Australian friend and when we had the feed from Channel 9 I complained about the obvious (to me) bias of the commentators he was oblivious to it, when Sky's coverage was on he was getting angry......but to me it appeared fair (except when Botham opens his mouth).
Hi Stu, I contemplated the phrase in the last statement, perhaps its a touch harsh but not by much going by how you think people don't like BCCI that much. Not many in India either so the feeling is universal :-). This blog isnt an over-sensitive reaction but mere observation. Like Red devil says, some Indian commentators like Gavaskar can be unashamedly partisan; But not to the extent I witnessed today. Another interesting point I failed to mention on the blog was, how the entire SKY commentary team was English (sans Holding)and perhaps why they need not worry about the other point of view.
ReplyDeleteP.S. Did try watching with sound off. missed the sound of leather on willow :-)
BTW I am an Indian living in UK. So dont have an alternative to Sky.
ReplyDeleteI think a part of the problem is that a lot of commentators only watch their teams play. hence some of the english commentators are always harping on england's success in australia while conveniently ignoring the indian fight back in south africa after getting smashed in the centurion test. india came back to win in durban - a track known next only to perth in terms of pace and bounce (where india beat aus in 2008). india have been a very consistent team for the last 3 - 4 years. people conveniently ignore this while terming them an overrated unit.
ReplyDeleteSimilarly indian commentators ignore the fact that this english unit is probably the best they have had in the last 2 decades. this english batting lineup is almost on par with the indian lineup in present form (iam not going into records on that one). also england have the world's best spinner and indian commentators are almost oblivious to the fact.
so there you go, i think its a case of ignorance is bliss. commentators should watch more cricket to qualify to commentate in the first place
Hi Boggle-err, if you could mute just Botham it would be a start.........I cringe when he comes on. Shame as he was such a great player but he is just awful on TV. Gower and Hussain are a little biased but at least more articulate than Botham, I can see how they may be annoying.
ReplyDeleteI like Atherton, Holding and Lloyd, I could listen to them all day.
Bumble is the best of the lot :-)
ReplyDeleteHi Red Devil, with regards to KP nick of MSD, the right decision was made. For such a referral, the umpire looks for evidence-of; the lack of it will vindicate KPs doubt & referral.
ReplyDeleteagreed boggle-err. but if the hotspot missed morgan's nick its also possible in the KP case right ? also the snicko is not used for referrals as it only comes on an over after the ball is bowled. just something to ponder on
ReplyDeleteWell said Boggle,
ReplyDeleteThose 3 commentators don't even have the class of the spectators watching the game.While the crowd is cheering for both sides its horrible to hear one sided sarcastic comment(s)ators.
why don't they have one Indian commentator ?!
Well they have Michael Holding, why not an indian commentator? England has a good number of Indian Fans too. just my 2 cents
Surprised they don't have any Indian commentators on Sky, the BBC does on its radio coverage and ESPN's international coverage does.
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