From Wisden Cricketer‘s deputy editor Ed Craig, awarding his gongs to the winners and losers from the Gabba: Best and worst commentary “David Gower during Peter Siddle’s hat-trick: sounded like he was picking up his dry cleaning. “Mark Taylor during Peter Siddle’s hat-trick (as available on ITV4’s highlights): gave it everything you’d expect. Brilliant.” A Also worth checking out their Ashes cliche drinking game. “Shane Warne says “absolute” prior to any noun – one...
Serena Botham – and why Australia will be so hard to beat
I bet you a thousand pounds that Ian Botham’s Sky contract includes the stipulation that he must be referred to, at all times, as ‘Sir’ Ian. How else to explain the extraordinary, forelock-tugging obsequiousness of his Sky Sports colleagues, who are now compelled to defer to him as some kind of feudal overlord. He’s not just ‘Sir Ian’ for formal links and handovers. – but every single reference, no matter how throwaway, jokey, or informal. It must feel...
Sky’s Ashes Adverts: Pick up a bat and wallop an Aussie
Four years ago, Sky would never have positioned our cricketers backstage at a coliseum in the vicinity of roaring lions. The expectation would’ve been ‘it’s feeding time’ for the big cats. Confidence is so high this time round, however, that Sky’s latest advert for the Ashes portrays Pietersen and Co as gladiators, about to avenge the wrongs of 2006/07. It’s optimistic, it’s heroic, and it’s … err … a bit naff. Sky obviously forgot that Russell Crowe is an Australian. But perhaps...
ITV to show Ashes highlights
Good news – TV viewers in Britain will be able to watch an hour of Ashes highlights on free-to-air television, every day of the series. ITV yesterday announced they’d secured the rights to the coverage, which will be screened on ITV4, so you’ll need to have Freeview or other digital service to get access. The idea of cricket on ITV still seems a bit weird, even though the commercial channel covered the IPL earlier this year. But their coverage should feel very familiar, as...
A plan to save county cricket
Essex, Sussex and Somerset are trying to persuade the ECB not to reduce the number of T20 matches next season. Essex in particular have been vocal in their opposition – they claim they’ll have to make redundancies if their home matches are reduced from eight per season back to five. So what is the solution? Everybody agrees that the Friends Provident matches had less meaning this summer. Players were complaining of burn out and interest in T20 cricket seemed to be reaching saturation...
The ticket-sales ‘crisis’: blame the ECB, not the IPL
Extraordinary times. Cricket’s ‘ticket sales crisis’ is now a mainstream news story – making the BBC 10 O’clock News, and page 9 of Monday’s Evening Standard. Admittedly, it’s mid-August and newsrooms need all the material they can lay their hands on. They’ve exaggerated the story, which has now taken on its own news-momentum. The more outlets pick up on it, the more others will follow – and a few days’ poor ticket sales snowball into...
