Baz, Tim mentioned he had done some work with the BBC before.
Oliver? Packed in after Ashes 94-95 and sold real estate in Hobart. For a blustering, name-dropping bulldust artist what better job could there be?
He is not highly regarded by his former colleagues. Jim Maxwell's book rather pointedly does not mention his name. And if you listened to Oliver you'd swear he and Clarrie Boon had grown up in each other's backyards and he had practically taught David how to bat. The Boon version as I recall was extremely diluted in comparison.
Neville Oliver ... aka 'the doctor' at least by Johnners (from 'Dr NO') was all bluster. When Johnners and NO were together, whole overs could pass without reference to activities in the centre.
I always assumed that the BBC took the ABC's Grandstand coverage when in Australia just as the ABC takes the BBC's Test Match Special when the Ashes are in England.
What I mean to say is, there's going to be a whole heap of Pommy commentators out here this summer and the only one we're going to get is Jonathn Agnew?
As for Neville Oliver. He wasn't a cricketing expert, but I did rather enjoy his commentary on chocolate biscuits, tea ladies and lamington recipes. Perhaps he got the balance a little off, but it's one of the things I like about cricket commentary on the radio.
Originally posted by Hass: It shows you what a goose I am.
I always assumed that the BBC took the ABC's Grandstand coverage when in Australia just as the ABC takes the BBC's Test Match Special when the Ashes are in England. .
I haven't actually listened to an Ashes series since 1986/7 - but on that occasion the BBC took ABC's coverage.
I think we also had channel nein's coverage up until the late 1990's before Sky put their own commentators in.
Which was a shame - i quite like listening to totally biased commentators of the opposition.
I'd actually prefer that we pooled our commentators for one uber broadcast.
That's what they used to do on Rugby League Kangaroo Tours.
Normally one person calls the entire match, but for a Lions-Roos test we'd have an Aussie for 20 minutes then a Pommy for the other 20 minutes in each half.
For mine the commentary is an integral part of the viewing experience in that most people are following the match through television or radio.
For example. When Shane Warne bowled the 'Gatting Ball' Richie Benaud was commentating on Australian TV.
It goes like this, "Shane Warne's first ball... in test cricket... in England [Warne bamboozles Gatting]... well, he's done it"
That wicket and that piece of commentary are intrisically linked together in my head.
Yet when I saw it replayed on Fox recently they had the British commentary, which had Ian Chappell commentating at the time. And it just wasn't the same.
Famous pieces of commentary are fundamentally linked with sport and I find it odd that two English-speaking countries can have two different experiences when it need not be the case.
