Monday, August 12, 2013

Ashes...


I have been following The Ashes closely. There is something about the matches on grounds in England, Australia and South Africa. We are used to the noisy atmosphere in sub-continent grounds and either clichéd commentary by the likes of Shastri or verbal diarrhoea by the likes of Harsha Bhogle on TV. Not to mention Mr. Laxman Sivaramakrishnan with his school kid monotone of ' The grass is green....the sky is blue... yada yada". For some reason this guy is present in almost every match played in India. I think the broadcasters use him as filler. Probably he pays the broadcasters to put him on air. It helps if you have played for India.

All this changes in England. The noisy cacophony is replaced by a coherent symphony. From the general silence intermittently broken by claps for every good shot or a wicket to the loud boos for reasons like umpires leaving the ground after suspending the play due to bad light or some unsportsmanlike conduct- it all makes for good television viewing. One can sit at home and still soak in the ground atmosphere. The commentary is also a welcome change with the likes of Nasser Hussain, David Gower, Michael Holding, Bumble, Shane Warne etc behind the microphone. Even the after-match discussions that David Gower hosts seem like a breath of fresh air. The garrulous and diplomatic Harsha Bhogle could learn a thing or two from him about subtle hosting and the power of silence. They even have fantastic off the field programming. I remember watching Shane Warne, Nasser Hussain and Andrew Strauss displaying batting and bowling nuances on a practice pitch during the thirds day's play of the fourth Ashes test. The way Shane Warne explained how he approached setting up batsmen was a revelation. I am sure a lot of kids or, for that matter, even professional crickets, would have learnt a tip or two from him. 

Finally, another good part about the telecast is the reduced number of advertisements in between the overs. Broadcasters in India don't even allow the commentators to finish their sentences at the end of overs so that they can sneak in one more 10 sec adv. It ruins the viewing experience. The only thing that I wished was Australia putting up some more fight. They have shown spine in patches but have been outclassed by England so far. It is sad to see a meek Australian team after watching their predecessors rule the roost for almost a decade.

1 comment:

said...

I'd love to see some streakers in an Indian ground.