Speaker 1: From The Australian. Here's what's on the Front.
Speaker 2: I'm Kristin Amiot. It's Monday, December twenty nine, twenty twenty five.
Speaker 2: The voices that defined summer for generations of Australians Richie Benno,
Speaker 2: Tony Greg, Bill Lourie and others. Now a new generation
Speaker 2: of cricket commentators is heralding the game into a new,
Speaker 2: high tech and sometimes hilarious era. Today, The Australians Media
Speaker 2: editor and big time cricket fan James Madden reflects on
Speaker 2: cricket's storied.
Speaker 1: Broadcast history and the path forward.
Speaker 2: For one of the nation's favorite games. So, James, most
Speaker 2: listeners to the Front will know you as The Australian's
Speaker 2: media editor. But last time we talked about cricket broadcasting
Speaker 2: on the Front, it was also revealed you have a
Speaker 2: pretty solid Richie Beno impression.
Speaker 3: Yes, it was a It was an overcast in Melbourne
Speaker 3: and the Victorians were sent into bat after losing the toss.
Speaker 4: They're in early trouble at about two to thirty.
Speaker 2: I believe you can tell a lot about a person
Speaker 2: by who they think is the voice of the summer.
Speaker 1: Who is that for you? When it comes to the cricket.
Speaker 3: Great question and you know, if you'd asked any Australian
Speaker 3: twenty years ago, it would have been Richie alongside his comrades,
Speaker 3: Tony Bill all the rest of the gang.
Speaker 5: It's two for two through two right shut off, a
Speaker 5: big right over the top the little mans.
Speaker 4: It's a big gulla for six.
Speaker 1: Gone again. Oh there she goes. That's a twelve and.
Speaker 5: Live roller would have about as much of an effect
Speaker 5: as a couple of Koala bears doing the part of
Speaker 5: the come more football.
Speaker 2: He's put his foot straight down the line, the ball
Speaker 2: swung down the line.
Speaker 5: There it is great moment history of Australian Test cricket.
Speaker 1: It's been a marvel's game here.
Speaker 3: But these days, in the last decade cricket commentary has
Speaker 3: really evolved and some of the technology used in some
Speaker 3: of these cricket broadcasts is phenomenal. And it's not just
Speaker 3: you know nicks on the bat or ball tracking technology.
Speaker 3: It's whether or not the batsman his body is in
Speaker 3: the right position to actually be playing a certain shot.
Speaker 4: It's crazy.
Speaker 3: So the technology has added a lot and it's come
Speaker 3: a long way since Tony Gregg used to stick the
Speaker 3: key in the pitch to determine if there were cracks
Speaker 3: or if there was moisture in the wicket. These days
Speaker 3: you've got the lights of Adam Gilchrist Mark Wore, both
Speaker 3: those guys on Foxtel alongside others. Seven's got Ricky Ponting,
Speaker 3: Matthew Hayden, Justin Langer. ABC Radio has got Darren Lehman,
Speaker 3: who not only a former Test player but also former coach.
Speaker 3: So a lot of these former players of the later generation,
Speaker 3: after the Benot's and the Chapels and the Greggs and
Speaker 3: the Lorries, it's almost as if the next generation of
Speaker 3: former players and now at the forefront of commentary. And
Speaker 3: that's a pretty great thing because they have of unparalleled
Speaker 3: insight into the game. To take nothing away from the
Speaker 3: commentators such as Jim Maxwell, who is on ABC Radio
Speaker 3: and has been fantastic for decades.
Speaker 5: Paddy Hoardy, everybody here, we are having a bit of fun,
Speaker 5: aren't we. That's you love wickets falling in games of cricket.
Speaker 4: But people might recall Shane Warn.
Speaker 3: A lot of people probably have forgotten since his death
Speaker 3: how great a commentator he was. He could see the
Speaker 3: game two steps ahead, more so than probably anyone I've
Speaker 3: ever heard. So not only was he our greatest Test bowler,
Speaker 3: he's also probably one of our great commentators, but that's forgotten.
Speaker 3: So I think, given that the game has changed a
Speaker 3: lot since the sixties and seventies, it's great to have
Speaker 3: more modern commentators in a way calling the game.
Speaker 2: We've also seen as great of the women's game have
Speaker 2: retired and moved into commentary.
Speaker 1: We've had Lisas Delaka, Isha Gua.
Speaker 2: We've even got between games the current Women's Test captain
Speaker 2: Alyssa Heay jumping into the country box.
Speaker 1: How do you think that's in acted the way people
Speaker 1: watch cricket.
Speaker 3: The women's game itself has just gone from strength to strength.
Speaker 3: It's amazing, and it's on all the time. Like the
Speaker 3: Big Bash. The women's Big Bashes too, seems to be
Speaker 3: always on, which is fantastic.
Speaker 4: Who doesn't love cricket every day of.
Speaker 2: The year and they I believe it was a couple
Speaker 2: of years ago the men's Big Bash season was shortened
Speaker 2: because just the amount of cricket that they are playing
Speaker 2: at the moment, but the women elected to keep that
Speaker 2: longer season.
Speaker 1: They are playing dozens of games every.
Speaker 3: Summer and it's rating ats socks off too, which is interesting.
Speaker 3: So there's a real appetite to watch the women's game.
Speaker 3: The fact that there's so many female commentators is also
Speaker 3: brilliant for the game, both the men's and the women's.
Speaker 3: And I can remember it was a long time ago,
Speaker 3: back in the eighties there was a lady called Kate
Speaker 3: Fitzpatrick who briefly had a role on the Channel nine
Speaker 3: commentary team and all hell broke loose. It was a
Speaker 3: different time, but of course there was all this predictable
Speaker 3: criticism that what would a woman know.
Speaker 4: About cricket all the rest of it.
Speaker 3: That narrative is so far gone thankfully now and we've
Speaker 3: got men and women commentating across men and women's games
Speaker 3: and it's fantastic and it's good for the listener and
Speaker 3: the watcher too.
Speaker 1: What do you think it is about the cricket commentary
Speaker 1: that is unique?
Speaker 2: Obviously you need people who can both entertain and bring
Speaker 2: those really deep insights that you mentioned, sometimes up to
Speaker 2: five days, unless it's England in the first Ashes test.
Speaker 2: What is it about the cricket commentary that makes it
Speaker 2: different from other sports?
Speaker 3: The key difference is you've got to fill in the gaps.
Speaker 3: I suppose, like any sport, you've got to be able
Speaker 3: to call the action, and people do it differently. Richie
Speaker 3: had that beautiful, understated manner, and then there's someone like
Speaker 3: James Brayshaw on Channel seven and Triple M who's great,
Speaker 3: but he becomes hysterical at times, which is entertaining. But
Speaker 3: it's very far removed from cricket commentary of the past.
Speaker 3: But I think the one factor across all the commentators
Speaker 3: is that you need to be able to talk and talk,
Speaker 3: because I think there's a statistic once that about eighty
Speaker 3: percent of the game of a day's test cricket, nothing
Speaker 3: is happening. There is no live action, so that's eighty
Speaker 3: percent of seven hours where you have to talk. And
Speaker 3: obviously everyone's been in the car and they've listened to
Speaker 3: ABC and Triple AM and even back in the Channel
Speaker 3: nine Bill Laurie used to talk about the pigeons and
Speaker 3: that sort of thing, and on ABC Radio there's a
Speaker 3: lot of talk about birthday cakes and where the commentators
Speaker 3: had dinner the previous night, and it's actually very entertaining
Speaker 3: of itself, nothing to do with cricket a lot of
Speaker 3: the time, So it's entertainment. You have to entertain for
Speaker 3: seven hours. And all these guys and girls that I've
Speaker 3: mentioned in the commentary positions, they know cricket inside out.
Speaker 3: Can they add that entertainment factor? Not all of them can,
Speaker 3: but the very good ones have to.
Speaker 1: Sometimes.
Speaker 2: I think it's what is not said as well that
Speaker 2: is equally powerful. We all saw Stuart Broad's face in
Speaker 2: the broadcast of the first Ashes Test in November. It
Speaker 2: was just that look of pure I would say humiliation.
Speaker 2: He might not say that, maybe regret for some of it,
Speaker 2: despair some of the comments.
Speaker 1: That he'd made.
Speaker 2: The former player most recently added to some of the
Speaker 2: commentary teams has been David Warner. He only retired last summer.
Speaker 2: How's he faring and what do you think he brings
Speaker 2: to the mix?
Speaker 3: The interesting thing I suppose about Dave Warner is, as
Speaker 3: you say, he's not even twelve months out of the game,
Speaker 3: so he is expected, obviously to offer at times fairly
Speaker 3: harsh appraisals of players with whom twelve months ago he
Speaker 3: was sharing a dressing room. There was a moment in
Speaker 3: the Pertest I think where there was controversy surrounding was
Speaker 3: been Kwaja and whether or not he should retain his
Speaker 3: place in the team. And Warner was who was a
Speaker 3: great mate of Cowaja's, indeed a childhood friend of Cowaja's.
Speaker 3: I thought handled it quite well, was fairly diplomatic, but
Speaker 3: pointing out the challenges that Kwaja faces. So that's something
Speaker 3: that somebody like Warner and even some of the other
Speaker 3: commentators who haven't been out of the game so long
Speaker 3: have to traverse. It's only natural they don't want to
Speaker 3: dump on their mates publicly, but at the same time
Speaker 3: they're paid and paid well to offer pretty strident analysis
Speaker 3: of what's going on.
Speaker 4: That's a tricky thing for some commentators.
Speaker 2: I thought it was interesting when Osmond Kwaja was off
Speaker 2: the field and therefore not able to open the batting
Speaker 2: for Australia in the Perth Test, that he actually told
Speaker 2: a story where he said, this has happened to.
Speaker 3: Me, and in a way that goes to what we
Speaker 3: were saying before in terms of filling the space of
Speaker 3: a broadcast. Some of these ex cricket players, and they've
Speaker 3: all got so many stories, even if it's so keep
Speaker 3: talking about how he drank twelve beers with Rod Marshall
Speaker 3: on the eve of a test or Daby want to
Speaker 3: talking about some technicality is a game. It fills the
Speaker 3: space because there are so many stories that accompany this
Speaker 3: game and these ex players. It's Taylor made for a
Speaker 3: few back in my day stories.
Speaker 2: Someone. We cannot have this conversation in this day and
Speaker 2: age without talking about someone who's become a bit of
Speaker 2: a cult hero online, and that's Kerry Okey, also known
Speaker 2: as Skull. What do you make of the particular brand
Speaker 2: of chaos the Skull brings to the commentary.
Speaker 3: Well, probably he was launched off the back of his
Speaker 3: unique laugh.
Speaker 1: And nobody laughs at Skull's jokes.
Speaker 4: He as much a skull, That's true. That's true, and
Speaker 4: there's a certain skill to that as well.
Speaker 5: If I could talk technically, Jim, this pitch is drier
Speaker 5: than a Teetotler's Christmas.
Speaker 3: Is brilliant addition to any commentary team he's on. Obviously,
Speaker 3: he cut his teeth as a commentator with ABC going
Speaker 3: back quite some time, and now he's a real staple
Speaker 3: of Fox Tell, a very important team member. I suppose
Speaker 3: he plays in a way the court jester role. But
Speaker 3: again he's a former test player of some note and
Speaker 3: has brilliant insights into the game. I think the brilliance
Speaker 3: of him is that when he's doing a piece to
Speaker 3: camera or even offering commentary, you're never quite sure it's
Speaker 3: there's going to be a real, really inappropriate gag or
Speaker 3: just a real zinger at the end of a sense,
Speaker 3: or if it's just going to peter out into a
Speaker 3: fairly normal observation.
Speaker 5: It's a special day because people come for it. It's
Speaker 5: a reunion day, and there's a buzz in the crowd
Speaker 5: prior to the first ball, and everybody watches the first
Speaker 5: session and then they go drinking out the bag. So
Speaker 5: keep the crowd shots tight for the second and third session.
Speaker 2: Coming up.
Speaker 1: Why broadcasters still want the cricket.
Speaker 2: Last time we talked about the cricket broadcasting in general, well,
Speaker 2: there was a big question mark over who would get
Speaker 2: the broadcast rights that, as I understand it is now
Speaker 2: locked in for the next few years. We've got Channel
Speaker 2: seven has the free to air rights, Fox Sports is
Speaker 2: on streaming, and then ABC Grandstand has the radio broadcast rights.
Speaker 2: Is the cricket and particularly the longer formats, which some
Speaker 2: people might argue are falling out of favor with viewers.
Speaker 1: For something faster, more entertaining like T twenty.
Speaker 4: Is it still.
Speaker 2: Attractive to broadcast has given just the sheer volume of
Speaker 2: it and the sheer length of it.
Speaker 3: Absolutely, Test cricket is valuable to broadcasters. Last season when
Speaker 3: Australia played India in five Tests out here, that did
Speaker 3: amazing numbers for TV and radio, and then certainly in
Speaker 3: the first Test in Perth, even though it only lasted
Speaker 3: two days, I think it was up sixty percent on
Speaker 3: the India Test the same time twelve months back, so
Speaker 3: those numbers are astonishing. It was unfortunate for the broadcasters
Speaker 3: Seven and Foxtel that was only two day tests in
Speaker 3: Perth because they would have lost advertising revenue and eyeballs
Speaker 3: and momentum and all of that.
Speaker 4: But cricket is very valuable.
Speaker 3: The three big sports rights in Australia are AFL, NRL
Speaker 3: and cricket. Crickets unique insofar as when India or England
Speaker 3: are in Australia it's an absolute bonanza. They are the
Speaker 3: two biggest Test playing nations apart from Australia and obviously
Speaker 3: they attract a lot of support given for a start,
Speaker 3: the number of Indian supporters out here and same with England,
Speaker 3: and it's always competitive. So when those teams are out
Speaker 3: here in our summer, it's a gold mine for the broadcasters.
Speaker 3: When you've got teams that don't have as much support,
Speaker 3: let's say Pakistan, West Indies, South Africa, New Zealand, those
Speaker 3: summers by the broadcasters are considered down summers because they're
Speaker 3: just not in the same ballpark as in India England series.
Speaker 3: So I suppose with the broadcast rights it's never going
Speaker 3: to be gangbusters every single season, but increasingly Australia is
Speaker 3: playing India more often, so that helps the coffers of
Speaker 3: the broadcasters and of Cricket Australia.
Speaker 5: Mm hmmm.
Speaker 2: James Madden is The Australian's Media editor. You can read
Speaker 2: all the latest in the cricket right now at the
Speaker 2: Australian dot com dot au