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We got a bit distracted when we tried to write about this last week, but BT Sport has revealed its commentary line-up for the Ashes.
For some reason the press release led with “legendary cricket captains” Michael Vaughan and Ricky Ponting, but we’re far more interested in the others. Geoffrey Boycott’s the most eye-catching name, and he’ll be joined by Alison Mitchell, Adam Gilchrist, Graeme Swann, Michael Slater and Damien Fleming.
They’ll also be producing a daily 90-minute highlights programme. We can’t decide how we feel about this. On the one hand, 90 minutes seems too long for highlights. On the other hand, you’ve got to love a sport where the highlights are longer than a rugby match.
No word yet on whether they’ll also be dumping the show on some minor free-to-air channel in the hope that no-one notices. We’re assuming not, given it seems likely to be such a comprehensive recap of the day’s play.
Those wondering what the hell today’s photo is all about, see here.
Well, at least in selecting Boycott as a commentator they have saved me the trouble of trying to find a way to watch the highlights…
I clicked through to the rather wonderful Geoff Boycott Triffids piece, for which my first thought was, “how could I possibly have forgotten that piece? It is simply too weird to forget.”
Answer – I was in Ireland on that day (18 May 2015) not looking at the Interweb at all. Indeed, as a rather strange coincidence – it was the very day that Daisy and I visited Clontarf CC with Dumbo – which resulted in a King Cricket match report of some note:
http://ianlouisharris.com/2015/05/18/ireland-with-dumbo-day-twelve-18-may-2015/
What more could Boycott want than linking arms with Katy Perry and a manifestation of his ego.
That’s about the least awful possible selection of Australian commentators, too. Ponting is almost insightful at times. I shudder to think who I’ll be subjected to having to watch the Australian broadcast. At least Bill Lawry will probably do the Melbourne match.
In the Spin from the Guardian they said there will be a daily short highlights package free on the BT Sport website.
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2017/oct/24/bt-sport-ashes-debut-the-spin-bucket-list
We saw that. The exact wording is “condensed super-highlights” so we’re assuming it’s basically the kind of stuff you normally get via the ECB.
Better than a kick in the teeth though.
Depends how the cricket is going.
If it’s anything like 2015/16, I might opt for the kick in the teeth.
Except for Boycott and maybe Swann whom I’ve never heard speak, the rest of the cast is… underwhelming.