Ian Healy cricket commentator

[Ford Fairlane]

Is it just me that thinks Ian Healy is the 9 cricket commentary team equivalent of Stephen Rowe?

 

[Zakk Wylde]

Yep.... My most disliked.

Mark Waugh should be poached by Channel 9.... Love his work with Fox. He's scathing on blokes and doesnt really rate anyone.

 

[Eddie Dingle]

Healy makes me turn the cricket off.

I've never done that previously.

So yeah fair call.

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

Is it just me that thinks Ian Healy is the 9 cricket commentary team equivalent of Stephen Rowe?

Bit harsh on Healy there Ford. Yeah at time's he a pain in the arse like all good wicket keepers are suposed to be on the field.

 

[Eddie Dingle]

Bit harsh on Healy there Ford. Yeah at time's he a pain in the arse like all good wicket keepers are suposed to be on the field.

Mate he is more of a pain in the arse in the commentary box than he ever was on the field.

 

[Ford Fairlane]

I don't think Healy's as bad as Stephen Rowe, but Rowe starts from a much lower baseline compared to his fellow commentators. It's more in comparison to his commentary peers.

 

[tribey]

Is it just me that thinks Ian Healy is the 9 cricket commentary team equivalent of Stephen Rowe?

It's pretty much blanket shit across the board of Australian sport.

You listen to the nuanced, informative, succinct special comms on some - not all - of the EPL and NFL coverage and you wonder how half the morons here ever passed their initial screen test, if indeed they had one at all. Drew Banfield made Dipper look like Jon Gruden.

 

[finbarr]

Bit harsh on Healy there Ford. Yeah at time's he a pain in the arse like all good wicket keepers are suposed to be on the field.

That alone should have seen his papers stamped "never to be allowed within 100 metres of a commentary box".

Insight is all well and good, but to be a commentator you must have the right manner and voice first and foremost. It's sad that the art of commentating has all but disappeared to the point you now only needed to have laced a boot at a decent level in order to get a gig.

 

[Ebert80]

Bit harsh on Healy there Ford. Yeah at time's he a pain in the arse like all good wicket keepers are suposed to be on the field.

Only thing worse than Healy commentating, is his fellow wicket keeper, from New Zealand, Ian "Smuthy" Smith

 

[Ebert80]

Yep.... My most disliked.

Mark Waugh should be poached by Channel 9.... Love his work with Fox. He's scathing on blokes and doesnt really rate anyone.

Channel 9 might be losing the rights to the cricket at the end of this domestic cricket season, as 10 (and maybe 7 and/or Foxtel) may be making a strong bid.

My brother got to meet M Waugh and Blewett at the 20/20 game a few weeks ago, but instead of discussing cricket all he wanted to discuss was horse racing

 

[WhyAlwaysMe]

Healy is the biggest arsehat on tv. That test in Adelaide on the final day Healy was spouting all sorts of nonsense and pretty much saying any ball that hit the pads was out.

 

[questionable]

genius is never understood in its own time. ian healy is taking cricket commentary to bold new places.

marvel at how he seamlessly weaves the call of this wicket into his rambling as though nothing even happened

skip to 7:15 (direct link)



sublime

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

Only thing worse than Healy commentating, is his fellow wicket keeper, from New Zealand, Ian "Smuthy" Smith

Are we talking his cricket or rugby commentating?? I'm stiffed if I know how Smuthy got the gig calling All Back games on NZ TV for the last decade or more.

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

That alone should have seen his papers stamped "never to be allowed within 100 metres of a commentary box".

Insight is all well and good, but to be a commentator you must have the right manner and voice first and foremost. It's sad that the art of commentating has all but disappeared to the point you now only needed to have laced a boot at a decent level in order to get a gig.

I enjoy listening to Rod Marsh talk cricket in interviews but he was pretty hopeless and only lasted a couple of years on ch 9.

Ha ha Healy would really be pissed off if 9 lose the rights and 10 or 7 give Adam Gilchrist a job.

The worst ex wicketkeeper commentator in Oz is bloody Ray Phillips who was Qld wicketkeeper for about 10 years from about 1978 after long serving John Maclean ( who played second fiddle Marsh for many years prior to Packer) retired. I think he is or was Qld chairman of selectors.

Phillips has been on the ABC for about 15 years. He has an annoying high pitch whiny voice and uses cliche after cliche after cliche. He is worse than Rowe. My worst memory of him is the tour of India in 2001, when Australia enforced the following on in Calcutta after wining the first test Mumbai by a 10 wickets, it was the 16th win a row and the 18th undefeated Test and the Aussies were heading for an easy victory leading by 280 on the first innings. At the end of day 3, India were 4 for 250 odd, still 30 behind - Laxman had scored 100 and was not out and Dravid went to stumps in single digits.

Laxman and Dravid battled all day and put on about 330 runs and over 6 long bloody hours all Ray could say during his stint in the box, when VVS did one of those magnificent wristy shots for four on the leg side or smashed Warne over his head or Dravid went on the attack, - oh I don't believe it, I don't believe what I'm seeing, this is unbelievable, can you believe this Hasha? Can you believes this Jim?? I kept on yelling back at my radio louder and louder as the day went on - yes for ****s sake I can believe it, and kept on wishing he would get off as soon as his shift started. He added nothing to what was the greatest come back/ turn around in test history, and did a great diservice to the great innings' of VVS and Dravid.

 

[Ford Fairlane]

Sounds like Phillips should get together with Healy to form a Cornes/Rowe partnership. You've just described Graham Cornes's standard commentary technique.

 

[Natman]

Annoying and a twerp - he thinks he is a doctor and a physio - go and do that, because I am sick of him using 300 words to describe something where 30 words would do.

 

[powermacs]

Fox & ABC commentators daylight then Ch9. Watching TV and listening to 891 is fairly standard procedure.

 

[finbarr]

I reckon the current crop of ABC commentators are pretty woeful too. O'Keefe has his moments but without someone with half a brain to work off his style can fall a bit flat.

In fact I reckon the only time the ABC box is any good at all is during the Ashes when Jonathan Agnew comes out.

 

[powermacs]

Can't agree with that. I could listen to K Ok all day. I used to hate Drew Morphett calling the footy but I don't mind him doing the cricket. I wasn't a fan of Brett Geeves during the Tassie test, reminded me too much of the MMM gee whizz head wobble stuff.

 

[Ebert80]

Are we talking his cricket or rugby commentating?? I'm stiffed if I know how Smuthy got the gig calling All Back games on NZ TV for the last decade or more.

I guess its just one of those things where they employ someone within the network to do a sport they aren't really qualified to discuss, such as Dwayne Russell doing Equestrian at the Olympics. I guess as far as Smuthy though, its probably just his accent that grates, as much as anything he says.

Someone mentoned Rod Marsh. I personally thought he was one of the better ch 9 commentators during his time, and he was good on ABC radio too. I presumed he left tv commentating because he wanted to get into other things such as coaching, not because he wasn't any good at it. If that was the case, then ch 9 would have no one commentating. Which reminds me of something I once read about - a quick google search didn't find it - regarding an experiment a US network once did where they televised a sport (baseball I think), without any commentators. I've often wondered why tv networks don't just cut the costs of commentators and just televise the sport itself (whether it be cricket or the footy), presumably the experiment in America showed that ratings would go down significantly.

 

[Ford Fairlane]

Jets v Dolphins NFL match was telecast without announcers in 1980.

They thought the ratings were ok for what was expected to be a dog of a game but that would have been inflated by the novelty.

In the end it seems they thought it left too much dead space on air and commentators do have a part to play in the TV viewing experience (besides which, commentators don't want to be unemployed)

 

[Eddie Dingle]

I guess its just one of those things where they employ someone within the network to do a sport they aren't really qualified to discuss, such as Dwayne Russell doing Equestrian at the Olympics. I guess as far as Smuthy though, its probably just his accent that grates, as much as anything he says.

Someone mentoned Rod Marsh. I personally thought he was one of the better ch 9 commentators during his time, and he was good on ABC radio too. I presumed he left tv commentating because he wanted to get into other things such as coaching, not because he wasn't any good at it. If that was the case, then ch 9 would have no one commentating. Which reminds me of something I once read about - a quick google search didn't find it - regarding an experiment a US network once did where they televised a sport (baseball I think), without any commentators. I've often wondered why tv networks don't just cut the costs of commentators and just televise the sport itself (whether it be cricket or the footy), presumably the experiment in America showed that ratings would go down significantly.

Keith Stackpole was awesome.

He must have pissed Richie or someone higher up the foodchain off cos they flicked him quick smart.

 

[Ford Fairlane]

Healy at the change of innings just referred to an aggressive declaration by Michael Clarke. Australia 138 ahead, 9 down, Wade just thrashed his way to 100 and then dropped, every ball survived by Bird the ferret (comes in after the bunnies) cheered by the crowd. Yeah that was a real game changer Heals.

 

[Eddie Dingle]

I'm not sure what was going through his head while he was playing for Australia but he has less idea of what's going on out there than anyone that has ever picked up a cricket bat including my mum.

 

[teams]

Didn't Packer get rid of Marsh because he was knocking the one day game? Could be wrong on that.