Unpopular Cricket Opinions

[Leeda]

ooh I think I said that Finch should start 3/4... and he is adamant he is a one or a two position player.. how am I going?
but he said himself long ago that he wasn't quite a numero uno..

I'll give him the belt and let davey or smitty or even usssie to wrap up the presents..

 

[Daniel B]

Listening to McGrath drone on during the Pink Test makes me reach for the mute button.

 

[PhatBoy]

Listening to McGrath drone on during the Pink Test makes me reach for the mute button.

Can be painful.

McGrath is a bit of a Waugh on steroids.

Mark Waugh has started to improve a bit: as he’s commentated more he’s become better at knowing opposition players and being able to compliment them etc.

McGrath almost finds it painful to do it

 

[eth-dog]

Can be painful.

McGrath is a bit of a Waugh on steroids.

Mark Waugh has started to improve a bit: as he’s commentated more he’s become better at knowing opposition players and being able to compliment them etc.

McGrath almost finds it painful to do it

Waugh is the worst commentator in the world currently.

I would almost rather Ian Chappell

 

[Aussie_boy]

I’ll add my unpopular opinion then. I don’t mind Mark Waugh, better than a whole heap of others. Could show a bit more interest at times but overall speaks sense I think.

 

[t_94]

Waugh is the worst commentator in the world currently.

I would almost rather Ian Chappell

Knows way more about cricket than you champo.

 

[eth-dog]

Knows way more about cricket than you champo.

No, he doesn't. That's the problem.

 

[Daniel B]

Knows way more about cricket than you champo.

Unfortunately, knowing about the subject is only part of the deal. I remember one BBL game a few years back when Ben Cutting & Brisbane Heat reached their 160-run target in about 10 overs while the commentary team comprising Darren Lehmann, Brendan Julian and Andrew Symonds uttered grunts, yeps, woahs and little else. By contrast, idiots like Mark Howard continue to get a gig even while butchering names and getting basic facts wrong, because they know how to convey excitement in their voices.

 

[PhatBoy]

Knows way more about cricket than you champo.

I would actually be very surprised if that’s true.

 

[damochandler]

Waugh is the worst commentator in the world currently.

I would almost rather Ian Chappell

Matty Hayden has that crown

 

[eth-dog]

Matty Hayden has that crown

They're top 2 with Ian Smith rounding out the podium

 

[Registered User]

This might be a popular opinion: the best thing about Ch 9 no longer having the cricket is that I've never had to hear Michael Clarke commentating since

 

[damochandler]

They're top 2 with Ian Smith rounding out the podium

I can’t stand Ian smith as well

 

[damochandler]

Kerry okeefe is s**t.

 

[eth-dog]

I can’t stand Ian smith as well

I honestly don't know why him or Harsha Bhogle are out here. Harsha is great but India have tests on soon don't they?

 

[t_94]

I would actually be very surprised if that’s true.

No, he doesn't. That's the problem.

Regurgitating stats from Cricinfo does not equate to cricket knowledge. How are the matting wickets playing this season?

 

[PhatBoy]

Regurgitating stats from Cricinfo does not equate to cricket knowledge. How are the matting wickets playing this season?

Telling someone who’s played 30 years of cricket mostly on turf wickets that they’ve played exclusively matting and that they get all their cricket knowledge from cricinfo doesn’t equate to putting them in their place, either.

The fact that Waugh himself probably knows as much about horse racing as many seasoned jockeys despite never having ridden one of the things disproves your theory immediately anyway.

 

[eth-dog]

Regurgitating stats from Cricinfo does not equate to cricket knowledge. How are the matting wickets playing this season?

Playing test cricket doesn't necessarily equate to cricket knowledge either. "Oh you play low level cricket you can't know anything about the game."

And the fact you think my knowledge is entirely based on statistics says everything. Most commentators know more than me. Mark Waugh doesn't. Which is why he sucks as a commentator.

 

[Gethelred]

With better captaincy, coaches and trust, Nathan Hauritz could've had a significantly better impact at international level.

 

[the_interloper]

This might be a popular opinion: the best thing about Ch 9 no longer having the cricket is that I've never had to hear Michael Clarke commentating since

THey've got rid of heaps of annoying commentators over the years, with Clarke and Slater being the worst.

 

[PhatBoy]

With better captaincy, coaches and trust, Nathan Hauritz could've had a significantly better impact at international level.

Universe Boss disagrees with this

 

[big_e]

With better captaincy, coaches and trust, Nathan Hauritz could've had a significantly better impact at international level.

Nathan Hauritz: 17 tests, 63 wickets at 34.98 (ER 3.14, SR 66.6.
Nathan Lyon after 17 tests: 56 wickets at 31.92 (ER 2.8, SR 68.3)

The immediate post-Warne period was a shitshow for spinners. Selectors (and fans) seemed to think that a spinner had to come in and rip through batting lineups, turn it sideways and be The Man. I suspect Hauritz wasn't "one of the boys" either, in a side filled with alphas.

 

[eth-dog]

Ritz was a solid test cricketer. He's probably the second best post Warne/MacGill (who shouldn't really count since he was so close to retirement too)

 

[Gethelred]

Nathan Hauritz: 17 tests, 63 wickets at 34.98 (ER 3.14, SR 66.6.
Nathan Lyon after 17 tests: 56 wickets at 31.92 (ER 2.8, SR 68.3)

The immediate post-Warne period was a shitshow for spinners. Selectors (and fans) seemed to think that a spinner had to come in and rip through batting lineups, turn it sideways and be The Man. I suspect Hauritz wasn't "one of the boys" either, in a side filled with alphas.

Also, Ponting had no ******* idea how to use a spinner not called S. K. Warne. His method for spinners was 'Give the ball to Shane and let him set his field'; no notion of how to force opposition to target regions of the ground bowling over or around the wicket as an offie, no real acceptance of offspin as a valid method within the Australian way.

Clarke gets a lot of credit as a captain, but I don't think he was really all that much better. He was willing to trust a spinner more than Ponting was - Ponting would only bowl a bowler he trusted, and if you weren't McGrath, Johnson or Warne he didn't trust you - but his plans for Hauritz and early Lyon (and Kreja) were pretty ******* pedestrian.

Only really under Langer did we begin to do what was necessary to really think about offspin in a subcontinental way.

 

[DaRick]

THey've got rid of heaps of annoying commentators over the years, with Clarke and Slater being the worst.

Nothing tops the Healy/Slater scream team, for mine.