By TANIA PHILLIPS
Big Bash Cricket
Channel Ten, most nights from 7.30pm
CRICKET on the television has been one of those long summer traditions in Australia, stretching right back to a time when the test matches were played out with just a camera or two on the ABC.
But maybe, just maybe, it has found a new home on Channel Ten.
The embattled channel has been playing host to the Big Bash Cricket – the state Twenty20 competition and it is proving both a ratings and share-price boost.
Of course for the past 30 years, the sport has been the almost exclusive domain of Channel Nine.
With a commentary team headed up by the “voice of cricket” – Richie Benaud and getting more and more technical, the test and one-day coverage has been state-of-the art.
But while it has been great to get the game from every angle and see every replay, the test coverage seems to be more and more predictable. Now don’t get me wrong it has been great to see Aussies returning to the winners’ circle but there seems to be something missing from the coverage.
It might be the late Tony Greig or even Richie himself or maybe it’s the annoying banter between Mark Taylor and the over-rated Mark Nicholas or the endless cross-promotion but it was hard to warm to the Channel Nine coverage (even with the sound off and the ABC commentary going).
So it has been a breath of fresh air to turn over to Channel Ten in the past week and take in the Big Bash Cricket. Now I’m a cricket purist, and I’ll take a test match over the short-form any day, but this game and the coverage itself just lends itself to a hot summer night.
And after gaining popularity on pay TV over the past few years, it seems to have found the perfect home at Ten.
Commentators include journalists and very recently retired cricketers, the players are miked up and we head to the coaches’ dug-outs for an extra insight into the game. It is fun, fast and fabulous and just long enough to watch with the kids, without having them wander off or heading back to their nearest electronic device.
Add to that a colourful collection of players including rising stars, veterans and a smattering of internationals and the fact that everyone (including the commentators) seem to genuinely be having fun and it is obvious that Ten is finally on a winner.
