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Best and Worst Commentators from each country?

RedwoodOriginal

RedwoodOriginal

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For me:

England - Best: Atherton, Worst: Guha
Pakistan - Best: no one, Worst: Ramiz
Australia - Best: Slater, Worst: Warne
India - Best: Gavaskar, Worst: Manjrekar
West Indies - Best: Holding, Worst: no one comes to mind
New Zealand - Best: Ian Smith, Worst: Rebecca Rolls
South Africa - Best: Pollock, Worst: Ntini
Sri Lanka - Best: Sangakkara, Worst: Roshan
Bangladesh - Best: no one, Worst: Athar
 
Australia - Best: Ponting, Worst: Slater
England - Best: Hussain, Worst: Pietersen
India - Best: Gavaskar, Worst: Sivaramakrishnan
New Zealand - Best: Smith, Worst: Doull
Pakistan - Best: Sohail, Worst: Ramiz
South Africa - Best: Pollock, Worst: Ntini
Sri Lanka - Best: Sangakkara, Worst: Abeysinghe
West Indies - Best: Bishop, Worst: Ganga
 
RedwoodOriginal said:
For me:

England - Best: Atherton, Worst: Guha
Pakistan - Best: no one, Worst: Ramiz
Australia - Best: Slater, Worst: Warne
India - Best: Gavaskar, Worst: Manjrekar
West Indies - Best: Holding, Worst: no one comes to mind
New Zealand - Best: Ian Smith, Worst: Rebecca Rolls
South Africa - Best: Pollock, Worst: Ntini
Sri Lanka - Best: Sangakkara, Worst: Roshan
Bangladesh - Best: no one, Worst: Athar
Click to expand...

Ramiz transcends these man made "Good-Bad" barriers.
 
India - Best: No one Worst: Manjrekar, Bhogle, Sivaramakrishnan
Tolerable: Sunny G
 
This is the dream commentary team I would like to see

West Indies - Bishop, Jimmy Adams
England - Pietersen, Knight, Hussain
South Africa - Pollock, Symcox, Cullinan
Zimbabwe - Campbell, Mbangwa
Pakistan - Wasim, Sohail
New Zealand - Cairns, Astle, Vettori, Doull
India - Bhogle, Laxman, Agarkar, Dravid, Yuvraj
Australia - Lee, Gilchrist, Ponting, Slater, Clarke
Sri Lanka - Sangakkara, Mahela, Vaas, Jayasuriya, De Silva
 
Australia- Best: Kerry O'Keefe, Worst: Warne

England- Best: Atherton/Hussein tie, Worst: Mark Nicholas

India- Best: Harsha Bogle, Worst: Ravi Shastri

NZ- Best: Ian O'Brien (doesn't get on much apart from BBC though), Worst: Simon Doull (Simon Dull more like)

Pakistan- Best: Wasim Akram, Worst: Rameez Raja

South Africa- Best: none, Worst: all

Zimbabwe- Best: none, Worst: Pommy Mbwangwa

Sri Lanka- honestly never heard one

West Indies- Best: Holding, Worst: none.

Honourable mentions: Best: Isa Guha (England), Worst: Mark Howard (Australia)
 
England - Best: Naser Hussain , Worst: Guha
Pakistan - Best: Rambo , Worst: wasim
Australia - Best: Slater, Worst: Warne
India - Best: no one , Worst: manjekar and shastri
West Indies - Best: Holding, Worst: fazeer
New Zealand - Best: Ian Smith, Worst: Rebecca Rolls
South Africa - Best: Pollock, Worst: Ntini
Sri Lanka - Best: Sangakkara, Worst: Roshan
Bangladesh - Best: no one, Worst: Athar
 
Australia - Bill Lawry : Shane Warne
India - Ravi Shastri : Saurav Ganguly
England - Mark Nicholas : Swann
New Zealand - Simon Doull : Styris
South Africa - No-one : Ntini
Pakistan - Ramiz : Waqar
Sri Lanka - Sanga : Arnold
West Indies - Bishop : Lara
Bangladesh - None : Athar Ali khan
 
I will add another category: Most entertaining/outrageous

Australia - Shane Warne
India - Harsha Bhogle
England - David Bumble Lyod
New Zealand - Danny Morrison
South Africa - None
Pakistan - Ramiz (he is the reason this category was invented :rp)
Sri Lanka - Russell Arnold
West Indies - None
Bangladesh - None
 
Tubs said:
Harsha is criminally underrated, one of my favourite commies.
Click to expand...

Harsha may be a good commentator but he is often too full of himself. His IIM MBA fuelled hubris shows itself all too often and is rather annoying. The fact that he hasn't played anything besides street cricket also runs against him. For me one can't comment on a game unless one has played it at the highest level.

I remember a television discussion featuring Harsha and MAK Pataudi some years ago (It was possibly just after India's exit from the 2007 WC after India lost to Bangladesh). Harsha was breathing fire on Rahul Dravid, going to the point of suggesting that he should stop playing ODIs and stick to test cricket. To this MAK calmly asked, 'And how many tests have you played, Harsha?". I can still pay to see Harsha's face when he heard this! It was hilarious! Old MAK sure did know how to puncture hot air balloons :))
 
Nasser and Atherton are brilliant unless they are commentating on Pakistani matches, where they turn into cliche machines.

I don’t listen to commentary for technical analysis because I don’t need to rely on others, so for me commentary is pure entertainment, and the likes of Mark Nicholas, Rameez and Harsha provide good entertainment.

I also miss Shastri in the box.
 
Nasir and Rameez are my favorites.

Wasim and Waqar make me want to mute sometimes.
 
Forgot to add Isa Guha is a nice addition for commentary!
 
Australia: Best - Ponting. Worst - Brayshaw/Howard.
Bangladesh: blank.
England: Best - Atherton/Nasser. Worst - Didn't like Jack Bannister, seemed very anti-Pakistan.
India: Much of a muchness.
New Zealand: Best - Ian Smith. Worst - Mark Richardson.
Pakistan: Best - Aamer Sohail. Worst - Ramiz Raja.

South Africa: Best - Shaun Pollock. Worst - his former bowling partner Makhaya Ntini.
Sri Lanka - see India.
West Indies - Best: Michael Holding. I like Ian Bishop but is too diplomatic when WI deserve to be blasted. Worst: Daren Ganga is rather bland.
Zimbabwe: Best - Pommie Mbangwa and Alistair Campbell. Worst - Nobody.
 
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Tariq Saeed: my man's a proper commentator. The way he deadpans stuff in the face of adversity is just amazing to hear.

Australia has gone through a major glowdown in terms of cricket commentary. From Lawrie, Chappel, Tony, to whatever garbage cheerleaders they serve now which is a shame to say the least.

West Indies have Fazeer, Holding, & Bishop to keep the flag flying high.

England have Knight, Athers, and Nasser who are bearable or good.

Zimbabwe have Mbangwa who is good and even Tony Mwayu was very pleasant to hear.

Kiwis have Elliot who is a thinking commentator plus he has played with players recently so he has access to some good insight.

I liked Smith's commentary too but I guess he's into management so we won't be hearing him.

Everyone else is a no show.
 
Ian Chappell & boycott tell it how it is. Imran Khan once said the only criticism of my game I listen to is these 2.
 
Only the good ones

- Aus: Mark Nicholas is definitely one of the best from Aus if not the best. Very underrated

- England: Nasir Hussain/ Bumble

- Pakistan: Ramiz is poor with research but is entertaining. Dont mind Bazid and Tariq Saeed too.

- India: Harsha Bhogle is someone I enjoy listening too. He is pretty unbiased and does his research.

- NZ: Ian Smith is as good as it gets around. Morrison is pretty entertaining

- Zim: Mbabgwa is a pretty underrated commentator

- WI: Holding knows the game well and brings in interesting topics during slower periods of the game

- SA: Mike Haysman. Pretty decent, conventional commie.

- Srl: Kumar Sangakarra knows the game pretty well and brings in different points to the conversation
 
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Mueez said:
Forgot to add Isa Guha is a nice addition for commentary!
Click to expand...

She is terrible. Half the time she doesn't know what she is talking about. She will think a ball has been hit for four even though it is easily stopped by the fielder.
 
Titan24 said:
Only the good ones

- Aus: Mark Nicholas is definitely one of the best from Aus if not the best. Very underrated

- England: Nasir Hussain/ Bumble

- Pakistan: Ramiz is poor with research but is entertaining. Dont mind Bazid and Tariq Saeed too.

- India: Harsha Bhogle is someone I enjoy listening too. He is pretty unbiased and does his research.

- NZ: Ian Smith is as good as it gets around. Morrison is pretty entertaining

- Zim: Mbabgwa is a pretty underrated commentator

- WI: Holding knows the game well and brings in interesting topics during slower periods of the game

- SA: Mike Haysman. Pretty decent, conventional commie.

- Srl: Kumar Sangakarra knows the game pretty well and brings in different points to the conversation
Click to expand...

lol Mark Nicholas isn't Australian
 
Every country has terrible commentary except ENG.

The class of commentary is really akin to the decline of cricketing standards worldwide.
 
Arun Lal from India used to do commentary in the early 2000s and was quite good. I think he is a coach of some state side in Ranji Trophy now. My favourite commentator has been Tony Greig.
 
Rameez Raja is one of the GOATs. Great voice, easy on the ears, funny one liners and catch phrases and a p decent analyst. Best commentator from Asia. Others Asians talk a lot of cringe and have accents which are hard on the ears.
 
Shane Warne is the best commentator in the world .. pairs well with absolutely anyone, good humour and banter, conversational style with no cliches and add to that he was a world class player. Also, not pretentious since he is a sincere bogan.

He is #1 imo.
 
Worst is Manjrekar for me. I don’t know why people tolerate him. I usually mute the tv when he is talking. He is The WORST
 
volcyz said:
lol Mark Nicholas isn't Australian
Click to expand...

Yeah but I can see why people associate him with Oz TV coverage. When the ATG Richie Benaud retired Channel 9 in Oz brought in MArk Nicholas from England straight into the anchor role over the top of anyone else. So he became "the face" of oz cricket coverage for about a decade (on free to air TV that is).

Just changed now that a new Channel (Seven) have the Oz free to air cricket rights.
 
Thomaskutty said:
Shane Warne is the best commentator in the world .. pairs well with absolutely anyone, good humour and banter, conversational style with no cliches and add to that he was a world class player. Also, not pretentious since he is a sincere bogan.

He is #1 imo.
Click to expand...

Warne is a Indian bootlicker. Among the worst in the world.
 
Surprised to see Gavaskar deemed as a good commentator. While he does get the technicalities of batting right, he is damn average as an overall commentator and comes as extremely biased
 
Bazid Khan easily the worst from Pakistan. I don't care about his analysis, with his voice he would make people even in a last-over thriller. I heard Salman Butt is a pretty good commentator. From India, the best is Harsha and the worst probably Sunil Gavaskar and Manjrekar due to their Bombay bias. Australian commies are good especially the likes of Gilly, McGrath, Ponting. KP is a good commentator too. WI commentators, all of them except Bishop are boring to the core.
 
I'll never forget Wasim Akram butchering Babar Azam's century moment vs NZ in the WC 2019 with just horrible commentary. Such commentary potential for that moment, butchered. :facepalm
 
**I am sure OP meant current comentators, so not including likes of Lawry, Chappel, Shastri etc**

Australia - Mark Taylor (best), Kerry O'keffe(worst)

England - Artherton (best), cant think of a bad English commentator.

India - Ganguly (best), Manju (worst)

Pakistan - No one is best but I like Bazid Khan & Amir Sohail. No one is worst either.

Srilanka - Roshan Abeysinghe (best), Russel Arnold (worst)

Bangladesh - I only know Athar Ali Khan...dont think they have other commentator. Athar is a poor one but cant say best or worst unless there is someone to be compared with.

West Indies - Ian Bishop (best), Michael Holding (worst - always moans about something or the other).

South Africa - Mike Haysman (best) , Kepler Wessels (worst)

New Zealand - Tie between Simon Doul and Ian Smith (best), Danny Morrison (worst)
 
Manjrekar - Worst ever.
Gavaakar - Biased
Bhogle - Post match analyst, talks a lot during the match but no impact.
Ganguly - Good at analysis
Ravi shastri - I like his Tone and Tempo
Siddu - Humor
 
Ntini? not my cup of tea at all
 
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ARK Rafay said:
You either like Rameez or not. No in between :rp
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Rameez was alright in the days he used to be just a commentator. Things went wrong the moment he try to turn into an expert. Lets himself down 7 times out of 10.
 
As far as Pakistan is concerned
best: No one worst: everyone


We have the least amount of talent in commentary as well, probably a bit better than Bangladesh.
 
ChTab said:
As far as Pakistan is concerned
best: No one worst: everyone


We have the least amount of talent in commentary as well, probably a bit better than Bangladesh.
Click to expand...

We are probably on a par with South Africa when it comes to commentators.

Both countries have terrible commentators.
 
Rambo is a legend he is the GOAT South Asian commentator. Very entertaining and has a nice accent
 
Saj said:
We are probably on a par with South Africa when it comes to commentators.

Both countries have terrible commentators.
Click to expand...

South Africa have produced some decent commentators over the years: Robin Jackman, Mike Haysman etc.
 
Manjrekar is the worst commentator not only in India but also in entire cricket world. I would rather listen the sound of a drill machine than him. :inti
 
I actually struggle to see what Ntini is doing as a commentator.

He seems to be just a cheerleader and I fail to understand what he is actually saying.

Maybe they should just leave him to commentate in Afrikaans.
 
Mamoon said:
Nasser and Atherton are brilliant unless they are commentating on Pakistani matches, where they turn into cliche machines.

I don’t listen to commentary for technical analysis because I don’t need to rely on others, so for me commentary is pure entertainment, and the likes of Mark Nicholas, Rameez and Harsha provide good entertainment.

I also miss Shastri in the box.
Click to expand...

I disagree. Nasirs analysis was one of the highlights of Pakistan's tour of England. The guy is 100 percent the reason sky sports commentary is up there with the best
 
Nobody will ever top the original channel 9 team. No chance. But sky sports commentators are right up there
 
Aus- Ponting
Eng- Nasir
WI- bishop.
NZ- Ian smith for sure. His commentary in the WC was amazing. Probably one of the best today
Ind- Ganguly
SA- Mike haysman
The rest don't have good commentators
 
I really used to enjoy Shastris commentary would put passion in and give excitement
 
The thing with broadcasters these days is that they just add well known international players in the commentary, while this is good for providing inside analysis and good for when they share past experiences.
The thing broadcasters fail to understand is that commentary is an art just because your a great of the game doesn’t mean you possess the art of commentary! If you look at the football commentators some of the legendary commentators haven’t even played football at high level or at all (I.e Richard keys)
 
Rambo talks some utter trash these days

Yday once again he was using words such as strike force for batting and swerve for the bowling which have no relevance to cricket

Instead of keeping it simple he tries to get clever with his words and comes out sounding like a complete joke
 
Zaz said:
Rambo talks some utter trash these days

Yday once again he was using words such as strike force for batting and swerve for the bowling which have no relevance to cricket

Instead of keeping it simple he tries to get clever with his words and comes out sounding like a complete joke
Click to expand...

Strike force is strike rate and swerve is basically swing. He is a pretty decent commentator overall.
 
avihash said:
Strike force is strike rate and swerve is basically swing. He is a pretty decent commentator overall.
Click to expand...

I know what hes trying to mean but the fact is hes making words up as he goes along And making himself look and sound silly

Hes much better when he doesnt act clever and uses standard terminology

And no hes not decent hes far from it
 
Graeme Smith, Ian Bishop, KP, Michael Clarke on a good day. Sky are alright but I miss the days of Tony, Richie ,Lawry . :( Nothing comes close to that.
 
Really miss Tony Greig. Didn't always agree with his views but no current commentator generates the same level of excitement as he used to do. Still remember some of his comments on Shoaib Akhtars wickets in the 99 world cup word for word.
 
And here I'm thinking Sidhu's name is coming, waited so long, still no one mentioned.
 
avihash said:
Strike force is strike rate and swerve is basically swing. He is a pretty decent commentator overall.
Click to expand...

Best ever : Richie Benaud - I used to wakeup at 4 am just so that I don't miss his amazing voice and great opening lines.
Worst ever : Rameez Raja (though he provides some comic relief like hard balls are turning soft )

India :
Best -None; Average-Shastri; Worst- Manjrekar. In Hindi worst is VVS Laxman and Maninder Singh. am yet undecided for Ganguly, hardly speaks.

Pakistan :
Best - None; Worst - Rameez

Australia :
Best - Richie Benaud; Worst : Warne (not objective - is biased to leggies till they start failing)

NZ :
Best - None; Worst - Danny Morrison (good for some laughs though)

England :
Best - None; Average- Nasser Hussain and Tony Greig; Worst - Vaughan

Best in SL - Sanga - I think Sri Lankans are generally very good and balanced unlike Indians such as Maninder Singh and Arun lal.

best in WI - Holding though I invariably switch to Indian commentary after some time when any of SAF/Ban/WI begin speaking.
 
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OMB said:
Best ever : Richie Benaud - I used to wakeup at 4 am just so that I don't miss his amazing voice and great opening lines.
Worst ever : Rameez Raja (though he provides some comic relief like hard balls are turning soft )

India :
Best -None; Average-Shastri; Worst- Manjrekar. In Hindi worst is VVS Laxman and Maninder Singh. am yet undecided for Ganguly, hardly speaks.

Pakistan :
Best - None; Worst - Rameez

Australia :
Best - Richie Benaud; Worst : Warne (not objective - is biased to leggies till they start failing)

NZ :
Best - None; Worst - Danny Morrison (good for some laughs though)

England :
Best - None; Average- Nasser Hussain and Tony Greig; Worst - Vaughan

Best in SL - Sanga - I think Sri Lankans are generally very good and balanced unlike Indians such as Maninder Singh and Arun lal.

best in WI - Holding though I invariably switch to Indian commentary after some time when any of SAF/Ban/WI begin speaking.
Click to expand...

Danny M is not from ENG, is from NZ
 
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RedwoodOriginal said:
For me:

England - Best: Atherton, Worst: Guha
Pakistan - Best: no one, Worst: Ramiz
Australia - Best: Slater, Worst: Warne
India - Best: Gavaskar, Worst: Manjrekar
West Indies - Best: Holding, Worst: no one comes to mind
New Zealand - Best: Ian Smith, Worst: Rebecca Rolls
South Africa - Best: Pollock, Worst: Ntini
Sri Lanka - Best: Sangakkara, Worst: Roshan
Bangladesh - Best: no one, Worst: Athar
Click to expand...

Bishop is the crown King, best of the best, with legendary phrase '' Remember the name''
 
gani999 said:
Harsha may be a good commentator but he is often too full of himself. His IIM MBA fuelled hubris shows itself all too often and is rather annoying. The fact that he hasn't played anything besides street cricket also runs against him. For me one can't comment on a game unless one has played it at the highest level.

I remember a television discussion featuring Harsha and MAK Pataudi some years ago (It was possibly just after India's exit from the 2007 WC after India lost to Bangladesh). Harsha was breathing fire on Rahul Dravid, going to the point of suggesting that he should stop playing ODIs and stick to test cricket. To this MAK calmly asked, 'And how many tests have you played, Harsha?". I can still pay to see Harsha's face when he heard this! It was hilarious! Old MAK sure did know how to puncture hot air balloons :))
Click to expand...

1. Bhogle is crap these days.

2. Above views (which you are entitled to) is exactly why commentary is sooo pathetic these days. There are so many forum posters in the world who are farrr better analysts than many of the cricketers can ever dream to be. Listen to some of the Indian analysts these days and you will feel like pulling your hair out.

3. If MAK really did say that....it shows him in poor light. Not Bhogle. Its like a movie director asking a critic how many movies he has directed? :))
 
A commentator has to be good at either one of these 3 things:

1. Excitement (Ian Smith, Tony Grieg, old Ravid Shastri before he became unbearable, Bishop)

2. Technical analysis

3. History (recent and ancient) to add context to a situation

A commentary box should have a good mix of different types of commentators to add balance.

And all of them should have some basic ability to be casual and engage in small talk to keep things lively during dull periods.

Except for Sky....not a single broadcaster is good these days.

Awful awful viewing experience.
 
gani999 said:
Harsha may be a good commentator but he is often too full of himself. His IIM MBA fuelled hubris shows itself all too often and is rather annoying. The fact that he hasn't played anything besides street cricket also runs against him. For me one can't comment on a game unless one has played it at the highest level.

I remember a television discussion featuring Harsha and MAK Pataudi some years ago (It was possibly just after India's exit from the 2007 WC after India lost to Bangladesh). Harsha was breathing fire on Rahul Dravid, going to the point of suggesting that he should stop playing ODIs and stick to test cricket. To this MAK calmly asked, 'And how many tests have you played, Harsha?". I can still pay to see Harsha's face when he heard this! It was hilarious! Old MAK sure did know how to puncture hot air balloons :))
Click to expand...

Tony Cozier would never got a gig based on that criteria.

There are too many ex-players literally walking into the commentary box now without any broadcasting talents.
 
Markhor said:
Tony Cozier would never got a gig based on that criteria.

There are too many ex-players literally walking into the commentary box now without any broadcasting talents.
Click to expand...

Cozier was an all-time great. On a different level to most commentators. What he said, meant something, it was interesting and we listened to every word.

As you say, these days too many ex players getting gigs, most of whom are run of the mill commentators and make no sense at all.
 
Not sure whether Waqar is worse at coaching or commentating but either way we seem to be suffering 24/7 from him these days.
 
Golden arm said:
Bishop is the crown King, best of the best, with legendary phrase '' Remember the name''
Click to expand...

Bishop is great but Holding will always have a special place in my heart for nostalgic reasons as well as his crisp commentary.
 
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