Waqar Younis to commentate for Channel 9

[Convict]

http://www.news.com.au/sport/cricke...r/news-story/b08e748225d06ae01655756c03e36f4c

TEST big guns Brett Lee and Mike Hussey have parted company with Channel Nine on the eve of the summer.

The former Australian teammates have formed a key component of the commentary team over recent years, but won’t feature in a new-look line-up that’s headed up by former Test captain Michael Clarke.

It’s understood Nine are also in discussions with retired greats Kevin Pietersen and Waqar Younis to potentially make specialist commentary appearances throughout two bumper Test series against South Africa and Pakistan.

Looks like Channel 9 is deciding to concentrate on cricket again now that they sacked/move on Brad MacNamara.

Good to have non-Australian voices in the box.

 

[JaDed]

If they feel the ratings are falling or popularity dimming they will go back to their model.

 

[Pantani]

What's he like with the mic?

 

[Convict]

If they feel the ratings are falling or popularity dimming they will go back to their model.

Its a captive market.

Ratings will be the same regardless.

In general Australians listening have been constantly complaining about the commentary

 

[Slog]

well they need some pakistani representation over the summer and with me its anyone but ramiz.

infact waqar is prolly best option along with wasim

 

[Thomaskutty]

They should have got Ramiz Raja , who is the best commentator from Pakistan afaik.Akram and Younis are not too pleasing on the ear.

 

[Convict]

They should have got Ramiz Raja , who is the best commentator from Pakistan afaik.Akram and Younis are not too pleasing on the ear.

Waqar lives in Sydney. Probably why they're talking to him.

Might be too intelligent for Healy and Slats though

 

[Junaids]

It's that lightweight ignoramus Brayshaw that they need to get rid of.

Scary clowns have no place on TV.

 

[Slog]

Its a captive market.

Ratings will be the same regardless.

In general Australians listening have been constantly complaining about the commentary

so who's left from the old school

what do you think will be the line up

slater and healy. who else?

 

[Slog]

They should have got Ramiz Raja , who is the best commentator from Pakistan afaik.Akram and Younis are not too pleasing on the ear.

ramiz raja has absolutely NO INSIGHT

if i just want to hear fluent english then i can attend an english seminar

 

[Convict]

so who's left from the old school

what do you think will be the line up

slater and healy. who else?

Chappell, Nicholas, Warne, Brayshaw

Lawry for Boxing Day Hopefully

 

[Pantani]

Its a captive market.

Ratings will be the same regardless.

In general Australians listening have been constantly complaining about the commentary

I'll still be complaining because of James 'Jay Bee' Brayshaw and Slats. Hussey definitely would have been an upgrade on those two.

So what are we looking at? Tubbs, Heals, Warnie, Pup, Jay Bee, Slats, KP, Ian Chappell, Mark Nicholas and Waqar? Still too much dead wood in there. I would dismiss Healy, Brayshaw and Slater, and think about Ian Chappell. Fill up those four spots with Ponting, Gilchrist, Fleming and if possible Nasser Hussain. Pairing Nas with Warne results in brilliant coverage.

 

[Convict]

I'll still be complaining because of James 'Jay Bee' Brayshaw and Slats. Hussey definitely would have been an upgrade on those two.

So what are we looking at? Tubbs, Heals, Warnie, Pup, Jay Bee, Slats, KP, Ian Chappell, Mark Nicholas and Waqar? Still too much dead wood in there. I would dismiss Healy, Brayshaw and Slater, and think about Ian Chappell. Fill up those four spots with Ponting, Gilchrist, Fleming and if possible Nasser Hussain. Pairing Nas with Warne results in brilliant coverage.

Ponting, Gilchrist and Fleming are Channel 10

 

[Pantani]

It's that lightweight ignoramus Brayshaw that they need to get rid of.

Scary clowns have no place on TV.

Slater too. I tire of his bipolarity and his excitability.

 

[Pantani]

Ponting, Gilchrist and Fleming are Channel 10

So is Pietersen right? I was just putting together my dream team without considering how realistic it was.

 

[Ahson8]

ramiz raja has absolutely NO INSIGHT

if i just want to hear fluent english then i can attend an english seminar

well they need some pakistani representation over the summer and with me its anyone but ramiz.

infact waqar is prolly best option along with wasim

Bazid Khan is well ahead of Wasim, Waqar, Ramiz if we're talking about insight..

 

[Gabbar Singh]

Waqar obviously has a lot of insightful things to say, far more than Ramiz Raja for example. However, going by his previous commentary stints Waqar's English lets him down imo - it's hard work listening to him at times.

 

[Convict]

So is Pietersen right? I was just putting together my dream team without considering how realistic it was.

Pietersen's main roles is with the Stars with guest commentary stints.

Ponting, Gilchrist and Fleming would have full contracts

 

[Slog]

Bazid Khan is well ahead of Wasim, Waqar, Ramiz if we're talking about insight..

yes but you need a good mixture of some fluency as well if youre commentating there

waqar and wasim have the requisite level in both aspects

 

[Convict]

yes but you need a good mixture of some fluency as well if youre commentating there

waqar and wasim have the requisite level in both aspects

Plus people in Australia have heard of them

Australians are the primary audience for 9

 

[Markhor]

Waqar did commentary on the 2004/05 tour too IIRC. Makes sense given he lives in Australia.

Hopefully they can clear out the rest of the "embarrassing dads" as Geoff Lemon rightly described the Channel 9 commentary crew.

Slater too. I tire of his bipolarity and his excitability.

Slater was actually a pretty decent commentator in his early years, I remember him working for Channel 4 here in the UK and whilst occasionally excitable, was much more bearable than he is now.

 

[Thomaskutty]

ramiz raja has absolutely NO INSIGHT

if i just want to hear fluent english then i can attend an english seminar

It has nothing to do with insight , viewers want to be entertained and Ramiz leads the pack on that front.What insight does Wasim offer anyway ? All I've seen him talking about is wrist position , seam position 24/7 and nothing evenly remotely interesting on other aspects of the game.

Also fluency matters big time.You can't spend half the time on air searching for the right word.

 

[Saj]

It's good that they are thinking about non-Aussie commentators.

Gets rather tedious listening to one-sided commentary all day.

 

[Pete Rose]

Waqar did the 2004/05 tour. Probably well placed to talk about whats happening in Pakistan Cricket.
Bazid Khan, good as he is, is not known in Australia.
Also, I concur with most folks here that Ramiz is unable to weave his excessive vocabulary to a coherent thought.

 

[Zahid87]

Channel 9 has become a bit of a joke with Slats, Heals and the gang.

Pretty little insight. A lot of 'banter' and saying how great Australia are.

 

[Ahmed4472]

Is Rambo not invited? I think it would be first timer he not commentating in Pakistan test matches though he wasn't present in Pakistan onedays in England

 

[Cpt. Rishwat]

Waqar obviously has a lot of insightful things to say, far more than Ramiz Raja for example. However, going by his previous commentary stints Waqar's English lets him down imo - it's hard work listening to him at times.

Neither of them have any insight, neither are they entertaining to listen to other than in a comedy sense if we are talking about Ramiz.

The only Pakistani commentator I think I've heard with insight was Asif Iqbal. Amir Sohail was good for entertainment purposes although he could be quite crass. At least he wasn't afraid to voice a genuine opinion rather than agree with whatever his co-commentator said like Ramiz.

 

[Saj]

Is Rambo not invited? I think it would be first timer he not commentating in Pakistan test matches though he wasn't present in Pakistan onedays in England

He's never been invited to Australia to commentate.

 

[Slog]

He's never been invited to Australia to commentate.

Wasn't he there in WC15?

 

[Ahmed4472]

He's never been invited to Australia to commentate.

Wow didn't know that

 

[Boi]

Wasn't he there in WC15?

Channel 9 weren't host broadcasters for that. He always gets picked up for World tournaments.

Waqar is better than Ramiz anyway. Bazid Khan is the best though, he should start doing our overseas tours.

 

[Slog]

Channel 9 weren't host broadcasters for that. He always gets picked up for World tournaments.

Waqar is better than Ramiz anyway. Bazid Khan is the best though, he should start doing our overseas tours.

Problem with Bazid is that no one knows him. Like many Pakistanis didn't even know him till couple years ago so forget foreigners

And in overseas tours you only have one or 2 touring teams commentators max so they want well known overseas commentators and Bazid isn't that

So we will only see Ramiz, Wasim, Waqar and maybe Amir Sohail

 

[Saj]

Wasn't he there in WC15?

I mean for Paistan series.

 

[aloo paratha]

Good decision, Bazid would've been a good election as well but he's not that big of a name.

Hopefully we don't see RAmiz, all he talks about is what is happening on the screen which we can already see with some dumb jokes here and there. Doesn't give any analysis, statistical insight or anything.

 

[EliteCynical]

Bump.

Is Waqar a good commentator? No I definitely don't think so. I think he is sitting there because of his pedigree.

1. He refers to Pakistan as "we", "us" on air, giving a feeling he is still not over with coaching.
2. More often that not, he gives an impression of being too attached with the team.
3. Most imporatantly, he goes on air and speaks about how he gave tips to Wahab or spoke to Misbah as to what plans should be made for Warner and how Warner should be attacked? What is he doing? He is not the coach. That is Mickey's job to discuss with Misbah. Why is Waqar discussing strategy with Misbah and more importantly why is he revealing on air?

I would not be happy if i was Mickey.

Please tell me I am not reading too much into this.

 

[Convict]

Most Australians seem to like him

 

[Uzair Gooner]

Most Australians seem to like him

Compared to Healy even my commentry is Gold

 

[EliteCynical]

Most Australians seem to like him

Overall yes, seems to nice, says the right things most of times, isn't over critical or does not troll and he is much better than the tripe served by Healy and earlier Brayshaw, but somewhere i think he doesn't know the line between professional and personal.

 

[Pantani]

He has been a breath of fresh air in a long suffocating commentary box. Good English skills, outstanding knowledge of fast bowling, good tactical insights, good sense of humour and most importantly he sticks to talking about the cricket, instead of stupid crap like Taylor and Warne were talking about in the Boxing Day test - something about waves and beaches and why Sydney is better/worse than Melbourne. [MENTION=132373]Convict[/MENTION]

So for me, Waqar has ticked all the boxes and I would love to see him signed up by 9 on a permanent basis. The negatives that people have cited are valid, but bear in mind not one of them will apply if Pakistan is not playing in the series that he is commentating on.

 

[Convict]

He has been a breath of fresh air in a long suffocating commentary box. Good English skills, outstanding knowledge of fast bowling, good tactical insights, good sense of humour and most importantly he sticks to talking about the cricket, instead of stupid crap like Taylor and Warne were talking about in the Boxing Day test - something about waves and beaches and why Sydney is better/worse than Melbourne. [MENTION=132373]Convict[/MENTION]

So for me, Waqar has ticked all the boxes and I would love to see him signed up by 9 on a permanent basis. The negatives that people have cited are valid, but bear in mind not one of them will apply if Pakistan is not playing in the series that he is commentating on.

Also got to point out that he got the job in order to provide a Pakistani perspective.

 

[volcyz]

Waqar absuing the Pakistani fielding nonstop and rightly so, this has been nothing short of embarrassing.

Probably the worst ground fielding side playing Test Cricket.

Absolutely 0 athleticism/fitness/skills.

India may drop catches nonstop in the slips but overall their players fitness levels have really increased under Kohli and they are reaping the benefits of giving away no easy runs.

 

[KingKhanWC]

Bump.

Is Waqar a good commentator? No I definitely don't think so. I think he is sitting there because of his pedigree.

1. He refers to Pakistan as "we", "us" on air, giving a feeling he is still not over with coaching.
2. More often that not, he gives an impression of being too attached with the team.
3. Most imporatantly, he goes on air and speaks about how he gave tips to Wahab or spoke to Misbah as to what plans should be made for Warner and how Warner should be attacked? What is he doing? He is not the coach. That is Mickey's job to discuss with Misbah. Why is Waqar discussing strategy with Misbah and more importantly why is he revealing on air?

I would not be happy if i was Mickey.

Please tell me I am not reading too much into this.

Waqar is a strong patriot and he probably felt embarrased at some of the play and felt the need to explain but went over the top a little.


Overall he makes good points at the right times.

 

[Rayyman]

Naa Waqar is too mean. I miss Ramiz. At least he doesn't betray his own team.

 

[moghul]

I don't care about his accent or occasional grammar mistakes, who cares, but I really enjoy his comments , his knowledge about the cricket is amazing but not a surprise for me. Ramiz is boring and stereotype.

 

[TalentSpotterPk]

Wicky was desperately trying to prove that an old man's reflexes have slowed down. Thrice he repeated same thing in 40 seconds. The Old man was missing on his Twitter pics aswell.

 

[TalentSpotterPk]

Bazid is missed.

 

[Sin Nombre]

Compared to Healy even my commentry is Gold

Compared to all of Ch9.

Tubs and Slats and Warnie matey matey cringe is the worst thing on tv.

 

[The intelligent Supporter]

Waqar is sometimes bearbale

 

[Chief Destroyer]

He's improved a fair bit. I haven't had to mute him like Ramiz.