Originally Posted by Hayden:
“It is a very bad thing. Lawry is superb.”
He's good at the role he fills (i.e. the 'in your face' style of commentary) but I prefer a calmer, more considered, less in the moment style and so don't really connect with Lawry, or many of the Channel Nine guys for that matter.
I just feel that Lawry, Nicholas, Taylor, Greig and Healy all try and commentate in pretty much the same way. All of them (oddly considering Nicholas and Greig's heritage) like to big up any Australian, particularly if their name is David Warner, whether or not they do well or not, whilst judging opposition players as useless or past it just on the basis of one tour. The calls to drop a man who broke a world record (Sehwag) in his last one-day series annoy me greatly and I'm not even an India fan. In this sense they suffer greatly from their inexplicable lack of a commentator from the touring team (other than Ian Smith from NZ and Nicholas/Greig when they play England), even within such a large team.
Slater and Tom Moody are the best of the younger guys but still can't analyse things as perceptively as the likes of Mike Atherton, Nasser Hussain, Ramiz Raja, Tony Cozier and many others around the world.
Chappell says some things of value but is at times very old fashioned Aussie in the way he sees things, and comes across as abrasive and unwelcoming.
Meanwhile, James Brayshaw adds nothing of note.
Overall, Channel Nine have dropped behind Sky, Supersport and the TWI/Sky West Indian production in the quality of their commentary in my opinion and it would be nice to see some fresh faces next season. That could mean the end for Lawry and Chappell though.