Yes I agree on both counts.

They should have 3 for TMS with one for 5Live who might pop in at the start of play or rain breaks only. I'm not a big fan of Graeme Swann, its not that he is that bad just out of all the regulars for me he adds the least value. I was half hoping Vaughan got the England directors job purely to ease the numbers of summerisers being used!

I have a question about Test Match Special during the Second Test Match. Those who watch Channel 5's nightly highlights programme will remember that Mark Nicholas was absent from their commentary team on the Saturday of the Test as he was attending a friend's wedding. Therefore they only had a three-man commentary team in Geoffrey Boycott, Michael Vaughan and Simon Hughes. I'm lead to believe that Channel 5 record their commentaries live rather than add them on after the end of each session, so with Boycott and Vaughan required by C5 a fair bit more than they usually would have been on Saturday, how did TMS manage it?

I'm guessing this might be the reason why they used five summarisers rather than the four they did on the First Test - with Vic Marks, Graeme Swann and Jeremy Coney being used with considerably more regularity on the Saturday and Boycott and Vaughan doing fewer and/or shorter shifts. I didn't listen to much of TMS on Saturday as I watched both the Scottish and English FA Cup Finals, so would appreciate it if anyone who did noticed how they approached the Channel 5 situation.

Sunday 31st May - Wednesday 3rd June

LV County Championship Cricket Division 1

BBC London, BBC WM, BBC Coventry & Warwickshire & BBC Online
Middlesex v Warwickshire - Kevin Hand, Mike Taylor, Phil Britt, Brian Halford & Izzy Westbury (Day 3 & 4)

BBC Solent, BBC Hereford & Worcester & BBC Online
Hampshire v Worcestershire - Kevan James, Ian Randall & Ken Manson

LV County Championship Cricket Division 2

BBC Essex, BBC Leicester & BBC Online
Essex v Leicestershire - Nick Gledhill (Day 1 & 4), Don Topley (Day 1), Paul Newton (Day 2 & 3) & Dick Davies (Day 2 - 4)
Richard Rea's commentary of Leicestershire first win in 3 years - http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/cricket/32995386

BBC London, BBC Lancashire, BBC Manchester & BBC Online
Surrey v Lancashire - Mark Church, Johnny Barren, Scott Read, David Sleight (Day 1) & Dan Norcross (Day 2 - 4)

BBC Wales, BBC Northampton & BBC Online
Glamorgan v Northamptonshire - Nick Webb, Chris Egerton & Lizzy Ammon

BBC Derby, BBC Bristol, BBC Gloucestershire & BBC Online
Derbyshire v Gloucestershire - Iain O'Brien & Bob Hunt

Monday 1st June - Wednesday 3rd June

LV County Championship Cricket Division 1

BBC Nottingham, BBC Sussex & BBC Online
Nottinghamshire v Sussex - Dave Bracegirdle, Adrian Harms, Nikesh Rughani (Day 1 & 2) & Kevin Howells

T20 Blast - North Division

Friday 5th June

BBC Yorkshire Stations
Yorkshire v Lancashire - Dave Callaghan & Chris Mallaband

BBC Lancashire
Yorkshire v Lancashire - Phil Cunliffe, Scott Read & Gary Hunt

BBC Nottingham
Nottinghamshire v Leicestershire - Colin Fray, Robin Chipperfield & Paul Johnson

BBC Leicester
Nottinghamshire v Leicestershire - Ian Stringer, Richard Rae & Kamlesh Purohit

BBC Northampton
Northamptonshire v Worcestershire - Joe Townsend, Lizzy Ammon & Lee Daggett

BBC Hereford & Worcester
Northamptonshire v Worcestershire - Ian Randall & Chris Williams

BBC Derby & BBC Newcastle
Derbyshire v Durham - Iain O'Brien & Martin Emmerson

Saturday 6th June

BBC Newcastle
Durham v Birmingham - Martin Emmerson

BBC WM & BBC Coventry & Warwickshire
Durham v Birmingham - Richard Wilford, Clive Eakin & Rob Gurney

T20 Blast - South Group

Thursday 4th June

BBC Solent & BBC London
Hampshire v Middlesex - Kevan James, Adam Blakemore & Kevin Hand

Friday 5th June

BBC Kent, BBC Bristol & BBC Gloucestershire
Kent v Gloucestershire - Ben Watts & Bob Hunt

BBC Bristol & BBC Somerset
Somerset v Hampshire - Anthony Gibson & Mark Davies

BBC Solent
Somerset v Hampshire - Kevan James, Adam Blakemore & Kris Temple

BBC London
Surrey v Essex - Mark Church

BBC Essex
Surrey v Essex - Nick Gledhill & Don Topley

BBC Wales
Glamorgan v Middlesex - Ed Bevan, Rick O'Shea, Steve James & Tony Cottey

BBC London
Glamorgan v Middlesex - Kevin Hand

Wednesday 27th May

BBC WM

BBC WM Sport; Speedway with Rob Gurney Live from Perry Barr

National League Knockout Cup Speedway
Cradley Heathens v Stoke Potters - Rob Gurney (Live DAB, Freeview & Online Commentary)

Wednesday 3rd June

BBC WM

BBC WM Sport; Speedway with Rob Gurney Live from Perry Barr

National League Speedway
Birmingham Brummies v Buxton Hitmen - Rob Gurney (Live DAB, Freeview & Online Commentary)

Sunday 7th June

BBC WM & BBC Sport Online

Birmingham Grand Prix Athletics
Mike Taylor & Richard Wilford (Live DAB, Freeview & Online Commentary)
Trackside - Tom Marlow

BBC 5 Live / Sports Extra - Tennis - French Open 2015

Women's Final - Williams v Safarova - Commentary from Alistair Bruce-Ball, Jana Novotna & Russell Fuller

Men's Final - Djokovic v Wawrinka - Hosted from Roland Garros by Jonathan Overend with Annabel Croft, commentary from Alistair Bruce-Ball, Miles MacLagen & Russell Fuller.

Also on duty during the fortnight were Kheredine Idesanne, Nick Lester, Gigi Salmon, Phillip Studd, Pat Cash, Simon Briggs, Simon Cambers & Courtney Nguyen.

ABB commentates on major finals for the first time, will be interesting to see how big a role (if any) he has at Wimbledon.

talkSPORT

Friday 8th May

Rugby Union: Premiership
Harlequins v Bath - Russell Hargreaves

Cricket: One-Day International
Ireland v England - Jon Norman, with Jack Bannister providing close-of-play analysis

Saturday 9th May

Rugby Union: Premiership
Wasps v Leicester Tigers - Elliot Cook

Sunday 10th May

Formula 1: Spanish Grand Prix
Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya - Graham Courtney

Saturday 16th May

Rugby Union: Premiership
Leicester Tigers v Northampton Saints - Russell Hargreaves

Thursday 21st to Sunday 24th May

Golf: BMW PGA Championship
Wentworth Club - Rupert Bell

While Rupert was heard reporting regularly during the first three days of the event, we didn't actually hear much of him updating the conclusion given that Sunday also being the final day of the Premier League football season.

Thursday 21st to Monday 25th May

Cricket: First Test Match
England v New Zealand - Jon Norman, with Jack Bannister providing analysis on Thursday only

Saturday 23rd May

Rugby Union: Premiership Semi-Finals
Northampton Saints v Saracens - Russell Hargreaves
Bath v Leicester Tigers - Andrew McKenna

Formula 1: Monaco Grand Prix Qualifying
Circuit de Monaco - Graham Courtney

Sunday 24th May

Formula 1: Monaco Grand Prix
Circuit de Monaco - Nigel Pearson

Monday 25th May to Sunday 7th June

Tennis: French Open
Stade Roland Garros - Lisa O'Sullivan

The French Open actually began on Sunday 24th May, but similar to their coverage of the PGA Championship golf on that day, talkSPORT didn't provide updates on the first day's play due to the final day of the Premier League season taking priority.

Friday 29th May to Tuesday 2nd June

Cricket: Second Test Match
England v New Zealand - Jon Norman, with Jack Bannister providing analysis on Monday and Tuesday only

Saturday 30th May

Rugby Union: Premiership Final
Bath v Saracens - Russell Hargreaves

Sunday 31st May

Rugby Union: International
England XV v Barbarians - Russell Hargreaves

Rugby League: Super League (Magic Weekend - St James' Park)
Catalans Dragons v Huddersfield Giants, St Helens v Warrington Wolves & Castleford Tigers v Wakefield Trinity Wildcats - Graham Courtney

Friday 5th June

Alan Brazil and Micky Quinn presented The Alan Brazil Sports Breakfast from Epsom Downs

Horse Racing: The Derby Festival
Epsom Downs - Rupert Bell (including commentary on The Oaks at 4.30pm)

Saturday 6th June

Ian Danter presented Saturday Scoreboard from Epsom Downs with Andy Brassell (1-3pm) and Chris Perry (3-5pm) in the studio

Horse Racing: The Derby Festival
Epsom Downs - Rupert Bell (including commentary on the Woodcote Stakes at 2.35pm, the Coronation Cup at 3.10pm and The Derby at 4.30pm), with analysis from Lee McKenzie

Sunday 7th June

Tennis: French Open Men's Singles Final
Novak Djokovic v Stanislas Wawrinka - Lisa O'Sullivan

Formula 1: Canadian Grand Prix
Circuit Gilles Villeneuve - Graham Courtney

20000 people attended the T20 match between Yorkshire and Lancashire. It wasn't on any radio station based in Yorkshire, but luckily it was on 5 Live Sports Extra. their T20 programme is great.

It certainly is. Not just their T20 broadcasts, but I find Radio 5 Live Sports Extra's county cricket coverage in general absolutely superb, for me it's the best thing BBC Radio does sports-wise right now.

Out of interest, who was on duty for 5LSE at Headingly on Friday? It's the one commentary team Connor hasn't mentioned in his most recent comprehensive post on BBC Radio's county cricket coverage teams (that's not a criticism though, as I always appreciate the effort that goes into those messages).

Yes I agree, love the county cricket commentary with all the different local radio guys joining Kevin Howells, I could listen to Kevin all day!

I only heard a few minutes at the start but believe it was Dan Norcross in place of Charles Dagnell joined by the rest of the usual T20 3 of Ebony Rainford-Brent and Henry Moeran.

BTW your post regarding TMS on FA Cup day, likewise I didn't hear much that day due to the Aviva Premiership and FA Cup finals but with 3 other summerisers then I guess they had more than enough to cover.

I remember in the past when Mike Selvey and Angus Fraser were regulars and also newspaper correspondents if play went on late to make up overs they wouldn't be available as they were writing their articles so the 5Live summerisers would often step in to do stints.

Thanks for the info Shaun, I didn't hear much at the weekend.

Yes I know ABB covered the Australian Open a year or so ago but I thought that was mainly because he was in Australia on cricket duty. Thought he would have been covering the women's world cup this summer rather than tennis or even the US Open golf but Christopher Jones is the man to join Iain Carter and Jay Townsend this year.

Five Live seem to have used a lot of tennis commentators in the past year so it will be interesting to see who is on duty at Wimbledon, I'm hoping the BBC will be announcing their plans soon.

It will be interesting to see if Jonathan Overend will be on the 5Live commentary team or if he will be on the TV coverage. Also I presume Iain Carter will miss the last few days to cover the Scottish Open golf.

Ian Brown is going to be 5Live's commentator on England games at the World Cup in Canada so ABB not needed for that. I wonder though if he'll be involved in 5Live's coverage of the U21 Euros later this month? this might preclude him having much time for Wimbledon this year. he's turning in to a great all-round commentator, football, golf, tennis, cricket and cycling are all sports he's commentated on-- and I may well have missed some out!

Yeah I saw it was going to be Ian Brown but thought it would have been ABB as he is higher up the pecking order these days.

Yes! You missed out canoeing!

As for the U21 Euros Ian Dennis and Mark Lawrenson have been confirmed as the 5Live team covering the England games.

You didn't have to wait long! From the BBC press office


Not too many changes, Andy Roddick and Justine Henin should be good additions and Annabel Croft returns after a couple of years concentrating on other roles. Sara Orchard is the only new name I can see in the reporting/commentary line up. Jonathan Overend is listed with the TV team.

Eleanor Oldroyd, Mark Pougatch and Dan Walker will present, a very good line up.

Thanks for the information David. I agree with you about Kevin Howells, he's a fantastic broadcaster and one of the best cricket commentators around. I was really pleased that the BBC used him at the Cricket World Cup, it was a very well deserved chance for him to cover an international tournament after his strong domestic work.

On TMS - I wouldn't mind hearing Radio 5 Live's current regular cricket pundit Alec Stewart doing the odd summariser stint when you have situations similar to the Saturday of the Second Test Match against New Zealand. Perhaps he might have popped up on there that day, given that 5 Live wouldn't have taken that many detailed cricket updates during their Aviva Premiership and FA Cup Final coverage.

Haha yeah I saw that yesterday!

Really pleased that Annabel Croft is back, she is s top summeriser and has been missed.

Shame that Frew McMillian isn't listed, although he was moving down the pecking order he has been on the team for years, possibly the longest serving member last year?

I will miss Clare Balding, both as a presenter and doing the odd commentary stint. The presenting line up of Eleanor, Dan and Mark is very good indeed but next year when the European Football Championships is on probably both Dan and Mark will not be available, hopefully that could see John Inverdale come back in.

Yeah I agree, I really like Alec Stewart as a summeriser would like to hear him more often.

Saturday 6th June

Tour Match

BBC Leicester & BBC Online
Leicestershire v New Zealand - Richard Rae, Brian Halford & Kamlesh Purohit

Sunday 7th June

T20 Blast North Group

BBC Hereford & Worcester
Worcestershire v Nottinghamshire - Graham Hill & Chris Williams

BBC Nottingham
Worcestershire v Nottinghamshire - Robin Chipperfield, Dave Bracegirdle & Paul Johnson

Sunday 7th June - Wednesday 10th June

LV County Championship Cricket Division 1

BBC Yorkshire Stations, BBC London, BBC Online & BBC 5 Live Sports Extra (Day 1 & 2)
Yorkshire v Middlesex - Dave Callaghan, Dave Townsend, Kevin Hand & Kevin Howells

BBC Sussex, BBC Solent & BBC Sport Online
Sussex v Hampshire - Adrian Harms, Kevan James & Alan Mullally

BBC Newcastle, BBC Bristol, BBC Somerset & BBC Sport Online
Durham v Somerset - Martin Emmerson & Anthony Gibson

LV County Championship Cricket Division 2

BBC Northampton, BBC Essex & BBC Sport Online
Northamptonshire v Essex - Lizzy Ammon, Nick Gledhill (Day 1 & 2), David Brett (Day 1), Dick Davies (Day 2 - 4) & Paul Newton (Day 3 & 4)

BBC Leicester, BBC London & BBC Sport Online
Leicestershire v Surrey - Richard Rea, Mark Church & Brian Halford

BBC Kent, BBC Derby & BBC Sport Online
Kent v Derbyshire - Matt Cole (Day 1 & 3), Ben Watts (Day 2) & Iain O'Brien

BBC Bristol, BBC Gloucestershire, BBC Lancashire, BBC Manchester & BBC Sport Online
Gloucestershire v Lancashire - Bob Hunt & Scott Read

T20 South Group

Thursday 11th June

BBC Essex, BBC Bristol & BBC Gloucestershire
Essex v Gloucestershire - David Brett, Don Topley & Bob Hunt

Friday 12th June

BBC Gloucestershire & BBC Bristol
Gloucestershire v Glamorgan - Bob Hunt & Ian Randall

BBC Wales
Gloucestershire v Glamorgan - Ed Bevan, Gareth Rees & Mike Powell

BBC Essex
Sussex v Essex - Paul Newton & Dick Davies

BBC Sussex
Sussex v Essex - Adrian Harms & Chris Adams

BBC Kent
Kent v Hampshire - Matt Cole & Ben Watts

BBC Solent
Kent v Hampshire - Adam Blakemore, Kris Temple & Kevan James

T20 Blast North Group

Thursday 11th June

BBC Northampton
Northamptonshire v Derbyshire - Graham McKechnie, Joe Townsend & Lizzy Ammon

BBC Derby
Northamptonshire v Derbyshire - Iain O'Brien & Chris Egerton

Friday 12th June

BBC Lancashire & BBC Derby
Lancashire v Derbyshire - Scott Read, Iain O'Brien & Stephen Moore

BBC WM & BBC Coventry & Warwickshire
Birmingham v Nottinghamshire - Richard Wilford, Clive Eakin, Darren Maddy & Adam Bridge

BBC Nottingham
Birmingham v Nottinghamshire - Robin Chipperfield, Dave Bracegirdle & Paul Johnson

BBC Leicester
Leicestershire v Northamptonshire - Jason Bourne, Richard Rea & Kamlesh Purohit

BBC Northampton
Leicestershire v Northamptonshire - Graham McKechnie, Joe Townsend & Lizzy Ammon

BBC Newcastle
Durham v Worcestershire - Martin Emmerson

BBC Hereford & Worcester
Durham v Worcestershire - Trevor Owens

National Hockey League, Stanley Cup Finals

Sportsnet 590 The FAN (Toronto), Sportsnet 960 The FAN (Calgary) and selected TSN Radio stations (Canada)

Gord Stellick and Mark Osborne presented The NHL on the Sportsnet Radio Network from Toronto, Ontario

Ice Hockey: Stanley Cup Finals
Chicago Blackhawks v Tampa Bay Lightning - Jim Hughson and Craig Simpson, with Glenn Healy as ice level analyst and Scott Oake and Christine Simpson reporting (commentary simulcast of CBC's Hockey Night in Canada)


720 WGN Radio (Chicago)

Judd Sirott presented Blackhawks Central from the Amalie Arena, Tampa and the United Center, Chicago

Ice Hockey: Stanley Cup Finals
Chicago Blackhawks v Tampa Bay Lightning - John Wiedeman and Troy Murray (commentary)


Newsradio 970 WFLA (Tampa) and the Lightning Radio Network

Matt Sammon presented the Pregame Warm-Up and The Last Call from Tampa (Amalie Arena for home games)

Ice Hockey: Stanley Cup Finals
Chicago Blackhawks v Tampa Bay Lightning - Dave Mishkin and Phil Esposito (commentary)

There's no US national radio commentary service for the NHL Playoffs to the best of my knowledge, while this year Sportsnet - who now produce CBC's Hockey Night in Canada - provided a radio simulcast of the Canadian national television commentary on the Stanley Cup Finals, made available to most sports radio stations in the country.

National Basketball Association Playoffs, ESPN Radio (USA)

Conference Finals

Kevin Winter presented The NBA on ESPN Radio from Bristol, Connecticut*

Eastern Conference Finals
Atlanta Hawks v Cleveland Cavaliers - Marc Kestecher and Jon Barry

Western Conference Finals
Golden State Warriors v Houston Rockets - Kevin Calabro and Hubie Brown, with Marc Stein as courtside reporter

NBA Finals

Marc Kestecher presented The NBA Finals on ESPN Radio from the Oracle Arena, Oakland and the Quicken Loans Arena, Cleveland alongside Jon Barry

NBA Finals
Golden State Warriors v Cleveland Cavaliers - Mike Tirico and Hubie Brown, with Marc Stein as courtside reporter

*Kevin Winter was primarily ESPN Radio's studio-based presenter for their coverage of the Conference Finals, but I think John Brickley may have sat in for him on the odd occasion during the two week run.

Interesting to hear John Murray covering the Rowing World Cup regatta for 5Live this weekend. I think this is the first time he has covered rowing other than he did the boat race one year.

Wonder if this is preparation for him taking over from Alan Green in Rio as the Olympic rowing commentator for the station. I was expecting Jonathan Legard as he has covered the sport regularly since leaving F1.

Has there been anything to suggest Alan Green won't be in Rio? Must admit to wondering the same thing though, then again was thinking the same about triathlon a couple of weeks ago.

Thanks to The Difference for the NHL/NBA details, Hubie Brown is one of my favourite summarisers across all sports.

5 Live - Tennis - ATP London, Queens Club

The Final - Murray v Anderson

Hosted by Jonathan Overend (5 Live) and Sara Orchard (Sports Extra)

Commentary from Russell Fuller with Miles MacLagen and Dominic Inglot

Also on commentary duty this week with Russell and Sara have been Alastair Eykyn and Alistair Bruce- Ball. Additional summarisers were Colin Fleming and Leon Smith.

5 Live - Golf - US Open

Commentary from Iain Carter, Chris Jones and Jay Townsend.

talkSPORT

Tuesday 9th to Saturday 20th June

Cricket: One-Day International Series
England v New Zealand - Guy Swindells (First, Third, Fourth and Fifth ODIs) and Jon Norman (Second ODI only), with Jack Bannister (all bar the Third ODI) and Dominic Cork (Fifth ODI only) providing analysis

Monday 15th to Sunday 21st June

Tennis: AEGON Championships
The Queen's Club, London - Dave Luddy

Tuesday 16th to Saturday 20th June

Alan Brazil presented The Alan Brazil Sports Breakfast from Ascot Racecourse alongside Neil Warnock (Tuesday), Dominic Cork (Wednesday), Ray Parlour (Thursday) and Micky Quinn (Friday); Ian Danter presented Saturday Scoreboard from Ascot Racecourse with Stewart Robson (1-3pm) and Dominic Cork (4-6pm) in the studio

Horse Racing: Royal Ascot
Ascot Racecourse - Rupert Bell (commentary on featured races), with Mike Bovill producing

Race commentaries:
Tuesday - Queen Anne Stakes (2.30pm) and St James's Palace Stakes (4.20pm)
Wednesday - Duke of Cambridge Stakes (3.40pm) and Prince of Wales's Stakes (4.20pm)
Thursday - Ribblesdale Stakes (3.40pm) and Gold Cup (4.20pm)
Friday - Commonwealth Cup (3.40pm) and Coronation Stakes (4.20pm)
Saturday - Chesham Stakes (2.30pm), Wolferton Handicap (3.05pm), Hardwicke Stakes (3.40pm) and Diamond Jubilee Stakes (4.20pm)

Thursday 18th to Sunday 21st June

Golf: 2015 US Open
Chambers Bay, University Place, Washington - Bob Bubka

Friday 19th June

Rugby League: Super League
Wigan Warriors v Salford Red Devils - Graham Courtney

Sunday 21st June

Formula 1: Austrian Grand Prix
Red Bull Ring - Graham Courtney (also reported on qualifying on the Saturday)

BBC TMS: Eng v. NZ - The ODIs

Commentators: Jonathan Agnew (1 & 4-5), Simon Mann (2-3 & 5), Alison Mitchell (1-2 & 4), Charles Dagnall (1 4-5), Ed Smith (2-3), Henry Blofeld (3) and Bryan Waddle (all games)

Summarisers: Michael Vaughan (1 & 5), Phil Tufnell (1-3), Graeme Swann (4-5), Vic Marks (3-4), Alec Stewart (1) , Ebony Rainford-Brent (2), Isa Guha (3) and Jeremy Coney (all games)

Malcolm Ashton returned as the ODI scorer