10 Greatest Cricket Commentators (One day and Test match)

[aditya123]

In ODIs, I would like to listen to (not in any order):

Bumble
Hussain
Shastri
Harsha Bhogle
Jeremy Coney
Tony Cozier (a legend)
Mike Holding
Michael Slater/Alan Wilkins
Mark Nicholas
Bill Lawry/Tony Greg

For Tests :

Richie Benaud
Ian Smith
Harsha Bhogle/Mark Nicholas
David Gower
Tony Cozier
Nassir Hussain
Bumble
Bill Lawry
Ian Chappel
Robin Jackman

 

[sohum]

By country, off the top of my head. Obviously more Indians since I primarily watch Indian cricket. Only current commentators are noted.

India
Ravi Shastri
Not overly biased, has poise, speaks really good English and doesn't make silly mistakes. Has several anecdotes to share and gets along with most other commentators. ESPN built him up as a "color" commentator as well, by adding the Shaz-and-Waz show during India's tour of Australia in 2003.

Sunil Gavaskar
One of the most knowledgeable blokes around in the commentary scene from an Indian perspective. Is quite biased towards the Indian team and of late has been getting annoyed easily when things don't go his way (early onset of senility, perhaps?). This was in evidence during the wrap-up shows during the Sydney 2008 Test match.

Harsha Bhogle
For someone who has never played cricket professionally, he has a ton of knowledge. Primarily a host, he has swung his career into commentary. Provides good insight as to how a regular viewer might perceive cricket, having not played it. Can sound geeky after a while.

Australia
Ian Chappell
I'm 50-50 on Chappell. He has a lot of knowledge and can keep me interested for ages, but he can also annoy the hell out of me when he's speaking. His "holier-than-thou" attitude is somewhat frustrating, but at the same time he talks straight without sugaring his opinion, something that is quite respectable.

Michael Slater
One of the more biased Aussie commentators going around and he got into my list over Dean Jones because... well because Dean Jones is quite controversial. Has a strong bias towards the Australian team that comes from being closest to the latest generation of players, but is exciting to listen to nonetheless.

England
Mark Nicholas
Very, very smooth talker. Doesn't give the impression of giving commentary as much as giving the impression of talking about a game with a couple of buddies, which makes it very easy to listen to.

David Lloyd
Love his accent! Seriously, though, he's one of the few commentators on the Sky team that I can stand. He's a little biased against England (irony?) but has plenty of interesting thoughts and usually ends up playing mediators between the other commentators in the box.

Pakistan
Wasim Akram
One of the finest Pakistani commentators out there and one of the finest gentlemen to have played the game, as well. Unlike his compatriots, he is quite unbiased, in my opinion. His command of English isn't perfect, which shows that you don't have to speak the Queen's English to be a good commentator.

West Indies
Michael Holding
Haven't heard him commentate recently, but I remember him from the last few years as the one guy who could make any event in a cricket match sound ridiculously cool. Must be something to do with that Carribbean accent.

Ian Bishop
Again, haven't heard him recently, but he did a lot of India's matches at one point. Pretty even commentator and easy to listen to, as well.

 

[King Cricket]

By country, off the top of my head. Obviously more Indians since I primarily watch Indian cricket. Only current commentators are noted.

India
Ravi Shastri
Not overly biased, has poise, speaks really good English and doesn't make silly mistakes. Has several anecdotes to share and gets along with most other commentators. ESPN built him up as a "color" commentator as well, by adding the Shaz-and-Waz show during India's tour of Australia in 2003.

Sunil Gavaskar
One of the most knowledgeable blokes around in the commentary scene from an Indian perspective. Is quite biased towards the Indian team and of late has been getting annoyed easily when things don't go his way (early onset of senility, perhaps?). This was in evidence during the wrap-up shows during the Sydney 2008 Test match.

Harsha Bhogle
For someone who has never played cricket professionally, he has a ton of knowledge. Primarily a host, he has swung his career into commentary. Provides good insight as to how a regular viewer might perceive cricket, having not played it. Can sound geeky after a while.

Australia
Ian Chappell
I'm 50-50 on Chappell. He has a lot of knowledge and can keep me interested for ages, but he can also annoy the hell out of me when he's speaking. His "holier-than-thou" attitude is somewhat frustrating, but at the same time he talks straight without sugaring his opinion, something that is quite respectable.

Michael Slater
One of the more biased Aussie commentators going around and he got into my list over Dean Jones because... well because Dean Jones is quite controversial. Has a strong bias towards the Australian team that comes from being closest to the latest generation of players, but is exciting to listen to nonetheless.

England
Mark Nicholas
Very, very smooth talker. Doesn't give the impression of giving commentary as much as giving the impression of talking about a game with a couple of buddies, which makes it very easy to listen to.

David Lloyd
Love his accent! Seriously, though, he's one of the few commentators on the Sky team that I can stand. He's a little biased against England (irony?) but has plenty of interesting thoughts and usually ends up playing mediators between the other commentators in the box.

Pakistan
Wasim Akram
One of the finest Pakistani commentators out there and one of the finest gentlemen to have played the game, as well. Unlike his compatriots, he is quite unbiased, in my opinion. His command of English isn't perfect, which shows that you don't have to speak the Queen's English to be a good commentator.

West Indies
Michael Holding
Haven't heard him commentate recently, but I remember him from the last few years as the one guy who could make any event in a cricket match sound ridiculously cool. Must be something to do with that Carribbean accent.

Ian Bishop
Again, haven't heard him recently, but he did a lot of India's matches at one point. Pretty even commentator and easy to listen to, as well.

Excellent post. Just excellent. The best list in my opinion. Perfectly alright. No flaws or tweaks whatsoever. You deserve a rep.

 

[nikhil_99]

Mark Nicholas, Ravi Shastri for their english and also for their voice variation,they get exited when there is a 4/6 hit,or a good ball,that is really important when you are doing commentary. I even like Sunil Gvaskar for his technical knowledge...

 

[Raj_Aryan]

Mark Nicholas, Ravi Shahtri for their english and also for their voice variation,they get exited when there is a 4/6 hit,or a good ball,that is really important when you are doing commentary. I even like Sunil Gvaskar for his technical knowledge...

yes...true...but even Harsha B is a good commentrator,he has good knowledge of cricket,past records in cricket...

 

[King Pietersen]

Barring 10 a very good Selection indeed.

You rate Hussain above Atherton? =/

 

[robin2855]

Naseer VS Atherton

You rate Hussain above Atherton? =/

Welcome back mate!

Naseer is definitely better than Atherton overall as a commentator not that I don?t like Atherton as a cricketer(He was a cool captain ,a good batsman and well educated as well )

My reasoning for choosing Nasser and placing at 4 is reasoned by the facts:

Naseer has good vocabulary power and exceptional cricketing brain . Would have been an ideal Coach for any of the minnows like Bangladesh, Zimbabwe.

He is forthright in his comments and judgments and his assessments on players , pitch conditions is Spot On most of the time . This is my perception of Naseer as I saw him.

Hope this helps.

 

[King Pietersen]

Nasser does have quite a good cricketing brain, but he's an incredibly poor judge of talent. He's constantly blabbering on about Mahmood, Harmison and Vaughan when on commentary, telling us that England need them in the side. He's often miles off when it comes to players. Atherton is more intelligent, has almost as good a cricketing brain as Nas, and is a better judge of talent than Hussain will ever be. I don't dislike Nasser, but Atherton's a far better commentator.

Hope this helps.

 

[King Cricket]

^ Lol! Dan. You sure know how to bold and underline things.

EDIT: And yeah, great ending to your post.

 

[robin2855]

Naseer Vs Athurton - The battle is on(LOL!)

Nasser does have quite a good cricketing brain, but he's an incredibly poor judge of talent. He's constantly blabbering on about Mahmood, Harmison and Vaughan when on commentary, telling us that England need them in the side. He's often miles off when it comes to players. Atherton is more intelligent, has almost as good a cricketing brain as Nas, and is a better judge of talent than Hussain will ever be. I don't dislike Nasser, but Atherton's a far better commentator.

Hope this helps.

From what I saw of Naseer I stand by my views and they are very much in conjunction with other Internet sources that I have researched who also has rated Naseer highly amongst others and their line of thinking is similar if not exactly like mine.

I am not disregarding your views. You are entitled to your views based on what you saw and perceived of Naseer and Athurton which is okay with me.

Hope this helps.

Thanks for your input and Cheers!

Hope this helps

 

[Precambrian]

Nasser does have quite a good cricketing brain, but he's an incredibly poor judge of talent. He's constantly blabbering on about Mahmood, Harmison and Vaughan when on commentary, telling us that England need them in the side. He's often miles off when it comes to players. Atherton is more intelligent, has almost as good a cricketing brain as Nas, and is a better judge of talent than Hussain will ever be. I don't dislike Nasser, but Atherton's a far better commentator.

Hope this helps.

Ben as in sarcasm!

Precambrian added 0 Minutes and 30 Seconds later...

From what I saw of Naseer I stand by my views and they are very much in conjunction with other Internet sources that I have researched who also has rated Naseer highly amongst others and their line of thinking is similar if not exactly like mine.

I am not disregarding your views. You are entitled to your views based on what you saw and perceived of Naseer and Athurton which is okay with me.

Hope this helps.

Thanks for your input and Cheers!

Hope this helps



Iam not disregarding your observations as you might have watched more Of Naseer from a broader perspective

When did Athurton start commenting?

 

[robin2855]

Harsha and Wasim doing Great in commentators role. Deserves a position Upgrade

I am not very enthusiastic about T20 format of Cricket.

But the way things have been happening in ICC World Twenty20 in terms of excitement, upsets, Individual performances (Gayle, Yuvraj, Sangakara, Bravo to name a few) it was simply too tempting not to watch especially when ROGERS communication was offering a package through ATN on a pay per view basis priced at $129.00 (CDN) + taxes for all the matches.

The good thing about this is all matches are rebroadcast in the evening (EST).

So no disappointment of missing any.

First and foremost observation I have in the context of the thread is the fact is Harsha Bhogle had improved by leaps and bounds since I last heard him 2 years back.

Voice quality, pace of commentary (previous express pace and endless babble is gone). Cricket knowledge (that was never in question) has simply been awesome.

One must be judged and assessed in the context of present time. So I think he deserves to be elevated No 2 instead of 6 which I had earlier positioned him. In all fairness he deserves it.

Wasim also deserves a position upgrade as well.

His voice quality is not at par with the guys around like Jeremy Coney, Harsha. But the expert knowledge that he shares from time to time is second to none and enriching for everyone.

So I would like to upgrade him from # 7 to #3.

Rest remains the same.

I will add or upgrade the position status as I watch coming ICC World Twenty20 matches. Their are plenty left.

Who knows we may unearth a new quality Commentator hitherto unknown.

Cheers!

 

[King Cricket]

First and foremost observation I have in the context of the thread is the fact is Harsha Bhogle had improved by leaps and bounds since I last heard him 2 years back.

Voice quality, pace of commentary (previous express pace and endless babble is gone). Cricket knowledge (that was never in question) has simply been awesome.

Are you kidding me?

 

[robin2855]

I am serious mate (LOL!)

Are you kidding me?

Where have you been these days?

Was it a temporary hibernation?

Without King Cricket this Cricket forum is barren.

As far as Harsha and Wasim is concerned I am serious mate. I have closely listened to them in most of the matches held in the rebroadcast (EST evenings) and without the shade of doubt:

Harsha is King Commentator - Best of the present crop.

Wasim (I wish he had a better Voice) stands one of the best amongst the present crop.

Nice to hear from you again.

Cheers!

 

[Mercules]

1. Michael Holding
2. Michael Atherton
3. Jeremy Coney
4. David Lloyd
5. Ian Smith