Cricket Betting: Tell it like it is

Bat and ball / Frank Gregan / 07 September 2010 / Leave a Comment

Geoffrey has never been afraid to speak his mind...

"It's time to remove the gags and have an informed discussion on what is really going on in the game."

Frank Gregan is tired of commentators' platitudes and blandishments. Here, he explains why blunter discourse from the games leading lights could help cricket through its rocky period.

What proved to be the last day of the Test series between England and Pakistan was surreal, everyone was in a daze having awoken to the newspaper allegations of spot fixing, making the Test conclusion about as temping as a breakfast of raw tripe and mucus! It was a case of 'the show must go on' and the Sky Sports commentary team and those in the Test Match Special box tried vainly to engage their viewers and listeners whilst avoiding a libel suit.

It didn't work. Nobody wanted to hear about the Pakistani wickets tumbling, the cricketing public wanted the scandal embellished and to hear from the game's leading figures. The lawyers made sure that none were forthcoming, so we had to endure endless drivel about field changes that nobody cared about and platitudes concerning one of the greatest batting partnerships ever seen at Lords (the eighth wicket stand of 332 between Jonathan Trott and Stuart Broad) whilst we were all asking 'was it kosher?'

It wasn't a day for humour, nobody felt much like laughing and consequently the banter between the commentators was flatter than the losing dressing room on Cup Final day. Oh, for a return to the days when ex-cricketers and commentators were allowed to speak their minds. When they do, they quite often have a pop at each other.

It wasn't that long ago that Sir Ian Botham gave us the benefit of his advice relating to Australians - "All Aussies are a bunch of hicks that don't know the first thing about cricket!" That's a bit of a generic statement but Beefy was never afraid to be more specific with his insults, the classic case being his opinion of fellow presenter, Ian Chappell. "Chappell was a coward. He needed a crowd around him before he would say anything. He was sour like milk that had been sitting in the sun for a week."

Chappell himself is never slow to have a dig but, having locked horns with Sir Ian previously in a Melbourne bar brawl, he decided to channel his derision at a softer target, yet another commentator, Geoff Boycott. "(He) didn't keep me awake during the night .....in fact he put me to sleep during the day...because if he scored 150 it would take him so long it would make our chances of saving the game much greater!"

Dennis Lillee was no fan of the Test Match Special match summariser either, when asked about Boycott he said "He fell in love with himself at a very early age and has remained faithful ever since!" In fairness to the Aussies they're not the only ones who have been irked by the former England opener's arrogance.

Fellow Yorkshireman Fred Trueman said of Boycott "If Boycott played cricket the way he talked, he would have people queueing up to get into the ground instead of people queueing up to leave!" What goes around comes around and the commentator Geoff Boycott chose to throw a barb at was David Gower, who he described as, "A master in the art of non-communication."

All this shows that the game's experienced observers do have opinions. It's time to remove the gags and have an informed discussion on what is really going on in the game and how much corruption is out there.

For what it's worth, my favourite cricketing quote comes from the late great Jim Laker who said: "The aim of English Test cricket is, in fact, mainly to beat Australia." Thank goodness that this is an Ashes year which might just be enough to restore our faith in the game. There is one thing you can bet your life on - the Ashes series will be straight! The odds for the first Test are up and at [1.97] I'll be laying Australia on a weekly basis for the next couple of months.