Chris Rattue: New Zealand cricket coverage puts rugby to shame

Black Caps bowler Trent Boult. Photo / Photosport

COMMENT:

This has to be our finest cricket line-up ever.

And it's one which puts rugby, the national sport, to shame.

I'm not talking the Black Caps here, but rather the TV commentary team. As New Zealand's test series against mighty India swung into life, it has been an absolute pleasure to soak up the wisdom and disparate personalities which bring the game into our living rooms.

In no particular order… Ian Smith, Simon Doull, Craig McMillan, Craig Cumming, Lesley Murdoch, Mike Hesson, Brendon McCullum, Mark Richardson, all giving their all and giving us plenty.

That line-up includes two very recent Black Caps coaches and a legendary captain, to go with the doyen Smith and a cast of interesting and knowledgeable characters who actually sound like they love their job, and thrill to a good debate. Quality, up-to-date information doesn't get any better than when the likes of Hesson and McCullum are providing it.

Said it before and will say it again, but cricket has led the way in our commentary standards. It's a game which lends itself to analysis and debate of course, but we've got people who want to make the most of that opportunity. I salute them.

There have been many other fine commentators before the current squad including two personal favourites – the acerbic Glenn Turner and of course the late, great Martin Crowe, with the finest cricket mind of them all. And names keep coming to mind - like Jeremy Coney. Fantastic.

Anecdotes and analysis, that's what it is all about. There was a wonderful recollection yesterday from McMillan, relating to the excellent bowler and batting bunny Chris Martin. Apparently Martin only got a drivers licence at the age of 30, his batting supposedly stunted because he couldn't fit all the practice gear on his bicycle. Or something like that.

Okay, they may slip into the odd in-joke too many. But that's being picky. Over the weekend, they were prepared to launch into the issues, such as slow over rates and late starts.

What these commentators do, and have done, is par for the course with many sports around the world, and particularly in the USA.

Sky TV excels here, but not everywhere unfortunately.

Former Black Caps head coach Mike Hesson is now a Sky TV sports commentator. Photo / Photosport

Rugby is lazy and disinterested in this regard, one of the reasons the game is struggling. There is a complete lack of information you can trust, thanks to a code of silence.

It is blindingly obvious that the people who call the game don't actually know what is going on beyond the surface stuff. They haven't got a clue, probably because they have been shut out, and people from within the game won't speak out or give out.

What we get in the main is a bunch of guesses/clichés compared to what most professional sports offer. This afflicts rugby worldwide. The modern audience wants more.

Worse still, it feels at times that those analysing the game don't want to reveal all they know, in case they get refused entry into the next old boys' reunion. What we get instead is tired in-house humour, like inferences that a player-turned-commentator such as Andrew Mehrtens was a bad tackler in his day.

The broadcasters almost seem bored with the game - their alleged analysis shows, stuffed with 1970s clichés, are evidence of that.

The soul-less Bulls versus Blues Super Rugby catastrophe before a near-empty Loftus Versfeld over the weekend summed it up.

Commentators Joel Stransky – who I've always admired for his delivery and integrity - and Owen Nkumane sounded like men going through the motions. They had almost nothing revealing to say, and didn't appear overly interested in key moments.

Sky Sports TV cameraman. Photo / Photosport

Here's an example. The Blues decided to play three first five-eighths, with one of them – Harry Plummer – stationed at second five-eighths.

In a potentially pivotal moment, Bulls centre Johnny Kotze strolled between Plummer and midfield partner Joe Marchant.

The commentators didn't even mention who Kotze had run between, let alone analyse what the selection shuffle might have done to the defensive structures.

They didn't even seem to notice the surface at the famous ground was cutting up in the rain.

And it goes without saying that they didn't have a clue what was going on in the scrums, and I'm guessing that unconvincing referee Marius van der Westhuizen didn't have much of an idea either.

This is one of the huge problems with rugby. It's a lottery of a sport which appears determined to shut the viewer out.

"Take what we dish out to you and be grateful" seems to be its worldwide motto.

I'll pick on one final incident.

With about 10 minutes remaining in a close game, Blues No 8 Hoskins Sotutu was sin binned, for what it was not totally clear.

It may have been a dangerous tackle. But there was no replay of the incident, no analysis at all. Not a squeak.

My advice to rugby is this. Treat your audience with respect, find top drawer analysts who are on the public's side, get some enthusiasm going, and progress will be made.

Rugby could start by learning from cricket.