All set for another finals day in 3D
It's probably a good thing that the cricketers of England and India have a few days off before the Test series resumes next week.
Following jelly beans and beamers at Trent Bridge hopefully tempers will have cooled before we get to The Oval next week.
But although there's a break in the international action, there's no rest for the ±«Óãtv cricket team as we prepare for one of the highlights of the cricket season - .
At Edgbaston on Saturday we will again be providing our innovative "3D commentary".
The semi-finals between Lancashire and Gloucestershire, and Sussex against Kent will be live on Five Live Sports Extra from 1100 BST - with the final on Five Live from 1900.
Now in case you've not heard finals day before let me give you an idea about what 3-D commentary is all about.
I got the idea during my three years working on Five Live's golf coverage.
I thought it was fantastic how close our golf commentators got to the action - there is something magical about hearing John Murray whispering because he is yards away from Tiger Woods.
I felt there was something we could do to bring that concept into our cricket coverage and I first tried it out the last time finals day was held in Birmingham three years ago.
Arlo White presented our coverage live from the boundary edge - which proved more than just a gimmick.
From the commentary box at Edgbaston you can't see part of the outfield. I placed Arlo in the blind spot and got our commentators to link to him on the radio mike whenever the ball went in his vicinity.
This proved a real success, especially when he started to throw the ball back to fielders live on air when boundaries were struck close by.
Two years ago at The Oval we pioneered "3-D Cricket" commentary with all angles covered.
We had a commentator in the box, and boundary edge commentators on both sides of the wicket.
When the ball went towards one of them, they would immediately take up commentary.
This idea would not really work in a Test match, but in a Twenty20 game when boundaries are flowing it really helps to convey the excitement both on the field and in the crowd.
We also place a reporter in the dug-out to bring live interviews with players whilst the game is in progress and we have access to the stump microphone to help bring a flavour of the drama in the middle.
We have tried other innovations as well. Last year in we introduced the "family mike" where a father and his sons won the opportunity to summarise on matches live from the stands to bring the crowd perspective.
This Saturday we are going to try the idea of commentary from both ends of the ground so that we can always be behind the bowler's arm.
This year our commentary team will be joined by Australia star Jason Gillespie, England Ashes winner Ashley Giles, plus Alex Tudor and Dougie Brown.
It looks like will be leading the star-studded cast of players on show in front of what should be a capacity crowd.
On-air from 1100 until 2200 makes it a long day - but it's one of my absolute favourites and I hope you'll tune in to enjoy the action with us.
Why can't the ±«Óãtv get serious for once?
Complain about this postWould love to listen will be too busy enjoying the cricket and washing down the lager in the Eric Hollies stand.
Look out for the Bedfordshire Blue Sox!
Complain about this postGreat innovations - that was after I finally made it past that picture of Girls Aloud. Yum.
Complain about this postI would like to listen and enjoy your coverage, but unfortunately for me I will be in the Lower R V Stand watching my team (Kent) win the twenty20 cup for the first time.
Complain about this postLooking forward to Saturday, its an event Five Live always covers well.
In your blog Adam you mention the summerising team but any chance you could provide a list of the commentators as well? Thanks.
Complain about this postGood to see these kind of innovations to bring the best coverage to the fans. Also I think it makes cricket more interesting.
Complain about this postDear Adam Mountford,
±«Óãtv Cricket Producer.
Very intresting article on Twenty20 cup. Thanks.
[New-Yorker]
Complain about this postIf you go through the postings of TV coverage at youtube, in the test matches between England and West Indies, you can see that Kevin Peterson had physically pushed a West Indies player when he wanted to occupy his crease. He was not fined for that. When Sreesanth physically nudged Michael Vaughn on his way to his bowling run, while Vaughan was where it could be in the path of his bowling run, he was fined half his match fee iting this reason. Umpires should follow the same rules for all teams without partialty. No team or person is superior to another on the play arena. But umpires do stray in this and the excuse is that they are also human beings! Sunil Gavaskar must have won some applause from English viewers for critisizing Sreesanth for his beamer during the live commentary, but I think he often tends to praise the non-Indian foreign fast bowlers as showing good tactics when they bowl body line to Indian batsmen. It is also strange that Prior was always crossing the lines in his persistent sledging, and dared to admit it openly but he escaped without any warning or fine.I am not defending Sreesanth but Sreesanth should never have been the only person fined in Trentbridge match.
Complain about this postI am a blind Gloucester fan and can't wait for the start o play. I shall, as usual, be glued to five live. I am fearful, however, that our interest in finals day will be short lived.
Anyway I'll enjoy it while it lasts and would like to say "well done" to all four teams. Have a great day lads and thanks to the ±«Óãtv for bringing all the thrills of the day to my living room.
Complain about this postIt sounds like a good idea, but the main problem is the fact that finals day is on a Saturday, when the majority of club cricketers will be playing and will therefore miss the action!
And I fancy an outside Kent win..
Complain about this postto much fun
Complain about this posti wish i was there
...Shame on England
.... England hasn't produced a bowler of the capability even close to a Wasim Akram or Waqar Younis in the past few decades, even more perhaps. The fact that they conquered Australia in 2005 Ashes using the same reverse swing made it an Art all of a sudden and the real creators of the art were termed 'cheats of the game'. Shameful! When they lose to Australia, which is more often than not, they like to term the Aussies as bad mannered cricketers who like to talk, but when the same applies to them, they would like to call it playing hard and tough. Flintoff would run around Wankhede Stadium taking his shirt off and it is left unnoticed, but when Ganguly does the same at Lord's, it becomes a shameful act. Isn't the game of Cricket supposed to have the same 'A gentleman's game' tag, regardless where it is played? All in all, it really takes the focus off such an intensely fought series between India and England. Cricket, after the failure of the 2007 edition of the world cup, has been waiting for a series such as this, but the players acts, organizers failure to notice and punish/warn offenders straightaway, and the players and commentators sheepish defense/attack for/against other players is ludicrous and shocking to say the least and must be stopped before the game's popularity and the reputation as 'A gentleman's game is further jeopardized. Someone ought to put up his hand and put an end to this ongoing nonsense and bring the focus back to the 'Centre of the pitch' where
Complain about this postShame on England!
"Sreesanth must be banned for beamer: Atherton". When Atherton was seen on the field as a teenager, he was famously referred to as, FCE, Future Captain of England. It's a shame to see a good exponent of batting and captaincy, if not a great, making a weak statement against an Indian bowler for bowling a beamer at, arguably, England's best batsman. I would like someone to point out to Mike that the whole England team is lucky to have escaped the crack of the whip from the Match Referee for the infamous 'jelly bean' incident. It was a clear case of tampering with the conditions of the playing surface (Remember Rahul Dravid's 'cough lozenges' saga in during the 2003 Australia tour that was referred to as tampering with the Ball?). I can't understand why no action has been taken against their act although Ian Chappell has indicated in his columns before about the same. I understand that it was a dangerous delivery, but definitely wasn't lethal as Kevin has mentioned in one of his columns. There have been more lethal deliveries bowled in cricket over the past 100 odd years the game has been played for. It is pitiful to see Kevin complain like a school-kid who has just been bullied, a real Cry baby. English Cricket has always tried to find loopholes in the opposition's camp to cover their own deficiencies and short comings.
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