- Unlock the best of our Ashes coverage throughout the series with a DailyMail+ subscription – brilliant exclusives and the writers you love every day
I have a friend who recently bought a dodgy firestick and who has no intention of using it to illegally watch football.
He already subscribes to Sky Sports and to TNT Sports and, you would imagine, has no need to break the law. But it is his subscription to the latter that has driven them to one of those websites, and subsequent possession of a discreet package.
This was, you see, a desperate act. An act triggered by Day One of this winter’s Ashes. The friend is a huge cricket fan. Like many of us, he set his alarm for 2am and like many of us, went from despair to joy to despair again as England found new ways to punch themselves in the face when all seemed won.
But, also like many of us, his experience was blighted not only by ludicrous wafts outside off-stump by men in blue helmets, but also by the utterly shambolic coverage of cricket’s Holy Grail provided by TNT Sports.
The biggest crime, but not the only one, was the delay which meant that you were hearing wickets before they actually happened. A criminal offence which devalues the entire experience (and comes as part of a £30-a-month package).
The main issue seemed to be that commentary is being delivered from London whereas pundits including Sir Alastair Cook and Steven Finn, are at the venue. Around 0.3 seconds before Cameron Green was hit on the head by a bouncer from Mark Wood, Cook audibly gasped.
When Mitchell Starc was caught by Brydon Carse, the wicket was described at the moment the Aussie quick put bat on ball.
My friend had seen enough. This morning, shortly before 4am, he plugged his firestick in and watched the game on Australian television.
‘Much better,’ he WhatsApped. ‘Great analysis, commentators who have a clue what they’re talking about and no delays.’
For those of us who did not resort to such extreme measures, the delay issue appeared to have been rectified but again, this came across as a watered-down, cheapened product.
When a team, as England often do in the Bazball era, plays big shots, the ball often goes into the air. Usually, Sky Sports – whose excellent coverage is sadly missed – are quick to tell you if there is a fielder underneath it, which tends to be quite important.
Not so TNT, the reason presumably being that the people commentating are as close to the stadium (and a panoramic view of what is actually going on) as you are sat at home eating your toast.
On multiple occasions, especially with Jofra Archer teeing off, the ball headed into the Brisbane sky and to silence from the studio. Only when it touched turf came blessed relief.
The lowest point of many, for me, came as Joe Root left the field with Archer at close of play. This was a historic moment. Root’s century was his first on Australian soil and may well turn out to be the highlight of the Ashes for those of an English persuasion.
It was a moment to be savoured. Every second of it. The sight of Australian opponents jogging over to shake a hand underlined the beauty of sport. We looked forward to seeing the Yorkshireman get to the boundary and to the embraces of his team-mates, not least his captain.
We were robbed of that because some TNT doofus thought it would be a good idea to cut from Root before he had even left the field to Steven Finn and Matt Prior, on the outfield, presumably as if to say ‘Look, critics, we’re not doing it on the cheap, we DO have people there.’
Finn appeared as bemused as the rest of us, and indeed made the point that he would rather be watching Root.
For the rest of us, we would rather be watching Australian TV. If you need to know how, there’s someone I can ask.
