Why TNT Sports’ Ashes coverage fell apart – insiders reveal all

Tomorrow, thank God, the Ashes will come to an end, bringing the curtain down on a series of unforgivable crimes against cricket. 

On one hand there has been England’s limp surrender, endless wafts outside off-stump and wanton wastage of the best opportunity to return with the urn for 15 years. But a different shambles, which was equally painful to witness for bleary-eyed viewers at home, has unfolded on our screens and must never be permitted to happen again.

Step forward TNT Sports, whose spectacularly abysmal, low-rent coverage excelled even itself this morning. Rob Hatch, who usually covers cycling and who has provided much of the commentary, excitedly told viewers that England had lost another wicket to a run out.

‘It’s happening again, it’s happening again!’ Hatch exclaimed. ‘Stokes goes, two run outs in two overs, England are imploding!’

The only issue being that Hatch was actually watching a replay of Jamie Smith, not Stokes, being run out by Marnus Labuschagne moments earlier. It was left to Sir Alastair Cook (penny for his thoughts) to correct his colleague.

‘Good news for people who are waking up, England are six wickets down,’ the former captain explained. ‘Rob was giving them seven, but we’ll forgive you, we’re not used to four days (of play). If you were dozing you’ve woken up now, Rob. Stokes is still there, it’s fine!’

The cock-up would have been unbelievable had it not followed some of the worst coverage in sporting history.

We have heard wickets before they have fallen (the most unforgivable offence), we have been left to wonder, with ball in the air, whether a fielder is about to catch it and now came the nadir: the phantom wicket.

Hatch was said to be mortified, and it is important to point out that everyone makes mistakes. It was clearly a genuine error. However, it is difficult to imagine that this was not another product of TNT Sports’ cut-price coverage coming back to bite them – and those at home already suffering from Ashes PTSD – on the backsides. Like many of the other disasters that have peppered this miserable production, someone should have seen it coming.

Those who commentate on cycling often tend to do so via monitors. That is the nature of the job. If you are covering professional road cycling then it is near-impossible to be within eyeshot of the action all of the time. Often, commentators take in events from a studio on a screen. Presumably, Hatch found it difficult to break the habit and look out of the window rather than down at his monitor.

At least he was there. Many of the previous issues had come as a result of Hatch being based in London, presumably because the bean counters who have cheapened cricket’s biggest battle saw fit to have him describing action from 12,000 miles away,

Hatch was at the Sydney Cricket Ground and had been in Melbourne for the previous Test. TNT insiders have disclosed that staff, who could see the icebergs in their low-cost strategy a mile off, had pleaded with bosses to put boots in the booth for the entirety of the series.

When details of their cut-price plan emerged ahead of the first Test, Scott Young, executive vice-president at TNT’s owners Warner Bros Discovery Sports Europe, had insisted that viewers ‘won’t know’ where commentators are during live action. That they ended up knowing exactly where they were was as predictable as the prospect of someone standing in the slips wearing a green cap having a busy time of it whenever England were batting.

Perhaps tellingly, during the series Young ended up jetting to Australia – although TNT have strongly denied that he was there to firefight or address the myriad of issues. Instead they say he was there on a pre-planned trip to meet officials from the Australian Open and commercial partners. 

We have seen things that viewers should never see, and that is not a reference to Harry Brook charging down to the track first ball with England eight for three. With Hatch in London and pundits Down Under we would hear gasps 0.3 seconds before bouncers struck heads. We heard wickets called the moment the ball took the edge. Even the good bits have been ruined.

When an emotional Joe Root walked off at the end of a day when he had scored his first century in Australia, TNT decided to cut away from the Yorkshireman just before he reached the embraces of his team-mates to get the views of a clearly embarrassed Steven Finn and Matt Prior stood like two wedding crashers in the outfield.

The omens were there from the start when Cook, a knight of the realm, was referred to as ‘Ali’ and made a point of responding that he had never been called that before. Perhaps he knew what was to follow.

All of this for £31 a month. There are no discounts, only excuses. As late as the fourth Test we were still hearing Graeme Swann celebrating Aussie wickets before we had seen them.

Imagine (and don’t laugh) that England had performed up to standard. That this final Test was a decider rather than a dead rubber and that these clowns were responsible for capturing the drama. It does not bear thinking about.

And if Sky Sports are sniggering at what has unfolded, then they should give their own heads a wobble. While it includes other channels and the add-ons you cannot really avoid, my last Sky bill (including broadband) was £137.

A large part of that loyalty is based on its excellent cricket output. On their ability to have actual cricket experts commentating on actual cricket. On their groundbreaking coverage and the elite-level opinion from the likes of Michael Atherton, Nasser Hussain and many others.

They justifiably pride themselves on their cricket coverage and even have a channel devoted to the sport, which is currently rubbing salt in the wounds by showing Big Bash T20 cricket from Australia.

No doubt they did not see the value in outbidding TNT Sports and taking a better offer to Cricket Australia. Apparently they did not even bid. The unsocial hours and the fact England usually get walloped, with interest quickly lost, presumably meant it was a war they did not deem worth winning from an economic standpoint.

But they should. While Sky is not the BBC, is not taxpayer-funded, is not there to serve the public and has major issues with illegal streams, I would argue that it does have a duty to its cricket-loving subscribers who have been forced to watch this six-week car crash on a six-week car crash.

They have been badly let down here and that point should be made – as should the fact that thousands of people make specific plans to watch during those unsocial hours, so there is a captive, passionate and weather-beaten audience for hours every day. It is to be hoped that, in four years’ time, there is a rethink.

The final day of the Ashes may well be a short one. It comes to something when such a scenario will come as a relief to those who have endured a shameful, sorry episode.