Electrolite: And another thing you won't read in the US press.

March 14, 2003

And another thing you won’t read in the US press. From our Walthamstow correspondent, Alison Scott, via AIM: “The chap doing the Guardian’s over-by over commentary of the New Zealand innings was clearly having a bad day today: Guardian Unlimited Sport | Special reports | India v New Zealand 9:10 AM.

4th over: New Zealand 21-2
Two highlights from this over: brilliant running from Fleming to plunder a single off the last ball of the over; Guardian Unlimited’s Sally Bolton making me a cup of tea. More from Leonard: to prove his pique, he’s been banging his fists on his keyboard. “asdsadf ;lk;lk;lk,” he writes. You should move your fists about, Leonard, your letter distribution is predictable.

Adds Alison: “I got it from Simon Bisson’s LJ, where the Comments thread makes it clear that the Guardian’s over by over commentary is always like this. Alternatively, it might be a Comic Relief special; watch out for red noses all over UK today.” [09:25 AM]

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Comments on And another thing you won't read in the US press.:

Simon Bisson ::: (view all by) ::: March 14, 2003, 11:22 AM:

Check out the weasel invasion of this coverage: http://sport.guardian.co.uk/cricketworldcup2003/overbyover/story/0,12864,911867,00.html

Very strange. I think they may be getting up a little too early in the morning!

Andy ::: (view all by) ::: March 14, 2003, 12:21 PM:

It's not just the cricket coverage that gets that sort of treatment at The Guardian. The match reports of certain tired, unimaginative football teams (cough, Liverpool, cough) often feature a lot of indirect stuff. Case in point:

"36 mins: More lull. "I have spent all day today basking in the Peruvian heat and looking forward to listening to the game tonight live on the BBC Radio Scotland website," writes David Shanks. "My hopes have, however, been dashed. Please make up for this with some inspirational text commentary, unlike your efforts last night." Careful now Mr Shanks - I don't come around to where you work and tell you how to clean toilets."

David Bell ::: (view all by) ::: March 14, 2003, 04:22 PM:

There is a peculiar tradition of cricket commentary in the UK, in which the passing of butterflies and buses, and the elegance of the towel draped over the 4th Umpire's left arm as he serves drinks, are as much as part of the match as the bald and unconvincing narrative of the bowling, batting, and fielding.