User Reviews

Since Sky Television assumed the rights to broadcast all domestic cricket in Great Britain, CRICKET ON FIVE is the only regular cricket program available on terrestrial television. It is a workmanlike production, presented by Mark Nicholas - a reassuring presence on screen - with a commentary team including Simon Hughes, Geoff Boycott and Michael Vaughan. The last two named commentators are also part of BBC Radio's TEST MATCH SPECIAL team; they can be heard regularly as summarizers. Whether viewers like them or not depends very much on personal taste, but their knowledge of the game is unrivaled. In an hour-long program, perhaps a little too much time is devoted to spots by The Analyst (Hughes) as well as player interviews (very few contemporary cricketers have anything much to say); I'd rather like to see more action. But perhaps the amount of time devoted to action is contractually limited. CRICKET ON FIVE keeps the flag flying for the sport on terrestrial television; a rather insignificant flag, it must be said (I wonder whether Sky's appropriation of the contract has led to cricket becoming less of a mass participation sport than it was in the past), but one which keeps going through thick and thin.