Henderson J: Boycott beefs up on Sky again (26 Mar 95)

Boycott beefs up on Sky again - Jon Henderson

MY ATTEMPT to wind up the man from Sky by jeering at him, `See you`ve got Boycott back on board then,` brought the neat reply,

Last October Sky dropped Geoff Boycott from their commentary team for England`s Ashes tour of Australia. I suggested at the time it was because the satellite station`s new signing, Ian Botham, and Boycott were as inert a pairing as fire and rocket fuel, but have learnt since that the more explosive combination of a Yorkshireman and his brass (in this case too little) may have been the reason.

So why are they back together for Australia`s tour of the Caribbean, which gets serious next Friday with the start of the Test series?

Sky had no choice. The independent production company Trans World International are covering the tour, and he who renamed the great game `creee-ket` - as in `England can`t play creee-ket` - came as part of the package.

Whatever they think of Boycott, Sky Sports subscribers are likely to be disappointed that the satellite station have decided to screen only edited highlights of the Test series despite having shown the five one-day internationals live. Warne v West Indies promises to be one of the great cricketing contests of the Nineties - and we`ll be reading about it on Ceefax before seeing it on Sky.

Cricket`s television treatment over the next 12 months reflects just what an expanding state the medium is in. Live coverage of this summer`s home Test series against West Indies will be on the BBC, the winter Test matches in South Africa on Sky and the World Cup in India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka next February and March on Wire TV.

Wire are the cable station whose lifestyle programmes have just been sold to Mirror Television and whose prospects are now very much linked to sport. Their backers coughed up pounds 5 million for cricket`s 1996 World Cup and, unsurprisingly, will use it to promote their new sports channel, details of which will be announced shortly.

Source :: The Observer