Tour Diary

Live from the production room

Gavin was amazed when he first heard I do a lot of ball-by-ball commentary

Jamie Alter
Jamie Alter
25-Feb-2013
“Standby, five-five, seven-seven,” cracks Gavin.
I stare intently at the 22 consoles in front of me to try and spot which one moved when, but I can’t keep up. This is hard work.
I’m sitting inside the Ten Sports production room in the bottom floor of a nondescript green structure at the SSC. It’s a dark room, illuminated by a few flickering tube lights. There are large black coffins all around, used to ship the expensive equipment, and consoles and laptops and other beeping gadgets all around. For a second I recall one of those wire-tapping FBI go-downs that Hollywood pictures have implanted into our mindset.
Gavin, the director, sits in the far left corner. There are 22 screens in front of Gavin, who tells me that’s a small number. There can be as many as 45 when it’s a big series and India are involved. The screens flash almost every conceivable view the cameramen can cover, including the commentators’ box, the dressing rooms, the spectators, the third umpire’s cabin, the press box, and the various entry and exit points. One of the camera constantly provides a panoramic view of the ground and is the one which the team scorecards and summaries are displayed.
Gavin has to coordinate all the cameras across the ground. There’s a panel in front of him by which he can speak to everyone involved. Jude, to his right, is his visual switcher - “my eyes and ears” – and controls what images are inputted. It is only Jude's second day on the job. Behind them is a sound recorder.
Gavin and his team of about 50 have various responsibilities. There’s sound, visual, production to be looked after, all a rapid rate. This is live cricket, remember. One man feeds ball-by-ball information into a computer. Gavin asks one of his crew, over headset, to input statistics for the commentators. Others feed replays and graphics. There’s also a replay co-coordinator and another man who has to check about the ad breaks. More than one laptop has Cricinfo’s ball-by-ball commentary open.
Each of the monitors in front of Gavin – there is one large set which displays the Ten Sports feed that goes out to viewers – has a piece of yellow electric tape stuck on it with the names of the cameramen of a specific code word or number that signifies what angle the camera is covering. A couple say Hamish, Kapilla, Shantha and Yaps. Other are gibberish to me. The side-on view of the bowler is also known as ‘BLUE’ and the angle from the bowler’s arm is ‘BLACK’.
Part of the job is providing the on-air commentators with statistics and news. As Danny Morrison gets talking of New Zealand’s one-day squad, Gavin informs him that the squad is coming up on view for all to see. “VT just said ‘BLUE’”, says Jude to Gavin. Immediately the main screen focuses on Jeetan Patel bowling from side-on.
Gavin was amazed when he first heard I do a lot of ball-by-ball commentary. “How do you type so fast? There’s hardly any time?”Looking at what he and his crew have to do, my job seems like a stroll in the park.
Despite the frenetic pace of proceedings and the constant need to be on guard, there is time for fun and games. “Where’s that American photographer?” asks Gavin into his headset. Almost immediately one of the cameraman picks out Andy down on the sidelines, clicking away. “There he is,” says Gavin. “The American from Portland, Oregon, on assignment covering cricket. Go figure!”
A few minutes later, after feeding Danny Morrison with squad news, Gavin asks him to give camera nine a smile. Morrison turns to his left, eyes on the cameraman in question, and gives us his best Jim Carrey impersonation.
It’s a stressful environment but everyone looks in control. Clearly they’re pros. But, given the duration of live broadcast, there’s the possibility of messing up. “It happens, yeah, but we’re a good unit,” says Gavin. “I shout a lot and things get fixed!" I don’t really have time to ask much because the play is going on live outside. Gavin and his team get roughly 30 second between overs and much of that goes in snacking on a biscuit while keeping one eye on proceedings.
Just then Chris Martin gets Prasanna Jayawardene to top-edge a hook to long-leg. Gavin and Jude sit up. “Purple, then white, roll white!” yells Gavin into his headset while Jude moves his fingers across his console manically. White and purple imply certain camera angle; each angle has a particular colour code. Gavin and Jude get cracking. I take that as my cue to exit and get back to my routine.

Jamie Alter is a senior sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo