By Jon Pierik
While fresh women's voices emerge on Channel Nine's cricket commentary team, Richie Benaud remains royalty. Understandably, as testimony to his continued popularity after all these years and to the service he has given cricket, the Nine network is keen to give him every chance to remain involved in its coverage.
Benaud, 84, missed the entire 2013-14 Ashes season after a car accident near his home in Coogee, and returned to work only recently when he voiced the teaser for Nine's Twenty20 coverage against South Africa. He is also undergoing radiation treatment and chemotherapy for skin cancer.
Small steps: Health permitting, Richie Benaud is expected to have a commentating role in the Sydney Test against India.Credit: Wolter Peeters
Nine boss David Gyngell had already floated the possibility of Benaud even calling from his lounge, something Steve Crawley, the network's head of sport, has not ruled out.
"I am not going to push Richie into anything at the moment. I would imagine he would have some involvement somewhere, but we are just taking small steps at the moment and putting him first, which we have all the way along," Crawley said.
"The fact that he has voiced the opening sequence of our broadcast of the summer, we are really happy about it. He didn't hesitate about that. He said: `Yes, I am ready to go'."
That decision has prompted plenty of positive feedback for the network, which enjoyed strong ratings for the three Twenty20 clashes against the Proteas, beginning with 820,000 viewers and rising to 1.12 million, before the one-day series began.
Benaud, health permitting, is expected to have a role in the Sydney Test against India, and possibly during the home World Cup in what will be a bumper season for Nine.
Crawley said he had yet to ask Benaud about the prospect of calling from home. "We will talk about that at another time. Look, technically there are ways to do it. It can definitely happen," he said, adding Benaud could yet just be driven to the SCG.
Another famous face who has made Nine's commentary booth as much a part of the summer as the on-field action will also be back, albeit in a cameo role. Bill Lawry, no longer with his sparring partner, the late Tony Greig, by his side, will be on hand for his home-town Melbourne Test, beginning on Boxing Day.
There aren't many workplaces that seek to retain the names that have given their product such a grand history, but Nine clearly is doing its best, assimilating its stars of yesteryear with current staples such as Michael Slater, Mark Taylor, Mark Nicholas, Shane Warne and Ian Healy, and the new breed of Mike Hussey, James Brayshaw and Brett Lee. It looms as a test of endurance for all this summer, with the biggest event of the campaign, the World Cup, not beginning until February.
Nine also plans to introduce technology used in Hollywood and the NFL to ensure that every movement, all day, is captured on film, working in tandem with its 28 cameras and elevated Spidercam. Viewers will also have greater access to the thinking of the third umpire adjudicating on matters such as runouts and stumpings.
"It's big in terms of everything – the quality of opposition, the hours of coverage," Crawley said of the five-month campaign. "I am more interested in the quality than the quantity."
Nine believes that quality will be enhanced by the additions to the international circuit of Meg Lanning, the captain and batting star of the women's team, and the hosting skills of Yvonne Sampson.
Lanning became the first woman to call ball by ball and deliver special comments for Nine during last month's domestic one-day series, and has been impressive in her stints covering international matches early in the campaign, although she needs to work on being more assertive. That's not necessarily easy to do when surrounded by some of the game's biggest names. Sampson, meanwhile, has already been involved in Nine's rugby league coverage.
Cricket is gaining traction in participation and interest among women, particularly since the advent of Twenty20. A recent national cricket census found female participation leapt by 39 per cent last summer, while 22 per cent of cricket participants are female, compared with 10 per cent a decade ago. Nine knows its commentary team needs to move with the times.
"It's not important unless it's the right female. You want to get it right. Yvonne hosts our rugby league. She knows cricket as well," Crawley said.
"I watched ESPN Monday-night football . . . and they had two very impressive women doing work with them and I reckon Yvonne is as good as them. I think she is world class."
Lanning's playing pedigree and Sampson's hosting background mean there will not be a repeat of the failed commentary experiment with actress Kate Fitzpatrick in the 1980s.
"We shouldn't even talk about token women in sport. We have gone beyond that," Crawley said.
Regardless of what is said high above the field, it's what happens on the pitch that ultimately shapes Nine's campaign. Ratings always seem to be that much healthier when Australia not only does well, but crushes its opponent.
"We are in the hands of Michael Clarke and his team. The Australian way is so long as we are going well and there is good competition, everything is fine and dandy. Everything is as good as their performance," Crawley said. "To be really healthy [ratings], they have to be winning more than they lose."