Ashes Journalism

[Stumps]

Wondering how people are going to get their ashes info via print or digital media. I would love to be recommended a blog or online daily column by a respected cricket journalist and not one of these sensationalist breed of journo's that are all too prevalent these days.
Tonights game v english lions is being telecast on fox at 7pm for those interested. Bring it on!!

[Gozu]

You might consider this Jarrod Kimber guy who writes for Crikey's sports blog sensationalist but I don't mind his stuff and looks like he might be doing a post daily during the Ashes tour:

http://blogs.crikey.com.au/chappell/

[RustyCage]

I find the cricinfo blogs very good and usually balanced reading.

http://blogs.cricinfo.com/

[rogernumber10]

If Gideon Haigh is writing, either on cricinfo or possibly on the abc site, follow him. He's far and away the best writer of the current crop. Chloe Saltau, of the Age, does a good job of those who have to carry the very tough day to day reporting load (believe me, that's a tough gig). One of the great tragedies of modern media is that we will probably have no more than three journos following this tour from Australia, having actually been sent there from Australia. In the 60s and 70s, we had as many as 15, and in my time in the late 80s and early 90s we still had 7-8 different opinions. In '89 was Mark Ray, Neville Oliver, Rod Nicholson, Terry Brindle, John Coomber, Mark Blake, Tim Newhouse, Jim Woodward, Wilson and some inexperienced kid. On the 93 Ashes tour, there was Malcolm Conn, Neville Oliver, Greg Baum, Robert Craddock, Ken Casellas, Jim Tucker, Rory McDonald and some other bumbler, but it's a bit thin these days as the media shrinks, and bosses cut costs.

[Dogwatcher]

Gideon Haigh, just brilliant.

As an aside, the Riverland Weekly is featuring a column from Lawrie Colliver throughout the Ashes series. It's a look at the behind the scenes stuff. Will post a link each week.

[Booney]

If Gideon Haigh is writing, either on cricinfo or possibly on the abc site, follow him. He's far and away the best writer of the current crop. Chloe Saltau, of the Age, does a good job of those who have to carry the very tough day to day reporting load (believe me, that's a tough gig). One of the great tragedies of modern media is that we will probably have no more than three journos following this tour from Australia, having actually been sent there from Australia. In the 60s and 70s, we had as many as 15, and in my time in the late 80s and early 90s we still had 7-8 different opinions. In '89 was Mark Ray, Neville Oliver, Rod Nicholson, Terry Brindle, John Coomber, Mark Blake, Tim Newhouse, Jim Woodward, Wilson and some inexperienced kid. On the 93 Ashes tour, there was Malcolm Conn, Neville Oliver, Greg Baum, Robert Craddock, Ken Casellas, Jim Tucker, Rory McDonald and some other bumbler, but it's a bit thin these days as the media shrinks, and bosses cut costs.

I do recall one of the writers on that tour going on to bigger and better things, then all of a sudden he disappeared off the radar.

Wonder what he is doing now? Probably in some cushy media role somewhere....cant remember which one it was though.

[rogernumber10]

You're probably thinking of Rory McDonald. Skinny kid who did that tour on the smell of a 10 pound note for a couple of radio networks. Survived on the lunches at the county grounds, bummed lifts from venue to venue around England with the main guys, slept on floors of various blokes' rooms hoping he wouldn't get sprung by hotel staff as a non-paying guest and was head of Austereo's sports radio news network just 12 years later. Super fella. I presume you mean him?

[Dogwatcher]

Now that would've been a tour diary worth reading.
Much better than anything Ponting would write.

[Booney]

You're probably thinking of Rory McDonald. Skinny kid who did that tour on the smell of a 10 pound note for a couple of radio networks. Survived on the lunches at the county grounds, bummed lifts from venue to venue around England with the main guys, slept on floors of various blokes' rooms hoping he wouldn't get sprung by hotel staff as a non-paying guest and was head of Austereo's sports radio news network just 12 years later. Super fella. I presume you mean him?

Name doesn't ring a bell, I'll see what I can come up with.

[rogernumber10]

I think all the other guys you might be thinking of have deep social / personal issues. That's what I hear anyway. It's probably lucky that someone like Roland Fishman didn't write a tour book of the '93 Ashes tour, or god knows the amount of seedy material he could have uncovered.

[Dogwatcher]

ha ha - Fishman.
Mo wasn't on that tour and the other players wouldn't have gone near him would they?

[Booney]

I think all the other guys you might be thinking of have deep social / personal issues. That's what I hear anyway. It's probably lucky that someone like Roland Fishman didn't write a tour book of the '93 Ashes tour, or god knows the amount of seedy material he could have uncovered.

Fishman, a keen journalist indeed.

[am Bays]

On the 93 Ashes tour, there was Malcolm Conn, Neville Oliver, Greg Baum, Robert Craddock, Ken Casellas, Jim Tucker, Rory McDonald and some other bumbler, but it's a bit thin these days as the media shrinks, and bosses cut costs.

I do recall one of the writers on that tour going on to bigger and better things, then all of a sudden he disappeared off the radar.

Wonder what he is doing now? Probably in some cushy media role somewhere....cant remember which one it was though.

Where's Ian Cover amongst those literary greats and his 1993 great tour book "Merv and Me"...

I understand some illegal betting went down on the 93 tour between a couple of future Australian captains and a journo during the county matches....

Seriously you got to hand it to Mark Ray and his 1989 tour workload, not only did he write for the The Age/SMH, he took some amazing black and white shots on tour, ghost wrote for Geoff Lawson's tour diary and as an-ex-shield player (Tassie and NSW) was a net bowler for the Australian team.

[Dogwatcher]

ha ha - Merv and Me. Fantastic.

Geoff Lawson's tour diary? Tell me about that one...

[am Bays]

ha ha - Merv and Me. Fantastic.

Geoff Lawson's tour diary? Tell me about that one...

Great little book that I read from a public library when it first came out 1990 and finally got it off ebay 3 years ago. One of the better tour diary's I've read - fair bit of indepth analysis of behind the scenes and the games rather than the usual "and then we did this and then we did that and I got a game and then I scored runs and my what a funny jokester XXXX is...."

Certainly beats Allan Borders 89 Ashes Diary book, IMO.

Does come with the Geaff Lawson "self confidence" if you know what I mean.

The next books I want to get and despite their relatively simple journalistic style are the two tour books Ian Chappell wrote of the 1968 and 1972 tours. I reckon he actually did write than as their literary style is quite basic.

[rogernumber10]

I understand some illegal betting went down on the 93 tour between a couple of future Australian captains and a journo during the county matches....

Good memory. Funny how something that was seen at the time as to be very humourous (except to the clown who lost 350 pounds on the bet) could be seen these days in a very different light, after everything that went down in cricket over betting in the period from about 94-99.

For those who didn't know, Mark Taylor and Steve Waugh won a bet that Taylor couldn't take two wickets for the tour.
He got one half-way through the tour against minor counties.
Late in the tour, against Lancashire, Steve Waugh dropped a catch off Taylor that would have clinched the bet, prompting an early (and sadly wrong) crow call from the loser of the bet in question, and much follow up abuse.
On last day of last county match of tour before the final test, Taylor got the ninth wicket in the match against Kent, after bringing himself on to bowl. Stupid bloody idiot richard davis had a big slog and got bowled by a straight one. Richard Davis is the worst cricketer in the entire history of the world.

[am Bays]

Ah the Steve Waugh Diaries are great reads....

Davis, is he the bowler who Maysie smashed for six in '89 to win a bet off Dean Jones that he wouldn't hit a six all tour. Or was he involved in the Langer-Slater/Gillespie bet in 97????

I seem to recall he being a good cash cow for Australian Cricketers twice on ASHES tours.

As to the worst cricketer in the world, I think I've got him covered....

[Dogwatcher]

AMB, I reckon I've got you covered in those stakes.
You've got some reasonable credentials.

I'd forgotten about that Taylor bet. Gold.

[rogernumber10]

Ah the Steve Waugh Diaries are great reads....

Davis, is he the bowler who Maysie smashed for six in '89 to win a bet off Dean Jones that he wouldn't hit a six all tour. Or was he involved in the Langer-Slater/Gillespie bet in 97????

I seem to recall he being a good cash cow for Australian Cricketers twice on ASHES tours.

As to the worst cricketer in the world, I think I've got him covered....

The one and the same from the May / Jones bet in 89

[Dogwatcher]

This week's Ashes column from Lawrie Colliver:

http://issuu.com/riverlandweekly/docs/r ... ayout=grey