Ian Chappell signs with the ABC as a guest commentator for the summer of cricket
He is one of cricket’s most recognisable voices. But this summer, fans will hear him on an all new station. Find out why he is making the shock switch.
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Former Australian Test cricket captain Ian Chappell will be back on the airwaves this season in an unexpected station switch which salutes a rich family heritage.
Chappell will join the ABC as a guest commentator where he will work with Jim Maxwell who will spearhead the coverage for the 44th year.
Chappell, an iconic voice for the Nine network throughout their four decade association with the game, joined Macquarie Radio’s coverage after Fox Sports and Channel 7 won the television rights.
But Macquarie have decided to end their cricket coverage, allowing Chappell to join the ABC.
It will be a poignant moment for Chappell when he takes the air because of his family’s historical connection to the national broadcaster.
“Ian’s grandfather (Test captain) Victor Richardson had a long and distinguished career as an ABC commentator with Alan McGilvray and Arthur Gilligan,’’ Maxwell told News Corp.
“Vic was with the ABC until very late in his life and Ian remembers listening to his commentary.
“I have had Ian in the back of my mind for a long time but he had commitments with Channel 9.
“I have worked with him before on the BBC and am really looking forward to doing it again.
“He might not be the youngest signing ever made by the ABC but he is still one of the most authoritative figures in Australian cricket and one of its most respected captains and players.’’
WHY COMMENTARY STARS WON’T COME TO AUSTRALIA
Ben Horne
Master commentator Michael Vaughan will be lost from the Australian summer after deciding to bunker down in COVID-stricken England.
Vaughan and Fox Sports have come to a mutual agreement to put his contract on hold for this year, after the straight-shooting former England captain expressed concerns about the uncertainty of leaving family in the UK, which is now bracing for another strict lockdown.
The voice of Indian cricket Harsha Bhogle has also informed Fox he won’t be coming to Australia for the Border-Gavaskar series, however, he will still call the action live for the network from a studio in Mumbai.
In a major boost, fellow Fox Sports star Isa Guha will make the journey out to be on the ground and after completing quarantine in Perth with her husband, will head to Sydney for the start of the white ball series against India.
UK-based Channel 7 anchor Alison Mitchell has also declared she’ll be braving quarantine to come out to Australia, while Fox is busily making arrangements to try and get Shane Warne a flight out of the UK to return home.
It shapes as the most complicated summer ever for TV networks, in terms of juggling quarantine and potentially State border closures, with WA-based superstars Adam Gilchrist and Mike Hussey to make the enormous sacrifice of going two-three months without seeing family once they leave Perth.
Really pleased to say I’ll be heading back over to join @7Cricket again for this. Love being part of the team, with some wonderful friends. #AusvInd should be a cracker of a series after India won last time in Oz. https://t.co/uiE5GPp1It
— Alison Mitchell (@AlisonMitchell) October 29, 2020
Unless WA lifts its hard border rules, Gilchrist and Hussey will arrive in Sydney for the late November white ball series and won’t return home until the BBL season is complete in early February.
But it’s not only Channel 7 and Fox who are affected by the summer like no other.
Australian IPL coaches like Ryan Harris, Simon Katich and Adam Griffith will be scrambling for their own flights home from Dubai, with no room on the charter flight bringing in the precious cargo of the Australian and Indian international teams.
It’s understood Ricky Ponting is set to assist Andrew McDonald coach and prepare the Australian superstars in quarantine back in Sydney in a continuation of the mentoring role he played last Ashes, and as a result will fly with Aaron Finch and his men on the private jet home.
Channel 7 and Fox Sports are both planning to call all Test matches this summer live from the venue, as opposed to using an interstate studio hub as happened with the AFL coverage.
However, because Ponting has already spent so long quarantining and in a bubble at the IPL, it’s understood Channel 7 would be unlikely to send him to any Tests where he would be required to quarantine.
It’s likely state borders will be open by the first Test starting on December 17 anyway, but if they weren’t, Ponting may call some Tests from a Melbourne studio.
Fox Sports will also commentate all their exclusive Big Bash League matches from the ground, borders allowing, but there is set to be a lot of BBL games called via the studio for Channel 7 and Fox this summer.
Cricket somehow needs to find a solution for putting players in these covid bubbles for such long periods ... Yes of course they are getting well paid but we must look after the well being of the person ... Been meaning to say it for months ... cue the abuse ... #OnOn
— Michael Vaughan (@MichaelVaughan) October 26, 2020
Just as the likes of Channel 9’s Ray Warren and 7’s Bruce McAvaney called respective NRL and AFL matches from interstate this year due to COVID restrictions, Bhogle will call the Indian Tests live from a studio – only the studio will be nearly 8000km away in Mumbai.
Similar to Vaughan, there were complications for Bhogle coming out to Australia given India is a COVID hotspot, however, Fox say it will sound as though Bhogle is sitting in a commentary box with his co-commentators at the ground.
Channel 7 are still hopeful of landing a big-name Indian commentator to fly out and provide a subcontinental flavour to their coverage.
Vaughan will return next summer to help spearhead coverage of the Ashes.
It wasn’t so much the strain of having to quarantine in Australia for two weeks after already spending an entire English summer in a bubble that turned Vaughan off, but more the risk of complications on the return journey should he have to rush home for any reason.
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