Cricket fans fume at Ashes ‘disgrace’: ‘Worst I’ve ever seen’

Viewers across the globe were all griping about the same problem as an electric day of Test cricket was soured by one consistent failure.

Fans were fuming during Ben Stokes’ innings. (Photo by Stu Forster/Getty Images)

If Bazball is going to achieve what Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes hope it will and change the game forever, they’re going to have to take the cameramen on the journey.

Another breathtaking Stokes innings and some heavy hitting by the English tail on day two of the Third Test was somewhat ruined by shoddy broadcasting – frustrating cricket fans across the globe.

To be fair it couldn’t have been an easy task trying to trace all of Stokes’ shots that went racing to – and over – the boundary at warp-speed.

But there were too many occasions when the camera was pointed at the boundary, only for viewers to discover the ball had been stopped by an infielder.

Or for a shot to disappear into the stands without anyone having a clue where it went.

And when we started missing catches, social media erupted.

“Stokes out. And we didn’t see it. Again. For god’s sake, this is literally unwatchable. As in, you literally cannot tell where the ball has been hit anytime the batsman plays a shot, thanks to completely incompetent camera work. Worst I’ve ever seen. Disgraceful,” tweeted veteran Aussie sports journalist Rohan Connolly.

Have the cameraman this Test gone with bring your kid to work day?

— Andy Lee (@andytomlee) July 7, 2023

Is it just me or is this the worst camera work you have ever seen? Absolutely zero idea where the ball goes once it leaves the bat #Ashes#Ashes23#ENGvsAUS

— Jye Sellings (@JS199309) July 7, 2023

Not sure what was worse there, Australia’s bowling at the tail or the telecast cameras trying to find where the ball went after being hit in the air #Ashes

— NRL PHYSIO (@nrlphysio) July 7, 2023

“The camera operation, ie literally following the ball, across the broadcast of this Sshes series has been the worst I’ve ever seen in an international cricket series,” one angry fan wrote. “Who is the host broadcaster? Are they blind?”

Another described the camera work as “amateur hour”.

“This camera work is not in the spirit of cricket,” added a third.

Ben Stokes hit six fours and five sixes in his innings of 80. (Photo by Stu Forster/Getty Images)

“I’ve never seen camera work this poor in my time watching Test cricket (45 years) at Headingly,” wrote a fourth. “It’s a disgrace considering the sheer volume of viewers right around the world.”

As Mark Wood scored 24 from just eight balls and Stokes hit Aussie spinner Todd Murphy for five sixes, the frustration led one to suggest it was time for golf’s ball-tracking technology.

Someone get this technology in the hands of the #Ashes camera team please. At least it might help them work out where the hell the ball is. pic.twitter.com/cOg7OFshNC

— Tom Haylock (@thaylock) July 7, 2023

Channel 9 is broadcasting the series in Australia but taking the world feed produced by Sky Sports in the UK.

It had Aussie fans hitting out at the Poms for another failure.

“I’ve seen and worked enough in TV to know the difference between poor shot selection and failing to track the ball. The main camera is NOT picking the ball up, it’s not about the choice of shot,” Connolly tweeted.

“Definitely a tracking problem,” came a reply. “Nine’s set-up is at least eight cameras, inc. one tracking the ball in flight and another the fielder/direction it’s headed to. The control room flicks between them accordingly. Either Sky isn’t running enough cameras or their operators are useless.”

Fortunately for Sky’s team its job became a lot easier in the final session as Australia played cautiously as it built on its first innings lead.