August 5, 2014

Dear Sir,

Cup Match 2014 is now history, and what a match it was! We were treated to a victory (as opposed to the all too often draw), the likes of which are few and far between.

Congratulations to ‘my’ team for such an unforgettable second innings and kudos to the St George’s captain Oronde Bascome for having the courage to declare not once but twice.

However, it was bitter sweet to notice the retirement of “The Voice of Summer”, Jim Wooldridge, who after literally decades behind the microphone, now well deserves to sit in air-conditioned comfort and listen to his ‘prodigy’ carry on the fine tradition of excellent cricket commentary.

Sean Tucker is a fine example of how to seamlessly transition from one generation to the next; well done Mr Tucker.

The second commentator I assume was Randy Horton, who also did a fine job; perfectly complementing Mr Tucker with the same professionalism as is to be expected at such an event and Bermuda should be proud to have such world class commentators among our citizenry.

Aside from it being my opinion that there is no real need for a third commentator, it might be made to work if an additional commentator was at least as equally professional as the other two; sadly this year that was not the case.

Someone should have informed the commentator added to the Tucker/Horton team, that indications of his personal allegiance to any one team has no place in cricket commentary.

Even when it was quite obvious that St George’s had no hope of winning the match, the rhetoric never stopped.

While not disparaging to the Somerset team in any away, any good play by the Somerset team was overshadowed by his ‘take’ that St George’s team members could be forgiven for allowing it to happen, and on and on.

I was almost glad at times to have a commercial break so we could get back to hearing from Mr Tucker and Mr Horton.

I acknowledge that this gentleman might be at the start of the commenter’s learning curve as we all have to start somewhere, and I wish him well in his future endeavours.

He has the potential to be a great commentator with his wonderfully enthusiastic style and knowledge of the game.

CK SIMONS