BBC Radio 7, 10 August 2010
Have you ever notriced how repetitive the so-called 'interviews' with
many of today's cricketers are? They either refer to 'the lads' as a great bunch or, if they have lost, they repeatedly talk
about 'learning lessons' or 'moving on.' I only wish that they could 'move on" sometimes; this might help England to create
a half-decent team which could be relied upon to retain the Ashes this winter.
Dave Podmore's Cricket Weekly joyously parodies the life of the has-been
cricketer, who is always on the lookout for a fast buck while offering little or nothing in return. He manages a supporters
tour of the so-called 'Barmy Army' to Sri Lanka, but only succeds in leaving them behind. His racism is endemic; he dislikes
all races other than his own, thinks of the South Africans as crooked (especially Hansie Cronje), without looking at himself,
and talks in a series of cliches (the "big ask," "it's all about character"), even when faced with potential dangers of being
accused of spying in Iraq. Nothing, it seems, can penetrate the Podmore ego - not losing members of his supporters' party,
or calling members of the subcontinent "effendi" or "memsahib," or bribing the umpires to fix a match (and thereby win a bet).
Amusingly presented a series of interviews between Podmore and the dogged interviewer
Andy, Dave Podmore's Cricket Weekly demonstrates the sheer pointlessness of asking most cricketers (or ex-cricketers)
for their opinions, as they simply haven't got anything interesting to say. Would that Test Match Special could have
taken heed of this programme; and thus have spared us the torture of having to listen to endless blokeish humour between some
of the so-called commentators. Give me the internet commentaries on local radio any day.
