Call for Seven or Nine to commission a drama about a cricket team

Tweed Daily News has hit out at former Aussie cricketers who are the face of everything on commercial television.

According to TDN, It seems you actually can't turn on the television without seeing a former (or current cricketer) parading around on screen. Okay, fair enough it's cricket season so you would expect to see them out there in their whites or coloureds (depending on the type of game they're playing) but it seems they are no longer confined to the field.

Sure there are plenty of retired players in the commentary box, too, but the vast majority of them now seem to have branched out. They seem to be in about every ad on TV - hawking everything from Johnny Walker Whisky to mobile phones and motor oil. But in recent years they have also branched into television shows as well, and this is not only confined to Fox' Inside Cricket either.

I'm wondering how long it will be before Seven or Nine actually commission a drama about a cricket team?

I mean former Test opener Matthew Hayden has had his own cooking show, and at the weekend while everyone was discussing "what went wrong with day three of the Test match" Haydoss was on the Lifestyle Channel hosting a show about "Australia's answers to the Griswalds at Christmas".

Cricketers are no strangers to Lifestyle, with former spin bowler Stuart MacGill hosting his own wine show on the same channel.

But of course Nine has always been the home of cricket, and they brought out the big guns last week - Warnie. Shane Warne's new TV talk show came across as a cross between a toothpaste and hair re-growth ad with famous people thrown in. It received a luke-warm reception from the audience. But it is early days; I suppose - you don't always get a wicket with your first ball.

Actually, with all our famous cricketers busy with their TV commitments, it's little wonder our team is a bit "hot and cold" at the moment. The team might need some new blood, and where better to look than on TV. Well let's face it, with Warne and co taking the TV jobs, we need to do something with the out-of-work showbiz types. I mean I can see Andrew Denton bowling a flipper at the SCG, and I reckon one of those Packed to the Rafters guys would have a good turn of pace.

Maybe someone should have a word to Greg Chappell, Andrew Hilditch and the boys?

Credit: Tweed Daily News, 30/11/10