The search for Australia’s best young cricketer begins with the hopefuls tested under the watchful eye of Allan Border, as the dream starts to become a reality for fifteen talented sportsmen.
After a montage of high-energy international games, we zoom in to Lee Furlong (“Foxtel personality and cricket lover”, according to the narrator) and Allan Border. “Are you in?” she asks, “Or are you… OUT?” completes Allan Border, who has clearly been put through dramatic-pause bootcamp. More montage-ing, in which Ricky Ponting observes that he’d have liked Cricket Superstar to have been around when he was young, although I can’t see why. He managed to get a baggy green and take the national captaincy without the help of a televised talent quest, which promises to include challenges of no cricketing value whatsoever.
This is the first episode and I was diligently taking notes whilst watching only to decide that the entire 61 minutes (including ads) was preamble and that I’d have to watch at least one episode with the top 15 to decide whether or not to persevere. Some observations:
- Watching cricketing hopefuls drop catches is not as much fun as Pants on the Ground-type Idol auditions.
- In terms of entertainment value, the over-confidence of the Victorian “ladies man” was just as difficult to watch as the tongue-tied awkwardness of the poor South Australian contender.
- There are 18 year-old radio relationship counsellors? I weep for the future.
- The camera work needs to improve. I was having some grumpy David Stratton “keep it STEADY!” moments.
- Tension over who was to be selected was almost non-existent as most of those through had been featured heavily throughout the episode. Makes me wonder why they bothered with the “tryouts” episode at all, really, given how dull it was.
- Really not sure why they needed to include a keeper and a range of bowlers in the fifteen. We need opening batsmen!
Next week – a fire!
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This item has been cross-posted over at Reality Ravings.
We need a new wicket keeper too.
Still, the relationship counsellor might be useful in the dressing room when you have scented candle lighting metrosexuals like Shane Watson in the team.
Yeah, but they have only included one potential keeper, which seems a bit… ambitious. You’re right, though, about the relationship counsellor. Could have mediated between Clarke and Katich way back then. Maybe come up with a compromise over how many verses of Under the Southern Cross would be sung and who’d do the harmonising.