A rumpus between Geoff Boycott and former Australian batsman Matthew Hayden meant Test Match Special proved more interesting than anything that happened on the pitch in the latest Ashes Test match at Edgbaston yesterday. It added some unexpected spice to a BBC radio institution that has become a shadow of its former self.
For those of you who missed it, Boycott stormed off air after Hayden said the England legend's batting style had "emptied cricket grounds".
"The spat is all the more sensitive because both are working together on TMS and Channel Five's TV highlights for the rest of the series," reports Charles Sale in today's Daily Mail.
Boycott said: "I don't need comments like that at my stage. I felt it was totally inappropriate."
Hayden later apologised to Boycott and the pair shook hands, according to Sale. But as a Five spokesman said: "A bit of tension between the pundits will give our shows an extra bite."
And boy, could Test Match Special do with a bit of extra bite. I wrote last year how much the show was missing the Guardian's cricket writer Mike Selvey after he was dropped from its rota of pundits. And it is still missing him.
As anyone who has heard the endless on-air trails won't need reminding, Test Match Special is now on digital station Radio 5 Live Sports Extra as well as Radio 4 long wave, and under TMS producer Adam Mountford, who replaced Peter Baxter two years ago, its tone has moved rather closer to 5 Live than Radio 4.
Literally so with the introduction to TMS of two 5 Live presenters, Mark Pougatch and Arlo White. Pougatch I rather like, but Arlo White is an acquired taste, and I am yet to acquire it.
However, Mountford has denied the show - dread phrase - has been "dumbed down". "I completely refute that," he told the Telegraph last month.
"There is no plan to 'dumb down' TMS. Obviously it will evolve, as it has always done. And I make no apologies if we're accessible. But our core values – compelling commentary and incisive cricket journalism delivered with a light touch – remain vital."
Of course it has to evolve. I happen to think Henry Blofeld is long past his best. I tuned in to the first Test, I think, when "Blowers" opened the show interviewing another new recruit, former Aussie fast bowler Jason Gillespie. Rarely can a two-way have been less illuminating.
But compare the relative merits of TMS to the commentary teams on Sky Sports and Five, and the radio chaps run in third in my opinion.
I like the two Michaels, Atherton and Holding, David Lloyd and new signing Shane Warne on Sky, while on Five - a little different, because it's a highlights show - I feel supremely comfortable in the company of Mark Nicholas and Simon Hughes.
Don't get me wrong - I like Vic Marks on TMS, and will always be a huge Boycott fan. But with alternative ways of following the cricket - not just on TV but with ball-by-ball text coverage on the web and even rival audio commentary streams such as this one - TMS has lost its lustre. Even if you are listening on digital.
