I am sure you all know of Andrew Miller, the cricket journalist and well wisher of Bangladesh Cricket. As you know he is also a BC Member (nick: andrewwisden).
Andrew was the Editor of Cricinfo UK and now has moved on to becoming the Editor of the Cricketer Magazine. I'm sure you've all heard of it.
Anyway, they have started an affiliate audio commentary service, Test Match Sofa, and they are pushing it very strongly during the World Twenty20. They will be covering all the big matches of the tournament, Bangladesh's included. Unlike other commentary services, they actively encourage listener interaction through Twitter (@testmatchsofa).
Andrew, writing to me, said "hopefully it would be something that would engage the Banglacricket community during the tournament!"
I am sure it will!
As I've been busy I had to just push out the audio widget out to the front page without having time to think about the design and placement. You will find it just after our Tour Coverage bulletins, at the top middle of our front page. Bear with us and we will have a redesign of the FP so that elements like the audio widget fits and flows better.
Do enjoy the commentary. It's lively and more personable and personal. They also get a little bit irreverent, so watch out!
Here's a bit of history from Andrew:
Quote:
Back in 2009, Daniel Norcross set up Test Match Sofa, an internet-based, audio ball-by-ball cricket commentary show which he ran from his flat in Tooting. He and his friends were sitting on the Sofa watching cricket on Sky with the volume turned down and commentating on England's progress to anyone around the world who would listen.
Two and a half years later, we have over half a million listeners worldwide and earlier this year Test Match Sofa was acquired by The Cricketer magazine. As Andrew Miller, the former Cricinfo UK editor who joined the The Cricketer as editor in January, puts it, the newest voice in the game was bought by one of the oldest. (The Cricketer magazine was established in 1921 by Pelham Warner).
Daniel and his team have used web 2.0 to create something new in sports broadcasting. He gave up a job in the city and for very little money was able to create a sports programme for listeners who wanted greater interactivity with the presenters, fewer barriers between themselves and the hosts.
Interactivity is the cornerstone of Test Match Sofa. It is the ultimate pub conversation - witty, irreverent, and open to anyone with an internet connection - and an opinion that deserves to be heard. Using the Twitter handle @testmatchsofa listeners can communicate directly with our commentators - pass judgment on the action you are watching from your own living room, agree or disagree with the opinions being voiced, and steer the conversation in whatever direction takes their fancy.
This is cricket commentary for the 21st century - a unique service that pools the vast wealth of opinion that swirls around in cyberspace, and repackages it as a brand-new product anchored in the real-time news coming out of any given game. Test Match Sofa is at the vanguard of a wider sports broadcasting revolution.
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