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A
collection of six of the most memorable ‘One Day International’ matches, from
the past 25 years. The matches included on the disc are:
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1979 : November 27
Australia Vs West Indies at the SCG
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1984 : February 11
Australia Vs West Indies at the MCG
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1989 : January 14
Australia Vs West Indies at the MCG
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1992 : December 8
Australia Vs West Indies at the MCG
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1996 : January 1
Australia Vs West Indies at the SCG
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2002 : January 29
Australia Vs New Zealand at the MCG
(Stated on the case is the winner of each match, and by how much. But I’ve
decided to leave you the chance of revisiting each match properly.)
Each match has only the
highlights, but it helps to keep the momentum up, leaving you with an exciting
two hour long tribute to some of the best cricket we are yet too see. Each
match is introduced by Tony Greig, and some also include TV highlights from
the lead up to the match. For example, the 1979 match was the first year too
have the teams using multiple colors on their uniforms, A news report on this
fact is included. You may or may not care much for this, but I can almost
guarantee you’ll get a laugh at the fashion of the day. Included in the extras
section are 3 other “Six of the Best” sections, the destroyers (Best Bowling
spells), the big hitters (Best batting performances), and Classic catches.
Normally I wouldn’t include the extras in this section, but this disc is all
about “Six of the Best” and you WILL enjoy these just as much as the matches,
if not more.
With
footage dating back to 1979, you can’t expect a fantastic picture, and
obviously not filmed in widescreen until the last match on the disc. This
makes it an unusual decision to produce this disc in widescreen. If you have a
standard TV (4x3) you find big black bars on the top, and the side of the
screen for the first 5 matches (and for much of the extras). What is
impressive is the quality that has been achieved on the old footage. Having
been cleaned up drastically, the picture is more than acceptable. In
comparison to the last match (the only one filmed in widescreen), you’ll find
that the picture is not far off the newest footage. This is not so much a
positive for the old footage, as a negative for the newest footage, suffering
from picture artifacts quite badly.
It’s 2
channel audio, and really why would you want any more. It’s the cricket! I
guess it would have been kind of cool to have the crowd cheers to come out of
the surrounds, but all you really need to hear is the commentators, and they
are clear as a bell.
As I
stated in the feature section there are 3 more “Six of the Best” features, to
do with Batting, Bowling and Catching. There is also 25 classic catches
introduced by Tony Greig (The top six are as voted by the Channel 9 commentary
team). Score cards from each game featured on the disc, and a “For the Record”
section, this is the top 10 batting (too 50 and too 100), most efficient
bowlers, best wicket takers etc.
This
is a great collection of extras, and would be greatly valued by any cricket
fan to be sure. I’m sure if Bruce McAvaney were to review this disc he
definitely consider it very “Special”. And I’d have to agree with him.
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