Benaud and Boycott are still producing first-class service

TV View: The last few weeks recalled childhood memories, not of England or Australian players but of West Indies idols.

In those days this column sat entranced as Michael "Whispering Death" Holding, Andy Roberts, Joel "Big Bird" Garner and Colin Croft laid waste to opposing batting while the swashbuckling Viv Richards, Gordon Greenidge and Desmond Haynes wielded the willow with a captivating fusion of grace and power.

Test cricket in those days was all about the West Indies for people who wished to be weaned onto the sport. The action was fast and frenetic, owing more to its one day sibling; the "Windies" eschewing the plodding orthodoxy of some other nations. It rendered the game watchable for sporting enthusiasts.

There are other mental snapshots, the theme music to Test Match Special, Caribbean and upbeat. Then there was Richie Benaud. The former Australian leg spinner was an icon as a player. He has slipped seamlessly (pun intended) into the commentary box.

Back then television demanded those with a microphone would spend large tranches of the day teasing out the nuances of field changes and dissecting the action. It's quite an achievement for a commentator not to broach the boredom threshold in that context, not to irritate or grate. Benaud continues to avoid those pitfalls.

While this column continued to enjoy the West Indies in the Courtney Walsh, Curtly Ambrose, Brian Lara era and mourns that nation's passing as the elite force in recent years, this summer's Ashes series between England and Australia has been enthralling. The Edgbaston Test was a wonderful, sporting contest whose script was torn from the pages of Boy's Own. It was not necessary to love cricket to appreciate this spectacle.

Describing events on the pitch and offering the perfect companion is Channel 4's coverage of the Ashes series. The coverage has been first class.

Technology has spawned the "snick-o-meter" and can also offer a definitive verdict on whether a ball would have hit the stumps. Far from undermining the two umpires, it illustrates not alone the difficulty of their job but the accuracy they often bring to proceedings.

Channel 4's coverage though is not about technology but a clever amalgam of accents and expertise. Tony Greig is typically forthright, so too Michael Slater. Mark Nicholas chips in with a more laid-back and colourful hue on proceedings while Simon Hughes's analysis of bowling techniques is hugely educational.

Those who considered bowling amounted to either some bloke running as fast as he could before chucking the ball with a windmill action or his more leisurely cousin ambling up before using a little finger manipulation to deceive batsmen is very much wide (pun intended) of the mark.

It is only when Hughes breaks down the bowling action that the uninitiated get a true perspective of the nuances of top-class bowling; revealing wrist and finger contortions that boggle the mind.

Then there is Geoffrey Boycott, a blunt son of Yorkshire and once a gritty opening batsman for England. His pedantic delivery offers a reprise of his playing days. He is the ultimate crusty old codger who places great store on technique and abhors any player who gives his wicket away cheaply. He's an acquired taste for those willing to persevere.

The sad news for those who have enjoyed Channel 4's interpretation of the cricket is it represents their last hurrah, as Test matches will from now be seen only on satellite TV.

It's not necessarily a forward step for the sport. Golf is a classic example where the terrestrial (BBC) is light years ahead of the product offered by Sky Sports. You're either a fan of the Ewen Murray/Bruce Critchley axis or you have taste. There is a grating, simpering quality to their observations.

The latest example came in their coverage of the US PGA Championship at Baltusrol when Murray observed "it was wonderful how well Tiger Woods and his playing partners managed to avoid being distracted by a commotion behind the fourth green".

That "commotion" was a massive branch falling off a tree and onto a cameraman, who had to be removed on a stretcher. Who gives a monkey's how much the players were discommoded? Murray then wittered on about how he could almost touch the fallen branch given the proximity of Sky's commentary position.

You wished he'd fall from the promontory in the process so he might better gauge the stoicism of golf's top professionals in the face of distractions.