Botham and Border's Ashes Clashes (2006)

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General		Extras
Category	Sports	Main Menu Audio & Animation
Rating
Year Of Production	2006
Running Time	184:48
RSDL / Flipper	Dual Layered	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	None Given
Studio Distributor	Roadshow Home Entertainment	Starring	Ian Botham Allan Border
Case	Amaray-Transparent-Secure Clip
RPI	$29.95	Music	None Given

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 2.0 (256Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.78:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	Varies	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	None	Smoking	No
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

    Botham and Border's Ashes Clashes is yet another cricket disc based around either a series of highlights or a retrospective look at memorable moments of the game. These titles are not in the true documentary vein, but are rather a compilation of moments or musings from some of the game's past and present players. We have previously reviewed titles such as Steve Waugh - A Perfect Day, Six of The Best - 25 Years of Australian One Day Cricket, Master class, Richie Benaud's Greatest XI, Kings Of Speed and The New Guard. Feel free to take a closer look.

    The 2006/2007 Ashes series between Australia and England is over, with the England test team barely raising a whimper as they handed back the coveted trophy to the old enemy after only hanging on to it for some 16 months. In fact their five-nil drubbing is the first time in more than 80 years that an Ashes contest has been a clean sweep, meaning the anticipated classic series did not live up to expectations at all.

    But if you think you've missed seeing some truly classic Ashes moments this summer, fear not. This disc has been released to cover that requirement perfectly. Botham and Border's Ashes Clashes is a three-hour highlight-fest of all the classic confrontations between the England and Australia since the 1970/71 season (when regular television coverage commenced).

    Hosted naturally enough by two former captains; England's Ian Botham and Australia's Allan Border, the pair wander the famous ground of Lord's before sitting down to discuss the memorable moments in detail. Surprisingly this device works really well. Rather than just be a dusty old set of highlights, having the two former adversaries reminisce about each match and some of the memorable moments really brings it all to life and updates it for a modern audience. I heard plenty of stories I had never encountered before and learnt quite a few things about many of the players and the famous matches.

    Covering every Ashes series played in England and Australia since 1970/71, there's some great footage included here and more than just a brief snippet or two. We see significant highlights of classic Ashes moments, including the famous England win at Headingley in 1981 where Ian Botham and Bob Willis ruled the day to pull off a remarkable win, Shane Warne's stunning debut in England where he claimed the scalp of Mike Gatting with the "ball of the century" and again Warne as he claims a hat trick at the MCG in 1994. There's also a hat trick by Darren Gough in Sydney in 1998 and of course the most amazing series of all - the 2005 effort in England where the Poms reclaimed the famous urn.

    Cricket devotees wanting a document of all the important moments in their beloved game will want to get hold of this. Those wanting to learn a little more about the changes in the game and what impact these changes had in the social context of our country are better served by taking a look at the 50s, 60s, 70s or 80s documentaries.

Video

     Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1, this transfer is 16x9 enhanced. All the footage from the era before widescreen broadcast is shown as a 1.33:1 image in the middle of the screen. Naturally enough, it is television broadcast quality throughout, ranging from mid 70s quality footage through to very recent material.

   While the footage is of mixed vintages, it is all of reasonable quality. The 70s and early 80s moments are a bit fuzzier and not as sharp as the recent material, but the technological advances in broadcast camera equipment makes this perfectly understandable.

    The colours are well rendered and there are no problems to contend with.

    No MPEG artefacts are evident and despite the age of some of the other source material, it is in surprisingly good shape. A few instances of low level noise pop up but the bright outdoor footage never lets it become a problem.

    There are no subtitles.

    This is a dual layered disc, though I was unable to detect the layer change.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    Seeing as the disc is comprised of television highlights, we get television quality audio. This is not to say it is bad. It does it's job and that's all that can be expected.

    There is only one audio track available, this being an English Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack.

    Dialogue is clear and concise at all times.

   There is no surround or subwoofer use.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Main Menu Audio & Animation

    Sadly there are no extras on this disc.

    This disc has not been released in Region 1.

    This is an excellent disc for any cricket watcher and an absolute must-have for any fan of test cricket history in general, The Ashes in particular. It is highly recommended. Watching these highlights brought back many, many memories.

    The video and audio quality is spot-on given the nature of the source. The overall package is well produced and with an overall running time of over three hours it represents great value.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall