Cricket-The Streak (2001)

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General		Extras
Category	Sports	Main Menu Audio Featurette-Bonus Video (8) Notes-Scorecards
Rating
Year Of Production	2001
Running Time	92:44
RSDL / Flipper	RSDL (70:09)	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	None Given
Studio Distributor	Roadshow Home Entertainment	Starring	None Given
Case	Amaray-Transparent
RPI	$34.95	Music	None Given

   Cricket - The Streak is the third instalment in the Cricket Connoisseur Series from Roadshow Entertainment. The first disc (Cricket - The Vintage Performances), was released and reviewed just prior to Christmas 2001. Disc two in the series was Cricket - The Modern Masters and featured the individual talents of the best players of the last 20 or so years. This was released early in 2002. I found both of these discs offered exceptional value and apart from a couple of minor packaging errors were well put together and of excellent quality.

    Anyone who follows test cricket with even only a passing interest will be aware of the absolute dominance that the West Indies teams of the late 70s and early 80s enjoyed over pretty much the rest of the world. Clive Lloyd's men could do little wrong and it was no wonder with the likes of Gordon Greenidge, Desmond Haynes, and Viv Richards wielding the willow and the constant stream of pacemen including Malcolm Marshall, Joel Garner, Andy Roberts, and Michael Holding terrorising the opposition batsmen. The West Indies team set a record during this period that many commentators of the game concluded would be unlikely to be surpassed. The dominant Calypso Kings won a staggering eleven test matches in a row. Now, with many tests ending prematurely due to weather or grinding out to boring five day draws on flat and lifeless wickets, the chances of any nation passing this number seemed unlikely. Throw in the fact that there were now more countries playing test cricket than there were 20 years ago and the odds of any national side passing this magical figure seemed about as likely as Hansie Cronje being employed as a bookmaker at Flemington Racecourse.

    Of course nobody told any of this to Steve Waugh or the rest of the Australian Test team. Starting with a resounding victory against test minnow Zimbabwe in October 1999, the boys in the baggy green caps just kept on winning. After the 1-nil result against the Zimbabweans, they followed up with 3-nil drubbings of Pakistan, India and New Zealand, and then a crushing 5-nil result against the once-powerful West Indies. Travelling to the sub-continent and winning the first test against India in Mumbai saw the boys string together an amazing 16 consecutive test match victories. No draws here. These were all wins, with many occurring inside three days.

    This disc showcases, in chronological order, the highlights of these sixteen matches. And there were plenty of highlights. Who could forget the magnificent partnership of Justin Langer and Adam Gilchrist in achieving the near-impossible run-chase in Hobart against Pakistan in 1999, the moment when Shane Warne broke Dennis Lillee's Australian wicket taking-record, Glenn McGrath's hat-trick at the WACA in 2000, or the exciting Brett Lee taking a wicket in his first over in test cricket. Throw in plenty of interviews with commentators such as Ritchie Benaud, Tony Grieg, and Ian Chappell, and further interviews with many of the players that were involved in the streak, such as Steve and Mark Waugh, Michael Slater, Justin Langer, and Shane Warne and we get a real feel for what many of the players were feeling during this extraordinary period in Australian cricket.

    The overall running time is a reasonable 92:44 minutes for the main feature and with the additional footage running for over 30 minutes: this represents pretty good value.

Video

    The quality of the video is better than the first two discs in the series, due to the overall youth of the source material.

    Presented full screen 1.33:1 it is obviously not 16x9 enhanced. Naturally enough, it is television broadcast quality throughout. With the majority of the tests being played in Australia we get the usual Channel Nine quality of television footage. There is one test from Zimbabwe and one from India that features slightly poorer quality vision which is most notably more washed out in appearance than the home-grown footage. The rest is excellent, with crisp, clear images that is in the main grain-free. Some of the footage in the closing shots, around 90:10, is quite grainy, though this is certainly a brief occurrence and not distracting. There is no low level noise.

    The colours are well rendered and there are no problems to contend with other than the overseas material looking a bit more washed out.

    No MPEG artefacts are evident and despite the age of some of the other source material, it is in surprisingly good shape.

    Like the other discs in the series, there is a set of subtitles available. They are English for the Hearing Impaired, and are available throughout the entire presentation. They are quite good. Not completely accurate, but close enough and don't encroach on the screen graphics that are so prevalent in cricket broadcasts. They move up the screen whenever any graphics appear on the screen.

    You may recall from my previous two reviews of the other discs in the series that I was somewhat disappointed and critical of the layer change placement. Both were placed mid-sentence during an interview and actually resulted in the loss of a couple of key words.This disc is also dual layered with RSDL formatting and thankfully the layer change is much better handled. Located at 70:09, it is right on the graphic identifying the start of Chapter 15. Perfect and almost unnoticeable.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
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Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    The audio is virtually identical to what was offered on the first disc in the series. Comprised mostly of television highlights we get television quality audio. This is not to say it is bad. It does its job and that's all that can be expected. An interesting item of note is the inclusion of some extra on-field comments from the players that are often blocked out during play (otherwise we'd hear all the sledging I guess!). Hearing Wasim Akram exclaim "You Beauty" is quite remarkable.

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

    Dialogue is clear and concise at all times.

    Apart from the Wide World of Sports introductory theme, and some minor choir-type music during the intro to each chapter, there is little other music.

    There is no surround or subwoofer use.

Audio Ratings Summary

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

Main Menu Audio

    The main theme playing in an endless loop.

Featurette - 8 Additional Highlights Packages

    Some additional footage in the form of highlights or batting packages. There are some highlights of Michael Slater, Mark Waugh, Ricky Ponting, Steve Waugh and others batting and also Brett Lee's first over in test cricket. Also included is the speech delivered by Steve Waugh once Australia had retained the Sir Frank Worrell trophy after beating The West Indies in Sydney in 2000 (he thanks Ansett for being a great sponsor!). These run for an average of four minutes each. Total running time is around 31 minutes. All are presented full screen and the audio is the same as the main feature.

Notes - Scorecards

    The scorecards (batting only) for both teams in each of the 16 matches are available for viewing. Presented static full screen with no audio, they are quite easy to read. It would have been nice to see the bowling records as well and if scorecards are going to be provided you really need to have a summary of the result at the bottom (such as Australia won by an Innings and 495 runs).

    There is also an error in the menu selections present. The scorecards for Matches 13 to 16 are labelled incorrectly from the menu selection, though the actual scorecard itself is labelled correctly.

    I have a manager who is from the US and I have spent the better part of the last year trying to explain the intricacies of test cricket. I think he's got the grasp of eleven players on each team but is having a lot of bother with the five day duration and a drinks trolley getting wheeled out by the 12th man every few overs.

    The quality of this disc is on par with the first two in the series and cannot be faulted. This title plays out more like a story than the previous titles as it follows the team through their sixteen consecutive test match victories.

    Very much recommended for cricket fans and those that would like a memento of a unique and probably unbeatable moment in test cricket history.

    Now if the producers of this disc need some ideas for what to include in another disc in the series, then how about this for an idea - a collection of all the great Classic Catches footage from the Channel Nine archives collected over the years would make an outstanding compilation. I for one would love to be able to replay John Dyson's diving goalkeeper style outfield catch to dismiss Sylvester Clarke during a World Series Cup match in the early 80s. Anyone agree?

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