I’m watching the cricket thinking about commentators and their access to information.

I thought it would be a great tool for them (and therefore the viewers/listeners) if there was some kind of voice recognition system that “listened” to them talking and picked out words as they say them. These words are then searched for on a few credible content sources, say cricinfo.com, wikipedia etc. and fed to them on an ongoing basis.

i guess this could lead to a system where certain keywords - players names, coaching staff, team names, “bowling average”, “batting average” etc - are weighted to provide more depth and information, either by deeper analysis or broader scanning of the web (bigger net). And are somehow cached to provide faster access.

i think too often they have to wait for directors, statisticians, and other people in the know, before the idea is either lost or, as the bigger fans will agree here, heard it before.

Also - i also think that supersport should run a “commentator idols” where a spare audio channel on dstv allows you to listen to them. perhaps where people can vote via sms. if you win, you get to commentate for another day or session, if you lose you’ve had your session of fame. give the viewers what they want.