TNT Sports The Edge - Test Cricket Highlights NZ v England

[beachcomber69]

Whose bright idea was it to start a Test cricket highlights programme with the scorecard of the day's play??

Just what you need to keep you on tenterhooks for the next hour.

[gomezz]

As I see it The Edge is more a review of the day's play. By contrast the highlights programme proper is only being shown immediately before coverage of the next day's play starts which for me is stupidly late.

For me The Edge works as I follow the match by the TS2 radio commentary overnight so already know what has happened (apart from what I have dozed through - I record the radio coverage and chase play it in 30 minute chunks). Then watch the action from The Edge later in the morning then listen to the TMS podcast in the afternoon - rinse and repeat until the match reaches its critical stage then watch the TV coverage live or as live.

Two workarounds for you: Wait until the highlights proper are show in late evening or watch the Edge but skip four or five minutes to get into the actual action - mute the audio and defocus your eyes to avoid being able to read the scorecard until you have got to the action.

But I agree, the highlights proper should be available to show late morning or lunchtime judging by other series - I can't imagine it is a rights issue as it is the same broadcaster doing both live and highlights in the UK.

[gomezz · Accepted solution]

Update: Just started watching The Edge for Day 2 and it seems they have realised that starting Day 1 with the scorecard was a big spoilering mistake. This time they had the presenters discuss what the day ahead had in store having "put themselves in the mindset of the start of play". Why not record that intro before the start of play to avoid any slips of the tongue or tone of voice subtly giving the game away?

[beachcomber69]

Thanks for both the advice and the update! I was just about to watch The Edge for day 2, using workaround 2 (mute button and defocussed eyes) which I will probably still do. Like yourself, I don't trust the presenters to not give me any clues!

[martinmacc]

Agreed. It is the most ludicrous thing to show you the scorecard before showing the highlights.

[zulu17]

Yes they did get it wrong on Day 1 , To be fair the next couple of days were structured  well in a logical order. 

[gomezz]

Just a bit more about recording the TS2 radio coverage: I use the VRadio app on my tablet to do that then use the Smart Audiobook Player app to chase-play the recording. This is a neat portable solution which means I can start listening some time after start of play and continue anywhere around the house.

There is another way which is to play the radio coverage on the TS Cricket Youtube channel but that is more of a faff as I need to use a separate Blackr app to turn the screen to black (Youtube needs to be foregrounded with the screen left on) and the inbuilt Clock sleep timer to pause playback every 30 minutes. But it is there as a back up just in case.

It is of course all so much easier when the radio coverage is on the BBC using the Sounds app.