Thursday, March 27, 2008

Fabricated quotes?

Anyone who's ever spoken to a journalist knows that what appears in the press the following morning may or may not resemble what you actually said. It can get even worse when some sort of translation is involved. Looks like CricInfo is getting in on the game with it's quotes.

Top of the quotes on the site today is the following:

"Dammit."
Neil McKenzie, at the non-striker's end, reacts as Jacques Kallis trudges off before the umpire's verdict in the first Test against India in Chennai

Not a particularly exciting quote, until you realise that, according to CricInfo's own commentary and scorecard, Neil McKenzie had been sitting in the pavilion for the best part of 15 overs when this happened. He may have been anywhere on the ground, but wherever he was, it certainly was not at the non-strikers end.

So the question is - can CI not tell the difference between Hashim Amla and Neil McKenzie? (ouch!) Or should we really not trust any of the quotes that are trotted out for our entertainment?