ERROL PARKER | Editor-at-large | Contact

The unsinkable Bruce McAvaney has presented some of the highest-profile sporting events to grace the nation’s sporting calendar.

They include the AFL Grand Final, Melbourne Cup, Australian Open and Summer Olympics – but this year, he’s looking to add another to that list.

“The Boxing Day Test will be huge for me this year,” he told our reporter via wireless telephone this morning.

“I’m still pinching myself. How fucking good? Now we’ve got to put together a new commentary team, which will be challenging. But what I can confirm now is that nobody from the Nine Network’s existing team will be part of the new team here,”

“At the moment, it’s looking like Mark Ferguson, Jim Courier, Brian Taylor, Chris Bath, Melissa Doyle and me. I’ll be the defacto leader of the gang, ultimately responsible but yeah, we’re really looking forward to the challenge. Stay tuned.”

The deal was a joint venture between the Seven Network and NewsCorp-backed Foxtel – a deal which will see all cricket broadcast in the country shown on either of those two platforms.

Rumoured to be worth around $1bn to Cricket Australia over the next six years, the organisation’s CEO explained to The Advocate a short time ago just why they cost to sever ties with Nine.

“Money walks,” said James Sutherland.

“That’s about the skinny of it, mate. We got offered a better deal for us and our players so we binned Nine and went elsewhere,”

“So yeah, feel for the commentary team but they’ve made their bed, now the jibbering old bastards can sleep in it.”

Our reporters reached out to the members of the Nine commentary team but have yet to receive a response.

More to come.