Great cricket, mediocre production

Ashes Down Under Dd Home Entertainment
Three and half stars -

The DVD of the 2005 Ashes was one of the UK's best sellers of the year. It seems unlikely that it shifted many copies in Australia. The same in reverse is likely with Ashes Down Under, the review of the 2006-07 series.

Ignoring the result, the one-sided nature of the Tests mean that this will appeal to cricketers and not a wider market. What there is is done well. The five matches get almost two hours of coverage each, which means this three box set runs to just shy of ten hours. That's more than enough to ensure the highlights are not just a succession of wickets and big hits.

The problem is that the 2005 DVD set such high standards of production, with full use of all the technical wizardry available as well as considered review of what happened between matches and behind the scenes. The extras and lavish production set new standards which this triple set fails to get close to.