Changing Room Chat: Infamous cameraman back in spotlight

JOE Previtera, the Australian television cameraman behind an infamous cricket sledge blamed on former Australia spinner Shane Warne, has stolen the media spotlight once more with a farcical crash while riding a Segway scooter at Melbourne Cricket Ground.

As Australia came out to bowl before lunch yesterday against India, Previtera ploughed his Segway into a helmet on the turf while filming the players and fell in a heap in front of thousands of people in the stands and millions more watching on TV.

He was uninjured in the spill and got to his feet sheepishly as Aussie cricketers chirped in his ear, before trudging off the field carrying the damaged Segway.

Previtera was at the heart of a media storm after the comment “he can’t bowl and can’t throw” was picked up by a special effects microphone during the broadcast of Australia’s Test match in Hobart against Pakistan in 1999/2000. The comment, which followed a wayward throw from paceman Scott Muller, was later attributed to Warne by the media, but the spinner denied it. Previtera eventually went on a national current affairs programme to admit he was the culprit.