England v West Indies to be shown on Fox Sports in Australia as Test cricket returns
A Fox Sports temporary agreement with the ECB means prime time Test action returns to Australian screens from Wednesday night, as England face West Indies to end cricket’s lockdown blackout.
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Australia has been saved from a cricketing blackout, with Fox Sports striking an emergency deal to broadcast the game’s long-awaited return from the wilderness.
England’s COVID-19 bubble Test series against the West Indies starts next week and the hastily arranged return to action had left TV chiefs in a race against time to seal a deal to show the action.
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However, Fox Sports has come to a temporary agreement with the England Cricket Board, meaning there will be prime time Test cricket on Australian screens from Wednesday night.
There is ever-growing optimism that Australia will be able to tour the UK for a one-day tour in September, and negotiations are ongoing between Fox and the ECB to get a long-term TV deal in place to ensure Aaron Finch’s team are shown down under.
Uncertainty over when cricket would return from COVID-19 had made it difficult to negotiate a new contract after Fox’s previous deal with the ECB had expired – but officials have scrambled hard to make it happen.
The eyes of the cricketing world will be fixed on not only how the game looks in the coronavirus era where players’ are banned from shining the ball with saliva, but also on how polarising England star Ben Stokes fares as a Test captain.
Stokes’ has made an extraordinary personal recovery from assault charges laid against him over an infamous incident outside a Bristol nightclub in late 2017 that resulted in him being banned from an Ashes tour.
If the England and Windies Test tour gets off without a hitch, it would pave the way for Australia’s tour to go ahead.
Kohli v BBL: Big Bash to go head-to-head with India
Australia’s Big Bash League looks set to launch the same night as day one of the Indian Test series as part of a plan to turbocharge the cricket summer, writes Ben Horne.
Cricket has been accused in the past of being too slow-fused at the start of the season, but The Daily Telegraph understands administrators are preparing to lock in a kitchen sink approach to emerge from the COVID-19 wilderness with a bang.
The Big Bash is set to start two weeks earlier this summer on December 3, with the regular season to finish before the end of the January school holidays, before a blockbuster finals’ series in early February where matches would be played in fan friendly slots between Thursday and Sunday nights.
CA is expected to announce the schedule in the coming fortnight.
It will be a noticeably longer season this year, but the extra breathing room will help ease congestion in the schedule, meaning more prime time matches for broadcasters and less afternoon games, which last year felt like they were just being packed in.
The Daily Telegraph understands plans for a world-first Christmas Day BBL game have again been shelved, with the holiday once again being left free of any cricket.
Cricket Australia has also left the five-team finals series unchanged, with an elimination final to start and a second bite of the cherry on offer for the No.1 ranked side.
Last year the BBL didn’t kick off until December 17, a week before Christmas, but organisers will this year start the competition in unison with the blockbuster Test series against Virat Kohli’s Indian team.
It means viewers can switch from day one’s action at the Gabba, to opening night of the BBL flowing on directly after.
The only downside being that Australia’s international stars will only have a limited window to play in the BBL this summer.
Tests against India and then one-day internationals in January against India and New Zealand are likely to mean that Australia’s all-format big namers like Steve Smith, and Mitchell Starc will only be available for the very back end of the season and finals.
Big Bash organisers had been discussing plans for a draft system for overseas internationals, however, it’s uncertain whether those moves can be executed this season given the complications presented by the COVID-19 crisis.
The Daily Telegraph understands that Cricket Australia has detailed contingency plans up their sleeve to transfer into a ‘hub’ model if the pandemic worsens again by the summer.
In that event, cricket should be more agile than the AFL has been, given multiple matches can be played in a short space of time, rather than having to wait a week between games.
Cricketers are used to being on the road for long periods anyway and it’s possible teams could swap in and out of State hubs if necessary – although at this point administrators are confident the season will start relatively unaffected.
The WBBL is set for another big season between October-November and will not reduce in matches, with Cricket Australia and broadcasters hoping to cash on in the boom in the women’s game in the wake of Australia’s T20 glory and on the eve of a 50-over World Cup next February.
Originally published as England v West Indies to be shown on Fox Sports in Australia as Test cricket returns