If a World Cup wicket falls on Prime Video, does anyone even notice?

The crucial question about a coming sporting event used to be “When’s it on?” Now it’s “What’s it on?” – an inquiry once reserved for a racehorse posting an unexpectedly fast time.

Our Boys have been doing well in the T20 World Cup cricket, but there are several problematic aspects to this event (apart from the time difference, which has many matches starting after midnight here). First, the co-hosts are the West Indies and the USA. One may note that “USA” and “cricket” are rarely seen in the same sentence. Second, the only way to watch matches in Australia is on Prime Video. If a wicket falls on Prime, does anyone know?

Glenn Maxwell is bowled during the men’s T20 World Cup match between Australia and Scotland, at Darren Sammy National Cricket Stadium, Gros Islet, St. Lucia, on Saturday, June 15.Credit: AP

Cricket coverage has changed dramatically since the ABC supplemented its radio description of the 1934 Ashes Test series in England with imaginative special effects: a pencil tapping a coconut conjured the sound of bat on ball. Commentary giants like Alan McGilvray and Richie Benaud have departed the crease. And if the blokey banter of their successors grates, well, that’s what the “mute” button is for.

This one is the first of a package of International Cricket Council events for which Prime has bought the Australian rights until the end of 2027. Australia is the only major cricket-playing country not to have any free-TV coverage of ICC matches, including the women’s T20 World Cup starting in September.

Aside from cricket tragics, is anyone else even aware this event is on?

OK, Prime is just another streaming service. It’s easy to sign up. Already, coverage of cricket matches played in Australia is divvied up between Seven TV channels and pay platforms. But Prime is part of the Amazon empire. A subscription means making Jeff Bezos richer. For some, it’s the TV version of the Elon Effect – the reason some drivers contemplating going electric turn away from Teslas.

Aren’t there rules ensuring that major sporting events are accessible to all on TV? Yes: anti-siphoning laws, now under review – hence the ads in papers and (appropriately) also on TV suggesting that Albo wants to pull the plug on your favourite game. Impassioned debate has seen politicians as different as the Nationals’ Barnaby Joyce and the Greens’ Sarah Hanson-Young batting for the same team. Hanson-Young has suggested that the idea of citizens having to pay to watch the sport they want is, well, just not cricket.

But technology and media moguls chasing revenue move much faster than politicians. One reason Prime made its Australian-rights deal with the ICC is that existing legislation didn’t adequately cover streaming services. Sport over the internet – who knew?

There are still plenty of cricket matches and big-ticket happenings (such as the AFL grand final) accessible on free TV for which a modem won’t be necessary. And there will always be arguments about what constitutes a “major” event. A case could be made that this men’s T20 carnival, which kicked off with a game between Canada and the USA in Dallas, is not compulsory viewing.

But we’re yet to get to the pointy end of the tournament: the final is in the wee hours of June 30, Prime Time, and will be staged in Barbados – home of cricket giants including Sir Garry Sobers and Joel Garner. Players will feel more at home there than in the state of New York, where the India and Pakistan teams recently met at a temporary facility (now dismantled) on Long Island.

The full house of 34,000 represented a record for a cricket match in the USA. Not surprising, really. India and Pakistan could play in the Arctic and still pull a crowd. Remember all the enthusiastic fans when they played at the MCG two years ago?

Still, the Long Island game represented vindication for those at the ICC determined to convert Americans to cricket. Having lived in the US in the mid-1990s I can attest it won’t happen, even with the USA team enjoying some success. Cricket’s closest American cousin is baseball. The longest-ever World Series baseball game (in 2018) lasted seven hours and 20 minutes. Test cricket matches can last five days. And still not produce a winner.

For the ICC, this fast-forward cricket event with an international flavour is all about going global. Or even beyond. The official anthem is a song called Out of this World. I can understand why the ICC liked the idea of flogging broadcasting rights to a worldwide media player, though Bezos is more familiar with servers than sightscreens.

Far be it for me to suggest that cricket nuffies explore the logistics of a free trial on Prime. Could be their only chance of live coverage from grounds far, far away at times often more suited to sleep than sixes. If life drags you away from a TV, a few clicks on a phone will summon live scores. Howzat, Richie? Well might he say: marvellous. Or declare it a no-ball.

Alan Attwood is a former sportswriter and US correspondent for The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald.

Nine Entertainment, which owns this masthead, also owns streaming service Stan.

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