Shane Warne closing in on rich deal with Fox Sports

News Corp’s Fox Sports has emerged as the frontrunner to secure cricket legend Shane Warne as part of its coverage of the game, with contracts expected to be signed within the next 48 hours.

It's understood this could make Mr Warne the highest-paid member of the Foxtel/Fox Sport's cricket commentary team.

Shane Warne is tipped to end up on Fox Sports.Credit: Daniel Pockett

The cricket great's manager, James Erskine, told Fairfax Media no contracts had been signed yet, with Mr Warne currently in India, where he is a mentor for the Rajasthan Royals in the Indian Premier League. But he confirmed a deal was imminent.

Sources say this will most likely result in Mr Warne signing with the pay-TV platform.

"We met with all three players - Seven, Nine and Fox Sports, and they all wanted him," Mr Erskine said. "There are offers on the table."

While he didn't comment specifically on what other commentators would be paid, he "would imagine Shane would be the highest paid".

He said the arrangement would not be entirely exclusive. This could allow Mr Warne to be on the commentary team for the 2019 Ashes with Sky in the UK and would leave the door open for Mr Warne to continue his 20-year relationship with Nine Entertainment Co, which has held the cricket rights for four decades and still has the Australian broadcast rights for the 2019 Ashes, World Cup and men's and women's 2020 T20 World Cups.

Mr Warne reportedly charged as much as $7000 a day for his commentary services at Channel Nine, and it's possible the new deal is above this figure.

Seven and Fox Sports have been signing big names to their two commentary teams after securing a $1.2 billion broadcast rights deal with Cricket Australia in April. Seven West Media added cricket star Ricky Ponting to its line-up, while Adam Gilchrist has joined Fox Sports. The commentary teams will be a significant point of difference between the two cricket broadcast partners, which could drive audiences to subscriptions or the free-to-air channel.

Nine still has the rights to the 2019 Ashes, World Cup and 2020 T20 World Cup.

Mr Warne recently criticised Cricket Australia’s decision to expand the number of Big Bash League games on his Twitter feed, describing it as “greed” to have more games next season, which risked “diluting a wonderful product”.

A focus on diversity was discussed by both Seven West Media boss Tim Worner and Foxtel CEO Patrick Delany when announcing the cricket deal in April, though this is expected to encompass age and race, not just gender.

In particular, Mr Delany has specifically said he has no issue with a bit of “grey hair” on his commentary team.

This is in stark contract to Nine, which in November faced criticism for a photo showing an all-white, all-male commentary team of eight, including Mr Warne, Bill Lawry, Ian Chappell, Mark Taylor, Ian Healy, Michael Clarke and Mark Nicholas.

Fox Sports recently announced Mark Waugh, Mike Hussey, Michael Vaughan, Isa Guha and Melanie Jones would join dedicated Fox Sports cricket channel FOX Cricket, with Allan Border and Brendon Julian also signed up. Mr Waugh will step down as an Australian cricket team selector at the end of his contract, before the 2018-19 summer.

News Corp, Nine and Seven declined to comment.