CA complicit in England snub for Aussie journalists: ‘buy a subscription’

Only English journalists will be allowed to cover the series against Australians with those who missed out told to watch in on pay TV.

Steve Smith bats in the nets ahead of the clash against England at The Ageas Bowl. Picture: Getty Images

Cricket Australia failed to lobby for places for Australians covering the limited-overs tour of England this month, resulting in all press positions being filled by British journalists.

In a first for news coverage of the cricketers — regarded as Australia’s sporting royalty — there will be no Australian press at any of their cricket matches.

The T20 matches start on Saturday at 3am Australian time, 11.15pm Sunday night and 3am on Wednesday morning.

The British government has allowed only 12 press journalists to attend the matches, held at the Ageas Bowl in Southampton and Old Trafford in Manchester.

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The England Cricket Board assigned all positions to the British national newspapers, and one spot each to Cricinfo, Agence France Presse and the British wire service, the Press Association.

ECB chief communications officer Danny Reuben said there was an agreement for English journalists to have precedence because they covered the England cricketers for the entire season.

“It was agreed for consistency that the national (English) journalists would be accredited and this was after collaboration with the Cricket Writers Club and the News Media Coalition,’’ he said.

Reuben said English journalists would cover the match in the same way as Australian journalists and there was no disadvantage in not being at the ground to observe the match first-hand. He said Australian journalists could pay for a subscription and watch it on pay TV and then write it off the television.

However the Cricket Writers Club said the discussions took place after the ECB had decreed only national journalists would attend and their talks centred around which British journalists could have a pass.

AFP was given accreditation to the Pakistan and West Indies matches in England because it provides extensive coverage in the Caribbean and Pakistan. However the ECB made no allocation for the Australian wire service and Australian Associated Press doesn’t take AFP coverage. This leaves all of Australia’s smaller newspapers and websites without any scoreboard information or stories filed in time for Australian deadlines.

Several British journalists contacted by The Australian said not having any Australian journalists at the ground was “appalling’’.

Cricket insiders said the absence of any push by CA to ensure Australian journalists were included was “bad judgment by Cricket Australia’’.

One said “Cricket Australia held all the aces because the ECB stood to lose significant broadcast moneys if the series had been pulled if Australia didn’t come over to play’’, adding it could have easily asked for a couple of spots.