The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has agreed a new four-year deal with UK broadcaster 5 to bring four live international T20 cricket fixtures to free-to-air TV each year.
As part of the deal, 5 viewers will be able to watch and stream two international England Men’s fixtures and two international England Women’s fixtures across the spring and summer months. The matches will be simulcast with Sky Sports.
5 will also stream highlights from county cricket’s Vitality Blast competition across the season.
The first Vitality IT20s match of England Women v West Indies Women aired on May 26, and will be followed by England Men v West Indies Men on Sunday, June 8. England Women v India Women will be aired on Saturday, June 28, and England Men v South Africa Men on Sunday, September 14.
The channel previously broadcast the England men’s cricket team’s highlights every summer from 2006 to 2019 and was the terrestrial home of the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup in 2023.
The partnership with the ECB builds on a recent deal by the broadcaster to sublicense some FIFA Club World Cup matches from DAZN.
The deal follows the recent extension of the ECB and BBC’s partnership which sees the BBC continuing to screen England Men’s and Women’s international highlights and live coverage of The Hundred for the next four years.
Ben Frow, Chief Content Officer at 5, said: "We are thrilled to partner with the ECB to bring live T20 cricket to free-to-air TV. This collaboration brings a summer of live T20 cricket to our audience across the UK and adds to our growing sports offering."
Tony Singh, ECB Chief Commercial Officer, said: “With the international season getting under way this week, we’re delighted to welcome 5 back to cricket as the free-to-air TV home for four of the summer’s big IT20 clashes. We’re delighted that this partnership also means that for the first time viewers will be able to watch regular broadcast highlights of county cricket’s T20 Vitality Blast through 5’s streaming service.”
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