(ESPN) ESPN Caribbean and the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) yesterday announced a new five-year agreement for exclusive multimedia rights to the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) from 2018 to 2022.
As part of the agreement, ESPN will air live coverage in the Caribbean of all international and domestic cricket played in England and Wales over the next five summers. Coverage begins May 24 with the first of two England men’s Tests against Pakistan, and later this summer a visit from rival Australia for five ODIs and a T20, followed by a full tour by India for five Tests, three ODIs, and three T20s.
Other highlights included in the deal include the 2019 Ashes, as Australia returns to renew the most intense rivalry in cricket, a 2022 West Indies tour and an India return in 2022. ESPN has also acquired rights to coverage of the England women’s team and men’s county cricket including the new eight-team domestic competition set to start in 2020.
All five days of the first Pakistan Test at Lord’s Cricket Ground in London will air live starting today, at 6:00 a.m. ET on ESPN2 Caribbean and stream live on ESPN Play (www.espnplay.com) — ESPN’s multiscreen live and on-demand broadband service. ESPN Caribbean will also televise the May 31 benefit match between the West Indies and the ICC World XI at Lord’s to help rebuild Caribbean cricket grounds damaged by the 2017 hurricanes.
Scott McGlone, ESPN International’s Director of Programming, said, “We are pleased to announce our first ever agreement with ECB in the Caribbean. ESPN is committed to bringing the very best cricket action to fans in the West Indies and what better way to demonstrate this than our alliance with the ECB, which represents both the storied history of the game and its bright future of growth across all formats. This agreement reinforces our commitment to providing fans in the region with high quality and locally relevant programming.”
ECB’s Chief Commercial Officer Sanjay Patel said, “Today’s announcement is good news for Caribbean cricket fans. It means they can enjoy all the action from our domestic and international playing programme across a variety of different platforms – and will help give our national men’s and women’s teams, and our county teams an even greater global profile.”
The addition of exclusive ECB coverage augments ESPN Caribbean’s preexisting Caribbean cricket portfolio, which includes exclusive coverage of the 2018 ICC Women’s World T20 (hosted by the West Indies), the 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup and Cricket West Indies Super50 Cup.