I think we have been saying that the last 5 years lol.
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Quite often these packages include matches that broadcasters may not be particularly interested in (can’t imagine that Bangladeshi cricket would attract many viewers locally outside of against a couple of nations)
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England great Michael Vaughan has gone public with his stress-related health battle after fighting it in secret for months.
He first struggled when he could not get out of bed at a golf tournament at the famous St Andrews in Scotland, and his health reached a new low at the Boxing Day Test in Melbourne six months ago.
Having hoped a summer in Australia would help his ailing condition, Vaughan was instead “absolutely exhausted” and unable to even walk his usual beach trails.
“On Boxing Day, I went to cover the Test between Australia and Pakistan, and I couldn’t lift the microphone,” he told the Daily Telegraph.
“Matthew Weiss, the man in charge at Fox Sports, said ‘you’re going straight to hospital’.”
Vaughan remained behind the mic for the Sydney Test and said he “put up a front for a long time”, trying to hide his struggles from colleagues let alone viewers.
Vaughan eventually learned he had developed a stress-related inflammatory condition, and the various treatments to that point had in fact slowed his illness.
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The full WBBL|10 fixture will be released next Tuesday (July 9) following by BBL|14 fixture three days later.
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WBBL|10 fixture was released today.
While the second half of the new WBBL season has been scheduled around men’s international fixtures, there will be some dates where the two overlap.
Sunday November 10: Sixers v Thunder (1.40pm AEDT) and Australia v Pakistan 3rd ODI (2.30pm AEDT)
Friday November 22: Heat v Stars (8.10pm AEDT) and Australia v India 1st test (1.20pm AEDT)
Sunday November 24: Scorchers v Hurricanes (8.30pm AEDT) and Australia v India 1st test (1.20pm AEDT)
Tuesday November 26: Heat v Sixers (8.05pm AEDT) and Australia v India 1st test (1.20pm AEDT)
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Again I’m left to wonder what Fox have against Mel Jones as Sky again have her as a lead caller on neutral men’s Tests.
Do they just feel that Isa is their token (as good as she is - one of the best in the world) female member of the team? Mel is world class and being left to rot on BBL and off-tube stream-quality WBBL games is nowhere near her level.
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I thought while she was on the CA board maybe she didn’t want to do it due to conflict of interest/other commitments but now I’m not quite sure.
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Ironically, Isa Guha is a member of the BBC’s commentary team for its TV coverage of this year’s Wimbledon.
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And a great host at that.
She called for Sky during Ashes though so it can’t be that conflict. And she’s only unofficially involved with the Sixers WBBL side so that doesn’t seem to be an issue.
It’s just an odd decision that they bring Howie in and don’t use Mel who is (not even objectively) a better Test caller.
I don’t know if she would want to leave Fox but I think she would be great addition to 7’s WBBL coverage since most of them worked together on 10. And even BBL
When Fox & 7 did their combined WBBL coverage during covid it was pretty good because the limited commentators weren’t split between the 2 broadcasters
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Mel would be a good addition to 7 on their Test coverage too, especially as Tim Lane nears retirement.
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The fixture for BBL|14 was released early this morning. It has been rejigged to allow Australian Test stars to play in the final three weeks of the regular season.
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Foxtel Group and Cricket South Africa extend multi-year broadcast deal
Foxtel Group and Cricket South Africa (CSA) today announced an extension to their agreement to broadcast the Proteas Men and Women’s international matches in a multi-year deal. The deal was secured by CSA’s international media rights partner, IMG.
Under the agreement, Foxtel Group will exclusively broadcast all fixtures for South Africa’s men’s and women’s national teams, including Test Series, ODI and T20 matches across its linear and streaming subscription platforms Foxtel and Kayo Sports. This includes the upcoming international home test series for Proteas Men’s against Sri Lanka (November) and Pakistan (December), as well as the KFC T20 International (T20I) series against India (November) and Proteas Women’s home tour against England (November).
CSA Chief Executive Officer, Pholetsi Moseki, said; “We are extremely proud to continue our partnership with Fox Sports Australia, who have not only been a long-term partner of ours but have also significantly contributed to the growth of the South African cricket market in Australia. Much like South Africa, Australia is a highly driven sports nation, and we look forward to bringing all of South Africa’s best cricketing action to their country.”
Adam Howarth, Director of Content Acquisitions and Sports Partnerships at Foxtel Group said: “The Proteas are a consistent top five team across all formats making their international matches some of the most anticipated. Through our extensive slate of domestic and international cricket, we have entrenched ourselves as the ‘home of cricket’ in Australia. We’re excited to be continuing our partnership with Cricket South Africa, bringing the very best from its national teams to our Foxtel and Kayo Sports subscribers.”
Robyn Cox, VP and Managing Director, Africa for IMG’s media business, added: “Off the back of an action-packed T20 World Cup, we are pleased to continue Cricket South Africa’s partnership with Foxtel Group to bring the best action from South Africa’s high-profile series to cricket fans across Australia. Together with CSA, we’re continuing to deliver increased commercial opportunities for the sport and grow the Proteas’ audience worldwide.”
IMG has worked with CSA for the past 30 years and manages the federation’s international media rights. The company was instrumental in securing CSA’s long-term agreement with Viacom18 in 2022 to air all senior men’s and women’s international competitions played in South Africa to 2031.
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Australia’s next tour of South Africa is in 2026 which I assume is part of this multi-year deal.
Hopefully Fox Cricket can sign some new multi-year deals with West Indies and Sri Lanka cricket because that’s where Australia is touring next year.
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Nah they’ll wait until the last minute to get it dirt cheap. Hopefully Amazon can be interested and push things along a bit better now. (and maybe Stan as well?)
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Draft info confirmed:
Aussie tour of Scotland on Fox Cricket, announced as a watermark banner.
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