Dubai, (Samajweekly) The International Cricket Council (ICC) announced on Monday that it has partnered with Cricket Australia (CA) to broadcast the upcoming matches of Australia happening this summer into emerging cricket markets including Europe and Southeast Asia.
The deal will start with the highly anticipated rematch between India and Australia, finalists in last year’s ICC T20 Women’s World Cup, in the first ODI at Mackay on Tuesday.
“Through this unique partnership with Cricket Australia we will bring competitive and quality cricket to the cricket-starved markets of Southeast Asia and Europe, as well as other regions that do not currently have a broadcast partner. This confirms our commitment to grow consumption of cricket and make it accessible to the world,” said ICC Head of Digital Finn Bradshaw in a release.
The streaming platform launched by the ICC in July, ICC.tv, will live stream the multi-format series against India till October 12. It will be followed by the entire 2021- 22 international calendar in Australia, comprising the men’s and women’s Ashes, as well as men’s white ball tours by New Zealand and Sri Lanka.
“We’re incredibly excited to work with the ICC to continue to grow cricket, and bring our distinctive Aussie flavour of cricket to more fans around the world. There will be some excited Australian and English expats living or even holidaying in these countries who’ll now be able to easily access what promises to be a massive home summer with the men’s and women’s Ashes. We know that in countries like Germany, Hong Kong and Japan there is already a significant cricket fanbase and we are hoping to see this in neighbouring countries too.,” said Nikki Linney, CA’s Head of Media Rights.
Both the multi-format series against India and the women’s Ashes will be free for all users to stream to celebrate the new partnership, while the men’s content will be available on a pay-per-view basis. All content will be available in countries such as Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Japan, China, Germany, Netherlands, among others.
