BBC and ECB agree new four-year rights deal

The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) and the BBC have come to terms with a rights agreement that covers both the BBC’s national and international highlights as well as live coverage of The Hundred over the course of four years.

Digital clips will also be included in the deal, along with highlights of all red and white ball internationals broadcast on television, iPlayer, and the BBC Sport website.

Each year, BBC Sport will continue to broadcast live coverage of the The Hundred men’s and women’s tournaments, including the TV and iPlayer finals and eight double-headers that take place each year.

More women’s live television will be broadcast on the BBC as a result than ever before.

However, the previous agreement included two men’s and two women’s T20s, which meant there won’t be any live international matches.

The women’s white-ball international series against West Indies kicks off England’s summer at home on May 21 before the one-off men’s test against Zimbabwe.

Later in the summer, the men play five Test matches against the same opponents while the women play whiteball against India.

Test Match Special will be broadcast until at least 2028 in addition to the BBC’s current audio arrangement with the ECB, along with a new four-year contract to broadcast county cricket for men and women.

Tony Singh, the ECB’s chief commercial officer, expressed his delight at the extension of our partnership, which will give us four more years of live cricket on BBC TV.

It’s exciting that the BBC will be showing even more live women’s matches in The Hundred each year, and that viewers will continue to have free access to highlights of England Men’s and Women’s home games in what promises to be an exciting time for cricket in this country.

The director of BBC Sport, Alex Kay-Jelski, said: “Cricket is a game of stories. It’s more than just a game of numbers.”