Spark Sport in box seat

Cricket-starved New Zealand viewers must brace for platform ping-pong as soon as next week, with Spark Sport in the box seat to live stream international cricket’s return.

England hosts West Indies at Southampton in the first of three tests starting on Wednesday (10pm NZT) with no New Zealand broadcast rightsholder as yet confirmed to screen the first international since the Black Caps’ ODI loss to Australia in Sydney on March 13.

One thing is certain after a confusing few days: the England v West Indies series won’t be shown on Sky Television after it was advertised on its website under the ‘Cricket on Sky Sport’ section as recently as Thursday.

A spokesperson for Sky told ‘‘We discovered that we had an error on our website which has since been rectified.’’

Sky’s broadcast deal with the England and Wales Cricket Board expired at the end of last year, the spokesperson said.

It appears the confusion may have arisen from Sky holding the rights to international cricket played in the West Indies.

In any case, it leaves the door wide open for Spark Sport to pounce on the ECB deal and show the West Indies and subsequent Pakistan series as its first live cricket content.

Stuff understands Spark is well placed to secure the rights in coming days, but in response to questions yesterday a spokesperson said: ‘‘Currently Spark Sport does not have these rights, but if that changes we will let our customers know’’.

After Sky’s two-decade run as the go-to network for cricket, Spark Sport secured broadcast rights to all domestic and international cricket played in New Zealand (except ICC world tournaments) for the next six years.

Spark took the reins in April and has shown highlights packages and player interviews on its streaming platform, but no live matches as yet as the world awaits cricket’s return amid Covid-19.