CRICKET BLACKOUT
No ball-by-ball coverage on radio of England Tests for first time in 17 years
CRICKET fans are facing the prospect of a radio blackout when England tour Sri Lanka next month, with talkSpoRT rejecting live commentary rights and the BBC lacking the funds to step in at the last minute.
The two-Test series, which is part of the World Test Championship, will be the first England Tests not to feature ball-by-ball radio coverage since Michael Vaughan’s side visited Bangladesh in 2003.
TalkSpoRT had secured the first option for live radio rights for the tour, which features Tests in Galle and Colombo, but they have opted not to take them up following talks with the host board.
The commercial broadcaster remain committed to cricket commentary, particularly as their coverage of England’s 3-1 Test win in South Africa was widely acclaimed.
But they are focusing their resources on longer tours — which enable them to offer a wider variety of programming — such as next winter’s five-Test series in India. TalkSpoRT walking away led to the BBC expressing interest in the rights for Test Match
Special, but talks with Sri Lanka Cricket have not progressed over the last few weeks.
As it stands, there will be no radio commentary in the UK on the series, which England must win 2-0 to put pressure on India and Australia at the top of the World Test Championship.
Despite their eagerness to regain live rights for England tours, BBC Sport are operating under severe financial restrictions at a time of job losses and programming cuts across the corporation.
In an expensive year for sport that will be dominated by the BBC’s extensive coverage of the olympics, executives have ruled they do not have the funds to secure the Sri Lanka rights, although a last- minute deal remains a remote possibility.
The BBC are desperate to regain radio rights because they have been bruised by talkSpoRT’s emergence to threaten their virtual monopoly on live cricket coverage in recent years, with their rivals providing ball-by-ball commentary from tours to Sri Lanka and the West Indies over the past 18 months, in addition to South Africa.
The growing rivalry between the stations has been evident in much of their coverage this winter, with the BBC attempting to lure listeners from talkSpoRT’s live commentaries with their Cricket
Social programme. That provided analysis from a London studio with updates on the action in South Africa.