England reject fly-on-wall series

ENgLAND turned down offers from broadcasters and other media giants to allow cameras into their dressing room this year for a Manchester City-style documentary — but will consider throwing open their doors once a busy 2019 is over. Several England players used downtime during the pre-Christmas tour of Sri Lanka to watch All Or Nothing, the Amazon Prime documentary detailing City’s 2017-18 Premier League season. They were intrigued by what they saw. But senior figures, including head coach Trevor Bayliss and white-ball captain Eoin Morgan (right), felt it would not be right to invite extra scrutiny in an already high-pressure year that includes a World Cup and a home Ashes. The low-key Bayliss, in particular, is thought not to have been keen to appear in a documentary. It is understood outlets such as Amazon, Netflix, Sky and the BBC approached the ECB. However, the board have not ruled out revisiting the idea in a quieter summer consisting of run-of-the-mill bilateral series. In 2020, the touring teams are West Indies and Pakistan, followed by India in 2021. First refusal would be given to Sky, who have broadcast almost all England’s matches since 2006. Any deal could prove lucrative: to the irritation of Sky, Amazon reportedly paid Manchester City £10million for their eight-part, fly-on-the-wall series. The ECB hope to lure new fans for next season’s inaugural 100-ball competition, and are alive to the wider benefits of attracting an audience they would not normally reach.