Cricket Thread

[Number45]

How many of the major sporting events have coverage outside of Sky now anyway? Only really the WC and Wimbledon that I can think of, and when the main channels do get them they shift them from the prime channels so they don't clash with ****ty soaps!

[TonyDA]

It's all to do with sport's 'Crown Jewels' - set up by the Government to determine which of our national sports/sporting events must be show on terrestrial tv.

The Crown Jewel events (or A-List events) are those that can only be broadcast live by terrestrial broadcasters – the BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Five. On it is the Olympics, football's World Cup and European Championship finals (i.e. the whole tournaments), the English and Scottish FA Cup finals, the Grand National, the Derby, Wimbledon, rugby union's World Cup finals and rugby league's Challenge Cup final.

There is also a second tier (or B-List) of events, introduced in 1998, and is for events that only require highlights to be shown on terrestrial TV. Home England Test Matches (not just the Ashes) were shifted from the A-List to B-List when this tier was introduced - much to the anger of many fans, but to the relief of the England and Wales Cricket Board which wanted the switch.

Other events currently on the B-list include the Open Golf Championship, the Ryder Cup, cricket's World Cup, the Commonwealth Games and rugby union's Six Nations.

It wasn't until 2003/4 that the ECB granted the rights to show home Test Matches to the highest bidder - which, somewhat inevitably, was Sky Sports. The last terrestrial tv contract to show home Tests ironically expired in 2005, which is why when England won the Ashes in 2005 it was shown live on Channel 4. Since 2005, Sky have held the rights.

And if you've ever wondered what happened to Richie Benaud's commentary - he's a staunch believer of live cricket being on terrestrial TV, so he quit commentating in England when Sky won the contract over here. He still works for Channel 9 in Australia, who show Australia Test Matches on terrestrial TV.

There is due to be a review of the Crown Jewels in 2013, i.e. after the digital switchover - at this point, more TV Channels will be available to all.

Hope that helps!

[prinnysquad]

I've got no idea if this is correct, but someone posted this on another forum:

Cook:

7 innings, 1 not out, 766 runs, average 127.66, 3 hundreds

Katich, Hughes, Ponting, Khawaja, Clarke, North, Johnson and Smith together:

40 innings, 1 not out, 759 runs, average 19.46, 0 hundreds

If true =

[eastyy]

just wondering how many teams there are in cricket.....every time i see it looks like the same 4 or 5 teams playing :S

dont mind the sport used to play it alot when i was younger

[fatbatch]

There are ten countries playing the highest form of cricket - Test Matches - West Indies, England, South Africa, India, Australia, Pakistan, Bangladesh, New Zealand, Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe (suspended because of Mugabe). Several others play competitive internationals and will be in the World Cup next month, including Kenya, Holland and Ireland.

[ShadowDancer]

Eastyy, try County Cricket, all formats. Even IPL is on terristrial.

Cricket is a very beautiful sport.

And on topic, I'd love to see us be ranked no1 in the World.

And like others and myself, who have been watching cricket for 20+ years.

How great it is how great we have became more consistent in the last 10 years ish

Yes, we've had highs and lows, but I remember cricket in the 90's (test cricket) when watching England, we'd seldom make the 5th day- all too often.

[ShadowDancer]

NZ and Pakistan at the moment, Pakistan looked like they were going to post a mamouth score at one point, nice bowling tho from the Kiwis. I remember Danny V's debut.

I wont keep posting in this thread, but if anyone else keeps this thread alive, I'll be here with you

[abigsmurf]

Wow, England took it to the final ball to win the 20-20.

[stevie vip 99]

Great game today. Very tense at the end

[ShadowDancer]

Australia won the 2nd T20. Odi's next. Should be very good

[ShadowDancer]

D/N Hope I can last

[ShadowDancer]

Extraordinary 230 (off 48.2) from Australia.

Hero and Villian. Shahzad, great opening spell, and largely solid.
At around 140-8, missed a perfect oppurtunity to get Marsh. (c&b)
He went on to make 100, and to my amazement, it hasn't been mentioned.
All well and good taking them wickets, but the missed catch has thrown this game into the balance. (80 odd runs more than necessary)

[abigsmurf]

Awful start for us, things are picking up a bit now though

[Neil]

Looking steady now, ahead on the run rate just need to keep these two together for another 50 runs at least.

[Neil]

Worst. Shot. Ever.

Trott looked embarrassed and so he should.