The International Cricket Council announced the details of its broadcast arrangements for the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2022, including a star-studded commentary panel that will provide expert opinion during the event in Australia from 16 October to 13 November.
ICC TV will produce live coverage of all the matches in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2022, and a full world feed service for licensees. This will include a pre-match show, an innings interval fill and a post-match wrap-up. A star-studded commentary panel will bring the game closer to the fans than ever before.
Eoin Morgan, the last captain to lift the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup, will be making his ICC TV commentary debut and will be working alongside other stellar names including former Cricket World Cup winners from Australia, Adam Gilchrist, Mel Jones, Shane Watson and Michael Clarke.
They are joined by former England captains, Nasser Hussain and Michael Atherton, as well as former India Coach and Men’s Cricket World Cup winner Ravi Shastri and Women’s Cricket World Cup and T20 World Cup winner Isa Guha. Other names include Men’s T20 World Cup winners Carlos Brathwaite and Samuel Badree, ICC Hall of Famers Shaun Pollock and Sunil Gavaskar, and former South Africa paceman Dale Steyn.
In addition, seasoned broadcasters Harsha Bhogle, Ian Smith, Bazid Khan, Natalie Germanos, Mark Howard, Ian Bishop, Athar Ali Khan, Simon Doull, Russel Arnold, Danny Morrison and Mpumelelo Mbangwa will also form a part of the panel.
The First Round of the tournament will also feature Brian Murgatroyd, Dirk Nannes, Niall O’Brien and Preston Mommsen.
Eoin Morgan said: “This is one of cricket’s most exciting tournaments and the players will be raring to go out there and show what they are capable of. It’s going to be a very competitive event with teams adding new skills in a format evolving at a rapid pace. I’m looking forward to being a part of the action in my new role as a broadcaster.”
Adam Gilchrist said: “We’re really excited to have one of cricket’s marquee events come to our shores in Australia. The spotlight will be on some wonderful venues, and it’s a great opportunity for fans to come out and support their favourite teams. I’m really looking forward to being a part of the commentary team.”
Mel Jones said: “It’s time for another Men’s T20 World Cup and it’s one that Australian fans are keenly awaiting. The conditions on offer here will make for some entertaining cricket and I’m expecting to see a lot of closely fought contests. Memories of the women’s team famously winning at the MCG in 2020 are still fresh in my mind. The chance of the men’s team replicating that, and going back-to-back themselves, has the whole country buzzing.”
Nasser Hussain said: “The ICC Men’s T20 World Cup is a great tournament with the world’s best talent on view. Not much separates the teams, and the tournament promises some hard-fought battles and top-drawer performances. I am sure I will enjoy commentating in Australia, which has some iconic venues and spectators who really love the game.”
Harsha Bhogle said: “The Men’s T20 World Cup has come a long way since the first edition in 2007. The format itself has developed so much and the players have added so many different skills to their repertoire. It will be a pleasure to commentate on this edition in Australia, a great sporting nation. With the crowds back, it will be great to see T20 cricket being played on large grounds. This event should hold everyone’s attention.”
ICC TV is supported by production services partner Sunset+Vine and equipment services partner NEP Broadcast Solutions. AE Live will deliver the on-air graphics for the coverage.
Viewers will be treated to state-of-the-art coverage which will include a minimum of 35 cameras at every game. The coverage will also be complemented with a variety of analytical and visual enhancements.
The broadcast will feature for the first time, Field 360° - a virtual field model, powered by an AI enabled live player tracking engine which provides viewers with an immersive experience. This technology, used to shine a light on fielding positions and strategies, has been developed by Quidich Innovation Labs with creative direction from ICC TV.
DRS services including ball tracking and edge detection will be provided by Hawk-Eye, and the graphics system will be supplemented by in-depth cricket data analytics provided by Cricviz.
The drone camera provided by Level Horizons will provide stunning views of all venues and surrounding geography. There will be a roving buggy cam as well for a ground level view, while Spidercam will provide an aerial view of proceedings.
ICC TV will also produce a host of additional content off the field of play, to be distributed to its media rights partners via the ICC TV Content Delivery Service. This content will include daily player profiles, team features, match previews, venue features and other behind the scenes content, getting fans up close and personal with all the action around the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup.
The ICC’s Global broadcast partner Disney Star and its licensees will broadcast each match live on a global basis. In India, the Star Sports network will distribute the English world feed across all matches. In addition to the world feed, Star Sports will broadcast the tournament in Hindi, Tamil, Telugu and Kannada and digital platform Disney+ Hotstar will host each match live.
In host nation Australia, all matches will be live on Fox Sports and Kayo with Australia matches and selected other fixtures available via Nine, 9GEM and 9Now. Meanwhile, in New Zealand, Sky Sport will be providing live coverage via their linear channels and the Sky Go platform. Cricket fans from the USA can enjoy the action via the ESPN+ app and on Willow TV, which will also be broadcasting in Canada. In the UK, Sky Sports will be providing live coverage via their Sky Sports Cricket and Sky Sports Main Event channels, which are also available via subscription on the Sky Go app and NOW.
Non-live digital coverage will again be made available via the ICC Facebook and Instagram channels, with in-play clips and highlights clips in the Indian subcontinent and five-minute highlights, which will be available globally. In addition, BBC Sport (UK) and Spark Sport (NZ) will also provide coverage via short-form in-play and highlights clips.
Sports Entertainment Network Radio (Australia & New Zealand), ABC (Australia) and BBC (UK) will broadcast commentaries live from matches venues across their FM channels. In India, Prasar Bharati will be broadcasting in Hindi across FM/AM and Digital 2 Sports will showcase audio-only coverage on their digital platform. Shamal Radio (Pakistan), Radio 4 (UAE) and Asiatec (Bangladesh) will also be carrying live commentary in core cricket markets.
