Cricket coverage in the United Kingdom is concentrated on a single pay-TV partner for live video, with BBC radio providing the long-standing commentary tradition and a small selection of free-to-air highlights filling the rest of the calendar. The 2025-26 picture below covers England men’s and women’s international cricket, domestic county cricket, the Hundred, and ICC tournaments.
Sky Sports Cricket — the home of live video
Sky Sports Cricket carries the bulk of live cricket video in the UK. The rights deal with the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) runs through 2028 and covers:
- All England men’s Test matches at home
- All England men’s ODI and T20I matches at home
- All England women’s matches at home
- The County Championship (selected matches)
- The Royal London One-Day Cup
- The T20 Blast
- The Hundred (men’s and women’s)
Sky Sports access is available through Sky’s direct subscription, NOW (Sky’s streaming offshoot at £34.99 per month for the Sports Pass), or Virgin Media and BT TV bundles that carry the Sky Sports channels. Sky Sports Cricket is the dedicated cricket channel; multi-feed options on the Sky app let viewers switch between commentary teams and pick alternative camera angles during major matches.
International tours where England plays away — in Australia, India, South Africa, the West Indies — are also held by Sky Sports under the ICC bilateral rights arrangements, which means UK viewers watch the Ashes Down Under, the India tours, and South African summers all on the same Sky channels.
BBC Test Match Special — radio commentary
Test Match Special (TMS) on BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra and BBC Sounds carries ball-by-ball radio commentary on every England Test, ODI, and T20I home match, as well as Ashes tours and major ICC events. TMS is free at the point of access — no subscription required, no geographic restriction within the UK — and is the cricket commentary institution with a history stretching back to 1957.
For listeners abroad, TMS is geo-restricted via BBC Sounds, but the BBC offers a worldwide commentary feed on certain marquee matches through the BBC World Service.
BBC Sport — highlights and Hundred coverage
The BBC holds limited live cricket rights for the modern calendar. Specifically:
- Two men’s Hundred matches per round broadcast live on BBC television and iPlayer
- One women’s Hundred match per round broadcast live on BBC
- Highlights packages for England men’s home internationals — usually a 60- or 75-minute summary on BBC Two the evening of each match day
The BBC’s Hundred coverage is on free-to-air television, which makes the Hundred the only domestic cricket competition with regular FTA live broadcast in the UK in 2025-26. Highlights of Sky-broadcast matches typically appear on BBC iPlayer the morning after each day’s play.
ITV — Hundred and select events
ITV has carried a smaller cricket profile in recent years, with the network’s most consistent involvement being Hundred highlights packages on ITV4 and the ITVX streaming app. Major ICC events have occasionally rotated between Sky and free-to-air partners; the 2025 ICC Champions Trophy aired primarily on Sky with selected highlights on ITV.
ICC tournaments — Sky and select FTA
The major ICC tournaments — the Men’s and Women’s Cricket World Cup, the T20 World Cup, the Champions Trophy, and the World Test Championship — air on Sky Sports Cricket in the UK under the ICC rights deal. Coverage typically includes:
- Every match live on Sky Sports Cricket and the Sky Sports main channel during marquee fixtures
- Highlights on BBC Sport for select ICC finals
- Streaming through Sky Go and NOW for Sky subscribers
The ICC’s separate rights deal in India (Star Sports) and Australia (Foxtel/Kayo) means UK viewers see different commentary teams than viewers in those markets watching the same matches.
Domestic county cricket — Sky and ECB.tv
The County Championship and other domestic competitions split between Sky Sports Cricket (selected fixtures, particularly Championship Division One marquee matches) and ECB.tv, the England and Wales Cricket Board’s direct subscription service. ECB.tv covers a wider slate of county fixtures across all formats and competitions — Championship, Royal London One-Day Cup, T20 Blast group stages, and the Second XI Championship.
ECB.tv is £19.99 for the season, single match purchases at £4.99 each. Coverage quality varies by venue, with marquee matches at Lord’s, the Oval, and Old Trafford getting full multi-camera production while smaller grounds receive a single-camera webcast.
Match windows and time slots
UK cricket viewing windows depend on where the match is played:
- Home Tests — five-day matches running from late May through September. Play starts 11:00 BST and typically runs to 18:00 BST with breaks for lunch and tea.
- Home ODIs and T20Is — day-night matches starting 14:00 BST (ODI) or 18:30 BST (T20).
- Ashes in Australia — overnight viewing for UK fans, with play running roughly 00:00 to 07:00 GMT during the Australian summer.
- India tours — early-morning UK kickoff, with Test play starting 04:00 to 04:30 GMT.
- Caribbean tours — afternoon and evening UK time, with play starting roughly 14:00 to 16:00 GMT.
Sky Sports Cricket runs full-coverage of overseas tours including overnight commentary, with replays scheduled in UK prime time for viewers who prefer not to stay awake for live play.
The cheapest legal cricket schedule
For UK viewers who want the full international and domestic calendar:
- Sky Sports access is essential for live video. NOW Sports Pass at £34.99/month is the cheapest route if you only want cricket during the home summer (May-September).
- BBC Test Match Special is free for ball-by-ball radio commentary.
- ECB.tv at £19.99 per season covers the broader county calendar.
- BBC iPlayer for free Hundred matches and highlights.
A viewer who watches only the home summer can budget roughly £140 (4 months of NOW Sports Pass) plus the £19.99 ECB.tv subscription, plus free BBC coverage. A year-round Sky Sports subscription is the route for fans who want Ashes tours and overseas series in addition to home internationals.
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