I just saw some details about Nine’s upcoming Ashes coverage over in England that will begin from Mid-June right through to about the end of July or first week of August according to The Daily Telegraph’s Phil Rothfield.
We know that Roz Kelly will always be front & centre to anchor the hosting duties since she’s very well recognised in the Cricketing community via her husband & former International cricketer for South Africa in Morne Morkel.
That’s an easy decision there, having seen Roz host last year’s T20 World Cup here & will be expected to see her talk cricket again from their Sydney studio later this October-November for the 50-Over World Cup that will take place over in India.
There’s no word yet on who will be joining Roz on the panel back here to provide analysis & occasional in-studio commentary.
But longtime stalwart Mark “Tubby” Taylor will be on-site over in England for all five Tests where not only he will link back to Roz virtually at times with freelance reporter Louise Ransome who is now based in London, but he will also be part of the Sky Sports commentary team alongside Seven’s Ricky Ponting where Nine will be picking up their feed from there.
So at least we will get to see some nostalgic vibes every time Tubby gets his turn behind the mic, having done so last time in June last year when he commentated the first Test for Sky between England v New Zealand at Lord’s in London. But that’s because Tubby only came for that occasion due to Sky paying tribute to the much-loved Shane Warne while they opened the Shane Warne commentary box in his honour who sadly passed away a year ago due to a heart attack.
I guess we will have to wait & see who will be joining Roz in the lead-up before the event as Australia looks to dominate the Urn once again on their home turf, but it won’t be easy though when England has the dynamic Brendon McCullum onboard (and yes he’s a former Black Cap too) as their red-ball Head Coach.
Post UK Ashes Tour & 50-Over World Cup 2023
Then it remains to be seen what will happen after this year with no cricket content being lined-up right now since Seven & Fox are staying on with Cricket Australia for another 7-8 years, so around 2030/31 perhaps before the next cycle of domestic rights are up for grabs once again.
We could see Nine staying on with Fox for the ICC content such as the 50-Over & T20 World Cups whom they have been sharing for a very long time. But I don’t see much hope of staying on because not they only ditched the summer of cricket for Australian Open Tennis a few years ago, but Nine would also like to go after most sports content that is up for market without needing a partner & have it all on the one place thanks to their own paid streaming service now in Stan Sport.
That’s where they could go all-in for the English cricket rights where Nine can chuck it in most of the content every year on Stan Sport while they get to retain the UK Ashes Tour on FTA for another few years. Plus, they can also get the NZ cricket rights too as an alternative to our annual home Summer, but only put it on Stan Sport since it doesn’t generate much interest and viewers back here.
Plus, we could see some T20 cricket at the Olympics if the IOC accepts them as an Olympic Sport in the next few years after Nine/Stan has regained the rights off Seven lately that will run from Paris next year right through to the Brisbane Summer Games in 2032.
For now, the product of this game is going to depend on the quality & duration which has fallen massively over the last 5-10 years. But never say never as Nine may still always love cricket after all, particularly Tests despite losing the rights.
However, the way they operate with business has to come first where switching over to Tennis while seeing the quality & duration of Test Cricket decline has been a smart move.
And they haven’t regret one single thing about it so far ever since.
