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Test Cricket News: Nine finalises their UK 2023 Ashes coverage line-up ahead of the First Test starting on Friday 16th June

by Sports Benches

Here it is!! Nine has just finalised their UK Ashes line-up this morning ahead of the upcoming five-Test showdown that will begin in three weeks’ time from Friday 16th June. 

Roz Kelly will be back to anchor the chair at their studios in Sydney as always who has a great connection with the game through none other than her husband & former South African fast bowler Morne Morkel (he won’t be joining Roz though since they have responsibilities to look after themselves & their two boys as a family together). 

While we all know that Mark “Tubby” Taylor will be on the ground to commentate for host broadcaster Sky Sports just for this tour while contributing to some part of Nine’s coverage on-site, it’s great to see fellow longtime Nine cricket pundit Ian Healy return as one of their few studio analysts alongside Roz. 

Now he might not be everyone’s favourite person to listen to as most cricket fans in Australia would know during Nine’s final years with the game back in 2013-18, but he’s a great keeper back in his day particularly to the late Shane Warne on occasions with his leg spin – who will provide some great insight while reuniting with Tubbs virtually along the way. 

Plus, Callum Ferguson (ex-Batsman) & Steven O’Keefe (ex-left arm spinner) are back following their contribution to Nine’s T20 World Cup coverage in Australia last year. And we welcome former big hitting batsman Aaron Finch into the team, having done some commentary stints following his retirement lately elsewhere. 

So that rounds up Nine’s studio side in Sydney as it’s likely that a few of these pundits being mentioned there will be in rotation & may not appear in every Test throughout the six-week tour since they’re all freelance unlike Tubby & Roz. Speaking of freelance, Louise Ransome will be reporting on the ground alongside Tubby who now lives in London & also has a great knowledge of sports too. Hope we will get to see more of Louise later this year for Nine/Stan Sport during the upcoming Rugby World Cup this September-October in France where we could see her reunite with main commentator Sean Maloney as well as ex-Wallabies players Drew Mitchell & of course Stephen Hoiles.

Nine’s UK Ashes line-up isn’t complete just yet when it comes to the women’s ashes line-up. Rugby League reporter Emma Lawrence will be up all night at times alongside recently retired Rachel Haynes & Ellyse Villani, both of whom will provide punditry with Emma also from their studios in Sydney. I do wish one of them (Haynes or Villani) could join the men’s coverage since nearly all of the other main cricket coverage these days do involve 1-2 female on-air talent, but they got Roz onboard anyway as hoping there will not be too many complaints over the next month and a half.

Then moving forward after The UK Ashes tour, Nine only has the Men’s 50-Over Cricket World Cup coming up as their FTA partner alongside Foxtel later this October-November over in India where we will likely see a similar studio line-up like the T20 World Cup last year of Roz, Tubby, Steven & Callum. After that, we’ll just have to wait & see since the Domestic summer rights are locked up by Seven & Fox until at least 2031. We could see Nine giving up the ICC rights to Seven if Fox stays on or maybe go all-in now they’ve got Stan Sport now as their own paid streaming subsidiary depending on the length of the next TV deal whether if it’s 4 of 8 years. Otherwise, we could see Nine airing another UK Ashes tour for 2027 while looking to steal the annual England cricket content away including The Hundred T20 comp from Foxtel & have it aired only on Stan Sport.

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Thoughts on Nine Network’s upcoming UK Ashes coverage with their on-air line-up that will be begin later this June

by Sports Benches


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.

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Looking ahead of the Australian Test Cricket Team’s upcoming away tours to India shortly and England later this year following their unbeaten 2022/23 home summer

by Sports Benches

What a summer it has been as the 2022/23 Australian cricket season has just came to a close last night where the Perth Scorchers have once again became the champions of the Big Bash League following their win by five wickets in the Final with only four balls to spare v Brisbane Heat.

We start off with an unbeaten home Test Cricket campaign for the Aussies against West Indies and South Africa, even though they arrived here as weaker opponents. 

Having collected all four wins out of five (two each v WI & SA) plus just the one draw (v SA), it will be interesting to see what they have on offer when Australia will fly overseas for a four-test series against India shortly starting this Thursday that will go right through to early March. Then they begin their Ashes defence on English soil v England later this year from mid-June to August 1 & after that, they will be back here again for three Tests v Pakistan throughout this December before facing West Indies once more for two Tests in early January 2024.

Usman Khawaja is superb as always as an opener who still has some energy left in the tank at 36; For Dave Warner though, the jury is still out following his rough patch of form lately apart from the double ton he scored during the Boxing Day Test. 

The other top & middle-order plus the keeper spots (Marnus Labuschagne at 3, Steve Smith at 4, Travis Head at 5 & Alex Carey WK at 7) are covered except the No.6 position in which we’ll come back a bit later. Although their bowling line-up may depend on injuries, as well as these flat tracks that favours the spinners more in the sub-continent . I could see Pat Cummins & Scott Boland leading the attack (with Mitchell Starc possibly coming back from injury for the 2nd Test) alongside Nathan Lyon & Mitchell Swepson or Todd Murphy (two main spinners).

We could also see Cam Green coming back from his finger injury depending on the recovery as a specialist batter without needing to bowl a bit. If not, we could see more of Matt Renshaw or even the returning Peter Handscomb, who has been in great form as always at state level & can play the spinners well, but the jury is out if he can be consistent again alongside his stance at Test level.

We’ll wait and see if they can finally take home the series on Indian soil for the first time since November 2004, as well as fend off an resurgent Brendon McCullum led-England Test side with another Ashes trophy to savour also on their home turf.

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Australia & South Africa shake hands with a draw as the Australian Home Test Cricket summer has now came to a close for the 2022-23 edition at the SCG today

by Sports Benches

The Australian home Test Cricket summer has now came to a close today for this 2022/23 edition at the Sydney Cricket Ground, with Australia trying to finish up the job ASAP after we missed out the entire Day 3 & first half of Day 4’s play yesterday due to extreme wet weather. 

Although there were some great moments moments along the way – such as when the Aussies bowled the Proteas all out for 255 in this 2nd innings spell that prevented SA from escaping the follow-on by only 21 runs; So does a 4fer from Josh Hazlewood who just returned to the starting XI a few days ago from injury.

However, it proved to be such a tall order other than dismissing Proteas’ skipper & opener Dean Elgar way early for yet another consecutive occasion, as the Aussies eventually ran out of time on the 5th & last day by settling a draw with SA.

We would’ve loved to see Usman Khawaja get his first-ever Test 200, but that will have to wait when heavy rain forced skipper Pat Cummins to move on for the sake of the team. He still has unfinished though in the opening role by looking to make up more records & consistent 50s/100s for another 3-4 years at age 35. 

Plus, hats off to the SA lower-order & even spinning pair from Simon Harmer (47 off 165 balls) & Keshav Maharaj for both staying in there v the challenging Australian bowlers. Harmer would’ve liked a Test 50 but his defending & the way he picks these bad balls has been brilliant all along, while Maharaj is more of a handy batter whenever possible by backing up his half-ton for an 81-ball 53.

Now that this home Test summer is done with Australia ended up undefeated of four wins (two each v West Indies & Proteas) and a draw, bring on the Australian Open Tennis starting on Monday 16th-Sunday 29th January.

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Play finally back underway on Day 4 of the 3rd Test at the SCG with Usman Khawaja’s unreal knock came to an end by just five runs shy of 200 before the Aussies get themselves going with the ball

by Sports Benches

We would’ve loved to see Usman Khawaja nail down his double ton at the Sydney Cricket Ground where he was just short of five runs (195 not out) – but having missed out a whole Day 3 and the first few hours of Day 4’s play due to rain – skipper Pat Cummins had no choice but to move on with a declaration of 475-4 for the Aussies not long before play was finally allowed by the umpires back on the field.

It was a great start by the Aussies who got rid of the Proteas’ Top 3 batters early with the ball. Although the likes of Temba Bavuma & Khaya Zondo held them back for a while, but two of the fast bowling cartel in Josh Hazlewood & Cummins found a way to dismiss these two batters; Bavuma was caught behind by Alex Carey for 35, while Cummins trapped Zondo with an LBW for 39 before the skipper got his 3rd scalp courtesy of a Steve Smith catch on keeper Kyle Verreynne at slip for 19.

Now the Aussies haven’t finished the Proteas 1st innings batting spell just yet on 149-6 right now going into the fifth & final day tomorrow, when the towering Marco Jansen is hanging in there as tough as nails so far on 10* off 33 for the Proteas alongside spinner Simon Harmer who is currently on 6* off 18 at No.8.

Australia is doing everything possible though to get the job done ASAP & make the Proteas bat again via the follow-on – even though the chances of winning this final Test are getting slimmer with a draw being most likely due to rain. But having regained the series v SA back home already last week at the MCG, they are still set for a 2-0 clean sweep before the Australian Test Summer is done for the 2022/23 edition.

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Australia continues to extend their 1st innings run tally on Day 2 off the back of fine displays from Usman Khawaja, Steve Smith & Travis Head

by Sports Benches

What a day that is for the Aussies on Day 2 with the willow on hand at 475-4 right now going into Day 3 tomorrow. 

They left off from Day 1 yesterday on 147-2 where we saw not only one but two fantastic stars who each scored their Test hundreds in Usman Khawaja & Steve Smith. It was great seeing Smith start the next day by padding up before making a huge impact, having closed his latest Test ton (104) through a caught & bowl effort by Keshav Maharaj for SA, while Khawaja still hung in there with the help of Travis Head on 195* as he’s only five runs away from securing a double ton at Test level.

Plus, we saw another tremendous show from Head where he continues to pile up consistent test quality runs at No.5, before he was caught at the deep backward point by a sub fielder (off Kagiso Rabada’s ball) when trying to clear a huge maximum (six runs) for a quick fire 59-ball 70. 

Now the weather may not be promising with expected showers that is likely to halt play tomorrow, but we’d love to see Khawaja get his first-ever Test double ton before Australia look to declare by bringing their bowlers in. 

And it’s been a tough whole day on the field for the Proteas (SA), as they have a huge batting assignment to catch up at some point in this final Test. Although rain delays may go their way when it comes to preventing a 3-0 Australian series victory – even though a win is extremely unlikely with the possibility of a draw, but they still didn’t do anything good enough to stop Khawaja, Smith & Head early by letting them slip away in their tracks.

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Labuschagne & Khawaja partnership puts Australia closer to 150 on Day 1 in Sydney while Anrich Nortje was fiery with the ball for South Africa

by Sports Benches

Mother Nature may have stopped play for some time on the opening day of the New Year’s/Pink Test at the SCG in Sydney, but the Aussies are off to a great start with the bat on 147-2 at the moment – thanks to their winning toss beforehand. 

Although it was a shame not to see Dave Warner keep up from his mighty double-ton (1st innings) last week in Melbourne after being caught by Marco Jansen (off Anrich Nortje for 10) at 1st slip, it’s great to see both Usman Khawaja (Other Opener) & Marnus Labuschagne (No.3) form a really good partnership in the middle together that helped the Aussies work their way past the three-figure mark, having both reached their own Test 50s.

In between another rain-delay & early end of Day 1 at stumps, Marnus was lucky to survive the 1st time on 70 runs when Simon Harmer thought he got him out at slip, but then the umpires double checked it on the screen as the ball didn’t carry straight onto his hands that saw the bounce fell so short. However, Marnus didn’t escape this time not long later off the back from another excellent Nortje delivery – where he too was caught behind by Kyle Verreynne for 79 off 151 balls. 

I’ve gotta say that Nortje made the batters play when he not only produced some brilliant speed but he also drew these good areas, so Warner & Marnus gets trapped with the help of his fielders along the way. Really good stuff as the Proteas look to use the overcast/wet weather as their advantage going into the 2nd day’s play & try to wrap it up with the ball ASAP.

Meanwhile, Australia will look to hang in there & go the extra mile with Steve Smith up next to start the day at No.4 alongside Khawaja who is currently on 54*.

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An outlook on the next Australian cricket rights contract with Seven & Fox both confirmed to be staying on for another seven years from 2024/25-2030/31

by Sports Benches

The next Australian cricket media rights deal is all but confirmed for another couple of years (2024/25-2030/31) worth $1.4 billion ($210 million per year), with Fox Cricket & Seven staying on as the sport’s official broadcast partners.

They have both been home of the Australian Cricket summer since the 2018/19 season in place of Nine (Test & white-ball Internationals) & Ten (Big Bash & Women’s Big Bash) respectively after Nine walked away from Cricket following an illustrious four-decade stranglehold in favour of the Australian Open Tennis at the time, while Ten were thrown under the bus by CA also at the same time and then again during this next rights deal discussions in recent times.

There’s nothing much change out of this next agreement but only a few minor tweaks such as:

  • Seven gaining some streaming rights & put it on their free 7Plus platform for the first time (beginning from 2024/25) with thanks to Fox – who currently holds all streaming access right now through their paid Kayo Sports product.
  • The length of the Big Bash games being reduced to back to where it was until the 2017/18 season from 61 to 43 starting from the 2024/25 season (BBL14), with Seven airing the majority of the season (33 of 43 matches) while Fox gets to air every game including 10 exclusive games. Although, all three finals matches will be guaranteed to be simulcast on both Fox & Seven.
  • Plus, the International white-ball games will not go anywhere exclusively on Fox.
  • And Seven will drop the court case hoping that the Big Bash will improve in the same way Network 10 (previous rights holder) did in the past with just 40-43 matches.

Network 10/Paramount 

First of all, it’s been another slap to the face to Paramount/Network 10 who tried their best despite putting in a really big offer of $1.5 billion over 6-7 years. It would’ve been great to see them sub-licence the Test matches to Nine or even Seven, while airing the rest (International white-ball games, Big Bash, Women’s Big Bash & domestic cricket) with a mix of 10 & on their paid Paramount + streaming platform. 

But then they either wanted all or nothing without having to share with anyone by themselves. Unfortunately, an unproven streaming service that still lacks a pause/rewind feature & a free-to-air network that doesn’t have the audience & quality content to compete with Nine, Seven & even ABC after experiencing their worst ratings year in 2022, has put CA off by sticking with the incumbents. It’s a shame really but Paramount has gotta do something now in order to improve 10 or else they may put them up for sale in the long-run.

Nine Network

It would’ve also been great to see them return to at least airing Tests & even some BBL for the first time with Fox, having seen them discuss about forming a partnership again instead of Seven at one point. 

Although they would like to have Tennis & Cricket all on the one summer, but then they would rather have the whole lot of whichever sports rights Nine picks up from now on – such as the Rugby Union & Olympic Games – by splitting some paid content via Stan Sport’s streaming platform while simulcasting some Free content across the screens of Nine & their free 9Now streaming product.

So they’re not missing much with cricket right now, especially when no one from their last commentary team cohort is currently popping up on Seven or Fox right now following the tragic death of Shane Warne (Fox) early last year.

Seven/Fox

Congratulations to Seven & Fox on retaining the rights for another seven seasons. Fox & Kayo Sports will continue to keep their customers onboard all-year round that begins with the summer of cricket followed by the winter AFL/NRL seasons and then back again. Plus, the way they deliver their innovative tech alongside the Ultra HD/4K pictures is top-notch as well which is not going away anytime soon.

And on Seven, they finally got what they wanted. Not only they will pay somewhat less ($65 million per annum) than the one they’re currently paying right now at $82 million per season, but they will also give the Big Bash another crack in exactly Network 10’s shoes with reduced games & seeing more star player availabilities that would hopefully get the value back up again like it once was before. Plus, viewers who don’t have a subscription can finally be allowed to stream games for the first time on 7Plus from 2024/25 onwards, which is another factor Seven is benefitting out of this next deal. 

Although Seven is happy broadcasting Tests which reflects a really good commentary crew, it remains to see if the quality of the Big Bash product improves again. If not, expect another court battle by trying to get out of jail with a possibility of terminating the contract before Foxtel may look to Nine or even ABC or SBS to step up in their place.

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Australia regain the series v South Africa at home for the first time in a long time after an easy win at the MCG

by Sports Benches

There it is! Australia just have completed a comfortable Test match win by an innings and 182 runs at the MCG, as South Africa are all out for 204. They also won the series 2-0 for the first time on home soil since 2005/06, with one game left to go ahead of the New Year’s/Pink Test at the SCG in Sydney on January 4-8. 

Good to see the fielders overcame a series of dropped catches earlier on after they picked up from 13-1 at the start of Day 4 – which not only gave the seamers a sigh of relief when they bowl at their best for them to be prepared for each catching/run out opportunity, but they also upped their game with 1-2 direct hit wickets as well.

Although, the Aussies couldn’t get around Temba Bavuma for a while with his half-ton (65 runs off 144 balls); So does Kyle Verreynne – who scored another quickfire shift for a 40-ball 33 before he was trapped by Scott Boland with an LBW.

However, Australia eventually get the job done where their main spinner Nathan Lyon got rid of the other Proteas batting half with three wickets, while we saw a wonderful finish to this Test Match from part-time leggie Steve Smith after he clean bowled Lungi Ngidi (19 runs off 21 balls) through the gate.

Now there has been some good players from both teams that put up a really good show here at the MCG. First of all, Anrich Nortje was really fiery as always with the ball for SA – including when he busted Cam Green’s finger off a speedy 145 km delivery. Although Green was brave enough to bat through the pain for the next day with his 50, but then that puts him out of action for a few weeks. 

At the end of the day though, Hats off to Dave Warner & Alex Carey, both of whom were outstanding with the bat that got Australia way ahead by more than a country mile, before they got away easily without Green on the field, as well as seeing Starc bowl with one of his injured fingers also like Green. We might be losing these two stars for a while, but we could showcase some young talent from Perth like Lance Morris & Aaron Hardie to wrap up this Test summer.

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Australia are one step closer towards regaining the series v Proteas after Alex Carey’s breakthrough with his maiden Test ton on Day 3 of the 2nd Test

by Sports Benches

We’re just gone past three days of the Boxing Day Test with Australia now have nine wickets left to win, while the Proteas need a huge miracle to turn things around (currently trailing by 371 runs to level the scores & even build a huge near impossible run target) – with Sarel Erwee on 7* & Theunis De Bruyn on 6* going into Day 4 tomorrow at 13-1. 

First of all, it’s great to see Travis Head secure his 50, but then Anrich Nortje got away with back-to-back wickets shortly afterwards – including denying Dave Warner the chance to surpass Joe Root’s record (218* v India – Feb 21’) for the highest 100th Test score with the bat by just 19 runs for 200. He’s been the best opposition player so far – who has tremendous execution with the line and length that traps both Head & Warner through the gate.

However, Nortje’s heroics became short-lived thanks to keeper Alex Carey with the bat. He was outstanding on top of his usual keeping & catching skills, having converted his 50 into a maiden Test hundred on 111 at the MCG; He can also make up quickfire runs as long as Carey kept it simple downtown alongside the meat of the full bat face presentation. 

Meanwhile, good to hear that Cameron Green is okay after he was hit on a finger by a speedy Nortje delivery (145 clicks) yesterday. Although he may not be playing a part with the ball again for this Test – which is a pity after his maiden 5fer display two days ago as he will need a few week’s recovery like Mitchell Starc with a similar injury after this – but he too played a really good half-knock not long before Australia declared for 575-8. 

And we round off the day with an early mark due to wet weather where Dean Elgar was caught behind by Carey’s gloves (off Pat Cummins) for a three-ball duck. Now the Aussies are only one step away from regaining the series v Proteas on home soil, as they can still get the job done  – both without the need to bat again, as well as the injured Cam Green.

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