Tag:

Sri Lanka

Other Sports

Cricket: Thoughts on Seven securing a last-minute deal to broadcast Australia’s away tour of Sri Lanka including two One Day International matches early next month

by Sports Benches

Wow! We couldn’t see this coming as the Seven Network today by surprise has just acquired rights to air the upcoming Australian Tour of Sri Lanka with Two tests and two One Day Internationals.

As we all know, Fox Sports has usually been the home of overseas cricket for a long time since they’re a Pay TV network other than the odd away Ashes tour to England (next one coming up in mid-2027) currently held by the Nine Network. 

But when it comes to deals involving the lower tier Test nations other than the Top 5-6, they don’t seem to be really interested even though it doesn’t cost them a lot of money to air those games. 

So there you go, it’s a rare win from Seven who would want to take advantage of their investment with the game having got what they wanted following their contract renewal two years ago of the home Summer rights, especially with the upcoming one-off Sri Lanka tour deal being financially and time-sense attractive when games start from around 3pm AEDT.

Actually, all of the upcoming four games will be begin & finish off during the day too which is also a plus too by Seven.

Now what’s next? Since they’ve got the one-off Women’s Ashes Test happening at the same time of the 1st Test while we are still waiting for Steve Smith to finally achieve his 10,000th Test run milestone, there’s going to be rounds of channel switching along the way from the main channel to 7mate. The same will occur throughout this next tour when Seven has to be busy as usual during weekdays & weeknights with normal programming. 

But at least, it’s all free-to view both on the Tele as well as 7plus online as sure 7plus will have mini match highlights and full replays too at any time on-demand.

And finally, what is Seven going to do with their broadcast presentation? Will they just take the World Feed along with sending 1-2 commentators of their own? 

For example, Matthew Hayden and/or Justin Langer? Yeah, maybe – we’ll definitely hear the world feed commentary from the ground rather than Seven having to make their own unless it’s the away Ashes Tour (they have no rights there).

But what about their own studio coverage whether if it’s in Sydney or Melbourne or even on-site since Seven has the rights to do so? Also maybe, but will assume it will be done back home if that’s what they want as we’ll wait & see.

Here’s the schedule below:

  • 1st Test: Wednesday 29th January-Sunday 2nd February
  • 2nd Test: Thursday 6th February-Monday 10th February
  • 1st ODI: Wednesday 12th February
  • 2nd ODI: Friday 14th February

As said, it’s an odd deal in the making to see an Australian away cricket match on free-to-air outside of the Ashes tour in England. But with Fox Sports appeared to be disinterested when it comes to deals with lower Test nations as they don’t come long-term, we could see more of this for sure at the hands of CA’s other free-to-air broadcaster by the Seven Network/7plus.

Again, if Seven was to air the away series v South Africa early next year or against India in early 2027 for example, then they have to consult with Fox in order to gain access as a sub-licensing deal. 

It could be interesting indeed especially with the Aussies who hasn’t played any Test matches in South Africa since the sandpaper gate aka ball-tampering scandal back in 2018 while they still haven’t won a Test series v India over in India since 2004. 

If Sky Sport in NZ can do it with two-hour highlights for their Sky Open free-to-air channel when the Blackcaps were flying high on India’s home turf a few months ago last year, why can’t Seven through their strong relationship with Fox? 

Food for thought.

0 comment
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
Other Sports

Sri Lanka beat England on what has been another Cricket World Cup match between the two teams with an easy eight wicket win

by Sports Benches

What now for England after they lost three in a row including overnight v Sri Lanka as well as four out of their last five matches so far in the 2023 Cricket World Cup. They might have the toss advantage at the start by electing to bat first, but it’s been extremely underwhelming to say unfortunately. A mix of run-outs & mis-timed hits saw them being wiped out so fast within 35 overs for 156 before England weren’t able to stop the Sri Lankans from defending their low-scoring target of 157 with a huge eight wicket loss.

England knows how to get the ball rolling as seen in both innings spells. However, they have been stuck in a rut, particularly on the field including some of their top-order batters & they’ve haven’t shown anything like this as of late. We’ve only seen 1-2 players who can bat well in the other half batting card, such as Mark Wood last game with his 17-ball 43 v South Africa (forgot to give him a shoutout there) & Ben Stokes last night also with his 73-ball 43 display here v Sri Lanka. As said, it’s up to the on-field side of things (bowling & fielding) now in order to get back on track – which would really benefit the batters that would win them games. And in the contrary, Sri Lanka’s on-field performance has been brilliant before they got themselves home at their own pace where the communication was there that led to some good direct hits/stumping, appeals and catches amongst the scalps they’ve accrued across a few bowlers from overnight. Shoutout to Lahiru Kumara who wiped the English middle order with three wickets on hand, particularly Ben Stokes. With the bat, Pathum Nissanka has remained calm & composed as always from the beginning with a 83-ball 77 that includes the winning runs, while Sadeera Samarawickrama also did well to help bring the Sri Lankans home with Nissanka after he too scored so quickly at 65 runs not out off 54 balls.

England’s next game is against the in-form India side this Sunday which is going to be extremely difficult whereas the Sri Lankans hope to keep their World Cup semis hope alive when they battle v Afghanistan the next day on Monday.

0 comment
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
Other Sports

Australia’s capture of both Sri Lankan Openers has eventually nailed down their first win of the 2023 Cricket World Cup by five wickets

by Sports Benches

We thought it would be a big Sri Lankan day in the middle following a great start through the first 20 odd overs with the bat, but the Aussies have turned themselves around though from 157-2 to restricting them to 209 before they were able to bring it home by recording their first win of the 2023 Cricket World Cup by 5 wickets.

Great seeing Pat Cummins pile up the two early wickets off SL’s two opening batters who gave the Aussies a hard time until he eventually found his team a huge breakthrough before the rewards were helped by their own fielders. Plus, also huge shoutout from spinner Adam Zampa with his four wicket haul (4fer for 47) by wiping off the rest as well. With the bat, I’m glad that not one but two players from WA have proved me wrong today in both opener Mitchell Marsh & keeper Josh Inglis, whom they’ve backed up their own half-centuries. Let’s hope they can keep on shining, especially when there’s still some top teams to tick off like Pakistan this Friday followed by New Zealand & then England over the next 10-14 days.

And as said, Sri Lanka has built a nice opening stand with Passum Nissanka & Kusal Perera in there. Sadly, SL just couldn’t bridge the 2nd half of their batting shift where the good runs they’ve got has saw them being locked out by the Aussies to 209. Speaking of starts, they too were not bad with the ball when it comes to these early wickets. But again, it would’ve been better if they didn’t get out early too much & SL follow up their good opening stand by keep on scoring more runs along with another good batting stand (either one – top or middle order) that would’ve seen them safeguard their lead between the 300-350 run mark. The search is still on to try & register their first World Cup win as SL’s next game is against the Netherlands this Saturday.

0 comment
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
Other Sports

STOINIS HEROICS GETS AUSSIES UP AND RUNNING

by Admin

By Shenol M.Wilson

It was an exciting day for the Aussies at Perth stadium as they were up for the challenge, not only to beat Asian Champions but also to recover their Net run rate after a huge loss with Kiwis. The pitch and conditions looked perfect for their pace attack.

Aussie captain won the toss and asked the Sri Lankan team to bat first. Unlike the New Zealanders, Sri Lankan top order came up with steady and slow start and they were able to get only 60 odd runs in first 10 overs. They were trying to up their gears but the consistent loss of wickets shorten their way to the par score as they were only able to get 157 runs for the loss of 6 wickets at the end of 20 overs.

Ever reliable Pathum Nissanka was the highest scorer for Lankan Lions and Charith Asalanka made them get to a responsible score with his knock of 38 runs of just 25 balls. Five bowlers of Aussie line up chipped in with 1 wicket and economical Michelle Starc just gave 23 runs off his 4 overs by taking a wicket.

Coming up for the chase, Australians were trying to get there as soon as possible in order to up their Net run rate. It was not that easy with the quality of Sri Lankan bowling attack in the first few overs as David Warner was dismissed just for 11 runs by Maheesh Theekshana. Mitchell Marsh and Aaron Finch were also finding it difficult to time as Sri Lankans were doing their bowling and fielding well.Maxwell tried his best to get them out of trouble with 23 off just 12 balls before he was dismissed with a superb catch by Ashen Bandara. Aussies were struggling a bit again when Maxwell was dismissed when the score was 89 in 13th over.

After all Marcus Stoinis arrived to the crease and he had other ideas as he just threw his bat around to deliver an amazing knock of 59 runs off just 18 balls. He was hitting it to all the parts of the grounds as they were able to get it all done in just 16.3 overs which helped them to recover their Net run rate after what happened on Saturday night. Highest scorer for the Aussies was Stoinis as he showed again why he is one of the best power hitters in the world. Aaron Finch who was struggling all through the inning was able to be there at the end being not out and he was able to be the real backbone of the run chase irrespective of all the chaos.

This run chase was able to get the Aussie run rate improved up to -1.555 and it is very important for them to keep up with this momentum.Aussies will meet their Ashes opponent England on Friday and it will be a huge challenge again for them with the kind of performance English players were able to deliver recently. On the other hand, Sri Lankans will meet New Zealanders on Saturday evening where they will have to up their game and deliver.

0 comment
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail