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Amazon Prime’s upcoming 2024 ICC Men’s T20 Cricket World Cup coverage for Australia

by Sports Benches

As we all know, Amazon Prime is now your home of the ICC cricket tournaments here in Australia at least over the next four years until the end of the 2027 50-Over World Cup in South Africa including the upcoming T20 World Cup across the West Indies and USA starting next Sunday on the 2nd June between Canada v USA in Dallas, Texas. So no free-to-air or even Foxtel involved in the meantime where fans would have to pay $9.99 a month or $79 a year in order to watch the games. Yes, it’s still possible that there will be free-to-air ICC Cricket World Cup content at some point thanks to the Government’s anti-siphoning laws but it can only be held in Australia or New Zealand and the next one won’t come out until the 2028 T20 World Cup edition. It remains to be seen if Amazon will still be covering this for another term by then which will require them to seek a free-to air partner or see Foxtel return onboard with Seven instead of Nine and/or on its own elsewhere with Kayo Freebies.

This is going to look different alongside a brand new theme like FIFA in Soccer where there will be four group stages with each be playing against them four times, then the top two will go play against the other best Top 2 group stage teams that will be split into two groups again during the 2nd round Super 8s for the first time in a long time since 2014 and then you got two semi-finals followed by a final to round off towards the end of June on the 29th. How Amazon’s coverage will look like is that they will air all the matches live straight off the world feed coverage by ICC TV with no in-house production & broadcast talent involved of their own at all even in Australian games since they don’t have a Sydney studio including on-demand full replays and both 10 minute & 25 minute highlights length packages too. Plus, in you case you missed the game by tuning in live midway during the match, you can also quickly look back from the start via a two-minute recap feature which is something new to try. I personally don’t have an Amazon Prime subscription but sure you can pause, rewind and fast forward as well.

Great to see the T20 World Cup enter the US even though it’s not full host rights where they will host some group stages across Florida, Texas and New York with the West Indies getting the majority including all of the Super 8s and Finals. They did beat Bangladesh twice so far during the warm-up games which was really good to hear 2-0, so let’s see if they can at least finish 3rd in Group A if not unexpectedly 2nd with a good group of players including ex-Blackcap Corey Anderson & head coach Stuart Law. But it’s all about the Aussies who hope to steal off yet another World Cup trophy off England albeit the T20 one for the second time after they won the 50-over tournament for the record sixth time late last year v hosts India.

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New Zealand surprise World Champions Australia with a Devon Conway special

by Admin

By Shenol. M Wilson

Hopes were high with Aussie fans earlier in the evening, going on to the first match of the world cup with their arch rivals New Zealand on their home soil. Kiwis had other ideas as they were able to get a thumping win over the World Champs and completely disarrayed every prediction going on into the match.

Aussie captain Aaron Finch won the important toss and decided to bowl first in a beautiful batting surface on the Sydney cricket ground as he thought it would get better with the match going on. Going on into the power play, New Zealand openers did not waste a second as they stormed in by throwing out their bats to world class Aussie pace attack. Finn Allen and Devon Conway were able to build up a 56 run opeing partnership before Allen got out for well-made 42 by using just 16 balls.

Ever reliable captain Kane Williamson steadied the ship as he was able to get a partnership with Conway before he got out to Adam Zampa when the score board was 125. Glenn Philips and Jimmy Neesham finished up the job with their cameos of 12 runs and 26 runs without wasting many balls as score board showed exactly 200 runs for just 3 wickets at the end of 20 overs. It was all about the anchor of the inning, Conway who was able to get 92 runs of just 58 balls, which was able to make him player of the match at the end of the game.

On the other hand, replying to this classy performance, Australian Batsmen never got going as they were bundled out for just 111 runs as Kiwis were able to win by 89 runs, which gave them the ability to get a huge advantage by having a such a good net run rate which might be crucial in this highly competitive group A.

Other than the sweep shots of Glenn Maxwell which were able to make him the highest scorer for the Aussies by getting 28 runs, there were nothing much to talk on individual scores in the Australian line up. Highly experienced pace duo Tim Southee and Trent Boult were able to share 3 wickets and 2 wickets respectively as Spinning all-rounder Mitchell Santner made his presence felt with 3 wickets in his bag.

This was completely a surprise for many around the world as Aussie were coming up to the tournament as one of the tournament favorites. Funny things do happen in cricket and this might be an awakening for the Aussies who can still be a force to reckon in coming up fixtures.

Aussies will meet the Asia Cup champions Sri Lanka on Tuesday and it will be a good chance for them to bounce back after what happened already. However ,they should not underestimate any opponent in the group A as they need not only to win, they will have to win big to stay in the competition.

Talking about Kiwis, they should be grateful with this win but still there is a huge mountain to climb as they move towards their first ever world cup hopes. New Zealand will meet Afghan blue tigers on Wednesday, which will be a good opportunity for them to steady their position on top.

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A rundown of Nine Network’s coverage of the 2022 Men’s T20 World Cup ahead of Australia v New Zealand tonight at the SCG

by Sports Benches

Well, it has been a while when watching white-ball International Cricket on Free TV, but Australia’s 2022 T20 World Cup campaign defense kicks off tonight at the Sydney Cricket Ground v New Zealand aka Black Caps.

And the Nine Network is onboard once again alongside Fox Cricket as the ICC’s Australian Free TV partner to bring you all the action with Australian games, a couple of other Super 12 games, two semi finals and the final to round off such a great next few weeks ahead of T20 World Cup on show.

I’m glad that Roz Kelly is onboard as the host who knows cricket so well, thanks to her husband who was also really good back in the his day with his fast bowling for South Africa in Morne Morkel. She also hosted Network 10’s Big Bash League coverage in the past before the rights were taken away by the Seven Network in 2018. But again, great to see Roz get the opportunity to present cricket on Nine after she came back here at the start of last year to host Rugby Union, Tennis, reading the sports news for Nine News Sydney (Fridays & Saturdays) and Sports Sunday.

It’s also good to see former Opening Batsman Mark “Tubby” Taylor provide his insights on the game once again as Nine’s primary cricket expert, even though they no longer hold the home summer matches anymore. But he’s still well liked here for over two decades since his retirement from the game, especially when he pops up on Sports Sunday for most of the year with Roz.

Although there isn’t any ex-Nine cricket faces currently hired on Seven and Fox Cricket these days following the tragic death of Shane Warne (Fox Cricket) earlier this year – as well as Michael Slater (Seven) whose life gone has upside down not long after Seven dismissed him over the past year due to budget constraints – but Nine will have two new analysts for this tournament in former spinner Steve O’Keefe and former batsman Callum Ferguson.

And oh, Michael Clarke may not have been picked up by Seven or Fox at all since Nine no longer airs the summer of cricket four years ago, but he will be on the world feed commentary nonetheless alongside Fox Cricket regulars in Mark Howard, Mel Jones and Adam Gilchrist.

It will be interesting to see what the cricketing community here will say about this commentary team in the next few weeks. I’m sure they will enjoy having a female presenting the coverage in Roz including Tubby and two fresh faces, before Nine will be back on the crease next year with The Ashes in England (Mid June-August) & the next Men’s 50-Over World Cup in India (October-November).

Then we’ll wait and see if Nine will get some help from Network 10 once the current domestic deal expires in 2024, so Nine can hopefully get Test Cricket back & 10 picks up the rest with the Big Bash & white-ball International Cricket – while keeping the Australian Open Tennis which has been working for them so well since they shocked Seven and the Australian sporting community in 2018/2019.

For now, enjoy the next few weeks of T20 World Cup Cricket. Plus, shout out to Ian Chappell who recently announced his retirement from commentary at age 78, after a illustrious spell for over a few decades following the end of his playing career with Nine and other International TV/Radio outlets.

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2021 T20 World Cup Final Match Report

by Admin

Australia won their first ever T20 world cup, after a commanding run chase over New Zealand.

The Aussies won the toss and decided to bowl, a decision that has become pretty common in this world cup due to the dew effect and how the pitch matures. It seemed to be a pretty smart decision early on, with Josh Hazelwood taking the wicket of semi final hero Darrell Mitchell, in the third over. The other opener Martin Guptill scored a slow 28 runs off of 35 balls, before he chipped one to Marcus Stoinis.

But from there on it was the Kiwi captain who took control of the innings. After a slow start, Kane Williamson exploded through the middle overs, hitting thirteen boundaries including three sixes in a spectacular innings. Williamson was able to score his 85 off of just 48 deliveries. It was a spectacular innings, that led New Zealand to finish on 172-4, after Jimmy Neesham smacked a six towards the close of play.

It meant Australia had the difficult task of chasing 173 on a slow pitch. Their run chase was made a lot more difficult when they lost captain Aaron Finch for just five runs in the third over. But from there, David Warner and Mitchell Marsh put on the match winning partnership of 92, before Warner was bowled out by Trent Boult.

While Australia came into the tournament with some incredible batsmen like David Warner, Steve Smith, Glenn Maxwell and Aaron Finch, it was ten year veteran Mitchell Marsh who provided the match winning performance. Coming in with Australia down 15-1 after a slow start, Marsh provided a controlled but impressive innings which led his side to victory.

Marsh had been dropped in the run up to the tournament, but was reinstated into the team as the tournament began, and provided the most important innings of his career in the final. Marsh hit some beautiful shots before Glenn Maxwell took Australia past 173, with seven balls to spare.

Top 3 Performances

3. Kane Williamson produced what was thought to be a match winning performance. His T20 ability is often overlooked, but the captain did everything to try to lead his team to victory today, narrowly falling short of defending their total.

2. While Williamson batted excellently, Josh Hazlewood showed why he is one of th best t20 bowlers in the world once again, taking 3 wickets for just 16 runs, including the wicket of Williamson. It was a bowling performance that meant no other New Zealand batter could properly help their captain

1. Mitch Marsh produced his greatest ever performance. Australia’s batting had been a worry coming into the tournament, with questions all across their line-up. But Marsh put to bed any questions about him being in the team. Marsh never looked worried as he hit a match winning 77 which included four big sixes. It was a performance no one expected, but came at exactly the right time for Australia.

This is the Aussies first ever t20 world cup victory, despite winning five world cups in ODI cricket. Australia lost in 2010 to England, but took care of things today. It means they go into the 2022 world cup which is hosted in Australia as holders, looking to defend their crown at home.

New Zealand need to regroup after a difficult loss in the final, but they will go into the world cup next year with a good squad that should have some crucial additions like Lochie Ferguson and Finn Allen come back into the squad to give them a good shot at the world cup in 2022.

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