The much-anticipated return of International Women’s Cricket is on the horizon, with the England vs West Indies series kicking off on the 21st of this month.
The series spanning 9 days will feature 5 T20I’s, with the women from the Caribbean looking to avenge their defeat to the hosts in this year’s T20 WC, knocking them out of the tournament. The 3rd T20I takes place in the final weekend of ECB’s Women’s Big Cricket Month and will be on free-to-air television – a first since 1993. BBC, on Friday, announced their schedule and lineup for the broadcasting of this all-important series.
The 3rd T20I on 26th September (Saturday) between @englandcricket and @windiescricket will be simulcast live on the @BBC and @SkySports, the first time women’s international cricket in the UK has been on free-to-air television since the 1993 Women’s World Cup final. #ENGvWI pic.twitter.com/JBrekz0zO3
— Female Cricket (@imfemalecricket) August 26, 2020
BBC has announced that all the matches of the series would be covered in different capacities across TV, Online, and Radio. The history-making 3rd T20I will be broadcasted live on the free-to-air BBC Two channel on Saturday, 26th September. The match will also be available for live stream online on the BBC Sport Website and will start broadcasting from 5:15 PM IST. All the games will take place in the bio-secure environment of The Incora County Ground, at Derby.
The commentary team at BBC Two for the 3rd match will feature former English World Cup winner, Isa Guha, along with some of the world’s best in today’s women’s cricket – Alison Mitchell, Jenny Gunn, Danni Hazell, and Alex Hartley. They will also be joined by former English captain, Michael Vaughan and a West Indies coach, Phil Simmons. The man with the stats for this match will be the experienced Andy Zaltzman.
While the other matches of the series won’t be broadcasted live on free-to-air television, the highlights of the matches will be available on BBC Two’s Evening Show. This will be hosted by Isa Guha and will have her partner in Alison Mitchell. Guests of this show include the likes of current World Cup winner, Alex Hartley and Phil Simmons. Simmons recently coached the West Indies team in their tour of England, which marked the resumption of international cricket. England claimed the three-match Test series 2-1, after losing the first Test to the men from the Caribbean.
Along with this, the T20I series will be broadcasted on BBC Radio 5’s popular show, Test Match Special. Cricket fans, especially the 90s kids and before will surely enjoy this blast from the past when cricket broadcasting was mainly focused on the radio medium. The radio team features a stellar cast of Phil Simmons, Isa Guha, Alex Hartley, Alison Mitchell, Henry Moeran, Daniel Norcross and Isabelle Westbury. They will also be joined by the T20 and 50-overs WC winner, Danni Hazell.
The final weekend of the Big Cricket Month will also see the finals of the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy broadcasted on pay-per-view television. Test Match Special will also be covering the much-awaited finals of the first-ever RHF Trophy.
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