Channel 5 to show four England T20s a year on free-to-air TV

Channel 5 will show four home England T20s per year for the next four years under a new deal with the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), keeping the matches on free-to-air television.

The two men’s and two women’s matches, previously shown on the BBC, will also be available on Channel 5’s streaming service 5.

They will still be broadcast on Sky Sports, which shows all of England’s home matches.

Channel 5 will also stream highlights of the T20 Blast.

The first match on the channel is the women’s T20 between England and West Indies at Chelmsford on Monday.

It will also show England’s men against the Windies on Sunday 8 June, then Nat Sciver-Brunt’s England against India on Saturday 28 June and the men’s match against South Africa on Sunday 14 September.

The BBC signed a new deal with the ECB this year, which includes highlights of all red and white-ball internationals across television, iPlayer and the BBC Sport website.

There will also be in-play clips of all matches on the BBC Sport website and app, plus live TV coverage of eight double-headers in each season of The Hundred.

The BBC’s audio deal also means Test Match Special will have commentary of home internationals until at least 2028, along with the new four-year contract to broadcast men’s and women’s county cricket.