England’s upcoming three-match Test series against Pakistan in late autumn this year is under threat, as the board, going through a new issue which could be a huge issue in hosting the series. The three red-ball games will be part of the ongoing third cycle of the World Test Championship (WTC) 2023-25, where England are almost out of the qualifying round.
Their last Test series in Pakistan during the 2022 season was televised by Sky Sports, which holds the exclusive rights for all the home Test matches. Ben Stokes’s team made history on that trip with a 3-0 series win against the Babar Azam-led side.
The recent reports have suggested that a tender document issued last month by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) hasn’t produced any interest from the UK, with no broadcasters even prepared to make negotiations at this stage.
England’s Tour Of Pakistan Under Serious Threat
During England’s last Test series in Pakistan, under the leadership of Ben Stokes and head coach Brendon McCullum, the visitors showed great resilience and aggression with the bat in hand and even during their bowling and fielding department of the game.
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Things have got a little complicated, on the flip of the coin, as the board has engaged a local marketing agency to sell the overseas rights to the series rather than a global company like IMG, who have secured a late deal for the tour of England to India at the start of the year.
Channel 4 bought the rights for England’s red-ball trip to India in 2021 during the COVID-19 lockdown, but that was a one-off with three being a large TV audience at home, and the channel hasn’t bid for the Test cricket.
Sky has been the home for England’s Test series away from home for the last 30 years since it became the very first broadcaster to televise an overseas tour when their captain Graham Gooch visited the West Indies during the 1990 season. They, however, have withdrawn from the market in recent times. They have taken a strategic plan to focus on its resources to ensure the exclusive rights for the home series and events such as the World Cup, the T20 World Cup, and the Champions Trophy, which will be played in Pakistan.
The reasoning for Sky is based on the analysis of the cost of buying overseas rights and covering tours with high production. It’s hard to justify the new subscribers, particularly at a time during the winter when the fans are attracted to the football games. The winter season is also been dominated by the various T20 leagues, such as SA20, IlT20, and the Indian Premier League (IPL).
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TNT sport has stepped into the void to some extent by picking the rights for Test series in Australia, India, New Zealand, and West Indies, but they also have hardly any interest in the Pakistan trip. The Warner Bros-owned broadcasting team has also displayed their wishes and walked away from the negotiations.
The lack of interest in the series, which is just over a month away from, starting has been frustrating news for fans around the globe. It’s already been a huge challenge to attack the fans around the globe for Test cricket, as was the case on the opening day of the first Test of the three-match series at Old Trafford in Manchester, where several thousands of the 14,500 people who bought tickets failed to make their presence.