Of the millions who sat glued to their television sets in 2005 as Andrew Flintoff and Co. regained the Ashes for the first time since 1987, only those with access to Sky Sports will be able to do the same next summer when £ngland try to repeat their success. The reason? The only free-to-air part of cricket is the highlights.

With Test cricket, ODIs, the County Championship, the Friends Provident Trophy, the Twenty20 Cup, the Pro40 Cup and overseas cricket all being aired in the UK, it seems ridiculous that none of it is available to the ordinary, terrestrial viewer.

In January, a petition to restore the 2009 Ashes series to free-to-air television received a response from 10 Downing Street. Unfortunately for the petition’s supporters, the response reaffirmed that, as of 1998, cricket had been made a Category B sport.

'If Twenty20 was made a free-to-air sport, its terrestrial channel might receive a large enough audience to consider bidding on the other forms of the game, including the Ashes Test matches'


Unlike events such as the FA Cup final and the Olympics - which are protected to remain on free-to-air terrestrial channels - cricket can be aired on channels such as Sky Sports with only the highlights being available to everyone. As such, the Government had no power to restore the Ashes to terrestrial television.

The only positive in the response came with the news that the digital switchover was prompting a review of the sport categorising policy, meaning that cricket could possibly be re-categorised in 2012. But 2012 is of little use to those who want to see the 2009 Ashes.

Relocating all their broadcasts to Sky could prove a costly move for the ECB as viewing figures have plummeted and interest has waned. The reasons given for cricket’s move from Category A to B in 1998 were twofold: the dependence of the ECB on broadcasting revenue and the difficulty in scheduling long slots for Test matches on terrestrial TV - proved in 2005 when footage of the Lord’s Test was stopped because an episode of The Simpsons was about to begin.

In 1998 these reasons were valid but in 2008 the problems are more surmountable, especially given the amount of channels available to corporations like the BBC with the advent of digital television.

The hugely popular Twenty20 game did not even exist in 1998. With matches taking a little over two hours they do not need long scheduling slots, at least no more so than football matches and films. If Twenty20 was made a free-to-air sport, its terrestrial channel might receive a large enough audience to consider bidding on the other forms of the game, including the Ashes Test matches.

It's easy to say that the ECB shot themselves in the foot by not capitalising on cricket’s surging popularity in 2005. If at least some cricket had remained on terrestrial or freeview channels then audiences would most probably be higher than they are now.

In 1998 England were only saved from the indignity of being the world’s worst Test nation by Zimbabwe’s inclusion in the competition, but in 2005 things were different: England were second in the world and had just defeated those in first place to regain Test cricket’s most prestigious prize.

In 2005 England were worthy of Category A status and, if granted it, could have made cricket a much more popular sport by continuing to be available to the masses who had suddenly discovered it.

Three years later we must hope that cricket has not missed its chance of taking centre stage and that it will return to our screens for everyone, not just the privileged few.

If Twenty20 can find a place on terrestrial television, cricket may find itself with another shot at popularity. With the BBC, ITV and Channel 4 now having at least four channels each, scheduling isn’t the problem it used to be. Many of these channels don’t start transmission until 7pm, the time a Test match would often finish.

The outdated policy of 1998 needs a revamp before cricket goes back to having audiences of two men and a dog.