YouTube streams Ashes live

The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has announced a deal with YouTube to live stream this year’s Ashes.

The partnership will make the matches available for 53 countries across Europe and Latin America – free of charge – though not for the UK and Ireland, where the live TV rights are held exclusively by Sky Sports.

Live coverage of England’s five-game Ashes Test match series against Australia will be streamed on the ECB’s YouTube channel, while one-minute highlights packages from each session will be available to viewers globally.

“This is the ECB’s first venture into live streaming of cricket online, so is groundbreaking territory for us,” said ECB chief executive David Collier.

“We receive numerous requests from cricket fans in regions where there is no broadcast TV offering, and therefore we are delighted that many will be able to enjoy this Investec Ashes Series. It is also important that we play a role in the expansion of the game to countries that do not traditionally play nor watch the sport.”